Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Startups seek to grow as fast as possible.

One of the key barriers to growth is the Sales Learning Curve.

This learning curve is a combination of the product, marketing and sales working together to create customer acquisition and product-delivery system that achieves scale and can be maintained. 

In seed-stage funding, the investor looks for evidence of initial traction.

In growth-stage funding, the investor looks for evidence of growth traction.

Growth traction indicates the company is growing in a repeatable, predictable manner.

Sales, marketing, and product development are working in concert to achieve that growth.

Forecasting breakout growth without having mastered the sales learning curve will prove disappointing.

Investors looking to fund growth-stage companies look for evidence that the sales learning curve has been done.

This is most often evidenced by a sales funnel with known metrics such as time to close, cost to close, and well-defined steps that show lead generation, qualification, and closing.

In diligencing a company, look at the systems behind the numbers to see how much of the Sales Learning Curve has been done and what is left to do.

The Sales Learning Curve is another barrier - without it, the company won’t be able to generate the revenue necessary to achieve breakout growth.


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Music courtesy of Bensound.

In this episode, Hall welcomes Martin Saenz, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Bequest Funds.

Headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, Bequest Funds operates multiple residential mortgage funds designed to provide consistent income for qualified investors. The fund purchases and owns a diversified portfolio of income-producing mortgages. They purchase performing mortgages at a significant discount which produces above-market returns. The fund is secured by real estate in the United States.

Renowned as a thought leader in the mortgage note investment industry, Martin is generous with his first-hand expertise, to the benefit of his many clients and followers. Genuine, loyal, and passionate about creating a better world through profitable business, he works hard to share and spread success.

Together with business partner Shawn Muneio, Martin co-founded Bequest Funds with the dual purpose of helping investors grow their wealth and helping mortgage borrowers stay in their homes. Martin owned and operated multiple successful companies prior to launching Bequest. A successful entrepreneur and real estate investor for over 15 years, he brings a high level of strategy and experience to the Bequest model. He has directly helped over a thousand families stay in their homes and countless more through the influence of his mentorship.

Martin holds a BA degree in Philosophy from U.T. — San Antonio, an MBA from Drexel University, and an M.S. in Project Management from George Washington University. Martin, his wife Ruth, and their four children live in the D.C. area. Together, they enjoy exploring the history and natural beauty of state and federal parks and being a part of their church community.

Martin shares with Hall what excites him in the real estate space. He explains Note Investing, how he sees the industry evolving, and he discusses some of the challenges startups face.

You can visit Bequest Funds at www.bqfunds.com/, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/bequest-funds/.   

Martin can be contacted via email at martin@2cfnow.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/martin-saenz-45073b7b/. 

Music courtesy of Bensound.