Fede Behrens

This comes up in 85% of my conversations with founders and CEOs. Planning ahead and delegating to department heads is key. At Fuel, we do this, and our forecasts are 90% accurate. If you want to chat about how to improve your planning and reduce deviations, DM me.

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Ever wonder what Stripe's early journey from $0 to $100M in 7 years looked like? Here's my uncomplicated breakdown. 2010 -2011: We're Starting Something • brothers John and Patrick Collison, probably over a pint, decided that setting up online payments for their first startup was a nightmare, and they wanted to fix it. So they whipped up a few lines of code to fix it, like it was no big deal. • They slide into Y Combinator's DMs and secured just enough seed money to pay for food while they continued building their software. 2012-2013: We're Onto Something • In 2011, they convince some serious investors like Peter Thiel, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and others to fork over $2M. Safe to say they were pretty good at talking up their idea, which many were skeptical about at first. • Developers learned about and loved Stripe. Staying true to their engineering roots, clear documentation and easy integration made Stripe the hero developers didn't know they needed. • By 2013, they hit their stride. Stripe wasn't just a cool idea, it was a must-have for businesses who accepted transactions online. 2014-2015: We're Growing Up • Stripe started partnering with big names like Lyft and Shopify. It's like being invited to sit at the cool kids table. • They launched Stripe Connect, adding more bells and whistles to keep customers happy and cash flowing in. 2016-2017: Big Money • Stripe expanded internationally. Turns out, other countries like easy payments too. • They brought in specialists and built a proper sales team. No more winging it for the Collisons. • Hackathons, meetups, and developer love kept the buzz going, because let's face it, nerd love is strong. • By the end of 2017, Stripe had reached their first $100M in annual revenue. Not bad for a couple of guys who just wanted to make payments suck less. Want to try this at home, here was Stripe's blueprint for getting from $0 to $100M within 7 years: 1. Solve a real problem: Find something everyone hates dealing with and fix it. Instant market. Businesses were crying out for a solution, and Stripe answered with simple, elegant lines of code that made integrating payment processing as easy as pie. 2. Developer Love: Make developers happy, and they’ll be your best marketing team. Stripe knew their audience well and catered to them with clear documentation, easy integration, and robust support. 3. Get Funded: Convince people with a lot of money that you're onto something big. Only if you're onto something big. (You don't get to determine that, only the market does) 4. Keep Innovating: Listen to your customers, especially those early adopters who took a chance on you. Stripe continuously added new features and refined their product based on feedback, ensuring they stayed ahead of the curve. 5. Go Global: There's a big world out there. Don't limit yourself to just one market. Did I miss anything?

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5 things I 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 someone told me before starting my VC-backed tech business 10 years ago: 1) 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 ≠ 𝐀𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: I was certainly a naive 24yr old blinded by the bright lights of the Techcrunch press release 😅 → Whilst there is 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 validation in raising investment, remember, it’s just fuel for the journey. Your business will be under immense pressure to deliver huge growth, fast.. or die. 2) 𝐍𝐨𝐧-𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞: Starting a tech company, without being technical, came with imposter syndrome & insecurity. → Soft skills aren’t “soft” at all. A great Founder gets 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 on their side. Deeply understanding customers wants, selling, negotiating, motivating, leading, and empathising are just some of the people skills you need to build a great business. 3) 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐬: This lesson was the most brutal, learnt the hard way after months launching products that no one wanted buy. → It doesn’t matter what you think people want. The only way to learn is to launch before you’re ready, get the feedback as soon as you can, and keep iterating until you get there. 𝑻𝑯𝑹𝑬𝑬 𝑩𝑹𝑼𝑻𝑨𝑳 𝑩𝑶𝑵𝑼𝑺 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔: (i) You may never be able to iterate your way there - know when to quit. (ii) Your market might be too small - early adopters might give early validation, but the mass market won’t want it. (iii) Your market may only exist temporarily due to factors out your hands - Covid PPE was an extreme example. 4) 𝐍𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 “𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞” 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞: Before I started, having a huge team seemed like a signal of success. People I meet still ask me ”so, how many staff have you got?” as a way to judge business success. But this is a vanity metric. Both times we hit 50 staff, our ‘people’ challenges shot up. → Now, we keep the team as small as possible. Team growth is purposeful and sustainable (we tripled headcount in 3 months, never again). 5) 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐆𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡: From the outside, it can look like an exhilarating ride with almost guaranteed success. → In reality, >70% of startups fail in the first 5yrs. It’s not for the faint of heart. I’ve had huge struggles with mental and physical health along the way. My resilience was hard-won through some very dark times. Of course, some businesses and founders have a smooth journey to the top - but it’s incredibly rare, and even the biggest names in the game have seen their fair share of adversity. Any top lessons I’m missing here? ______ 👋 I’m Tushar, CEO of Hubble - the UK’s largest online marketplace for flexible workspace. ➕ Follow me for tips on getting the best out of hybrid working & business building. 💌 Drop me a DM if you need full-time offices on flexible contracts, part-time offices for 1-3 days a week, day offices, meeting rooms or coworking spaces.

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Medial has crossed 50,000 registered users (on our app) in less than 3 months of launch. We had most of our focus driven on the engineering part of our platform but despite that the word of mouth we have helped us scale so much. It's time that we begin to focus on organic marketing channels and growth too. On our path to 100k users now! Thank you to all the users who make the platform an information hub, help out other peers in times of doubts and needs. As of today- 50k users, 100k+ posts and replies, 13+ creators on Medial have crossed 200+ followers, 20+ have 100+ followers, 25,000 messages have been exchanged in under 2 weeks of DM's launch. The numbers are overwhelming and I'm happy that our infra has been super stable without any major failure or crash yet. The dream of creating a global social media network from India is slowly and steadily moving towards becoming a reality. 🙏 🚀 #medial #medialapp #consumerinternet #fromindiatotheworld

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How should startups & scale-ups approach customer discovery? Here's a framework I put together to help. I'm a strong believer that this is one of the most important things for early stage ventures to get right. They have to balance the need to deeply understand customers with the urgency of rapid execution to maximise their runway. Pragmatism is key. 👉 Over-investing in discovery can result in prolonged product-development cycles causing startups to potentially miss first-mover advantages, fall behind competitors or run out of cash. 👉 Conversely, insufficient discovery might lead to launching products that lack market fit, causing brand damage, commercial setbacks, and potential churn of any early customers. Striking a balance is one of the key ingredients for startups to bring great products to market efficiently, maximising their chances for success. Are you a founder or leader at a startup? If so, this framework poses three simple questions to guide how you might find the right balance... #startups #discovery #research #researchOps #design #designleadership

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Following up on my last post about securing buy-in for your product vision, let’s talk about one of the top examples out there: Airbnb’s Instant booking vision crafted by Lenny Rachitsky. Lenny masterfully led his team to work backwards, They defined an ambitious and clear product vision that has significantly contributed to Airbnb's success. Want to know how he did it? Swipe through the carousel ▶️▶️▶️ I'm curious what's your biggest takeaway from this story? How do you craft and lead your team to achieve your product vision? #technology #startups #ProductManagement #ProductManager #product

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SPEEDRUN apps close in 4 days. I've been getting quite a few questions on how to prepare for the interview / pitch, so here's a quick teaser on what VCs care about and what might be some good answers to their questions. The pitch is an interview. You're selling both the team and the company. You want to highlight the most impressive strengths of each, be it metrics, background, product, etc. So in general make sure you hit on those points. But there's a few common areas that you'll need to cover: Product - What are you building and why? Why do customers want this? What pain points does it solve? What delight does it bring? Good answers will have a sophisticated thesis on why this product needs to exist, why it's a 10x better solution than the competitive set, and have a good demo (or at least mockups!) to walk through where they can speak eloquently about their design choices. Market - Why will this be a big business? What's the initial wedge market and how does it expand from there? How will you stave off competition? Good answers will understand the market dynamics (pricing, competitive set, growth levers, etc.) and have a clearly articulated vision for how they'll win. They'll have good definitions of each layer of the market that they want to win too (all games writ large might be too big, but singleplayer cozy 2d pixel art farming sim market might be too small) GTM - How will you reach your initial customer set? What channels will you go through? What does the sales conversion cycle look like? What are the dynamics for average willingness to pay and LTV/CAC? Good answers will know all the standard methods (tops down vs. bottoms up, influencer marketing, CPIs for Unity vs. Facebook and T1 vs T2 countries) but also have creative ideas for how this will go viral and scale, how to increase k-factor, how to get more WoM growth. Team - Why are you the best team to tackle this idea? What unique things about your experience set you up for success? Do you have the intrinsics? We're looking for people with high IQ / EQ, high drive / willpower, and have a strong skillset suited to their product (e.g., engineering for highly technical markets, sales for competitive B2B markets). A lot of the best founders are able to manifest both capital (fundraise) and people (hire amazing people). Metrics (if applicable) - Many applicants are very early, but if you have data we care about: Revenue: Growth rate, ACVs, net/gross revenue, net dollar retention Users: Growth rate, daily/weekly/monthly retention, average session time, user engagement (how much are people doing the core action) UA/monetization: CPI, LTV, ROAS, CAC, % organic vs. paid, % conversion Hope this is helpful! Good luck to all the founders out there and looking forward to meeting many of you

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⏰ Application Deadline for Iterative Summer 2024 is 24 June 2024. The application deadline for our next batch is on Monday, 24 June 2024. That's roughly 3 weeks away. We've already accepted and invested in companies for the upcoming batch. It's shaping up to be one of the best ones yet. Why You Should Apply 🧑‍🏫 Work with Successful Founders – All of the partners you work with during the batch have been successful founders before. In the past, companies have worked 1:1, on a weekly basis, with founders like Tessa Wijaya (Co-Founder of Xendit), Guillaume Luccisano (Co-Founder of Triplebyte, Socialcam) and Chinmay Chauhan (Co-Founder of BukuWarung) 🛠️ Work with You on Your Startup – Our program is designed to work with you on your specific startup. We guide you through the process of figuring out how to grow faster by identifying problems, suggesting solutions and helping you interpret the results. 👯 Join a Community – An underrated advantage to starting a successful startup is being part of a community of successful startups. To date, Iterative companies have gone on to raise $121M and are collectively worth over $1B. How to Apply 📝 Submit an Application – Apply to Iterative by filling out an application at https://iterative.vc/apply. We typically review all applications within 7 days, most of the time within 1 or 2 days. 📞 1st Call with Venture Partner – If we think what you're working on is interesting, you'll be invited to a 30 minute call with someone on our team or with an Iterative Founder. ☎️ 2nd Call with Brian Ma or Hsu Ken – If the venture partner thinks what you're working on is interesting, you'll be invited to a 30 minute call with either Brian or Hsu Ken (me!). We typically make investment decisions within a week of the 2nd call. If we want to invest, we will make you an offer. If you accept, we will transfer the full investment amount (up to $500K) immediately. We don't wait for the program to start, we don't invest in tranches and there's absolutely no fees. You will never pay us.

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“We’re expanding to the US.” Daphne quickly runs and hide. DTC brands quickly think they’ve hit the ceiling in the UK. Growth has slowed down, let’s go to the US! But expanding to the US isn’t an easy, silver bullet to growth. Your same strategies won’t work there, particularly as a European brand. So much can be different: - The audiences - The channels that your target audience - The social proof that resonates with that audience - The price point At Heights, the UK audience loved Stephen Fry, in the US they wondered why this random guy was on the page. Here are some tips to consider: - Make sure you have a dedicated team there on the ground - while you can usually leave back office functions like IT and HR at home, you’ll need separate US-focused marketing and growth people to adjust the product and its messaging to the US. - Go either early or late - a useful tip from SeedLegals - but not in between, as scaling for both markets at once is tough. If you go early, you’ll have time to optimise for the US market. If you go late, you’ll be pulled by growing customer traction as your product becomes more well known, having already scaled at home first. - Have a dedicated team to conduct competitor research to help you determine your pricing. Remember, your product might be more or less valuable in this new market, and be sure to adjust for generally higher salaries in the US. - For growth leads, make sure to evaluate whether you have product-market fit in the US (or whatever the new location is). Chances are that your same messaging won’t work there #USexpansion #startupgrowth #DTCstartups #scalingstartups #startupexpansion

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Can't disagree with Andy Nicol's sentiment. For tech startups, concept validation is important. But you need to know how much validation is needed. Then move on to turning the idea into a product that could be consumed by thousands of customers. We can help you with the knowledge you need through https://lnkd.in/eKeefU7. Then you can assemble a concept validation team using https://skilledup.life - we have 44,500+ who could help you free once subscribed. But over everything else, you need to have a strong gut feeling about the problem you are trying to solve. The solution can keep changing, especially if the first solution does not actually solve the problem in the way the customers want. Gut + validation = higher level of success No formulae guarantees success. Copying someone else's success most likely won't work for you. You have to find your own way. Listen to others but act on what you think is right for you. Fail, get up and try again. PS: But if you have a day job, please stick with it. Very few people succeed in building a tech company and have manage to achieve a decent Exit. All the best. #techstartups #customers #conceptvalidation #skilleduplife #techcelerate

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I speak with a lot of founders. Some successful, some not. The mot successful ones all have something in common. They're doing sales. Even if it's just the first few deals, first $20k MRR, first $500k ARR. Even if they're scared of it. Or feel like they suck at it. They're out there selling. Prospecting. Running cycles. What do I see in common for the ones that aren't doing well? Take a guess.... They're avoiding sales. They're trying to outsource it. They're trying to automate it. They're trying to find shortcuts. They're making excuses as to why they "can't" do sales.

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A really common trap with early (B2B) teams I see is them getting super excited about a large number of paying customers - even though they're not paying them very much. But feeling great about a large number of low-value customers doesn't necessarily translate into a sustainable business model if the cost to serve them exceeds the revenue they generate. I know it feels super obvious to say it but this is why it’s vital to match the price point to the appropriate distribution channel, focusing on the actual price rather than aspirational pricing. Otherwise you have the financial strain of underpricing and over-servicing, which is particularly crushing for startups that need to manage their burn rate carefully. So what does this mean tactically? From experience and conversations with others: 1. High-Value Subscriptions (Over $50,000): Use Direct Sales Teams This channel is best suited for high-touch, complex sales cycles where personalized interactions can significantly impact the buyer's decision. The investment in a direct sales force is justified by the high revenue potential and the need for detailed product demonstrations, customized solutions, and negotiation flexibility. 2. Mid-Range Subscriptions ($10,000 to $50,000): Leverage Inside Sales or Partner Channels (Resellers/Distributors) These channels can efficiently handle moderately priced offerings without the intensive resource allocation required by direct sales. It balances cost and customer acquisition efficiency, allowing for broader reach and scalability without the overhead of field sales. 3. Low-Value Subscriptions (Under $10,000): Automated Self-Service Platforms This reduces the cost per acquisition dramatically and cater to customers expecting quick transaction times. Minimizing human intervention cuts costs and aligns with customer expectations for fast, seamless purchasing and onboarding experiences at lower price points.

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If you feel embarrassed when your product is lumped into a certain product category… …it might be a sign you are truly 10x better. Of the 200+ founders we’ve worked with, at least 50% didn’t want to adopt the category name that most people put them in. “We are soooo much more than an analytics platform.” “We are soooo much more than a scheduling tool.” “We are sooo much more than a messaging app.” I’d then ask why they felt that way, and they’d go on to describe tons of deficiencies with that category and how they are a massive improvement. But this is what it feels like to be 10x better. It feels beneath you to use the category name. If this is you, then you have two options: 1) embrace the category and use the reference point to your advantage 2) use a new category (that nobody knows) and remove all points of reference So many startups go for the second strategy without realizing how much it will hurt them in the long term. Lots of the smartest companies however embrace it — and truly own the 10x advantage. → Apple called the iPhone a smart phone (there were already smart phones in wide use for years) → OpenAI’s ChatGPT is a chatbot (ask ChatGPT what product category you should use to explain what it is to a non technical person, and it’ll say “chatbot”) → Linear is issue tracking software (An extremely mature category of software) → Salesforce is a CRM (a category that long predated their inception) Calling ChatGPT a “chatbot” probably feels very demeaning to its creators. But that simple reference point made it possible for millions of people to easily explain it to others and pass it along via word-of-mouth. Obviously, there are times when there really is no category that you can live in — and you must work to invent something new. But don’t be confused: amazing innovation doesn’t always involve creating brand new categories. It also happens WITHIN categories.

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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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What is the hardest part about fundraising? Getting VC meetings? No, it's not what you might think... Here's the real deal: Fundraising is an emotional rollercoaster that usually ends up beating down your confidence completely... For all founders out there, venturing out on your first fundraise, here is what you'll be going through: The Calm Before the Storm: You're getting VC attention, feeling optimistic. But cool your jets! This isn't the time for daydreaming about that sweet VC cash. Keep on meeting more VCs, don't trust based on early interest. The Pitch Marathon: You're on fire, selling your dream! But then... The First "No": Ouch! That initial rejection stings. The Heartbreaker: Your favorite VC rejects you. The one that gave you the confidence to start fundraising from the start. Is this the end? The Final Stretch: You're beaten down and exhausted when that term sheet finally lands. Maybe from a VC you didn't even know before. Don't cave now! This is when you need to dig deep and find that initial founder confidence again to negotiate. Every founder goes through this wild ride. The key? Don't let it break you. Stay true to your vision, and know that if you follow the playbook you will get there. So, buckle up, embrace the madness, and get ready for one hell of a story to tell when you make it to the other side. What's been your craziest moment on this fundraising rollercoaster? Let's swap war stories in the comments! 🎭🚀

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Interesting report from Kitt 'Thrive not Survive'. 👩‍💼 91% of Kitt’s clients have a declared hybrid work policy 👨‍💼 78% have fixed, required in-office days 🤼 30% have team-specific policies "This means most companies once again require space for their whole team rather than a smaller space optimised for hot desking as they did at the height of remote and hybrid work environments post-COVID-19." #hybridwork #flexiblework #office #officelondon #workspace

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We're about to hit 300,000 YouTube subscribers, but we're winding down our efforts on the platform. Here's why 👇👇 A few weeks ago I did an analysis of our Love and London YouTube channel to see if it's worth continuing to publish 2x-ish long form videos a month. My conclusions were that: it's not. Why? 🔵 We have over 500 videos on the channel now (including shorts) and the back catalog is bringing us the majority of views. 🔵 New videos are costing on average £3.1k each with pre-production, presenter, videographer and editor. Not cheap. 🔵 AdSense definitely doesn't cover cost, and because brand sponsors rarely care about evergreen content (our bread and butter) and just want that initial 30-day "pop" to consider a partnership a success, we struggle to get brands to agree to rates that make sense for us. 🔵 We've done a TON of topics over the years, and we're kinda having to just re-do previous videos as those are what people watch the most. Not the most exciting for us... 🔵 We're struggling with resource, especially as we launch the Love and Paris channel in July and we need our editors on that. 🔵 Crucially... we make similar money on short-form brand partnerships at a quarter of the production cost. So instead, we'll publish 12-15 keystone videos a year, focusing on quality, reach and email list sign ups and see how that goes. I'll keep you updated! 😅😅 #CreatorEconomy #Youtuber #YouTubeMarketing #InfluencerMarketing

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Google’s product growth strategy appears to be flawed: 1. Incessant YT premium sign up ads on YouTube 2. Google Workspace sign up flow doesn’t offer any change in the plan at the checkout. 3. No engagement messages on Waymo service 4. Maps almost doesn’t have any competition and yet I have billboard ads. Engineering driven org needs few business thinker also.

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Ok enough of the posts about the problems with VC backed companies. We’ve all heard the same 3-4 talking points regurgitated a million times now There are some major benefits to working at a VC backed company - here are 4 of the biggest in my view 1: Genuine career growth. Startups get a hard time for not promoting SDRs into AE roles after a year. Maybe that’s valid. Maybe it isn’t. But then you see people at F100 companies who’ve been in SDR seats for 3-4 years. There’s a point in a companies growth where internal mobility becomes really really hard. You can accelerate your career by 3-4 years (and often more), by working at a smaller company. And you can climb that career ladder before the positions start to set in stone. 2: Smaller contributions mean a lot more. Last week Facebook announced they are shutting down their Workplace platform. Estimates had the tool at 7 million users and more than $100m in ARR For 99.99% of companies, this would be enormous But thats small fry for Facebook Or take any product Google have made. They release it, and you mind as well set a calendar invite for them to discontinue it in the next 3 years or so. 3: Company growth This ties into #1. The entire point of taking venture capital is the idea of turning $1 into $10. Here’s a thought experiment. Two companies. Both at $2m in annual revenue. Both at 30% profit margins when it’s all said and done. Which one growths faster - the one where the owner takes out $300k for themselves, and reinvests the other $300k Or the one that raised $10m? I know we’re all supposed to be excited about “boring” businesses. And yeah, it’s great if you’re the business owner to hold 100% of your equity But from an employees standpoint, most businesses don’t really grow. They don’t have the capital on hand to make those moves. 4: Equity There is a fair amount written about the downsides of equity in the current startup market - and rightfully so. A lot of startups have worthless equity. But as an employee, equity in a small business that isn’t venture funded is a pipe dream at best. Because these businesses don’t have any real exit trajectory. There’s no pricing mechanism. Should you join a VC backed startup? I dunno. I'm not you. But if we're going to look at the downsides, we should look at the upsides as well

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