Up & Right - Latest Comments

Re: http://tomloverro.com/post/12888729043

John LeBaron — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:45:56 -0000

Your post reminded me of our TAM calculations for the Android Store...the article below reminded me of the nightmare that is selling Android: http://www.minimallyminimal.co...

Re: http://tomloverro.com/post/12295081905

briboy — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 09:15:58 -0000

Very solid. I haven't done either (yet) but I have a good friend who has done both, so I live vicariously through him. Impressive guy.

Re: http://tomloverro.com/post/12295081905

Thomas Loverro — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:17:07 -0000

We should catch up over dinner and continue our discussion from earlier this year on thinking about starting or participating in a cancer & startup related cause. I'll drop you an email this w/e.

Re: http://tomloverro.com/post/12295081905

jonsteinberg — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:06:51 -0000

Tom moving post...

Re: My New Ringtone: a 56k Modem

junkie — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:03:21 -0000

Had the same thoughts today. Google can find anything!!

Re: WSJ.com vs WSJ iPad App

Socal — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:28:05 -0000

I just downloaded ipad app. It doesnt even have a SEARCH function - something I really liked on wsj.com. They dumbed it down - so I will stick to wsj.com

Re: Screw 140 Characters: 32,000 Characters on How to Fix RIM & BlackBerry

Collin West — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:37:18 -0000

I hope you got an A on your paper - great article, thanks for sharing.

Re: Android “Vista Pie”

Jason Nash — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 04:52:48 -0000

Hello,

I have been trying to get in touch with you for an update regarding our business proposal. I have not had much luck, so unless I hear otherwise.
Or perhaps that my emails might have been caught by any spam filters.

Please let me know if you have any concerns or general feedback regarding our proposal or business sponsorships.

Regards,
Jason

Re: Do Startups Need Marketing?

Nicolas Mottet — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 12:49:28 -0000

This is a great post. I remember discussing this topic with Professor Kotler. His take was that absolutely marketing is necessary, but advertising should be avoided to start with. As an entrepreneur, you need to focus on building a "love mark" for a specific customer segment. Advertising can be very helpful later on when you need to scale up and increase awareness beyond early adopters.

Re: Who Do You Think Will Win More Consumers?

Ali Anani — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 11:00:49 -0000

I agree with this post. Emotional values are exceptionally important. I voiced my opinion in a recent presentation on slideshare entitled 'Applied emotional laddering". I give examples of four personal experiences that are in conformity with Apple's strategy. The link is
http://www.slideshare.net/huda...

Re: Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade (WAU) Pricing

Lily Wu — Tue, 03 May 2011 05:36:41 -0000

I think the cost is too high too.
<li>PCBA

</li><li>SMT Assembly
</li>

Re: Apple Cuts ZFS from Snow Leopard?

Lily Wu — Tue, 03 May 2011 05:27:13 -0000

great,it's fun and easy.
<li>PCBA
</li><li>Manufacturing
</li><li>SMT Assembly
</li>

Re: Do Startups Need Marketing?

Lily Wu — Tue, 03 May 2011 05:13:12 -0000

I think it's a great idea.

Re: Do Startups Need Marketing?

Lily Wu — Tue, 03 May 2011 05:11:46 -0000

i think great.

Re: iPad Analysis: History Repeats Itself

NicolasCacace — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:08:36 -0000

I agree to a certain point - People use desktops for business Apps only because no one develops Desktop lifestyle Apps.

A computer is a tool. If someone designs a a desktop application for lifestyle for the Desktop then there is no reason why a person would not choose to interact with it on a desktop.

You obviously don't create things but you are a manager as you sound like you get by on sending emails and surfing the web - you certainly can't effectively produce something on a laptop. Most serious programmers need multiple screens to work on and designers - forgeddaboudit!

- Hope I didn't sound derogatory with calling you a Manager as it was not meant to.

Re: A good product is an exercise in exclusion

Jason Nash — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 02:03:33 -0000

Hi,

I am writing to follow up on my last email regarding our sensible proposal for your site because I did not receive a response.
We have had a server problem lately and I’m afraid I couldn’t read your email.

We just want to find out if your are open in discussing a sponsorship proposal for your page.

Best regards,
Jason Nash

Re: Groupon 1.0 started on a WordPress blog

Jason Nash — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:02:41 -0000

Hello,

webhostingsearch.com is a high-principled website review of all low-cost but qualitative web hosting providers in the market.
It is respected and trusted in its field. Your site is positively first-class in its material and tips to everyone.

I would like to offer a business proposal. I'm very much confident that this could benefit both our sites.

Are you interested?

Thanks,
Jason Nash
jason.nash@webhostgear.com

Re: RIP RSS: RSS is a Failed Technology

Chzen — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:20:15 -0000

Complicated? No, RSS is as simple as it gets. Perhaps you should read more.

Re: Do Startups Need Marketing?

Thomas Loverro — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:29:44 -0000

I agree Mark--it's not enough to just bet on a great product. Marketing is all about figuring out the go-to-market strategy to maximize the chances that product thrives in the marketplace.

Re: Do Startups Need Marketing?

Thomas Loverro — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:24:54 -0000

Thanks Jim.

Re: Do Startups Need Marketing?

Thomas Loverro — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:24:34 -0000

Thanks Andrew.

Re: Do Startups Need Marketing?

Thomas Loverro — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:24:11 -0000

Yes, Flipboard has a marketing team and they were early on the team. I helped build a company called Drobo (Data Robotics) and we also had a marketing team from day one or maybe day two :-) Marketing helped define who the technology who would be best suited for, what features to include and how to reach customers. I credit Director of Products, Mark Fuccio, with a lot of that work. If we hadn't had that marketing insight the product would have not appealed to anyone in particular. Instead we focused first on a specific customer segment (semi-pro photographers) and then built the business from there (your typical bowling pin marketing approach).

Re: Do Startups Need Marketing?

Mark Birch — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:17:08 -0000

I think the history of great products that got trounced in the market and bit the dust early is pretty well established by now. What Fred is saying is truly scary as it is going to send many an early stage start-up off a cliff listening to seat of the pants advice. I have seen first hand how the "build it and they will come" approach has eventually destroyed promising companies.

What separates merely a great product from one that is successful in marketing. That is what Apple used to its advantage to unseat MP3 competitors with its first iPod or with its first line of Macs in the 80's.

Same with many a start-up, even consumer web plays. Every single founder of a consumer web startup that I have ever talked to used marketing to significantly accelerate their growth, whether they did their own PR, scored key partnerships, targeted specific market segments, leveraged social media, etc. Some of these efforts were for no direct dollar cost or low cost efforts, but they were all MARKETING and they do have a cost in hours spent in building strategy, planning, execution, follow-up and measurement of effectiveness. There is always more to the story than saying it "went viral", hit the tipping point and became Facebook or Groupon or Twitter.

Re: Do Startups Need Marketing?

im2b_dl — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:00:53 -0000

So Flipboard and Dropbox hired marketers as startups? Because that is what Fred was referring too wasn't it? When he said marketing was for companies that suck... It was a direct reference to hiring marketers or setting aside the piece of the very limited pie that should be going to making sure you have a product worth marketing. So Flipboard and Dropbox paid marketers as start-ups?

Re: Do Startups Need Marketing?

Andrew Skotzko — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 21:49:38 -0000

Solid post, Tom. Too easy to confuse the terms 'marketing' and 'advertising'. But totally agree with you that paid customer acquisition doesn't usually make sense right off the bat.

Having some experience in enterprise / non-consumer web, it's not so clear. It often makes sense to spend marketing dollars on the right conference, for example, if it's really going to connect you with the right people. Just one example that comes to mind. Thanks again for the good post.