eBook, presos, PDFs

Rational Growth (pdf). The team at AppSumo also sponsored an eBook based on a few interviews with me. It's supposed to be an intro to thinking about product and growth from an analytical POV.

Zero to product/market fit (preso). How to go from nothing to product/market fit, and why so many startups fail trying to get there.

SaaS isn't viral (preso). A critical examination on the factors that make SaaS products hard to distribute.

Minimum Desirable Product (preso). A presentation given to Steve Blank and Eric Ries's Lean Startup class at Berkeley about balancing business goals and user experience.

Growing renewable audiences (preso). A talk to the portfolio companies of O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures on why PR and press aren't important for scalable user acquisition.

How to create a profitable freemium startup (spreadsheet)

Facebook viral marketing: When and why do apps "jump the shark?" (spreadsheet)

The Viral Startup (pdf). The nice folks at Hyperink collected a bunch of my blog posts together and turned them into a PDF.

Search the archives

Lijit Search

Recent Essays (2011-current)

Below, I've organized some of the essays I've written in the last few years. Hope you enjoy them.

Growth

Product/Market Fit

Design

Blogging

Industry and Investing

Older content from 2007-2011

See below for some of my older content, from before 2013. Most of the discussion is about websites, and some of it outdated or wrong :) But I've archived them here to read at your leisure!

Viral marketing and user acquisition (2007-2011)

For web entrepreneurs, growing your userbase is a key challenge, alongside product development and financing. These posts emphasize a quantitative approach to getting traction and growing users.

Engagement and product design (2007-2013)

Using principles from game design and analysis of consumer behavior, these essays cover the process of creating experiences your customers will love.

Freemium and online ad monetization (2007-2013)

Social web product have unique characteristics as it applies to online advertising and direct monetization levels. These posts cover some of the issues around key topics such as ARPUs, conversion funnels, CPM rates, behavioral data, revenue modeling, etc.

• 3 key ideas from a recent Freemium dinner conversation
• 5 factors that determine your advertising CPM rates
• 5 things that make your social network monetize like crap
• 7 ideas for billion dollar startups in online advertising
• App monetization: Gambit launches, funnel metrics, and ARPU versus "CPM"
• Age (and ARPPU) ain't nothing but a number: How age impacts monetization (Guest post, Susan Su)
• Are social gaming offers scamming users? A detailed analysis
• Data portability: Is the social network data you're hoarding treasure or trash?
• Counting your big pile of Benjamins: 5 startup tips for maximizing ad revenue
• Creating value versus optimizing revenue
• Free to Freemium: 5 lessons learned from YouSendIt.com
• Freemium case study: AdultFriendFinder ARPU, churn, and conversion rates
• How to create a profitable Freemium startup (spreadsheet model included!)
• Ignore cougars, follow the money: 3 social gaming tips for monetizing younger users (Guest post, Susan Su)
• How NOT to calculate ad revenue
• How social gaming offers create value for everyone
• Online advertising during a recession: 5 key trends for ad-based startups
• Virtual goods summit video, The Whirled Case Study: metrics for the virtual goods business
• What's the value of a user on your site? Why it's hard to calculate lifetime value for social network audiences
• Your ad-supported consumer site is actually a B2B enterprise in disguise
• "Stealing MySpace" and my personal experience monetizing MySpace ads
• Super Rewards and the leadgen side of Facebook virtual currency - can it last?
• Remnant ads and the advertisers who love them
• Ad targeting talk from Community Next: People Not Pages (updated x2)
• Revenue, ARPU, Funnels, and RPM: My talk from Startonomics on Revenue metrics
• Ad-based versus direct monetization: Which one is better for you?
• What would Facebook look like if it sold out to ads? Click here to see...
• Will social payment platforms really work long-term? (Guest post by Jay Weintraub)

Metrics (2007-2013)

Without metrics, web entrepreneurs are just flying blind. These essays cover some of the organization and development issues around instituting a metrics system - what to measure, in what order, and how to implement them.

Media and games (2007-2013)

Traditional media, including TV, music, games, and movies are at a crossroads. Here are some thoughts on how the industry is changing and evolving.

Entrepreneurship and startup life in San Francisco (2007-2013)

Just a couple thoughts on things I've encountered while arriving in SF.

Favorite books

Click here for a list of my favorite books

Thanks for reading through this - that's all folks!