A Smart Bear
Articles from building two unicorns over two decades; one bootstrapped, one funded.| A Smart Bear
Articles from building two unicorns over two decades; one bootstrapped, one funded.| A Smart Bear
Have a great idea? Prove it by finding ten customers ready to hand over cash. Everything else is avoiding the truth.| A Smart Bear
Your company will stop growing sooner than you think. The "Max MRR" metric predicts revenue plateaus based on churn and new revenue.| A Smart Bear
Want to write better? Swap generic words for specifics to make your text clear, powerful, engaging, and even funny.| A Smart Bear
Because time is zero-sum, prioritization is mandatory. This is an index of purpose-built prioritization frameworks, and an overarching one to optimize your life.| A Smart Bear
RICE and other confidence-based frameworks are mostly noise. Here's how to make decisions without pretending to know the unknowable.| A Smart Bear
You must select between three pricing strategies, and fully commit to their implications.| A Smart Bear
A prioritized checklist for diagnosing why growth has slowed, and how to fix it.| A Smart Bear
Nothing clarifies things quite like a hyperactive, all-knowing, all-seeing, real asshole of a devil's advocate beating the living crap out of you.| A Smart Bear
Little, unknown companies with silly names can sell to enterprises who have already spent millions.| A Smart Bear
Having skipped to the last page of other people's books, we forget the rest of the journey. And, that we have to take that journey, too.| A Smart Bear
You're afraid that looking like being a small company means you'll lose sales. It's actually the opposite -- you're alienating your best customers.| A Smart Bear
Customers love you when you're honest, even about your foibles. We forgive honest mistakes from earnest people, not stolid, cold, inhuman corporations.| A Smart Bear
When even "free" is too expensive.| A Smart Bear
How can a business that is "spending to grow" determine whether it's truly profitable underneath all that "revenue acceleration?" Here's a way.| A Smart Bear
What can't be solved with money, are the most valuable things.| A Smart Bear
The difference between "low prices" as a race to the bottom or as a success story (like Amazon, Costco, IKEA, Vanguard) is in leveraging intentional weaknesses.| A Smart Bear
Simplify complex decisions by separating upsides from downsides, investing in upsides, vetoing with downsides, and using an appropriate decision framework.| A Smart Bear
Identifying useful frameworks for companies, strategy, markets, and organizations, instead of those that just look pretty in PowerPoint.| A Smart Bear
Comparing yourself to other startups? Focus on yourself instead.| A Smart Bear
Freemium model flaws: High costs, low conversion. Treat it as a marketing expense to ensure ROI.| A Smart Bear
Bootstrapped and unsure about CPC? Use the rule of ARPU/25.| A Smart Bear
This isn't the humble-brag you think it is; The most common origin story is also common to startups that fail. But it's a start.| A Smart Bear
Competing against big firms? Their revenue streams are their Achilles heel. Learn how smaller startups have a shot.| A Smart Bear
When you're brand new, how do you select your first marketing channel?| A Smart Bear
Being "undefeated" or "number 1" might be more luck than you know.| A Smart Bear
Why do smart, driven founders fail, despite having great ideas and execution? This model offers an answer, and a path to increase the chance of success.| A Smart Bear
You redesign your entire website, customers and employees say it's better, but none of the metrics change… Does design even matter?| A Smart Bear
Oh you secretive devil! The last thing you need is anyone finding out about your startup. Like competitors. Or customers.| A Smart Bear
This is the reason that startups succeed despite their many weaknesses. And it's a reason to build a startup in the first place.| A Smart Bear
The two main business modalities are more different than you expect. When you hit PMF, it's a culture-shift to switch from one to the other.| A Smart Bear
It is true that small changes can have enormous effects? Or is this just what optimization consultants want us to believe?| A Smart Bear
How do you find potential customers to interview before you have a product, a website, or even a name?| A Smart Bear
Low on cash but need marketing results? Here are four specific things you can do to grow on a budget.| A Smart Bear
Brittleness is when the company fails because just one component breaks. Learn some strategies for fixing Brittle Points.| A Smart Bear
Our emotional baggage and experience make us unique, but also serve as blinders.| A Smart Bear
Erica Douglass sold her company for $1M, yet still struggles with self-worth; why driven people can't escape Impostor Syndrome.| A Smart Bear
Half of your "successful" A/B tests are false-positives. This is why, and how to fix it.| A Smart Bear
Applying Pascal's Wager: Humility wins, arrogance loses.| A Smart Bear
Is it LTV? Retention? NRR? Magic Number? Rule of 40? Or: Do you need to un-ask the question.| A Smart Bear
Tech support isn't just troubleshooting; it's the face of your company. Which means it's your brand, your positioning, and when it's excellent, it is sales.| A Smart Bear
A contrarian look at logical "fallacies" that maybe aren't so illogical after all.| A Smart Bear
Startups fail at biz dev because their proposals don't make sense to bigger companies. Here's how to adjust your approach.| A Smart Bear
Not "enabling constraints", not "weaknesses", not even "strengths". The concept of a "Pivot Point" grapples with the same reality, but more constructive and useful.| A Smart Bear
A short pep talk I delivered to kick off a Three-Day Startup challenge event. And overwhelming confirmation that the lesson is correct.| A Smart Bear
Discover how to leverage the wisdom of the crowds, but also when to avoid it, as it can easily lead you astray.| A Smart Bear
Humans have always tried to live forever. Maybe you can, but not in the way you imagine.| A Smart Bear
People love and forgive humans, not corporations. Expose your humanity to earn loyal, happy customers, even when you mess up.| A Smart Bear
You're not profitable if you couldn't afford someone else to do your job. $1000/mo isn't profitable. Fix your definition of "profitable," and build a truly profitable business.| A Smart Bear
Mid-sized companies: Small enough to have small budgets, big enough for bureaucratic nightmares.| A Smart Bear
When to prioritize individual autonomy, and when to standardize for global optimization.| A Smart Bear
People love to say that getting "1% better per day" makes you 37x better after a year, but this obviously makes no sense. But 2x better is possible.| A Smart Bear
It's lazy writing. It's boring and undifferentiated. Say something meaningful, specific, evocative, so your website wins, and you can be proud of it.| A Smart Bear
"You're so lucky." That's true. There's also decades of sacrifice, emotional turmoil, long hours, perseverance. So… is it lucky?| A Smart Bear
Dozens of founders have used this technique to transform the cash-flow of their businesses. Now it's your turn.| A Smart Bear
Procrastination can be a useful tool. You can't do everything. So don't.| A Smart Bear
I remember "disruptive" when it was called a "paradigm shift." You should be worrying more about making something people want to buy, and less about disrupting everything.| A Smart Bear
Resolve decision-making conflicts by selecting the right approach: Make a bold choice, synthesize a new solution, or find the balance.| A Smart Bear
We're told "be yourself" to seek happiness and success. But what if "being yourself" also means striving to become better? What is "yourself?"| A Smart Bear
On average, you're halfway to your final destination. How, then, do we not only double from here, but 10x?| A Smart Bear
Is it good to be "first?" It seems so -- what's the point of being a copycat? While "first" sounds impressive, in reality it's often not an advantage.| A Smart Bear
Stop talking past each other. Translate between the three "languages" of customer desires, product features, and business goals.| A Smart Bear
Software doesn't scale through architecture and automation alone. New, more difficult problems appear that didn't exist before, causing new downstream consequences.| A Smart Bear
Is "customer service" a genuine service? Or is it a shield so that most people at your company never have to speak to one of those pesky customers?| A Smart Bear
A simple workshop that evaluates new business ideas relative to your existing strengths -- the key to expanding without overreaching.| A Smart Bear
Even at wildly successful startups, the first few years are gut-wrenching, uncertain, on the brink of collapse, where pessimism is realism, and yet optimism is required.| A Smart Bear
In America we're trained that all copying is bad; of course plagiarism is, but perhaps we're throwing the baby out with the bathwater.| A Smart Bear
How to tell the difference between a truly great startup idea, and people saying "Sure, sounds good" when they really mean "No, I'm not buying."| A Smart Bear
Why do startups typically fail? It turns out that "avoiding those things" is already a plan for success.| A Smart Bear
Artists say all colors are a mixture of red, yellow, and blue. But physics and TV screens and printers disagree. How does color really work?| A Smart Bear
How do you know when to stop, versus when to push through? You don't, not even in hindsight. But these guiding questions can help.| A Smart Bear
Luck always plays a role in startups, but there are ways to better capture upside and mitigate downside.| A Smart Bear
We humans are terrible at discerning patterns from randomness, and in marketing data we unwittingly find "insights" that are actually noise. Here's how to fix that.| A Smart Bear
The typical dynamics between startups and incumbents do not apply in AI as they did in previous technology revolutions like mobile and the Internet. Ignore this at your peril.| A Smart Bear
A startup can beat a large, successful incumbent, if it does things the incumbent can not or will not do. Here are those things.| A Smart Bear
A/B testing tools often lie about whether something is "statistically significant." Here's an extremely simple, mathematically sound formula to compute it for yourself.| A Smart Bear
It's easy to explain why any given business will fail. So what? But neither is it wise to totally ignore the critics.| A Smart Bear
Why "expected value" doesn't work; here's a better framework for making long-term investments in your career, startup, and life.| A Smart Bear
What if your company could have only one single advantage over the competition? This exercise will make your positioning and strategy stronger.| A Smart Bear
Some things appear to be mistakes, but in fact should be celebrated as the expected outcomes of great decisions.| A Smart Bear
How do you assess forecasts, when the forecast is only a probability? It's not just about accuracy. Let's dive into the math.| A Smart Bear
Targeting your "Ideal Customer Profile" (ICP) is the best way to differentiate and win sales, but does it limit your target market?| A Smart Bear
Customers ask for ROI calculations to justify purchasing your software, but it still doesn't convince them. Here's what to do instead.| A Smart Bear
This eight-step process brought WP Engine from an idea to a Unicorn. While there are other roads to Product/Market Fit, consider copying some of these ideas.| A Smart Bear
Hiring even one person creates a lot less profit than you'd think, and launching a product rarely works out. Here are some tips for consulting companies.| A Smart Bear
If we happened to evolve with nine fingers, we would have "Top 9" lists. So, a "Top 10" list probably doesn't have the correct number of things.| A Smart Bear
Everyone wants change, but doesn't want to change. Though inevitable, change is uncomfortable and exhausting. Manage it with kindness.| A Smart Bear
Traditional fairytale structure fits naturally in our brains, and thus can guide strategic problem-analysis, and a plan that everyone understands.| A Smart Bear
Blogger with tens of thousands of subscribers launches a new venture… and gets only 2 signups. Not the advantage you thought it was.| A Smart Bear
Companies that achieve Product/Market Fit -- both self-funded and VC-funded -- exhibit the same prototypical metrics curves and subjective experiences.| A Smart Bear
Reflecting on selling Smart Bear in 2007, offering insights for entrepreneurs facing similar decisions.| A Smart Bear
Some of the most enticing, important metrics are impossible to measure, even after the fact. Here's how to identify and avoid this trap.| A Smart Bear
Is everyone working very hard, all the time, and yet accomplishing 1/10th of what it seems they should? Maybe this is why.| A Smart Bear
"Focus" requires saying "no" to most things, but there's a way to do it that allows you to say "yes" exactly when it matters most.| A Smart Bear
These forces make larger companies slower and more difficult to execute, but also more effective when harnessed and leveraged.| A Smart Bear
What is it like to reach the pinnacle of success? Is that where you attain happiness and fulfillment? Or are those found right here, right now.| A Smart Bear
Most so-called "strategies" are vague, wishful thinking, written once and never seen again. Don't do that. These are the characteristics of great strategy.| A Smart Bear
Advice from "successful entrepreneurs" might be unreliable due to Survivor Bias. What's real, and what's random?| A Smart Bear
Language shapes our perception of setbacks. Use words other than "failure" to describe situations and to suggest the next step.| A Smart Bear
