Table of contents
Being a better entrepreneur
Structuring your business for success
- Allocating founders’ equity and avoiding a BIG mistake3 minSplitting it equally is the easy answer. The founder agreement matters most the day someone leaves.
- Founder vesting (a MUST), RSU’s and the 83(b) election – DON’T MESS THIS UP!5 minVesting mechanics, RSUs and the 83(b) election — and the tax advantage you forfeit by missing the deadline.
From the trenches – tricks to operate better
- How to measure customer retention and why Google Analytics is WRONG…6 minWhy Google Analytics misreads retention, and which metrics actually show whether customers stay.
- Define your goals up front for better results3 minDecide the purpose before the meeting, the pilot or the raise, and the outcome changes.
- How to learn from churn…5 minChurn as a research tool: what leaving customers tell you, and how that grows revenue faster.
- How to find the RIGHT KPIs for your business4 minKPIs that are genuinely actionable and measurable, as opposed to numbers that just look busy.
- Announcing the book “Levers” – a framework for repeatability and scale in your business2 minThe Levers book: a framework for finding repeatability and scaling what already works.
- How to be a GREAT entrepreneur4 minTenacity and risk tolerance are table stakes. Intellectual honesty is what separates good from great.
- How to make introductions better3 minThe forwardable email — how to write an intro request people will actually pass along.
- The magic trifecta – three things to strive for2 minThe three things worth your focus, and why you can and should have all of them.
- Be careful of the unintended consequences of your words (or silence)!3 minTwo situations where what went unsaid landed harder than anything spoken — and cost something.
- Paying for services with equity – a better way to facilitate it4 minStructuring services-for-equity so it is fair to both sides and survives IRS scrutiny.
- Using the budgeting process to become a better operator3 minTurning the annual budget from a compliance exercise into the most useful tool you own.
- How to find the right company to work for (and how to BE the right company others want to work for!)2 minTake professors, not classes. Sweep the floors. Why title and salary are the wrong filters.
- The Entrepreneur’s “Wheel of Fortune”2 minProduct, customers and cash drive each other. A picture of how to keep the wheel spinning.
- Setting prices is NOT always intuitive – lower does not always lead to more sales!3 minDiscounting to win customers often loses them. What happened when Troy tried it at SurePayroll.
- Difficult decisions – what to spend money on and what not to…3 minSome spending pays back immediately, some just shortens your runway. How to tell them apart.
- Getting HONEST feedback – your baby is ugly!3 minNobody volunteers that your product is bad. A hack for getting people to tell you the truth.
- How much equity to offer employees and a trick to offering3 minHow much equity for a new employee? Why there is no single answer, and how to find yours.
- Communicating to your investors – it is MUCH more important than most people think3 minHow often to update investors and what to include — expectation-setting decides your next round.
Customer Acquisition Cost and Lifetime Value – the fundamentals
- Why CAC and the DETAILS around it are SO IMPORTANT5 minCAC and LTV give you the unit economics of one customer, and whether repeating it builds a business.
- Are you a pain killer or a vitamin?2 minPainkillers sell themselves; vitamins need convincing. Which you are changes your cost to acquire.
- How to answer investors questions about CAC5 minTracking CAC by channel and by volume — and what an investor hears in your answer.
- MRR, ARR, CARR – Decoding the revenue puzzle4 minRevenue, MRR, run rate, bookings, contracted recurring — a train analogy for what each one means.
Financial Modeling
- What is a Financial Model?6 minPart 1 of the modeling workshop: what a financial model is, and what it is not.
- Seeing the POWER of having a Financial Model6 minPart 2: Dollar Cave Club — turning a page of assumptions into a five-year view of the business.
- How to Model Expenses6 minPart 3: you have raised the money. How much should you spend, and what if you doubled it?
- Modeling Fundraising Dilution and its impact on founders5 minPart 4: raise 50% more and reach profit sooner — is that worth 50% more dilution?
- Modeling the growth of your business – Get This Right!2 minPart 5: stop assuming 10% a month. Model the levers that would actually produce it.
- Contribution Margin vs Gross Profit – they ARE different…2 minTwo terms routinely confused, explained simply enough to hold up in an investor meeting.
- Building your own Financial Model – Part IWritten with Will Little: why founders should build the model themselves instead of filling in a template.
- Building you own Financial Model – Part IIThe assumptions tab comes first. Practically, how to start building a model from nothing.
- Building you own Financial Model – Part IIIBuilding the income statement and the detail tabs that calculate projected revenue and expenses.
- Building you own Financial Model – Part IVFinishing the model: balance sheet, cash flow, and the unit economics underneath it all.
Fundraising
Fundraising – when and how much
- Why are Investors asking about CAC and what do they REALLY want to understand?3 minAn investor asking about LTV and CAC is testing something other than the numbers you quote.
- Raise For outcomes, not headlines!3 minA soaring valuation makes a great headline. What matters is what it is worth at exit.
- Do you really want to raise capital from strategic investors…?4 minA strategic investor looks like a future acquirer. Why that cap table entry can cost you.
- Remove friction from your deals to get them done faster!4 minEvery point of friction makes a financing slower and more expensive. How to clear the path.
- Funding the Valley – when to raise and how much3 minThe first MATH 101: raising ahead of the valley of despair rather than in the middle of it.
- Planning your raises – putting yourself is a stronger position for the NEXT raise3 minTiming is closer to art than science. Where in the process raising money actually belongs.
- Raising too much capital can hurt a company5 minBootstrapped, over-raised, right-sized — three paths to a $50M exit, and how differently they end.
- How to build stronger relationships with investors, sometimes counter intuitive…3 minFounders show investors only the good parts. The good, bad and ugly builds the longer relationship.
Pitching Investors
- Don’t send the deck!3 minAn investor asks for your deck. Send a one-pager instead, and get the meeting.
- Building relationships with investors – a great hack…3 minStart investor conversations long before you are raising. That is what makes you stand out.
- How to find the RIGHT investors to pitch4 minIdentifying the right investors, getting the meeting, pitching, following up. It is about them.
- The two things you need to communicate to have a successful pitch – POT OF GOLD!3 minShow a big pot of gold and a low-risk path to reaching it. How to build the pitch around that.
- How to make any pitch resonate with the audience – Three Passes!7 minMark Achler's framework — Essence, Empathy, Emotion — for a pitch beyond the textbook deck.
- The secret of the ask – how to actually ask for the money…3 minYou have a range in mind. Which end to ask for, and how to explain what you will do with it.
Structuring your financing round
- Valuations – the basics5 minPre-money, post-money and the option pool — mechanics you must understand before you raise.
- Convertible Debt / SAFE vs. Equity round4 minSAFEs and convertible debt look cheaper and faster. Why equity usually serves you better.
- The Rule of Two – future impact of raising Convertible Debt/SAFE today. BEWARE!5 minThe unexpected problems convertible notes create, and how to stay positioned for the next raise.
- Midpoint notes – a twist that avoids having to signal price for future rounds…3 minInvestors hate uncapped notes, but a cap signals a price. A way to raise a bridge without either.
- Convertible Notes do have a place…4 minEquity for real rounds — but convertible debt does have its place. Here is where.
Originally published on the MATH Venture Partners blog.