William Charnley, MBA

Great conversation with Joey Brodsky! Definitely one of the sharpest guys I know. I love his passion, drive and unique perspectives. I have followed his podcast for a long time and was super happy to be able to be a guest. I will share more insights from our time together but wanted to post a quick thank you to Joey and share the episode. #NextGenSales

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At Costanoa Ventures, we pride ourselves on identifying and supporting exceptional founders poised to create impactful, lasting change. Hona is a shining example, driven by a trio of extremely talented founders: Manny Griffiths, Joshua Christensen, and Matt McClellan. They each bring unique, differentiated expertise to the table, and Amy Cheetham and I are extremely excited to partner with them. There are approximately 450,000 law firms in the United States, with half of those firms being B2C - think personal injury, mass tort, or immigration law as opposed to BigLaw. One of the reasons we love how Hona is tackling this market is their focus on B2C law firms and product excellence - B2B firms are historically difficult to sell brand new software products into, but B2C firms are completely different buyers. Oftentimes there's just a handful of lawyers and paralegals in a partnership, and any piece of technology they can use to give them an edge would be valuable. 44% of negative Google reviews on law firms directly reference poor communication as the reason for a negative experience, and the number 1 reason for Attorney Bar complaints in the U.S. is "lack of communication". On the lawyer's side, attorneys, paralegals and legal assistants spend an average of 7.4 hours per week on unnecessary updates, redundant communication, and activities that aren't directly contributing towards getting a client's case solved. Manny and the team at Hona are working to change all of that. Hona delivers a tightly-integrated communications platform to help facilitate better communication between law firms and their clients. During legal proceedings, client communications tend to be a large resource-stressor for law firms. Clients will frequently call firms for case updates, legal explanations, or general administrative questions that tend to eat away at firm resources without providing any additional progress toward case resolution. Hona exists to ease that burden - it’s a platform that allows law firms to efficiently communicate with their clients over text, easily build customizable web pages and embed videos, and share information on case status and basic legal process education. This crucial communication processes allow attorneys to focus on their job – moving cases forward, while keeping their clients informed and educated. If you're a lawyer dealing with these problems - don't hesitate to reach out to us or the Hona team! It's a privilege to work with Hona on this journey. The company has been growing at a rapid pace, and they're delivering meaningful technology to help people get through legal proceedings in a much more fluid, transparent, and easy process. Manny, Joshua, and Matt are exceptional founders whose combined skills and dedication to continuous learning position them perfectly to lead Hona to success. They're just getting started, and we can't wait to see what they'll achieve.

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It turns out, the Long Island Sound IS water. For these and other insights, check out this post about our seed funding round. 😬 #startups #fundraising #newyork

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To win in the world of AI/ digital disruption, progressive startups are embracing structural change . #1. Right prioritise your planning model ( short vs long).The short game (i.e. short term planning and execution) is critically important until you get to $50 M ish, more important than the long game ( i.e. long term vision) #2. Right size-mix your organization model (i.e. hire special forces vs full time employees / build small teams vs large teams) #startup #scaling #winning #longtermvsshortterm #specialforces #growth

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'Customer expectations are increasing. The days of shelf-ware are full on gone.' Jon Dick is the Global SVP of Customer Success at HubSpot where he’s focused on helping millions of organizations grow. On this week's episode of The GTM Podcast by GTMnow, Jon and I cover a lot of ground. You'll get everything from customer success insight to MBA advice to the value of improv for leadership. We covered: -The rising importance of customer success in the age of AI and efficiency. -Balancing proactive and reactive strategies to serve 200,000+ customers. -The evolution of content marketing from "clicks to conversations". -Choosing people over product and finding passion in your work. -The power of generalists and the pitfalls of over-specialization in CS. -Go-to-market tactics that are working for HubSpot, from chatbots to intent data. etc etc. Have a listen wherever you 🎧 to your pods.

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Winning early GTM via founder led sales is an essential step in building a consequential start up. 🎯 But, while there are countless conferences focused on scaling GTM once you've hit a couple million in revenue, to date there hasn't been a conference focused on FOUNDER LED SALES and nailing the earliest days of GTM. 👀 😅 That ends now. 🙌 Pear VC has helped 100+ founders learn how to sell, how to build their 0-to-1 sales engine, how to get from $0 ARR to $1M ARR -- and now we're introducing the first ever GTM CONFERENCE for EARLY STAGE FOUNDERS. ⭐ "Zero to $1M: Winning Early GTM" will be held in San Francisco, CA this September 5th! ⭐ If you're at the idea 💡, pre-seed 🌰 , or seed stage 🌱 , this is the GTM conference for YOU. Come hear from Pear veterans, industry leaders, and successful repeat founders like Sanjit Biswas (Samsara and Cisco Meraki Co-founder and CEO), and leave with actionable guidance to supercharge your startup’s revenue from day 1. ​ ➡ APPLY NOW! Space is limited, and the early application deadline is July 15th. Pepe Agell and I will review applications on a rolling basis. 🚀 CANNOT WAIT TO SEE YOU THERE! 🚀 #earlystageGTM #zeroto1M #founderledsales

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UNLOCKING THE SECREATS OF THE GLOBAL VC ECOSYSTEM : A SUMMIT FOR LIMITED PARTNERS AND VENTURE CAPITALISTS TO THE GLOBAL VC's ECOSYSTEM SUMMIT -------------- 💰💵 Check 1st post in features section in my profile 💵💰 -------------- #VCEcosystemSummit #VentureCapital #LimitedPartners #Investment #PortfolioManagement #GrowthStrategy #IndustryLeaders #Networking #Collaboration #Innovation #Startup #Entrepreneurship #Funding #Investor #LP #GP #VC #PrivateEquity #HedgeFund #AssetManagement #WealthManagement #FinancialServices #InvestmentBanking #CapitalMarkets #BusinessGrowth #Scaling #Expansion #Disruption #Volatility #RiskManagement #Resilience #Sustainability #ESG #ImpactInvesting #Diversity #Inclusion #Equity #Equality #WomenInVC #WomenInFinance #MenInVC #MenInFinance #VentureCapitalist #InvestmentBanker #FinancialAnalyst #PortfolioManager #InvestmentManager #AssetManager #WealthManager #FinancialPlanner #InvestmentAdvisor #VCFirm #StartupAccelerator #Incubator #CoworkingSpace #EntrepreneurialEcosystem #InnovationHub #BusinessNetworking #ProfessionalDevelopment #Leadership #Mentorship #CareerGrowth #IndustryTrends #MarketInsights #FinancialRegulations #InvestmentStrategy #RiskAssessment #DueDiligence #DealMaking #MandA #IPO #PrivatePlacement #HedgeFundManager #AssetAllocator #FamilyOffice #SovereignWealthFund #PensionFund #EndowmentFund #VentureCapitalInvesting #StartupFunding #GrowthCapital #ExpansionCapital #Buyout #Recapitalization #Restructuring #Turnaround #DistressedInvesting #SpecialSituations #EventDriven #CreditInvesting #DebtFinancing #EquityInvesting #MezzanineFinancing #GrowthEquity #VentureDebt #SeedFunding #SeriesA #SeriesB #SeriesC #IPOPrep #PreIPO #PostIPO #PrivateCompany #PublicCompany #MicroVC #NanoVC #SeedStage #EarlyStage #GrowthStage #LateStage #PrivateEquityFund #HedgeFundManager #InvestmentPortfolio #RiskManagementStrategy #InvestmentResearch #FinancialPlanning #WealthCreation #CapitalGrowth #InvestmentOpportunities #BusinessExpansion #MarketTrends #IndustryInsights #FinancialInnovation #InvestmentInnovation #VCDeals #StartupSuccess #InvestmentStrategy #PortfolioDiversification #InvestmentRisk #InvestmentReturn #InvestmentGrowth #InvestmentIncome #InvestmentManagement #InvestmentConsulting #PrivateEquityInvesting #HedgeFundInvesting #VentureCapitalInvesting #AngelInvesting #ImpactInvesting #SustainableInvesting #ESGInvesting #ResponsibleInvesting #InvestmentFirms #InvestmentCompanies #InvestmentPartners #InvestmentNetwork #InvestmentCommunity #InvestmentEvents #InvestmentConferences #InvestmentSummit #InvestmentForum #InvestmentRoundtable #StartupInvesting #EarlyStageInvesting #GrowthStageInvesting #LateStageInvesting #PrivateEquityFirms #HedgeFundManagers #VentureCapitalFirms #AngelGroups #ImpactInvestors

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What I learned this week…. About eight years ago, I had dinner with one of the ABCD CEOs on a snowy night in Greenwich, Connecticut. I wondered aloud, “Might changing consumer preferences in Food is Health unravel the ABCD franchise permanently?” In that world, farmers would take more control of processing, vertically integrate, and contract more directly with CPGs/grocery. Milling and transportation would need to be a commodity. Crazy, I know. But maybe not when we try to eliminate the $1.9T spent on the healthcare cost of poor nutrition. 1) A startup is forming virtual regenerative Co-Ops and successfully disintermediating ADM, Bunge, Cargill, and Dreyfus (ABCD). It may be ephemeral or the start of a Creative Destruction cycle. I will likely scale 100x before ABCD sees the threat coming. Even at higher costs, it works because it creates new downstream value. 2) We probably need data from at least 1M acres of production farmland to train a data set that illuminates the linkage between crop inputs/practices and variability in nutritional density. (educated guess). 3) Near term, it likely makes more sense to understand the linkage of nutrient density and crops in heritage grains, wheat, barley, and crops other than corn/soy. Improving nutrient density has more marginal value for users of these grains because they are trying to optimize other factors like alcohol production. 4) Can Kraft Heinz's new CEO, a professed health nut, transform his business with Kaft’s core competencies alone? Or will Kraft need to master the supply chain to engineer quality, nutrient-dense, healthy options? I think I know the answer. 5) Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis may be tied to microbiome imbalance. With further linkage to HRV/vagus nerve. Triggered by an infection destabilizing the microbiome. Possible treatment using checkpoint (PD-1) inhibitors. Philip Strandwitz 6) We need to examine Heart Rate Variability (HRV) more as a key biomarker. Especially the link between stress, microbiome, and metabolic health. 7) If seed, spray, and other mechanical/electromagnetic/directed energy weed control improves, will some farmers pursue crop rotations they avoided because those alternatives lack “Roundup Ready” traits? SwarmFarm Robotics 8) Life insurance agents are buying medical tailored meals for their clients. The only institution that really wants you to live forever is life insurance Erin Martin, MASM 9) On week 2 of the Prolon Fast (one week every month), I am down another 7 lbs. I lost fat, not muscle mass. I will have blood work and a DEXA scan after the next fast. Day 5 is hard. 10) I can’t have a meal with friends without the topic turning to diet and health. The latent desire for Food is Health, driven partly by the Ozempic option, is a largely untapped market set to disrupt CPG and ABCD. #foodishealth Ellen Brown Katie Stebbins Brad Fruth Salar Shemirani Carlos Abrams-Rivera

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A commonly overlooked cause of missing sales targets: Failing to account for AE ramp and turnover in sales capacity planning. I see this happen at companies at every growth stage—from Series A to Enterprise. To illustrate how AE ramp and turnover impact sales capacity, let's look at this math example based on a generic Enterprise sales team of 10 AEs. To keep it simple, we're only looking at AE sales capacity here; we're ignoring quota capacity and sales productivity for now. Assumptions: - 8 existing AE roles; 2 newly created AE roles - 2 months AE recruiting/hiring timeframe - 6 months AE ramp to 100% capacity - 25% AE turnover during the year Individual AE roles: AE1: Tenured rep at 100% capacity AE2: Leaves in April; backfill joins in July AE3: Tenured rep at 100% capacity AE4: Leaves in January; backfill joins in April AE5: Tenured rep at 100% capacity AE6: Left in the prior year; backfill joins in February AE7: Leaves in June; backfill joins in September AE8: Tenured rep at 100% capacity AE9: Newly created position, joins in March AE10: Newly created position, delayed start in July Three things that jump out: - The entire AE team is at 70% average sales capacity for the year (see bottom right corner of the chart) - An AE departure cuts the role's annual sales capacity nearly in half (from 100% to 54%) - This AE team is under 100% capacity during every month of the year (bottom row in the chart) Does your company track sales capacity? How do you account for AE ramp and turnover on your sales team? Do you analyze ramp and turnover overall or by segment? What data do you use? How is the data gathered? Who gathers it? How often do you refresh it? Do you account for changes in GTM strategy, sales cycles, deal sizes, sales processes, etc.? #CFO #CRO #CMO #CCO #RevOps #RevenueOperations #SalesOps #GTM #Finance #RevenuePlanning #RevenueForecasting #Marketing #CustomerSuccess #SalesQuotas #SalesTerritories #SalesProcess #CapacityPlanning #ResourceAllocation #VentureCapital #PrivateEquity #StrategicFinance #FPandA

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Let’s talk about it

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The other day I met with a founder & CTO who advises and scales early stage companies - with several successful exits under their belts. We talked about “what exactly is Rev Ops” and how if done right - we are a lean / mean strategic investment to drive GTM operations at scale. Many founders are doing exactly this type of work. But when a founder has to focus on sales, or marketing, or pmf, or, or, or….who is taking this lens. So we talked about the purposeful investments in ops and the strategic need for Rev Ops. Driving cross business alignment of gtm operations, tooling, data, and business strategy that fuels the revenue creation engine. Knowing what levers to pull by when, how, and to what outcome. Don’t grow at all costs. Don’t grow inefficiently. Grow sustainably using the levers you already have in your business. #revops #growtherightway

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A topic that comes up often with companies we work with is how they think about the (Return on Investment) ROI of group travel for offsites and retreats. I’m excited to share thoughts in partnership with the Chief of Staff network tomorrow at 12 pm EST. You san RSVP here: https://lu.ma/kstmwma6 Before considering the ROI, we should consider the investment itself. 1. Prior to COVID, companies paid for rent (duh). Many companies paid $1.5-2.5K+ per employee per month per rent - Companies didn’t have a choice on whether or not to pay for rent - A right of passage for startups used to be raising a seed round, and taking out an expensive lease - In cities like SF and NY, rent is expensive: $80-100 per sq ft. - Based on avg. sq ft per employee, and other expenses like snacks, security, etc. spend on rent adds up! 2. With distributed work, companies have to spend less on rent (sometimes a LOT less) - Some remote companies are spending nothing or very little on rent - Even for in-person companies, because employees aren’t coming in every day the sq footage needs are down - The price of commercial real estate has also fallen considerably - For example, all we spend on rent at Marco for a few WeWork subscriptions for certain team members 3. Companies are now spending more on T&E (offsites and onsites) - Spend on rent is lower, but spending on T&E has gone up - More employees are distributed, but the need for in-person connection hasn’t gone away - Many companies are now investing in gatherings 2-4x per year - On the whole, companies should be saving money between rent and T&E 4. With much lower spending on rent, and higher spending on group travel, on the whole companies should be saving a LOT I’ll break this math down, and show how we’ve seen companies measure the impact of gatherings like offsites tomorrow! #employeeexperience #offsites #futureofwork

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I remember the days when Enablement had a squiggly red line underneath when you typed it out, and not a single Sales Leader I spoke to knew what I meant when I said the word... Fast forward to 2024, and tens of thousands of enablement professionals later... welcome to Generation Enablement. 👋 These folks are not defined by their age or their titles, but by their mission critical role & impact on go-to-market strategy, behaviors, and results. See how they drive strategic change across their organizations, and how you can too, in Seismic's latest study. 📖 https://bit.ly/4cSrnFI Learn more about #GenerationEnablement: https://bit.ly/3TPmdSp ​

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Something I've been thinking about a lot recently is the fulcrum of value vs impact and its correlation to your go-to-market motion (how you sell). Specifically how we so often focus on the value, and rarely call out the need for impact. So, for all the SaaS companies out there, if you're selling a monthly subscription or running a consumption-based model, are you focused on the impact your SaaS is providing? Diagram from Winning by Design

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Partnership professionals are under a ton of pressure alongside all GTM functions at technology companies. These last 2 years have been some of the most challenging I've ever seen for our space. This is no surprise for anyone. Looking ahead to Q3: 🔸 How do you know you are going to make the "right bets" for your partnership program as the competition continues leaning in? 🔸 Which strategies are more likely to lead to more sourced revenue... and fast? 🔸 How do you make your team tremendously more efficient because you likely don't have as many resources, or even teammates, that you did previously? These are some of the major points we will hit at Catalyst this year to help you navigate your organization through this. Come join the 150+ partner teams coming together in August. The main Catalyst website joincatalyst (.com) has a slide deck with 4 methods to secure budget and letter for your boss. Let's get you to Chicago. ⛵

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Drop In Venture Funding To Black-Founded Startups Greatly Outpaces Market Decline Chris MetinkoGené Teare February 27, 2024 Venture funding to Black-founded U.S. startups last year totaled only $705 million — marking the first time since 2016 that the figure failed to even reach $1 billion, Crunchbase data shows. The decline in capital to Black-founded companies greatly outpaces the overall decline in startup funding. While total venture dollars in the U.S. fell 37% last year, funding to Black-founded startups dropped a staggering 71%, according to Crunchbase data. Last year’s total investment in Black-founded startups in the U.S. marks the lowest amount since such startups raised only $582 million in 2016. The drop in total dollars also meant Black-founded startups received their lowest share in the venture market since at least 2016, per Crunchbase. Black-founded startups received less than 0.5% of the $140.4 billion in venture funding all U.S.-based startups received last year. In 2021, Black-founded startups received 1.4% of all U.S. venture funding. In 2022, it was 1.1%.

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I’m excited to share a new project: Estuary. It’s not for everybody. It’s a newsletter for ~100 people. They’re GTM leaders who: - want to diversify their sales & partnerships channels - are curious if VC and PE partnerships make sense for them - aren’t sure how to launch this bespoke strategy Being from Louisiana and now living in coastal North Carolina, Estuary brings to mind for me not only diverse ecosystems but also resiliency in the face of change. Sales orgs that thoughtfully experiment with new routes to market will win. My first few posts will focus on the basics, and we’ll move forward from there. The link to sign-up is below. I hope you’ll join me, and I hope you’ll tell your friends. #vc #pe #gtm #sales #saas #partnerships Photo: The Nature Conservancy

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Funding down dramatically to Black founders in 2023 across early stages - Sign the Community Development Investment Tax Credit Act and Expanding American Entrepreneurship Act before 5 PM TODAY. Peter Walker of Carta shared this on the state of funding to Black Founders -"2023 was the lowest share of fundraising for Black founders in our Carta dataset since 2020. The declines were consistent across pre-priced, Seed, and Series A rounds. One underreported thesis is that as VCs sought to reduce risk in the venture downturn of the last year or two, they funded repeat founders to an even larger degree than in prior timeframes. And Black founders are less represented among repeat founders (who would have had to found their companies in a less diverse VC ecosystem) than they are among founders as a whole." This is critical and all hands are required to advocate for Black Founders and reverse the anemic numbers around funding. The Center for American Entrepreneurship & Engine | Advocacy & Foundation are asking founders and ecosystem builders of color to sign a letter urging US Congress to pass: Community Development Investment Tax Credit Act: Boosts investment in Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). "The legislation would create a new tax credit for private sector investors that make hashtag equity or equity equivalent investments in, or that provide long-term patient capital (i.e., loans with a minimum term of at least 10 years) to CDFIs." Expanding American Entrepreneurship Act: "The legislation would raise the cap on funds organized under a 2018 sub-category of section 3(c)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 from $10 million to $50 million, and double the number of permitted investors from 250 to 500. Together, these changes will enable emerging fundmanagers to raise larger funds." Thanks to John Dearie for your tireless efforts and advocacy. Please add your your name to this letter before 5pm ET Today 🔗https://lnkd.in/grrzAeWG Samantha Katz Dominic-Madori Davis

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Thanks for another informative post, Daniel. Urgent Action Needed: Please add your your name to this letter before 5pm ET Today! 🔗https://lnkd.in/grrzAeWG With the dramatic decline in funding to Black founders and outright racist-sexist attacks on Black women funders in the recent Supreme Court Fearless Fund decision, I join you in urging signature of The Center for American Entrepreneurship & Engine | Advocacy & Foundation’s letter urging US Congress to pass: The Community Development Investment Tax Credit Act to boost investment in Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). "The legislation would create a new tax credit for private sector investors that make equity or equity equivalent investments in, or that provide long-term patient capital (i.e., loans with a minimum term of at least 10 years) to CDFIs." Expanding American Entrepreneurship Act: "The legislation would raise the cap on funds organized under a 2018 sub-category of section 3(c)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 from $10 million to $50 million, and double the number of permitted investors from 250 to 500. Together, these changes will enable emerging fundmanagers to raise larger funds." Time to move from being shell shocked to concerted community action that truly advances equitable capital access for all US Americans. Black Philanthropy Month The WISE Fund

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