Making Meaning, Money and Magic In The Business of

Software

Dharmesh Shah Co-founder/CTO, HubSpot Blogger, OnStartups.com

@dharmesh

* I have strong opinions on things I don’t fully understand.

HubSpot provides the

toolbelt to make

marketing superheros

p.s. Kathy Sierra changed my life. Thanks, Kathy!

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HubSpot Customer

Growth

Your company should be

coming from a place of

love.

Zynga’s motto is “do evil”. It is one of the most evil places I’ve run into from a culture perspective and in its business approach.

Before you gamify your product,

you should decrapify it.

Go big great or go home.

Attention is finite, problems are infinite. Build companies that solve problems.

Work on a problem you care enough about that you’d be happy even if someone else solved it. @dharmesh

From: Software Equity Group, LLC

=

Revenue? What about

profits?!

From: Software Equity Group, LLC

Great! So, how do I

increase the revenue multiple?

From: Software Equity Group, LLC

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A better engine lets

you go faster.

Visibility: The further you can see, the faster you can go.

The better your brakes, the faster you

can go.

Build a moat around your castle.

~Warren Buffet

You don’t just want customers. You want crazy loyal fans.

Technical switching costs should be low.

Emotional switching costs should be high.

Rivalry

Threat of Entrants

Buyer Power

Substitutes

Supplier Power

Porter’s Five Forces

Framework

Pick markets where the

barrier to exit is low.

Really? I can build my business on your platform?

Platform partnerships are awesome. Until they’re

not.

How important is culture?

Your early culture sets your future destiny

How do I scale my team without losing my culture?

Take the

mask off

Strive not just to build a great startup. Strive to build great entrepreneurs. @dharmesh

Daddy’s been stressed out about this.

Hopefully he did OK.

Love,

Sohan

42

Good

Morning!

I love open discussion and debate tweet: @dharmesh OnStartups.com