Once startups are ready to scale, their biggest challenge is often hiring someone capable of leading the growth charge. A marketer with the right talents and approach can kick some serious ass once product-market fit and an efficient conversion/monetization process have been proven. But the problem is that most startups try to hire for skills
Growth Hacking Made Simple: Definition
Learn how big brands like Spotify and Facebook use growth hacking to increase their influence and user base in this ultimate guide.
Why it's nice to compete against a large, profitable company
Competing against big firms? Their revenue streams are their Achilles heel. Learn how smaller startups have a shot.
The Market Curve
The market you choose to serve is one of the most important factors for an early-stage startup. And for most technologists, it’s a blind …
Before You Grow | Y Combinator
Startups are defined by growth [http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html], but growth isn’t step one in building a great company. If you focus on trying to grow before you make a product people love, you are unlikely to succeed. We’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating–many founders hurt their companies by focusing on growth too soon. I’m not saying don’t grow at all–getting people to use your product, even in its earliest form, will help you better understand what your customers want. Bu
Steve Blank How to Find a Market? Use Jobs-To-Be-Done as the Front End of Customer Discovery
Modern entrepreneurship began at the turn of the 21st century with the observation that startups aren’t smaller versions of large companies – large companies at their core execute known business mo…
Putting Post Growth Theory Into Practice
The Post Growth Entrepreneurship Incubator helps founders break free from traditional business models and implement sustainable…
The Rise of the Silicon Valley Small Business
What you need to know about the next big startup archetype
Meet the AI OnlyFans: How one startup raised millions to build an ‘erotic companions’ platform | Kai Nicol-Schwarz
Meet the AI OnlyFans: How one startup raised millions to build an ‘erotic companions’ platform --- When AI erotic companion startup Oh raised a $4.5m funding round in January, it had something few in the shadowy new sector could boast. A roster of named investors, publicly backing the company. VCs are often bound by “vice clauses”, which prohibit firms from investing in controversial products like pornography or weapons. As a result, startups working on ethically contentious products often rely on angel investors and family offices to stay afloat. But Oh, which generates NSFW adult content and conversations with both fictional characters as well as bots based on real people, has tapped into a group of seemingly less squeamish investors: crypto VCs. It’s drawn backing from the likes of Tangent, Kosmos Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Bodhi Ventures and Tagus Capital. “Raising money for a business like this from non-crypto VCs is very difficult,” says Oh founder and CEO Nic Young, who positions the startup as a “decentralised platform” and offers payments via crypto. “A lot of crypto VCs don’t have vice clauses — it’s more liberal and free.” Oh wants to use those fresh funds to build the “AI OnlyFans”, with plans to roll out autonomous scantily clad bots that can market themselves on social media and direct message users with spicy conversation starters. The biggest challenge? Convincing enough users it’s not that weird turning to AI when you’re looking for romance. https://lnkd.in/eRF7a5Dn
Founders Hub | Transform Finance
The founder playbook for building a company that lasts and stays true to why you started it. Research, case studies, and practical tools for incorporation, fundraising terms, board structure, ownership, and culture.
How Tech Startup Founders Are Hacking Immigration
Forty-four percent of Silicon Valley startups have an immigrant founder. Many tell horror stories.
12 Things I Learned from Chris Dixon about Startups | Andreessen Horowitz
#1 “If everyone loves your idea, I might be worried that it’s not forward thinking enough.” Anyone thinking about starting a business should be searching for mispriced opportunities. While markets are mostly efficient in eliminating opportunities for extraordinary profit, there are always areas of an economy in which there are significant uncertainty. These areas are...
The Startup Marketing Checklist
I tried dozens of side projects before starting Draft.dev, and now I’ve worked with hundreds of early-stage startups and established enterprises to help with growth marketing. So, a lot of founders ask me how to get started in marketing when your marketing budget is small and your product is new. I created this list to […]
There Are Actually Just Three Ways To Grow
Most brands obsess over distribution when the real growth comes from moves marketers can’t make alone
Entrepreneuring for a Post-Growth Economy: From Sustainable to Post-Growth Entrepreneurship
Earth's critical planetary boundaries are being exceeded and current economic development models are failing to provide adequate societal benefits. Urgent
How To Be Successful
I’ve observed thousands of founders and thought a lot about what it takes to make a huge amount of money or to create something important. Usually, people start off wanting the former and end up...