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The CHARACTERISTICS of GREAT CONTENT and COMPELLING STORIES The social media revolution wrenched the keys to the cultural kingdom away from pundits and gatekeepers, giving ordinary people a voice. But the sound of so many people talking at the same time—not to mention opining, debating, entertaining, instructing, and doing all the other things people doContinue reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook 2”

The SETUP Where’s your phone? In your back pocket? On the table in front of you? In your hands because you’re using it to read this book? It’s probably somewhere within easy reach, unless you’re one of those people who are constantly misplacing their phones and my question has you rummaging through the laundry basketContinue reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook 1”

Conclusion: Beyond Startups If all goes well, you eventually stop being a startup. You’ve found product/ market fit, and you’re scaling even as your growth slows to that of a big company. But hopefully you’re still analytical. Hopefully you’re still thinking in terms of learning, and continuous improvement, and demanding that data back up yourContinue reading “Lean Analytics 31”

Lean from Within: Intrapreneurs As World War II exploded across Europe, the United States realized it needed a way to counteract German advances in aviation—specifically, jet aircraft. The US military asked Lockheed Martin (then the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation) to build a jet fighter. Desperate times called for desperate measures: in a month, the engineering teamContinue reading “Lean Analytics 30”

Selling into Enterprise Markets You now know a lot about data. It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. In this part of the book, we’ll look at how Lean Analytics is different for enterprise-focused startups, as well as for intrapreneurs trying to change things from within. We’ll also talk about howContinue reading “Lean Analytics 29”

What to Do When you Don’t Have a Baseline We’ve tried to describe some useful baselines. But if you’ve read through the past seven chapters, you’ll know that these numbers are rudimentary at best: you want churn below 2.5%; you want users to spend 17 minutes on your site if you’re in media or UGC;Continue reading “Lean Analytics 28”

two-Sided Marketplaces: Lines in the Sand Two-sided marketplaces are really a blend of two other models: e-commerce (because they’re built around transactions between buyers and sellers) and user-generated content (because they rely on sellers to create and manage listings whose quality affects the revenue and health of the marketplace). This means there’s a combination ofContinue reading “Lean Analytics 27”

user-generated Content: Lines in the Sand Content upload Success (Content upload success also applies to two-sided marketplaces) If there’s an action on your site that you want users to take because it’s key to success, it has a funnel you can track and optimize. On Facebook, for example, sharing photos is one of the mostContinue reading “Lean Analytics 26”

Media Site: Lines in the Sand Click-through Rates (Click-through rates also apply to UGC sites) A well-placed, relevant ad will get clicked more, but no matter what, ads are a numbers game: even the best ads seldom get as much as 5% clickthrough rates. A May 2012 study by CPC Strategy listed the top 10Continue reading “Lean Analytics 25”

Free Mobile App: Lines in the Sand Mobile Downloads The mobile application business suffers from a “long tail” of popularity: a few apps do very well, but most of them flounder. According to Ken Seto, founder and CEO of mobile game company Massive Damage, “Some indie game developers get as few as a couple ofContinue reading “Lean Analytics 24”