Startup Metrics: Anecdotes vs. Analytics | WePay
Startup Metrics: Anecdotes vs. Analytics
By Rich Aberman
Consumer web companies (especially startups) should measure as much as they can; otherwise, they’re just prodding around in the dark.
The counter argument is that measuring everything discourages innovation and limits the usefulness of the data.
I think in one sense or another both arguments are correct. On the one hand: “In God we trust, all others bring data.” And on the other: “paralysis by analysis.”
However, the optimal strategy is not simply a happy medium between accumulating and analyzing too much and too little data, but rather a balance between measuring and interpreting two different kinds of information: anecdotal vs. analytical.
This weighs Anecdotal evidence with Analytical evidence and makes the case for balancing both. What, you thought it would be easy?
» Customer Development Interviews How-to: Finding People | The Experience is the Product
Customer Development Interviews How-to: Finding People
“OK,” you say, “I’m convinced – I need to talk with potential customers to make sure my startup/product/service idea has potential. But how do I find those people?”
Finding People
AdWords / Facebook Ads / Tweets.
Summarize your idea, invest some money in getting it in front of people who have expressed intent by searching for that term, clicking your ad, clicking a link. (Read the original SEM on $5/day post for details.)
I haven’t used Twitter for this much yet, but my theory is that it may be a more effective way of reaching people (I am much more likely to click on links that appear in my hashtag saved searches than I am to click on an AdWords or Facebook ad.)
For those people that need to find customers (who doesn’t), here is a post from Cindy Alvarez that helps to outline some options and even gives you starting formats for forms and emails.
