Branca Ballot

These are really great tips and simple frameworks that I wish I knew when I held a platform role in VC.

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🚀 Excited to share Insight Partners' latest resource: the SaaS Marketing Periodic Table! 🌟 This tool is a game-changer for SaaS leaders, offering key marketing metrics to drive growth. Why does it matter? 📊 With data only Insight Partners has from one of the largest B2B SaaS portfolios, this periodic table helps you benchmark your performance and refine your strategy for sustainable growth. 🌱 Whether it's marketing budget, program efficiency, or conversion rates, you'll find actionable insights tailored to your ARR segment. 👉 Dive in now and supercharge your marketing efforts! Explore the Periodic Table https://lnkd.in/eagE3XFm #SaaS #Marketing #Growth #DataDriven #InsightPartners #ScaleUp

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This part of my conversation with Joao Barbosa, co-founder at the world’s leading wellness platform Gympass (now Wellhub) valued at $2.4 is a testament to the fact that nothing big actually started big 👇 It took Gympass 5 pivots and 2 near death experiences to find the business model that works and is scalable across the globe What I found really interesting is the framework that the team had around pivots - the tripod approach towards creating value. This approach could benefit many founders especially in marketplace kinda businesses Head over to our channels on Spotify, Apple and YouTube to watch / listen to the full conversation link in comment 🔗 The J Curve #thejcurvepodcast #podcastrecommendation #gympass #pivot #entrepreneurship #founder #venturecapital

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On my way to London to work with a portfolio company at their QBR and annual planning process. Another example where having investors on your cap table that understand how to build companies vs just show up and pontificate at your board meetings will help you to build world class outcomes. Remember why we do this - build world class organizations that drive meaningful economic outcomes for employees, customers, shareholders, and investors. Lead from the Front!!! #vc #growth #venturecapital

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🔑 The Power of a Written Exercise in Interviewing Revenue Leaders 📝 Hiring the right revenue leader can make or break an organization. As we search for smart folks to drive our revenue growth at Vanta, one approach has consistently proven to be a game-changer: the written exercise. 🔍 Why a Written Exercise? Clarity of Thought: A well designed exercise reveals a candidate's ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and concisely. This skill is vital for revenue leaders who must communicate strategies across diverse teams and stakeholders. Strategic Insight: Through real-world scenarios, candidates demonstrate their strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities. This helps us gauge their approach to challenges and opportunities unique to our business. Analytical Prowess: Written exercises allow candidates to showcase their analytical skills. By dissecting data and presenting actionable insights, we can see how they drive decisions that lead to growth. Cultural Fit: How a candidate approaches a written task can also give us a glimpse into their work ethic, attention to detail, and alignment with our company values and culture. Elliot Goldwater has really nailed this practice, and it's incredible how much the exercise can swing a process towards or away from a candidate. 👥 Have you implemented written exercises in your hiring process? What has been your experience? #RevenueGrowth #Leadership #HiringTrends #Interviewing #TalentAcquisition #Strategy

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EmergeOne CFOs have to be ready to handle anything, and sometimes, laughter is the best way to deal with the feels. Like if you're a fractional CFO and ever had any of these happen to you... 1. When your CEO asks for the monthly burn rate... just in case it changed in the last 24 hours 🤦‍♂️ 2. When the auditors ask for "just one more document" 🙄📁 3. When the board asks about our "path to profitability" 🤑💰 4. When the FP&A team asks for the 10th iteration of the budget 🤯📊 5. When the founder asks you to "just make the numbers work" 🙃💼 6. When an investor in your preseed startup asks if you've finally got to that sweet, sweet revenue 💰💸 7. When the team realises the financial forecast was just a "best guess" 🤔🔮 8. When you have to explain revenue recognition to the marketing team 📈🤷‍♀️ 9. When your cash flow statement looks like a rollercoaster ride 🎢💸 10. When you find out the new hire is a former accountant 🧮☠️ Seriously, if you're in need of a friendly neighbourhood CFO, call me, I don't bite🤙🏾

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I recently sat down with a group of Forum Ventures founders about to go out to fundraise and the topic of SAFE rounds came up. The context focused on the pros/cons of raising a priced vs a SAFE round and the conversation notably shifted toward the dilution implications of a SAFE round. Founders are keenly aware of the top line dilution of any funding round - ie selling 20% of their startup for $3M at a $15M cap - but very few fully grasp the implications of doing a SAFE round vs a priced round. The universal standard for institutional VC investors is a post money SAFE. This document essentially outlines ownership that an investor will have in a startup just prior to the execution of a priced round. Most importantly though, it is structured so that an investor in that SAFE will not be diluted by subsequent SAFE's that are issued. This is where founder education around the implications of this structure are not fully appreciated. In a situation where a founder continues to stack subsequent SAFEs, they don't actually convert until the first priced round and the net dilution they are taking is actually more than they realize. Here is a practical example - take a situation where a founder has already sold 15% of their business on a post money SAFE in a pre-seed round, and is now choosing to sell another 20% in a seed round. If the founder opts to raise this money on SAFEs, the dilution of that additional 20% will come entirely from common equity holders- meaning they will now own 65%. If SAFE holders were also diluted by that round, as they would be in a priced round, the founder would own 68%. This dynamic becomes more dramatic the more capital a founder raises on SAFEs. Note - this is a high level example and does not include an option pool carve out or other round nuances. Almost universally, when a founder raises their first priced round, there is some degree of sticker shock at the outright dilution on their cap table, particularly when options pools are factored in. This pain is even more acute when a founder has raised a fair amount of capital on SAFEs along the way. There are certainly benefits to raising SAFE round, mainly cash in hand 6-8 weeks faster and not having to decide on board seats too early, but I encourage all of our founders to run through cap table modeling and correctly account for the implications of SAFE rounds before they make fundraising decisions.

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What is cap table debt & how does it hurt startup founders? Cap tables need to reflect all current and potential shareholders (which includes investors who signed a SAFE or convertible note). Because of the complexity of vesting schedules, repurchase rights, options vs. shares, the variable nature of ownership calculations with convertible instruments, etc., the simple spreadsheets used by most founders are woefully inadequate. We dive deep into the topic of cap table debt and show why founders need to stop using spreadsheets to track your startup cap table in our webinar on "Best Practices with Founder Equity and Cap Tables". You can watch a replay of this webinar here: https://lnkd.in/giHWZkWS

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Next one up, Flagler Health! In an attempt to demystify some of the non-obvious elements we found when we first met the founders of our fastest growing portfolio companies at 186 Ventures, here is the third edition of the "idiosyncratic phenomenon". This highlight will be on Albert Katz, Leon Anijar, and Will Hu and their journey building Flagler Health to bring unprecedented AI enabled patient care to the world of musculoskeletal (MsK) providers. As the healthcare industry shifts to a value based care paradigm, there will be increased pressure on the entire industry to ensure patient outcomes improve, all the while helping providers generate more revenue / become more cost efficient. Since we co-led their March, 2024 seed round with Streamlined, the company has rolled out some of their newest remote therapeutic and chronic condition management features to many patients and providers alike, experiencing high revenue growth in such a short period of time. The company continues to face unmet customer demand as it continues to scale its expansion into 2025. https://lnkd.in/exesTcmC

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I remember as an operator I was struggling to understand why growth as venture-backed startup became an existential need. As a founder, I was always laser-focused on finding product market fit, retaining customers, and refining my understanding of the ideal customer profile. When we took on capital, there was at first a subtle shift to hitting ARR milestones and celebrating, but eventually ARR became the one and only goal. Now that I sit on the VC side, I reflect on this shift that I went through as a founder.

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🌟🚀 Cut through the Generative AI Noise with Modern Word of Mouth™! 🌐 New Realities for B2B SaaS GTM Teams 🌐 💬 "We're in a very noisy space," is something I hear every day. But how can we truly stand out? The answer lies in Modern Word of Mouth™ (mWOM)! ✨ What is mWOM? ✨ Imagine leveraging diverse stakeholders to shape your B2B brand narratives across scalable, authentic channels. That's mWOM! By using genAI to listen and analyze conversations, we can augment our messaging and amplify it to drive advocacy, presence, and buying decisions. 📈🤖 📊 Why does it matter? 📊 In the AG (after generative) world, traditional methods won't cut it. mWOM represents a sophisticated evolution, integrating genAI and automation to create a powerful marketing strategy that drives impactful advocacy and buying decisions. 💡💪 🔧 How to get started with mWOM? 🔧 Prioritize and audit relevant channels. Harvest insights using genAI. Augment messaging with these insights. Amplify your brand's narrative across mWOM channels. Check out our latest blog to dive deeper into mWOM and learn how your startup or ScaleUp can leverage this new approach. 📚👇 🌟 Read more: https://lnkd.in/eKCRhv8d #Marketing #B2BSaaS #GenAI #mWOM #AI #Tech #Innovation #InsightPartners #GTM #BusinessGrowth #BrandNarrative 🚀📈

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VC funding in healthcare has been more resilient than in other industries. Here are some key takeaways from recent Carta data: 👉 At the priced seed, Series A, and Series B stages, dilution for health startups has noticeably decreased, while dilution for SaaS startups has stayed flat or increased slightly. 👉 In priced seed rounds, median dilution for healthcare companies dipped to 14.2%, compared to 20% for SaaS.  👉 The frequency of bridge rounds surged in the health sector in Q1, jumping to 44.3% from 36.9% in Q4 2023. This is the first significant increase in bridge rounds in healthcare over SaaS since early 2022. 👉 More founder-friendly terms for health startups may result from enduring VC interest since COVID. Healthcare has remained strong through economic turmoil, enabling higher valuations with smaller round sizes. What are the implications? The healthcare sector might see a rise in new ventures due to favorable investment conditions and lower dilution rates. The surge in bridge rounds suggests that certain sectors within healthcare face unique challenges that require interim financing solutions. Founders and investors in the healthcare space- what are your thoughts on this? I’d love to hear from you. If you know a founder innovating in healthcare, tag them in the comments! The Artemis Fund is especially interested in groundbreaking care tech companies. You can check out Carta’s full blog linked in the comments. If you haven’t read our latest blog on care tech, you’ll find that there too. #healthcare #caretech #fundraising

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It’s that time of year for predictions, reflections, and benchmarking! "Two-thirds of founders report experiencing moderate to extreme stress, yet 92% remain optimistic about their company's future." read more here and in the original report

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A few spots left for this awesome workshop with Justin Gray of In Revenue Capital. Every successful founder I know learns to develop and maintain high performing relationships. This is a skill like anything else and can be developed. Founders, if you want to build a high-growth company, learn to build high-performing relationships. This workshop will help you do that. Hope you can join us.

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Tomorrow, I'll share another entry in Estuary, my newsletter about building GTM partnerships with VC and PE firms. The topic? How to approach the power dynamic between a startup and a VC when you've determined that a sales partnership is a good idea. Estuary has 8 subscribers and a 100% open rate. 😛 Sign up link in the comments!

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Incumbent software vendors are likely to embrace a transition to consumption pricing sooner rather than later, as they stand to more than offset any cannibalised seat revenues. Salesforce GA'd Agentforce last week, priced at $2 per conversation (which aligns with how customers perceive value in customer service , h/t Kustomer). Kyle Poyar did a great breakdown of the current state of consumption pricing for AI, affirming that both incumbents and startups are accelerating the transition. Several second order effects emerge around forecasting, billing, pricing and packaging, software metrics, and more. https://lnkd.in/eVMBiaVP

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Sharing some insights/trends we are seeing in the first half of 2024: - The majority of startups HQ’d in NYC & SF founded in the last two years are hiring most if not all of their employees in the office (at least 3 days a week) - Less than 5% of those are mandating 5 days a week in office. - Most top candidates are optimizing for hybrid with remote up to 3 days a week - Compensation across the board for early-stage startups has remained relatively flat since 2023 - For startups located outside of core major tech hubs, there is more openness and even preference for remote to tap into broader markets and compete for top talent The overview is that local talent and teams are making a comeback and salaries are not rising as drastically as they have in the past 5 years. Make sure to choose your next move based on fit, impact, passion, upside, growth, and not purely on comp. #startups #venture #VC #seed #Engineering #Hiring

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