Product Habits - Bill Gurley on surviving downturns

Bill Gurley on Surviving Downturns

Startup founders who haven't yet experienced a bear market don't have the frameworks to deal with the current downturn. Most founders are necessarily optimistic, and optimizing for the realities of tough times isn't intuitive. Benchmark Capital Partner Bill Gurley shares his thoughts on how startups can tighten their belts, handle layoffs, and survive downturns. This is a must-watch. 

Bridge Loans

When fundraising gets more challenging for a startup, it's common for pre-existing investors to provide a bridge loan that helps extend the runway for getting another round done. Fred Wilson recently shared his thoughts on how he likes to structure a bridge, and it's worth a read for anyone in fundraising mode.

How To Pitch Your Company

I've seen plenty of pitch decks that don't effectively communicate what a startup does and why investors should be interested. This list of seven questions is a good guide for building a better deck. If you can answer all of them succinctly, you'll be well positioned for effective pitch conversations with investors. 

The Five Archetypes of Finding Product-Market Fit

In his research into the product-market fit journeys of successful B2C companies, Lenny Rachitsky identified five archetypes for how they found PMF. First, the "lightning in a bottle" companies are immediately clear and grow quickly. Then there are the "grind" companies that take 2-10 years of iterating before growth starts to pick up. But there are also several other archetypes. Here is the complete list with examples for each one. 

Design Theories That Stand the Test of Time

A product design leader shares his list of theories about design that he has yet to see disproven in his career. Here's one that stuck out to me: Software cannot grow past a certain scale and still be well-designed. Do you agree? 

How To Design a Referral Program

Referral programs have become popular in recent years. They come with significant advantages over paid marketing because you pass the customer acquisition cost on to current users rather than Google or Facebook. If done well, they can also be an effective form of viral marketing. If you want to try or improve a referral program, this is a thorough guide on how to do it. 

A Mutiny Against Traditional Marketing

Whenever you can personalize an experience for potential users, you'll tend to see a meaningful lift in your conversion rate. For example, it's worth the effort to make customized, hyper-personalized landing pages for specific personas rather than a generic landing page because the former will consistently outperform the latter. Startup company Mutiny is looking to make personalized marketing easier. 

The SaaS Growth Strategy Worksheet

I stumbled upon this framework for creating, analyzing, and optimizing SaaS startup growth strategy. The three key elements are developing a marketing strategy, a product strategy, and a go-to-market strategy. Each part comes with its own share of considerations. Here are the essential things to understand about each one.