Since the agricultural, and more recently the industrial revolution, specialization has been one of the key drivers of human economic progress. It allows for a unique win-win situation: You focus on what you do best. I do what I do best. Then we trade. In total, we produce better and more things, which keeps increasing…
Tag: Entrepreneurship
Growth Hacking 101
Usually, marketing focuses on getting new people into the door. Online marketing is great, because you can measure conversions. But that is not enough. If you take a closer look at your metrics, you may discover that up to 90% of your signups / downloads / free-trials don’t get active. Your bucket has holes. So…
Calculate your customer lifetime value
How to calculate the customer lifetime value of your internet business: Use a simple cohort analysis Take e.g. 1000 users that signed up 24 months ago, sum up the total revenue generated by these users, and calculate the average revenue per signup Do the same for users that signed up 12 months and 6 months ago Based…
Startups don’t die, they fade away
One of the most unfulfilling things I have done is to hold on to projects for too long. Especially projects where I’ve lost my commitment. Now I have a simple rule: Move forward, or move on. Fading away is not an option! After starting Trigami, our project Ayom was in limbo for a full 8…
Obsess about growth
Here are two fantastic posts from Y Combinator‘s Sam Altman and Paul Graham. Startup advice, briefly: Basically everything what Sam Altman knows, condensed in a very short and excellent post. Do things that don’t scale: Excellent essay by Paul Graham Key parts: “Listen to what your users tell you, improve your product, and then listen again. Keep…
There is always a move
A couple of months ago, I played chess against a youngster (maybe 13 or younger). I lost the game. We both played quite bad, and I played even worse. It was quite embarrassing. So I took this opportunity to renew my love for chess. I tried some chess apps and quickly decided that Chess.com app was the…
When nobody cares
One of the most difficult things for me to accept as an entrepreneur is the fact that — more often than not — nobody really cares about my products and services. Naturally when I am excited about something I expect the same enthusiasm by everybody else. This almost never happens. Yes, there may be interest, sometimes real, more often…
My Entrepreneurship Learnings
Some learnings I recently shared at Startup Weekend Basel.
The Secret of Making Money
One of the best talks about entrepreneurship and business models i’ve ever heard. Key thoughts: Charge money (WHO would have thought of that!!!) Provide great service (if you order shoes at 10pm and they are delivered the next morning, you’ll use this service again → Zappos) Be a decent italian restaurant. You don’t need to…
“Dutti der Riese”: Must-see Movie for Swiss Entrepreneurs
Thanks to a tip on the Superblog I found out about the movie “Dutti der Riese”, which I decided to watch on my birthday last Wednesday. My learnings:# Dutti probably was one of the greatest Entrepreneurs Switzerland has ever seen # He did not just have ideas, dreams and visions, but also the energy to…