This is Session 4 in a four-session series, covering product management basics, and developed for students at xlab, Tsinghua University. This session focuses on business model, marketing and KPIs.

1. Product Management @ Mobile
Internet Start-up
Yue Zhuge
Co-Founder/CEO Ivy Gallery
April 3, 2014
Session 4
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2. A Four-session Series for Students at
xlab, Tsinghua University
Session 1:
• Product management basics and skills
Session 2:
• From customer needs to quality product: requirements
and design
Session 3:
• Project management and execution
Session 4:
• Product management at a start-up company
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3. PM in a Startup
Business
Model
Branding and
Marketing
Mobile
Advertising
Management
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4. Internet/Mobile Business Models
Consumer
Pay
Paid App or Service
Freemium （Upgrade)
In-App Purchase (One-time)
Subscriptions (Membership)
Business
Pay
Advertising
Lead Gen
Transaction Royalties
Data and Info Service
Platform and Software Service
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5. Myth #1: Users = $$s
Reality: engagement metrics – frequency,
session length, stickiness are as important
Reality: not all app are good for
advertising
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6. Myth #2: Data = $$s
Reality: Data is only valuable after it becomes
large enough
Reality: Data is only useful if it produces more
value than the cost of extracting the value
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7. Myth #3: Publicity = $$s
Reality: many ‘interesting feature’ type of
products go viral for just a short period of time
Reality: link any other business, value creation
should be the ultimate goal
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8. PM in a Startup
Business
Model
Branding and
Marketing
Mobile
Advertising
Management
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9. Technology Adoption Cycle
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Courtesy of blog.heatspring.com

10. Branding and Positioning in an
Information Age
Give the product a good name
Occupy a space that no one else does
Offer a unique message
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11. Positioning Tips for Startups
• Be #1 in a sub-category
• Associate with a known brand but show the
differentiator
• Take advantage of the fact that known brands
have their well-known position
• Keep repeating your message
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12. Marketing
• Communicate the value of your product to the
consumers
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Marketing Consumers
Product
Value

13. Example: Ivy Core Messages
Connecting
clouds
Smart
organization
Flexible
sharing

14. Simpler Message
Too many photos
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15. Exercise: Elevator Pitch
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16. PM in a Startup
Business
Model
Branding and
Marketing
Mobile
Advertising
Management
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17. Advertising your APP
• With content provider (e.g., FB, Yahoo)
• With ad network (e.g., InMobi, AdMob)
• With search engines (e.g., Google, Bing)
• Organic traffic from the app stores
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18. How to Pay
• CPM: pay for
impression
• CPC: pay for click
• CPI: pay for install
• CPA: pay for action
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impressions
clicks
installs
actions
CTR: Click
Through
Rate
IR: Install Rate

19. An Example Funnel
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impressions
clicks
installs
actions
200,000
15000
600
CTR = 7.5%
IR = 4%
What’s the expected CTR and IR?
What are you paying for and what’s your CPI?
What about organic traffic?
If I spend $100, then
my CPI = $0.166

20. Watch for Channel Quality
• What kind of inventory
• What kind of user targeting
• Incentivized or not
• Uninstall rate
• User activity after a period of time
• Your conversion metric (e.g., $$s earned)
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21. KPIs: Three Categories of Metrics
• Installs, channel quality metrics
Marketing Effectiveness
• Active users (DAU, WAU, MAU), retention, session length
Product Quality
• Function usage, path, exits
Product Functions
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22. PM in a Startup
Business
Model
Branding and
Marketing
Mobile
Advertising
Management
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23. Hiring PM: Look for Raw Quality
Product interests
• How good she is as a user, how excited when talking about a product
Critical thinking
• Can he critique product features and elaborate on reasons
Logic
• Can she generalize and specialize on product functions
• Can she justify a decision
Problem solving
• Can he provide different solutions to a request and compare them
• Can he analyze and handle complex situations
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24. Keep Growing
• Learning and broadening the product and
domain knowledge
• Improve communication
• Appreciate the different styles of product
managers
• PM ratio in an engineering team: 1PM to 4-6
engineers
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25. Product Management is an Art, there
is no Manual
Some references
• Inspired: How To Create Products Customers
Love Hardcover by Marty Cagan
• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs
Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically
Successful Businesses Hardcover, by Eric Ries
• Crossing the Chasm, by Geoffrey Moore
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26. Always Read More in Different Areas
Design Psychology Culture
Decision
Making
Behavioral
Economics
Marketing
Advertising
Best
Practice
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27. Thank You!
• Email: yue@ivy.ag
• Twitter: @yuezhuge
• Weibo: @诸葛越Yue
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