Mark Amouzgar

3x Founder | Investor | Author of Decision Analysis | Engineer&MBA | Top 150 FemTech Leader | @March_Health CoFounder
Sharing lessons I've learnt along the way

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

In a true team, members work together to achieve greatness with a unified vision.

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@thechangj @KDimitratos @brexHQ Yes please 🙏

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@MrRonakShah @isadwatson Same here

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

Just be who you are! You already a star!

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

Why AI Will Save the World | Andreessen Horowitz https://t.co/Oxxfj9vb0V

[Gokul Rajaram @gokulr]

THE BEST MARKETING OFFER

In 2015, we observed something interesting at Caviar, the food delivery service I was leading at the time. A particular offer performed significantly better than others, even though these others were monetarily better (in some cases, significantly better) than this offer. Over the next few years, I saw an increasing number of data points confirming my initial observation, across a variety of businesses, online and offline, B2B and B2C. The offer is, I believe, the best offer in marketing.

Simply put, this offer involves giving something to the customer for FREE.

At Caviar, FREE delivery significantly outperformed $5 off (or even sometimes $10 off) even though our delivery fees were only $2.99.

Watch closely, and you will see this phenomenon everywhere, In B2B, the same psychological phenomenon leads to companies offering a free whitepaper in exchange for your lead info. Informercials seek to close the deal with “.. order in the next 15 minutes and get this set of cooking knives for free”. Amazon Prime offers me free streaming video (which I rarely watch, but I still value it and would be upset if they took it away), And so it goes on.

Why is this? Turns out this phenomenon of people attributing more value to something they receive for free is a well known cognitive bias in behavioral economics and psychology. It is referred to as the endowment effect or zero-price effect.

Marketers, founders and CEOs: the implication for you is simple but profound. Offering something PERCEIVED as valuable for free, as part of or bundled with your core product, can perform dramatically better than other offers / discounts. It can allow you to charge full price for the product while standing out in customers’ minds. The real trick, of course, is figuring out what this free offer or add-on should be. It should be something with low marginal cost but high perceived value. A restaurant owner told me “free fries are the two most powerful words in fast food”. Super cheap to make but very high value for anyone buying a burger.

DISCLAIMER: It’s important to note that while free offers can be highly effective, they need to be well-planned and aligned with your overall marketing strategy. The free offer should provide genuine value to the customer while still being sustainable and profitable for your business in the long run.

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@edbatista This is amazing, Ed! Congratulations!

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@thesamparr 15%

[Gokul Rajaram @gokulr]

Startup CEOs: when framing your competition to investors, recognize that in investors’ eyes, is a hierarchy of competition, from most worrisome to least.

(1) Venture funded startup competitors: investors are extremely worried when there are other venture funded startups trying to solve the same problem for the same customer segment as you are. Many will pass until a clear winner emerges.

(2) Large tech company’s core product: if you are tackling the same problem as a mega cap tech company, that’s the second most worrisome to investors. You better have a multi year lead and some unique competitive advantage / distribution channel, and even that might not be enough to convince investors.

(3) Large tech company’s secondary product: it’s not as worry inducing, bur you’ll still need to have a proactive plan that shows how you will win.

(4) Legacy competitors / manual processes: this is the best case scenario.

Implication: a crowded venture landscape (> 2 companies) clustered around a problem space is one of the most challenging things to surmount.

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@andruyeung I'm in

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@isadwatson Me too

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@michelleefang @mercury Would love to get one please.

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@FounderEric Definitely Berlin

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@bayareawriter You got this. Tough times never last but tough people do.

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@dunkhippo33 @dunkhippo332 Done.

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

I’m in Chicago for #HIMSS 2023 conference this week! Let's meet if you're here as well.

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@JeanineSuah Me

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@irrvrntVC @CRE_AttorneyGuy Same experience. Great!

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@JohnHenryStyle Why?

[Mark Amouzgar @amouzga]

@steviemctweets Alwaysssss!!!