Comments on: Our Startup’s 12-Month Growth Strategy

By: Jo Fellowes

Jo Fellowes — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 16:25:23 +0000

Hi Alex

Love your posts! You mention sharing about a new system of benchmarking and goal-setting. If you have done that do you think you could share a link please?

Thanks!

By: BIKABOUT

BIKABOUT — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 21:08:30 +0000

Bikabout.com just hit the 2 year mark so strategic planning is in full gear. This has sparked many ideas so thanks for being transparent about your process!

By: Nimin Rajendran

Nimin Rajendran — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 12:22:37 +0000

Hi Alex,

I went through your blog and I must say its just awesome. We are planning to launch our SaaS product by next year first quarter. You have given us a lot of insights as how to go about it.

Thanks a lot.

PS. Each time I read it, I get to know something new.

Regards,
Nimin Rajendran

By: Kate

Kate — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 12:01:30 +0000

Wow, what an awesome gold mine of information I have stumbled upon tonight! What a treat! I feel like I need to implement some kind of strategy myself even though my business is on quite a small scale at the moment. I feel like it’s the only way to get anywhere and I’ll definitely be referring back to this post while I’m brainstorming! Thanks!

By: Tejaswi Raghurama

Tejaswi Raghurama — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 10:15:02 +0000

True inspiration Alex. Thanks for going in depth and sharing the strategies that you discussed with your team. Its highly motivating to see that we belong to a larger family of startups going through almost similar journeys. The focus on inbound marketing. seo and how you spelt it is so clear.

We @zapstitch are building a SaaS startup and are just entering the 2nd year of our journey. We related so much to the challenges and the goals you have set. This gives me confidence. Thanks again. Good luck to you and your team. Keep inspiring

By: Ed Williams

Ed Williams — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 17:05:01 +0000

This is a great post. Thank you for sharing!

By: Robert Sanders

Robert Sanders — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 00:47:50 +0000

Hey Alex,

Amazing insights you provide and much gratitude for that.

I am always interested in why mission and vision statements are always framed so that they can never be reached. One of yours is: “Our mission is to become the preeminent resource for small businesses when it comes to support, growth and business strategy”

Vision is usually a statement about what is possible and the mission is what you will
do each day to reach what is possible. Specifically, using “to become” frames it as you aren’t that. You are that. I always like this analogy from Gandhi: “Children understand about being. When they decide to be a pirate, princess or cowboy. They are a pirate, princess and a cowboy and nobody can tell them any differently! Be childlike and just BE!

“We are the preeminent resource for small businesses when it comes to support, growth and business strategy”

By: Joshua Dance

Joshua Dance — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 17:52:18 +0000

I don’t know of anyone or any process that is great at estimating how long a project will take. Developing software is a strange beast. You never really ‘know’ how long it will take. And the bigger the project the worse the estimates. You can only do things like control how big the project is (Parsing sounds like a big project) and increase you velocity (make it easier to ship, test, iterate). Great post!

By: Stephen Rolfe Nielsen

Stephen Rolfe Nielsen — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 04:24:29 +0000

This is a great blog, thanks for sharing so much good stuff! I just sent in my resume ’cause I like what your team is doing.

By: Jayesh Kitukale

Jayesh Kitukale — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 15:42:47 +0000

Alex you already seem to have figured out the magic number when it comes to consistent underestimates. And that magic number is 3 for you. Isn’t it? You may want to use that as multiplication factor to come up with more accurate estimates. The problem is that most people would scoff at the developers who give large estimates. My original estimate for coding my product was 4 months and now I am already 5 months behind schedule. Software is a complex beast and it is always difficult to provide even a ballpark estimate! I think there are only two choices: 1. Live with it and be pissed off consistently or 2. Multiply by the magic number and accept those large estimates

By: Vinish Garg

Vinish Garg — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 00:57:51 +0000

This is a great post and as I can see in the comments, many entrepreneurs resonate with your story. Quite often in when the going is tough, teams tend to talk less and they plan with their heads down. Bringing together the team to discuss and brainstorm is the right approach; and I loved the way you put it across. 🙂