Alex Kracov

Winning early GTM via founder led sales is an essential step in building a consequential start up. 🎯 But, while there are countless conferences focused on scaling GTM once you've hit a couple million in revenue, to date there hasn't been a conference focused on FOUNDER LED SALES and nailing the earliest days of GTM. 👀 😅 That ends now. 🙌 Pear VC has helped 100+ founders learn how to sell, how to build their 0-to-1 sales engine, how to get from $0 ARR to $1M ARR -- and now we're introducing the first ever GTM CONFERENCE for EARLY STAGE FOUNDERS. ⭐ "Zero to $1M: Winning Early GTM" will be held in San Francisco, CA this September 5th! ⭐ If you're at the idea 💡, pre-seed 🌰 , or seed stage 🌱 , this is the GTM conference for YOU. Come hear from Pear veterans, industry leaders, and successful repeat founders like Sanjit Biswas (Samsara and Cisco Meraki Co-founder and CEO), and leave with actionable guidance to supercharge your startup’s revenue from day 1. ​ ➡ APPLY NOW! Space is limited, and the early application deadline is July 15th. Pepe Agell and I will review applications on a rolling basis. 🚀 CANNOT WAIT TO SEE YOU THERE! 🚀 #earlystageGTM #zeroto1M #founderledsales

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What does it take to create the next-generation builder platform? 💡 I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Jesse Pollak who shared the compelling origin story of Base and the vision behind launching Base Camp in Idyllwild, CA. Base Camp is more than a summit —it’s a crucial step toward creating an open, decentralized platform that’s globally accessible. Jesse emphasized Base’s mission to build an onchain platform that’s as transformative as the internet itself. 🚀 Curious about how Base is leading this charge? Stay tuned for more insights from our conversation and what’s next on this journey! ♻️ if you found this insightful, don’t forget to like, share, and spread the word! P.S. How do you see the future of open-source platforms shaping the tech landscape? #BaseCamp #Onchain #Innovation #OpenSource #CommunityBuilding #FWBFest #Idyllwild

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GTM tooling is one of the fastest growing verticals in B2B right now. Ton of fluff out there, but there are handful of tools that are * genuinely * exciting. Shortlist of companies we're (actively) test driving: 1. Attention Live sales call recaps, tactical action items, and seamless integrations. Anis Bennaceur + co are building something special. S/o to Dan Jaeck for the flag. 2. Default All-in-one lead routing, scheduling, and automated pipeline workflows. Big ups to Nico F. and Stan Rymkiewicz - building a behemoth of a platform. 3. Unify Warm outbound done right based on live intent signals. IMO the next major untapped B2B growth channel. Watch this space cc Austin Hughes 🤝. 4. 11x.ai AI SDR agents on autopilot. Haven't personally tried it yet but love the concept + impressed with early growth. Excited to test drive it soon - big opp here. 5. Pipeline LinkedIn will increasingly become the go-to GTM and BD channel in the next 12 months. Sudarshan Sridharan and his team are shipping at an insane pace. 6. Seam From a people lens, retaining top performers in a GTM motion is critical. Big fan of what Jacob Honig + Sean Taylor are building. Very happy customer here. 7. Cabal We swear by Cabal for monthly GTM updates and investor emails. Great UI, easy to segment and build referral lists. Brian M. and co are getting a lot right.

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This is a fabulous memo from Bessemer Venture Partners regarding scaling SDR/BDR teams. I urge all B2B SaaS founders to dig into this one. #founders #entreprenuers #startup #seedfunding

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🚀 Big news: ServiceTitan, a SaaS leader in field service management, has officially filed its S-1 to go public! With $685M in LTM revenue and 24% YoY growth, it’s clear the company has carved out a significant niche in the market. However, their -$183M net loss and growth rate bring challenges. By SaaS standards, ServiceTitan falls short of the Rule of 40—a key metric combining revenue growth and profit margin to evaluate efficiency and scalability. Their score is -2.7, well below the ideal 40%. Excited to see how the market responds—your thoughts? Let's discuss! #IPO #SaaS #Growth #Startups #Tech

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In the vertical SaaS industry, the allure of becoming a Payment Facilitator (Payfac) can be tempting for founders looking for an easy boost to their revenue streams. However, it's crucial to understand the significant investments and focus required to successfully implement this strategy. Owning the payment process and the customer experience could offer substantial advantages, but as Wade Arnold insightfully points out, it's not without its challenges and potential impacts on financial metrics. #SaaS #Fintech

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In case you missed it last week, one of my favorite SaaS benchmark reports was released. Thanks to High Alpha and OpenView for the work and having us as a partner! This thing is stuffed full of insights on everything from growth rates, net revenue retention, ARR per FTE, and more. You can't build a great SaaS business without it! https://lnkd.in/ghKT_tBY

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The operator immersive model starts with targeting. Investing in vertical SaaS has proven that even within in a niche market, there is so much nuance to determining where you will win and win now. Seed stage companies are typically looking to establish GTM fit. That typically comes with a specific subset of the market. There are a variety of factors, but it comes down to the problem you are solving and what audience is most ready to solve it with your solution. Sean Kester provided is great breakdown on targeting for early stage B2B SaaS companies in the most recent IRC Perspectives with 6 surefire steps... Step 1: Identify your ICP Step 2: Conduct Market Research Step 3: Create Buyer Personas Step 4: Engage with your Audience Step 5: Test and Iterate Step 6: Stay up to Date (Obvious but critical) Each step detailed in the linked post. #GTMcheatcode

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RevOps leaders, this is the playbook you’ve been waiting for. In a world flooded with content that often lacks substance, the RevOps Docs for Startups by LeanScale are a breath of fresh air. This guide isn’t just another rundown of the basics—it’s an in-depth, yet easily approachable, guide to the rapidly evolving RevOps landscape, crafted from real insights gathered across 50+ hyper-growth companies. Huge shoutout to my longtime buddy Joe Zaghloul and the team at LeanScale for putting in the thought and care to make something truly impactful. The format alone—structured like API docs, complete with a changelog—makes it incredibly usable and memorable. #RevOps leaders and #GTM teams will find it packed with playbooks that feel almost built-in to the process. If you’re scaling a B2B SaaS, you’ll want to bookmark this one. It’s hands-on, actionable, and unlike anything else out there. https://lnkd.in/ekrUJAW5

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Great article from PitchBook on why domain expertise amongst VCs matters. TL;DR -- in verticals like healthcare, having investors with high amount of domain expertise can result in up to 40% higher odds of achieving an IPO, 20% higher chance of being acquired and 30% higher chance of an overall successful exit. Importantly, the marginal value of having investors with domain expertise varies by sector and stage, and is not uniform, so your mileage may vary, and generalist investors still have a very important role to play in the venture ecosystem. https://lnkd.in/dXpi8gzm Curious to hear from founders: Do you have examples of seeing specialist investors be helpful in unique ways that you can share? Or alternatively, do you have an experience with a generalist investor who has been more helpful than the specialists?

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Perfecting your product and GTM strategy are surely important. But Box CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie argues there's one factor that outweighs all others in startup success: recognizing and capitalizing on tech and macro tailwinds. Fighting against them? You're setting yourself up for failure. Our full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/gEAPFR-A

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At most networking events… Business owners shake hands, exchange business cards, and go home. HumanX has a different approach. You’ll be paired together in 1:1 conversations with investors & AI startups. You’re not just adding people to your rolodex. Deals will be made.

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If you're an early-stage founder and you're thinking of hiring your first AE, these are the three most important things you need to know. 1. Hire your first 2 - 3 AEs from your network. If you expect to hire someone you don't know directly or don't know via someone you trust, that is a very high-risk strategy. You're essentially hiring someone off the street and expecting them to be successful in what is probably a very dynamic and challenging environment (i.e. a startup). The cost of getting these first AE hires wrong is very large. The blast radius (as we call it at Crane Venture Partners) of bad sales hires is likely to be most of your runway. Use your network to de-risk this. Don't have a network that would allow you to hire AEs? Time to start building it! You should be thinking about these hires from the day you start your business - and if you haven't, start building this network today. 2. Don't hire AEs to close deals you haven't already built a successful motion for yourself. Don't hire AEs to sell into the types of companies or markets you haven't already been successful with. If you do, there is a very high chance they will fail. Even great AEs who already know how to sell well won't know how to sell your solution to your personas, delivering your value, with all the nuances to your sales cycle that can make them successful. Work out a (even semi-) repeatable motion yourself, hire great AEs, teach them how to sell your specific solution to the types of customers you have already sold to (because you will have worked out a hundred things that you need to do well that you're probably not even aware you're doing). Again, blast radius. Too much risk to NOT do this. 3. Don't skimp on your hiring methodology. You might think you're saving time, but you're actually wasting it. You can burn your entire runway by making a bad sales hire, I've seen that literally dozens of times. Take the time to build a hiring scorecard and a detailed interview process that will find the perfect candidate for you. Using your network will help this, but you should never shortcut the interview process. At Crane Venture Partners we favour the Who hiring methodology - you can find a copy of the book on Amazon (in the UK) - I'll put a link in the comments. This book is worth its weight in gold. As is the hiring process you can build from it. Anyone else got dos and don'ts for hiring your first AE?

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How to pitch: The company has zero traction —> “We’re early” You only have 2 customers —> “We’re working with design partners” You currently have no revenue but hoping some pipeline finally closes —> “we’re on track to exit this year at $3M ARR” You’re in the natural kill zone of a FAANG —> “We view them as partners rather than competitors” There’s no way the tech can actually work —>“We’re manifesting the future” And of course: One of your developers uses Co-Pilot to write some front end code —> “We’re an AI company”

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Cap Table guidance from Cake Equity and my former colleague Chris Hoffmann, ECA 🚀🧢 VALUATION & EQUITY MANAGEMENT: Companies should aim for balanced equity plans that are fair yet practical, involving vesting schedules to ensure employees earn their shares. Giving employees sufficient time to exercise options post-vesting can also prevent punitive exercise costs. This approach encourages loyalty and values employee contributions without overwhelming the cap table. HIGH ADMIN DEMAND IN LATER STAGES: In growth phases, especially Series C and D, managing cap tables becomes complex, with frequent hires, exits, and equity grants. Software platforms (e.g., Cake) are essential to keep cap tables organized, as manual systems like Excel can't handle the volume and complexity efficiently. IMPORTANCE OF DAILY & MONTHLY AUDITS: Regular audits are crucial to keep track of terminations, new grants, and board consents. Errors in terminations and grants can lead to costly issues during audits, financial reporting, or funding rounds. SECONDARY TRANSACTIONS & LIQUIDITY OPTIONS: Allowing limited liquidity for employees and early investors, such as through tender offers or company-facilitated secondary transactions, is valuable. These mechanisms offer flexibility without requiring a full exit or IPO, which has become less common due to the IPO market slowdown. CAP TABLE ERRORS CAN BE COSTLY: Historical errors in cap tables can create major headaches. Two examples highlight this:    - In one case, a series D company had to spend $100,000 to $150,000 on cap table corrections, which delayed planned transactions by six months.   - Another company had converted multiple financing rounds incorrectly, requiring a year and a half of back-and-forth with attorneys and investors to correct the errors. These situations emphasize the need to organize and verify cap table data from the outset to avoid costly fixes later. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FOUNDERS: Early-stage companies should seek expert help in setting up and maintaining cap tables, even if through fractional CFOs or specialized attorneys. Organizing all equity-related documents digitally, using reliable software, and conducting regular audits can save time, money, and stress in the long run.

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We recently had an opportunity to gather with finance leaders based in Utah, all the way from public company CFOs to finance leaders of fast growing Series A-stage startups. It was a great discussion with a great group. A couple things stood out for me from the discussion: 🤖 A handful of these leaders mentioned that they are starting to see some tangible productivity gains from the AI in their organizations, mainly around developer productivity and getting more done with less. It still felt early, but interesting to hear anecdotes of the promise of AI being realized. ✂️ On behalf of our portfolio companies, we asked what it takes takes to sell software into their organizations given the current economic environment. Their feedback confirmed a lot of what we were hearing from our B2B portfolio companies: ▪️They are looking to consolidate vendors, it's very unlikely (if not impossible) they would approve a net new vendor unless it is replacing another tool/service they can cut from the budget ▪️ROI is extremely important. They are looking for tangible evidence that the tool will drive revenue and/or reduce costs. ▪️The mentality of "everyone gets a seat" is over. They are looking for justification for why certain teams and individuals should get a license. ▪️ They are approving every purchase. Just assume the CFO is a part of the buying committee even if it isn't obvious. Bring the CFO in early to the buying process and arm the internal champion with the ROI case along the way. Really grateful for this group for gathering and sharing their insights!

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Reality Engagement —— I started PHX Ventures because I want to help founders in Arizona build high-growth software companies that achieve venture scale. I can handle the good, bad, and ugly of company building. I’ve lived it. I can handle losing money. I don’t like it, but I can handle it. I can handle bad news and disappointment. Company building is a roller coaster. I can handle a changing market and new competitors. Market opportunity and market dynamism go hand in hand. I can handle co-founder breakups and key team member departures. It’s not great but it’s fairly normal. I can handle bad quarters and product problems. Stuff happens in startups. What I can’t handle is a lack of engagement with reality. Willful ignorance or disregard for data won’t make your business better. If the math of your business is telling you something is broken then it means something is broken. Let’s just fix it. And let’s fix it right now. Let's at least try. I love optimism. But I love realism even more. Broken things tend not to fix themselves. In my experience, the best founders have the highest engagement with reality. Just tell me what about your current reality is giving you angst. Tell me the problems in the business. Just tell me. Don’t sell me. Tell me. I can handle it. And maybe I can help. #founders #startups #b2b #saas

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The most common thing I'm hearing from companies right now is low 'early stage' deal conversion. TOFU stagnation. If you are speaking to companies within your ICP and struggling to translate demand into pipeline, there's one thing I'm seeing more than anything else that is the root cause of why. You're finding pain.... but you're not building on it. Certainly not quantifying it. It's not enough to just find it. It'll end up with no action.

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First-Time Founders | Understanding Your Fundraising Journey we discuss why first-time founders should avoid comparing their fundraising experiences to those of veteran founders. We highlight the importance of credibility and track record in attracting investors.

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