Anji Ismail

I wrote about the different builder personas one can find in web3: - corporate - mercenary - app builders - tinkerers Descriptions are in the X thread (because Linkedin limits post length). Can you think of any others? https://lnkd.in/dph-5drV

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The Ultimate Cheat Sheet collection for SaaS leaders & Founders - by Vencha, Included #VC & Notion Capital Here you have 15 cheat sheets on marketing, sales, fundraising, pitch decks and more: 💵 How to price and package your software ? 🎢 The 5 prospect stages 🚀How fundable is your company? 💸 Leadership transitions at different stages of business growth 🎯 SaaS monetisation in 8 steps 🕹️ Identifying your market: TAM, SAM & SOM demystified 🛠️ How to skyrocket SaaS sales? ⚖️ The ICP Grid, goal setting and how to prioritize ? #Fintech #saas #CheatSheet #isaphr #isapone #isapsolutions #starthubagency #isapinvestments www.isap.group www.isap.one www.isap.hr www.isap.agency www.isap.investments iSAP Solutions ltd iSAP ONE iSAP.HR StartHub.Agency iSAP Group Investments ltd Tino Herold

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Startup decks vs Business plans. It's accepted that a startup needs a deck. Dax Dasilva of Lightspeed Commerce made an important point on 20VC. Writing a business plan - including financial projections - is an important step. It requires discipline. It provides a rigorous framework for thinking deeply about the problem you're trying to solve. Harry Stebbings countered that he doesn't even want to see a deck since it's all dreams. We spent a lot of time and energy on our business plan with the expectation that we would show it to no one ever. The business plan was part of our roadmap for the company. We researched customers - including having 50+ conversations. We wanted to understand them: their background, their interests, their presence on social media. We also wanted to understand how they were evaluated by leadership and how integrated they were with the business of the company they were protecting. We researched pricing both with potential customers and other products in our industry to find out if OpEx or CapEx was a better fit. How did they buy today? How would they like to buy? We did market research to understand the verticals and map the right entry point - we were wrong but that doesn't reduce the value of the research. We looked at competitors in depth to understand what they were seeing that we weren't. Dax is right. This is an invaluable document that should be updated every year - the company is changing, the market is changing, there's more feedback about price and ICP. It's not for sharing with the outside world. It's a map for driving forward. Decks won't get you investment - VCs invest in people. We make decks but we know they don't tell our story. The deck is a calling card. Dax and Harry are both right. https://lnkd.in/e25M82xY

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65% of our new ARR last month came inbound. Our secret? We do one thing every early-stage startup should (but lots don't): Consistently publish social content. In March, we decided that we were going to go all-in on posting on LinkedIn + Twitter daily. A lot of Founders neglect it because they feel they don't have the time, or because they can't tie it to revenue effectively enough. We're 3 months in and it's clear that it is the easiest way to punch above your weight (especially in a competitive market like ours). Not to mention, it's been a huge money-maker for us. We're driving both top-of-funnel awareness and bottom-of-funnel conversions. When I was at the PLGTM conference earlier this year, I had multiple people come up to me and mention that they'd heard about me from my LinkedIn or Twitter posts. Opening a conversation with some familiarity to myself and Unify is insanely powerful. TLDR: Make social a core part of your GTM motion. Done right, you'll drive both top-of-funnel awareness and bottom-of-funnel conversions. ...unless you're in the outbound/GTM space. In that case, social is a complete waste of time and doesn't drive any results 😀 Check out Unify here: https://lnkd.in/gn_--FeC PS - as Reed called out in this tweet, a warning that you will 100% get roasted by your friends for being cringe 😁

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Learn how to fine-tune your product to meet market demands with strategic customer conversations and data-driven feedback mechanisms 👇 ➡ 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗲: Brian Long, CEO & Co-Founder at Attentive 🔌 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿: Nick Moran, General Partner at New Stack Ventures and Nate Pierotti, Principal at New Stack Ventures ✏ “The Playbook to Finding Product-Market Fit, When Founders Should Begin to Scale, and Lessons from Building Attentive” ⭐ 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀: 💬 "I think that what we got right were two things. One, I think that we talked to a tremendous amount of customers, before we started building things. So we learned to hear their problems, hear their issues, and then start building and assaulting those, you know, rather than kind of just jumping right into build-build-build, so that saved us a lot of time." ⭐ 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸, 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀: 💬 "I think you're also looking at things like NPS, you know… because if that number starts dropping, it's often because you're no longer solving the problem." ⭐ 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆: 💬 "I think that we've taken an even longer term focus. We know what can be big. And we know it's dangerous to start getting an ego to think you can do things because it's always very hard. You've always got to think towards taking a longer term view, having a thesis around that view, and then understand how the pieces can come together for success." ───── 👉 Follow me, Alexander Small, for tactics and strategies for building startups from industry-leading Founders, Operators and Investors

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Here is a market research for your next product idea. Verticals at which VCs want to throw their wallets. https://lnkd.in/d_EhqYcU It’s not a secret yet for some reason YC doesn’t get enough submissions in these domains. There’a at least 1 good idea I’ve got from reading this - Programming Language (or framework or fork) for New Space domain. There are some lessons to take from SpaceX approach to development and how they handle system recovery. Having this baked into language with set of testing tools to stress test the system is something that is needed to make programming for New Space more approachable. You could license tools on top of that. Do you have any other ideas? #vc #money #ycombinator #programming #spacex #newspace #startup

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I'm Seeking Fractional SaaS B2B Product Manager (and this could lead to many other opportunities) While some people think magical Smurfs do all this work at a startup, I assure you it takes a professional after a certain point, and Our startup has reached a critical point, and it's clear we need a professional in every role. We're looking for an exceptional SaaS product manager (onshore, offshore, or on Mars) who can work on a fractional basis. Initially, the role will require about 20 hours per month, potentially growing to 40-60 hours. Key Must-Haves for Our Early-Stage Pre-Seed Startup: (no exceptions at all) Customer-Centric Focus Understand and empathize with users. Conduct user research to validate hypotheses. Prioritize features based on user needs. Lean Product Development Implement MVP principles. Rapid prototyping and iteration. Focus on core functionalities first. Clear Product Vision and Strategy Define and communicate a compelling vision. Align strategy with business goals. Set clear, achievable milestones and KPIs. Cross-Functional Collaboration Work closely with engineering, design, marketing, and sales. Ensure alignment and clear communication across teams. Data-Driven Decision Making Use analytics to guide decisions. Track key performance indicators. Make informed decisions based on data. Strong Problem-Solving Skills Identify and prioritize critical problems. Develop creative solutions for user pain points. Anticipate and mitigate risks. Effective Communication Clearly articulate product ideas and progress. Write detailed product requirements. Present updates and gather feedback. WE REQUIRE REPORTING because of terrible prior experiences (with unprofessional people) we are now assholes about quality reporting. No weekly report, no paycheck. 😅 Resource Management Optimize use of limited resources. Identify and leverage external partnerships. Passion and Resilience Show enthusiasm for the product and mission. Demonstrate resilience in the face of challenges. Maintain a positive and proactive attitude. If you know anyone who fits this description, please let me know!

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Sifted just released their list of the most promising SaaS startups in Europe. https://lnkd.in/erxJRGzi If you are looking to leave your corporate job for a startup but aren’t sure where to get started, do this. 1. Look at sifted lift of promising startups and pick 10 that really interest you. 2. Based on your skill set, use linked look up the lead of the department you think you would be interested in. For example, if you want to get into sales then look up the VP of sales. 3. Send them a DM on why you want to work for the company and what impact you could have in your first 100 days working there. Don’t send your CV until asked for it. 4. Follow up diligently every few days. If after the third try, no one has got back to you, move to the next 10 on the list. It sounds simple, and it is. Recruitment is the hardest thing for growth stage startups, and no one enjoyed paying 25% recruiter fees. Good luck

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⚡ 6 Steps to Lightning User #Acquisition (for $0) 🏆 This is a #strategy to not scale your startup. Later we will see what to do to scale, but for now it's of our interest have 1:1 users and receive feedback. As #CEO, your main role is to #sell and make sure your company #grows. To achieve this, you need an effective #strategy that allows you to attract users and convert them into loyal #customers. Here's my six-step approach to aggressive Lightning user acquisition in July: 1. 👥 Recruit users manually: Don't wait for users to come to you. Go out and look for them. 2. 🚨 Offer a solution to an urgent problem. 3. 📩Offer value through 1:1 channels [offer value from the first moment] 4. 🌱Accept initial fragility: At first, your #startup may be fragile and it is normal for some investors to discard it. Don't get discouraged and keep your focus on growth and user acquisition. 5. 🎯 Find your peers or the most promising group of users: Identify where your potential customers are and focus on fishing where there are many fish. (Customers are desperate for your solution). 6. 🌟 Take extraordinary measures: Make your users happy. Bring out the best summer collection you have and surprise them with exceptional service. ------------------- This is my aggressive user acquisition strategy for a #SaaS beta testing and it's time to put it into practice. 💪 What actions have you taken to acquire new users in your startup? and how was the process for you? Good luck! #DigitalMarketing #GrowthHacking #UserGrowth

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Document reviews in onboarding has been one of the most fun and challenging features we’ve built. It needs to be fast, accurate, and user-friendly in order for customers to trust and adopt it. Unlike other back office workflows, this one is in their onboarding flow. The bar is high. The team has been pushing to make this workflow fast, reliable, and robust enough to cover a myriad of use-cases. And we’re not done.

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Truly inspiring to listen to Dax Dasilva tell the story of Lightspeed Commerce on 20VC. With $900M in ARR I was thrilled to learn that Dax bootstrapped the company for 7 years to get to $10M in ARR. I hope it doesn't take us 7 years to get Liquid360 there but it makes me feel better about the 3.5 years we've put in to date. For me these stories are deeply encouraging. When you're building something very big it can take time to get to launch. A couple of weeks ago we met with a global player in the VC world. They were looking to invest $5M - $10M and we said we weren't there yet. We'll get there but it wouldn't be the right move today. They then jumped to another conclusion. The wrong one. I get it. They have a multi-billion dollar fund and capital to deploy. We have a company to grow and too much cash will not help us do it right. We've made good decisions being lean. Our customers are starting at $500K. This is an enterprise/gov't product. We have to satisfy a very discerning customer. No bugs, no glitches. A dependable and reliable product. We are excited by the feedback. We are making the world safer. Harry Stebbings suggested that Lightspeed is one of the most misunderstood companies. It's market cap is $2.6B which seems really low relative to the ARR. Very interesting episode.

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Layup (YC W23) turns your product usage data into touchpoints that drive retention and growth. It enables you to act on every customer when it matters most. By integrating with your product usage data, Layup enables you to take optimal actions with customers at key points throughout their journey and retain and expand accounts.

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€25M, to build the one finance platform to rule them all. Proud to be partner of Pauline Glikman and Joseph A. from Day 0! When we first invested in Payflows, there were many other FinTech SaaS startups focusing on individual pain points felt by CFOs and their teams. Some of these companies try to improve accounts payable or procurement. Others tackle cash management or try to modernize the payment stack. Payflows stands apart by offering this and more as modules within an automated platform bigger than the sum of its parts. Each module can be purchased and deployed independently, but the offering becomes much more powerful when all the pieces of the puzzle are combined.   We partnered with Payflows team on their €5M Seed round, together with Ribbit Capital - all thanks to an intro from my friend Salomon Aiach, GP at Origins Fund. Their product quickly turned out to be such a customer hit that they never had time to announce the round. Fast forward one year. Customers include both public enterprise companies as well as growth-stage tech companies like Ornikar, Spendesk, and Swile and Podimo. Welcome Balderton Capital in today’s combined €25M funding round! In the comments, the story on Les Echos and an in-depth piece on why we invested. Can't wait to continue seeing the ultimate financial automation platform come together! (Photo by Samuel Sotto)

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My top 3 takeaways from working at a YC-Backed Fintech SaaS company Aspire in the past 3 months: User Journey + Sales & Marketing Alignment + Community Building = Success Remove just one, and everything falls apart. ↳ Lack of Understanding of Your ICP's User Journey: Your software becomes a disconnected set of features ↳ Lack of Sales & Marketing Alignment: Messaging becomes inconsistent and feedback loops break ↳ Lack of Community Building: You miss out on valuable relationships and branding opportunities 👇 It's important to get all three parts right: 1) User Journey: Map out your ICP's journey and solve their problems 2) Sales & Marketing Alignment: Ensure both teams work closely together every day so you can create tighter feedback loops, creating a strong message-market fit across all your marketing channels 3) Community Building: Host events that bring your niche together to connect, creating a community for your audience that's more than just a pitchfest. It was great to be able to work with you guys during this short time, Wilson Chin and YiJia Koo!

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"Even a 10% unicorn rate won't save demo day investors." I have been constantly engaged with many investors in the Indian VC ecosystem. The level of due diligence and deep dive into customer and market metrics have significantly evolved compared to a few years ago. Diversification of the portfolio might always not lead to success, and early-stage investors must pick wisely. It might be a little frustrating for founders raising a round, but having an informed investor on your cap table is always better in the long run. Especially when the probability of things going south is greater than 90% in early-stage ventures. Loved your analysis Yuechen Zhao!

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✨🚨 Another Make Cents post is live! 🚨✨ In this post, "AI & its Impact on Vertical SaaS: The Gates of Distribution have Flung Open", I explore how AI is impacting vertical SaaS workflows and its implication for distribution and defensibility. We defy.vc are more excited than ever to invest in vertical SaaS because we believe there's tremendous value leveraging AI to enhance human productivity across tasks like 1) structuring data, 2) analysis, 3) recommendations, and 4) taking action. I also walk through why customer acquisition costs are at an all-time low, attributed to more than just AI-driven product functionality. Read more ⬇ and share your thoughts and feedback in the comments! https://lnkd.in/gRVcJASH

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As a founder, I have witnessed the development of GTM strategies and the evolution of our pricing models since we started building our products. No pricing strategy works perfectly from the outset. It requires lots of trials and errors before finding a good fit, and even then, it remains subject to change. In today's dynamic market conditions, how do you conquer the challenges of adapting pricing changes to remain competitive? Read on 👇 #revenuelifecycle

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People overcomplicate SaaS launches Listen, if you're a tech entrepreneur: 𝗔𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗱: - Endless feature creep - Perfectionism paralysis - Ignoring early user feedback - Overspending on fancy offices 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱: - Build a lean MVP - Launch fast, iterate faster - Listen obsessively to users - Invest in cloud security from day one Focus on this for the first 6 months. Build from there. How I turned a napkin sketch into a 7-figure SaaS: 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟭: Scribbled idea at 2 AM 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟳: Recruited 2 genius devs 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟯𝟬: Bare-bones MVP live 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟲𝟬: First paying customer 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟵𝟬: Major security overhaul 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟭𝟴𝟬: Hit $10K MRR No fancy pitch deck. No VC funding. Just relentless execution. The game-changer? Prioritizing security from day one. While others treated it as an afterthought, we made it our core feature. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁: - Enterprise clients knocking on our door - 99.99% uptime from launch - Zero data breaches in 2 years 𝗛𝗼𝘄? 1. Partnered with ethical hackers 2. Implemented AI-powered threat detection 3. Continuous authentication protocols We're now blocking threats before they exist. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿? Our security stack costs less than most startups' coffee budget. Turns out, smart security attracts big clients. Don't wait for a breach. Build trust from day one. Want my detailed SaaS security playbook? DM me "𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀". 𝗣𝗦: If my grandma could understand our security pitch, anyone can. I'll show you how.

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