Highlights for Entrepreneurs (11/16/23)

It's a week until Thanksgiving, and next week's edition could be abbreviated, but I will be sending it out. If you're traveling or taking an email break, I wish you a safe and happy holiday - and try to avoid the 10 near downtown LA. Enjoy the time with family and friends!

I know that you are very busy, but I hope you're enjoying the information and the music selections in the newsletter.?Here are this?week's resources for you to check out.?Get in touch if you have any feedback,?sources or other interested?readers!??If you hear of any?upcoming events, please pass them along too!?

Have a great week,?be safe and healthy...?and take some time to care for yourself!

Paul?

1)?I will be at Culture Collective in Santa Monica TONIGHT. Email to?[email protected]?to be added to the RSVP list - I hope it's not too late! "Propelling collaboration and the cultivation of the arts in Los Angeles, emerging talent from the music and art worlds will come together for an intimate Q&A world-renowned graffiti artist and art historian Roger Gastman (founder and creator of Beyond the Streets) moderated by Culture Collective Founder & CEO, business leader and Santa Monica Arts Commissioner, Michelle Edgar. Sounds like it'll be a fun?event."

2)?Founder Institute: How to Budget Your Next Round of Funding (Webcast Nov 20)

- With the CEO of Slidebean, Caya; learn the essential skills to project your runway, estimate your scaling potential, and prepare for a successful fundraising round. This webinar will help you take the first step toward financial confidence and startup growth.?

3)?Techstars: Mock Investor Interview (Zoom Nov 20)

-?This is a fun and practical exercise to learn how a live investor meeting goes down. 3-4 founders will be able to pitch - see link to appy

4)?30MPC: How to Forecast for 1 x 10 x 100 reps (Webcast Nov 29)

- After this show, you should be able to start getting a better handle on your forecasting accuracy.??

5)?FounderPath - Nathan Lantka: 9 SaaS Founders Reveal How They Broke $10m Revenue (Online Nov 29)

- "?I personally interviewed 3,000 SaaS founders. I noticed that the ones that hit $5m revenue the fastest all used the same?sales machine. I'll teach it to you live (screenshots included).??

6)?Upfront Ventures: Maybe You're Not Charging Enough - Five Words Startups Need to Hear Over and Over (Article)

- This article makes the case that if you're getting to "yes" too fast (among other things), you need to charge more.? Here's another take:?Add The Egg: All Customers are Not Created Equal?

7)?a16z: Usage-Based Pricing Is Popular, But Is It Right For You? Our Rule of Thumb (Article)

- More on Pricing: Learn when to have usage-based pricing vs subscription-based pricing. Complex but important?

8)?Pitching Angels: How Much Money Can a Startup Raise from Investors?(Article)

- Another good post from PA, with expectations on how much to raise at each round, and why you shouldn't raise more than you need.

- "Based on hearing thousands of pitches and investing in 100 startups, these are the sweet spot for raises in each round, at least among my community of angel investors and small VC funds."

9)? Tzakhi Freedman Meet Capital: How to cold email startup investors (Article)

- In this blog post, get several tips on the best way to email investors with no connection to you

10)?Crunchbase: Generalist Or Specialist? Deciding What Type Of Investor Is Right For Your Startup (Article)

- Ready to raise funds for your startup? Improve your possibilities by aligning with the right VC?

11)?Pitching Angels: 5 Tips for Startup Sales Success From the World’s Worst Salesperson (Article)?

- From a startup CEO "...at the early stages until the product and marketing is ready-to-go, repeatable, and truly turnkey, it’s up to the founders to do the sales."?

12)?Saastr: Nick Mehta, CEO Gainsight: My Top 10 Failures as a SaaS CEO & What I’ve Learned (Video + Podcast) (Article)

- Another CEO focused article, enumerating some mistakes to avoid as a startup SaaS CEO

13)?MuckerLabs: SaaS Startup Pricing Mistakes (And How to Fix Them) with Kyle Poyar (Article)

- "The best businesses can do is adapt, evolve, and inch closer to their pricing North Star, acknowledging the quest for improvement in this dynamic landscape is perpetual"

14)?Saastr: A Top Customer Success Hack: Driving Up Activation Rates, ASAP (Article)

- "For most SaaS companies, you want at least 90% of your customers fully onboarded and live within 30 days." Read further for ideas how to get there

15)?The Saas CFO: How to Calculate Gross Dollar Retention (Article + Downloads)?

- Always a great resource for metrics, This one is focused on Gross dollar retention which focuses just on the revenue from our existing customer base.

Musical Diversions:

Ida Mae: Thunder Above You – Americana UK

I've heard of this duo, but hadn't really heard them. Enjoy!

Fathom Lane: The Lookout

New band to me, great sound

Sierra Ferrell: Fox Hunt

This song goes in a lot of different places

This week's cover:??

Lake Street Dive - "So Far Away" [Live from The Sultan Room] (Carole King cover)

I like their originals and this cover is really nice too

___________________

Paul G. Shapiro, CPA

Startup Consultant

Santa Monica, CA

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My JDRF Plug:?

Giving Tuesday is Nov 28! I've raised over?$27,000?for my JDRF 100 mile Ride so far!? Care to join in to support this great cause and get me closer to my goal??

We normally raise money for the JDRF Walk but this year, we're putting all of our support into the JDRF Ride.? Depending on my injury recovery, I plan to be riding my 8th 100 mile ride this fall.? If you can, please make a donation of any amount at this link:?Click this link to donate to my JDRF Ride?for 2023. These funds are used for Type 1 diabetes research (my daughter has had T1d since 2002)?-?thanks to everyone who donated in the past AND in 2023!