This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

In the early spring of 2009, the fundraising nuclear winter of the previous year hadn't yet thawed. It would be months before Foursquare's first round touched off a NYC venture frenzy. I was out trying to save my startup by talking to as many investors as I could. One particular investor pass--from someone we thought we had a good shot with--felt like a punch in the the stomach.

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ventures pitching VC startup ecosystem 280

Gust

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Steve Forbes image via Wikipedia. Presenting your startup vision as a founder to a potential investor, or presenting an idea as an employee to an executive, requires that you effectively communicate, or “translate”, the value proposition into terms that the receiver can fully understand and appreciate. If you fail, it’s your loss, not theirs, no matter what the reason.

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technology peer-to-peer pitching culture 162

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

Who is responsible for the vision that drives the company? This is arguably the primary job of the CEO, with agreement from the board. Many entrepreneurs after taking outside investment defer to their board for matters of direction that include setting the vision, as well as executing the plan. Here is a general rule: The CEO sets the sails and points the ship, creating the vision for the company.

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board consulting entrepreneurs investing 86

Tomasz Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

We are in the heyday of SaaS. The conference spanned 20+ buildings, served 60,000+ attendees and was sponsored by more than 300 vendors. Free food everywhere. Skullcandy wireless headphone giveaways. DJs in every corner. Four square play areas on fake grass outside. It is one huge party. Benioff delivered a tremendous keynote. I wish I could speak in public with his confidence, control and passion.

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SaaS technology startup 40

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technology

Gust

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

Yes and No. The JOBS Act has several pieces, two of which are relevant here. The fascinating thing is that they allow for diametrically opposite activities! The key questions are: Who can you MARKET to? Who can you SELL to? Under the Crowdfunding provisions of the JOBS Act, a startup company will, for the first time, be able to sell shares of stock to anyone (that is, “the crowd”) once the SEC publishes the final rules for the program in January of 2013.

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startup investing investment 121

Tomasz Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

At a recent meeting, David Barrett, one of the founders of Expensify, drew this diagram when explaining his company’s structure. He has overlaid the core teams of a company with a conversion funnel. It’s brilliantly simple. As every SaaS startup transitions from development to growth, the company must supplement the engineering and product capability with sales, marketing and account management.

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development SaaS founder startup 40

Tomasz Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

The throwaway line in pitches these days is “we’ll sell our data.” Most of the time, this notion is wrong. Data is the most valuable outcome of building a successful product. It’s the insight, the secret , the keys to the kingdom. Don’t sell the keys to the kingdom. Data provides economies of scale and insights used to develop huge barriers to entry and it should be kept within an organization.

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pitching technology development 40

Tomasz Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 17, 2012

SMB SaaS companies cannot afford to pay for distribution. At 2 to 4% conversion to paid rates and $5 to $10 monthly subscription fees, the breakeven CPC for these products on search is $0.40. The average Google click costs three times this and the iOS average cost-per-install is more than twice as expensive. The most successful SMB SaaS companies (Zendesk, Expensify, Square) build communities to drive distribution.

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SaaS communities support networking 40

Tomasz Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Culturally, we tend to associate leadership with extroversion and attach less importance to judgment, vision and mettle. We prize leaders who are eager talkers over those who have something to say. Must great leaders be gregarious? Susan Cain wrote an OpEd this weekend in the Times containing the quote above. In Silicon Valley, the culture seems very much to embrace the idea of introverted leadership.

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startup founder founder leadership culture 40

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