Gimmicky isht like this is never a good sign
1/ Some signs to look for that suggest your startup equity won't be worth shit
(note: there are probably exceptions but generally, these will steer you right)
Gimmicky isht like this is never a good sign
That's ok at the early stages but eventually you gotta build some shit for customers
If you're bragging about your investors at Series B, C, the actual biz model is fundraising
This is co revenue / total raised
Esp problematic as companies get more mature
The best companies are machines at turning $ raised into revenue at some point
Bit more here https://t.co/xo0rNZ631n
Some SaaS revenue/raise ratios of cos (anonymized) who've raised in last 3 months.
— Anand Sanwal (@asanwal) November 30, 2018
Collaboration software = 0.25-0.37x
Research & data analytics = 0.28x
Biz Intelligence = 0.12x
Some comparison points
Domo pre-IPO = 0.16x
Tableau (at IPO) = 8.51x
Frothy out there or rational?
In 2020, they said they'd do $25M in revenue to a journalist
In 2021, tell other journo they did $15M in 2020 and are expecting $50M in 2021
Beware of team good at storytelling but who stink at actual delivery
Personal brand building founders trying to be 'gurus' are almost always a total dumpster fire
These folks aren't actually motivated by the problem they're solving. They just see an opportunity for a quick flip
They'll get bored when the momentum dies and then they'll pivot to web3
https://t.co/46NzVF6Gu5
10000%
— Anand Sanwal (@asanwal) January 28, 2022
There are going to be a ton of folks whose options are dead money cuz the 409a is very close to preferred share price AND the preferred share price is just too damn high
If joining a startup, heed this advice https://t.co/tuKcwGEvm8
https://t.co/VF2ySmZb7k
Your startup has more than 5 people
— Anand Sanwal (@asanwal) December 12, 2021
Here's 18 things you can do in 2022 to screw it up
Want your startup to end 2022 weaker than when you started?
Follow these tips
\U0001f9f5 (ya, I know)
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I like this heuristic, and have a few which are similar in intent to it:
Hiring efficiency:
How long does it take, measured from initial expression of interest through offer of employment signed, for a typical candidate cold inbounding to the company?
What is the *theoretical minimum* for *any* candidate?
How long does it take, as a developer newly hired at the company:
* To get a fully credentialed machine issued to you
* To get a fully functional development environment on that machine which could push code to production immediately
* To solo ship one material quanta of work
How long does it take, from first idea floated to "It's on the Internet", to create a piece of marketing collateral.
(For bonus points: break down by ambitiousness / form factor.)
How many people have to say yes to do something which is clearly worth doing which costs $5,000 / $15,000 / $250,000 and has never been done before.
Here's how I'd measure the health of any tech company:
— Jeff Atwood (@codinghorror) October 25, 2018
How long, as measured from the inception of idea to the modified software arriving in the user's hands, does it take to roll out a *1 word copy change* in your primary product?
Hiring efficiency:
How long does it take, measured from initial expression of interest through offer of employment signed, for a typical candidate cold inbounding to the company?
What is the *theoretical minimum* for *any* candidate?
How long does it take, as a developer newly hired at the company:
* To get a fully credentialed machine issued to you
* To get a fully functional development environment on that machine which could push code to production immediately
* To solo ship one material quanta of work
How long does it take, from first idea floated to "It's on the Internet", to create a piece of marketing collateral.
(For bonus points: break down by ambitiousness / form factor.)
How many people have to say yes to do something which is clearly worth doing which costs $5,000 / $15,000 / $250,000 and has never been done before.