Transcript
WEBVTT
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very few people on planet Earth have
the necessary skill sets to be founders
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of the companies that are developing
that kind of software. Welcome to the
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revenue Siris on the B two B growth
show. I'm your host, John Rissman,
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founder and sales coach at Early
Revenue. So let's get going today. I'm
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here with Alex Rubalcaba, who is the co
founder and managing partner at Stage
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Venture Partners. Welcome, Alex. Great
to be here. John. Thank you for having
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me. Absolutely. Soto level set for our
guests. Our guests are CEOs, revenue
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leaders and venture firms. And our
purpose is to provide early stage tech
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founders and their sales leaders
insights and best practices on two
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topics that are top of mind for most
leaders. The how twos Off growing early
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state sales and fundraising. So, once
again, thanks for being here, Alex. Why
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don't you tell us a little bit about
your background? So we know who we're
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talking about today? Absolutely. So I
founded my firm stage about five years
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ago. The firm invests in enterprise
software startups, always at the seed
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level. So the first round of
institutional capital that a startup is
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raising I focus on software companies.
They're solving hard technical problems
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almost always at the application layer
in a diverse set of industries,
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including, but not limited to things
like e commerce, software, tools,
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healthcare and life sciences, and
industrial and aerospace applications.
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I'm based in Los Angeles, where I lived
all my life, and I started out out of
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college as an analyst at another
venture firm here in town, called
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Anthem Venture Partners, which is still
around and going strong, worked there
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for a number of years out of college
and then left venture in early stage
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investing for a number of years and
spent that time doing mostly investing
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in public markets, running a long,
short, special situations oriented
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hedge fund. After a while, though, I
decided that my true passion was back
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in venture capital and working with
startups. When you buy companies on the
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New York Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ,
they don't know who you are. They don't
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care that you own them, whereas in, uh,
in startups, it's a little different.
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And I decided that that was where my
interests lie. Awesome. And so when did
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you found stage what year? 2015 2015 So
for founders that air listening, What's
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the approximate size of the fund? I'm
currently investing out of my fund?
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Three, which is a $25 million fund?
Awesome. And so for those that air in
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that early stage, that air they're
hearing you perhaps the first time.
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What are the characteristics of an
ideal start up for your fund? I'm
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looking down the list of those that you
invested in, and it is. It is just an
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array from three D content management.
Thio Customers, Success for law
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enforcement, Thio Data for Aerospace,
Safer Drone deployments, Secure
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research platforms, sales support and
the customer service Ai. Yeah, So what
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all of those things have in common is
that they are software startups that
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are solving hard business problems that
had never been able to be solved with
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software before they are taking cutting
edge technology often apply, often
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applying artificial intelligence or
machine learning and unlocking new
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capabilities. Many of the companies
that you mentioned are also special in
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the sense that very few people on
planet Earth have the necessary skill
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sets to be founders of the companies
that are developing that kind of
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software, and many of my companies have
very little to zero competition. They
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don't have other venture funded or
other types of software companies that
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are competing with them for the
attention of customers. And they
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actually have a different challenge
when it comes to sales. And when it
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comes Thio entering a new market, which
is, they have to convince buyers, too,
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trust software for the first time to
solve a problem that they have always
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had. And that's a very unique risk
profile it is. So is there a theme that
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permeates each of those? How are they
going about? Because that's a very
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difficult conversation, right?
Everybody has an innovative platform,
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but summer innovative in markets where
there are someone to the left, someone
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to the right of them. How are are there
themes that they're utilizing, Um, that
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you've been able to kind of notice the
signal through the noise there? Yeah,
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there. There are a few things that tend
to be important for companies like that.
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Number one is that you have to go
directly to your customer. I think the
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supplies for most early stage companies,
but nobody other than your company can
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sell your product, especially when it's
a new product and you're creating a new
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category, no one else knows what to
call you. Yet there often isn't a name
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for what this product is called. You
know, we all know what customer
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relationship management software is
today, and most buyers know what that
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is and know that they should probably
have that. And they might think about
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Salesforce in one or two other
companies when they think about that,
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but that that's already in people's
minds. When you think about a company
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you mentioned, my customer service
software company for law enforcement,
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Spider tech Spider Tech has created a
completely new category. There is
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nobody else who does what Spider Tech
does. There is no. In fact, we know
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there's no one who does it because they
have won all of their contracts either
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on sole source contracting with
government agencies, which is a hard
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thing to get the right to do yes or
through our FPs. And when Spider Tech
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has gone through an RFP to win a
customer award, no one else has ever
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answered the RFP. That's amazing, but
how interesting. So when it comes to
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these investments, obviously you're
looking for pretty unique solutions.
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And the risk profile is certainly is
very different, one of the criteria or
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the metrics that you see when deciding
on on investment at that early of a
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stage, Yes. So the critical part of
that question that you just asked is at
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that early of a stage, because when I'm
investing, a typical company is two
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founders, maybe and maybe two or three
additional employees, and the company
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has been around for about a year.
Usually at the time that I invest. They
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have received less than $1 million of
invested capital, often far less than
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that, almost always from friends and
family and angel investors. From time
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to time, they will have gone through an
accelerator like Techstars, and
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everything is early. Everything is in
the process of being formed, and some
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of the companies have no revenue at the
time that I invest. Some have a handful
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of early pilots or customers, and so
when I'm looking at these companies and
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when I'm evaluating among the many
thousands that I see in a given year
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old, I'll see about 1400 startups that
pitch me. I have to look at a bunch of
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questions, and I sort of distill it
down to two sets of three questions.
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The top level questions are why you?
Why now and why us? Why you is about
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why is this founder uniquely credible?
Why now is a question about why is now
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the right time to be building this
company and solving this problem using
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software? Why us is a question about
why am I and why is my firm the right
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investor for this company? And then the
second set of questions is basically a
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more detailed set about the Y. You
question about the founder because the
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founder is the most important thing
when evaluating a company like this and
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that set of questions is all about the
three primary risks that a startup that
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young faces and that is, can you ship?
Can you sell? Can you hire and it comes
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down to in this person in this team,
ship software quickly, inexpensively
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and iterate as necessary. Can they sell?
Can they convince somebody who is not
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their mother or their mother in law to
pay them real money for the software?
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And can they hire? Can they convince
really high quality people to quit jobs
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at big, prestigious companies that
impress their friends and relatives to
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come work for a start up that nobody
has ever heard of, often for a pay cut.
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Yes, I would say the majority of the
time it's It's with a pay cut, right?
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So when you get these guys on, as as a
portfolio company, how is it that I
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mean one of the tough parts? Right?
Shipping? Typically for tech founders,
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that's what they're focused on, a
typical focused on products. So getting
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out there and selling it unless you're
unique. I like Mark Bernstein is
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usually a challenge, but they are
typically founder. So how are you
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contributing to figuring out that early,
uh, repeatable sale? How are you
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helping them? If it all with early
stage sale, that's a That's a tough
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That's a tough thing. It is a tough
thing, and a lot of the assessment and
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a lot of the plan depends on a few
criteria about the product. Number one.
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What is the annual contract value? I
tend to invest in high priced software
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so you will not see me investing in a
lot of companies where the product cost
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$10 a month for user. Probably kind of
part and parcel with enterprise
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software, right, if that's where you're
investing. Yeah, there are a lot of
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really good bottoms up product led
growth companies out there. But usually
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the difference between software
companies that monetize like that is
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down to very small features. And there
tends to be a lot of competition and a
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lot of new entrance at the seed stage.
You know, there are 1000 companies that
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are trying to make incremental
improvement over slack or zoom, and I
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find it very hard to decide super early
on which of those air going to break
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out. So I didn't know if the companies
that have annual contract values above
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10,000 per customer and I have a big
cluster in the 10 to $40,000 range that
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generally sell through inside sales
efforts, and I have a big cluster that
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are at annual contract values of over
100,000, which tend to have more of an
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outside sales model that would require
in any year other than 2020 putting
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people on airplanes. Thio, go visit and
sell person one day that will come back,
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of course. So a lot of it depends on
those kind of questions, and a lot of
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it depends on the complexity of a
deployment. You know, do we need to
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integrate with existing systems of any
kind? Are their data assets that need
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to be loaded into the product in order
for the product to have value how Maney
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users is required at an enterprise
customer in order for that enterprise
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to receive value from the product? And
when you think through those questions,
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you start to think, Okay, does outbound
work here, or does it have to be some
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sort of a relationship based legion
process? How much is required in pilots?
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What kind of discounts need too early
customers? Those are all the questions
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that one figures out as you're you're
entering sales for the first time, so
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you're helping them with their go to
market model. You're helping them
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figure out the cadence and all of the
associate ID processes that you'd have
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to go through in order to form that
foundation. Then, from there, you know,
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it's it's a matter of getting out there
and having conversations, right? So
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what about it looks like and it feels
like you're gathering learnings from
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these from me that you're investing.
And how much time do you invest? Do you
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allocate for guidance and coaching?
You're probably learning a ton from
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these other early stage innovative
companies. How are you applying that to,
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uh, the new founders that you bring on
board? One of the great things about
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specializing on Lee an enterprise
software is that there are
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commonalities across the companies that
I invest in. And it's something that
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does allow for cross pollination. Azan
Example. You You interviewed Mark
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Bernstein from Balto A. I the other day,
and Balto has an outstanding customer
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success leader guy named Tyler
Wonderlic, who has put in place um,
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really great processes and tools at
Balto. And I recently put Tyler in
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touch with one of my earlier stage
startups that is figuring out customer
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success for the first time and was able
thio make the introduction and allow
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one of my companies that has really
good tools to share those kind of tools
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with another company in the portfolio.
And stuff like that happens all the
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time. I have a slack channel for my
founders that allows them to ask
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questions of each other and Thio pose
questions and talk about problems
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without me needing to be the bottleneck
and the go between for them, and that
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has enabled a lot of collaboration and
a lot of working together. That's very
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clever. When you come to a point where
you found somewhere you begin a
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dialogue and there's answers. What's a
typical cycle? Duration from initial
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conversation to term sheet? Usually
that process involves an initial
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conversation used to be mostly in
person meetings and its most bloom
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these days and the process that
involves my taking time to spend with
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all of the other founders, not just the
person who is leading fundraising. It's
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often the case that they designate this,
that a startup team will designate the
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CEO, too. Handle all the fundraising,
and I think it's important to get to
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know the other founders. Justus. Well,
as I'm getting to know the person who's
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taking point on the deal e like to
research competition, I get demos of
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products. I often am contacting people
in my network who could be potential
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customers to meet with a startup and to
give me their view as a buyer. I'm
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lucky that I'm lucky to have as
investors and limited partners in my
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fund a number of people who operate
substantial businesses, who are also
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very eager early adopters a tech and I
get to get the benefit of their
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expertise and their perspective from
their companies, and I then want to
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speak usually with customers or
prospect of customers at the end of the
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process from the start of itself. And
that whole process usually takes 4 to 7
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weeks to go through it. Usually, the
end point is a term sheet. Often I end
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up interested in companies that other
VCs, or not paying much attention to I,
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for whatever reason, make my decisions
almost entirely independently. And I
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rarely if ever, find myself in
competitive situations where other
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investors are chasing a deal, and that
also ends up with an interesting side
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effect, which is I write checks of 300
to $500,000 or so in two companies that
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are raising anywhere from 1 to 3
million. So that means that I'm not the
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entire round and there need to be other
investors alongside me, and if I often
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getting to conviction with a startup
that is not having a lot of other BC's.
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Pay attention to them the moment I
assign a term sheet. I didn't have to
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go out to my network and find other
investors for the company, and that
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often takes a few weeks to put together.
But usually it works out pretty well.
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There are a lot of folks out there who
are inclined to take a more detailed
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look at something. Once a lead is in
one, Price has agreed to and deals to,
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ah, lot faster. Once all of that has
been put in place, that's a great
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process. It's great information for
those listeners out there. And frankly,
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that's a pretty quick cycle. Like 47
weeks is lightning compared toa others
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that are out there, which is great. It
doesn't need to take much longer than
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that. You know, if I shouldn't write,
it really shouldn't. But you're right.
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Yeah, if I'm on the fence about
something, it's probably something I
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just need. Thio politely thank the
founders about and move on. And maybe
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that company is a little too early, and
I end up looking at them again in six
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months when they have made some
progress and getting really excited
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about it, then about 40% of the
investments that I make fit that
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pattern where I meet them. There's not
enough to go on yet at the moment that
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I meet them. But I like the founders. I
am interested in the problem that they
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are solving, and I encourage them to
stay in touch with me. And six months
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or nine months later, they've hired a
few people. Some of the logos in their
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pipeline have turned into real
customers. All of a sudden, there's
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something tangible for me to dig into
and to research. And I can often make a
215
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decision very quickly in a situation
like that where I've had the benefit of
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having met somebody in the past, and I
can see over time the progress that
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they have made against the goals that
they had when I first met them. So yeah,
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that's often how it works. And again,
if you're if you're thinking about it.
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If you're not sure, you save the
precious few slots that you have to
220
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invest in any given year in the year
old. Invest in six or seven or eight
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companies. You save that for the ones
that just like grip you, that just
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grippy by the throat and that you can't
stop thinking about of the way you
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describe that. If you grip you by the
throat, yeah, because you really can't
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get it off your mind, right? You're
excited. You kind of feel it. You have
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a sense for it. Not only does the
analysis start to add up, but you have
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a feel for it, right? And that's that z
exciting stuff. So probably plenty of
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examples here. But what's a recent
achievement that you're really proud of?
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Whether it waas, you know someone got
acquired, whether it's growth or
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success, a new raise? Let's see. I
mentioned my portfolio companies Spider
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Tech, which makes automated
communication tools for police
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departments. And that company found
itself in a very unusual and unexpected
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situation this year when a number of
its early customers started using the
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product to communicate with citizens
about Cove it in about the lockdowns
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that were happening in March and about
the public health emergency that we
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were all facing and the product was not
built with that kind of a use case ever
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in mind. But it turned out to be
perfect for that. And it turned out
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that it helps customers police
departments in a time of real need. And
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as a result of that, almost every
police Department that was in spider
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text late stage pipeline in the spring
of this year converted into a sale
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within a matter of weeks and telling
the government as you know, some very
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long sales cycles. And there are people
who have expectations and biases about
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that. But when something like that
happens, all of that all of those
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concerns. All of those stereotypes
about government sale cycles evaporate
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and police departments around the
country bought spider tech in Mass in
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order to be able to communicate with
their citizens. And it became an
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important public safety tool in a
completely new E. What great timing.
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And you so no wonder you're proud of
that because talk about being able to
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provide a public service, and it wasn't
in it wasn't intended or designed that
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way, but they were able to figure it
out, which that's just wonderful. So So
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I'll ask you an interesting one now. So
what is something, Um, if you're
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thinking about founders of early stage
companies that everyone should either
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start doing or stop doing, and you can
pick any category you want there. When
253
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it comes to things that they shouldn't
do, they shouldn't hire anyone to help
254
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them raise funding. That's perfectly
appropriate to hire, you know, an
255
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investment banker or advisor or someone.
If you are raising a $300 million
256
00:21:12.860 --> 00:21:18.260
private equity round or something like
that, and for the fees that you will
257
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pay on a $300 million deal, you could
get a very capable person stand firm to
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help you. I would submit that if you're
raising $2 million and maybe paying a
259
00:21:26.690 --> 00:21:33.130
7% successfully for that, you might not
be getting the world's top talent. And
260
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I think founders need to take on that
process themselves. And I see too many
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people relying on third parties for
access to capital. You don't need that.
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You can assemble a list of potential
investors who are a good fit for you
263
00:21:50.330 --> 00:21:55.980
yourself, with a simple few hours of
research on crunch base, and most good
264
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investors do read well written cold
emails. I closed the deal yesterday.
265
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Not yesterday. Today's Friday a week
ago. I closed the deal on Friday of
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last week that started with a cold
email from the founder, and I led that
267
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seed round in the company. And the seed
Rin was wildly oversubscribed. Maybe
268
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five or six X over subscribed.
Everybody e wanted it on that deal, and
269
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that started with a cold email, and the
next deal that I'm hopefully going to
270
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be the leading that could be closing in
about a month also started with a cold
271
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email. Amazing other things to stop
doing. Don't outsource your core
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functions. I would argue that, you know,
it's perfectly fine to outsource your
273
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book keeping. You know, the bookkeeping
for early stage software companies is
274
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pretty straightforward. Anyone who has
done this and knows how to do air. Our
275
00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:56.190
subscription math can produce a good
set of books for you don't need a CFO,
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you know, when I see a founding team
and one of the founders is the CFO, I
277
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wonder, what does that person do all
day, right. Not managing a finance
278
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department in the tiny company, and yet
I also see companies that outsource the
279
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building of their technology to a Dev
shop, and I have maximalist views
280
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against that. And what I mean by that
is the very best thing that could
281
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happen. The very best thing that can
happen when you hire a dev shop eyes
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also just about the worst thing that
can happen and that is that they
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deliver the product to you on time, on
budget and on spec, and people say,
284
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Well, that's that's a good thing. Is an
Internet actually, that's a bad thing.
285
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And the reason that that's a bad thing
is that when you get that, you then put
286
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it in the hands of your customers. And
in almost every case of a of a
287
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successful software company that I have
ever worked with, the customers end up
288
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using your products in a way that
founder not anticipate right and that
289
00:24:00.340 --> 00:24:06.490
all emerging behavior often triggers an
awareness of the need to completely
290
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reorient the product, to elevate
features and capabilities that were
291
00:24:12.040 --> 00:24:19.150
thought incidental and to throw away or
deprecate other products. Other aspects
292
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of the product that people thought were
the core use case. When that happens,
293
00:24:24.140 --> 00:24:28.810
you often have a short window of time
to react thio, the behavior that you're
294
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observing among your customers and the
direct feedback that they're giving to
295
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you. And you need thio iterate quickly.
You need to cycle quickly, and Deb
296
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shops just aren't capable of doing that.
What, what what is capable of doing
297
00:24:40.310 --> 00:24:45.520
that is a small, highly productive
founding team of developers and
298
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engineers who are on your payroll, who
are direct employees of you who have
299
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stock options and meaningful ownership
in your company and Dev. Shops don't do
300
00:24:54.790 --> 00:24:59.240
that. Deaf shops are very effective. If
an insurance company wants to launch a
301
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mobile app or something like that,
where the company is stable, the needs
302
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air clear. The technology risk isn't
all that high. It's just a matter of
303
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getting it done. And it's a matter of
it's a matter of fact that the customer
304
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doesn't have it software capabilities
of their own because they're an
305
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insurance company. There's a role to
play in a valuable service that those
306
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kinds of companies offer. But I don't
think that they offer a valuable
307
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service for the earliest stage startups,
and that that certainly makes a being a
308
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core function. Curious what your
thoughts are about marketing agencies
309
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providing kind of outsourced support or
the demand generation companies that
310
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are out there in an early stage
scenario, it depends on the complexity
311
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of the product. If it's a relatively
simple product that can simply be
312
00:25:49.760 --> 00:25:54.970
downloaded and installed in, the user
can start working on it. Then that can
313
00:25:54.970 --> 00:26:01.650
work if it needs explanation,
integration or data ingestion. It's
314
00:26:01.650 --> 00:26:07.130
very hard for an agency to be helpful
with that at the earliest stage at
315
00:26:07.130 --> 00:26:10.970
getting from, you know, zero to a
couple million dollars in annual
316
00:26:10.970 --> 00:26:15.810
recurring revenue. Almost all of my
companies that have been successful at
317
00:26:15.810 --> 00:26:20.040
that figured out how to get to
customers at scale on their own.
318
00:26:20.050 --> 00:26:26.030
Awesome. Some. Another question, then,
about sort of the how cove it is
319
00:26:26.030 --> 00:26:30.880
impacting many startups. They're having
to think through this whole notion of
320
00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:33.690
remote selling. No one's getting on
planes. No one's doing face to face
321
00:26:33.690 --> 00:26:38.630
meetings anymore. How have you noticed
that start up teams that you're working
322
00:26:38.630 --> 00:26:42.940
with are managing without face to face?
And without that interaction, I'll tell
323
00:26:42.940 --> 00:26:46.710
you something that surprised me That,
but that I have now heard from multiple
324
00:26:46.710 --> 00:26:51.030
companies in my portfolio is that
they're having to re sell their product
325
00:26:51.030 --> 00:26:55.600
to their existing customers because a
lot of their customers have been under
326
00:26:55.600 --> 00:27:00.880
so much stress in their own businesses
that they have had to go through
327
00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:05.530
layoffs and reductions in force, such
that everyone who bought the product a
328
00:27:05.530 --> 00:27:10.280
year ago is no longer with the company.
Ah, lot of execs are gone, a lot of
329
00:27:10.280 --> 00:27:16.090
major purchasers are gone, and I have
multiple portfolio companies that are
330
00:27:16.090 --> 00:27:21.540
charging customers monthly where the
person who authorized the purchase is
331
00:27:21.540 --> 00:27:26.860
no longer on the payroll of the company
and where the my my software startups
332
00:27:26.870 --> 00:27:33.490
are scrambling to build new
relationships with existing customers
333
00:27:33.490 --> 00:27:38.860
so that when renewals come up that they
are not turning, That's a really, uh,
334
00:27:39.240 --> 00:27:44.610
unusual circumstance right now. Maybe
not so unusual everyone. It appears to
335
00:27:44.610 --> 00:27:47.490
me that everyone that I've been talking
to that has any customer base has been
336
00:27:47.490 --> 00:27:52.080
focused on customer success, meaning
get back. And if you're not already,
337
00:27:52.090 --> 00:27:55.870
get back in front of that customer and
make sure that they're they're
338
00:27:55.870 --> 00:28:01.540
achieving impact and value regularly.
And if you're doing that, you discover
339
00:28:01.540 --> 00:28:05.850
along the way I think what you
mentioned, which is bodies are going to
340
00:28:05.850 --> 00:28:08.220
change. They're gonna be layoffs.
They're gonna be shifts. They're gonna
341
00:28:08.220 --> 00:28:12.220
be organizations. Um, they're gonna be
cutbacks. Um, they're gonna be budget
342
00:28:12.220 --> 00:28:18.440
slashes. And so unless your core
essential to that business, it's gonna
343
00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:24.020
be tough justified. And part of that is
reselling. That's a and that's a tough
344
00:28:24.020 --> 00:28:29.600
thing for sure, it's even tougher
because it's not face to face. Exactly.
345
00:28:29.600 --> 00:28:33.450
And and with everything not being face
to face, especially for high ticket
346
00:28:33.450 --> 00:28:40.510
software, a lot of the steps that sales
teams are accustomed to going through
347
00:28:40.520 --> 00:28:46.950
in their sales motions are having to be
rethought and adjusted. And so
348
00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:53.300
pilots are different than they used to
be. In terms of timelines, deployments
349
00:28:53.300 --> 00:28:57.190
and integrations are different.
Contracting and budgeting are different,
350
00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:01.900
and a lot of buyers have had to adjust
their processes to get comfortable
351
00:29:01.900 --> 00:29:05.750
paying often six figures buying
software from companies where they have
352
00:29:05.750 --> 00:29:08.770
not met anyone in person, where they
have not gone through their traditional
353
00:29:09.140 --> 00:29:13.590
purchasing checklists, and where
they're having to adapt all of that
354
00:29:13.600 --> 00:29:18.460
online for the first time. What I have
seen that distinguishes companies that
355
00:29:18.460 --> 00:29:23.790
are making that transition successfully
is that they're investing into digital
356
00:29:23.790 --> 00:29:30.480
assets and into content marketing in
order to help their champions inside
357
00:29:30.490 --> 00:29:35.340
their customer organizations make the
sale on their behalf internally to
358
00:29:35.350 --> 00:29:40.260
other buyers into gatekeepers within
the company. And so you need really
359
00:29:40.260 --> 00:29:45.710
well documented contracts, often with
some sort of explanation of things you
360
00:29:45.710 --> 00:29:50.680
know, using simple Loom videos to
explain things in M s A. Agreements so
361
00:29:50.680 --> 00:29:55.450
that your buyer can take that to the
legal department and show them this is
362
00:29:55.450 --> 00:29:59.620
why the contract is this way, uh,
investing more into content marketing
363
00:29:59.620 --> 00:30:03.190
so that they can so that a buyer could
go to their boss and say, Here's a
364
00:30:03.190 --> 00:30:06.410
three minute video about why we need
this product and why it's important.
365
00:30:06.410 --> 00:30:09.710
And here's a case study about how
another customer is using it. Those
366
00:30:09.710 --> 00:30:14.490
kinds of tools and collateral have
always been important when it comes to
367
00:30:14.490 --> 00:30:19.460
selling software. But when they become
your only tools, you have to invest
368
00:30:19.470 --> 00:30:23.510
even more into them and get them even
more right than you did before. I heard
369
00:30:23.510 --> 00:30:28.450
a marketer using an interesting term Ah,
success bridge, right? You've used a
370
00:30:28.450 --> 00:30:32.200
certain milestone. You're trying to get
that person or that organization to the
371
00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:37.110
next milestone or the next step in the
relationship. And if you can identify
372
00:30:37.110 --> 00:30:41.220
what are the challenges they face
internally, build some form of success
373
00:30:41.220 --> 00:30:46.730
bridge to enable them? Thio more easily
migrate to that next step. I think it's
374
00:30:46.740 --> 00:30:50.410
and that's done typically through
content, because it's typically that
375
00:30:50.420 --> 00:30:54.130
those things that are happening, the
background or asynchronous you're not
376
00:30:54.140 --> 00:30:58.400
part of those meetings. You're not part
of that discussion, that analysis. So
377
00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:02.570
it's necessary that you try and support
them in any way possible. It's
378
00:31:02.570 --> 00:31:07.120
typically with content. Yeah, and
success. Bridges are a great term for
379
00:31:07.120 --> 00:31:12.060
that. And one of the most effective
types of success bridge that a software
380
00:31:12.060 --> 00:31:18.070
company can build is eliminating steps,
eliminating steps in the deployment of
381
00:31:18.070 --> 00:31:24.490
a product and a customer getting its
first value out of a product and
382
00:31:24.490 --> 00:31:29.440
eliminating steps in the sale of the
product and eliminating steps in
383
00:31:29.450 --> 00:31:35.660
spreading the product throughout an
organization. And the companies that
384
00:31:35.660 --> 00:31:39.390
have adapted best to covert are the
ones who have looked at every single
385
00:31:39.400 --> 00:31:46.390
aspect of their product of their sales
motion of everything and taken out the
386
00:31:46.390 --> 00:31:52.560
steps that are not necessary. Thio get
the customers value earlier and so true,
387
00:31:52.940 --> 00:31:57.610
and it got me wondering about your
investing. It's such an early stage.
388
00:31:57.620 --> 00:32:02.710
Have you seen any of your portfolio
companies go through a significant
389
00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:09.270
pivot as they were working through the
early stages that they're in? So I you
390
00:32:09.270 --> 00:32:12.490
know, I'm a seed investor. I usually
invest in companies that are a year old
391
00:32:12.490 --> 00:32:17.370
and that have fewer than 10 employees
and zero or often just a few $100,000
392
00:32:17.380 --> 00:32:22.480
in revenue. At the time that I invest,
100% of the companies that I have ever
393
00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:28.700
invested in have pivoted substantially
and seriously before I invested in
394
00:32:28.700 --> 00:32:33.150
there. See ground, every single one
does it. You know, Mike Tyson said that
395
00:32:33.150 --> 00:32:36.820
everybody's got a plan until they get
punched in the mouth. And I think about
396
00:32:36.820 --> 00:32:42.470
that in ah lot in terms of people's
assumptions about their product and
397
00:32:42.480 --> 00:32:46.580
assumptions about their technology and
their market. And even in the earliest
398
00:32:46.580 --> 00:32:52.220
stages, you have to pivot, and you have
to react to what your customers air
399
00:32:52.220 --> 00:32:56.450
telling you. And so I cannot think of a
company that has not pivoted that I
400
00:32:56.450 --> 00:33:00.040
haven't invested in that did not pivot
before I invested them. Every single
401
00:33:00.040 --> 00:33:05.850
one has. Every single one has done so.
Meaningful numbers of time, times after
402
00:33:05.850 --> 00:33:10.210
I invested and the ones that move
quickest to make those decisions most
403
00:33:10.210 --> 00:33:16.210
effectively are the ones that do the
best. So 11 or two final questions. So
404
00:33:16.220 --> 00:33:20.460
are there any you've probably seen
enough of them talking to the number of
405
00:33:20.470 --> 00:33:24.950
early stage startups? What are the
landmines that they step on? The
406
00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:28.960
threatened their existence that you
might suggest, Hey, avoid that if it
407
00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:31.550
all possible or anything that people
are doing out there that you've seen.
408
00:33:31.940 --> 00:33:37.040
There are so many because the default
state of a new technology company is
409
00:33:37.040 --> 00:33:43.830
dead and the attrition rates are so
high, just as a to put some numbers
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around that I recently was looking
through my startup database of all of
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the companies that pitched me and I
looked at the 2016 cohort. I looked at
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the court of companies that pitched me
four years ago, and I wanted to see
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which ones are still around. And what
are the outcomes for the ones that are
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00:34:01.390 --> 00:34:07.790
not still around? And these air rough
estimates. But they're directionally
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00:34:07.790 --> 00:34:13.020
correct, I would say 90% of the
companies that pitched me in 2016 are
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no longer around and did not have a
good outcome. But roughly 90% about 3%
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00:34:19.600 --> 00:34:25.020
did not receive any institutional
funding that I can identify, but have
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00:34:25.060 --> 00:34:31.820
managed to grow in the absence of
funding and build successful businesses
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where they're active and serving
customers. And they are employing a lot
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00:34:35.420 --> 00:34:40.719
of people in doing well. About 3% have
had some kind of an acquisition
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00:34:40.730 --> 00:34:46.139
subsequent to 2016. That looks like it
was a good outcome for everybody
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00:34:46.139 --> 00:34:49.870
involved. That might be, for example, a
company getting a million dollars of
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00:34:49.870 --> 00:34:53.960
investment and then selling for $25
million. Like the investors probably
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00:34:53.960 --> 00:34:58.060
made money. The founders probably made
money. The employee stock options
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00:34:58.060 --> 00:35:02.010
probably ended up being valuable for
everybody involved with the deal like
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00:35:02.010 --> 00:35:08.190
that. And about 3% of the companies
appear to have raised venture capital
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00:35:08.200 --> 00:35:13.500
from other firms and are still in
business and doing well. And then, you
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00:35:13.500 --> 00:35:16.580
know, that's the company that pitched
me just four years ago. That was not
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00:35:16.590 --> 00:35:21.650
all that long ago, and yet very few
raise venture funding. Very few are
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00:35:21.660 --> 00:35:26.720
still around today, And that's just the
nature of investing in startups and
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00:35:26.730 --> 00:35:30.890
starting startups that air pre product
market fit The attrition rate is very
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00:35:30.890 --> 00:35:34.580
high. You know, you can think about
those David Attenborough nature videos
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00:35:34.580 --> 00:35:41.070
where you see a turtle laying eggs on
the beach and, uh, the turtles hatch
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00:35:41.070 --> 00:35:45.750
and they have to make their mad dash
from the beach down. Thio the ocean
435
00:35:45.750 --> 00:35:50.610
while they're being attacked by birds
and snakes and every creature under the
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00:35:50.610 --> 00:35:54.990
sun that wants a quick meal. And
startups are kind of like those poor
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00:35:54.990 --> 00:36:00.700
turtles making the poor dash to the
water so true. And what great insights?
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00:36:00.710 --> 00:36:06.320
Because there are plenty of companies
out there early stage that I hear from
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00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:10.970
often that air listening that that want
advice. And so, gosh, what a great
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00:36:10.970 --> 00:36:14.520
resource. So this has has been great to
learn about you. It's been great to
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00:36:14.520 --> 00:36:19.650
learn about your work at stage, and I
just wish you continued success with
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00:36:19.650 --> 00:36:22.490
what you're doing. I think it's a great
thing, thank you very much. It was
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00:36:22.490 --> 00:36:27.060
great to be here, Alex. Tell us what's
the best way to connect with you? If
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00:36:27.060 --> 00:36:31.530
there's interest in reaching out. Yeah,
so people can follow me on Twitter. My
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00:36:31.540 --> 00:36:37.840
firm account of Stage VP and my
personal account is at the Alex
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00:36:37.840 --> 00:36:43.140
Rubalcaba and for founders who want to
get in touch with me. The very best way,
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00:36:43.140 --> 00:36:48.110
of course, is to find someone who knows
me like an existing founder to make an
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00:36:48.110 --> 00:36:51.620
intro. The reason that that it's so
valuable is because people who know me
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00:36:51.620 --> 00:36:55.580
what I invested will often know whether
you are a good fit for me and can't
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00:36:55.580 --> 00:36:58.780
give you advice and say, You know what?
You're not the kind of company Alex
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00:36:58.790 --> 00:37:01.700
likes. You know, you're you're doing
something in cannabis, and Alex doesn't
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00:37:01.700 --> 00:37:05.930
invest in cannabis. Or you should pitch
this other venture firm. You know,
453
00:37:05.940 --> 00:37:10.640
don't pitch Alex. You know, we'd stuff
go pitch new dog. And so that's one of
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00:37:10.640 --> 00:37:15.500
the reasons why referrals are valuable
because it saves the founders time and
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00:37:15.510 --> 00:37:20.890
the investors, and it worked. It
enables better matches on then, if you
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00:37:20.890 --> 00:37:24.460
know you don't have an introductory
path to me, a really well crafted cold
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00:37:24.460 --> 00:37:29.210
email does get my attention, and it
does lead to build Thio. Two deals
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00:37:29.210 --> 00:37:33.860
getting done as the deal that happened
just last week is great evidence of
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00:37:34.230 --> 00:37:39.970
that's fantastic, and we'll certainly
take your advice there. So thanks to
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00:37:39.970 --> 00:37:43.590
everyone for listening to this episode
of the revenue Siris on the B two B
461
00:37:43.600 --> 00:37:47.870
growth show, I'm your host John Grisman,
founder and sales coach at Early
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00:37:47.870 --> 00:37:50.550
Revenue. Until next time I'm out.
463
00:37:53.530 --> 00:37:57.370
Are you an early stage tech founder
that's frustrated by limited sales? Do
464
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466
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467
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