459 Posts found for Source: First Round Review

Chris Fralic is a successful VC himself, responsible for First Round’s investments in Warby Parker, Roblox, HotelTonight and Adaptly among others. When asked what’s made his career possible, he’ll tell you outright it’s the relationships — built deliberately over many years. This might sound like a common response, but among his peers, he’s acknowledged to be a world-class super-connector with rarefied expertise.

In this piece, … [ Read more ]

Content: Thought Leader | Author: Chris Fralic | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Career, Networking, Personal Development

At First Round, we get asked all the time how companies can capture mindshare and customer fascination when they have hardly any resources to throw at it. Well, Kenneth Lin’s company Credit Karma did exactly that to create a company now worth over $3 billion, and he broke down how for the audience at our last CEO Summit. In this piece, we share his answers … [ Read more ]

Content: Case Study | Author: Kenneth Lin | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Marketing / Sales

Kim Scott, co-founder of Candor, Inc., has built her career around creating bullshit-free zones where people love their work and working together. Inspired by her talk at First Round’s CEO Summit, Scott shares her epiphany about management — and the mindset and framework it takes to really build a kick-ass team, starting with deciphering the distinct attributes and incentives of high-performers.

Content: Thought Leader | Author: Kim Scott | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Human Resources

Having three different career conversations — life story, dreams, and career action plan — is a much better course of action. It’ll help you decode who’s in superstar mode, rock star mode and — most critically — who is changing modes. Taken together, these three conversations, with each person who reports directly to you, will help you balance growth and stability so your team can … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Kim Scott | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Management

Take note of the lifetime of superstars. Make sure you identify a successor because you often can’t retain your superstars. They’re going to leave you better than they found you. Make the most of them while you get them, but don’t assume they are going to stick around forever because they often don’t. Whatever you do, don’t confuse management and growth. Don’t automatically manager-track the … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Kim Scott | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Human Resources

Performance is a key factor — it’s important to distinguish excellent performance from low performance. That’s fine. But often when we think about so called ‘talent planning’ — we use the word ‘potential.’ ‘Potential’ is exactly the wrong word. The problem with “potential” is that when you mark someone as low-potential, you devalue your rock stars off the bat. Instead, use the word growth trajectory. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Kim Scott | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Human Resources

People in superstar mode want a world they can change. Those in rock star mode seek a world they can stabilize. You’ll need both.

Content: Quotation | Author: Kim Scott | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

Caitlin Kalinowski is a master of the prototyping process, with a deep understanding of where, when and how changes should be slotted in, from the first iteration to the last. It’s made her a highly sought-after engineer in Silicon Valley. In this exclusive interview, Kalinowski discusses how and why you must define your non-negotiables before starting to build prototypes. She dives deep on specific approaches … [ Read more ]

Content: Thought Leader | Author: Caitlin Kalinowski | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Operations | Companies: Apple, Oculus

I tell our founders that there should always be a slide in their board decks that shows the five most likely acquirers of their business and what they’ve done to further those relationships since the last board meeting.

Content: Quotation | Author: Chris Fralic | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Entrepreneurship

Give new opportunities in tough times to the people who you see regularly in learning mode. They’ll help your whole company adapt to change.

Content: Quotation | Author: Kevin Chou | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Learning, Management

If a company is designing KPIs strategically, then every leader on your team has KPIs tied to product, market, growth or revenue. Every quarter, and certainly every year, you should see your leadership team hitting or coming close to their KPIs in those areas. If you start seeing significant misses in one of them, that’s a red flag for the whole company. As a CEO, … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Kevin Chou | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Measurement

A/B testing is monitoring without interacting. Put down the binoculars. Pick up the phone and call.

Content: Quotation | Author: Lloyd Tabb | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Measurement

Once you get a user, attribute where you got them, how much you paid for them, and the time it takes to recover from that acquisition cost. Don’t stay on the surface. You paid for those clicks. You need to know. And that’s the only way you’ll truly understand your customer’s lifetime value.

Content: Quotation | Author: Lloyd Tabb | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Measurement

Your metrics influence each other. You need to monitor how. Don’t just measure which clicks generate orders. Back it up and break it down. Follow users from their very first point of contact with you to their behavior on your site and the actual transaction. You have to make the linkage all the way through.

Content: Quotation | Author: Lloyd Tabb | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Measurement

Averages are one-dimensional vanity metrics. Without context, they leave out the why.

Content: Quotation | Author: Lloyd Tabb | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Measurement, Statistics

Vanity metrics are surface-level metrics. They’re often large measures, like number of downloads, that impress others. Use them to initiate partnerships and gain a following.

Clarity metrics are operational metrics, like the number of minutes a day your product actually gets used or how long it took for a user to get service. These are the hidden gears that drive growth. Use them to solidify your … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Lloyd Tabb | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Measurement

… metrics that are elevated — from daily active users to revenue growth — effectively compare companies, but don’t necessarily help them run better. In fact, these measurements often slant toward what investors want to measure, showing if a company is valuable, not how it can create more value. […] These metrics serve a purpose — just not every purpose. Vanity metrics aren’t useless. They … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Lloyd Tabb | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Measurement

Make seriously ugly prototypes. No really, your early iterations should be hideous. You don’t need to worry about how it looks yet. But there’s also a hidden benefit. When something is ugly, people don’t fall in love with it. Especially with influential people inside a company, if you show them something that’s physical and they see it, they will lock on it. This actually also … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Caitlin Kalinowski | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Innovation, Management

No one would argue with the advice that one should listen to their customers. But when and where can be harder to determine, because ultimately you’re trying to intercept key moments that illustrate human behavior. Once you do, your goal is to conform to it or change it.

Content: Quotation | Author: Kintan Brahmbhatt | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Customer Related

Friction is anything that gets in the way of a customer and a task. Put another way, it’s any obstacle that prevents a user from trying or using a product or service. In this exclusive interview, Kintan Brahmbhatt takes us through how to detect and anticipate points of friction through monitoring steps in a customer’s journey with your product. He shares the three stages of … [ Read more ]

Content: Thought Leader | Author: Kintan Brahmbhatt | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Customer Related | Company: Amazon.com Inc.