Traction: How Startups Start | NextView Ventures

There's no denying the sheer creative power of the internet, but too often, it turns into a race to the bottom -- more clicks (and therefore more clickbait), more pageviews, more impressions, more ads.

When Tony Haile first became CEO of Chartbeat, the analytics startup based in New York City, he faced this massive problem of an internet teeming with clickbait headlines and short-term thinking. He also faced challenges like competing directly with Google Analytics (and the annoyingly competitive price point of "free"). It was his first experience in analytics, too, and he wound up selling his product to a user base (writers and others in editorial) that historically strayed away from data.

Easy, right?

This episodes also includes…

1. The tradeoffs Tony made to compete with a goliath like Google
2. Tips for media and other content-driven platforms (including blogs) for rethinking its key metric from clicks and pageviews to something else -- and the tech breakthrough that helped Chartbeat create it
3. What the future holds for an internet that's becoming increasingly divided between gaming systems and refreshing creativity

Follow Tony @arctictony and visit chartbeat.com to learn more.

And let me know what you think of the show — tweet me (Jay Acunzo) @jayacunzo. You can also subscribe to receive every episode plus weekly insights and resources about gaining startup traction: bit.ly/nvsubscribe

Justin Robinson, co-founder of mobile startup and liquor delivery app Drizly, talks about some of the ridiculously non-scalable things they had to do just to get their business off the ground in the right way. In addition, he'll share some tactics and stories around being a location-based startup and all the challenges that come with trying to gain traction anew in each market. This episodes includes...

1) The huge (if stereotypical) mistake Justin and his co-founder Nick made when they started, and how that ironically helped them

2) Why they spent six months working for a liquor retailer and the comical but powerful things that led to

3) How expanding from your home city to other locations differs

4) How to gain credibility in an industry populated by traditionally-minded partners

Follow Justin @glassrobinson and visit drizly.com to learn more.

And let me know what you think of the show -- tweet me (Jay Acunzo) @jayacunzo.

You can also subscribe to receive every episode plus weekly insights and resources about gaining startup traction: goo.gl/ybmG2V

Hilary Mason, founder at Fast Forward Labs and Data Scientist in Residence at Accel Partners, debunks some of the myths around startups being "data-driven." In addition, she tackles some complex but critical topics and translates them for the rest of us. This episodes includes...

1) A clear definition of what data science actually is (and should be)

2) Hard truth about how much a startup should actually value its data

3) The evolution of the field of data science, who should use it, and where it's going and why

Follow Hilary @hmason and visit fastforwardlabs.com to learn more.

And let me know what you think of the show -- tweet me (Jay Acunzo) @jayacunzo.

You can also subscribe to receive every episode plus weekly insights and resources about gaining startup traction: goo.gl/4eP9Ch

Ben Einstein, Founder/Partner of BOLT, an early-stage VC investing in hardware startups, shares the stories of several connected devices and hardware companies and their tricks and challenges. We compare and contrast software to hardware in this episode, examining three core aspects of building any company:

1) Building early products (customer dev, prototypes, etc.)

2) Acquiring initial customers (including one "magic" number Ben proposes for a hardware startup to reach)

3) Raising seed capital. (In a fun rant, Ben addresses his fellow investors and tells them how they need to change their approaches to hardware startups and their founders.)

Follow Ben @beneinstein and visit bolt.io to learn more.

And let me know what you think of the show -- tweet me (Jay Acunzo) @jayacunzo

You can also subscribe to receive all NextView projects focused on helping startups gain initial traction, as well as episodes of the show. Click here: goo.gl/4eP9Ch

Sandi MacPherson, Founder of Quibb, a private community of tech tastemakers sharing professional content and discussions, tells the story of creating an application-only social network. She also shares her vision for an important project helping address the lack of women in tech: the 50/50 Pledge. In this episode, you'll hear...

1) The mission behind the great 50/50 Pledge (visit 5050pledge.com to learn more)

2) How an application-only model for a social network affects your model and early traction (and why it's CRUCIAL that Quibb use this model).

3) How Sandi has been able to build a social network where thoughtful, meaningful, and human conversations actually happen in the comments. (Are we sure this is the internet?)

Follow Sandi @sandimac and apply to join Quibb at quibb.com.

And let me know what you think of the show -- tweet me (Jay Acunzo) @jayacunzo.

You can also subscribe to receive all NextView projects focused on helping startups gain initial traction, as well as episodes of the show. Click here: goo.gl/4eP9Ch

In this episode, Gabriel Weinberg, CEO of Duck Duck Go and author of Traction, the book (no connection to this show), shares the story of building a search engine to compete with Google, battle privacy concerns, and gain initial traction with an atypical product. You'll also hear...

1) The framework behind the popular book, Traction: How to get traction and seek explosive growth for your startup ... with an actual plan and purpose. The framework is called "Bullseye."

2) Common pitfalls to avoid when testing various channels and moving through this traction framework, including what timeframe and dollar amount to focus on while testing.

Follow Gabriel @yegg and learn more about the second edition of the book, Traction at tractionbook.com

And let me know what you think of the show -- tweet me (Jay Acunzo) @jayacunzo.

*NEW: Check out the NextView platform of resources for startup traction. Visit nextviewventures.com/platform or subscribe

Exciting times ahead! Just a quick preview. Send us feedback anytime by tweeting me @jayacunzo

Danielle Morrill, CEO of Mattermark -- In this episode, Danielle shares her company's origin story, including how they created an addicting, ubiquitous newsletter read by VCs and entrepreneurs everywhere. You'll also hear...

1) Why a TV show inspired Danielle to launch a media company, not software startup, and why she was disillusioned with Silicon Valley.

2) The domino effect of thinking and operating that way at first and how this led to the SaaS startup success that is Mattermark today.

3) Why Danielle would outright argue with almost every VC she called to sell early on in the company's history.

Follow Danielle @DanielleMorrill and subscribe to the Mattermark Daily newsletter at mattermark.com/app/newsletter

Let me know what you think of the show -- tweet me (Jay Acunzo) @jayacunzo

NYC's Vin Vacanti of Yipit -- In this episode of Traction, we tell the story of Vin Vacanti, co-founder/CEO of Yipit (daily deals aggregator) and YipitData (analyzes web data for institutional investors). This episode features a really great story with some very tangible lessons and tactics that Vin willingly shares, including...

1) Why Vin and his co-founder taught themselves to code long before it was common -- and well before any tools existed to shortcut your learning the ropes. As a result, Vin has a great framework for deciding if this is a viable path for your product.

2) Exactly how Vin launched Yipit.com and built his list to the initial 10K and 50K users.

3) Why Vin decided to pivot the business (read: launch a second startup) and what he learned going from B2C to B2B.

Listeners should also check out Vin's blog, ViniciusVacanti.com.

BONUS: Subscribe to nextviewvc.com/blog by September 10, 2015, for a special mini-episode with Vin's framework for non-technical founders to decide whether they need a technical co-founder, featuring a special guest!

Let me know what you think of the show -- tweet me (Jay Acunzo) @Jay_zo

Scott Belsky -- co-founder/CEO of Behance.

Brand. Mission. Emotion. These are things that, perhaps surprisingly to some, are still not widely preached, taught, accepted, or built around by investors and tech entrepreneurs alike. But in this episode, Scott Belsky talks about their critical importance and exactly how he built the popular creative portfolio platform, Behance. And, really, this is a story about how he sparked a bigger, medium-agnostic movement across the globe among creatives ... all on the backs of those things that some in tech too easily brush aside.

Scott's thought leadership is popular and widely followed, and you'll want to hear some of the things he did to bootstrap Behance and gain initial traction, not least of which was creating and selling a paper notebook as his very first product. From his description of the resulting digital movement, it doesn't seem possible that a notebook is where they could have started. Credit goes to the power of a passionate mission combined with an entrepreneur hellbent on gaining traction.

LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

Scott's Company: Behance.net

Scott's Twitter: @ScottBelsky

DESIGNER CONTRIBUTORS (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)

Dan DiGangi (@dandigangi, http://dandigangi.com/)

Tyler Littwin (@tblittwin, https://dribbble.com/TBLittwin)

Kyle Mitchell (@jaggedlines, http://jaggedlines.com)

Renessa Ciampa (http://ciampacreative.com/)

Bobby Kane (@bobbyjkane, http://www.bobbyjkane.com/)

Ariel Simon (@arielsimonsays, http://arielsimon.com/)

>>> Let me know what you think of the show -- tweet me (Jay Acunzo) @Jay_zo