Thu, 24 February 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Joe Raczka, Co-founder, COO, and Managing Partner at York IE. Joe is an avid angel investor and startup advisor focused primarily on the SaaS and IaaS markets, bringing with him a stellar Rolodex across the investment banking, market analyst, venture capital, and private equity landscape. Previously, Joe was the Vice President of Strategic Development at Oracle where he oversaw all of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s Market Intelligence, Product Strategy, and M&As, including leading the acquisition of Zenedge, a cloud-based, artificial intelligence-driven cybersecurity business. Joe joined Oracle through the Dyn acquisition. At Dyn, Joe was first Vice President of Finance, Dyn’s first formal finance hire, and then Vice President of Corporate Development where he raised $100 million of growth capital, participated and led diligence in eight acquisitions, and led the strategic process and diligence that resulted in the strategic acquisition by Oracle. Joe advises startups and investors, discusses the state of startup investing, and shares his investment thesis and some of the startups which fit that thesis. You can visit York IE at https://york.ie/, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/york-ie, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/yorkgrowth. Joe can be contacted via email at joe@york.ie, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/joe-raczka/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/JMRaczka. _____________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Wed, 23 February 2022
What Is Crowdfunding? Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Crowdfunding refers to fundraising in which you can raise funding from anyone and not just accredited investors. Typically, these investors fund early-stage companies in various ways. Here’s a list of the different types of crowdfunding:
A startup can use crowdfunding to find investors for all of these types of crowdfunding. Crowdfunding allows startups to raise capital from the broader market and structures the raise so it fits the needs of the company. It is often called community funding, as the startup reaches out to its own community to find funding. Investors often invest in smaller amounts. Given the large number of potential investors in crowdfunding, a startup can raise substantial amounts of funding. Crowdfunding gives more startups the opportunity to raise funding and more investors the ability to participate. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Tue, 22 February 2022
Mistakes to Avoid in Financial Modeling Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Your financial model can be used not only for fundraising, but also for running your startup. Avoid these mistakes in setting up your financial model: Tying your revenue to a factor that doesn’t actually drive revenue. Figure out what actually drives sales and build your model around that. Trying to identify exact numbers for factors such as conversion rate. Instead, use a range of numbers to account for variations. Skipping the research into companies in your sector. Instead, spend time looking at similar companies to find out what drives their business. Trying to include too many drivers in your business model. Instead, focus on the top drivers that account for the majority of your sales. Setting up the financial model for generating financial statements only. Instead, set up the model, so it also calculates key performance indicators. Design the spreadsheet for running the business in addition to raising funding. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
Direct download: Mistakes_to_avoid_in_financial_modeling.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Tue, 22 February 2022
This is Investor Perspectives. I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding. In our final Investor Perspectives episode entitled “Faith-Based Investing in a Post-COVID World”, you’ll hear about changes expected in the coming 12 months and our guests’ final thoughts. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new era. The faith-based investing space is now undergoing tremendous change as we shift to a post-COVID world. Faith-based investing takes precedence with many investors in the financial industry. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up. Music courtesy of Bensound.
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Mon, 21 February 2022
Back of the Envelope Financial Model Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In setting up a fundraising plan at a high level, you set a revenue target five years out. You then draw a line from today to that five-year mark. Your fundraise and hiring plan will come from that. To calculate this quick and dirty version of the financial model, follow these steps:
If the amount is greater than one million dollars, then break the fundraise into two rounds. This will give you a rough idea of how much you need to raise and how many people you will need to hire. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Mon, 21 February 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Glib Buriak, Managing Partner at HIFE VC. Glib is a university professor, counselor to the Committee of Economic Development, contributor to Forbes Ukraine, business consultant, and former and future startupper. Glib was born into a family of university professors in Kyiv and lived in that city his whole life. He graduated from Kyiv National University where he majored in International Economic Relations. After graduation in 2005, Glib spent a month full of happiness as an intern in Irvine, California. However, choosing between IB in California and returning to Ukraine, he chose the latter. Glib pursued a career in public office, became a counselor to the First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine at the age of 25, but gave up the work and dived into academic work and wrote his Ph.D. thesis on "International Corruption". Since the age of 28, he has combined academic work, business and PR consulting, started a couple of businesses in the areas of data analytics and social research, taught over 2,000 students from around the globe while teaching in 3 different universities, and published 3 diverse books — an academic monograph, a book for children, and a history of Ukrainian IT. Glib advises startups and investors, shares what he thinks will be the biggest change we will see in the world of startup investing in Ukraine, and discusses his investment thesis. You can visit HIFE VC at www.hife.vc, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/hifevc. Glib can be contacted via email at glib@hife.vc, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/glib-buriak. ______________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 18 February 2022
How to Show Financials in a Pitch Deck Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The financial projection is a key element in the presentation to investors. Many founders cut and paste cells from the financial model spreadsheet into a slide. This renders the information unreadable as the spreadsheet doesn’t fit with the presentation format. To show your financial projections, consider the following: Don’t cut and paste from the spreadsheet. Investors cannot take in a detailed spreadsheet on a slide in such a small font. They can only take in the high-level information. Choose specific numbers from your financial model and place them into the slide using the same font and format as the rest of the deck. Choose three sets of numbers: revenue, costs, and profits. Show last year, this year, and the next three years in your presentation. This yields a five-year window into the company. Create a line graph showing each one. The revenue shows what growth rate you are projecting. Avoid hockey sticks as investors will discount those numbers as unrealistic. Show the costs and then the profit line. Include 1-3 key metrics as well. Also include additional fundraises proposed in the model. Investors will look for the growth rate you are projecting. They will look to see when you go cash flow positive. Investors will look at the burn rate on the profit line and then check the fundraise to see how much cash runway you are proposing. The key to presenting the financial projections is to call out three key numbers such as the growth rate, months to cash flow positive, and the number of months of cash runway. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
Direct download: How_to_show_financials_in_a_pitchdeck.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Thu, 17 February 2022
Assumptions and Drivers in the Financial Model Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In building out your financial model, make explicit the assumptions you are using and identify the drivers in your business. Create a tab on the spreadsheet for assumptions and drivers for the investor to review. As you build out the revenue forecast, capture the assumptions behind the growth rate. For the costs, make clear which are fixed and which are variable costs. Identify the drivers within the business. Typically this is the number of products sold or the number of customers signed up. This drives the revenue line as well as the variable costs. For example, the more customers targeted for revenue, the higher the cost of sales and sales commission. Investors look to see if the costs align with the revenue forecast. Understanding what drives your revenue and costs will help you build out your financial model and create more accurate projections. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
Direct download: Assumptions_and_Drivers_in_the_financial_model.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Thu, 17 February 2022
Thank you for joining us today for our TEN Capital Fundraise Launch Program. In this program, we help startups prepare for a fundraise. We provide templates, tools, eGuides, and advice to founders who are working towards raising funding. We’ll kick off the session with a short overview on a fundraising topic, then we’ll answer questions from the founders. I hope you enjoy this episode. Thank you for joining us for the TEN Capital Fundraise Launch Program where we help startups prepare for a fundraise. For more episodes, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Music courtesy of Bensound
Direct download: 2022_02_08_TENFL_Your_Timeline_for_Raising_Funding__QA.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Wed, 16 February 2022
How Investors Use the Financial Model Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Investors use the financial model to understand not only the business but also to learn about the founder and their skills. Here are some key points investors look for:
Consider how the investor will view your deal in building out your financial projections. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
Direct download: How_investors_use_the_financial_model.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Tue, 15 February 2022
Characteristics of a Good Financial Model Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The purpose of the financial model is not to predict the future with great accuracy but rather to understand the business and how it works. Here are some characteristics of a good financial model: The model shows what drives the business, such as leads generated, products launched, or sales reps on the team. The customer acquisition and retention model is defined so it’s clear what must be done to reach a sales target or performance metric. The financial model shows what actions must be taken by the team such as website traffic and conversion rates, sales closure rates, and more. The model has clear logic to it so investors can follow it easily. It should be flexible and allow for changes in assumptions. It should be accurate, which means you applied a bottoms-up approach and not a top-down. It contains instructions on how to read it if it’s not readily apparent. It should be visually appealing with a clean design that exudes professionalism. Finally, it should be printable so that it comes out neatly on a page. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
Direct download: Characteristics_of_a_good_financial_model.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Tue, 15 February 2022
This is Investor Perspectives. I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding. In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “Faith-Based Investing in a Post-COVID World”, you’ll hear about changes expected in the coming 12 months and our guests’ final thoughts. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new era. The faith-based investing space is now undergoing tremendous change as we shift to a post-COVID world. Faith-based investing takes precedence with many investors in the financial industry. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org
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Mon, 14 February 2022
Best Practices for Building a Financial Model Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Here are some best practices in building a financial model for your startup. Consider setting up the model to use for managing the business as well as the fundraise. Design the layout so you can test assumptions and scenarios. Capture your assumptions into the model so you can change them when the business conditions change. Use conditional features of the spreadsheet to highlight in color the status of the metric or result. Highlight key numbers such as revenue, margins, and cash flow. Embed metric calculations into the spreadsheet, so it automatically calculates often-used metrics. Set up the spreadsheet so you can have multiple scenarios. Apply checksums to verify your spreadsheet is accurate. Be sure to use a standard font and a clean design throughout the spreadsheet, as investors will correlate a clean-looking spreadsheet with accuracy of numbers. While these practices will take a little more time, the benefits outweigh the cost. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
Direct download: Best_practices_for_building_a_financial_model.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Mon, 14 February 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Adam Judelson, President and COO at mePrism. Adam is a serial entrepreneur. He has spent his career protecting the public interest with data, from his time as a national security analyst in the government to Palantir Technologies where he headed up the most profitable product line, to his role as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown teaching a course he pioneered called Disruptive Analytics. Adam brings a unique blend of mission orientation, product and technology passion, and analytic rigor to each of his endeavors as well as the ability to convey the most complex topics simply to any audience. Adam discusses what led him to start working in the data industry and how mePrism fits into the landscape, government controls and how it impacts businesses, monetizing data and more. You can visit mePrism at www.meprism.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/meprism/mycompany/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/mePrism1. _____________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 11 February 2022
Using Your Financial Model in a Pitch Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The financial model is a key component of your pitch. Use key financial numbers from the model to tell the story of how your business can scale up. Here are the steps: Start with your unit economics to show the business works. Show how the systems you have built drive the business using the financial model. Highlight the market size and how fast the market is growing, as well as how you will go to market if you are in the early stage. Call out key cost figures to demonstrate you know your numbers that drive your customer acquisition process and retention rates. Show how you will use the funds by pointing to the costs for building products, generating leads, or closing sales. Show your cash burn and how the fundraise will give you runway. The financial projections alone don’t tell the story of your business. You have to pull out key numbers to tell the story. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
Direct download: Using_your_financial_model_in_your_pitch.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Thu, 10 February 2022
How to Use Your Financial Model Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. After building your financial model, you can use it in several ways. Here is a list of use cases: Raising funding for the business by determining how much you need to raise and when. Generate financial forecasts and projections for managing the business. Project key financial statements such as profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. Setting up budgets for daily management of the business, particularly around cash flow. Determining hiring decisions, including what roles to fill and when. Setting strategic plans for growing the business. Estimating the value of the business for negotiating acquisitions by other companies. An up-to-date financial model is a must-have for every startup. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 10 February 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Patrick Michael Snyder, Executive Director at BizStarts. Patrick is a former Adjunct Professor at Kendall College, and Roosevelt University. As an educator, he is constantly searching for ways to enrich the lives of students. Patrick is also a published contributing author in the highly acclaimed book, “he Start-up Student” and has served on the advisory boards of several companies. Patrick served as Executive Director of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship for 5 years, where he grew reserves from 28K to over 500K during that time! Most recently, Patrick was named Executive Director at BizStarts Milwaukee. Patrick has a BA in Communications from Eastern Illinois University, an IOM designation from the US Chamber's Institute for Organizational Management at the University of Notre Dame, and holds a graduate certificate in leadership from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Patrick details his background before BizStarts, discusses how he sees the self-employment industry evolving, and some of the challenges faced in customer funding. You can visit BizStarts at www.bizstarts.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/bizstarts/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/bizstarts. ____________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Wed, 9 February 2022
What to Include in Your Financial Model Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In building your financial model, make sure you include the following:
Include metrics such as customer acquisition cost and customer lifetime value. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
Direct download: What_to_include_in_your_financial_model.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Tue, 8 February 2022
How to Build a Bottoms-up Financial Model Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There are two approaches to building a financial model: top-down and bottoms-up. The bottoms-up approach uses specific data from your financials, such as historical revenue, specific expenses, working capital, etc. You apply assumptions to the historical numbers to build out the projections. To build a bottoms-up financial model, consider the following: Sales and marketing expenses drive the revenue. Review the historical relationship between sales and marketing expenses and revenue. Project expenses and revenue based on the monetization model you have, such as recurring revenue, transaction fee, contract work, etc. Calculate your cost of goods sold which is the cost to build and deliver the product. Project the operating expenses which are those that do not directly drive the revenue, such as office leases and utilities. Fixed expenses remain the same. Variable expenses rise and fall with the activity of the business. Calculate your working capital, also called cash runway. Add key metrics into the model such as customer acquisition cost, lifetime value of customer, and growth rate. Adjust the model for any other business conditions or events such as a fundraise. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
Direct download: How_to_build_a_bottoms_up_financial_model.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Tue, 8 February 2022
This is Investor Perspectives. I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding. In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “Faith-Based Investing in a Post-COVID World”, you’ll hear our guests’ investment theses. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new era. The faith-based investing space is now undergoing tremendous change as we shift to a post-COVID world. Faith-based investing takes precedence with many investors in the financial industry. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up. Our guests are:
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Mon, 7 February 2022
How to Build a Top-Down Financial Model Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There are two approaches to building a financial model: top-down and bottoms-up. In general, you should use a bottoms-up approach for preparing the financial projections, which will be more detailed. To build a top-down financial model, consider the following: Start with the size of the market. Estimate the market share of the company in a sector or region. Use the price of the product to calculate the revenue. Increase the revenue based on the growth rate of the market and increasing market share. Input the expenses as a percentage of revenue based on historical data. The top-down approach is relatively simple as it uses market sizes and market share estimates. Use this approach to check against the bottoms-up model as a comparison. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
Direct download: How_to_build_a_top_down_financial_model.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Mon, 7 February 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Hernan Haro, Founder and General Partner at MrPink VC. Hernan is a tech entrepreneur and Founding Partner of MrPink. As an entrepreneur, he ran operations for Pulpo Media, a California-based startup, leading the company through 14X revenue growth and its successful exit to Entravision. At ConsumerAffairs, he built the Data and Analytics team from scratch, later running Finance and Growth at scale. During the last decade, he has been actively advising entrepreneurs and angel investing in the region. Hernan holds an MBA from UC Berkeley (2010), an MSc in Industrial Engineering from ITBA (2001), and a BS in Computer Science (1997) from ORT. Hernan discusses the state of investing in Latin America, some of the challenges investors and startups face, and the biggest change he sees happening in the next 12-24 months. You can visit MrPink VC at https://mrpink.vc/, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/mrpink-vc/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/MrPink_VC/. _____________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 4 February 2022
Benefits of a Financial Model Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Many startups build a financial model to show the investors and then leave it alone ‘til it’s out of date and no longer useful. The benefit of an up-to-date financial model is that it can actually help you make management decisions. Here are several ways to use a financial model to manage your business: Determine what positions to hire and when. Measure the performance of the team and highlight problem areas. Shows areas that are out of their target cost or performance zone, such as having too much of a given resource. Determine your valuation range for a fundraise or exit event. Find ways to reduce the risks in the business. Create consistent results by managing both cost and revenue drivers. Provide ongoing monitoring of the business. Consider setting up the financial model for daily and monthly operational use as well as for fundraising. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 3 February 2022
How to Build a Financial Model Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. It’s best to build your own financial model so you understand it thoroughly. Here are the steps to build your financial model: Define the goal for the model. Figure out how you will use it and what decisions you need to make. This will determine what details you need to include in your model. Input your historical results as this will set the format of the model. Start with revenue and figure out what drives it such as number of customers paying or number of products sold. Calculate Cost of Goods Sold and include it as part of the revenue section. Next, add salaries into the model as this is one of the biggest expenses you have. Add in the other businesses expenses related to sales, marketing, and administration. Set up a working capital section as you’ll need funds in the bank to pay expenses ‘til the revenue comes in. Calculate your growth projections for each month for the next 24 months. Review the model to see if it is achievable. Finally, choose key metrics to include in the model and capture information that calculates those metrics. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 3 February 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Sophie Liao, Founding Partner at Oyster Ventures. Since 2016, they have launched three funds and deployed capital into 80+ startups. Their checks start at $25k to $200k, from Pre-Seed to Series Seed. They typically continue to invest in their portfolio companies from Series A to C and beyond, and they can write checks up to $5M+. Oyster Ventures generally doesn’t lead rounds, but when they do, they will invest $500k to $2M. When they lead, they join the board as a director or observer. They happily invest in companies anywhere in the world but have a preference for standard jurisdictions and structures (e.g., Delaware C Corps, Hong Kong or Singapore Limited companies, SAFEs, etc.) They don’t invest in markets they don’t understand well or markets that require deep specialization to evaluate. While they do invest in cryptocurrency and blockchain companies, they very rarely invest in crypto-tokens without an equity component. They don’t invest via SPVs, by mandate, they don’t invest in mainland China, and they don’t invest in uncapped notes and SAFEs. Sophie is a three-time fund manager with a top-performing record by IRR. She was MD at Rothenberg and VP at Draper Dragon before setting off on her own to found Oyster Ventures as a solo GP in 2017. Prior, she co-founded and sold a VFX startup to a large media company in 2015. Before that, she ran M&A strategy and started her career by launching joint ventures for U.S-Asia cross-border businesses in the TMT sector. Sophie discusses her investment thesis, advises entrepreneurs and investors and describes some of the challenges they face. You can visit Oyster Ventures at www.oyster.vc, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/oyster-vc, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/oysterventures. _________________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Wed, 2 February 2022
Why Build a Financial Model? Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In building a startup, the financial model is a key step in validating the viability of the business. Templates can educate on what to include and how to format, but it’s best to start from scratch. Every founder should build their own financial model at the beginning of the company so they understand it thoroughly. In fundraising, investors use the financial model for the following: To check how changes such as increasing or decreasing revenue will impact the business. To check your understanding of the business with respect to costs, revenues, and growth rates. To check how you will use the funds raised for the business, as the financial model shows expenses and impact on the revenue. To check when you will go cash-flow positive or break even. To check to see how much runway the proposed fundraise will give you. This verifies you are raising sufficient funds to accomplish your goals. You will need a detailed financial model to track your progress in running the business. Include the financial model in your presentation but at a high level showing last year, this year, and the next three years. Building the financial model is not about predicting the future but rather demonstrating how much you know about your business. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Tue, 1 February 2022
Founder Business Skills Required Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In starting a company, there are key skills required of the founder: Here is a list of basic skills: Team building -- the founder must find a co-founder, build a board, and make the initial hires. Leadership -- the founder must set the vision of the company and build support within the team. Product -- the founder must specify the initial product and a roadmap for building it. Sales -- the founder must be able to sell, including to customers, investors, team members, partners, and more. Marketing -- the founder must be able to market the product by choosing the right market segment to pursue and creating materials for marketing the product. Business model -- the founder must be able to craft a monetization strategy. Finance -- the founder must be able to read accounting statements and financial reports. Engineering -- the founder must be able to talk knowledgeably with the development team about their process and duties. Get it done-ness -- the founder must be able to get projects done. Emotional intelligence -- the founder must be able to set and build the culture of the company. Founders should learn the basics in each of these areas. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Tue, 1 February 2022
This is Investor Perspectives. I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding. In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “Faith-Based Investing in a Post-COVID World”, you’ll hear our guests’ investment thesis. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new era. The faith-based investing space is now undergoing tremendous change as we shift to a post-COVID world. Faith-based investing takes precedence with many investors in the financial industry. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org
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Mon, 31 January 2022
Metrics for B2B SaaS Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Here are the key metrics for B2B SaaS startups: Committed Annual Recurring Revenue (CARR) - this shows the overall health of the business as it includes new users as well as churn. To calculate, take the current ARR and add new bookings and upsells and subtract downgrade bookings and churn. Net dollar retention - this shows the growth net of churn which is an indicator of motion in the business. To calculate, take the month’s revenue accounting for upgrades, downgrades, and churn, and divide by the previous month’s revenue. Net new logos - indicates new company growth. To calculate, add up the number of new companies onboarded in a month. Quota attainment - what percentage of sales reps make quota in a period of time. To calculate, divide the number of sales reps achieving quota by total number of sales reps. CAC payback - the number of months of revenue to pay back for the cost of customer acquisition. To calculate, divide sales and marketing cost by net new ARR, times gross margin. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Mon, 31 January 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Eloiza Tecson, Managing Partner at EY Ventures Group. As an innovative, driven, and visionary leader, Eloiza's experiences have resulted in a proven record of generating and building Fortune 500 relationships, managing multimillion-dollar projects from concept to completion, designing international go-to-market strategies, developing new initiatives to promote positive ROI, and coaching senior leadership to success. Passionate about the health, wellness, and sports industry, Eloiza focuses on working with brands whose vision lies in developing innovative offerings to enhance consumers' lifestyles through healthy behavior. Leveraging her collective expertise in this space, Eloiza looks to find products, technologies, and services that help both elite and everyday athletes perform better and lead healthier lives. Eloiza shares with Hall what excites her now in the sports, health, and technology industries. She advises entrepreneurs and investors and discusses some good opportunities to pursue. You can visit EY Ventures Group at www.eyventuresgroup.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/eyventuresgroup, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/EYVenturesGroup. Eloiza can be contacted via email at eloiza@eyventuresgroup.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/etecson/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/eloizayvette. She also hosts a podcast called The Drift at www.eyventuresgroup.com/thedrift. _________________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 28 January 2022
Metrics Investors Use Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Investors also use metrics. Here’s a list of key metrics investors focus on: Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) Growth - the overall growth rate of the revenue is a key factor. Month-over-month growth demonstrates product-market fit. Magic number - shows how sales and marketing spend drives revenue. To calculate, take this quarter revenue minus last quarter revenue multiply by four and divide by the sales and marketing costs. Investors want to see an equal return of revenue for every dollar spent on sales and marketing. Gross margins - shows operational efficiency of the business. Most SaaS companies have a gross margin between 60% and 70%. Return on investment - shows how much the investment can return. Investors seek a high potential return by looking for a large market with acquisitions in the high multiples based on revenue. In essence, the investor looks for evidence of growth and efficiency in sales and operations and a return on investment. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 27 January 2022
Your Top 3 Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There are many metrics you can use for your startup. Focus on these top three metrics for your startup at each stage: For pre-seed, focus on qualitative activities such as customer interviews and community development. Track the number of calls made, the number of interviews completed, and the number of communities contacted. For seed, focus on MVP product development, beta users, and customer acquisition. Track daily active users, monthly recurring revenue, and gross merchandise value. For Series A, focus on repeatable customer acquisition to show product-market fit. Track gross merchandise value, conversion rate, and CAC:LTV Customer Acquisition and Lifetime Value. For Series B, focus on retention and sales efficiency to show ability to scale. Track gross margin CAC payback, net dollar retention, and CAC: LTV ratio compared to the industry average. Too much data can lead to paralysis, so focus on the core metrics. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 27 January 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Ahmet Şener, Managing Partner at Smart Citizenship. Smart Citizenship, is a citizenship-by-investment consultancy company aiming to bring unprecedented transparency to overseas investments made for the purpose of attaining secondary passports or alternative residencies. Powered by Smart Choice, the only algorithmic decision support system in the industry which takes into account more than 30 signals under 8 different subgroups enabling the investors to limit risk, and save time and money while taking on the daunting task of investing overseas. Ahmet discusses the growth rate of the investment migration industry and some of the challenges entrepreneurs and investors face. Ahmet can be contacted via email at ahmet@smartcitizenship.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/ahmetsener/. _____________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Wed, 26 January 2022
Efficiency and Predictability Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In addition to growth, there is efficiency to measure. This is important to consider as you grow your business. Here are some key metrics to use: Magic number - shows how many revenue dollars your sales and marketing dollars generate. To calculate, take current quarter revenues minus previous quarter revenues times four and divide by previous quarter sales and marketing expenses. A result above .75 shows your sales and marketing process is working well. Sales efficiency - use the Gross Margin CAC Payback, which measures the number of months required to repay the cost of customer acquisition, taking gross margin into account. To calculate, take sales and marketing for the month and divide by the Net New MRR in the month times gross margin. Bessemer CAC Payback Period - measures the number of months it takes for the revenue to pay back the cost of customer acquisition, taking the timing of the revenue into account. To calculate, take the sales and marketing expense for the previous quarter and divide by the new MRR in the previous quarter times gross margin. Efficiency metrics show the strength of the business and indicate the ability to scale. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
Direct download: Efficiency_and_predictability_metrics.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Tue, 25 January 2022
Metrics for a Downturn Economy Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In a downturn economy, metrics can help you make decisions about your business. Here are some key metrics to consider: Net burn rate - measures the actual cash lost in a single month. To calculate, subtract the total revenue from the total amount of money spent month over month. Use this to measure your cash runway by dividing the cash in the bank by net burn rate to tell you how many months you have left. Rule of 40 - measures the growth rate and profitability and indicates chances of the business surviving. To calculate, take the profit margin in percentage and growth rate in percentage and add together. A result of 40% and above indicates a healthy business. Margins - measures the profitability of the business after sales and after operating expenses. To calculate gross margins, take net sales and subtract the cost of goods sold and divide by net sales. Gross margins above 40% are considered healthy. To calculate EBITDA margins, take net sales and subtract cost of goods sold and operating expenses and divide by net sales. EBITDA margins above 10% are considered healthy. User segmentation - shows the growth rate and churn rate for each segment of users. Use this metric to better focus your sales efforts in a downturn. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Tue, 25 January 2022
This is Investor Perspectives. I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding. In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “Faith-Based Investing in a Post-COVID World”, you’ll hear about primary trends and what makes for a successful faith-based company. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new era. The faith-based investing space is now undergoing tremendous change as we shift to a post-COVID world. Faith-based investing takes precedence with many investors in the financial industry. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up. Our guests are:
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Mon, 24 January 2022
Segment Your Data Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In running metrics, it’s important to segment your data as you grow. Segmentation helps identify the factors driving growth. Here is a list of ways to segment your data:
More insights will come if you look at the metrics by cohort. Cohorts are customers who have a common experience with your product or service. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Mon, 24 January 2022
Thank you for joining us today for our TEN Capital Fundraise Launch Program. In this program, we help startups prepare for a fundraise. We provide templates, tools, eGuides, and advice to founders who are working towards raising funding. We’ll kick off the session with a short overview on a fundraising topic, then we’ll answer questions from the founders. I hope you enjoy this episode. Thank you for joining us for the TEN Capital Fundraise Launch Program where we help startups prepare for a fundraise. For more episodes, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Music courtesy of Bensound
Direct download: 2022-01-11_TENFL_Preparing_Fundraise_Content.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Fri, 21 January 2022
Meaningless Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Some metrics are actually meaningless and tell you little about the business. Metrics should demonstrate customer interest and satisfaction through commitment of time or dollars. Here’s a list of metrics to avoid: Number of downloads - by itself, it doesn’t show the level of interest or progress. A more interesting metric is how many downloads convert into a user. Website visits - by itself, it doesn’t show user satisfaction. A more interesting metric is how many website visitors clicked through and engaged with the site. Social followers - by itself, it doesn’t show engagement. A more interesting metric is how many social followers engaged with your content. Search engine ranking - by itself, it doesn’t show conversions. A more interesting metric is how many visitors clicked on the site and then engaged. Email list - by itself, it doesn’t show how many people engaged. A more interesting metric is how many on the email list are active users. In each case, a more interesting metric is how many engaged or showed commitment or satisfaction. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 20 January 2022
Marketplace Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Here are the key metrics for marketplace startups: Match rate - the rate at which buyers and sellers engage with each other. To calculate, take the number of transactions in which there is a successful match and divide by the total number of attempted transactions. Time to match - how long it takes to match a buyer and a seller. To calculate, take the time to match for each transaction and calculate the overall average. Concentration - measures how fragmented or concentrated the buyers or sellers are. To calculate, take the top 10 buyers or sellers and measure their gross margin value and compare to the total gross margin value. Take rate - the amount of revenue the marketplace takes from each transaction. To calculate, review the transaction fee divided by the gross margin value and average across all transactions. Unit economics - the business model shown at a unit economic level rather than in aggregate. To calculate, measure the customer acquisition cost and organic customer rate over time to see if the former is going down and the latter is increasing. User retention - measures the length of time the user stays with the company. To calculate, average the time users stay with the company and track in each cohort to see if it’s increasing over time. Marketplaces have their own metrics with which you can measure the effectiveness of your startup. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 20 January 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Alex Fauvel, Founder and General Partner at Two Hop Ventures. Alex shares with Hall what excites him now in Bitcoin and how he sees the industry evolving. He advises startups and investors and discusses some of the challenges they face. You can visit Two Hop Ventures at www.twohop.ventures, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/twohop. Alex can be contacted via email at alex@twohop.ventures, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/alexfauvel, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/alex_fauvel. ______________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Wed, 19 January 2022
Customer Traction Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In raising funding, customer traction is a key focus point. Here are the metrics for measuring your traction: Customer acquisition - this includes all sources of leads such as website, email, social media, and referrals, as well conversion of leads to customers. You can look at these metrics for each marketing action and also as an overall measure of the company’s sales and marketing efforts. User activation - this measures how many users are using your product and how often: daily or monthly. The more often customers use the product, the more likely they will continue with the product. Customer retention - this includes churn rate, renewal rate, and net promoter score. This will determine how long customers stay with the product and delivers a lifetime value for the customer. Customer revenue - this measures how profitable each customer is, stated either on a monthly (MRR) or annual (ARR) basis. Other factors include cost per lead and average revenue per customer. Referrals - this measures how often users refer your solution to others and can be measured by average referral per customer and viral coefficient metrics. A stronger virality factor generates more leads and sales. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Tue, 18 January 2022
Challenges With North Star Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The North Star Metric seeks to capture the essence of a business in just one metric. It makes decision-making easier. Anything that doesn’t foster that metric is deprioritized. It does change over time as the company’s priorities change especially with growth. It’s not always a simple metric and can be complex depending on the business. You can however choose a simple one so it’s easier to communicate. Here are some examples: Spotify -- Time spent listening to music. Quora -- Number of answers to questions. Uber -- Rides per week. Amazon -- Purchases per prime subscriber. The North Star Metric can focus on time spent, transactions, productivity, or other. Consider what drives your company’s growth and focus the North Star Metric on it. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Tue, 18 January 2022
This is Investor Perspectives. I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding. In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “Faith-Based Investing in a Post-COVID World”, you’ll hear about primary trends and what makes for a successful faith-based company. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new era. The faith-based investing space is now undergoing tremendous change as we shift to a post-COVID world. Faith-based investing takes precedence with many investors in the financial industry. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up.
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Mon, 17 January 2022
Finding Your North Star Metric Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The North Star Metric is the one metric that drives the growth of the core business. Founders use it to focus the company around a common goal. Some startups focus on signups, others focus on retention, and still, others focus on engagement. If you don’t have much startup experience, then you should work on customer acquisition, engagement, and retention efforts first. Once you know what drives the best outcome for the startup then you can focus on determining your North Star Metric. Your North Star Metric should be simple and specific. Look at successful outcomes by cohort or initiative. What benefit did each one bring? What is common about them? What is your ideal user case? From this information, look for the factor that drove the outcome. Focus your North Star on that driver. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Mon, 17 January 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Brom Rector, Founder of Empath Ventures. You can visit Empath Ventures at www.empath.vc, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/empath-ventures, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/EmpathVentures. Brom can be contacted via email at hello@empath.vc, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/bromrector/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/therealbrom. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 14 January 2022
Operational Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. An efficient operation is one key to a startup's success. Here are operational metrics you can use to check your startup: Basic efficiency - measures the overall efficiency of the business. To calculate, take operating expenses divided by the revenues. The smaller the number, the more efficient the business. Marketing efficiency - measures the efficiency in acquiring new customers. To calculate, take the monthly marketing spend and divide by the number of new customers signed up. The smaller the number, the more efficient the marketing. Sales efficiency - measures the number of leads that turn into customers. To calculate, divide the total sales by number of leads and multiply by 100. This is sometimes called the magic number. Inventory turnover ratio - measures the efficiency of inventory. To calculate, divide the cost of goods sold by the average inventory. Ten is a good result as it shows a turnover of inventory almost every month. Accounts payable to sales - measures how much of suppliers’ money you use to fund sales. To calculate, divide accounts payable by annual net sales. Use these tools to calculate your operational efficiency. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 13 January 2022
Product Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The product is the core focus of the early-stage company. Here are two key metrics for understanding the performance of your product: The Heart Metric measures the quality of the user experience with the product. Here are the components of it:
The Product Metabolism Metric measures the rate at which the company iterates on the product with upgrades and new features. Through customer surveys and feedback forms, you can gather the user's impression on whether the company is moving too fast or too slow in making product changes. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. |
Thu, 13 January 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Peter Bruce Clark, Partner at Social Impact Capital. In addition to his work, Peter is a volunteering Ambassador to the Rockefeller family’s BankFWD initiative, which is focused on climate justice in global banking, and a Counsel Member of the Saïd’ family’s Toucan Project, which cultivates future leaders from across the world. He is also a member of Rebalance VC, Impact Capital Managers, TTI, and GBx. Peter has an MPhil in Business Administration and Finance from the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, and a first-class honors BA in English and Critical Theory from Queen Mary, University of London. You can visit Social Impact Capital at https://social-impact-capital.com/, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/social-impact-capital/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/socialimpactvc. Peter can be contacted via email at peter@impactcap.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/pbruceclark/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/vcpbc. ____________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
Direct download: Peter_Bruce_Clark_of_Social_Impact_Capital.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Wed, 12 January 2022
Scale-Stage Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. After the growth phase comes the scale phase in which you ramp up the business. Here are the key metrics to consider at the scale stage: 1. Break-even per customer - this shows how many days until the new customer turns profitable. This is a key factor if you are using funding to grow, as it will show if your business can scale. 2. Gross margins - this metric compared to the industry average shows how efficient the business is and what business drivers can be used to scale the business. 3. Viral coefficient - this metric shows the organic growth and determines how much additional funding will need to be spent on growth. 4. Referrals - this metric is similar to viral coefficient but instead measures how many new customers come from existing customers. 5. User satisfaction - this metric determines how long customers will remain loyal to the company which demonstrates effectiveness against the competition. Each metric showcases a key factor for scaling the business. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Tue, 11 January 2022
Growth-Stage Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Once you have product-market fit and start seeing growth, consider these metrics for your business:
Each metric showcases a different aspect of your growth. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Tue, 11 January 2022
This is Investor Perspectives. I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding. In the continuation of our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “Faith-based Investing in a Post-COVID World”, you’ll hear about participation and growth in faith-based investing. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new era. The faith-based investing space is now undergoing tremendous change as we shift to a post-COVID world. Faith-based investing takes precedence with many investors in the financial industry. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up. Our guests are: We hope you enjoy the show.
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Mon, 10 January 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Raymond Luk, CEO, and Founder of Hockeystick. Raymond is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder of Flow Ventures (a financial consultancy for startups), Year One Labs (an early-stage micro-VC fund), and others. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and removing barriers to raising capital through technology. He lives in Toronto with his wife who is a fashion entrepreneur. Raymond shares what led him to start working in the startup industry. He also discusses the state and evolution of the industry, and some of the challenges startups and investors face. You can visit Hockeystick at www.hockeystick.co/, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/hockeystickco/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/hockeystickco. Raymond can be contacted via email at rluk@hockeystick.co, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/rayluk-founder. _________________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Mon, 10 January 2022
Startup Customer Success Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Once you have customers, the next step is to measure their success with your product. Here are some key metrics to use: Net Promoter Score - also referred to as NPS, this metric measures how loyal the customers are to the company. The metric asks the customer to rate the company on a scale from 1 to 10 about their experience with the product. A score of 1 to 6 is considered a net detractors score. 7 and 8 are considered passive, while 9 and 10 are considered promoters. The resulting metric from all customers surveyed ranges from -100 to 100. A score from 0 to 49 is considered good. 50 to 70 is excellent, and 70+ is top tier. Other metrics to include are customer churn which is the percentage of customers you lose over a period of time. Revenue churn is the percentage of customer revenue you lose. Customer retention rate is the percentage of customers retained. This can be applied to a cohort of customers. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 7 January 2022
Seed-Stage Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Seed-stage startups have a few users trying out a beta product. The startup is working on the go-to-market strategy and focusing on customer acquisition. Key metrics to use are monthly unique users, monthly new leads, customer acquisition rate, and churn rate. This measures basic customer acquisition. To measure conversion, use the visit-to-lead rate and lead-to-customer conversion. This shows the basic conversion rate for signing up customers. To measure the effectiveness of marketing, use cost per lead, customer acquisition cost, and monthly recurring revenue. This matches the cost of signing up a customer to the recurring revenue it generates. To measure the usage rate, use the average use per user per month. This shows the importance of the product to the users’ work. In the early days of the startup, focus your metrics on customer acquisition rates, effectiveness of marketing, and customer engagement with the product. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 6 January 2022
Start With Your Key Metric Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There are many metrics you can use to guide your startup. In the growth stage, start with your key metric that captures what drives growth. You can either focus on the total number of users or look at the total number of actions the user takes. Look for the value that is created and tie your metric to it. This is typically not revenue but rather what drives revenue. In a SaaS business, it’s the number of contracts signed. In a marketplace business, it’s the number of transactions. In a mobile app, it’s the number of active users. Set a goal to reach each month. Run a series of cohorts in which you apply an action and measure the impact on the metric. As the business grows, you may need to capture a second or third metric to understand what actions provide the best growth. You can apply this method to retention to identify the actions that provide the greatest return. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 6 January 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Robert Toker, Chairman, and CEO at Lantha Sensors. Robert is Chairman and CEO at Lantha Sensors and Partner and President at Stone Bridge Energy Partners, LLC. He was a senior advisor and consultant at BP PLC, Climate Impact Capital, an executive with several energy technology companies, Vice President, Partnerships and Market Planning at GlycosBio, and Senior Vice President with Sindicatum Capital, a London – Singapore based energy developer and investment firm backed by Citigroup Alternative Investment, Gulf One Bank, Black River (Cargill), and AIG. While at SCC, he had a broad range of responsibilities working closely with project partners and hosts from origination, planning, financial and strategic analysis through structuring and financial close. Before joining SCC, Robert was Head of Trade and Investment in Houston for UK Trade & Investment. In addition to leading the regional team, he led the Houston-based International Energy Team and the Miami-based Trade and Investment team including the Latin American and Caribbean Market Intelligence Unit. Robert was the US lead for renewable energy. Robert was also the founding CEO of Evolved Nanomaterial Sciences, Inc a venture-backed advanced materials company. Robert advises startups and investors and discusses the state of startup investing. He also suggests some good opportunities for investors to pursue. You can visit Lantha Sensors at www.lanthasensors.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/lanthasensors/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/LanthaSensors. Robert can be contacted via email at rob@lanthasensors.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/robtoker/, and via telephone at (832)257-7775. ____________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Wed, 5 January 2022
Unit Economics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In the early days of a startup, the revenue is small. Instead of focusing on the absolute size of the revenue, focus on the unit economics of the business. Unit economics shows your business model on a per-unit basis. Measure the cost of acquiring each customer and the revenue you receive from the same. You can calculate the CAC:LTV ratio which is the cost of acquiring the customer and compare it to the lifetime value of the customer. You can also calculate the time of payback compared to the cost of customer acquisition. The faster the payback time, the less capital you will need to raise and, therefore, the more valuable your business will be. Investors are not looking for big numbers; they are looking for repeatability and predictability of your revenue. Use unit economics to show how you have built a working business albeit on a small scale. Emphasize the systems you have in place for acquiring customers, providing a service, and how overall it’s a profitable business. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Wed, 5 January 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Ander Iruretagoyena, Senior Associate at Impact Engine. Ander shares what excites him now and discusses the state of impact investing, how he sees the industry evolving, challenges investors and startups face, and more. You can visit Impact Engine at www.theimpactengine.com/, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/theimpactengine/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/TheImpactEngine. Ander can be contacted via email at ander@theimpactengine.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/ander-iruretagoyena/. _____________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
Direct download: Ander_Iruretagoyena_of_The_Impact_Engine.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CST |
Tue, 4 January 2022
Pre-seed Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. At the pre-seed stage, startups should focus their attention on engagement and referrals. Track how many visitors you can draw to your website. See how many of those visitors sign up for a trial. The conversion rate is more important than the absolute number. See how many referrals are made and their engagement rate. You need to have a product that’s good enough so that people will like it and tell others about it. Focus on upgrading the product to generate more engagement. Metrics that don’t matter include social media likes, newsletter signups, and repeat visits. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Tue, 4 January 2022
This is Investor Perspectives. I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding. In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “Faith-Based Investing in a Post-COVID World”, you’ll hear about participation and growth in faith-based investing. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new era. The faith-based investing space is now undergoing tremendous change as we shift to a post-COVID world. Faith-based investing takes precedence with many investors in the financial industry. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up. Our guests are:
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Mon, 3 January 2022
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Prem Bodagala, Director at Michigan Rise. Michigan Rise Pre-Seed Fund III invests in Michigan tech startups to help commercialize innovative technologies. They are proud to partner with Michigan’s best and brightest tech entrepreneurs and further economic development in the Mitten State. Prem is in charge of cultivating pipeline, overseeing diligence, closing investments, advising portfolio companies, and fulfilling reporting obligations at the fund to seed tech startups in Michigan with equity instruments and purchase order financing loans. He has a broad and deep knowledge of the innovation ecosystem in the Midwest and has invested in over 100 tech startups that went on to cumulatively raise over $1B. You can visit Michigan Rise at www.michiganrise.com/, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/michigan-rise/. Prem can be contacted via email at pbodagala@redcedarventures.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/prembodagala/. ______________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Mon, 3 January 2022
Metrics by Stage of Startup Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Startups move through stages from pre-seed to seed to growth to scale. The metrics you apply should adjust to the stage of the company. Here’s a list of metrics by stage: Pre-seed - when you have an idea, use qualitative metrics and focus on basic activity. Key metrics include qualitative feedback, website traffic, and conversions. Seed - when you have a first product, focus on initial revenue. Key metrics include MRR (monthly recurring revenue), ARR (annual recurring revenue), as well as CAC (customer acquisition cost), and LTV (lifetime value ratio). Cash flow and burn rate are also useful. Growth - when you have product-market fit and start to grow, then focus on growth revenue. Key metrics include gross margin, segment analysis, forecast sales vs. quota, and month-over-month revenue growth. Scale - when you start scaling the business, focus on the core drivers of the business. Key metrics include customer activation by channel or segment, increasing retention, and reducing churn. The metrics start qualitative and shift to quantitative to focus the company on what drives growth. As the company matures, so the metrics become more specific and refined. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
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