How to Track Collaborative Retention in Paid Marketing

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If you're in the transactional business, it's very common that you'll have lots of customers. The important metric to track is use af retention. Net revenue is literally the cash you make in the bank. And then user attention is a cohort metric.

We've cut down the third week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.

First, a lecture from Anu Hariharan. Anu is a partner at YC. Her lecture covers nine common startup business models and the metrics investors want to see for each.

Then, a Q&A with Anu and Adora Cheung. Adora is also at partner at YC. During their Q&A they’ll answer questions from Startup School Founders on how investors evaluate startups.

Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.

Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/

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Topics

00:00 - Intro

00:39 - Anu Hariharan on Nine Business Models and the Metrics Investors Want

1:44 - Enterprise

4:09 - SAAS

8:55 - Subscription

11:33 - Transactional

14:44 - Marketplace

19:04 - E-commerce

21:14 - Advertising

23:12 - Hardware

23:44 - Common mistakes

25:35 - Anu Hariharan and Adora Cheung on How Investors Measure Startups Q&A

26:07 - Team, product market fit, and market opportunity

27:10 - What if the founder doesn't have experience in the are in which they're building a product?

28:19 - How do investors know you're moving fast?

29:40 - Local vs remote

30:40 - Evaluating solo founders

31:45 - Clarity of thought

33:35 - International founders

35:17 - Solo founders

36:21 - Should I fundraise?

38:33 - How does an investor evaluate a company with a heavy MVP?

39:36 - How do you avoid investors who say "it's too early for us"?

40:06 - Is it sensible to engage with investors before product market fit?

40:26 - How do you find the perfect investor?

41:21 - What are the best approaches for minority female founders to gain visibility within VC?

42:36 - How do investors come up with valuations?