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It's not easy to estimate, but it's such a relevant number that you can't ignore it. Engineers often fall into the trap of "make a good product and customers wi

It's not easy to estimate, but it's such a relevant number that you can't ignore it. Engineers often fall into the trap of "make a good product and customers will come". It's a trap. Customer acquisition is a real cost and must be factored in.

logicallee 9y ago
That's just what I'm saying. It's not a real dollar cost (as in, a certain number of dollars which you have an invoice for) because, for example, blogs are free, emailing reporters is free. If you have an iPhone even high-quality promotional photo shoots, and a YouTube channel is free. So when you invest your time into getting the word out -- is it fair to say, "that is a real cost"? It's a time-cost. It's an effort-cost. It impacts your business. But is it a number? I realize that for some people this number is easy -- how much are we spending on Ad Words? -- but for other businesses the effort that you mention is very hard to dollarize. It's kind of weird that some people assume you can.
- bluesteel44 9y ago
  You should dollarize your time. Maybe you're severely undervaluing it? Randy Pausch has a great argument why you should (in his time management talk).
  - logicallee 9y ago
    VC: "Do you know your customer acquisition costs?" You start to think. You started working on this full time 9 weeks ago. You've spent maybe 45 hours per week on the project total. You spent between 15 to 40% of your time managing the press, blogging, replying to email inquiries. Honestly, it's hard to estimate. You have not given your credit card out or made any bank transfers, it's been only just you. You are now closing a round at a valuation of 1.7 million. You have 745 users. Scenario A: your last day job was as a florist, working for someone else and netting $9.50 per hour after taxes. Scenario B: in your day job you make $165k as a senior engineer. Question: what are your customer acquisition costs? If it's relevant, answer separately under scenario A and B. (A and B may also be red herrings,- a trick, irrelevant information.) if you need additional information to perform the calculation, ask and I'll give it to you. What is your calculated response? Justify your calculation.
- HeyLaughingBoy 9y ago
  I can always make another dollar. I can't get back the minute that just passed.

logicallee 9y ago

That's just what I'm saying. It's not a real dollar cost (as in, a certain number of dollars which you have an invoice for) because, for example, blogs are free, emailing reporters is free. If you have an iPhone even high-quality promotional photo shoots, and a YouTube channel is free. So when you invest your time into getting the word out -- is it fair to say, "that is a real cost"? It's a time-cost. It's an effort-cost. It impacts your business. But is it a number? I realize that for some people this number is easy -- how much are we spending on Ad Words? -- but for other businesses the effort that you mention is very hard to dollarize. It's kind of weird that some people assume you can.

bluesteel44 9y ago
You should dollarize your time. Maybe you're severely undervaluing it? Randy Pausch has a great argument why you should (in his time management talk).
- logicallee 9y ago
  VC: "Do you know your customer acquisition costs?" You start to think. You started working on this full time 9 weeks ago. You've spent maybe 45 hours per week on the project total. You spent between 15 to 40% of your time managing the press, blogging, replying to email inquiries. Honestly, it's hard to estimate. You have not given your credit card out or made any bank transfers, it's been only just you. You are now closing a round at a valuation of 1.7 million. You have 745 users. Scenario A: your last day job was as a florist, working for someone else and netting $9.50 per hour after taxes. Scenario B: in your day job you make $165k as a senior engineer. Question: what are your customer acquisition costs? If it's relevant, answer separately under scenario A and B. (A and B may also be red herrings,- a trick, irrelevant information.) if you need additional information to perform the calculation, ask and I'll give it to you. What is your calculated response? Justify your calculation.
HeyLaughingBoy 9y ago
I can always make another dollar. I can't get back the minute that just passed.