Edition 5: The new gatekeepers; Scaling B2B SaaS; New market environment fundraising;
Edition 5: The new gatekeepers; Scaling B2B SaaS; New market environment fundraising;
We invest in the Future of Businesses: Web2 / Web3 Infrastructure your company should care about.
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READS
The New Gatekeepers (Benedict Evans)
Every year, I produce a big presentation exploring macro and strategic trends in the tech industry. What matters in tech? What’s going on, what might it mean?
How to win Product Hunt 👏 every 👏 time (Growth Unhinged)
Product Hunt brings awareness: Thousands of people visit it daily. These people are likely to remember your product, or even better share it. This includes product influencers, journalists, investors, etc.
Innovation is bottom-up: Meaning innovation often starts with early adopters. Product Hunt is where early adopters are. To avoid being disrupted you want to seduce the “hunters”, or at least hear what they have to say about your product.
B2B SaaS Scaling Template (Founders Copilot)
How to Scale a B2B SaaS Firm (Ryan Allis)
Sell a product people need
Become obsessed with making that product the absolute best in your industry
Hire people better/smarter/more experienced than you for each role
Know your unit economics cold (CAC, LTV, ARPU, Lifespan, Churn)
Scale ad spend and sales team scientifically within your CAC goals
When ready for hyperscale (after setting up the engine with solid unit economics), find backing from the best venture investors you can
OPINION: LP PERSPECTIVE
Fundraising in a New Market Environment
Answered by James Heath, Principal at dara5, a multi-family office
How has the fundraising environment changed in 2023?
Fundraising is no longer ‘fun and games’ but a real grind. Two key elements make up a funding round; economics and control - both have swung in favour of investors.
Founders are raising from internal investors where possible. Bridge rounds are the key trend for 2023. Lots of ASAs/CLNs/SAFEs are being utilised, which kick pricing companies down the road.
VCs are finding it more challenging to raise capital from LPs. The cyclical nature of VC pushes this onto the start-ups’ funds invest in. Less capital is being deployed into new opportunities.
Secondaries have emerged - a big need for liquidity across every shareholder type. This is a good time to access high-quality companies at discounted prices.
What time of year should founders fundraise? Does it matter?
It does matter - a funding round is all about momentum. Avoid kicking off a funding round going into the summer (July and August) and Christmas (December).
Good times to go out are February and September - it provides a good length of time to get a round done before a momentum-losing occasion.
Funding rounds can’t be timed - this is more of a nice-to-have instead of a must-have. Raise when you can, and raise the minimum you can do the maximum with.
Where do you recommend searching for investor leads?
Google - VCs need to market themselves to LPs. A good VC is well-advertised;
Angels - well-known or well-versed angel investors will have funds they regularly share deal flow with;
Platforms e.g. OpenVC, Dealroom;
LinkedIn.
What to expect when you are going for VC funding?
Dependent on the funding round - the earlier stage is more qualitative (market potential, technology, founding team) vs. Series A+ is more quantitative (analysis of financials, operations, market position)
Documents to prepare (before investor conversations):
Pitch deck (email & presenting version);
Financial model (three financial statements with historicals, Series A+ only);
Financial pack (pitch deck of a financial model);
Data room due diligence (team, customers, legal, cap table, structures, financials).
ATTEND
💻 May 10 (virtual)
Effortless expansion: Paying employees and freelancers in the on-demand economy
How you can simplify expansion, streamline payments and unlock new revenue
Keeping your employees and contractors happy through preferred payment methods
How to overcome country-specific payroll compliance
Uncovering today’s most pressing payroll challenges
🇺🇸 May 16 (New York)
The panel will dissect the tech’s current capabilities, but most importantly, what the future holds through the lens of two startups building out their own LLMs and two corporate buyers evaluating real-life use cases.
WORK
Various Roles • Pretiosum Portfolio Companies
Discover your Next Opportunity • InnovatorsRoom
LEARN
📖 This month we are reading Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark
Yes, we know - how many times have you heard the word AI this week? Max Tegmark ponders how AI may overtake humans and what can we do about it. How we should automate without leaving people lacking income or purpose? What career advice should we give our kids today? How to make safe AI systems?
🎧 And listening to Downturn Survival Guide by EQT Ventures and Sifted
From what we can learn from previous financial crises to the anatomy of mergers and acquisitions, we'll be getting top tips on how to survive during tough economic times - and what to be optimistic about.
Please note that any charts, data, or projections discussed are subject to change without notice, may differ from opinions expressed by others, and are for informational purposes only. They should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. The content speaks only as of the date indicated; Pretiosum Ventures has not independently verified third-party links or sources, nor makes representations about the enduring accuracy of such information.