# Y Combinator, Advocate Marketing, Product/Market Fit, Gamification, Customer Retention, Metrics, Boards, SEO, Product Mgt, Roundup#15 Oct 20 2013 By [William Mougayar's Blog](https://wamougayar.xyz) · 2013-10-20 advocate-marketing-3, boards-2, customer-retention-3, gamification, metrics, product-management-4, productmarket-fit-3, seo, wr --- Startup Management is a manual selection from the hundreds of weekly articles being curated. Previous [issues are available here.](http://startupmanagement.org/category/wr/) There are 24 article links in this edition. **Y Combinator Startup School** ------------------------------- Here’s the [Google Docs](https://docs.google.com/a/zee.me/document/d/1Xo99mjzc4nyK3J4_GBiba_Kz4h1NPL2Os06JhvbCh5c/edit) with lectures notes from the seminal Y Combinator’s [Startup School](http://startupschool.org/) event that just happened on Oct 19 2013, **Marketing** ------------- In [Rethinking the Digital Marketing Funnel](http://fullstart.com/knowledge/rethinking-digital-marketing-funnel/), the biggest take-away is the [marketing ecosystem Infographic](http://fullstart.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/marketing-system.jpg) which is a keeper. **Product/Market Fit** ---------------------- If you’d like to know what [Product/Market Fit](http://startupmanagement.org/lexicon/product-market-fit/) \[SUM Library link\] looks like, here’s an excellent Slideshare from Andrew Chen, [Zero to Product/Market Fit](http://andrewchen.co/2013/10/14/zero-to-productmarket-fit-presentation/). _“One balanced approach is: clone 80%, innovate on 20%, and one warning: metaphors often lead to fake markets._” Must read. **Customer Retention and Gamification** --------------------------------------- Tomasz Tunguz explains [Using Gaming Product Hacks to Maximize Freemium SaaS Growth](http://tomtunguz.com/freemium-gaming-product), aided by a [HoneyTracks slideshare on Game Analytics](http://www.slideshare.net/TomSente/casualconnect2012-honeytracks-game-lifecycle-kpis). He stresses the primordial importance of Retention. “_Growing quickly through viral or paid channels is foolish if the product can’t retain users_.” And here’s a simple case study from KISSmetrics, [How a Little Nudge Increased Email Subscribership by 500%](http://blog.kissmetrics.com/a-little-nudge). That nudge is basically a pop-up asking users to sign-up to the email. And Carlos Eduardo Espinal makes a good case for [Why startups need to constantly communicate with their customers](http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2013/10/17/importance-constantly-communicating-customers/). Surprisingly, many of them don’t.  **Human Resources** ------------------- Matt Mickiewicz has a list of 7 common hiring mistakes to avoid, in [Why your tech startup can’t hire engineers (and how to fix it)](http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/15/why-your-tech-startup-cant-hire-engineers-and-how-to-fix-it/). One of them, “_seeking someone in your own image who is willing to work 18-hour days_.”  **Entrepreneurship** -------------------- Fred Wilson says to use [Tech Ops As a Metaphor For Building, Running, and Leading a Company](http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2013/10/tech-ops-as-a-metaphor-for-building-running-leading-a-company.html/), and lays out 8 points in this [15-min video](http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2013/10/video-of-the-week-my-velocity-talk.html). I agree, with the addition that managers also need soft skills to manage people, and maybe the analogy is to treat systems with care, like humans. Michael Skok has published a video of his [Startup Secrets](http://mjskok.com/resources/introduction) series, from building a compelling value proposition, to funding strategies. Steve Blank attacks the Demo Days ritual, and [explains why accelerators should mimic “Moneyball”](http://pandodaily.com/2013/10/15/steve-blank-explains-why-accelerators-should-mimic-moneyball/). I personally don’t agree that Demo Days are bad, because they do offer the startups a level-playing field of exposure that is open and balanced. And Amir Elaguizy enumerates [58 Things he learned at Y Combinator](http://aelag.com/58-things-i-learned-at-yc). It’s a great list. **Lean Startup** ---------------- KISSmetrics has [26 Resources to Help You Master Customer Development Interviews](http://blog.kissmetrics.com/26-customer-development-resources). It’s an exhaustive list. Lisa Regan goes to great lengths at explaining that Lean Startup is applicable for large companies, in [Lean Startup at Scale](http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2013/10/lean-startup-at-scale.html). If you’re a big company, anything that makes you become faster is useful. **Advocate Marketing** ---------------------- A little known secret of advocate marketing is that it’s a full-time job. The Influitive blog has a good post that describes the responsibilities of an Advocate Marketing Manager, in [6 Qualities All Advocate Markets Have in Common](http://influitive.com/blog/2013/10/10/6-qualities-all-advocate-marketers-have-in-common/). There are two sides: a) program design and management, and b) knowing your customers and how to engage them. **Marketing Communications** ---------------------------- KISSmetrics reminds us that “_great PR is more than just a press release_”, in [Why Your PR Isn’t Working (and How to Fix it)](http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/pr-isnt-working-fix-it-ht). **Venture Capital** ------------------- Reid Hoffman shares a monumental [presentation of his Series B pitch deck](http://reidhoffman.org/linkedin-pitch-to-greylock) to Greylock, and dispels 7 myths of pitching, in [What I Wish I Knew Before Pitching LinkedIn to VCs](http://reidhoffman.org/what-i-wish-i-knew-before-pitching-linkedin-to-vcs/). Must Read. Must Keep. And if you’re interested in how US VCs are shaping the Canadian startup landscape, here’s my in-depth analysis, using Mattermark data, [2013 Canadian Startups Analysis: Full of US VCs and Still Low Investments](http://startupmanagement.org/2013/10/15/2013-canadian-startups-landscape-analysis-full-of-us-vcs-and-still-low-investments-mattermark-data-analysis/). **Metrics** ----------- Rand Fishkin says [Visitor Analytics Aren’t Enough for Modern Marketers](http://moz.com/blog/visitor-analytics-arent-enough-for-modern-marketers). He lists the characteristics of the 3 segments of players: competitive analytics, visitor analytics, and CRM + Business Analytics. Personally, I think the web analytics space is ripe for M&A, because there are too many players, with too many overlapping features, and no clear leader. **Product Management** ---------------------- Mark Suster reminds us that “_the single biggest mistake most product teams make is building technology for what they believe the user would want rather than what the actual end-user needs_”, in [How to Avoid a Common Product Mistake Many Teams Make](http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2013/10/14/how-to-avoid-a-common-product-mistake/). Laura Klein has a similar message, in [Stop Making Users Explore](http://usersknow.blogspot.ca/2013/10/stop-making-users-explore.html), where she says, “_users don’t care about exploring your product”,_ and _“what users care about is themselves_.” Tom Eisenmann explains the importance of writing Market Requirements Documents (MRD’s) and Product Requirements Documents (PRDs), even for agile implementations, in [Critique of PM101 Market Requirement Documents](http://platformsandnetworks.blogspot.ca/2013/10/critique-of-pm101-market-requirements.html). Key reason? It makes it easier to provide feedback. And Noah Weiss has an amazingly well written and clear rendition of the Twitter growth numbers, in [A Product Managers’ reading of Twitter’s S-1](https://medium.com/on-startups/a799baf2ca1c), a must read and a great example of how putting numbers in graphs provides excellent clarity. **Boards** ---------- First Round Capital reveals [The Secrets to Making Board Meetings Suck Less](http://firstround.com/article/The-Secret-to-Making-Board-Meetings-Suck-Less), with advice from Jeff Bonforte who just sold his company Xobni to Yahoo. “_Every single entrepreneur forgets that the board works for them_.” **SEO** ------- Rand Fishkin explains [How Google is Changing Long-Tail Search with Efforts Like Hummingbird](http://moz.com/blog/google-is-changing-long-tail-search-with-efforts-like-hummingbird-whiteboard-friday). If you’d like to understand what “lumping” means, read it. That SUMs it up! Don’t forget to [share on Twitter](http://clicktotweet.com/arWbe),  [add us to your Feedly](http://cloud.feedly.com/#subscription%2Ffeed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FStartupManagement), forward to a friend, [follow on Twitter](https://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=StartupManage), [read in Flipboard](https://flipboard.com/section/startup-management-boMSor), or just [visit the website](http://startupmanagement.org) often and daily. _William Mougayar_ Founder & Chief Curator [Startup Management](http://startupmanagement.org)\]\]> --- *Originally published on [William Mougayar's Blog](https://wamougayar.xyz/y-combinator,-advocate-marketing,-productmarket-fit,-gamification,-customer-retention,-metrics,-boards,-seo,-product-mgt,-roundup15-oct-20-2013)*