2022-02-26 19:24
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We had been flying for four hours, but both gas gauges still read “full.” I didn’t need a pilot’s license to know that couldn’t be right, nor to feel… Read More
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@asmartbear - Wp Engine - Startups + Marketing + G Blog
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Startups, marketing, entrepreneurship, ideas, tips, and geeky stuff from Jason Cohen, founder of WP Engine and Smart Bear Software.
2019-11-04 15:45
Do you feel the crushing weight of the disadvantages facing every new company? No brand, no features, no customers, no money, no distribution, no search engine rankings, no efficient ad… Read More
2019-10-08 15:30
I won a fake stock market competition in elementary school.
I put all my money in a few penny stocks — where prices are less than a dollar, and because of their small denomin… Read More
2019-02-26 15:30
Startup strategy is like Kung Fu. There are many styles that work. But in a bar fight, you’re going to get punched in the face regardless.
I can only teach you my style. Others can… Read More
2018-09-19 14:30
You roll down the windows and wear a helmet when you take your car to the track. This does not make me less terrified of a fiery death.
The American Autocross champion was sitting in my pas… Read More
2018-09-05 14:30
We all know that startups should make decisions quickly. Fast decisions leads to rapid action, which accelerates the loop of production and feedback, which is how you outpace and out-learn… Read More
2018-06-05 15:30
Pricing is often more about positioning and perceived value than it is about cost-analysis and unconvincing ROI calculators.
As a result, repositioning can allow you to charge many times mo… Read More
2018-01-04 15:00
People said there’s no money in hosting. WordPress is just a toy. After the success of Smart Bear, I should be setting my sights on something big, not this.
I’m sure people said… Read More
2017-11-07 15:30
We’re tired of hearing how small software companies usually fail.
The data show that the two most common causes are: (1) Product isn’t useful to enough people, and (2) Problems… Read More
2017-10-17 14:30
Forget work/life integration for a minute. How much time do you have, regardless of partitioning?
From your 24-hour daily allotment, the 1950s-style break-down is 8 hours for work, 8 for hom… Read More
2017-10-04 14:30
Idealistic founders believe they will break the mold when they scale, and not turn into a “typical big company.” By which they mean: Without stupid rules that assume employees… Read More
2017-09-25 21:30
I am planning a company retreat. What are some great questions we can work on as a company? cc @RNeivert @robwalling @asmartbear
— James Kennedy (@JamesKennedy) July 15, 2017
I ha… Read More
2017-08-29 14:30
Top workplace complaints:1) The way things are2) Change
— Andrew Annett (@akannett) June 1, 2015
This plays out in many important ways:
Customers demand an improved UX, but they don… Read More
2017-08-22 14:30
Product teams have been repeating the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) mantra for a decade now, without re-evaluating whether it’s the right way to maximize learning while pleasing the cu… Read More
2017-07-31 15:30
Early in my career, I was indoctrinated with a Cardinal Rule of User Interface:
A user interface should minimize surprise.
Have you always hated tabs inside dialog boxes? Understandable, bu… Read More
2017-07-17 15:30
One thing we’ve learned from the diet crazes since the 1980s is that every single thing has been alternately touted as healthy or poison. No-fat, carb-heavy. Scratch that, no-carb, fa… Read More
2017-05-30 15:30
“Maximizing” means expending time and effort to ensure you’ve solved something as best as possible. It requires exploration and analysis to ensure “the best… Read More
2017-05-16 14:30
Not sure?
Yes you are.
You’re just scared. Which is understandable. But you’re sure.
Is employee #2 not working out, or does she maybe just need more time? If you have to a… Read More
2017-04-25 14:30
We’ve all laughed at detailed renderings of constellations overlaying a paltry set of stars that are in fact quasi-random. Like Fornax, which is just three stars:
But which humans hav… Read More
2017-04-11 14:45
Yes. The answer is always yes.
But it’s the wrong question.
I started Smart Bear in a recession (2002) and it went great. I’ve been explaining for eight years why recession… Read More
2017-03-21 14:45
Large companies don’t acquire small companies for their financials.
Revenue multiples, profit multiples, premium over the previous financing — these are metrics used by sel… Read More
2017-01-02 16:00
“You must be so proud of what you created” — the reflexive conclusion delivered by visitors to our building at WP Engine, struck by a beautiful place teeming with ene… Read More
2016-12-20 15:00
What would happen if I forced you to develop all your precious, proprietary, secret-sauce code in a public Github repository?
One thing would be: You would be judged. Your peers w… Read More
2016-12-14 15:30
We love stories more than science. A good story causes us to see patterns in noise.
Maybe that’s the case with the idea that all manner startup phenomena conform to a s… Read More
2016-12-06 16:30
Worrying is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“Worry” causes the very thing you’re worried about, to actually happen.
When you’re backstage getting more and more anxious t… Read More
2016-11-25 16:00
We all face complex business decisions for which there is no one, correct answer, and yet a strong and occasionally permanent decision is required of us.
Sometimes the puzzle is&nb&hell…Read More
2016-10-26 15:30
With the second major IoT-based DDoS attack having passed through the news cycle, everyone wants to know what can be done to stop future attacks. With the quantity of internet-ena… Read More
2016-10-18 15:30
What if Dropbox is just an awesome file-sharing and backup service but not a universal key/value storage API?
What if OpenTable is the perfect reservation system but nothing else?
What if Ye… Read More
2016-10-04 15:30
The single most important SaaS metric is retention, because cancellations indicate lack of product/market fit, no matter the cause (price, features, severity of need, duration of need). If… Read More
2016-09-20 19:13
Clickbait works.
Stop clicking on crap and get back to work Read More
2016-07-07 14:25
In American grade-school, we learn the “Five Ws” interrogatives: Who, What, When, Where, Why. And How. “How” is always tacked on like “Y” to th… Read More
2016-06-28 15:00
“There’s a 30% chance of rain today.”
And then it didn’t rain. So, was the forecast accurate?
Or what if it did rain. Does that mean the forecast was inaccurate?
How… Read More
2016-04-12 21:34
Edison spent 18 months on the drudgery of trial and error to produce the first workable light, which lasted only 13 hours before the carbon fiber filament would burn out. He then spent anoth… Read More
2016-02-23 16:00
“Survival of the fittest” is not the same thing as “survival of the best,” though not apparent at first glance.
“Fittest” means “most able to becom… Read More
2015-12-08 16:15
Does it feel like everyone is working very hard, all the time, and yet not accomplishing as much as everyone would like?
Maybe this is why.
Suppose a web server is running at 50% of… Read More
2015-10-13 15:30
This is the perennial question for startups who have started to taste success, and are ready to invest in themselves in the form of new helping hands.
The question is: How do you decide wha… Read More
2015-09-29 15:00
Oh how the media loves superlatives (but only because that’s what we click on and share).
Jake Lodwick wrote an article on PandoDaily entitled “An acquisition is alway… Read More
2015-09-01 15:10
Objects in tenuous balance will tumble at the slightest nudge.
Objects in tension, on the other hand, are strong.
When you fire a gun you pull with one hand while pushing with th… Read More
2015-08-18 15:05
A big, profitable company seems like the hardest thing for a small company to compete against. They have everything: money, brand, momentum, existing customers, press, product teams, distrib… Read More
2015-08-04 15:05
Many marketing channels are “zero-sum,” meaning that if one company wins a piece of the channel, other companies cannot also use that piece.
Example: AdWords, where the price is… Read More
2015-06-08 16:30
We’re told not to judge, lest we be judged.
But we are judged, by our customers choosing between us and a competitor, by our employees choosing whether to entwine their careers with ou… Read More
2015-02-24 17:00
Founding a company is a selfish act. It will consume every waking moment for the next 1-10 years. It’s an act of defiance and irreverence towards competitors and the status quo. That… Read More
2015-01-13 17:45
Early in a company’s life, you don’t know anything. Often your best estimate of any metric or market behavior or business model component is at best accurate with… Read More
2014-12-27 17:25
Do New Year’s resolutions work? Studies say “no.”
Maybe asking good questions of yourself is a better way to lift your eyes to the horizon of possibilities for 2015. What… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
Listen to this episode if you want to hear about a founder who has a product and users and paying customers ... and is trying to figure out how to take his company to the next level and grow… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
If you're in Austin for SxSW, come say hello between 10:00 and 2:00 on Saturday, March 8. We'll have an open lounge with food and coffee at our World Headquarters.
It's an easy 5 blocks from… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
People say the end of the year is a terrible time to raise money or sell a company, because "everyone's only thinking about the holidays" and "people with money are away skiing in Aspen."
Ex… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
You may have seen these metrics defined before, but this is the best visualization of their effect that I've ever seen Read More
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