Product strategy, Effective communication, Building a $18B company and more #0019

11/12/2023

STRATEGY

Adam Fishman, product and growth Advisor and investor, offers thoughts on the creation of effective company and product strategy, providing a structured framework for strategy development across various stages of business in ”Patreon Fmr VP of Product and Growth on Creating Product Strategies”

• Defining and Prioritizing Strategy:

  • "Strategy is your plan to win – it’s how you create value for customers and monetize that value consistently over time. Strategy sits at the intersection of intuition, customer knowledge, and market understanding."

• The Elements of Effective Strategy:

  • "Company and product strategies should be memorable, specific, and measurable. The most important part of strategy is explicitly laying out what you won’t do."

  • Actionable Point: Ensure that your strategy is clear, quantifiable, and easy to remember and communicate.

• Overcommunication of Strategy:

  • Fishman advises to continually communicate and reiterate the strategy to ensure alignment and understanding.

  • Quote: "Overcommunicate the strategy until everyone gets it, then communicate some more. Continually reiterate and explain the strategy in every conversation."

SALES

Jason M. Lemkin, SaaStr Founder and Investor, highlights the primary mistake made by new sales leaders in “Dear SaaStr: What’s the #1 Mistake New Sales Leaders Make?”

• ''[...] the top mistake first-time sales managers make is recruiting. In that — they can’t do it."

• "It is incredibly hard to figure out how to replicate the magic of the first 1 or 2 sales reps that work closely with the CEO. And add in a first-time sales manager who may have limited experience recruiting a team, and it gets risky."

• "Generally, I would pass on hiring a sales leader who has never recruited at least a few reps that hit quota." 

INTERVIEWS

Harry Stebbings, Founder at 20VC, interviews Sanjit Biswas, Co-Founder and CEO at Samsara and shares how be built a multi-billion-dollar company in “20VC: $18BN Market Cap and $1BN in ARR in 8 Years"

• Rehiring Yourself:

  • "I go through a process which I called rehiring myself. And it's a little bit like I actually write a job description of what do I think the job needs in the next year or the next couple of years, and I check like does my time and sort of how I'm doing things match what the company needs from me and the organization needs from me."

• Revenue as Impact and Problem-Solving Growth:

  • "Companies pay to have their problem solved, and so when we talk about things like revenue and revenue growth for me, it's actually impact and problem-solving growth."

• Balancing Scalability and Hands-On Approach:

  • Transitioning from a hands-on founder to a leader who can delegate and oversee scalable processes is crucial. "At some point, you need to stop because you're kind of getting in the way," implies the importance of evolving the founder's role as the company grows.

Lenny Rachitsky, Author of Lenny’s Newsletter and Lenny’s Podcast, interviews Kim Scott, Author of Radical Candor, to discuss the book's principles and provide practical advice on feedback and leadership in “Radical Candor: From theory to practice with author Kim Scott”

• Asking for Feedback in an Authentic Manner:

  • Insight: The effectiveness of feedback solicitation depends on how genuinely the question is asked. It's crucial to frame feedback requests in a way that sounds authentic to you.

  • Quote: "The question that I like to ask is what could I do or stop doing that would make it easier to work with me... It needs to sound authentic to you."

• Feedback Importance and Timeliness:

  • Insight: Immediate feedback is crucial for continuous improvement and should not be delayed.

  • Quote: "You want to do it [give feedback] immediately... if the purpose of praise is to tell people what to do more of... why wait?"

• Personal Development via Feedback:

  • Insight: Personal stories demonstrating the impact of feedback on one's own development can be powerful.

  • Quote: "[My boss] said... when you say um every third word, it makes you sound stupid... it was the kindest thing that she could have done for me."

FUNDRAISING

Haje Jan Kamps, Techcrunch writer and Pitch Coach, provides an overview of trends in early-stage fundraising, emphasizing the importance of efficient communication and the changing preferences of investors in “Fundraising trends for 2024: Get to the point, explain ‘why now’”

• Relevance of the 'Why Now' Narrative:

  • "One of the biggest shifts since 2022...is that startups are now focusing a lot more on the 'why now' part of their story...Investors are responding positively to pitch decks that compellingly address the company’s relevance in the current market."

• Trend Towards Concise Pitch Decks:

  • "It also appears that slide decks are getting shorter...The report shows that people are spending less than 2 minutes per deck, 27% less than a year earlier..."

• Use of AI in Analyzing Pitch Decks:

  • "And more VCs are starting to use AI tools to analyze decks, so we’re entering an era when you effectively need to do some SEO work on your deck for a bot before you send it."

• Geographic Shift in Startup Hotspots:

  • "All that said, there are some glimmers of good news for companies that aren’t based in a startup hub: There has been an increase in seed companies founded outside of California..."

• Gender Bias in Fundraising:

  • "Less good news is that there’s still a significant bias against all-female teams...seed-stage startups founded by all-female teams raised 27% less than those founded by all-male teams..."

• Strategy for Success in the Current Climate:

  • "Lead with your strengths. If you have a strong team, robust defendability, and the beginnings of traction, you’re in a good place to raise money. Make sure you pitch to the right investors and sharpen those talking points."

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