When it comes to building a startup, it doesn’t matter whether you have a great idea or whether you’ve got a product with some great potential. A startup is – by definition – a new business, and with every new business, its success is dependent on how many users you actually have and the rate at which you gain new customers. This morning, we had Neil Patel – the cofounder and vice president of marketing for the customer analytics platform KISSmetrics – join us on stage at Tech Cocktail Celebrate to talk about how to build your customer base. As a startup, it’s important that you not lose sight of your primary objective: to survive, and hopefully succeed. This survival, of course, is dependent on the number of people who are actually using and appreciating your product on a daily basis. Are people visiting your site? Are people engaging in your app? Are you actually getting users to sign up for your services? If not, then you’re screwed. Patel isn’t a stranger to failure. When he was a teenager living in the poorer section of Orange County, California, he had aspirations to become a rich dude. After learning how much money Monster.com was making, he created a similar site called Advice Monkey with the goal of also making millions of dollars; however, he soon realized that he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. Since then, Patel has managed to learn a lot more about building a customer base. And his secret? Just look at the data, and growth hack from there. Don’t listen to the opinions or advice others are telling you; rather, really look to the data that you have and see where opportunities lie. For nascent companies looking to build their user base, Patel recommends that startups pick the first and best channel they think will work for them, focus on that primary channel, grow it, and then move into other channels. He thinks that pursuing multiple marketing channels at one time is a flawed approach and involves a lot more work than a startup is capable of. On October 6-7, Tech Cocktail Celebrate Conference is gathering hundreds of attendees, industry leaders, and inspiring speakers in downtown Vegas to meet the hottest startups and investors from around the country, learn and collaborate with others turning their communities into startup cities, and enjoy music, parties, and llama spotting. Check out more Tech Cocktail Celebrate Conference coverage here.
