Creating a Data-Driven Startup

1e0b89277a144c44b0c25aa5a0fdbf07?s=47 dcancel
September 09, 2010
Business
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Creating a Data-Driven Startup

An update to my original Data-Driven Startups talk ( http://davidcancel.com/data-driven-startups/ ). This talk was given at the MIT Startup Bootcamp (Sept. 2010).

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September 09, 2010
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Transcript

  1. David Cancel - @dcancel Creating a Data-Driven Startup Startup Bootcamp

    @ MIT Cambridge, MA, September 2010 Twitter hash tags: #datadriven #sb2010

  2. David Cancel - @dcancel David Cancel @dcancel

  3. David Cancel - @dcancel Who am I Companies Advisor Investor

  4. David Cancel - @dcancel http://www.performable.com/ @performable

  5. David Cancel - @dcancel The Problem: 98% of the people

    who visit your site, leave never to return.

  6. David Cancel - @dcancel “The average conversion rate in the

    United States of America whether you're selling elephants or iPods.” Avinash Kaushik - Analytics Evangelist, Google 2%

  7. David Cancel - @dcancel The Solution: Our software helps you

    find, engage and convert more of your website visitors into customers.

  8. David Cancel - @dcancel Performable Connect

  9. David Cancel - @dcancel 3 Lessons I Learned the Hard

    Way

  10. David Cancel - @dcancel Lesson 1: The middle sucks.

  11. David Cancel - @dcancel Fail Win Startup Lifecycle

  12. David Cancel - @dcancel Fail Win Startup Lifecycle

  13. David Cancel - @dcancel Fail Win Valley of Death Startup

    Lifecycle

  14. David Cancel - @dcancel Most startups die before launching.

  15. David Cancel - @dcancel Your “demo” is useless.

  16. David Cancel - @dcancel Demos are useless

  17. David Cancel - @dcancel So is your business plan.

  18. David Cancel - @dcancel Business Plans are worth $0

  19. David Cancel - @dcancel Hate Love Product Feedback

  20. David Cancel - @dcancel Hate Love Product Feedback

  21. David Cancel - @dcancel Hate Love “Interesting” Product Feedback

  22. David Cancel - @dcancel I hate your idea This is

    good http://www.flickr.com/photos/spaceface4/4001060687/

  23. David Cancel - @dcancel I love your idea Even better

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/spaceface4/4001060687/

  24. David Cancel - @dcancel I don’t care Avoid this at

    all costs http://www.flickr.com/photos/krieg/2194867096/

  25. David Cancel - @dcancel Dream Traction Raising Money

  26. David Cancel - @dcancel Dream Traction Raising Money

  27. David Cancel - @dcancel Dream Traction I have a “demo”

    Raising Money

  28. David Cancel - @dcancel Lesson 2: Your idea doesn’t matter.

  29. David Cancel - @dcancel Solve a critical problem. Forget your

    idea.

  30. David Cancel - @dcancel How do you know if you’re

    solving a critical problem?

  31. David Cancel - @dcancel Warning Sign: “If ...”

  32. David Cancel - @dcancel “If it was easier to use

    I would start using it.”

  33. David Cancel - @dcancel “If I had more time...”

  34. David Cancel - @dcancel “If it was cheaper I would

    start using it.”

  35. David Cancel - @dcancel Lesson 3: The secret.

  36. David Cancel - @dcancel Liquidity Discover the secret

  37. David Cancel - @dcancel Are you ready to learn the

    secret?

  38. David Cancel - @dcancel #JFDI

  39. David Cancel - @dcancel #JFDI Just Fucking Do It.

  40. David Cancel - @dcancel #JFDI Just Fucking Do It. Please.

  41. David Cancel - @dcancel No more excuses It’s that simple.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/88933162@N00/481537731/

  42. David Cancel - @dcancel Lean Startup? Customer Development? Who cares...

  43. David Cancel - @dcancel It can all be summarized into

    one sentence.

  44. David Cancel - @dcancel Does anyone care about your product?

  45. David Cancel - @dcancel There are NO repeatable patterns for

    startup success. None. Stop looking for one.

  46. David Cancel - @dcancel Go solve a real problem.

  47. David Cancel - @dcancel Ok enough ranting.

  48. David Cancel - @dcancel http://www.flickr.com/photos/joao_trindade/4363149160/

  49. David Cancel - @dcancel Optimize your startup for learning by

    creating a data-driven framework.

  50. David Cancel - @dcancel Analytics & A/B Testing are also

    not the answer.

  51. David Cancel - @dcancel Use quantitative & qualitative data to

    test YOUR assumptions.

  52. David Cancel - @dcancel Multivariate Testing is Useless.

  53. David Cancel - @dcancel You are way too small to

    matter.

  54. David Cancel - @dcancel The point of testing is to

    prove or disprove assumptions quickly.

  55. David Cancel - @dcancel Optimize your startup for learning not

    data.

  56. David Cancel - @dcancel The 3 Steps to Data-Driven Startup

    Enlightenment

  57. David Cancel - @dcancel Data-Driven Startup Checklist ★ Operating Dashboard

    ★ Conversion Funnel Analysis ★ Cohort Analysis

  58. David Cancel - @dcancel Skip the fancy shit and use

    Google Spreadsheet. Ghettofabulous.

  59. David Cancel - @dcancel Step 1: The Operating Dashboard.

  60. David Cancel - @dcancel A single place for your entire

    team to see where you suck the most.

  61. David Cancel - @dcancel Company-wide dashboard Everyone! Including interns. Fictional

  62. David Cancel - @dcancel Every initiative has to map to

    positive changes in these numbers.

  63. David Cancel - @dcancel Kill all features that don’t improve

    your operating metrics.

  64. David Cancel - @dcancel Only move to the second step

    after you’ve mastered the Operating Dashboard.

  65. David Cancel - @dcancel Step 2: Conversion Funnels

  66. David Cancel - @dcancel Metrics are fun, but Funnels kick

    ass.

  67. David Cancel - @dcancel Fancy Forget pretty visualizations

  68. David Cancel - @dcancel Pretty Wasted time

  69. David Cancel - @dcancel Keep it raw & ugly Do

    this tomorrow morning.

  70. David Cancel - @dcancel Monitor your funnel weekly to see

    how changes are impacting your business.

  71. David Cancel - @dcancel If you aren’t doing this you

    are implementing lots of useless features.

  72. David Cancel - @dcancel Step 3: Cohort Analysis

  73. David Cancel - @dcancel This is the “shot caller” of

    all analyses. Respect.

  74. David Cancel - @dcancel Cohort Analysis by Fred Wilson (post)

  75. David Cancel - @dcancel Without a cohort analysis you are

    flying blind.

  76. David Cancel - @dcancel Is your churn going up or

    down?

  77. David Cancel - @dcancel You don’t have a clue until

    you’ve done a cohort analysis.

  78. David Cancel - @dcancel Cohort analytics is in closed beta.

    Apply at Performable.com.

  79. David Cancel - @dcancel Just a few more rants.

  80. David Cancel - @dcancel Data Visualizations are a Waste of

    Time.

  81. David Cancel - @dcancel Focus on your business. Not data.

  82. David Cancel - @dcancel No one cares how smart you

    are except for your mom.

  83. David Cancel - @dcancel Only one thing matters.

  84. David Cancel - @dcancel Does anyone care about your product?

  85. David Cancel - @dcancel Thank You! David Cancel Email: dcancel@dcancel.com

    Twitter: dcancel http://davidcancel.com