A Missive to Human Resources (HR)
I built a very successful marketing career based on a three-word mission statement that I picked up from Chris Greendale, back when I was a product marketer at Ingres. Chris always said that marketing exists to make sales easier. I loved those three words. I embraced that simple concept. I made it my reductionist mission statement. I taught […]
The Ultimate SaaS Metric: The Customer Lifetime Value to Customer Acquisition Cost Ratio (LTV/CAC)
I’m a big fan of software-as-a-service (SaaS) metrics. I’ve authored very deep posts on SaaS renewals rates and customer acquisition costs. I also routinely point readers to other great posts on the topic, including: David Skok’s excellent posts on SaaS metrics Bessemer’s great articles on cloud computing, the CAC ratio, and more recently 30 Questions every SaaS leaders should […]
Why, as CEO, I Love Driver-Based Planning
While driver-based planning is a bit of an old buzzword (the first two Google hits date to 2009 and 2011 respectively), I am nevertheless a huge fan of driver-based planning not because the concept was sexy back in the day, but because it’s incredibly useful. In this post, I’ll explain why. When I talk to finance people, I tend […]
Digital Transformation has a Big Data complex
Digital Transformation is real and is here. McKinsey & Co. has some excellent survey results on digital trends. Incredibly good insights. Exhibit 4 shows how the investment stacks up for digital initiatives. Not surprising that Big Data came in last. In and of it self it’s too nebulous to be a stand out. But Big Data is […]
This Transformation Feels Different. Disruptively So.
Digital Transformation is here. Consider this: Travelocity changed how we purchase a hotel room. AirBnB is changing the very definition of a hotel room altogether. Taxi Medallions have been great investments. Until now, that is. Uber is changing the very definition of a cab. Starbucks now deprives your bank of float altogether with its loyalty card that hangs on […]
Ten Classic Business Books for Entrepreneurs / Startup Founders
I often get asked by technical founders what business / marketing / strategy books they should read. While there are many excellent relatively new books (e.g., The Lean Startup), the primary purpose of this post is to list a set of classic business books that most (older) business people have read — and that I think […]
Disrupting Today’s Workplace – Part One
I laugh every time I write the title “future of work”, I mean, how presumptuous can one document / post / presentation be to outline the entire future of work. I’m going with “disruption of work” for this one. Oh well, titles aside, it’s a topic that I’m extremely interested in, and have been looking […]
Tasty Salted Pig Parts
Tasty Salted Pig Parts is the tag line for Chef Chris Cosentino’s Boccalone, a meticulously well-stocked salumeria inside San Francisco’s Ferry Building. I’ve hunted down salumerias in the back alleys of many little towns in Emilia Romagna. Trust me – Boccalone is really all that. I highly recommend it. What does this have to do with technology products? […]
If Marc Benioff Carried a Rabbit’s Foot, Would You?
In business we have a sad tendency to copy success blindly. I remember the first time I read about this I didn’t even understand what I was reading: “Nothing in business is so remarkable as the conflicting variety of success formulas offered by its numerous practitioners and professors. And if, in the case of practitioners […]
Strategic Focus: I’m Just Trying to Get My Space Together
As a long-time Grateful Dead fan, I have to say that I was advantaged in understanding how the Blown to Bits problem would affect digital media businesses. You see, for years, the Dead had changed the business model of the music industry, choosing to use “albums” as a loss leader and choosing to make money […]
