Daniel Santos

No micromanagement at Enflux. Every single team member we have is a fully autonomous and deployed unit that pairs well with other similar units. From day one, Valentin M. and I prioritized transparency, ensuring the entire team was aligned on our vision, strategy, and goals. The reasoning is simple: everyone needs a clear picture of what we are doing, why we are doing it, and where we are going. This way, everyone grasps current priorities and can readily identify opportunities. We've also made a point of sticking with people who resonate with our values; it naturally acts as a filter, saving us a considerable amount of money. Can't put an exact figure on it, but it's definitely significant. To keep things running smoothly, we've instituted weekly calls as a forum for open communication. Every Monday, we dedicate about 40 minutes to discuss the previous week, and another 20 minutes for everything from quips about Wall Street, to catching up on our team members' lives, to sharing insider dad jokes and generally having a good time. It creates an atmosphere reminiscent of a family dinner table conversation. In the early days, we squeezed these calls into an hour with just five people. But, even with a team of 20, we've maintained this cadence. A testament to the efficiency we strive for; everyone is engaged, and unnecessary communication naturally falls away. Every client and partnership call follows the same format. Except, maybe, for the dad jokes – those are reserved for long-term relationships 😀

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Counterintuitive advice: When fundraising, always optimize for the medium-success case. The upside scenario is great: You have sick growth in a bull market. You’ll be fine no matter what. In the downside scenario, you have no traction or product: You’ll have to quit or sell. But what happens in the medium case? You do well but not quite well enough to get profitable or attract a 3x+ valuation premium. Here’s how to optimize for medium-success: 1. Have a respected lead with deep pockets. They often stake their reputations on helping the middle case companies. Union Square Ventures did that for us at HeyZap and I am always grateful for that. 2. Don’t raise too much and increase your burn beyond your “natural position.” If your burn is too high, you’ll have to do layoffs. You can easily lose momentum and never recover. 3. Don’t over hype your valuation. This may feel “free” at the time, but it leads to difficulty raising future rounds. (Note: SAFE caps in high resolution fundraising often don’t count as strong valuation pegs nowadays, so that can be “fine.”) 4. Avoid non-lead checks from Series A brands in your seed. This can really kill companies due to negative signaling if they don’t invest in follow ons. 5. Do your research on the lead/big investor. Do they have a history of supporting their companies through hard times? Do they have repeat relationships with their entrepreneurs? Talk to portfolio company founders, etc. 6. Develop worst case scenario/contingency plans (I call them cockroach-mode plans). You want to always mentally prepare for the shit to hit the fan. What if your biggest customer churns? What if you have unexpected taxes? What if your term sheet falls through? Prepare for the worst. 7. Most importantly, take the long view. It’s not about this round, not really—it’s about your next 5+ years. Think about the long term. What would you add?

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I like to listen to different podcasts from time to time. While I wouldn’t say it’s my best way of acquiring information, it’s definitely a great source of inspiration. I guess I’m still a bit old-fashioned - a book lover at heart. There’s something about the feel of a book that’s hard to put into words. That said, this part of Harry Stebbings' podcast series is probably my favorite so far. The story of Bolt is truly remarkable and incredibly inspiring - a testament to the power of belief and hard work. What stands out most to me is how Bolt’s journey showcases the importance of being capital-effective and resourceful. Starting with just €5,000 given by parents to becoming an $8BN company - it’s a story of resilience, smart decision-making, and perseverance, even when every European VC said "no". Huge respect to Bolt CEO Markus Villig for not giving up and working tirelessly with his team to make their dream a reality! It’s even more delightful to hear such success stories from our neighbors. 🌍 Stories like this remind us that extraordinary outcomes often stem from bold ideas and relentless execution. Truly inspiring with so many learning points for startup founders. I’d love to hear about your favorite podcasts too - doesn’t have to be in the startup space! 😉

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On speed of execution: Last week one of our customers had asked for usage analytics. Analytics were shipped before the week ended. End-to-end, full-stack. We also made analytics available through our API. A classic startup advice is to move fast and break things. This phrase is used so often that before Reform, I took it for granted. It just seemed like a best practice, but I never really questioned why it is so important. After spending the last year talking to customers, here’s my answer to that question: you can think of a startup as a video game, and what you’re really trying to do is level up. As you level up, you uncover a set of truths that were previously unknown to you; you get to learn more about your customers, your industry, how to build a business, how to sell, etc. You simply just become better at the game. You certainly are a worse Super Mario player at level 1 than you are at level 10, and your friend is certainly a better Super Mario player at level 20 than you are at level 10. If you’re moving slow, your rate of improvement is slow, and the next level just gets harder and further. What you’re really doing when you move fast is shortening your iteration cycle, accelerating your rate of improvement, helping you arrive at the truth faster. As you uncover more truths, your chances of success simply compound. A startup with a compound interest of 1% can never compete with another that has a compound interest of 5%. Happy building my friends 😊 https://lnkd.in/evFq4sJQ

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We launched a new website for Teem at https://teem.finance 🎉 🚀 The entire process took 35 days…here’s how we did it: 1. We asked friends for referrals and got intros to five agencies 2. We did a short call with each to describe our vision and asked for quotes 3. Quotes ranged from $4K to $15K for what we wanted (a 3-5 page MVP microsite) 4. We selected Yunling Xie from nio rio based on the quality her portfolio first and price second 5. Iterations were fast because Nio Rio worked quickly and we also made an effort to respond ASAP with feedback 6. Iterations were also fast because we used modern, collaborative tools like Figma and Webflow We’re thrilled with the result, but would love your feedback. Leave a comment below with your thoughts and visit us at https://teem.finance

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Speed kills in startups - but not how you think. I used to believe we needed to do everything fast. Now I realize it's about doing the right things quickly. Narrowing our focus was a game-changer. We cut our feature list in half, only keeping what users actually need. It felt scary at first, but now our product is so much clearer. We also sped up our launch cycles. Instead of monthly releases, we're pushing updates every two weeks. It's intense, but the rapid feedback is invaluable. So how are we applying this? For features, we ask: "Does this help to solve our users' core problem?" If not, it's out. No exceptions. Our new two-week sprints follow a simple structure: 1. Week 1: Build and test internally 2. Week 2: Limited release to beta users 3. End of Week 2: Analyze data, decide what to keep or change When hiring, I now look for three key traits: 1. A track record of shipping products, not just talking about them 2. Comfort with ambiguity and changing directions quickly 3. The ability to wear multiple hats - we need versatile team players

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Sifted just released their list of the most promising SaaS startups in Europe. https://lnkd.in/erxJRGzi If you are looking to leave your corporate job for a startup but aren’t sure where to get started, do this. 1. Look at sifted lift of promising startups and pick 10 that really interest you. 2. Based on your skill set, use linked look up the lead of the department you think you would be interested in. For example, if you want to get into sales then look up the VP of sales. 3. Send them a DM on why you want to work for the company and what impact you could have in your first 100 days working there. Don’t send your CV until asked for it. 4. Follow up diligently every few days. If after the third try, no one has got back to you, move to the next 10 on the list. It sounds simple, and it is. Recruitment is the hardest thing for growth stage startups, and no one enjoyed paying 25% recruiter fees. Good luck

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Why Simple Systems Win At Sideko we've learned something counter-intuitive: the more ambitious your project, the simpler your building blocks need to be. We didn't start with this insight. Like most startups, we began by trying to quickly build something impressive. But gradually we noticed that our most reliable systems shared three characteristics. They were built from simple parts. These parts were stateless. And they communicated synchronously. Over time we've found that: simple, stateless, and synchronous - leads to code generation systems that are easy to build, easy to understand, and easy to fix when they break. With this in mind, I'm excited to announce our new SDK Management configuration system at Sideko. SDKs exist in a world of state. APIs are versioned, each SDK language is versioned separately. SDKs can also be really big libraries, which would normally require asynchronous patterns to produce. So how did we apply our principals in this domain? It took a lot of intense engineering: - A git-inspired filesystem abstraction named Cockroach - A syntax tree collection abstraction that we call The Forest - A configuration mapping system to generate both highly customized and out-of-the box SDKs from within the same codepath. We are excited to roll this out to our enterprise customers. Docs: https://lnkd.in/ex8rdYJ9 Article: https://lnkd.in/eZySB5Cd

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First things first on Monday. Fixing some UI/UX bugs - Improved URL search and now it is ridiculously easy to check any startup URL. Who are competitors, where they are based, have they raised. And also Check investors who are investing in these kind of companies. Thank you Swotzy for being my go to test company to check if there are relevant investors and similar companies :) p.s. Also fixed annoying result page reloading. Minor bug for men, major annoyance for humanity.

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Wiz - $0 to $23B in 4 Short Years + The Actual Reason Why Alphabet Inc. is Happy to Make it Happen Alphabet is likely buying Wiz for $23B - an insane amount of value created in just 4 years since its founding in 2020. For context, it took OpenAI 7+ years to get to $20B. Alphabet buying Wiz at $23B puts a fantastic comp out there for investors to underwrite to and justify insane valuations (kinda kidding, kinda not). Currently, Wiz is over $500M in ARR (~46x) but plan to get to $1B in ARR by the end of '25, which would put it at a bit more reasonable 23x, but still a steep price and certainly an indication of conviction in the strategic value of Wiz. So why could Alphabet spend such an insane amount to buy Wiz at such a hefty price? Because the actual golden goose here is winning market share in the ~$300B/yr Cloud Services market that is growing at an insane 21% YoY. The means nearly $60B in new TAM will be up for the taking the next 12 months alone.. Today, Google Cloud (11%) is a distant 3rd in market share behind Amazon Web Services (AWS) (31%) and Microsoft Azure (25%), but it is growing the fastest at 28% YoY. If buying Wiz can help Google accelerate their growth and continue to gain share, they'll be able to capture a bigger slice of that fast growing Cloud Services TAM. And with a market that big growing that fast, there is almost no price too high. Every marginal point of market share is worth at least $15B of EV (assuming 5x). Alphabet currently trades at 5.5x revenue so assuming they can get a marginal $5B of ARR out of the deal over the next few years, the economics make sense almost immediately. Google Cloud is also Alphabet Inc.'s best hedge against AI's potential disruption to their core search business as more people turn to generative AI instead of that trusty search bar to answer their questions. This will be Google's biggest acquisition ever by nearly 2x, and it will be a massive, much-needed replenishment of funds into the venture ecosystem (Index Ventures Sequoia Capital Greenoaks, Insight Partners, Andreessen Horowitz) Fun aside - Wiz has some wildly notable angels on the cap table like Howard Schultz and Bernard Arnault. If this deal goes through it's going to be a huge win for a bunch of founders, investors, and employees and an overall great mark for the early-stage technology ecosystem! All of this is assuming Lina Khan lets it happen!

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Excited to launch ComfyUI Market on ProductHunt (https://lnkd.in/d_V7TsZX) A couple of months ago, I was experimenting with ComfyUI to create an AI model for a fashion try on app. After watching a couple of YouTube Tutorials, i would rather have bought a finished , working comfyui workflow then trying to replicate it by myself. The final trigger came, when I heard the amazing pod from Greg Isenberg discussing a ComfyUI marketplace idea. So for the last 3 weeks or so, I coded the platform. It has all the features that a marketplace requires. Key features: • easy onboarding for sellers, through stripe connect • dispute system in case problems arise + buyers protection. • seller dashboard with analytics • automated payouts to sellers via stripe This not my first marketplace - in 2020 I bootstrapped Inhype live, a livestream shopping app to 180k in monthly Revenue and it got acquired in 2022. So I would really much appreciate your support on ProductHunt. Please give the launch some love. ComfyUI Marketplace: https://comfyui-market.com Product Hunt: https://lnkd.in/d_V7TsZX Thanks!

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As someone who often advises startups, especially those led by non-technical founders, I’ve noticed a recurring challenge: balancing effective communication with the need for uninterrupted focus time for developers. I recently came across a discussion where a founder was frustrated with a back-end developer who consistently missed stand-ups and other company meetings. Despite the developer’s remarkable complex problem-solving skills and hard work, his preference for working independently was causing concern. This situation raises some important questions: - Are early and frequent meetings truly necessary, or are they fulfilling a need for control and reassurance? - Do these meetings add real value to the project, or do they disrupt the developer’s productivity and flow? - If a team member is delivering quality work on time, should their working style be accommodated? In the fast-paced environment of a startup, it’s crucial to prioritize what’s best for the company over personal preferences or traditional processes. Here are some things to consider: Assess the Value of Meetings: Before scheduling, ask if the meeting is essential. Can the objectives be achieved through asynchronous communication tools like Slack or email? Respect Individual Work Styles: Developers often need extended periods of uninterrupted time to solve complex problems. Frequent interruptions can hinder their efficiency. Focus on Outcomes, Not Processes: What’s more important—holding a daily stand-up because it’s standard practice, or enabling your team to produce their best work? Check Ego at the Door: Ensure that decisions are made for the benefit of the startup, not to satisfy personal feelings or a need for control. By reevaluating the necessity and timing of meetings, you might find that giving your team more autonomy leads to better results. After all, effective leadership is about facilitating success, not enforcing rigid structures. Let’s open up the discussion: How do you balance necessary communication with allowing your team the freedom to work effectively? Have you found strategies that respect both the needs of the project and the individual working styles of your team members?

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💡 Scaling companies face many challenges—and one of them is managing an ever-growing stack of #SaaS tools and contracts. At MVST., we early on realized that we needed a clear, structured way to track all our software subscriptions and contracts. We evaluated multiple tools but couldn't find a solution that matched both our needs and pricing expectations. Even though we have strong in-house development resources, building something from scratch would have been time-consuming and costly. Instead, we saw an opportunity to leverage low-code technology to create a #custom solution that fit us perfectly. Our tool of choice? #Retool. 🛠️  With the collaboration of our Finance team, we developed a solution that: • Monitors and manages all our software subscriptions • Sends Slack reminders for upcoming renewals or cancellations 🚨  • Updates seat information regularly ⚙️  • Keeps us proactive in contract negotiations and helps identify unused subscriptions 📊 The result? We're expecting to save over €20k this year alone by having full visibility into our contracts and avoiding unnecessary renewals. This is a great example of the power of low-code/no-code tools, and how they can drive efficiency and cost savings without heavy development investment. 🚀 Have you built any internal tools using low-code or no-code platforms? I'd love to hear your experiences! If you're interested in learning more about how we built this or want a copy of the tool, feel free to reach out! 💬 #LowCode #SaaSManagement #CostEfficiency #DigitalTransformation

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65% of our new ARR last month came inbound. Our secret? We do one thing every early-stage startup should (but lots don't): Consistently publish social content. In March, we decided that we were going to go all-in on posting on LinkedIn + Twitter daily. A lot of Founders neglect it because they feel they don't have the time, or because they can't tie it to revenue effectively enough. We're 3 months in and it's clear that it is the easiest way to punch above your weight (especially in a competitive market like ours). Not to mention, it's been a huge money-maker for us. We're driving both top-of-funnel awareness and bottom-of-funnel conversions. When I was at the PLGTM conference earlier this year, I had multiple people come up to me and mention that they'd heard about me from my LinkedIn or Twitter posts. Opening a conversation with some familiarity to myself and Unify is insanely powerful. TLDR: Make social a core part of your GTM motion. Done right, you'll drive both top-of-funnel awareness and bottom-of-funnel conversions. ...unless you're in the outbound/GTM space. In that case, social is a complete waste of time and doesn't drive any results 😀 Check out Unify here: https://lnkd.in/gn_--FeC PS - as Reed called out in this tweet, a warning that you will 100% get roasted by your friends for being cringe 😁

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PLEASE think before you exercise your options! So many tech employees have been exercising (paying for) their stock options despite them being “underwater” ie worthless unless there is some miraculous turnaround. And that’s on top of the fact that the vast majority of the 1500+ unicorns will return no value to employee shareholders, let alone early stage startups. Employees: Please educate yourselves. CFOs and People teams: Do better.

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I call BS on this one. This is likely less about #AI and more about a market manipulation / hype train with an upcoming IPO. AI doesn't (yet) solve these complex workflows with an intuitive UI that #SalesForce and #Workday offer. What does everyone think? #cto #saas

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Need help hiring new colleagues to your growth company? Vacation times are over and I’m now excited to take on a few more hiring projects! If you’re an ambitious startup or growth company looking for great people to join your team, I’m here to help you out. We offer flexible options — whether you need ongoing hiring support (subscription from 8,900 SEK/month) or just need to fill a specific role right now (pricing from 45,000 SEK per hire). 🔍 What we do best: Over the years, I’ve got the privilege to support over 200+ exceptional candidates in getting matched with our clients, from CXO positions to hard-to-find specialists. We love tackling the toughest and most crucial roles—whether it’s Marketing, Data, Product, Sales, or Engineering. If it’s complex and important, I’m in! 🚀 Who we love to work with: We’re especially passionate about working with value-driven companies with huge ambitions, and a culture that prioritizes speed, self-ownership, and continuous learning. If that sounds like you, we’re probably a great match I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with incredible companies like Häxan AB, Xlash, Telness, Dedicare AB, Doktor24, Planima, Konstrukt AB, and many more, helping them take their businesses to the next level by finding the right people. 🤝 How is it to collaborate with us? Here’s what some of our clients have said: - "HiCareer is the first, and often only, resource we need for recruiting." - "They understand fast-growing companies like ours and always find spot-on candidates." - "Working with HiCareer is fun, simple, and fast-paced, resulting in great hires." - “We put a lot of thought and effort into our cultural values, and so does HiCareer. Having that in common feels great.” ⚡ Need to find someone yesterday? We understand the importance of speed and precision. That’s why we get things going right away. If you’re looking for hiring support, let me know, and let's see if we’re a match. More about our hiring services here: https://lnkd.in/dEee5BdY PS. The image comes from from our last company trip to Prague where me and Dejan concretized some awesome concepts (think AI/Data Science ) that we're now implementing in the career platform we're building... DS.

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This week, 3 SaaS startup founders told me that people are telling them to raise a seed round of VC funding. They asked me if they should listen to these experienced mentors and play the big funding game. - They each have an early product, some revenue, and a few customers. - Their products are showing good results with customers. - Other prospects are already interested in their software products. Here's what I asked them before recommending anything: 1) If someone offered to buy your startup now for $30 million in cash, would you take it? If you would, don't raise VC funding ever. Be very careful about raising any savvy angel investment. They would all expect you to bet your company and the next 5-10 years of your life on growing the company and selling it for $100M or more. A $30M exit for a startup already in revenue won't be an interesting return for serious investors. Don't waste your time--or theirs. 2) Do you expect this company to grow fast (100-200% a year) and reach at least $50M in revenue in the next 5-7 years? That's annual growth rates of triple, triple, double, double, double—with high growth potential after that. Very few SaaS businesses grow that fast or get that big. But that's the game that VCs expect when they invest. Get Big Fast, or you're out. Some have this potential, and a few make it, but most don't. 3) Are you ready to fire your co-founders and leaders, and maybe yourself as CEO, if you don't get the fast growth results you signed up for? That's just one of the control issues you'll deal with if you start the VC funding game. You'll have invested partners who will have a say in how you run your business, how fast you go, and when you sell. Again, many founders are up for this big VC game, and it sometimes works. Those are the big headlines we read about. But are you really clear how this big VC funding game is played, for better or worse? 4) Did those who recommended VC funding ask you these questions? Did they spend a few hours with you to ensure you understand this all-or-nothing game and that big funding is your best choice? If they didn't spend the time to ask these questions, then two things are going on: A) They don't know that the B2B software game AND the VC funding game have changed drastically in the last 5-10 years. They are recommending what used to work in the old days. They are naively giving you bad advice. B) They are selling something and will benefit if you raise a round. A lot of people have something to gain by getting you on the funding drugs. Funders, service providers, accelerators, and ecosystems love to recommend funding and then cheer when you get it. Do they tell you this rarely works out for founders? For each of these founders this week, playing the funding game with angels, VCs, or anyone else wasn't good advice. They were bootstrapping, growing revenues, and being very efficient. And they loved their optionality and control. #practicalfounders

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As a product manager at an early stage SaaS startup how do you decide if a feature is worth building? Marty Cagan has a framework which has served me well and now has become second nature to me. The purpose is to address these critical risks: 1. Value risk - Will the customer buy this, or choose to use it? For paid features, it simply comes down to asking the customer "Will you pay for it?" For unpaid features, do a qualitative and/or quantitative assessment. A qualitative assessment is focused on the response, or reaction of the user whereas a quantitative assessment can be made on the basis of cost reduced, manhours saved etc. 2. Usability risk - Can the user figure out how to use it? This is a question for UX designers (or whoever is filling in as one). If they can't use it, then it's definitely not worth building it. 3. Feasibility risk - Can we build it? This is where developers get involved. Does the feature take too long to build? Does it involve refactoring a lot of code? For complex ones, we need to ask ourselves, do we have the skillset to build it? 4. Business viability risk - Does this solution work for our business? This is a question for product/strategy folks to ponder. Does this feature move the needle with revenue/retention? Does this benefit only a select few users? Is this a step in the right direction, consistent with our promise to the customer? This framework has helped me reject a lot of features, save a ton of developer hours & customer support headache. In reality despite this; whatever one releases will be half good at best, shitty at worst. You'll iterate and it'll improve. If it doesn't, it'll get commented & eventually removed. But hey, at-least you'll release lesser shitty features🙂

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