Ben Zises’ Post

⚠️ Founders, if your investor updates merely revolve around recapping wins and challenges, you are only getting half the value for your effort. 🌟 Founders who successfully leverage their regular investor updates as a catalyst for propelling their startup's growth, consistently do these additional 3 things 👇 🎯 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭: Investor updates aren't mere retrospectives, they are a great inflection point to assess what’s next. Experienced founders use them as checkpoint to evaluate, strategize or course-correct, as the need be. 🙋 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐬𝐤: Make a clear ask from your investor network; whether its introductions, help closing a sale, referencing a key hire or simply sound-boarding a strategy. Experienced founders don't hesitate to tap into their investor community for help and support. 📣 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬: The benefits of sharing your goals isn't just a myth. In fact, research shows that vocalising goals increases the probability of achieving them because by articulating and sharing these goals, you are igniting momentum and establishing accountability. What are they key topics that you always touch on in your investor communication? Share your insights and experiences below. #founderstories #investorrelations

Love this quote buried in Auren Hoffman 📚's recent monthly email: "If you cannot understand the founder, it does not mean it is because the founder is smarter than you. It means the founder cannot sell." Too often, very smart technical founders think super complicated is valuable. It isn't. Simple sells better. If you really understand your business--not the technology!! they are different things--then you can explain it to a 5 year old. https://lnkd.in/gcNJWYMz

Founders usually obsess over their idea because they know what it could become. BUT VCs see all the ways it could fail and most likely they've seen a similar company before. You have to show that the end vision in your end is already on it's way. That's what Product Market Fit is. It shows investors that your Big Hairy Audacious Goal isn't a pipedream anymore, it's a real potential. Stop focusing on the abstract, start focusing on the tangible. Vision is nothing without action.

Client: But I'm not sure if it will work Me: I'll tell you how we can find out Client: How??? Try it earnestly, fully, all-in for 90 Days It's the length of a business quarter of an earth season shorter than a lifetime long enough to find out -- #ReleaseAndRise #CEOWisdom CROSS THE GAP from founder executive -- I'm sharing 9 concepts that have helped 500+ founders shift themselves and their businesses into new growth Which one is going to move you? FOLLOW or Connect to catch them all

Here are the three biggest mistakes I see founders make that can kill the company: 1. Founders hire B players because they think they are all they can afford. Huge mistake. Especially in the early days, you want to go get the “ungettable” talent. Convince them they should leave $500k/year (or whatever they are making) to build something new. Showcase the value of their equity and sell them on your vision. Great companies are built by ungettable talent. It’s your job to go get it. 2. Burning too much cash before reaching product market fit. You want to keep burn as low as possible in this phase. Monthly burn differs depending on sector (deep tech is different than consumer software, for example), but generally speaking a monthly burn below $100k/ month is desirable in a pre-PMF company. 3. Mistaking fundraising traction for business traction. Fundraising doesn't make you successful, meeting business milestones does. If you are unable to hit profitability on the round of capital you have raised, you do need to align your business milestones with what next round investors will want to see. But! Being in a “operating for the next cash infusion” mindset is dangerous. Ideally you want to get your operations aligned such that you are always raising from a position of strength, when you WANT cash versus when you NEED cash. It’s tough to flip that switch if you’re focused on fundraising as your feedback mechanism of success. Get in the mode of celebrating closed customers, shipping product, closing big hires, and revenue milestones NOT new rounds of funding.