by Brant | May 1, 2009 | Brant's Rant, Lean Startup, Sales and Marketing Roadmap, Startup Marketing
While on my way home from buying a lottery ticket today (I am sure to buy from the store that has sold the most winning tickets), I got to thinking about failure. We’ve been hearing a lot about it recently: Failure breeds success. Fail fast, Fail often, or fail...
by Brant | Apr 29, 2009 | Brant's Rant, Startup Marketing
This is an oft-repeated subject. I’ve reviewed 4 decks in the last week, however, so I’m going to give you my perspective while it’s all fresh on my mind. First, even if you are not seeking funding, go through the exercise of creating a pitch and...
by Brant | Apr 28, 2009 | Brant's Rant, Customer Development, Sales and Marketing Roadmap, Startup Marketing
Through the evolution of their start-ups, entrepreneurs will face many inflection points, at which decisions made or not made will determine their future. The painful truth is that a wrong turn may lead to its demise, whereas a right turn leads to another...
by Brant | Apr 1, 2009 | Brant's Rant, Customer Development, Startup Marketing
Lewis Mumford (1895-1990) was an American Architecture and Literary critic, as well as Sociologist and Philosopher. I often attribute a particular quote to Mumford, though I can’t seem to locate the source. When asked where to put a sidewalk, Mumford responds:...
by Brant | Feb 27, 2009 | Brant's Rant, San Diego, Startup Marketing
As I mentioned before, non-marketing people tend to view marketing as this expensive, monolithic necessary evil, dominated by wasteful “Madison Ave” style marketing, i.e., advertisements, logos and slogans. In a nutshell, Marketing=PR=Ads=Marcom=Branding....
by Brant | Feb 17, 2009 | Brant's Rant, Process-Oriented Marketing, Startup Marketing
As with most marketing terms, the phrase “market segment” is often tossed about carelessly by entrepreneurs, technologists, and yes, even by some marketers. To my mind, however, segments are a cornerstone of market-driven business plans. Market segments...
by Brant | Feb 11, 2009 | Brant's Rant, Process-Oriented Marketing, Startup Marketing
A CEO of a high-tech start-up recently lamented to me: I was told I needed marketing, so I hired a PR firm and after 6 months and a lot of money, I got nothing. Paraphrasing, a local venture capitalist admits: Most CEOs lack marketing skills. They need marketing...
by Brant | Feb 9, 2009 | Brant's Rant, Metrics-Driven Marketing, Process-Oriented Marketing, Startup Marketing
A couple of years ago, a colleague and I began developing a process-oriented way to lead companies toward gaining market traction. The idea was born out of a conversation my colleague had with a partner at Sequoia Capital about how to significantly reduce, if not...
