Visible Blog

QuickBooks Chart of Accounts & More Getting your key metrics, custom financials and business data out of QuickBooks Online just got a whole lot easier. Our product team (special thanks to Eugene) just released a stellar improvement to our existing QuickBooks integration. Our improved integration will pull data from your Profit & Loss Statement, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flows. We will sync any headers, sub-headers and specific accounts that are unique to your business. Once connected, the headers will unfurl and you’ll be able to customize which metrics you’d like to pull in along with the headers themselves. If you’re already using our QuickBooks integration, simply edit your current connection and we’ll display all of the new metrics that you can sync. For new users, just connect to QuickBooks as a new integration. We find that most customers love using our formula builder and variance reporting to mash up their QuickBooks data alongside forecasts, budgets, and data from other sources. We hope you love our new QuickBooks functionality. If you have any questions, make sure to contact us or check out our knowledge base for any support-related items. Up & to the right, Mike & The Visible Team

The importance of executing on the product side of the business has long been a primary focus for countless successful founders and notable startup advisers. So it may come as little surprise that one of the fastest growing trends in SaaS is a renewed focus on product—this time as the primary engine for growth. What is product-led growth? Our friends at OpenView have been leading the charge in championing product-led growth as a go-to-market strategy. As defined in this helpful presentation, PLG occurs in “instances when product usage serves as the primary driver of user acquisition, expansion, and retention.” Growth becomes tied to the value of your company’s product. Like most great startup trends, PLG has its massive success stories that have inspired its wider adoption. The rapid growth of Slack, Calendly and Dropbox have all been at least partially attributed to a product-led strategy to scale. In each case, a product has been offered that is easy-to-use, easy-to-share, and immediately valuable – so much so that it drives user acquisition at remarkable rates, slashes customer acquisition costs (CAC), and surges customer lifetime value (CLV). One of the most valuable upsides of a successful PLG strategy is the overwhelming strong unit economics that can accompany the user growth. As OpenView often discusses, PLG often impacts every aspect of a SaaS business. Product Led Growth Impact on Product Considering PLG is based off of a company’s ability to distribute their product there is obviously a huge impact on the product. Everyone and every department in your business needs to have an intense focus on product. “It’s about product being the core DNA of your company,” Hiten Shah writes. “So much so that the default mode for solving problems—including growth challenges—is to figure out how to use the product to address whatever issue is at hand.” So what exactly does this mean for your product? It needs to be simple and focused. You need to deeply understand your user pain points, strip out any unnecessary features, and have a product that delivers value in a quick and efficient manner. This is to enable other core tenants of product-led growth; freemium, self serve, product qualified leads, etc. Product Led Growth Impact on Marketing Product-led growth also has a major impact on your marketing efforts. In order to best leverage a PLG strategy, your product needs to act as its own marketing channel. The product needs to be inherently viral and allow for easy adaptation for other users. The user experience should be the core of what a PLG marketing team does. The marketing team needs to be able to onboard new users, create a stellar experience, and use product data to improve marketing communication and nurturing later in the process. As the team at User Pilot writes, “Typically, this means that your product model includes a freemium or offers a free trial. This is a disruptive, bottom-up sales model…where employees of an organization can choose what products they want to use instead of being forced to use certain tools by IT or operations departments in a traditional top-down approach.” Product Led Growth Impact on Sales With an intense focus on product across a product led growth organization the way the sales team works and sells the product will also change. In the past, most software sales teams embraced a top down approach. A sales representative or account executive would find an executive (or executives) at an organization and do their best to sell a set number of seats for the organization. The traditional B2B sales funnel oftentimes looks like this: With a product led growth strategy, sales teams almost act more like a customer success and inbound sales representative. For example, let’s assume a PLG company uses a free trial. The product and UI/UX need to be able to show the trialing user value as soon as possible. PLG sales goal here is to unlock and show the product’s value to the user on trial. Whereas a top-down approach would have required a sales member to tell a new user about the value now they are directly showing the value of the product. As the team at ChartMogul put it, “The ultimate goal of PLG sales is to motivate your users to use your product, unleash the value as soon as possible, and convert your users to power-users.” Product Led Growth Impact on Pricing Product led growth has a drastic impact on the pricing of a product. PLG allows companies to land and expand their customer base. This often means a free or reduced price plan that scales with a company as they add usage, seats, etc. The 2 most common pricing strategies that have come out of PLG are freemium and free trials. https://website-staging.visible.vc/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/mike-on-plg.mp4 Freemium Pricing As Investopedia defines it, “Under a freemium model, a business gives away a service at no cost to the consumer as a way to establish the foundation for future transactions. By offering basic-level services for free, companies build relationships with customers, eventually offering them advanced services, add-ons, enhanced storage or usage limits, or an ad-free user experience for an extra cost.” The team at OpenView Labs goes on to explain a freemium model further by stating, “A freemium product, by contrast, gives users access to a limited set of features, functionalities, and use cases indefinitely and without charge. There is no time limit, but parts of the product remain off-limits to free users.” This generally works best for a company that has a lower customer acquisition cost and a longer lifetime value (AKA a product led growth company). A freemium strategy opens up the top of funnel for a PLG company. This means that there may be more users coming into the product to give it a try but this generally means users are less likely to get activated (use the product) and may cause issues later in the sales and marketing funnel. Running parallel, and just as popular, is the free trial model. Free Trial Another common pricing and acquisition model is the free trial. As the team at OpenView Labs explains it, “Free trials typically allow users to experience a complete or nearly complete product for a limited time. This means granting free users access to all features, functionality, and use cases for the duration of their trial.” This means that there may be more friction at the top of the funnel. A user inevitably knows that they will have to pay down the road and this may detract them from wanting to give your product a try. However, this means that when a user starts a free trial there is intent behind their decision and they are likely more qualified. The main pro of a free trial method is the sense of urgency it creates. By having a “shot clock” on their trial time a user will inevitably have to make a decision to use the product. Why is product led growth becoming so important? OpenView Labs has coined product leg growth as “SaaS 2.0” and for very good reason. With recent failures of cash intensive/burning business there has been more focus than ever before on building a sustainable and profitable business. One of the most efficient ways to build a profitable business? You guessed it — product led growth. In addition to the lean business becoming more attractive to venture capitalists and the public markets the ways people buy software is changing as well. In the past, software was traditionally a top-down purchase. A leader or executive at a company found a piece of software they liked, implemented it across their team or organization, and expected everyone to use it. Fast forward to today and more companies are embracing a bottoms-up approach. As the team at Origin Ventures wrote, “As an influx of capital has increased competition amongst B2B SaaS companies, bottoms-up sales has become the low-cost, scalable method that provides a quick way for SaaS companies to engage users quickly. By selling directly to ground-floor product users (rather than executive teams), bottoms-up works best when the software is inexpensive or free to start, doesn’t need to be tailored to each customer, and has clear value propositions for small groups of employees.” Benefits of a product led growth strategy A product led growth strategy offers countless benefits. Lower Acquisition Costs One of the most attractive benefits of a PLG strategy is the decreased customer acquisition costs. While it is assuming that you’ll need to invest more in product development the cost of acquiring new customers will continue to lower. This is because the product should do the heavy lifting for your business. By having a product that offers a free trial or freemium experience the top of your funnel will flourish and the product should enable users to upgrade and scale in turn lowering acquisition costs. Upsells & Expansion PLG enables your pricing and contract sizes to scale with your companies. While a set of users may be using a freemium version or are on a free trial, PLG should allow companies to slowly upgrade their plans. In turn this generates more upsell revenue and reduces the likelihood of churn as the price is created to scale and grow with a given customer and business. Better User Experience Ultimately a PLG strategy is a better experience for the end user. First off, in order to properly execute a PLG strategy the product needs to be best-in-class which is already a bonus for a user. On top of that the onboarding, resources, and UI/UX are built to be easy-to-understand and require minimal setup and intervention from a sales or customer success representative. How to become a product led growth company In order to become a product led growth company you need to have an extreme focus and buy in from everyone in the organization. While the benefits are clear there are a few things a SaaS company needs to do before they can fully embrace being a PLG company. Customer Empathy First order of business to become a product led growth company is to deeply understand your customer and the job they are trying to accomplish. A great product is best informed by deeply understanding your customers. You also need to have empathy when it comes to how a customer buys your product. On one hand you may have customers that enjoy speaking to someone when making a decision. On the other hand you may have customers that want to be left along and make a buying decision on their own. Both customers in this instance are correct. It is a PLG companies duty to be able to empathize with and sell to both customer sets. Great Product It probably goes without saying that a PLG company needs a great product. If your product is clunky and requires a hands on setup it is probably not a great option for PLG. If it is intuitive and easy to get started a PLG strategy may sound like a better idea. It is the namesake of the strategy so having your product dialed in a 100% must. Intuitive Onboarding In part of having a great product is having great onboarding. If users are coming to your product via free trial or a freemium experience they need to be able to get setup and understand the product on their own. There is likely an overlap of the product doing the work, resources to help, and a customer success team to help accomplish this. It is imperative that the product is easy to get started. For a freemium experience, it will not scale well to have customer success or support team members helping users in the product. The goal is to allow users uncover the value on their own. Company Culture & Team Focus If you’ve built a great product, chances are your culture—knowingly or not—is centered around putting the product first. As Liz Cain of OpenView puts it, “You live to serve your customer, to make a product that delights and excites… You don’t want your company aligned around a boiler room, ‘always be closing’ sales culture.” While product-led growth might not be for every business, there are learnings that can translate across all businesses. Key product led growth metrics you must know Product Qualified Leads When a potential customer is already using a version of your product—whether that be a trial participant or user in a freemium model—they can qualify as a PQL. With a PQL, the customer has hit a designated trigger that lets the sales team know they are ready for a follow up call. As Christopher O’Donnell notes, by using the product to educate the customer first, you’ve given your sales team a huge advantage. “If we flip the traditional model 180 degrees and start instead with product adoption, we find ourselves selling the product to folks who understand the offering and are potentially already happy with it, before they even pay,” O’Donnell writes. PQLs rely on the product selling itself. With this approach, you’re providing the best possible introduction to demonstrate how the product can be a long-term solution. That’s an easy process to replicate too. “[PQLs] are scalable because they require no human touch and they are high-quality leads,” Tomasz Tunguz writes. “When the sales team calls PQLs, customers typically convert at about 25 to 30%.” If you have a freemium offering of your product, you can gain the benefits of the potential velocity of incoming leads while also earning the financial rewards of an inside sales price point. Furthermore, a focus on PQLs can improve your product roadmap as well. Tunguz notes that PQLs actually serve as a management tool as well because the focus on customer action gets everyone onboard with revenue as the key performance indicator. are a “Typically, the product and engineering teams don’t have goals tied to revenue which bisects a team into revenue generating components (sales and marketing) and cost centers (eng and product).” That can create a lack of effectiveness when it comes to creating a product that sells itself and providing the best ammo for a sales team to finish the job if needed. Of course, your product and engineering teams will have longer-term features that will not be revenue significant in the short-run. However, a mix of both can help get everyone on the same page and quickly end potential arguments. That’s a great addition to any company culture. “PQLs provide a rigorous framework for prioritizing development,” Tunguz writes. “Each feature can be benchmarked to determine the net impact to PQL which is ultimately funnel optimization.” Churn Churn is important in every SaaS business but especially important in a product led growth business. As we wrote in our SaaS Metrics Guide, there are 2 core types of churn that a PLG/SaaS business need to track: “Customer churn rate: This simply refers to customers lost within specific time periods. Hopefully, you can also enhance these SaaS metrics with information about why the churn rate may have either spiked or declined under various circumstances. Revenue churn rate: A SaaS business model may include various prices, based upon the number of unique accounts or levels of features or services. Hopefully, customers upgrade over time; however, if they’re not, SaaS companies should find out why.” Keeping your churn low will not only allow for efficient growth but allow for a greater customer lifetime value so you can bump customer acquisition costs when needed. Customer Lifetime Value Another metric to keep tabs on when evaluating a PLG strategy is customer lifetime value. Simply put, customer lifetime value is the estimated amount that a customer will bring in over the course of their relationship with your business. As we wrote in our SaaS Metrics Guide: “You can estimate the lifetime value of your customers by following these steps: Estimate your customer lifetime rate with this formula: 1/average churn rate. With an average churn rate of one percent, for example, your CLR would be 100. Divide monthly revenue by the number of customers to calculate your average revenue per account, or ARPA. For example, 100 customers and a monthly revenue of $100,000 would work out to an ARPA of $1,000. Finally, calculate the customer lifetime value, or CLV, by multiplying the ARPA by the CLR. In the example above, your CLV would be 1,000 X 100 = $100,000. You can use the CLV to help you estimate the lifetime value of each customer. Companies can also use this handy metric to illustrate their value to investors.” A PLG company should allow for a higher customer lifetime value as the model and pricing is built to scale with a business. For example, a company bringing in $0 in revenue should be paying $0 for their subscription. As they continue to grow their revenue so will their contract size. In theory this should decrease the likelihood of them churning and increase their likelihood of staying on board and increasing their contract/lifetime value. Time to value One of the key aspects to selling a PLG subscription is the amount of time it takes a new user to get to value. If you can measure and continue to improve your time to value, the likelihood of a new customer closing or an existing customer upgrading their plan will greatly increase. Users have essentially limitless options in today’s SaaS world and need to be able to quickly evaluate and make a decision on your product. If a long setup or manual work is required you’ll likely lose the attention of a new user and they will look elsewhere. The team at OpenView labs shares how HubSpot uses TTV with their website grader: “Trials are good to do, but trials are often too long. At HubSpot we had a tool called Website Grader… Its entire existence was about creating time to value. It’s free. You put in a URL – your site or your competitor’s – and we analyze the site using our marketing methodology.“ Upsells/Expansion As we mentioned earlier the likelihood of a customer upselling or expanding their account is a major plus of product led growth. As we described in our Monthly Recurring Revenue Guide, “Expansion monthly recurring revenue is MRR from gained from existing customers when they upgrade their subscriptions” Because users will have the option of a free trial or freemium plan the ability for them to quickly upgrade plans is very likely. While it may only be small jumps from plan-to-plan in you enable a customer to achieve their job, they will continue to upgrade plans as their team and business continues to scale. Examples of businesses with a product led growth strategy While there are countless businesses that run a product led growth strategy, the three below are some of our favorites. Slack Slack is one of our all time favorite examples of product led growth at Visible. Slack has had a freemium plan since day 1 and has become the poster child of freemium. Slack pricing is built to scale with usage and a user’s growth. WIth the Slack PLG strategy, new users get to use the full Slack product for free up until they hit 10,000 messages. This means that once you’ve hit the limit, you fully understand the value of Slack and probably can’t function as a business without it. Tools like Slackbot and their suite of integrations make onboarding and getting setup on Slack easier than ever. The pricing as Slack is built to grow with a business as well. With per seat pricing of around $7/mo it is often times a no-brainer to add on more licenses when needed. Dropbox Another one of our favorite examples of a proper product leg growth strategy is from Dropbox. Dropbox fully supports the bottoms up approach and has mastered it on their march to over $1B in revenue. The Dropbox product is remarkably easy to use. It has a very friendly and simple UI that makes usage an ease. Oftentimes it is considered the best tool for sharing files. On top of that it is inherently viral. There are shared files that make other people intrigued by Dropbox and may sign up for their own use. They also have a powerful referral program that gives free data to new users and the referring user. Dropbox has truly nailed the bottoms up approach and have been a SaaS case study for companies looking to embrace a product led growth strategy. What’s a good product-led growth strategy? In his review of Blake Bartlett’s PLG talk at SaaStr 2017, Drew Beechler outlines the five traits of PLG success: virality, easy sign-up, quick to demonstrate value, slow to hit users with paywalls, and “a focus on making all customers successful across the sales-to-support continuum.” A successful PLG strategy gets your product in the hands of your customers as fast as possible and starts solving their problems right away. “Growth in [PLG] companies has a significant viral component.” Jon Falker of GLIDR writes, “Users can get unique value from the product or service right away and can benefit from helping to attract other new users.” This is why freemium models are remarkably effective in a PLG environment. By providing the user with a valuable experience upfront, you can inspire more frequent use, greater shareability, and focus on the premium aspects of your product that will drive purchasing decisions and ultimately retain these customers. Is product-led growth the right strategy for your company? Your company’s unique financial, growth, and talent considerations will need to be assessed before you can determine the right investment to make into a PLG strategy. As the OpenView PLG Market Map shows, this strategy continues to be adopted across the globe and among an increasingly wide swath of product categories. Still in order to succeed at the five traits of strong PLG companies listed above, you actually have to be a business positioned to offer these benefits. If a freemium model isn’t on the table at the moment or if your product doesn’t currently offer clear network effects, a more gradual approach to achieving PLG success may be the right course of action. For instance, as Shah notes, a company might hire or retain sales talent to attract large customers early on while product-led growth continues to develop at scale. A focus on product can occur simultaneously in an organization that still needs to execute more traditional SaaS sales to achieve a healthy growth rate. On the marketing side, a gradual approach to PLG may include an increased focus on conversion rates on core landing pages to drive faster user acquisition across all customer types. But even in a more incremental approach to PLG, you will refocus your entire team on what matters most. “Everyone in the company should be focused on growth. Everyone should be responsible for revenue,” Shah writes. “Exactly what this looks like will vary from company to company based on which teams have the most say on what ends up getting built and shipped.” Successful PLG companies develop cross-functional teams, demonstrate effective information sharing within their organization, and attach greater significance to shared KPIs to accomplish to inspire a greater focus on growth and accountability to revenue. To learn more about product led growth and best practices for growing and scaling your company, check out the Visible Weekly. Curated resources and insights delivered every Thursday.

In his seminal 1964 book Managing for Results, business management guru Peter Drucker remarked that the success of a business is increasingly dependent on a company’s ability to effectively utilize talented people. Over the years, he spoke of a structural change from manager-controlled businesses to more decentralized structures and a paradigm shift from treating people as a cost center to viewing them as a resource. Peter Drucker believed in empowering employees through ownership, transparency in the workplace, growth, and collaboration. These ideas have stood the test of time and have become a vital proponent of startup culture. On Knowledge Workers: Even if employed full-time by the organization, fewer and fewer people are “subordinates”–even in fairly low-level jobs. Increasingly, they are “knowledge workers”. And knowledge workers are not subordinates; they are “associates”. – Drucker, Management Challenges of the 21st Century On Managing People: “You have to learn to manage in situations where you don’t have command authority, where you are neither controlled nor controlling. That is the fundamental change. Management textbooks still talk mainly about managing subordinates. But you no longer evaluate an executive in terms of how many people report to him or her. That standard doesn’t mean as much as the complexity of the job, the information it uses and generates, and the different kinds of relationships needed to do the work.” – Drucker, HRB: The Post-Capitalist Executive This contrarian insight, cultivated in the age of the rise of grey flannel suit Corporate America, proved prescient, as today’s employees want (or simply have the leverage to demand) more than just a paycheck from their employers. To attempt to wrap up his decades of writing and thinking into one paragraph, his philosophy on hiring, organizing, and managing people is thus: As the success of business ventures become more and more dependent on attracting and retaining talented people, competition for high quality “knowledge workers” increases. Companies who focus on measuring what actually matters and empowering team members through ownership, transparency, growth, and collaboration have a competitive advantage. When it comes to startup culture, the characteristics mentioned above, ownership, transparency in the workplace, growth, and collaboration, can be used to attract talent. Ownership There are two types of ownership for a startup employee, the type that shows up on a cap table and the type that stems from having an opportunity to lead new projects, products, and processes within a company. To compete in a competitive hiring market, fair compensation and an openness to talking about what that compensation looks like under different scenarios is table stakes. Everyone you offer equity compensation to should know how, for example, dilution or a down round will impact how much their options may be worth. Even if you are hiring people with some cap table savvy, sending them something like this or this can be helpful…again, this is table stakes. Where smart companies gain a competitive advantage is by working to maximize the second type of ownership for every team member. This is done by embracing autonomy. The actions taken early in a company’s life have an outsize impact on what it will become in the future and the people you hire early will be the ones taking those actions. If you aren’t focusing on growing the value of what could be called operational ownership, you limit the long-term value of everyone’s equity ownership. “Knowledge workers have to manage themselves. They have to have autonomy.” – Drucker How employees think about ownership: Is it clear how much of the company I own and what will happen to my ownership under different scenarios? Am I in a position where I am challenged to take ownership of new processes and initiatives, even if I am simply an individual contributor with no direct management responsibilities Do I have a stake in the company that goes beyond what shows up on the cap table? Transparency in the Workplace In a recent guest post on the Visible blog, Wagepoint’s Leena Rao asked whether “radical transparency” is the way forward for startup marketing. While many companies have taken to the idea of transparency in the workplace with regards to their operations and metrics, it remains a difficult balance to maintain. Sharing everything is great in theory but won’t it be distracting for people? And what happens if we have a bad stretch as a company? In reality, there is not a once size fits all answer to how startups should tackle transparency in the workplace. In spite of efforts to standardize how metrics in the private markets are tracked, dictating exactly what metrics and information each company should share (and with who) is a completely different beast. The key takeaway for executives looking to make transparency a part of their business is to remain consistent with what is shared and how it is shared. This helps build trust through predictability. How employees think about transparency in the workplace: Are the executives of the company being open and honest about the prospects of the business as well as our current performance? Does the company have systems in place to communicate that performance and give every team and person insight into how their contribution is affecting the growth of the business? Related resource: 9 Signs It’s Time To Hire in a Startup Growth Let’s face it, no matter how amazing the culture at your company is, people often take jobs because of what it will mean for them personally. That means everyone that joins your company is doing so because they feel it is the best thing for them to be doing right now so that they can continue on the career path they have visualized for themselves. The difficulty is keeping people engaged enough to continue feeling this way. Working to understand what someone is looking for out of the position and over the long term before they come on board is one way to make sure you are setting a relationship up well for the long term. Training and development is another, often neglected, investment that companies can make…and it doesn’t have to involve expensive, comprehensive programs and teachers (read: consultants). If you are bringing intellectually curious people into your company (you shouldn’t be hiring people who aren’t), they will want to take control of their own professional growth and development, you just need to help provide the tools. This can be as simple as a $20/month Kindle allowance or Treehouse membership or a couple of days to attend a conference on their preferred programming language or design discipline. How employees think about growth: Is the company growing the way that it should be and am I contributing to that growth? Is being at this company in this position helping me grow my career? Collaboration The desire among companies to remain lean along with the uncertainty of what may transpire each week within an emerging business has given rise to the full-stack operator. People with a diverse skill-set (and, again, intellectual curiosity) will quickly form opinions on how the company outside of their specific role is being run and will want to make a contribution. Your first inclination may be to look at this as a meddlesome distraction full of meetings that start 10 minutes late and end with no actionable next steps. In fact, it can be just the opposite if executed properly. No matter how great tools like Slack or Trello are at keeping everyone in touch and on the same page, they haven’t (yet) replaced the impact a well thought out discussion can can have on the direction of your business. These discussions make it easier to get to the bottom of what work is most important for everyone at your company to be focusing on each day. That is why, even when it becomes more and more difficult to bring everyone together physically, things like show-and-tells, scheduled team catchups, and 1:1’s can be so impactful for a business that moves quickly. How employees think about collaboration: Do the different teams or functional groups in the company work well together? Am I getting the opportunity to work on different projects and learn from people with different skillsets than my own? Building a startup culture centered around ownership, transparency in the workplace, growth, and collaboration can be an easy way to attract top talent. Want the top content for building a strong startup culture delivered to your inbox every Thursday? Be sure to sign up for our Founders Forward Newsletter here.

Last week, we hosted a webinar on how to raise a Series A. In it, Zylo CEO & Co-Founder Eric Christopher and I shared tactics and advice on how to make sure your Series A raise is a successful one. If you made it, thanks! We had a great turnout of engaged audience members. If you weren’t able to make it, you can check out the recording below: Today, I want to share three key takeaways from the webinar, in the hopes that they might help you raise your next funding round. How to know if you’re ready to raise? Series A readiness is a difficult thing to pin down. So much depends on your specific situation: the industry you’re in, the product you’ve built, your business model. A good breakdown of specific numbers you should be hitting can be found here, but even that list isn’t universal. As a general rule, though, you’ll know you’re probably ready to raise your Series A when you have these three things: an engine, healthy metrics, and a compelling story to tell. “An engine” refers to a predictable engine for acquisition. Acquisition of what, exactly, will depend on your company; it could be users, customers, revenue, etc. The important thing is, do you have a predictable way to acquire more? Healthy metrics refers to three general patterns: accelerated growth, low churn, and efficient acquisition. If your metrics demonstrate all three of these things, you’ll be very attractive to potential investors. The third item is this: can you tell a compelling story? This is potentially the most important item of the three. Every investor wants to invest in a good story. If you can effectively communicate what you’ve done so far, then paint a clear picture of what the future will look like if you keep succeeding, you’re likely to have success with your raise. If an investor likes the sound of that future and they believe you can make it happen, they’ll invest. Before you raise, commitment is key If you think your company is ready to raise a Series A, the first thing you have to do is prepare yourself. You have a lot of hard work ahead of you. A Series A raise takes, on average, about 5.5 months to complete. That’s a lot of time where your focus will be outside of the day-to-day of your business. You’re also going to face a lot of rejection—the most common answer after pitching an investor, after all, is “no.” A CEO/Founder who is undertaking a Series A round needs to be fully prepared to do so—committed to seeing it through, confident in their pitch, and always working with a specific goal in mind. Before diving into your Series A raise, you need to make sure you’re prepared for what it means. Don’t forget about your current investors Your current investors can be absolutely essential in closing your Series A round—whether they participate in the round or not. If your current investors choose not to follow on—for whatever reason—they can still be a huge help to you as you raise your round. They can provide everything from pitch feedback to warm introductions to other investors who might be a better fit. These are just three takeaways from our webinar on raising your Series A round, but there’s plenty more content where that came from. Check out the recording below:

Lessons From the 2018 Amazon Letter to Shareholders Since his original 1997 shareholder letter, Jeff Bezos’ shareholder letters have become known as valuable resources that could feel right at home as material for an MBA course. The 2018 letter to shareholders is not different. Jeff drops loads of knowledge on customer obsession, intuition, curiosity, and the power of wandering. Innovation has always been a core part of Amazon’s rapid growth. It’s almost as if Joseph Schumpeter was writing about Amazon in his economic theory of creative destruction. Schumpeter strongly believed that capitalism was fueled by innovation and the entrepreneurs who are willing to innovate. Creative destruction can be defined as, “a process in which new technologies, new kinds of products, new methods of production and new means of distribution make old ones obsolete, forcing existing companies to quickly adapt to a new environment or fail.” Going back to Jeff Bezos’ original shareholder letter, he claims it will always be “day 1” at Amazon. The idea of “day 1” is that Amazon will always act as a startup, always be an innovator, and will always avoid creative destruction. Not only is Jeff a perfect example of Schumpeter’s entrepreneur who will innovate, so, it seems, are his employees. As Bezos’ puts it in his 2018 shareholder letter: “From very early on in Amazon’s life, we knew we wanted to create a culture of builders – people who are curious, explorers. They like to invent. Even when they’re experts, they are “fresh” with a beginner’s mind. They see the way we do things as just the way we do things now. A builder’s mentality helps us approach big, hard-to-solve opportunities with a humble conviction that success can come through iteration: invent, launch, reinvent, relaunch, start over, rinse, repeat, again and again. They know the path to success is anything but straight.” On their march to a $1T market cap, Amazon has hired talent that matches the description above and put an unbelievable emphasis on their customer base. If Amazon continues to deliver great value to their customers, they will continue to innovate. Intuition, curiosity, and wandering come together to uncover outsized discoveries that can radically change a product or market. Following and executing a plan is the most efficient way to build a business but if you truly want to innovate there has to be a keen desire to wander and test your intuitions. While listening to customers fuels much of Amazon’s growth curiosity and intuition has been at the center of some of their biggest decisions. The story of AWS is a great example: “The biggest needle movers will be things that customers don’t know to ask for. We must invent on their behalf. We have to tap into our own inner imagination about what’s possible…No one asked for AWS. No one. Turns out the world was in fact ready and hungry for an offering like AWS but didn’t know it. We had a hunch, followed our curiosity, took the necessary financial risks, and began building – reworking, experimenting, and iterating countless times as we proceeded.” This simple, yet powerful, idea can be a lesson for all companies. Of course, it is vital to the life of your business to diligently listen to your customer base and deliver what they want, it is also important to listen to the market as a whole and your internal talent. By trusting your intuition and the talent around you, you can take a chance to “invent on their behalf.” While not every company has $40B cash to lean on, implementing a culture of builders and wanderers can help your company innovate and continue to spur rapid growth.

Y Combinator has funded over 1900 startups since their inception in 2005. In the process of funding those startups, YC receives thousands of investor updates on an annual basis. As Aaron Harris, Partner at YC, puts it, “At YC, we get lots of updates from our alums. There seems to be a correlation between quality and frequency of updates and the goodness of the company and founders.” Over the past year, we’ve had thousands of founders share Updates with their investors and other stakeholders. While investor updates come in all different shapes and sizes, we’ve found that most, if not all, include some form of the following: a quick recap of the last month, metrics and KPIs, and specific asks for your investors. To this point, Aaron Harris of YC suggests using the same components but has interesting thoughts about the order of these components what specific information should be shared. Metrics & KPIs Metrics and KPIs are included in almost every Update template we’ve seen come across our table. Including your key metrics with growth percentages is widely expected. Aaron Harris suggests sharing your KPIs and growth percentages first when reporting to your investors. Sharing high-level growth metrics and financial status metrics are what you are looking for here. Examples include revenue, cash in bank, and burn rates. No matter what you decide to share, make sure the metrics are defined and explained to your investors and repeated on a monthly basis. Targeted Asks Making targeted asks to your investors is arguably the most impactful part of an investor update. If engaged properly, investors are more than a source of capital. They have experience, advice, and networks you can leverage. Don’t be afraid to ask your investors help with closing deals, finding talent, and future fundraising. Regardless if you put asks first or second in order, Aaron recommends putting it as close to the top as possible to make sure your investors see it and can help where needed. Quick Recap Interestingly, Aaron suggests putting the qualitative recap of your month towards the bottom of your investor update. While we often see founders lead with a recap, ending with a recap will ensure that your investors see both your metrics and targeted asks. Make this as short as possible and be sure to only add things that are vital to your success. At the end of the day, investors are busy and you want to make sure they read your entire update. These are just a few elements to consider when deciding on the structure of your investor update. To see these elements in context or create an update yourself, check out our Y Combinator update template below. Check out an example of the Y Combinator Investor Update Here >>>

What is a Business Pitch Deck Overview A pitch deck is a vital part of a successful fundraise. Nurturing and constantly communicating with your investors and potential investors throughout the process can double your chances of raising follow-on funding. Founders and other startup leaders choose Visible for their investor reporting because we make it dead-simple to compose, distribute and track all of your updates in one place. Being able to quickly and effectively pitch your business or product is vital to raising capital, attracting talent, and closing customers. A pitch deck should tell a compelling story and give reason for outside stakeholders to invest their time, money, and resources into your business. There are hundreds of free pitch deck presentation templates on the internet. Below we lay out our favorite free pitch deck templates and examples. Recommended Reading: The Understandable Guide to Startup Funding Stages What is a Business Pitch? A Business Pitch Template for Success. A business pitch is a presentation to a group of stakeholders, mainly investors, but can also include potential customers, team members, and potential hires. A business pitch can be given in many forms including a pitch deck, email, PDF, or an impromptu conversation. Once you have a business idea you most likely work on putting together a business plan. Once you have a business plan in place it is time to get a pitch dialed for your startup. The most effective business pitches include a combination of the forms listed. Everyone in your business should be able to pitch your business in some form (e.g. elevator pitch). So what makes up a great business pitch template? First, make sure your business pitch is concise and easy-to-understand. You should be able to pitch your business in a few sentences and should be easy to understand what your business does. Everyone in your organization should be able to complete a simple pitch of your business. Second, you need to answer this question; who is your audience? You need to tailor your business pitch to who are you pitching. Think about what you are trying to accomplish and what the person’s ultimate end goal is. If you’re pitching an investor, why should they give your business money? If you’re pitching a customer, why should they pick your solution over other options? If you’re pitching a potential hire, why should they pick to work for you over a different company? Create a business pitch template to make sure everyone in your business can tell the same story and pitch your business in an effective manner. Below we lay out a free pitch deck template that will help turn your business pitch into a compelling story. Related Resource: Investor Outreach Strategy: 9 Step Guide How to Build Your Investor Pitch Deck (A Best Practices Template) The free pitch deck template here is largely based off of the Guy Kawasaki Pitch Deck Template. Guy’s free pitch deck template is a great start for putting together your pitch deck then tailoring it to your needs. The pitch deck design is built for a total of 10 slides. Below are the pitch deck design and slides that Guy recommends using to pitch your business or product. Download our free pitch deck template here or below: Related resource: 23 Pitch Deck Examples Pitch Deck Slide 1: Company Information The first pitch deck slide of your business pitch is straightforward. A simple slide that shares an overview of your business. Use this slide to set the stage for your pitch deck design. The most important thing to remember when making your cover slide is this is often your first impression with the investors you’re pitching. These are investors who have seen a lot of pitches, so getting their interest and attention quickly is important. Your cover slide is your best shot at doing that. Related resource: Our Guide to Building a Seed Round Pitch Deck: Tips & Templates So what makes a great cover slide? Just a few important elements: Sharp design. If there’s a slide to fuss over, design-wise, it’s this one. Remember, you’re making a first impression here. Good design is key. Related Reading: Pitch Deck Designs That Will Win Your Investors Over Your logo. Obviously. What you do (or tagline). This is the element that is most often omitted, but it’s critical. You want to provide context right away, orienting the listener to what your business is all about. Don’t get cute here—the more straightforward, the better. Contact info. This is especially important when you’re sending the deck via email before or after the pitch. You want the names of the people who are pitching, some direct contact info (probably email) and a place online where the investor can learn more about you, whether that’s your home page or a social media profile. As I mentioned, a lot of startups get this slide wrong. A good example is the cover slide from SteadyBudget, which is now Shape.io. Pitch Deck Slide 2: Problem Solving The second pitch deck slide consists of what problem you are solving. This can take form in what the opportunity is or what the pain your potential customers are feeling. Use social proof or a story to clearly demonstrate how potential customers are evaluating and solving the problem with current solutions vs. your solution. The problem slide from Airbnb’s original pitch deck is a great example. Related Reading: How to Write a Problem Statement [Startup Edition] Pitch Deck Slide 3: Value Proposition The third pitch deck slide should explain the value proposition that you are offering. This explains the direct value that your customers receive when choosing your product or solution. This is where your business pitch template will come in handy as you describe your value. Statistics, stories, and first hand data can be a valuable tool for the third slide. Pitch Deck Slide 4: Your Differentiator The fourth pitch deck slide explains what differentiates your solution than others in the market. Guy Kawasaki suggests using a visual pitch deck design here by using images, charts, and diagrams of your “secret sauce.” Instead of using text to explain the differentiator use visuals. If your secret is in the product, use this as an opportunity to show product screenshots or a demo video. Pitch Deck Slide 5: TAM & Opportunity Breakdown The fifth pitch deck slide should contain your business model. This shows how you are, or plan, to make money. The goal of this slide is to demonstrate the addressable market and portraying why your company has the ability to generate huge amounts of revenue to attract a large payout for the investors. Check out our Total Addressable Market Template to help get started with your TAM model. Mathilde Collins, CEO of Front, has a great example of an opportunity in her Series C pitch deck. The slide clearly shows how the large the opportunity is (and later details how the Front product can win the market). Pitch Deck Slide 6: Customer Acquisition and Go-to-Market Being able to show a repeatable and efficient process for acquiring new customers is a must. Investors want to make sure that they will not be throwing their money down the drain. Going into a pitch with potential investors you need to understand your revenue model and go-to-market strategy like the back of your hand. Make sure your GTM strategy slide is easily digestible and can be easily understood without added context. One of the key metrics that investors will want to understand is your costs to acquire a new customer. (Learn more about CAC here). It is important to demonstrate to your investors that your customer acquisition costs are less than your customer lifetime value. This will help showcase your path to profitability. Ablorde Ashigbi is the Founder and CEO of 4Degrees. Earlier this year, Ablorde wrapped up a round of financing for 4Degrees. We went ahead and asked Ablorde what tips he has for founders looking to showcase their CAC in a pitch deck. His response: Don’t present CAC without a corresponding view of LTV Don’t present a blended CAC (including both organic and paid – only include conversions that came from paid channels) For earlier stage companies, payback period equally (maybe more) important than pure LTV / CAC When it comes to presenting your GTM strategy and customer acquisition costs it all comes down to simplicity. An investor should be able to take a look at your slide and know exactly how your business functions. The CAC slide from Vessel below is a great example. Pitch Deck Slide 7: The Market The seventh pitch deck slide should show what the market looks like. This includes your competitor landscape. Guy suggests that “the more the better” for this slide. If comparing yourself to competitors be sure to prepare for questions and conversation. You shouldn’t be afraid to mention your competition in a pitch deck. If there are already players in the space, it proves that there’s a need to fill. Addressing your competition directly and sharing your competitive advantages is a way to assert confidence in investors that you truly understand the market. Too often, though, pitch decks include a competitor slide, but don’t address how the startup will win against those competitors. A Gartner Magic Quadrant alone doesn’t get the job done—you need to convince investors that your company can be bigger and better than those that already exist in the market. The competitive landscape from Airbnb’s original pitch deck is a great (and dated) example. Pitch Deck Slide 8: The Team The eighth pitch deck slide should be a highlight of your management team. Include a brief profile of your company’s managers and any other associated stakeholders. This can include your investors, board members, and advisors. Related Resource: Crafting the Perfect SaaS Board Deck: Templates, Guidelines, and Best Practices The team slide is included in almost every pitch deck example and outline, and for good reason—investors consistently say the team is one of the top criteria they look at when making an investment decision. What often goes unmentioned, though, is how to structure the team slide so that it’s actually effective. A few headshots with names and titles underneath isn’t going to cut it. A good team slide not only covers the who, but the why, as in “why is this a team I should believe in?” That means an effective team slide includes some context. Things like relevant experience in the market, previous startup exits, and key accomplishments are all worth including. If you have impressive advisors, include them, too. If an investor is deciding whether to fund you based on your team, you want to make the best argument for your team that you can. An example of a great team slide is this one from Square. It’s a little dated now, but it does a good job providing some context for why the Square team was worth investing in, features logos to boost credibility, and includes advisors as well. Pitch Deck Slide 9: Financial Projections & Key Metrics The ninth pitch deck slide should contain your financial projections and key metrics. The key to building a business is generating revenue and having a financial plan to effectively scale and grow. Use a top-down, not bottoms-up, projection to wow your investors. A visual pitch deck design will also help here by using charts to make your projections easy-to-understand. To learn more about financial modeling and projections check out our guide here. Related Resource: Important Startup Financials to Win Investors If the founding team doesn’t take the top spot of what an investor care about, it usually goes to financials and metrics. And while investors want the full picture of your startup’s financial metrics before they invest, the pitch deck should really only include the highlights. What investors want to see in financials is evidence of traction. What that means for your pitch deck is you should include a splash of metrics that are easy to digest and tell a good story. A few key metrics in a big, bold typeface beats a more thorough selection of metrics that are hard to parse. This example from Moz’s Series B Round shows the impact of highly readable traction metrics that tell a good story: Pitch Deck Slide 10: Timeline The last pitch deck slide should be an overall timeline of your business. Where have you been in the past? What are the major accomplishments you’ve achieved so far? Where is your business headed and will the person you are pitching fit into this timeline? It is important to clearly showcase how you will deploy an investor’s capital to hit milestones and goals over the coming months, quarters, and/or years. Front does a great job of showing where Front can be with the capital they need to grow into new markets. Download our free pitch deck template here or below: Related Resource: Pitch Deck Design Cost Breakdown + Options Pitch Deck Examples There are countless websites that share popular pitch deck examples from companies like LinkedIn, AirBnb, and Facebook. To help you put together the perfect pitch deck, we’ve laid out pitch deck examples from our favorite companies and the best pitch decks of 2018. You can find a library for pitch deck examples using this link. LinkedIn Pitch Deck One of our favorite pitch deck examples, the LinkedIn pitch deck is one of the original pitch decks that companies still look to today. While design and details have certainly changed since the 2004 LinkedIn pitch deck there are still relevant lessons and trends that have stood the test of time. One of the most interesting aspects of the LinkedIn pitch deck is their ability to turn it into a compelling story. Keep in mind, at the time of this pitch deck, LinkedIn had zero revenue, were not leaders of a “hot market,” and had little to show for hypergrowth. Reid was aware that investors would have hesitations with LinkedIn’s lack of revenue so he steered immediately into their plan to generate revenue. Instead of immediately jumping into their product, LinkedIn’s first slide is their 3 strategies for generating revenue. Now, it would be ill advised for a consumer facing company to show multiple revenue streams with no conviction in a single product. Luckily for LinkedIn, they launched all 3 products and were an exception. Regardless, Reid does a good job of addressing any push back that he’ll eventually see from investors for their lack of revenue. One of the most interesting aspects of the LinkedIn pitch deck is their plain to become “Professional People Search 2.0.” LinkedIn’s main argument and reasoning for deserving venture capital, is the fact that the way people do professional research was inadequate and the market was ready for a new way to conduct professional research. Ideally, the investors believed that professional people search was in need of a revamp. The next step in LinkedIn’s story is to show investors examples of the “1.0” to “2.0” jump in other companies Reid then offers examples of other markets and verticals that have been lifted going from “1.0” to “2.0.” Using analogies Reid was able to paint a picture of how LinkedIn can radically change the market just as his presented examples, Google, PayPal, and eBay, had done in the past. The LinkedIn pitch deck is a great example of how you can still build a compelling story with a lack of revenue and hypergrowth. Facebook Pitch Deck Another classic pitch deck example is Facebook’s pitch deck from 2004. The Facebook pitch deck comes from about the same time as the LinkedIn pitch deck as above. While it originally was not a pitch deck, rather a media kit, the original Facebook pitch deck has interesting examples that are worth mentioning. It is also fun to see how much Facebook has transformed from their original pitch deck to now. The original Facebook pitch deck has a laser focus on the numbers. Covering everything from their own product to market data, Mark Zuckerberg uses data to tell the Facebook growth story. Facebook drills the stickiness and engagement with their product throughout the pitch and how Facebook can be a powerful advertising platform. While it may not tell as compelling a story as the LinkedIn pitch deck, the Facebook pitch deck is an example of a company using their growth metrics as the driving force of their pitch. Pitch Deck Template by Guy Kawasaki Guy Kawasaki is a marketing specialist. He worked for Apple in the 1980s and is responsible for marketing the original Macintosh computer line in 1984. Guy is infamous for coining the term evangelist in marketing. He might be most famous for his simple pitch deck template and the 10/20/20 rule of Powerpoint and pitch decks. Guy Kawasaki was one of the earliest Apple employees and was largely responsible for marketing the original Macintosh. The pitch deck template by Guy Kawasaki has almost become a staple in the startup world. Simple, yet effective, the pitch deck template by guy kawasaki is a great starting point for any pitch. The pitch deck template is based off of a rule that Guy calls the 10/20/30 rule: 10 – A pitch should have 10 slides. 20 – A pitch should last no longer than 20 minutes. 30 – A pitch should contain no font smaller than 30 point font. The presentation template by Guy Kawasaki embodies the idea that “less is more.” By having only 10 slides, you are forced to focus on the things that are absolutely necessary. A 20 minute pitch, allows time for discussion and is a reasonable amount of time for everyone involved to stay focused. 30 point font, makes sure that you and your audience are in sync. The pitch deck template by Guy Kawasaki is a great starting point for any point. Airbnb Pitch Deck Airbnb is one of the most infamous stories from Silicon Valley. From their radically different idea to their scrappy early stages the Airbnb story is filled with plenty of tips and stories for startups. The original Airbnb pitch deck has turned to one of the most popular pitch deck examples for companies to turn to. AirBed&Breakfast at the time of the Airbnb pitch deck, Airbnb is now on the path to an IPO with a value north of $30B. We’ve laid out a few of our favorite slides and ideas from the Airbnb pitch deck. One of the first things that jumps out from the Airbnb pitch deck is on the first slide. The description, “Book rooms with locals, rather than hotels.” is straightforward and easy-to-understand. Airbnb clearly lays out what they do in the first 10 seconds of their presentation. From here, Airbnb uses a good combination of market data and the problems that their users face to create a compelling story. The Airbnb pitch deck also does a good job of clearly stating how they generate revenue; “we take a 10% commission on each transaction.” A common, yet well done, slide from the Airbnb pitch deck is the “Competition” slide. They use a common 2-axis diagram to show where they stand amongst their competition. Just like everything else in the Airbnb pitch deck, the competition slide is easy to understand and you get an immediate grasp where Airbnb stands. Airbnb went on to raise $600k with the pitch deck. Their identity has obviously changed since their original pitch deck but the lessons and practices still stand today. We hope the slides laid out from the Airbnb pitch deck will help as you gear up for your venture raise. While every business differs, the Guy Kawasaki pitch deck template is a great place to start. Lay out your pitch using his style and see what you think. From here you can tailor it to your businesses’ needs. Once you’ve got your pitch deck in place, it is time to kick off your fundraise. Uber Pitch Deck Starting as a daring idea, to raising $25B in venture capital, to being publicly traded with a $60B+ market cap, Uber is arguably the most famous VC backed company today. Just like any successful company, Uber was once a tiny startup doing their best to raise capital for their business. Uber’s fundraising journey started in 2009 with a small $200,000 seed round. Since then, their original pitch deck has almost turned into a folklore. An almost ludicrous idea at the time has turned into everyday vocabulary across the globe. Even the founders of Uber had a limited understanding of how truly large their business could be back then. For example, their “UberCab” concept slide presents a black car type experience. At the time, the only way to book an Uber was via SMS. How the times have changed! One are that really sticks out is the total addressable market that Uber originally modeled. At the time, Uber shared that their original target market was $4.2B. In 2019, they almost tripled their original estimated market opportunity in revenue ($14B+). Although they were a niche service at the time and have expanded globally and horizontally in the market it is still shocking to look back at the opportunity they originally presented and how they’ve managed to dramatically change the market. Related Resource: Check out our free guide and downloadable template, Our Favorite Seed Round Pitch Deck Template (and Why It Works) Best Pitch Deck of the Past Year The pitch deck examples above are great starting point but it is also good to get a look at more recent pitch deck. We have found the Front App pitch deck to be our favorite startup pitch deck of the past year. The pitch deck was used to raise Front’s Series C round. Front has certainly experienced hypergrowth — they’ve raised their Series A, B, and C since 2016. All of which were more than $10M. Luckily for other founders, Mathilde Collin, the CEO of Front, has made all of their pitch decks available to the public. While some founders may not be able to directly compare numbers to their Series C deck there are still a number of important takeaways. The Mission From the get-go of Mathilde’s pitch deck it is clear that Front is a mission driven company. The first 5 slides add a personal touch from Mathilde and clearly demonstrates that she, and her team, care deeply about the problem. This sets the stage for the story and kicks off a compelling pitch. The Opportunity Slide 6 shows just how huge the opportunity is. The market data is straightforward and jumps off the page. It clearly demonstrates that there is a huge market there that Front’s product can penetrate and become a successful exit for an investor. The Metrics & Data The metrics and data slide is one of the most impressive in the pitch deck. While it may be to difficult to compare to the actual data it is a powerful narrative for the pitch. Mathilde knows exactly where Front is world class and focuses on the data to portray why an investor should back their business. Simple and powerful. Pitching your company is equal parts storytelling, data, and passion. To best pitch your company you need to personally understand why and how you are going to tackle a product, market, or problem. The next step is to truly understand what an investor looks for in an investment and how you can fit into their vision. Putting together a pitch deck is only the start of a successful fundraise. You need to find the right investors, manage conversations, and distribute your pitch deck. To get started with your next fundraise check out our investor database to help you find your investors. Related Resource: Best Practices for Creating a Top-Notch Investment Presentation Looking for best practices for sharing your pitch deck? Check out our template for sharing your pitch deck here.

Our Thoughts on Do Better Work There are two basic types of leadership book. The first is the philosophical book. Books in this category are full of fresh ideas and illustrative stories that are meant to inspire. Reading them feels good, and finishing them feels even better. They’re empowering. The best books of this type include one or two key concepts that stick with us long after we’ve turned the last page, influencing our future behavior; the others give us a temporary boost of energy and enthusiasm before they’re forgotten. The second type of leadership book is the practical book. These books forego inspiration and ideology for marching orders. Full of specific guidelines and tactics, the most effective practical books become trusted manuals for doing business well. The majority get bookmarked and put down about a third of the way through, never to be picked up again. Do Better Work is a rare book that falls in both categories. In it, author Max Yoder weaves the philosophical and the practical together, seamlessly and to great effect. The result is a leadership book that is not only helpful, but delightful and surprising to read—one where step-by-step instructions for, say, sharing work before you’re ready or achieving clarity, fit neatly alongside the lessons we can learn from philosopher J. Krishnamurti or the vulnerability of superheroes. I’m acquainted with Max—Visible and his company, Lessonly, share common investors—and his warmth and optimism, both immediately obvious when you meet him, make up the DNA of Do Better Work. Other touches, like the Vonnegut-esque sketches scattered throughout, make the book feel less like a typical leadership volume and more like a diary. Although Yoder writes about himself very little in Do Better Work, it still feels like a deeply personal read. Each of the book’s chapters is a vignette, with a simple title printed to look like handwriting. Fittingly, each of the chapter titles reads like it’s taken from a to-do list: Look For Opportunity, Ask Clarifying Questions, Get More Agreements. If there’s a central theme, it’s one of empathy and vulnerability, presenting interpersonal risk-taking and openness as the true path to better business outcomes. If there’s a flaw here, it stems from the author’s apparent reticence to insert himself into the work. It’s telling that Yoder gives a paragraph each to three of the major turning points in his life, but spends almost four pages on the lessons we can learn from production issues on the set of Jaws. It’s unclear whether more details about, say, Yoder’s failed first startup, Quipol, would’ve made the book better, but it is apparent that he’s more comfortable sharing others’ stories than his own. Do Better Work was self-published, largely because Yoder was resistant to publishers’ requests to inflate the word count. The final product is refreshingly free of fluff, but the book’s independent status may keep it from getting the full recognition it deserves. In the spirit of optimism, I have to hope that does not end up being the case. Do Better Work is a singular, winsome and challenging book for leaders and their teams alike.

Founders are in constant competition for 2 resources — capital and talent. In order to attract the best talent, founders need a culture, strong business model, capital, etc. to bring in new talent. However, talent will also require financial means and ownership to take the leap to work for a startup. Related Resource: How do you Determine Proper Compensation for Startup CEOs and Early Employees? In order to best attract top talent, founders need to have a gameplan to split and distribute equity in their business. Learn more about splitting equity with co-founders, early employees, and advisors below: What is the difference between equity and stock? Stock and equity are generally one in the same. As put by the team at Investopedia, “Equity, typically referred to as shareholders’ equity , represents the amount of money that would be returned to a company’s shareholders if all of the assets were liquidated and all of the company’s debt was paid off in the case of liquidation.” This is largely made up of shares or stock, which can be defined as, “A stock, is a security that represents the ownership of a fraction of the issuing corporation.” Understand Options vs Shares When determining how to split equity amongst your founders and early employees, it is important to understand the language you’ll encounter. Learn more about the difference between equity and stock below: What are options? Note: When determining your startup equity structure, we recommend consulting with your lawyer. Investopedia defines employee stock options as, “a type of equity compensation granted by companies to their employees and executives. Rather than granting shares of stock directly, the company gives derivative options on the stock instead. These options come in the form of regular call options and give the employee the right to buy the company’s stock at a specified price for a finite period of time.” What are shares? As defined by Investopedia shares are, “Shares are units of equity ownership interest in a corporation that exist as a financial asset providing for an equal distribution in any residual profits, if any are declared, in the form of dividends. Shareholders may also enjoy capital gains if the value of the company rises.” Key differences between stock options and shares Options and shares are closely related. Ultimately an option gives the founding team the “option” to buy shares at a set price at a later date. When determining how to split up equity among your early team and founders remember that it can be a tool to keep everyone involved motivated and invested in the success of your business. Related Resource: What is a Cap Table & Why is it Important for Your Startup Company ownership When it comes to company ownership, stock options and shares have slightly different meanings. As put by the team at Seed Legals, “Shares give the holder immediate ownership of a stake in the company. Options are the promise of ownership of a stake in the company at a fixed point in the future, at a fixed price. Option holders only become shareholders when their options are exercised and have converted into shares.” Related Resource: Startup Syndicate Funding: Here’s How it Works Vesting Schedules As we wrote in our Employee Stock Options Guide, “when you receive a stock option this is not actual shares but rather the ability to buy shares at a later date. In order to retain employees, most companies will include a vesting schedule with their offer. This is the schedule in which you will have the ability to exercise your shares. A vesting schedule usually takes place over a period of time and may be split over the course of a few years or milestones. The most common vesting schedule for startups is a time-based schedule. This means that you’ll receive a set amount of shares over a set amount of time. Usually, there is a “cliff” which is a set date when you get the first portion of your shares. The most common startup setup is a 4-year vesting schedule with a 1-year cliff. This means that after working for a company for a full year, the employee will receive the first quarter of their shares (1-year cliff). After the first year, the employee will receive their remaining shares over the next 3 years on a specific calendar. Usually 1/36 of the remaining shares each month.” Cash Requirements As options are the ability to buy stock at a future date at a set price, employees will likely need cash to exercise their stock options. On the flip side, stockholders will not need to cash to exercise, as they already have their ownership/stock in the business. Taxes Determining when to exercise stock options can have tax implications. As put by the team at Crunchbase, “For incentive stock options—popular among startups—in addition to paying the strike price to buy those stock options, employees face taxes based on the difference in a company’s fair market value, and could potentially be exposed to alternative minimum tax as well.” Splitting Startup Equity with Founders There is no “one size fits all” strategy for distributing startup equity. Determining how to split equity among investors and later employees is fairly straightforward, but determining the equity split among founders and the earliest employees can be tricky. You can learn more about dilution and distributing equity with investors here. Even the most experienced leaders struggle with the issue of fairly dividing startup equity. To help alleviate the stress, we laid out a few thoughts for determining how you want to split your startup equity. Related Resource: The Main Difference Between ISOs and NSOs When do you split founder equity? Generally speaking, you will want to split founder equity in the earliest days of the business. If you are approaching investors for a pre-seed or seed round of capital and have yet to split equity with the founding team that could be a red flag for investors. By getting the buy-in from the founding members you’ll be able to approach customers, investors, and partners easier knowing the founding team is motivated and invested in the success of the business. Generally, if you are about to make the leap to be a full-time founder you will want to understand your equity split by this point too. How do you split founder equity? Splitting startup equity among startup founders is one of the first tough decisions a founding team will make. If you do a quick Google search for how to split startup equity among founders, you’ll get countless different ideas and suggestions. Commonly, you’ll see lawyers, startup founders, and VCs recommending to split depending on a number of different qualities. We’ve listed a few examples below: Experience – Do you have experience running and scaling a successful startup? Expertise – Do you have knowledge in the specific market you’ll be operating? Ideas/Intellectual Property – Did someone come up with the original idea for the company and turn it into intellectual property? Time – Are you dedicated to the company? As investor and founder Mike Moyer puts it; “The right way to think about equity is to think about a startup as a gamble… The value of each person’s bet is always equal to the unpaid fair market value of his or her contribution. Each day people bet time, money, etc. The betting continues until the company reaches break even or Series A.” On the other hand, Michael Siebel, CEO of YC, offers a controversial take for splitting startup equity: equal equity splits among co-founders. Michael shares many reasons why it makes sense to equally split your startup equity and not use the factors listed above. The more equity, the more motivation. The more motivated your founding team, the higher the changes for success. Another reason Michael shares is the idea that if the CEO or Founder does not value co-founders, no one else will, either. For example, if co-founder equity greatly varies, this suggests to your investors that the certain co-founders might not be as valuable or qualified. As Michael puts it, “Why communicate to investors that you have a team that you don’t highly value?” Related Reading: How do you Determine Proper Compensation for Startup CEOs and Early Employees? + 4 Ways To Find the Perfect Startup Co-Founder Still searching for your co-founder? Check out why Yaw Aning, Founder of Malomo, believes finding a solid co-founder is one of the best things you can do when building your company: Equity for employees Once you have determined your equity split among founders, you’ll be able to use your remaining equity and option pools to attract top talent. If you want your earliest employees to be your most impactful, creating an emotional attachment to your startup’s success is vital. Your first hires are key, and creating the perfect split between their salary, equity, and benefits can be difficult. There is no magic formula for splitting startup equity among your earliest hires. When do you give equity to employees? Leo Polovets, VC at Sosa Ventures, studied job postings and laid out the typical amount of equity depending on what number hire the person is: Splitting startup equity with your first hires will often require negotiations, and the process will vary from employee to employee. Once you start hiring outside your core team, you’ll want some type of predictable system in place for sharing equity. There is no right answer for sharing startup equity with co-founders and early-stage employees. It is more art than science in the earliest days. Just remember to be fair as you’ll be spending every day with these people. A solid relationship among the founding team will greatly increase the chances of building a successful company. How do you distribute equity to employees? As we wrote in our Employee Stock Options guide, “Deciding when and how to issue employee stock options can be a difficult task. A startup or founder needs to understand how much they should pay employees in cash and then add in stock options. When setting out to issue stock options it probably looks something like this: Define the role you are looking to hire. Decide what their total compensation should be. This can be taken from similar job postings and the market as a whole. Decide how much of their total compensation you would like to pay in cash (AKA their salary). Determine the gap between their salary and total compensation. This is entirely up to the startup or founder. It can be difficult to place a number here as the value of the company is solely on paper. Samuel Gil of JME Partners recommends doubling the value here. For example if there was a $10K difference in their salary and total compensation a startup should offer $20K in added compensation. The next step is to determine the exercise price for the stock options. As Samuel Gil writes, “As we have previously reasoned, we will assume that a fair price for the stock options is the same as the price of the common stock. So, how much is the common stock worth? The most frequent procedure is to apply a discount (e.g. 25%) to the latest preferred stock value, since common stock doesn’t have the same economical and political rights that preferred stock (what VCs usually buy) does.” Issue the number of shares. This is up to the startup and founder but can be calculated with the logic above. If you find the common stock price to be $5 and need to compensate an employee $20K that would be 4000 shares. This can be quite subjective as we need to remember dilution and valuation can rapidly change.” Splitting equity can sound intimidating when approaching it for the first time. By taking care of it and having a game plan in your early days will help as you continue to scale your business. To learn more about specific stock options and equity structure check out our employee stock options guide here. Related Reading: How do you Determine Proper Compensation for Startup CEOs and Early Employees? Dividing equity for directors and advisors Outside of employees and investors, startups have the ability to give other stakeholders in the business equity. One of the common/debated people startups grant equity to are both directors and advisors. Equity for directors Ultimately, determinig to give equity to directors is a choice startup founders can make. If you do decide to give equity to directors, you should expect to give up less than .25% of your business. As put by the team at TechCXO, “Independent directors also expect to receive equity grants along with their cash compensation. The amount and frequency of such grants also varies by the stage of the company. However, an early stage company should expect to grant 0.1% to 0.25% of equity with a vesting period of 2 to 3 years. Additional annual grants are also expected” Equity for advisors As we know by now, equity is a prized possession for startups. However, there are countless people and shareholders along the way that will help move your business forward. We constantly are asked if you, as an early-stage founder, should share equity with advisors and mentors. Support your startup’s growth with Visible In order to best keep all of your stakeholders headed in the right direction, founders need a system in place to keep tabs on their most expensive asset — equity. By regularly communicating with investors, teammembers, and advisors, founders will be able to tap into their capital, resources, network, and experience. Raise capital, update investors and engage your team from a single platform. Try Visible free for 14 days.

You’ve just gotten through an exhausting fundraise, congratulations are in order, and now you have an unsigned Series A term sheet in your hand. What’s next? It’s often assumed that you will know what you’re looking at when handed a Series A term sheet, but if you’re a first-time founder, that usually isn’t the case. To help you navigate your Series A term sheet we’ve briefly summarized common fields and terms and what you should be looking for under each one. The fields below are largely based off of Y-Combinators post and Series A Term Sheet template, “A Standard and Clean Series A Term Sheet.” As a note, this is not legal advise and we suggest consulting with your lawyer while reviewing your term sheet. Liquidation Preferences Liquidation preference is simply the order in which stakeholders are paid out in case of a company liquidation (e.g. company sale). Liquidation preference is important to your investors because it gives some security (well, as much security as there is at the Series A) to the risk of their investment. If you see more than 1x, which means the investor would get back more than they first invested, that should raise a red flag. To learn more about liquidation preferences check out this article, “Liquidation Preference: Everything You Need to Know.” Dividends In the eyes of an early stage investor, dividends are not a main point of focus. As Brad Feld puts it, “For early stage investments, dividends generally do not provide “venture returns” – they are simply modest juice in a deal.” Dividends will typically be from 5-15% depending on the investor. Series A investors are looking to generate huge returns so a mere 5-15% on an investment is simply a little added “juice.” There are 2 types of dividends; cumulative and non-cumulative. YC warns against cumulative dividends; “the investor compounds its liquidation preference every year by X%, which increases the economic hurdle that has to be cleared before founders and employees see any value.” Conversion to Common Stock Common practice will automatically convert preferred stock into common stock in the case of an IPO or acquisition. Generally, Series A investors will have the right to convert their preferred stock to common stock at any time. As Brad Feld puts it, “This allows the buyer of preferred stock to convert to common stock should he determine on a liquidation that he is better off getting paid on a pro rata common basis rather than accepting the liquidation preference and participating amount.” Voting Rights On a Series A term sheet, the voting rights simply states the voting rights of the investor. Generally, your Series A investors will likely receive the same number of votes as the number of common shares they could convert to at any given time. In the Y Combinator example, as with most term sheets, this section can include some technical jargon that is not easy to understand. The most important vetoes that a Series A investor usually receives is the veto of financing and the veto of a sale of the company. Board Structure One of the more important sections when navigating your Series A term sheet is the board structure. Ultimately, the board structure designates who has control of the board and the company. How your Series A investors want to structure the board should be a sign of how they perceive you and your company.  The most “founder-friendly” structure is 2-1. A scenario in which 2 seats are given to the common majority (e.g. the founders who control a majority of the common stock) and 1 given to the investors. This allows founders to maintain control of their company. On the flip side, there is a 2-2-1 structure (2 founders, 2 investors, 1 outside member). In this scenario, it is possible for the founders to lose control of the company. While a common structure, be sure that the board structure is in line with conversations while fundraising. As Jason Kwon of YC puts it, “So when an investor says that they’re committed to partnering with you for the long-term – or that they’re betting everything on you – but then tells you something else with the terms that they insist on, believe the terms.” Drag Along As defined by the Morgan Lewis law firm, “Drag along is the right to obligate other stockholders to sell their securities along with securities sold by the investor.” Drag along rights give investors confidence that founders and the common majority will not block the sale of a company. While there is no way around drag along rights, some people will suggest that founders negotiate for a higher “trigger point” (e.g. ⅔ votes as opposed to 51%). You can learn more about drag along clauses in this post, Demystifying the VC term sheet: Drag-along provisions. While there are countless other aspects and negotiations tactics when navigating your Series A term sheet, we’ve found the ones above to be most difficult to understand and offer an opportunity to negotiate. Always be sure to consult with your lawyer before signing your term sheet. Ready to start your Series A fundraise? Check out Visible to nurture your potential investors through your fundraise.

It’s never been easier to get started on the pitch deck for your startup. There is no shortage of pitch deck examples online, and pitch deck best practices are ubiquitous as well. Despite a wealth of available knowledge on the subject, creating a pitch deck is still challenging work. A great pitch deck is concise, but thorough, informative, but not boring, simply designed, but with personality. It’s little wonder creating them causes so much stress. At Visible, we spent a good 20 hours iterating on our most recent pitch deck, and we’re still not sure we have it “right.” No matter what outline or template you use, there are a few slides that you should pay extra attention to. These are the slides that can make or break your pitch deck, so take the time to make sure they’re right. Check out the slides below: The Cover Slide This one feels obvious, but so many startups get it wrong that it’s worth calling out. In this list of 30 “legendary” pitch decks, maybe ¼ of them get the cover slide right. The most important thing to remember when making your cover slide is this is often your first impression with the investors you’re pitching. These are investors who have seen a lot of pitches, so getting their interest and attention quickly is important. Your cover slide is your best shot at doing that. So what makes a great cover slide? Just a few important elements: Sharp design. If there’s a slide to fuss over, design-wise, it’s this one. Remember, you’re making a first impression here. Good design is key. Your logo. Obviously. What you do (or tagline). This is the element that is most often omitted, but it’s critical. You want to provide context right away, orienting the listener to what your business is all about. Don’t get cute here—the more straightforward, the better. Contact info. This is especially important when you’re sending the deck via email before or after the pitch. You want the names of the people who are pitching, some direct contact info (probably email) and a place online where the investor can learn more about you, whether that’s your home page or a social media profile. As I mentioned, a lot of startups get this slide wrong. A good example is the cover slide from SteadyBudget, which is now Shape.io. The Team Slide The team slide is included in almost every pitch deck example and outline, and for good reason—investors consistently say the team is one of the top criteria they look at when making an investment decision. What often goes unmentioned, though, is how to structure the team slide so that it’s actually effective. A few headshots with names and titles underneath isn’t going to cut it. A good team slide not only covers the who, but the why, as in “why is this a team I should believe in?” That means an effective team slide includes some context. Things like relevant experience in the market, previous startup exits, and key accomplishments are all worth including. If you have impressive advisors, include them, too. If an investor is deciding whether to fund you based on your team, you want to make the best argument for your team that you can. An example of a great team slide is this one from Square. It’s a little dated now, but it does a good job providing some context for why the Square team was worth investing in, features logos to boost credibility, and includes advisors as well. The Metrics Splash If the founding team doesn’t take the top spot of what an investor care about, it usually goes to financials and metrics. And while investors want the full picture of your startup’s financial metrics before they invest, the pitch deck should really only include the highlights. What investors want to see in financials is evidence of traction. What that means for your pitch deck is you should include a splash of metrics that are easy to digest and tell a good story. A few key metrics in a big, bold typeface beats a more thorough selection of metrics that are hard to parse. This example from Moz’s Series B Round shows the impact of highly readable traction metrics that tell a good story: The Competition You shouldn’t be afraid to mention your competition in a pitch deck. If there are already players in the space, it proves that there’s a need to fill. Addressing your competition directly gives you credibility and demonstrates that you’re familiar with the market. Too often, though, pitch decks include a competitor slide, but don’t address how the startup will win against those competitors. A Gartner Magic Quadrant alone doesn’t get the job done—you need to convince investors that your company can be bigger and better than those that already exist in the market. Mint did this well in one of their early decks by not only including a competitor breakdown, but also sections for competitive advantages and defensibility: As difficult as it can be to get your pitch deck to a place you’re happy with, if you focus on doing these key slides well, you’ll be firmly on the path to having a deck you can present with confidence. For more startup tips and advice, make sure you’re subscribed to The Founder’s Forward, our weekly email that helps you grow your startup.

The idea that startup leaders should have mentors isn’t new, nor is it especially controversial. At this point, it’s generally accepted that having a mentor is a good idea. Despite this, I still think mentors are underrated. A great mentor can have an exponential impact on both your personal development and the growth of your business. They can serve as a guide through tough times, a voice of warning about potential pitfalls, or a source of challenging feedback and honesty. The best mentors are a combination of collaborator, coach and friend. Finding a mentor like that isn’t always easy, though. Below, we’ll lay out how a mentor can help you succeed, and provide some suggestions on how to find one who is a good fit for you. Related Resource: Startup Mentoring: The Benefits of a Mentor and How to Find One What makes a good mentor? There is no universal template for what makes a good mentor. The traits that make a mentor ideal for one person might not work at all for someone else. Other factors, like where you are in your professional journey and what your natural strengths and weaknesses are can also inform the kind of mentor you need. While the attributes of a great mentor will vary, there are a few qualities that are important to look for regardless of who you are and what you need. If you start by looking for someone with these qualities, you’ll be well on your way to finding a good fit. They listen more than they talk. If you’re actively looking for a mentor, you probably want someone who can give you guidance and advice. That’s certainly something a mentor is meant to do, but if that’s all they do—pontificate and lecture in lieu of learning more about you and your business—they aren’t going to be very effective. A good mentor will always seek to learn more about your situation so that they can give advice that is appropriate and relevant. They offer a different perspective. We’re often drawn to people who are similar to us. While similar backgrounds and personalities might make initial conversations a little smoother, they will limit how useful the relationship can be in the long run. Go against your instincts and seek out someone who isn’t too similar to you, someone who can offer a fresh, unique perspective. They aren’t too far ahead. This is another quality that can seem counterintuitive at first. Often when we think of mentors, we think of people with a great deal of experience and success. I recently heard some advice that made me think twice of that approach. Instead of seeking a mentor who is where you want to be in 10 years, seek one who has gotten to where you want to be in one or two years instead. The mentor who is too many steps ahead of you professionally may have plenty of insight, but they likely won’t remember the details of where they were and what they were dealing with when they were in your shoes. Someone who has just recently overcome the challenges you’re facing has everything fresh in their mind, and their advice will be more relevant and practical. They’re committed. A strong mentor/mentee relationship requires commitment from both parties. It’s an involved relationship, and while it’s not necessarily a major time commitment, it does require both parties to devote time and bandwidth. When choosing a mentor, make sure they’re committed. How do I find a mentor? Once you know what you’re looking for in a mentor, the next step is finding one. This doesn’t need to be complicated. I’d suggest browsing your LinkedIn and Twitter connections for people you respect or admire. Using the criteria above, decide which of these people might be a good candidate for mentorship. From there, make a short list of 3-5 possible mentors. Write down why you admire them and why you think their perspective would be helpful in your professional development. Then, prioritize the list so that your #1 choice is at the top. Now it’s time to do a little research. Depending on how close you are with this person already, the research will vary. Ideally, you want to answer the following questions: What is their attitude toward mentorship? What are they currently working on? What makes you think they’ll be a good fit? If you can answer all three of those questions, you’re ready to reach out. Do this one at a time, starting with your #1 choice. Your best bet is going to be a short, straightforward email. Here’s a short template you can base your email: Hello Tom— I hope you’re having a great day! It was great running into you at the conference last week. I’m writing because I am currently looking for a mentor who might help me develop into a better leader as I work on scaling Kloud Co. I really admire what you were able to do with BiggerKloud Co, and I’d love to learn some lessons from you if you’re willing. I know mentorship can seem like a big commitment, so maybe we could start by having lunch later this month to see if there might be a good fit? My treat! If you don’t have the time or bandwidth right now, please don’t feel obligated. And if there’s someone else you think I should be speaking with, please let me know that, as well. Thanks Tom! Let me know what you think. Andrew There’s nothing too fancy here, as the key is being straightforward and respectful of the other’s time. You don’t have to use this template verbatim, but you should make sure to 1) explain why you’re reaching out to them specifically and 2) ask to meet with them once instead of asking them to commit right away. Those two things will make them much more likely to say yes. If you get a no, or don’t get a response at all, you can repeat the process with the next person on your list. Eventually, you’ll find someone who is willing to help. Assuming the first lunch goes well, it’s up to you to make the most out of the relationship. This article from the Harvard Business Review offers some great, universal insights on how to make the mentor/mentee relationship as productive as possible. If you’ve identified the right person and put effort into the relationship, a mentor will have a major impact on your development and success.

Point Nine Capital is one of the most—if not the most—sought-after early stage SaaS venture firm in Europe. With a portfolio that includes the likes of Zendesk, Front, and Algolia, the Point Nine team receives countless decks and pitches every day. Part of the reason they receive so many pitches is Point Nine Capital hosts a contact form on their website that allows visitors to begin the pitch process. We’ve scoured their blog to gather what we believe are best practices when filling out the Point Nine Capital pitch form. The Point Nine Capital Basics This is a pretty straightforward section with a few questions about the founder and firmographics. A couple of key questions: Which category/categories does your startup fall into? Point Nine is mostly known for investing in SaaS. However, they’re also interested in “internet startups” specifically marketplaces, AI, and crypto. If you fall outside of these categories, it may make sense to look to other investors. When did you launch? While your specific launch date does not necessarily correlate to what stage you’re at, Point Nine’s goal is to be the first institutional investor a company takes on. They consider this the “0.9 stage” or when you’re “too big for private investors, too small for most VCs – many startups find it hard to raise capital, and that’s when we’d like to get involved.” How much funding are you planning to raise? From the FAQ section of the Point Nine website, they generally invest from a few hundred thousand to 2 million Euros/USD. Point Nine generally has co-investors so if you’re looking raise much more than $3.5M, it may make sense to look elsewhere. To learn more about what Point Nine Capital looks for in terms of general company information check out A Sneak Peak Into Point Nine’s Investment Thesis. The Point Nine Capital Pitch Deck Point Nine has shared plenty of information for crafting and sharing the perfect pitch deck. It is their first filter when sorting through potential investments, and it can make or break your pitch. There is no formula for a perfect pitch deck, but it should always answer this question for a potential investor: “is this company likely to become far more valuable in the future?” According to Michael Wolfe—who is an advisor to Point Nine—a solid pitch deck will consist of the following: Summary – Orient the audience on what you’re doing, what stage, how much money you’re raising, etc. The problem you solve, and who has that problem – Pitch the problem, not the solution. Your Solution – Highlight your product. Show how and why your customers use your product. Customer Traction – Traction metrics and customer stories. The Market – Explain your Total Addressable Market Competitive Landscape – Talk about current market, future market, and your differentiators. Business Model – Talk about your revenue model, pricing, customer acquisition plan, etc. Team – Quick summary of your team and backgrounds. The Plan – Key milestones coming in the next 12-24 months. The Round – How much you’re raising, other investors, etc. If you’re interested in learning more about putting together your pitch deck, check out these posts from the team at Point Nine: A Simple Pitch Deck [Template] How to bulletproof your fundraising deck Why we politely ask for a deck first The Point Nine Capital Financials & Key Metrics Point Nine will ask for a set of your KPIs in the form as well. Don’t fret! They’ve shared content and templates for what they’re looking for. Christoph Janz put together a SaaS example of what they are looking for in this post. The team also put together a marketplace metrics template in this post. The metrics in the templates above can be fairly granular, so a lite version should do the trick. If you’re unsure about the state of your metrics, the team at Point Nine has also put together 6 SaaS metric frameworks to help benchmark against your peers: Revenue Growth: the T2D3 framework – The triple, triple, double, double, double framework. What your ARR should be growing at after every year. Revenue Growth Efficiency: SaaS Quick Ratio – Measures a company’s ability to grow it’s MRR in spite of churn. The LTV / CAC Ratio – How much revenue a customer generates as opposed to how much it cost to acquire them. Churn Benchmark – Benchmarks for SaaS company in different markets and stages. The 40% Rule – The idea that your growth % to profit % should be equal to or greater than 40%. Product Related Metrics – Find a “north star” unique to your business. While great financial metrics are important, they are not compulsory at the early stage for the Point Nine team. Clement Vouillon, Senior Research Analyst at Point Nine, put it this way: “we’re still investing in pre-PMF startups with barely no revenue, what will be important is that you have a huge potential, some early sign of interest from the users (great retention for example, even with a couple of B2B early adopters), or an outstanding team (with a trackrecord).” We hope these tips will help with your Point Nine Capital pitch. Ready to take your fundraising and investor relations to the next level? Check out the Founders Forward Blog to learn more about engaging and attracting investors.

“What should I include in my investor update?” If there’s one question we get more than any other, it’s that one. We hear it so often that we recently built a Template Library and filled it with example updates from well-known investors, industry experts and our own best practices. Some items, however, aren’t so easy to templatize, but they are great for engaging investors and getting them to act on your updates. Remember, the updates you send to your investors are for them, but they’re also for you. If you make it easy for investors to act on the asks you include in your update, they’re much more likely to do it. That means better outcomes for everyone. Related Reading: How to Write the Perfect Investor Update (Tips and Templates) Check out what we mean below: The LinkedIn Search Let’s say you’re trying to hire a senior engineer and want your investors’ help. There are two ways to ask: We’re trying to hire a Senior Full-Stack Engineer. Please let us know if you know of anyone who would be a good fit! OR 2. We’re currently looking to hire a Senior Full-Stack Engineer. Click here to search your network for someone you can recommend. Which option do you think your investors are more likely to act on? If you said Option 2, you’re right! If you click the link above, you’ll be taken directly to LinkedIn, and you’ll have a list of people that may be a good fit for a senior engineering role. By including a direct ask and a link like that in your investor update, you make it incredibly easy for your investors to take action right away, which means you’re much more likely to get the candidate introduction you want. Making that link is pretty easy—just do a people search based on the criteria you’re looking for in your own LinkedIn account. Here’s what that looks like: After doing your search, just copy the URL into your update. When your investor clicks the link, it will do the same search in their account. If you want to get really tricky, this article offers tips on how to build an advanced Boolean search in LinkedIn. You can also add filters based on location, past companies, and more. The more specific your search, the more likely you’ll get an introduction to a great candidate. Quick note: this technique was originally suggested by our friend Wes Winham at Woven Teams. Thanks Wes! The One-Click Tweet Your investors’ networks are an asset. If you want them to spread the word about your company, you should make it easy for them. That’s where the one-click Tweet comes in. Using ClickToTweet, you can create a pre-written tweet for your investors to share with their Twitter followers. Even if they don’t use your suggested text, directly asking them for a share—and making it easy for them to do it—greatly increases the chances that they will. You could use the one-click Tweet to get them to share a piece of content, a press mention, or anything else you want to promote. Here’s an example: We just launched our Update Templates Library! Click here to spread the word on Twitter! See how easy that was? The Bold Question If this one sounds simple, that’s because it is. We recommend putting an important question, written in bold, at or near the end of your update. Why? Because investors are busy people. No matter how much they like you or how supportive they are of your company, they likely aren’t reading every word of every update you send, especially not right when you send it. They may receive your update when they’re on the go, or a few minutes before they get on a call. In those cases, they’re likely going to check your key metrics, skim the text of the update a bit, and plan to come back to the rest later. Whether they actually make it back is dependent on everything from how they manage their inbox to their schedule for the week. When we talk to investors about what they want to see in updates, items like key metrics and progress toward goals come up a lot, but just as often we hear “I want my companies to tell me how I can help.” That’s why you should put a key ask toward the end of your update. Put it in bold so it stands out. If your investor takes away one thing from your update, it’ll be that question, which increases your chances of getting the help you need. The Reaction This last one only works if you’re using Visible for your investor updates. We recently added Reactions to Updates. It’s a simple feature that allows your update recipients to “react” to your Update with a thumbs-up. There are certainly times when an update is just an update, and it doesn’t need a reply or a particular action. In those times, it’s still nice to know that your work is being read and appreciated. A one-touch reaction is a low-effort way for your investors to tell you to keep up the good work. If you are a Visible customer and don’t have Reactions turned on in your account yet, shoot us a message and we’ll be happy to activate it for you. If you aren’t a Visible customer yet, consider signing up for a 14-day trial. Driving action with your updates is a great way to leverage your investors networks and expertise. Why don’t you try including one or more of these items in your next update?

This month we’ve brought you product improvements that are all about making your Updates better. Check out what’s new from the last month below. Reactions to Updates We all like to know that the work we put into updates is appreciated. Reactions make it easy to know when your stakeholders have engaged with your update. With reactions, recipients can simply give your Update a thumbs-up. Reactions are currently in beta, if you’re interested in having Reactions enabled for your account, send us an email to hi@visible.vc. Update Template Library Not sure what to include in your next Update? We’ve got your back with our new Update Template Library. We are in early stages of building out our Update Template Library. Add any template to your account with the click of a button. Check out the library here. Have a template you’d like to share? Shoot us a message to marketing@visible.vc Check out the Library >>> Tables in Updates The same tables you use in Dashboards can now be used in Updates! What seems like a simple feature from the outside was actually a complex user experience to nail. Feel free to contact us with any feedback or questions you have! Up & to the Right, -Matt & The Visible Team