How do you help startups scale and expand?

Here's my golden nugget after collaborating with 50+ startups: 🚀 Nail Product-Market Fit BEFORE Fundraising! 🌟 Step 1: Bootstrap till you develop the MVP and win a customer who can pay for using that MVP. 📢 Step 2: Feedback, Refine, Repeat on the MVP from your client and then use the customer referral to win a new customer. 🎉 Step 3 - Expand with Customer referrals. Winning a new client validates your PMF. Then, go to VC for funds to scale your business. 🎯 The Bottom Line: Product-market fit isn't just a buzzword – it's the secret recipe for startup longevity. It's like throwing cash into a bonfire if you scale without nailing PMF. You are building solutions that customers don't need or that do not add value.

Let us remember that product-market fit is achieved when an entrepreneur or SME identifies a need in the market and builds a solution that customers want to buy. From a practical and good-practice standpoint my recommendation would be to specify your minimum viable product (MVP) feature set, create your prototype and test the MVP with real customers prior to commercial launch.

As a VC, your role in aiding a startup's Product-Market Fit (PMF) is pivotal 🚀. - Start by providing strategic guidance 🧭 and fostering connections within your network 🤝. - Airbnb, for instance, benefited immensely from Sequoia Capital's early support 💼. - Encourage iterative product development 🔄 and customer feedback loops 📣, ensuring alignment with market demands. 📦 Dropbox thrived under Accel Partners' mentorship, refining its PMF based on user insights 👨💻. - Inject resources 💰 when necessary, enabling scalable growth. - Continuously monitor and adapt, nurturing the PMF journey alongside the startup 🌱📊. 💡Your insights and support can be the catalyst for a startup's PMF success. #VC #Startups #PMF

Helping/mentoring startups is a crucial part of their journey, and offering advice/real support can be a game-changer. Some addittion thoughs: A startup should have clear goals when setting the milestones. Adaptability and open to change. User Feedback: Learn from customers (my preferred one!) Legal Compliance: they should stay compliant. Learning: keep learning, even from the failures. Monitor KPIs: Analyze performance. Small Wins: Celebrate achievements - this is very important for the team. Manage the crisis, which are out there, some times very near to your door and will "come" to you, so be prepared. Have a long term visions - stay committed.

Product-market fit is half the GTM equation for a startup. The other is product market vision. Product-market fit does two things: fits the current known market need and/or fits a current need that is unrealized by people. Product-market vision is the other unspoken half of the equation. This is planning for: - The need you can predict after the immediate problem is solved. This is done through research and listening. - The next extension of value you will create after the current foundation is established. Easy to execute with planning. -Tracking trends in the market and balancing agility with planning to be able to meet the needs the trend creates. This is a hard one only if you have a track record and experience in the space.

A VC can supercharge a startup's Sales and Marketing efforts 🚀. - Share strategic insights and connections 🤝, acting as a guiding compass 🧭. - Just as Sequoia Capital did for WhatsApp, nurturing the startup's growth. - Encourage data-driven decisions 📊 and digital marketing prowess, like what Lightspeed Venture Partners provided to Snapchat. - Forge key partnerships 🤝, extending reach. - Offer financial backing 💰 for targeted ad campaigns and talent acquisition 📣. - With VC's support, startups can navigate the competitive market, boost revenue, and turn their vision into a flourishing reality 🌟.

I could write TONS on this one, but here is the most important thing to remember: NOTHING HAPPENS IN BUSINESS UNTIL SOMEONE SELLS SOMETHING!

Where I see startups struggle in marketing and sales and how to avoid: - Understanding what sales vs. marketing means to them. Every company is different, every market is unique. Define what sales vs. marketing is TO YOU and create a roadmap. - Don't look for balance; look for effect. Don't try to be everywhere at once. Be where you can get traction and then build out. To do the above two, you have to have defined within your GTM segment: - Early adopters - Direct problem-to-solution fit opportunities - Converters Prospects Within those identify: - Ambassadors - Amplifiers - Pass the word and court them - they are your bridge to credibility, trust, and relevancy. They will springboard you.

Eddie is “Spot On” - Sales professionals must first listen to and understand the desires of their perspective Customers’. Without this you’ll not assist them in the development of a strong strategic or tactical plan for success in any of their focused areas.

*define the personas *invest in surveys and product testing *rally understand their pain points and what they look for *find your tone *set the culture of the company around the tone *really trasmit the service and value your product provides *repeat and keep the flag of your vision

Culture is everything. If you don't get it right, you're in for high employee turnover, damaging your image among potential hires and suggesting leadership gaps to investors. Many startup leaders push their teams too hard, often ignoring signs of burnout in their race against deadlines. Always keep budget for team-building activities, and avoid micromanagement—it stifles creativity. Relying solely on short-term interns is a missed opportunity. Spot the best ones and bring them on full-time. Don't forget about regular salary reviews; they keep motivation levels up. One more thing—keep communication open. Regular feedback sessions and an open-door policy can uncover valuable insights.

One thing, I have found helpful for essentially working with two types of teams. 1. Self-selected teams = people voluntarily assemble to start something, e.g. a startup or solve a community problem, etc. 2. Selected teams = people put together by selection, e.g. for a board, project, sub-committee, etc. The teams' differences hold important lessons in sequencing how natural work and management styles show up. Each work style has contrasting motivations, goals, and perspectives and, when working together each team will approach the same task with differing goals in mind. The differing points of view can prevent the genuine pooling of knowledge and experience, similar to that of a football player, coach, and owner of the team.

Transformative startups frequently face candy shop syndrome. You're like a kid who wants all the candy displayed on the store's shelves.. There are seductive markets and customers everywhere. You want to sell to all of them. You can't. Great VCs help you filter through realistic opportunities and achieve focus and success. Much better to succeed massively at a few things than be mediocre at many. That's where perspective, developed by years of watching/helping companies grow and scale, is of real value. It's not raw intelligence. It's closer to applied pattern recognition. In sports, the game slows down. That's why a veteran quarterback makes fewer mistakes than a rookie.

Startups: The market impacts potential whether an existing market or a new growing market. Do you have the product, legal, systems, communication, and sales infrastructure? Think of scaling as building a house from the ground up, designed with foundational and structural elements for an existing market or to create a new growing market. Every startup has pros and cons like a house. Consider features to determine how close to the line to build. Evaluate plans for the city, county, state, or global landscape. This helps inform risk and impacts valuation. In my opinion, the following factors influence the ability to scale. 1. Team 2. Problem and Vision 3. Value Proposition 4. Product/Market Fit 5. Business/Financial Model 6. Exit Strategy

Consider the opportunity of a cofounder on a targeted market where you think you might have success. That targeted market might be away from you, far from you and unknown in so many different ways, yet you believe that there is a need for your product service. A shortcut solution? Bring a partner/cofounder/other on board with knowledge and experience on that targeted market. It will bring the right feedback and help you navigate efficiently on that market.

The five imperatives that this section lists (product-market fit, marketing and sales, team and culture finance and operations and innovation and expansion) are vitally important, but there is another element that is prerequisite and preeminent to them all: mindset. The most important elements to growing any business, but especially a startup, is the mental and emotional resolve the founder/founders bring to bear. A startup mindset is absolutely crucial - it must be flexible, resilient, creative, and laser-focused.

Everything created starts in the mind. Our approach to challenges and setbacks is influenced by our mindset. Dr. Carol Dweck, a Stanford University psychologist, writes about fixed and growth mindsets. Startup founders and teams with growth mindsets attract other curious and open-minded. By making small changes in how we think, we can transform what we do daily and create cultures of learning. Growth mindset behaviors: Problem Solving - problems are opportunities to learn. Continuous Learner - zest for personal development. Admit Failures - explain what they learned and will do differently Proactive - plan and break down goals or projects. Comfort Zone - step outside day-to-day boundaries