Yesterday, I had the opportunity to do an AMA walk with Sajith Pai (VC of Blume Ventures). It was an event organized by Sakshi Shukla of Saturn Studios. Turns out, over 300 founders and entrepreneurs had applied and I happened to be one of the 20 who were selected!
To be honest, I didn't have a concrete goal going into this AMA. I did have a couple of questions I wanted to ask, but mainly I just wanted to soak up insights and knowledge from the people around me and the conversations that would emerge—and network with other founders.
I met founders from all stages of growth, from someone just starting, to CEOs of multimillion $ companies. From consumer cosmetic brand to deep AI tech.
Of course I took notes—here they are in no particular order:
Sean Ellis Test
I didn't know what this was, so I Googled it:
The Sean Ellis test is a simple survey designed to measure a product's product-market fit (PMF) by asking users how they would feel if they could no longer use the product. If 40% or more of users answer that they would be "very disappointed," it's considered a strong indicator of PMF. This test helps identify products that are "must-haves" for their users.
I think it is high time I do this test for Conncord. SnitchFeed I'm not sure about. There's a lot of work that needs to be done (stability, inference quality, onboarding and TTV) before we'll see positive results for SnitchFeed. With Conncord though, I think we have found some PMF. So I need to do this survey.
Figure out your Hero Channel
A hero channel is one that drives the lion's share of traffic/leads/conversions/revenue. Figure this out to understand the why, the how and improve upon the funnel for that channel.
Furthermore, see if you can use elements from this channel to attract audience on other channels.
How to Price
Listen to this episode on Lenny's Podcast with Madhavan Ramanujam.
I had questions on how do you know if you're priced too low or high—I was recommended this episode.
I was also told to check out the Van Westendrop Pricing Model to help me find an answer to this question.
LTV:CAC Ratio
This should 3:1 or greater than that for a business to grow sustainably.
If you're at 5:1 or greater, you're underinvesting in growth.
Be the only one in your category
If you're the only one solving problems in your category, you have no competition and customers will love you.
Define that category for yourself and do everything you can to serve that category in the best way possible.
Solve for the Monkey first
Or eat the frog. Basically, tackle the tougher challenge first.
Origin of the phrase according to Google:
This analogy stems from the idea that if you want to teach a monkey to stand on a pedestal and recite Shakespeare, the "monkey" is teaching it Shakespeare. Building the pedestal is easy (the "low-hanging fruit"), but a waste of time if the core problem (the monkey performing) cannot be solved. By solving the hardest part first, you determine the project's overall feasibility before committing all your resources.
I prefer this to "Eat the frog" by a mile.
Buy to save time vs hiring
If you can solve your problem by buying a solution, do it. Hiring has hidden costs and comes with its own set of problems.
Identify and act on Proxy Signals
What are the common attributes shared by your best customers? Identify those, and optimize your acquisition based on those signals.
Example:
- Companies that don't have a growth team convert poorly, avoid them
Obviously I have a lot of work to do. This founder/eNtRePRENEuR thing is not easy...