The one number (45) that explains Constant Contact’s success
The Business of Software Conference sounds like a phenomenal event. I haven’t attended it, but I did recently run across one of the sessions from their 2012 conference, a talk by Gail Goodman, the CEO of Constant Contact: For those who don’t know, Constant Contact is a publicly traded online marketing company with over 500,000 [...]
The Only Kind of Product That Can Pull Off Freemium
The Wall Street Journal finally picks up on the freemium trend (it’s only been 2-3 years, right?) The problem is, anyone reading the article is probably under the impression that what succeeds and what doesn’t i…
Bought vs. Sold (Why Jive is a dinosaur & Dropbox is the future)
Both Dropbox and Jive are successful companies that are much in the news recently. Jive just filed its S1 for its IPO, while Dropbox raised its first major round of funding at a $4 billion valuation. What’s most interesting to me is that they represent polar opposites in terms of business models. They illustrate the [...]
What If Every Developer Focused On Lifestyle Businesses?
I recently ran across this post from Justin Vincent, where he argues that entreporn–the overwhelming focus on chasing “the next big thing”–holds developers back from their full potential. Instead, he writes: “The absolute truth is that each and every one of us can build a business that can support us.” That’s bullshit. While Vincent makes [...]
To Make Money, Be A Garbageman
Plumbers and garbagemen make a good living despite their lack of PHP coding skills. That’s because they’re willing to do the necessary but unpleasant.Basic economics teaches us that prices are determined by supply and demand. Scarce skills like being …
What Internet Startups Can Learn From Comics And Porn Stars
It’s no secret that media businesses have struggled with monetization in the Internet era. Journalism, for example, is famously in free-fall. But all the hand-wringing conceals a simple fact: There is a very successful model that has been around for decades, and it still works today. All we have to do is learn from porn [...]
