Q&A

When you sell it’s not yours anymore; and your upside is capped. Start with Challenge #1. Ask yourself 4 “Are You OK With” questions: The name being changed? With the…
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The “lamest” is Fake FUD. But the thing is, it works. Up to a point. What is Fake FUD? FUD is Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt: “They just lost Google as…
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No. I don’t see any way in which venture capital prepares you to be an entrepreneur, with the important exception of seeing the playbook, IF you get to attend board…
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As a later-seed investor, I have a different perspective than earlier seed investors. I’ve generally already made a rough decision if I am interested before the pitch. Before I even…
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In B2B companies, commission plans almost always have a clear clause that they are 100% subject to the discretion and judgment of the company. I don’t see much cheating in…
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A rough yardstick is that most enterprise-focused SaaS companies tend to get about 10%-20% of their revenues from professional services. Now how much to invest is a different question. Many…
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Well, yes. But not necessarily in a used-car salesperson way. I get that you don’t like the used car salesy approach, the high pressure approach, or even just the feeling…
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I think it varies whether this is the case, or not. From my cohort of CEOs, I know several who had amazing exits and are … done. Simply done. Not…
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It’s much more common today than a few years ago. Today, most Series A-B-C-D firms want to buy every share they can in any round they lead — not split…
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Let’s look at Salesforce.com — it now has 11 (!) different enterprise products, with different approaches to pricing! Some categories, like Sales and Support, have relatively transparent pricing, with 4…
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Because M&A almost always requires a “forcing function” to finally get done. Big Companies look to buy a number of companies, especially to fill key gaps (smaller deals) or to…
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It too soon to target enterprise clients when you can’t support their needs 90 days after you close them. It’s sort of OK in the enterprise to promise features and…
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It can be tough to know, especially in the early days. Progress can seem so slow, and the absolute numbers so tiny. Is there really any difference between $500 a…
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Basically every SaaS company that sells to large enterprises. Veeva is a great pure play example, with a $12b+ market cap and many many $1m+ deals. Like many other folks…
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