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Ruthless prioritization while the dog pees on the floor
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.
Bootstrapped CPC rule of thumb: ARPU/25
Bootstrapped and unsure about CPC? Use the rule of ARPU/25.
More or less
You must select between three pricing strategies, and fully commit to their implications.
Rude Q&A: The constructive devil's advocate
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.
When customers buy your competitor's product… and then buy yours
Little, unknown companies with silly names can sell to enterprises who have already spent millions.
Invention is Drudgery
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.
Product Purgatory: When they love it but still don't buy
When even "free" is too expensive.
How to get customers who love you even when you screw up
Customers love you when you're honest, even about your foibles. We forgive honest mistakes from earnest people, not stolid, cold, inhuman corporations.
SSEBITDA--A steady-state profit metric for SaaS companies
How can a business that is "spending to grow" determine whether it's truly profitable underneath all that "revenue acceleration?" Here's a way.
Startup Exercise: What can't be solved with money?
What can't be solved with money, are the most valuable things.
Sometimes never compete on price
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.
How to simplify complex decisions by cleaving the facts
Simplify complex decisions by separating upsides from downsides, investing in upsides, vetoing with downsides, and using an appropriate decision framework.
All pretty models are wrong, but some ugly models are useful
Identifying useful frameworks for companies, strategy, markets, and organizations, instead of those that just look pretty in PowerPoint.
Reframing "Freemium" by charging the marketing department
Freemium means high costs, low conversion, and customer feedback dominated by the non-ideal customer. Treat it as a marketing expense to ensure ROI.
The wrongness of relativism
Comparing yourself to other startups? Focus on yourself instead.
"I scratched my own itch" isn't good enough
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.
Why it's nice to compete against a large, profitable company
Competing against big firms? Their revenue streams are their Achilles heel. Learn how smaller startups have a shot.
How to select your first marketing channel
When you're brand new, how do you select your first marketing channel?
Our unhealthy fixation with emulating #1
Being "undefeated" or "number 1" might be more luck than you know.
The Startup Drake Equation
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.