Building the right founding team
To get started a company needs to collect the Right Skills to build a prototype and prove the need for its idea. Key takeaways: The essential capabilities are product design and development; The...
View ArticleHow to choose the right software platform for your product
One of the first decisions you have to make about your tech startup is which software platform to use to build your product. Key takeaways: Your choice of software platform depends on what type of...
View ArticleThe concierge service
You’ve interviewed potential customers. You understand their emotions. Now, you can begin. But hold on – that doesn’t mean rolling up your sleeves and spending the next eleven months coding. Key...
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Branding: More than just a logo
Effective branding is more than just a logo and pretty colours. It’s the sum experience of every touch point your customer has with your product. Let’s take a look what that means. Key Takeaways...
View ArticleHow to estimate your potential audience
Proving there is a need for your product or service should in part be assessed by estimating the total audience size for the product. If there is a large estimated audience this will show that if there...
View ArticleHow to estimate your unit economics before you have any customers
All investors are very interested to see that you have a grip on your numbers and that your business will, fundamentally, make money on a per transaction basis. Key Takeaways: Understand your business...
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How to evaluate your startup idea
All great startups start off with an idea followed by years of hard work. So how do you evaluate quickly and efficiently whether the idea merits further investment of your time and money? The following...
View ArticleInterviewing customers
Validating a business idea first requires a deep understanding of your audience. Fortunately, there’s a process for that. Key takeaways: To make sure you build something people want you need to have...
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Introducing The Path Forward
Introduction The approach, tactics, practical advice Forward Partners have captured in The Path Forward and supporting ‘Paths’ have been a massive help to me over the last year as we’ve grown Lexoo...
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Navigate The Path Forward
Use this page to view all available content and drill into the topic that is most relevant to you. You can also navigate using the header (desktop & tablet) or footer (mobile). Our latest articles,...
View ArticleCharacteristics of good and bad growth
Series A investors look for businesses that are ready to scale rapidly for the next 3-5 years. Attractive candidates will have shown strong growth in recent months and that growth will be sustainable....
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Defining your brand values – the first cut
Values? What do brand values have to do with launching a startup? Everything. They are the foundation of your culture, your service, your product and your communications. Not knowing what they are...
View ArticleBusy, but not productive
Introduction by Forward Partners: Satya Patel is a Partner at Homebrew, a seed stage VC based in San Francisco. In this post he dives into how unvalidated leaning is not truly productive. In fact, it...
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The Importance of Personas and User Journeys
If you want to build a valued product that you can be sure your customers will love, you first need to understand who your customer is. Behaviour, motivations and needs are all factors that need to be...
View ArticleGetting Shit Done
I was recently talking to a handful of successful startups founders about issues they were facing as they scaled up their companies. Unanimously, hiring and retaining people who “get shit done” seemed...
View ArticleAnalytics & Data – The Startup Marketer’s Guide
Modern startups have a whole host of readily available data at their fingertips. Free tools such as Google Analytics have made it incredibly easy to collect data about your startup. With this abundance...
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How to grow your product muscle
Creating a successful startup involves, amongst other things, building a great product that people love. As a founder you should work hard to develop good product instincts. This will let you make...
View ArticleMove fast without breaking things
Key takeaways Release early, release often and listen to your customers Create a culture of automating testing Automate the boring tasks Building a product is hard. Building a product that scales with...
View ArticleHow to stay sane when starting a company
Key takeaways: Make sure you are really committed; Find a co-founder, investor, or advisor who can help you in difficult moments; Don’t take it personally; Take care of your physical and mental health;...
View ArticleStrategic partnerships & scaling – the magic formula
Introduction The pressure to scale your business is there from day one, smart customer acquisition is the name of the game and strategic partnerships is a key tactic you should consider. But be warned...
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