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eCommerce Rule #4: Your goal: cheap, fast and free
If there is one thing you can count on, it’s that consumers will always want lower prices. And once a consumer spends money online, she wants immediate gratification. So for an online retailer, there’s...
View ArticleeCommerce Rule #5: It’s the service, stupid
In Rule #1, we discussed the importance of building a brand penny by penny with direct response advertising. Embedded in this rule was the assumption that your offering "works." Paying Google and...
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eCommerce Rule #6: Only lemmings focus on last-click marketing
Since the advent of online advertising, the conventional wisdom among Web marketers is that the provider of the “last click” that delivers a user to a particular Web site before a purchase “closed the...
View ArticleeCommerce Rule #7: Affiliates are risky. Don't let them pick your pocket.
Affiliates are third parties that charge a commission when a user clicks through a link on one of their sites to a merchant and subsequently completes a transaction (usually a purchase). On the face of...
View ArticleeCommerce Rule #8: WWAD (What Would Amazon Do)?
Amazon was among the first online retailers to offer many of the elements so crucial to e-commerce today: obsession with customer service, affiliate marketing, product reviews, free shipping, a VIP...
View ArticleeCommerce Rule #9: Identify your best customers, encourage customer loyalty,...
The rise of social-media services like Facebook and Twitter, and the explosion of niche blogs, means your customers now have very public microphones with which they can broadcast their feelings about...
View ArticleeCommerce Rule #10: Keep it social, but keep your data too
Social media isn’t just for promoting and evangelizing. Sites like Facebook and Twitter now need to be considered a core part of any e-tailer’s sales and marketing strategy. People are spending an...
View ArticleeCommerce Laws: Conclusion
Your first reaction after reading these ten rules may be, “Yeah, sounds good in a world of endless resources and time!” We understand. In the early days of a young eCommerce business, you can only do...
View ArticleApprenticeship, BVP and Thanksgiving
A couple weeks ago, Ben Siscovick over at IA Ventures wrote a really wonderful post on the importance of being mentored as a young VC. As Ben wrote,“In fact, it’s a complete wonder to me that young...
View ArticleCalifornia Dreamin'
In late February, I’m going to be moving to San Francisco to work in Bessemer’s Menlo Park office. Having lived in NYC for most of my life, the move is really bittersweet. On the bitter (read: sad)...
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Being coachable
The other day, a very talented NYC-based entrepreneur asked me if I could grab lunch with him. He’s the CEO of a company whose user growth is the quintessential “hockey stick” ramp (so much so, that...
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The makings of an overnight success
Almost a year ago to the day, I mentioned on my blog that I would be hosting a Pitch Deck Study Hall. My offer was for people to send me their Pitch Decks, and I would try to provide some feedback....
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Prediction: Facebook won't be a viable marketing strategy for startups
Chris Dixon is causing (surprise surprise :) a bit of an uproar with his blog post "SEO is no longer a viable marketing strategy for startups." Chris's post is overstated but what I agree with is that...
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A big thank you to the Cornerstone OnDemand team!
Four and a half years ago, I started digging into the software as a service space, pursuing an investment roadmap that Bessemer was very excited about. Early on, I came across Cornerstone OnDemand....
View ArticleStop calling Groupon “social commerce”.
There is a lot of enthusiasm and attention around “social commerce” right now. People point to companies like Groupon, Living Social, ShoeDazzle and others as examples of the promise of a new...
View ArticleAccomplishment Arbitrage
I've noticed there is a fair amount of what I'll call "accomplishment arbitrage" taking place regularly in the tech world right now. "Accomplishment arbitrage" occurs if someone refers to an...
View Article2011 is the year entrepreneurship went global
Entrepreneurship is flourishing everywhere. Not just in the US, not just Israel, not just China. Everywhere. The world wide web always held the promise of a flat world, but the startup world is finally...
View ArticleAre you a vitamin, a painkiller… or a drug?
It’s become commonplace to describe products as either painkillers (“need to have”) or vitamins (“nice to have”). Painkillers are products that address existing needs/pain points. Companies selling...
View ArticleCan product "disruption" become a new paradigm?
Facebook is an incredible company, and it’s incredible for many, many reasons. But one of the things that most impresses and amazes me is Facebook’s relentless reinvention. The company has disrupted...
View ArticleHolding your hand to the fire
Several months ago, I wrote a post about the four stages of learning. Implicit in the transition out of stage 1, the "enthusiastic beginner", is the fact that to really learn something, you need to...
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