Effective Marketing in the Earliest Stage Startups

A few weeks ago Prism Ventures, one of my current VC investors, asked me to present to some of the newest startups in their investment portfolio.  The presentation was on how a new company should try to gain market traction.
Here is a quick overview of what I presented.  Initial success requires combining an urgent quest to discover profitable customer acquisition methods with a fear of wasting marketing dollars.  Ensuring that every dollar counts requires a very disciplined approach to testing.  It is essential that the right measurement and reporting systems are in place before testing begins.  In the earliest stages of a company, you don’t have the luxury to try to develop much brand equity – it’s all about identifying a sustainable high growth business model.  Once you’ve found profitable customer acquisition sources, building brand equity is a critical next step for building momentum.
This is the process that I used to kickstart my current venture.   In my earlier startup, Uproar Inc., we really hadn’t refined the process yet.