Capitalization strategy, 46–47
Capital management, 49–51
Category creation, 71–72, 80, 157–158, 247
Category design, 64–71
Category king, 63–65, 157–158
CB Insights, 5, 16, 91
Cha Cha, 16
Chambers, John, 96
Chasm Group, 267
Chavez, Tom, 210, 268
Chen, Andrew, 268
Christensen, Clayton, 70–71, 109
Churn, 189, 214, 220–222, 243
Ciotti, Greg, 223–234
Cisco, 96
Cleveland, Ann, 268
Cleveland, Bruce, 10, 32, 251
Cleveland, Jerry, 268
Cleveland, Robin, 268
Cohort retention curve, 145–146
Confirmation bias, 103
Cook, Scott David, 230
Core Values, 179, 182–183
Correlation Ventures, 5, 15
Crossing the Chasm (Moore), 167, 224, 227
Crunchbase, 55–56, 56fig10
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), 25, 43–45, 53, 201, 213, 243
Customer Acquisition Ratio (CAC Ratio), 24–25, 44–45, 201, 220, 242–243
Customer communities, 151–153
customer experience management (CEM), 146–147
Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV), 145, 201, 220, 243
Customer Relationship Management (CRM), 16, 67–71
Customer Retention Cost Ration (CRC Ration), 221–222
Customer Retention Costs (CRC), 221–222
D
Daily Active Users (DAU)
and B2C startups, 25, 189
and consumer applications, 139
and MAU ratio, 144–145
and metrics, 243
and MVR, 199–200
and MVT, 226
and NPS, 150
Developing market IQ, 101–103
Discovery interviews, 100, 106–107, 125–127, 129, 156
Dow Jones Venture, 5, 15
Doximity, 4
Do You Zoom (Godin), 102
Dreamforce, 163–164
Driver, Sam, 115
Dropbox, 120, 142, 225
E
Eades, Tim, 268
Eckhardt, Michael, 267
Ellis, Sean, 120–121, 141–142, 189–191, 225, 268
Ellison, Larry, 66, 70
Eloqua, 27, 161, 198–199
Epic story, 162–163, 166, 211
Ericson, Bill, 8, 32
Evans, Laura, 265
F
Facebook, 82–83, 130, 213
Faw, Ben, 268
Fernandez, Phil, 4, 28, 194, 204, 267–268
Fibonacci Series of SaaS, 218
Fields, Ed, 268
Finkelstein, Harley, 268
Fitzgerald, John, 115
Ford, Henry, 108, 174
Ford Motor Company, 108, 174
Fund Investment Strategy, 55fig9
G
Gates, Bill, 147, 186
General Electric, 149
Get Satisfaction, 152
Ghosh, Shikhar, 15, 248
Gianos, Flip, 266
Glass, Russell, 268
Glassdoor.com, 178, 182
Godin, Seth, 102
Goff, Fred, 268
Google, 73, 79, 130, 166, 183, 186
Go-to-market
and category creation, 157
and market-engineering, 13–14, 247
and MVR, 161
and startups, 5–6
and Systems Architecture, 195–196
and Traction Gap, 17–19
Go-to-product
and epic story, 211
and market-engineering, 14, 87
and metrics, 41–42
and Product Architecture, 207
and startups, 5–6
and Traction Gap, 19
Go-to-scale
and advisers, 245
and category king, 247
and community, 152
and crossing the chasm, 18, 241
and MVT, 21
and startups, 5–6
GreenFig, 10, 72, 78–80, 87, 164, 166
Gupta, Abhas, 265
H
Hacking Growth (Ellis), 120
Harvard Business School, 15, 71, 169, 248
Highest Paid Person in the Organization (HIPPO), 120
Hiring
. see Interview Process, The
Hivebeat, 16
Honan, Mat, 106–108
House, Pat, 67, 266
Howard, Ty, 248
I
IBM, 66–67
Ideation
and IPR, 39–40, 125
Key Takeaways of, 51–53
and MVC, 98
and MVP, 171–172
and MVR, 215
to MVT, 46
and MVT, 216, 241, 248
and Traction Gap Hacks, 54
and Traction Gap Principles, 53
Immelt, Jeff, 149
Influitive, 161, 198–199, 224
Initial Product Release (IPR)
and Ideation, 39
Key Takeaways of, 122–125
and metrics, 40
and MVT, 30
overview, 89–133
and Traction Gap, 18–20, 42, 247
and Traction Gap Principles, 125
Innovator’s Dilemma, The (Christensen), 70–71, 109
Interview Process, The, 177–180
InterWest Partners, 266
Intuit, 82, 111
Investor Deck, 210–211
J
Jobs, Steve, 80, 107, 144, 163
K
Kabbage, 151, 173
Key Takeaways
and Ideation, 51–53
and IPR, 122–124
and MVC, 83–85
and MVP, 159–162
and MVR, 200–203
and MVT, 226–229
Krasnoff, Nathaniel, 265
Krishna, Athani, 268
Krochak, Blaire, 268
Krux, 210
L
Large-scale surveys, 100, 107, 116, 127–129, 156
Latka, Nathan, 268
Lean Product Playbook, The (Olsen), 111
Lean Startup, The (Ries), 17–18
Levie, Aaron, 81
Lien, Chris, 268
LinkedIn
and B2B interviews, 126
and investors, 54
and native ads, 57, 60, 60fig12
and smoke testes, 140
Lochhead, Christopher, 64, 157, 267
Logan, Dave, 182
Long-Term Stock Exchange, 139
Lumascape, 205
Lynch, Kevin, 152
M
Maestri, Amanda, 265
MailChimp, 61
Malone, Michael, 267
Management by Objectives (MBO), 186
Market-engineering
and category creation, 157
and category design, 63
and go-to-market, 11, 13–14
Market-engineering (cont’d)
and Ideation, 53
and IPR, 123
and MVC, 20, 83
and MVP, 21, 137–138
and product engineering, 87
Market-first
and Apple Newton, 106–108
benefits of, 113–114
and category creation, 158
and data, 155
defined, 99–100, 114–115
and IPR, 18, 89, 122, 125
and market IQ, 101–103, 110
and market signals, 247
mindset of, 96
and opinions vs. data, 104
principles of, 100–101
process of, 98–99
and research, 148, 192
and smoke testes, 140
transition to, 116–12
1
Market-first company, 141, 247
Marketing/Product Fit, 191–193, 208. See also Market/product fit
Market input, 90–92
Market IQ, 16, 89, 101–105, 108–110
Marketo, 4, 28, 194, 204–206, 243–244
Market/product fit. See also Marketing/Product Fit; Product/market fit
benefits of, 113–114
and customer support, 95fig15, 95fig16
and Ellis, 121
and Ideation, 98
and marketing/product fit, 192
and market IQ, 102
and MVT, 208
and product/market fit, 96
Market signals
and Apple Newton, 107
and category creation, 158
and customer support, 147–148
and IPR, 89
and market first, 99–104, 113–114, 116
and market research, 118fig18, 119fig19–20
McKinsey, 50, 97
Medallia, 27, 180, 216
Messaging Matrix, 86–88, 247
Metrics
and capital, 197–200
and churn, 220–221
for investors, 144, 243
and MVT, 226
and NPS, 150
and startups, 39–42
and Traction Gap, 249
Microdegrees, 79
Microsoft, 68, 147, 186
Middle of the Funnel (MOTF), 25, 25fig6
Miller, Jamie, 31–32, 268
Miller, Jon, 204, 267
Minimum Viable Category (MVC)
and category creation, 157, 247
and category design, 64
and GreenFig, 164
and IPR, 89–90
Key Takeaways of, 83–85
and metrics, 243
and Traction Gap Hacks, 86–88
and Traction Gap Principles, 85
and value inflection point, 20
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
and capital, 8–9, 197
Key Takeaways of, 159–162
and marketing/product fit, 192–195
and market input, 90
and metrics, 40
and MVR, 171–172, 174
overview, 137–169
and revenue, 42–45, 188
and Revenue Architecture, 24, 207
and Traction Gap Principles, 162
and value inflection point, 20–21
Minimum Viable Repeatability (MVR)
Key Takeaways of, 200–203
and MVP, 160–161
overview, 171–206
and Traction Gap Principles, 203
and value inflection point, 21
Minimum Viable Traction (MVT)
and capital, 45
and Chasm, 241–242
Key Takeaways of, 226–229
and NPS, 150
overview, 207–237
and Traction Gap, 19, 247
and Traction Gap Principles, 229
and value inflection point, 21
MixPanel, 143–145
MobileIgniter, 16
Mohr, Tom, 268
Monthly Active Users (MAU), 25, 144, 145, 150, 189, 199–200, 226
Moore, Geoffrey
and crossing the chasm, 6, 18
and Crossing the Chasm, 167, 224, 227
and risk, 47–49
and social proofing, 222
and Traction Gap Institute, 250
and Wildcat Venture Partners, 267
Morandi, David, 204, 267
Murray, Bill, 162–163
N
Net Promoter Score (NPS), 122, 138, 149–151, 149fig22, 159
Niedenthal, Megan, 268
Nishar, Deep, 98
O
Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), 186
Obo, 10, 118, 120, 129, 142, 156
O’Brien, Aidan, 268
Olsen, Dan, 111
One Minute Millionaire, The (Allen), 154
OpenView Partners, 218–220
Opinion vs data, 104
Optimizely, 154
Oracle, 4, 66–67, 71, 161, 166
Organ, Mark, 161, 198–199, 268
Organizing for success, 175–177
P
Page, Larry, 188
Partnering for success, 167–169
Patient Communicator Inc., 91
Pendo, 143
Pepper, Doug, 266
Petralia, Kathryn, 151, 173, 268
Play Bigger (Lochhead), 59, 64–65, 84, 86, 157, 267
Portelli, Bill, 268
Pressman, Amy, 180, 216, 268
Principles of market-first, 100–101
Problem space, 111–113, 158
Product Architecture. See also Architecture Pillars
and Architecture Pillars, 174
and capital, 46
defined, 23–24
and Ideation, 53
and IPR, 124
and MVC, 85
and MVP, 161, 207
and MVR, 202
and MVT, 229
and Slide 29, 12
Product-engineering, 13–14, 53, 87, 97, 123, 138, 157
Product/market fit. See also Market/product fit
and capital, 39–41, 44
and market/product fit, 96
and market research, 92–93, 95fig15–16
and MVP, 20–21
and Product Architecture, 23
ProfitWell, 94
R
Raising venture capital, 39, 54–57, 209–211
Ram, Rajesh, 268
Reichheld, Fred, 150
Rendeevoo, 16
Revenue Architecture. See also Architecture Pillars
and Architecture Pillars, 46
defined, 24–26
and Ideation, 53
and IPR, 124
and MR, 187–188
and MVC, 85
and MVP, 161
and MVR, 202
and MVT, 216–220, 229
Richardson, Lori, 141
Ries, Eric, 17–18, 139
Risk management, 46–49
Robinson, Frank, 90
Rule of 40%, 50
S
SaaS, 43, 45, 145, 217–222
Sakai, Dale, 142, 268
Sales Enablement Society, 141
Salesforce, 67–69, 70, 71, 163–164
Salzman, Andrew, 268
Satmetrix Systems, 150
Scrooged, 162–163
Sequoia Ventures, 144
ServiceMax, 27
Sharma, Vivek, 268
Shasta Ventures, 266
Shear, Emmett, 143
Shoes.com, 16
Shultz, Howard, 181
Siebel, Tom, 4, 67–70, 97, 168–169, 183, 185–186, 266
Siebel Systems, 4, 67–71, 97, 168–169, 183–185, 204, 266
Singh, Gurjeet, 268
Siroker, Dan, 154
Slack, 23–24, 145, 183
Slide 29, 6, 11–33, 138
Smoke tests, 83, 100, 129–131, 156, 203–206
Social proofing, 222–225
Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), 178
Softbank Investment Advisors, 98
Solution space, 111–113, 158
Sprinklr, 152
Starbucks, 120, 181
Startup failure rates, 15, 15fig3, 91fig14, 173fig24, 174
Startup governance, 183–184
Startup Life Cycle Timeline, 188fig25, 209fig27
Startup Loans Company, 115
Startup Owner’s Manual, The (Blank), 5, 17–18, 117, 192
Statter, Luke, 115
Stolle, Bryan, 21, 139, 211–215
Subramanian, Hari, 268
SyncDev, 90
Systems Architecture. See also Architecture Pillars
defined, 29–30
and Ideation, 53
/>
and IPR, 124
and MVC, 85
and MVP, 161
and MVR, 195–196, 202
and MVT, 215–216, 229
T
T2D3, 217fig28, 218–220
Tangney, Jeff, 4
Team Architecture. See also Architecture Pillars
defined, 26–29
and Ideation, 53
and IPR, 124
and MVC, 85
and MVP, 161
and MVR, 173–175, 202
and MVT, 229
Teele, Brett, 265
Thousand Yard Films, 115
ThriveHive, 94
Tiny Speck, 23–24
Tools by Sales Stage and Use, 196
Top of the Funnel (TOTF), 25, 25fig6, 129–131
Totango, 221
Traction Gap
application of, 250–251
defined, 3
and Ideation, 51–53
and IPR, 122–125
and MVC, 83–85
and MVP, 159–162, 200–203
and MVT, 226–229
overview, 17–23, 246–247
and Product Architecture, 23–24
and research, 7
and Revenue Architecture, 24–26
and startups, 9–10
and Systems Architecture, 29–30, 215
and Team Architecture, 26–29
and value inflection point, 39–40, 46–47
Traction Gap Action Plan, 250
Traction Gap Assessment and Diagnostic Process, 250
Traction Gap Framework
application of, 37–62
and capital, 197
and company financing rounds, 8fig1
and MVC, 64
overview, 19–20, 19fig4
and Product Architecture, 174
recap of, 246–247, 248–250
and T2D3 model, 218–219
uses of, 30–33
and Wildcat Venture Partners, 4, 7–9, 17
Traction Gap Hacks, 54–57, 86–88, 125–127, 162–164, 203–206, 230–237
Traction Gap Institute (TGI), 27, 230, 250
Traction Gap Principles
and Ideation, 53
and IPR, 125
and MVC, 85
and MVP, 162
and MVR, 203
and MVT, 229
and Slide 30, 12
and Traction Gap Institute, 250
and Wildcat Venture Partners, 17
Traction Gap Timeline, 41, 41fig7
Treehouse Logic Inc., 91–92
Tribal Leadership (Logan), 182
Trzepacz, Jennifer, 265
Tunguz, Tom, 268
Twitch, 143
U
Uber, 80–81, 120
Untie the Knots That Tie Up Your Life (Howard), 248
Ussery, Randall, 268
V
Value inflection points
and Architecture Pillars, 23
and capital, 46–47
and category design, 64
and IPR, 89
and MVC, 83–84
and MVR, 43–44, 171–172, 199–200
and MVT, 226
overview, 20–22, 247
and Slide 30, 12
and startups, 38–40
and T2D3 model, 218
and Traction Gap, 9
VC targeted ad, 58fig11
Veeva, 27, 204
Velocity Group, 27–28, 230
Traversing the Traction Gap Page 25
