May I have your attention please? Will the real startup founders please watch this video? We’re gonna have a podcast here! Today is a special day! We’re announcing my NEW show, it’s called Escape Velocity. It’s a video podcast show where I interview the world’s top SaaS CEO’s to deconstruct and learn what it took for them to succeed and
I was 24 when I closed my first enterprise level SaaS deal. I had recently started Spheric Technologies and decided to go straight to the heavy hitters. We’re talking Fortune 500 companies like Johnson & Johnson, American Express and Procter & Gamble. (guess the JFDI ethos was alive and well) 😉 And while I had an amazing team of coaches
Imagine this… You’ve worked MONTHS gearing up to launch your product. You’re absolutely CERTAIN that the market will receive it with the same level of enthusiasm as you do (and I mean… why wouldn’t they? Your thing is awesome). So you put your reputation on the line by inviting 300 of your most influential friends and investors into a swanky-ass
I recently got on a call with a potential coaching client who asked me the best way to create momentum during the fundraising process. And it got me thinking… “what’s been true in my own successful fundraising experience… as well as the 150M raised by those I’ve mentored/advised?” Turns out, there were some consistent (and repeatable) markers that can make
I’ve spoken a lot about my 3 most recent SaaS exits (Clarity.fm, Flowtown, Spheric)… But rarely do I talk about how EASILY I could’ve given up on each. I mean… … Spheric got sued 15 months in. … Flowtown got shut down by Facebook and had to be rebuilt from near-scratch. … Clarity.fm launched to crickets (despite renting out a
Imagine this… Your SaaS company lands a massive account almost right out of the gates. They start using it. They have feedback… lots of it… almost too much of it. Your team takes it as gospel. Jotting it all down – committing on the spot – holding meetings about those new feature requests — making plans to push them forward.
My first two companies FAILED hard. Sure, there were many factors at play. But when I take a sec to assess where things really went off the rails, it all came down to this… I had the wrong people on board. And it’s no criticism to them. As a founder (especially in the early stages), you’re ENTIRELY responsible for making
No matter how great your product is, at some point the success of your SaaS company is gonna be DIRECTLY linked to your personal productivity as a founder. Talk about pressure, right? I can totally relate. I built clarity.fm during an insane 11 month stretch where Renee was starting an agency of her own AND we brought two little humans
I’ll never forget one of the first times I pitched an investor. I was literally pacing in the back alley of a SF coffee shop with one of those ugly pre-2007 cabled headsets plugged into my iPhone. I had a warm intro to the investor. Things were going smooth. But with just ONE single misstep, I got those gut-wrenching words
300K/year. That’s the magic revenue number that a super high-performing expert or entrepreneur can expect to reach on their own before they smash their head against the glass ceiling. Doesn’t matter if you have your alarm set at 4:30am. Doesn’t matter if you grind it out through nights and weekends. Doesn’t matter if you throw down a bunch of brain
