Master of 500 Hats

US Startup Investment Market Overview (Startonomics Tokyo, June 2009)

Presentation on the US Startup Investment Market from Startonomics Tokyo:

US Startup Investment Market (Startonomics Tokyo, June 2009)

View more OpenOffice presentations from Dave Mcclure.

Pimpin' da Maestro: May 29th Eric Ries "Lean Startup" Geek Masterclass

  Ok i'll admit it... i have an incredible ubergeek man-crush on Eric Ries. 

Same way i fell for Andrew Chen awhile back. (Andrew don't think yer getting away from my SwimFan clutches, i still ♥ U + yr big brain bigtime). 

While there are many other startup gurusi stalk regularly (Steve Blank, Sean Ellis, Hiten Shah, Dan Olsen, Ted Rheingold, Amy Jo Kim, Jeremy Liew, + other Startonomics SF peeps), there's no denying Eric Ries is the biggest Grok-Star to hit the Silicon Valley scene in 2009. I swear i witnessed the Second Coming of Muad'Dib at his Most Awesome Web 2.0 Expo Sermon on The Mount... er i mean The Lean Startup to the Fremen Faithful this past spring.  

I have rarely seen such a terrific presentation by a relatively unknown speaker absolutely KILL the audience, and NEVER had i seen ~150 people get up after the talk was over, and follow him into the hallway for a followup conversation (can't you just feel the Who / Tommy concert crush in that pic?)

But of course, there's a reason... it's because Eric knows his shit. 

and it rings true whenever startup geeks listen to what he's saying. I've had the pleasure of seeing several of Eric's Lean Startup presentations, and they're all fabulous.  it's refreshing to hear someone speak concretely from their own experience (both failure & success), and then summarize Startup Lessons Learned for the rest of us to grok at our leisure.

If you'd like to hear more about the Gospel that Eric is preaching, i STRONGLY encourage you to signup for the O'Reilly masterclass on Lean Startup methodology he'll be teaching in San Francisco on May 29th (and other places later). the price might be a bit steep for a startup budget, but the knowledge & learning & value for your company you'll take away from it will likely be priceless.

 Register here to signup.

Here's a brief taste of the Spice that Eric will be serving up for your thirsty startup:

2009 05 01 How To Build A Lean Startup Step By Step

View more Microsoft Word documents from Eric Ries.

Become a Web 2.0 Metrics Jedi: Using Product & Marketing Metrics to Optimize Your Business

Here are slides from Web 2.0 Expo SF talk i gave today along with Dan Olsen (YourVersion.com) & Ted Rheingold (Dogster / Catster):

How to be a Web 2.0 Metrics Jedi (Web 2.0 Expo, April 2009)

View more presentations from Dan Olsen.

(extra special kudos to Dan for finding the Yoda Pirate graphic... AWEsomeness :)

Startup Metrics for Pirates: FOWA/Miami (Feb 2009)

so i'm just re-arranging deck chairs here, i know... but there's at least 1 or 2 new slides. and a lot more funky colors, for those of you who enjoy my kidnapper-ransomnote fonts & unique style of raping the viewer's attention.  Also moved the embed of the original Startup Metrics for Pirates video (from Ignite Seattle / Summer 2007) after slide 23.

With no further ado, my talk from the Future of Web Apps (Miami, Feb 2009):

Startup Metrics for Pirates (FOWA/Miami, Feb 2009)

View more presentations from Dave McClure. (tags: revenue referral)

Hard Out Here for a [Web 2.0] Pimp.

ya know it's hard out here for a pimp
when he tryin' to get his money for the rent.
for the cadillacs and gas money spent
cuz' a whole lot of bitches talkin' shit.

well for what it's worth, i did make rent this month, G.

but lemme tell you, it ain't easy being a Web 2.0 P-I-M-P.

Image via Wikipedia

...especially in these Good Times we got going on around here.  banks going belly up, people losing their homes & jobs... damn.  people so fucking scared they voted a brother into the white [sic] house.  i guess that's progress, but now we got our asses in both hands worrying about credit card debt, mortgage foreclosures, and wondering whether we gonna get PAID.  better go slap the shit out my startups and make sure they come up with the Cash-Money, G.  damn straight. 

now listen up bitches:

Most of the time, entrepreneurs think about 2 types of users:

• Visitors ("Johns")

• Image via Wikipedia

  Contributors ("HOs")

Simply put, there are "HOs" who contribute content to your site (they give you their stuff, or "put out").  The rest of the people on your site are the "Johns" who visit & view the content... and might even pay you some cash money (if it's good shit).

However, typically a 3rd & very important audience is forgotten about, which is quite likely even more important than either of the two above.  this is the group of people who promote & distribute existing content / refer new users, altho they might not ever contribute any original content themselves:

• Distributors ("Pimps")

Image via Wikipedia

These folks help share, digg, tweet, email, & embed your content, promote it to new audiences, and bring users back to your site.  They are the "Pimps" who distribute your content.  And most likely, they are WAAAAAAyyyy more important (relatively speaking) than the Johns or the Hos.

(disclaimer & note to self: i'm pretty sure at this point i have now lost most of my female audience, and/or anyone with any shred of class or civilized sensibility.  for those of you still with me, i hope you find the rest of this post worth the crass language & white-trash upbringing i am helpless to remove from my discourse)

See, most folks probably design their site audiences like this:

1) first, let's get people to contribute content, so i'll emphasize THEIR needs and orient the site & features around CONTRIBUTORS (HOs).

2) next, i need to make sure people who are just average VISITORS (Johns) can view the site well, so i'll build lots of ways to use & experience that content.  and hopefully they're share some of it too, and maybe we'll "go viral"!

3) lastly, some of those folks who are contributors will probably help DISTRIBUTE content too, so i'll give them a few tools to help do that, but they should already be motivated to help distribute so we don't need to worry too much.  WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

Now, there are already several errors in assumption/prioritization here:

Image by skinnie minnie via Flickr

• people who DISTRIBUTE are not necessarily the same people who CONTRIBUTE (translation: "PIMPs ain't HOs")
• even for those who do both, it's possible the higher-value action is to DISTRIBUTE, and yet most UI design emphasizes CONTRIBUTE features & actions higher.  but Contributors need Distributors and/or Affiliates to help bring in Visitors. ("HOs need PIMPs to get JOHNs")
• most of your VISITORS ain't gonna do shit except check out your content for free, jerk off on something they like, then skip town before paying you one goddamn cent.  ("window shopping is free & easy, except in Amsterdam... but PIMPS help make sure JOHNs pay up de HOs")

thus, the way most people manage audience looks like this:

1. HOs
2. Johns
3. Pimps

however, the order you should REALLY use is THIS:

1. Pimps
2. Johns
3. HOs

that's right folks.  The Internet works just like the Ghet-to. 

Pimps go FIRST, bee-atch. 

and if you don't like it, then Step OFF!...

cuz I'll beat your ass with my Pimp Cane and Cup and one mouse click tied behind my back.

we now return you to your regularly schedule Sesame Ghetto Street programming:

Ghetto Sesame Street

SlideShare does YouTube videos

SlideShare just launched a cool new feature that enables you to embed / combine YouTube videos in SlideShare presentations.

Below is a recent presentation i gave at the SDForum Business Intelligence SIG, where the 2nd "slide" is actually a YouTube video of a 5-minute Ignite talk on "Startup Metrics for Pirates" i did back in Seattle in 2007:

Numbers not Napkins: Simple Startup Metrics

View more presentations or upload your own. (tags: revenue referrral)

Silicon Valley 2.0: The Startup Metrics Revolution (Tokyo, Dec 2008)

I'm giving a Startup Metrics presentation in Tokyo today... for those of you who've seen it before, it's modestly updated.  here is the latest & greatest:

Silicon Valley 2.0: The Startup Metrics Revolution (Tokyo, Dec 2008)

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: dave.mcclure tokyo)

Startup Metrics Revolution: Tokyo, Japan (Fri 12/19)

at the moment I'm on my way to Paris for the LeWeb conference... but after i get back to Silicon Valley, almost immediately i'm headed off to Japan for a family visit and to hang out with some friends in Tokyo.

i'll be in Japan from 12/16 thru 01/08, and on Friday 12/19 i'm speaking at an event i'm putting together with Andrew Shuttleworth and his friends who run the Tokyo 2.0 meetup.  I'm doing an afternoon presentation on Startup Metrics called:

Silicon Valley 2.0: The Startup Metrics Revolution

Some of the material is similar to my Startup Metrics for Pirates presentation i've given previously at Startonomics and Web 2.0 Expo, but we'll also add a few new twists. Here's a brief description (i'll update as we have more details):

Silicon Valley is re-booting... again.  As the rest of the US economy gets turned upside-down, startups in silicon valley are getting used to a lot less capital, and a lot more numbers.  The "Web 2.0" startup model has matured, and internet startups are now applying a more scientific & metrics-oriented approach to their business, and a more cash-conscious approach to funding & operations.  The best startups now build products on a budget of less than $1M (some for under $100K), and use startup dashboards & web analytics tools to measure user behavior, product usage, feature conversion, and marketing effectiveness.  They also use rapid development, fast iteration cycles, and a/b / multivariate testing tools to optimize product features & marketing programs.

If you are a startup entrepreneur, developer, investor, or technology business executive, this 3-hour lecture & workshop will show you how to put together your own business metrics framework for your startup or company. The workshop will focus primarily on how to use a simple 5-step model for startup metrics (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue) to make better product & marketing decisions. We'll show you how the model works, how to apply it to your business, and we'll do live "Startup Makeover" reviews for 5-10 companies. Examples & variations on the model will be explored for several types of startups, and we'll cover the following topics: creating a basic user conversion dashboard, defining your company & product keyword vocabulary, selecting & evaluating marketing channels, testing & optimizing landing pages, setting up simple email strategies for user retention, and designing a business model that will attract investors.

to see more of what you'll get, here is the latest version of my Startup Metrics presentation (from Startonomics SF, Oct 2008):

Startup Metrics For Pirates: AARRR! (Startonomics SF Oct 2008)

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: aarrr metrics)

hope you'll join us for a fun session in Tokyo!

NOTE: for Silicon Valley geeks who would like to tag along and visit Tokyo, we're gathering a small group of geeks to head over for about a week (altho i'm staying thru New Year's).  If you'd like to join us, twitter or email me for info.  I'll be flying over on Tue 12/16 out of SFO on a JAL flight at noon, along with a few friends.  Come visit Tokyo & meet some Japanese entrepreneurs!

Some new & old startup blogs & presos i'm in love with

in no particular order, here are links to a few new books, blogs, & presentations i'm falling in love with lately (plus a few not-so-new-but-awesome old ones too).

• Startup Lessons Learned (blog, Eric Ries)
• Customer Development Methodology (preso, Steve Blank)
• Four Steps to the Epiphany (book, Steve Blank)
• LaserLike (blog, Mike Speiser)
• Revenue Metrics (preso, Andrew Chen)
• Futuristic Play (blog, Andrew Chen)
• Startup-Marketing (blog, Sean Ellis)
• Sit, Stay, Click!  Making Users Beg for More (preso, Ted Rheingold)
• Zappo's: Customer Service & Company Culture (video, Tony Hsieh)
• Designing & Optimizing the DNA of a Killer App (preso+sound, Dan Olsen)
• Putting the Fun in Functional (preso, Amy Jo Kim)
• Copywriting Tips for Online Marketing Success (blog, Brian Clark aka CopyBlogger)
• ProBlogger (blog, Darren Rowse)
• Reality Check (book, Guy Kawasaki)
• Groundswell (book, Charlene Li)
• The Altimeter (blog, Charlene Li)
• Almost as Good as Chocolate (Shripriya Mahesh)
• KISSmetrics (blog, KISSmetrics.com)
• Startup Founder Evolution (blog, Tony Wright)

apologies to all the amazing folks i'm forgetting about... i'm sure you are many and wonderful, and i'll remember just as soon as hit publish.  will try to add some more if i can.

EBAY Q3 2008 Earnings: MarketPlace Rev$ Flat (note to mgmt: spin out PayPal, or expect to get taken over)

thx to Keith Teare for uploading eBay Q3 2008 Earnings ppt to SlideShare:

1. Marketplace revenue flat and/or decaying 
2. PayPal revenue flat this qtr *but* Y/Y growth, still plenty of potential
3. Skype shows surprising growth; maybe not bad a deal as ppl think
4. aside from acquisitions, still severe lack of imagination at the top
5. if they don't spin out PayPal+BillMeLater, someone else should LBO this sucker before mgmt drives it into a ditch. 

sigh.  so much potential being wasted. but hey, they do awesome powerpoints.

eBay 2008, Q3 Earnings

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: earnings ebay)