Derek Schlicker

Do you know how many hyper-growth public software companies are growing by over 40% this year? According to the latest June Guggenheim report… Zero. Not a single public SaaS company is growing over 40%. Do you know how many are growing their next twelve months (NTM) revenue over 30%? Also, zero! With that context, I was strategizing with my team on the most impactful ways companies can change their growth trajectory, and one thing we landed on solving immediately was time to integrate. If a company growing at 30% can pull in all net new integrations and thus revenue by just 1 month over the course of the year, it can increase its growth rate by almost 5%. For simplicity, assuming a $100M annual revenue, a 10% discount rate, and a 5-year valuation period, using a DCF, the company’s present value would not be 5% more valuable, but closer to 20% more valuable for all shareholders. The power of compounded growth rates. Game changer, and with just the smallest adjustments. That’s why smart companies are investing heavily in new customer onboarding and no-code, low-code technologies, like lightweight agents, hosted or embedded UIs, and more. The Socure team is ahead of the curve—ask our people about what we’re building and how we can help you accelerate your revenue growth.

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Employee terminations: they're a topic no one wants to discuss but that every company has to navigate. Thankfully, Melanie Naranjo and wonderful Ethena advisor (& Gusto's former People Leader) Jess Yuen are tackling this tricky topic for the next Ethena webinar. Register if you want to learn more about these topics: How to pressure test whether or not termination is the right course of action Best practices for communicating termination decisions How to minimize risk and choose the best course of action when things get tricky Critical pitfalls to avoid

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Catch another episode of This Week in Startups where Upfront Managing Partner Mark Suster interviews Max Altman and Ben Braverman, two of the three co-founders of Saga Ventures. With Saga’s new $125 million fund, the trio talk about: ➡ Fundraising challenges the co-founders faced as a first-time fund and the playbook of how referrals can be the best leads for increasing the chances of success ➡ Nuances of determining a fund size to maintain competitive advantages in deal strategies ➡ Ben’s learnings from working with Ryan Peterson at Flexport as well as Max’s experience and unique advantages working with his brothers Jack and Sam Here's a short clip below about the attributes of successful founders that they look for, including those willing to take unconventional risks 👇

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What Should the First 30, 60, and 90 Days Look Like for a New CFO? This is the first post in a series discussing best practices for a CFO at various stages: startup, growth, and mid-size revenue. Recently, I was part of a conversation where this question was raised. It's a crucial topic worthy of discussion. While specific circumstances may vary, there are best practices that most can agree on and implement. The first 30 to 90 days for a new CFO should focus on rapid due diligence, triage (if necessary), and implementing strategies for value creation. Critical Priorities for the First 90 Days: 1. Familiarize Yourself with the Team: Understand team roles and their alignment with workloads. Are team members overburdened with tasks that others should handle? 2. Assess Strategic and Operational Goals: Review the current strategic and operational goals and their alignment with reporting. Does the reporting system justify itself and provide valuable feedback for decision-making? Are the right people receiving the necessary reports? 3. Identify Revenue and Cost Issues: Pinpoint areas that compromise revenue optimization and cost containment. Conduct a SWOT analysis to examine alignment with key performance indicators (KPIs). 4. Audit the Data Room: Ensure the data room is complete and accurate. If one doesn't exist, establish it immediately to base AI-driven strategic processes on thorough and accurate data. 5. Lead by Example: Address any festering issues. Roll up your sleeves, get hands-on, and resolve problems to eliminate distractions, allowing everyone to focus on value creation, Agile, and Lean execution. Future blog posts will explore each of these five priorities in more detail. I welcome comments and suggestions on additional actions or whether some of these should be reconsidered. - Bill Keep and Create Value!

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This is fascinating. My two portfolio companies on the fastest path to Series A have kept the leanest teams. Both of them are lingering around cash flow positive on a monthly basis. One is growing gangbusters, one is growing nicely. Good data below to show that these activities are being rewarded. We're still in cockroach times. Also fwiw, I'm constantly amazed by and learning from Peter Walker. If you're interested in the data of venture funding (AND IF YOU'RE A FOUNDER, YOU SHOULD BE), then follow Peter.

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Quick follow up to my last post on the evolution of software business models (please excuse the rough sketch!) Traditional SaaS models have many advantages - they're sticky (often 3+ year committed deals in the enterprise & legal contracts), consistent, and easy(ish) for finance teams to forecast. Usage-based models typically don't have the same advantages, but have been the growth engine of a lot of the best technology over the last decade - from developer tools (many of which started as open-source), to fintech (just start taking payments with Stripe or Square), and much more. Why? they're self-serve and the product drives the stickiness. They get the party started and can often scale perpetually. They also often graduate into traditional enterprise contracts too. As mentioned in my last post, however, we're barely scratching the surface on how to adapt to the coming wave of productivity improvements with AI. AI is making software more effective and employees more productive. Seat based pricing isn't set up to share in value creation, especially when companies can avoid having to hire new folks / can reduce headcount. One obvious place we see the potential for usage-based models to complement traditional SaaS is overage. But the bigger impact (and multiplier) over the coming decade will be AI - agent-agent interaction and the agent economy are going to move at exponentially higher speeds and scale than human-software. We see the future of software as a combo of all the above. Outcomes powered by flexible business models. But the only way to solve this is clean, accurate, and real-time data. #software #ai

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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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For those founders who think they need to go straight to an investment GP, think again. Great tips from Andrew who basically tells us which companies we should invest in and which we should not.

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Some midweek wisdom from Y Combinator founder, Paul Graham, on why startups shouldn't stress over competitors. According to Graham, based on Y Combinator's extensive data set, few of their startups are actually killed by competitors. He compares the protection a startup has against competitors to the vastness of space, emphasising that the market is large enough for multiple players to thrive. Graham's analogy likens encountering a competitor to suddenly finding another runner in your race lane - the best course of action? “It’s sort of like if you’re running the hundred meters and suddenly a lane appears with another runner in it. What should you do? Run as fast as you can, just like you presumably were.” #Startups #Competition #Entrepreneurship #wearehiring

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🎙️ Exciting insights from SaaS Academy's CEO Johnny Page on the Expertise Economy podcast! Johnny breaks down their two-step approach to helping SaaS founders: 1️⃣ The Discovery Call: Uncovering the founder's "why" and long-term vision 2️⃣ The Strategic Game Plan Session: Creating a 90-day action plan to achieve 12-month goals 🔑 Key focus: Identifying and solving business constraints Want to dive deeper on the secrets of building a successful SaaS business? Check out the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/dju-Be2u #SaaS #BusinessStrategy #SaasAcademy #ExpertiseEconomy #Podcast

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Go check out Sasha Orloff's Notion pages he created. More and more I think people are going to be utilizing Notion for some really interesting things. Some Examples of what I have used it to cook up recently: 💡 Book Club Invitee List (created a form for people to fill out that flooded into a database) 💡 Built a custom database of tasks for operations to complete. 💡 Create a project plan for internal comms rollout. 💡 Create a database of Tech Stack analysis. 💡 Template for Church Services for me to review my notes and record what I learned. It can be used for so many cool things. Thanks Sasha Orloff for showing the world what it can do in the Founder Space. What have you cooked up lately in Notion? #notion #accounting #operationsmanagement #projectmanagement #coo #ajtheaccountant

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🔥 Founders, don't make the mistake of pursuing VC funding if your startup isn't the right fit! 🔥 In this podcast clip, I sit down with David Forsberg, CFA from Ascent Energy Ventures to explore the truth about raising venture capital. 💸 As a startup founder, former VC, and advisor to companies that have raised over $1 billion, I know how crucial it is to target the right investors. 🎯 Check out the full podcast for more expert advice on navigating the world of venture capital. Link in the original Kruze Consulting post. 🎧 #startups #venturecapital

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I’m seeing an increasing number of founders (and friends) exit their startups this year. Most of them have never exited a business before, and unfortunately, roughly half of them are likely to end up in dispute post-close. The most common reason is a term that almost everyone has never heard of. Working Capital Adjustments (WCA) are part of the broader Purchase Price Adjustments (PPA) in a standard M&A agreement. They intend to adjust the purchase price based on the actual working capital at closing compared to a previously agreed-upon target. This prevents the seller from emptying the bank accounts and running off with inventory before the deal closes. This mechanism is disputed so widely because Working Capital is often defined as “GAAP, consistently applied” — and this is not specific enough. A dispute arises when the buyer and seller interpret items differently, such as accounts receivable. These may seem small, but the cost can be in the millions. Many lawyers suggest that the solution is to draft a detailed dispute resolution process, which ultimately leads to higher fees for the lawyers. We believe the better solution is transparency. Referencing a pre-agreed set of financial statements and calculations that are up to date in real time during the closing process can align buyers and sellers. Combining this with a defined list of Accounting Policies and using GAAP only as a fallback mechanism safeguards against dispute and ultimately protects the sale proceeds.

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Someone asked me how to move from SW to HW / robotics as a kickass builder excited to jump in. Love it! My response: robotics needs more great SW leaders who treat HW like a commodity, figure out a huge market need / GTM path, then pull in a team to unlock that.  With a SW mindset and SW architecture thinking. A lot of MechEs in love with their tech and the HW.  The HW is commodity - hard but commodity - and SW is where the interesting stuff is.  Simpler is better.  Most important is problem selection.  That is where you make / break the company and idea. And yes - there is HW innovation to be had - and I love folks doing that and doing it well. But there are far, far more opportunities for automation and problem solving with huge value creation now, with basically commodity OTS HW and SW. Choose problem, assemble solution, kick butt.

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Great analysis by the AGC team on SaaS public company comps. It's worth a look as we recalibrate mid-way through earnings season. The analysis aligns with the broader Nasdaq equity performance, where the Mag 7 (or fab 4 now :-)) have shown more resilience than the rest of the market. #AGC #SaaS #EarningsSeason #Nasdaq #EquityPerformance

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One awesome thing about our work at Groops is that the organizations who seek us out are the ones who care deeply about their people. Summer Friday is one of those companies. Culture is built into their core values and shapes everything they do. Every decision they make is grounded in how it impacts the human doing the work. I know because they have Groops for their entire company and I also lead their executive Groop. We have been with them for over a year now. We bring experts in organizational psychology to meet with their teams on a regular basis, teach core content in high cohesion / high performing teams, and help them have regular, honest conversations about what is working and what they want to improve. We provide ongoing insight reports with recommendations so everyone stays in communication. So, we end up knowing our partners well. They invited us to lead a full day (virtual) retreat last week where everyone took a personality assessment and we spent the day discussing how team makeup impacts their performance, how engaged they feel, and the direction of the organization. This is particularly important for them as they are a virtual company and clear communication and exploration and articulation of team functioning are mission critical. Having these types of conversations is also how cohesion is built. Bravo Summer Friday. We are proud to be your partner. Awesome work Rob Simone, Sarah Roberts, CPA, Michael Cruz, and Alicia Wiedemann. You are great leaders. And thanks Charlotte Bingaman MArch EdM , Sydney Davis, and Allison L. Barnes, MA, PCC. I am proud to have you on our team. #peoplematter #workplacewellness #peakperformance #IOPsychology #IOPsych #industrialorganizationalpsychology #cohesiveteams #connection

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Early stage founders run into this all the time: So much to do and not enough resources. The best advice: 1) pause; 2) think through the what, the why, and the how. That’s how you’ll achieve your goals. In our newest episode, Bryan Karas and guest Catherine Donaldson, startup and Go-To-Market leader, dive into the Go-To-Market landscape and the common challenges that early-stage founders face at different inflection points. Are you at an inflection point? Tune in and you’ll find out. Link in the comments.

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Yesterday, Underscore Partner Lily Lyman joined TechCrunch Early Stage to share tactical advice on how founders can effectively build relationships with the right investors. Importantly, she shares the nuance between the "nurture phase" and the "actively raising phase" of fundraising. Turns out fundraising has a lot of parallels to the 2000s romcom "He's Just Not That Into You" - So we were sure to have some fun drawing out the similarities! Explore the deck here by swiping right *pun intended*:

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#BuildingInPublic: VC funding & Growth - What I learned from Jason M. Lemkin, SaaStr July3rd webinar VC funding model is broken and Growth at all costs is back VC's still investing (have a tons of money), but they don't want to burn it on slow growth startups. ROI is ~1.01x So they are funding seed companies, and Seed valuations at all-time high 100x+ARR deals happening, but its AI, not B2B Growth is still king... VCs don't care about Profits Growth is moving from T3D2 to T2D2 ---- Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gaeNbeq5 Slides here: https://lnkd.in/gT96wD5H ---

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