revenue Archives - Startup Economist

Startups Often Try to Monetize too Early

Thursday, 17 October 2019 by Paul O'Brien

I was just asked, What are examples of startups that tried to monetize too early? and my gut reaction was, “all that fail.” Before you jump all over that blunt and obtuse, and too narrow, reaction, let’s explore… Encourage you actually ask the question in the inverse. How or why are so many dominant and

Published in Startups

21 Comments

Do Startups Not Need to Be Profitable?

Wednesday, 14 August 2019 by Paul O'Brien

We’re in this really weird era as Silicon Valley creeps out to the rest of the world, in which investors elsewhere, traditional business owners, and the like, keep advising everyone to, “focus on customers,” “it’s all about revenue,” and questions such as this. Startups never needed to become profitable. Venture Capital investors fund EXITS Grants fund

funding investing profit profitability revenue startups

Published in Insights / Research, Search

28 Comments

The Secret to Funding: How Many Customers You Need Before Contacting VCs

Friday, 06 January 2017 by Paul O'Brien

It might be the most frequently asked question by early entrepreneurs. If not that, the most frequently heard frustration from founders is, “I have customers, why can’t I raise capital?” Let me jump right in on the secret I’m about to reveal: customers aren’t the answer you’re seeking. Which is to say, the magic number

angel investors customers fund raising funding investors revenue vc venture capital

Published in Startups

1 Comment

The Tale of Two Founders

Tuesday, 24 March 2015 by Paul O'Brien

Yesterday, famed New York Times cartoonist Kaamran Hafeez featured a sketch that has garnered quite a bit of attention in the startup community. Implied by one “faction” (a term I’m using not to be critical but to distinguish) to offer a tongue-in-cheek jab at founders and investors who arguably embrace market share and scalability over

customers entrepreneurship founders funding growth investment marketing revenue scale startups

Published in Startups

2 Comments

Affiliate Marketing through WordPress plugins

Wednesday, 17 June 2009 by Paul O'Brien

One of the keys to success in affiliate marketing is contextual relevance. Sure, there is no fixed cost associating with running your program through the thousands of coupon and deal related sites that exist to make a quick buck. Unfortunately, the time spent managing an extensive set of publishers and keeping an eye out for

affiliate bookkeeping earn income plugin plugins reporting revenue tracking wordpress

Published in eCommerce, Social Media

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Get Paid to Search

Monday, 16 February 2009 by Paul O'Brien

This has been tried before hasn’t it? Services that pay you to surf, click, search, or share have been around since the dawn of the internet and one has to wonder from two perspectives; first, why don’t they catch on as significantly as you might expect and second, what’s the catch? I like Scour and

earn income paid revenue Search searching

Published in Fun, Search, Vertical Search

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Paid Clicks are Dead. Long Live Paid Clicks!

Wednesday, 27 February 2008 by Paul O'Brien

According to comScore, Google’s paid search click volume fell 7% in January, from the previous month, and were relatively flat with the same period last year. Industry pundits, economists, and search experts are fervent with the data, citing everything from a slow month, to validation of a recession, to the downfall of society! I for

comscore Google paid clicks Paid Search revenue sem volume Yahoo!

Published in Advertising, Search

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