Stage 2 Capital

I got to interview a legend of the game Mark Roberge, Founding CRO at HubSpot and co-Founder of Stage 2 Capital, who literally wrote the book on building sales organizations. Mark and I dove into arguably the biggest topic in the world of GTM today: ?? Artificial Intelligence ?? Where is it going? Should I build or buy? How do I evaluate vendors? Who the heck is going to win? What should we be building towards? Am I going to be replaced by an Optimus sales leader bot?? This was a really honest take on the market and free from the typical hyperbole and false certainty. Listen and enjoy!

That's a wrap! ??? We had an incredible afternoon hosting our LPs and Founders for an event filled with a great mix of content, and of course catching up with friends. Thank you to everyone who joined us and made this event a success! Stay tuned for more content and highlights from the event coming your way soon.

Today's the day! We can't wait to welcome our LPs and Portfolio Companies to Redwood City. ?? #stage2capital #venture #GTM #startups Mandy Cole

Tomorrow, we’re bringing together our incredible Limited Partners and visionary leaders from 35 of our portfolio companies to share insights, spark ideas, and accelerate growth.??? We can’t wait to share the powerful takeaways and lessons from some of the brightest minds in the business including: Aliisa Rosenthal, OpenAI Nick Mehta, CEO Gainsight Tracey Newell, Multi-Board Member Marc Huffman, CEO OnBoard Eunjoon (EJ) Cho and CEO Tofu Jared Jost VP of Marketing DeepScribe Santiago Suarez Ordo?ez Co-Founder and CEO Momentum.io Alek Milovidov, Revenue Operations Alation Toby Carrington Chief Business Officer Seismic Tom Germack SVP Revenue Operations Oracle Aakrit Prasad Co-Founder & CEO AptEdge We’re excited to see you in Redwood City! ??

Are you still using LTV:CAC to measure your startup's success? It might be time to rethink your metrics. This week on Dear Stage 2, Liz (Cain) Christo is talking about 2025 planning and challenging some common thinking around startup metrics. She tapped Jay Po, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Stage 2 Capital, to share his perspective. Key takeaways: ?? LTV:CAC can be misleading for early-stage companies due to constantly changing variables. ??Instead use Cohort Customer Acquisition Cost Payback (CCAC Payback) and Customer Value Analysis (CVA) as alternatives. ??CCAC Payback measures how long it takes each customer cohort to break even on CAC. Here's how it works: - Calculate the CAC for each cohort of customers. - Measure how long it takes each cohort to break even on CAC. - Assess if the time to break even gets shorter or longer over time. This approach allows you to see if your sales efficiency is improving over time (vs. a snapshot). Best-in-class payback periods: ? SMB: 6 months ? Mid-Market: 12 months ? Enterprise: 18 months ?? Aim for 120-150% annual NDR consistently across all cohorts. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gXzKkkjk What metrics are you focusing on for your 2025 planning? #DearStage2 #StartupMetrics #SaaS #GrowthStrategy #2025Planning

We’re excited to shout out some of our amazing Limited Partners who have recently stepped into new leadership roles. ?? ?? ?? Channing Ferrer, President, Brandwatch Charlie Maier, Senior Vice President, Salesforce Joseph (Jay) Roxe, CMO, inriver Larry D'Angelo, Chief Revenue Officer, DigitalOcean Marc Huffman, CEO, OnBoard Marilee Bear, CRO, Gainsight Maha Pula, VP, Global Sales Engineering, Fastly Michael Pawlyszyn, EVP, Chief Revenue Officer, Cornerstone OnDemand Phil Tonachio, VP of Sales, AcuityMD Pilar Schenk, Vice President Global Sales Operations, Amazon Web Services (AWS) Tanya Alfonso, VP North America, Vicarius Tricia Gellman, CMO, Box

Is your customer buying a beach outfit, or are they trying to create their perfect vacation look? Most e-commerce sees a single clothing purchase. Curated For You sees the beginning of a carefully crafted vacation wardrobe. Meet Katy Aucoin, Co-Founder and CEO of Curated For You, a member of the 2024 Catalyst Cohort! The idea for the company came to Katy while working with retail giants like Walmart. She recognized a gap: online retailers were trying (and struggling) to replicate the personalized experience of small-town boutiques in the digital space. Did you know? ?? Most e-commerce personalization is based on past clicks and purchases, often missing the context of why customers are buying today. Enter Curated For You: bridging the gap between impersonal online shopping and the curated experience of local boutiques. Here’s why we think it’s interesting: ?? Retailers gain real-time insights into customer intent, not just behavior.? ?? Shoppers receive personalized recommendations based on upcoming events, local weather, and lifestyle needs.? ?? Product discovery becomes seamless, with conversion rates 2x higher than standard category pages. The result? Curated For You helped grow Revolve's lifestyle category revenue by 120% YoY in Q3! Learn more about Curated For You and their exciting journey with the Catalyst program:?https://lnkd.in/g_jdx8iJ #AIinRetail #PersonalizedShopping #EcommerceInnovation #CatalystCohort2024 Sean Po

We love good advice, especially when it’s born from experience (and the mistakes we’ve learned to avoid). Some great tips from DayZero, part of the 2024 Catalyst Cohort. (P.S. pay attention to #4!) What’s one piece of advice you wish you knew earlier in your journey?

Founders: How well do you know your buyer's journey? This week on #InsideCatalyst, we’re talking about one of the most essential parts of scaling your business: mapping out your buyer’s journey. It may seem simple, but sometimes the simplest frameworks can deliver the biggest impact. Why is the buyer journey so important? It gives you a clear view of the entire sales process, from awareness to decision. It helps you uncover your customer’s pain points, motivations, and objections. VCs often look for this level of market understanding when evaluating your business. You’ve spent countless hours understanding your customers' challenges—that’s why you built your product. The buyer journey helps you understand not just who your buyer is, but how they discover and evaluate solutions like yours. Here’s a simple template you can follow: Awareness: What are your buyer’s top 3 challenges or goals? Consideration: What other solutions are they exploring? Decision: What criteria will they use to make their decision? Success: How will they measure the success of their choice? Pro tip: Don’t overcomplicate it. Keep it simple at first. What’s been the biggest challenge for you when mapping out your buyer’s journey?

Heading to the Pavilion GTM Summit? Make sure to swing by and give a big hello ?? to our friends at QuotaPath, HubSpot, Momentum.io, Gradient Works and RevPartners.