Vítor Finger

This is insane! Brazil's FinTech giant Nubank just posted another massive quarter. The growth & numbers NU is showing are out of this world and make it one of the best-run tech companies in the world 😳 Key facts and figures from Nubank's 1Q 2024 earnings: 👥 100 million customers globally (+26% Year-over-Year) 🌍 It's now the largest digital banking platform outside of Asia 🇧🇷 54% of the adult population of Brazil now uses Nubank 🇧🇷 It's now the 4th largest financial institution in Latin America 💰 $24.3 billion worth of deposits (+53% YoY) 💸 $2.7 billion in revenues (+64% YoY) 🤑 $378 million in profit (+160% YoY) What's also wild is that their average customer is now using more than 4 products 😳 But here comes the crazy part. NU's customer acquisition costs is something we have not seen before. Due to customer-friendly, low-cost products, #Nubank has a high NPS of around 90. Even a popular brand like Apple only has an NPS of 72, and banks are often in negative territory. That's why Nubank, to date, still acquires ~80% of its new customers cost-effectively through recommendations and word-of-mouth 😮‍💨 On top of that, despite serving more than 100 million customers, its monthly average cost per active customer remains below $1 🤯 This coupled with a stunning efficiency ratio of ~32% makes Nubank not only one of the best digital banks globally. It's probably the best-run tech company on the planet right now. Remarkable.

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Brex is one of my favorite fintechs. Ever wonder what their journey from $0 to over $300M in revenue within 7 years looked like? 2017-2018: The Birth of Brex • Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi, both 22-year-old Stanford dropouts, decided to flip the fintech world on its head by launching Brex, a corporate credit card tailored for startups. • With their co-CEO model (which has become popular), they doubled their management bandwidth. Internal & external duties? No problem when you have twice the number of CEOs to lead folks 2019-2020: Rapid growth • Brex quickly partnered with big names like DoorDash, Flexport, and Roblox. • In 2019, they secured $300 million in funding, catapulting their valuation to $2.6 billion. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you’re swimming in a pool of investor cash. 2021-2022: Diversification and challenges • Brex expanded its product suite to include expense management, bill pay, & travel booking services. If you’re going to burn through cash, you might as well make it convenient. • Despite their success, they faced some “minor” hiccups. Layoffs in 2022 were a delightful reminder that even fintech unicorns aren’t immune to cutting costs by cutting people. 2023: Strategic shifts • Transitioning to a single CEO model, Pedro took the helm while Henrique became chairman. Having two brains was slowing things down? • They continued to innovate, integrating AI into their platform. By the end of 2023, Brex hit over $300 million in revenue, proving that even with all the chaos, they were still making bank​. 2024: Path to profitability • With a goal of being cash-flow positive by 2025, Brex halved its cash burn by chopping 20% of its staff and focused on sustainable growth. Making money instead of burning it is always a sound strategy. • Serving 30K+ customers globally, Brex’s commitment to transparency & customer-centric solutions has kept them in the game. They’re not just participating – they’re rewriting the rules. Want to copy their homework? 1. Identify a significant pain point in an industry and create a solution that addresses it. Please don't start a business without doing this. 2. Utilize a strong co-founder dynamic to maximize efficiency & divide responsibilities effectively. Two heads are better than one, until they aren’t. 3. Secure early partnerships with influential companies to build credibility and a customer base. It’s always about who you know. 4. Listen to your customers. & Expand your product offerings to meet their evolving needs. 5. Maintain a strong focus on transparency & trust to build a loyal customer base. People surprisingly prefer not being lied to. 6. Strategically manage growth, and make tough decisions like layoffs when necessary to ensure long-term sustainability. 7. If you want to go public, be profitable. Did I miss anything?

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Nubank is larger than Coinbase, Robinhood, Affirm, and SoFi combined, has more customers than Bank of America (while only operating in three countries in Latin America), and 80% to 90% of its growth comes through word of mouth because of the way they make customers fanatical about their product. Jag Duggal is chief product officer at Nubank, and in our conversation, we dig into: 🔸 How Nubank creates fanatical users 🔸 Measuring love through the Sean Ellis score 🔸 Tactics for driving word-of-mouth growth 🔸 The role of category design in creating successful products 🔸 Why companies should strive to be “fundamentally different,” not “incrementally better” 🔸 Much more Listen now 👇 - YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gFsQZCSU - Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gyj3Tvbk - Apple: https://lnkd.in/gx2wmjzt Some key takeaways: 1. The “Sean Ellis score” is a key element of how Nubank measures product-market fit and makes decisions about investing in new products. The score is based on asking customers, “How disappointed would you be if this product went away?” The answer options are: a. Very disappointed b. Somewhat disappointed c. Not disappointed d. I no longer use this product 2. A few of your strongest customers can teach you more than many of your weaker ones. Your strongest customers are generally your most engaged users, deriving the most value from your product. If you use the Sean Ellis question, your strongest customers will be those with the highest scores. Try to learn: what characteristics make them a better fit for your product? What can they teach you about the value of your product? 3. The best user research technique is often to just pick up the phone and call 10 customers. You don’t need a research plan, a research lead, someone to summarize results, etc. Those things just add distance between you and the customer and overhead that slows research down. If you have a direct line to the customer instead, you’ll often find that it only takes five conversations before you gain strong, reliable insights. 4. Your strategy doesn’t have to be “right,” but it does have to be clear. A clear strategy allows you to identify when things are off course, because it defines “what was supposed to be happening.” Aspirations or vague statements like “to re-invent banking” are not clear strategies. Clear strategies are detailed plans centered on specific problems, solutions, customers, and strengths. 5. Jag lives and breathes the motto “We’re in the business of being fundamentally different, not incrementally better.” In competitive markets, merely improving incrementally on existing solutions isn’t enough. Strive to be fundamentally different by reinventing or creating new categories. This approach not only sets you apart from competitors but can also redefine the industry standards.

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VCs don't want you if you're not throwing tons of 💸💸💸 at outbound marketing... 😮 From Matheus Darós Pagani's experience, this is why taking Venture dollars was not an option 🙅‍♂️ As an offshore development shop (located in Brazil), he experienced first-hand how cold email was a money pit 😣 Too many of his ideal clients were resistant to accepting software development labor from an offshore team that they'd never met. What did he do? He focused his marketing on building relationships and taking an organic approach to growth. Was it slow-going? Yes. But it has proven more successful than when he was pursuing cold email campaigns. Is this unique to offshore dev agencies? Is this true for all dev shops? I'd love to hear your thoughts below! 👇 _____________________________ Are you a software development agency looking for a little guidance on your journey to growth? Subscribe to the Dev Launch podcast! We interview software dev agency owners as they share their startup journey and what they're learning in the process. This isn't some generic entrepreneurial podcast with "rah rah" advice - we're talking about specific industry challenges. Find us on YouTube and Spotify. We are changing things up in the format as we launch into Season 2, so stay tuned!

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The best way to understand if your company has PMF…

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In the end, everything will be alright. MMM: Monday Morning Meditation 05202024 Brazilian writer Fernando Sabino: “In the end, everything will be alright. If everything is not alright, it's not yet the end.” We proceed through life with highs and lows, trials and exultations. And with ever-diminishing bandwidth (aka focus or attention), we are susceptible to spikes in stress load. 🫨 Many times due to factors beyond our control or without direct connection to our world. Meditate on the choice we are given between acknowledgment and fear. 😧 Acknowledging the narrow fairways, or multiple breaks in the greens is respect, humility, inspiration even to get and stay dialed in. Fear prompts the flight mechanism, or invokes the fight in you. Either way eliciting a reaction that diverts our attention off course…and into the woods, the water and the showers without making the weekend cut. 🧗 Acknowledgment is preparation. 🚷 Fear is immobilization. We have the chance to choose either whether experiencing a blunt force or repeated low-dosage. Market gyrations. War. Passive-aggression. Leading the PGA field wire-to-wire. 🏌🏽‍♂️ True champions rally. True champions overcome adversity, injury, hardship, distraction. It is the will of the Victor to dig deep and find one more ounce of effort to punch thru to the finish. And in that moment - total clarity. 🔔 Clarity of the fortitude exhibited to persevere thru challenges. 🔔 Clarity of the support given by others to pick you up, dust you off, and encourage you to try again. 🔔 Clarity of the root - if any - to remove permanently from the garden. 🔔 Clarity of how it all fits together - as it always does. In the end. Stay in the race. 🐎 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 🚩 Connect to discuss this or any other opportunity for you to level up your professional clarity & performance. #acknowledgement #respect #professionaldevelopment #grit #successhabits #mindset / PALIO, Inc.

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𝗪𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀. CAC, LTV, MRR, and churn rate have been north-star metrics for years—in today’s market, they're no longer enough. 𝗪𝗵𝘆? // There’s too much competition, raising CAC and making it harder to keep churn low with reduced customer loyalty, further decreasing expected LTV. // Customers expect more personalized services, increasing costs. // Market volatility affects spending habits, affecting MRR and churn unpredictably. // Prioritizing growth over profit sidelines important profitability metrics and puts a risk on long-term sustainability. Calculating the CAC payback period gives us insights into the efficiency and sustainability of our growth strategies. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗔𝗖 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱?  It’s the time it takes to recover the cost of acquiring a new customer through the revenue it generates. A shorter payback period indicates an efficient and sustainable business model. The average benchmark for SaaS is 16 months; while there is no “good” number, keeping on top of industry trends is beneficial. Micro SaaS firms should target 3 to 6mths... Shortening the CAC payback period improves cash flow, minimizes potential customer churn, accelerates growth, and increases investment appeal through quicker ROI. 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝘁 ZoomInfo’s 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.  Their slowed revenue growth, coupled with a spike in churn, has extended their CAC payback period to an alarming 138 months 🚩 Indicating that CAC costs won't be recuperated for over a decade, limiting their flexibility to fund growth and further innovation. This scenario further underscores the need for SaaS to continuously optimize CAC and retention strategies to maintain a sustainable business model, especially in a volatile market. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗱 𝗶𝘁: > Enhance conversion rates > Focus on high-quality leads > Optimize pricing strategies > Leverage automation and CRM to streamline operations > Refine marketing spend > Invest in PLG > Upsell, cross-sell, and boost retention With the rise of AI and competition, churn rise is inevitable.  Despite this, it’s still a promising market.  You just need to be proactive and adapt your strategies to survive and thrive in these changing economic conditions. Thanks to OnlyCFO for the insights! If you have a Micro SaaS and are exploring an exit, shoot me a message. Otherwise, follow for more awesome content. #SaaS #MicroSaaS #Startups #Strategy #Tech 

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Meet Pedro Moreira! A thriving entrepreneur one month away from claiming his first $50k systeme.io award! 🌟 After exploring numerous funnel platforms, Pedro discovered that systeme.io offered exactly what he needed Here's why he chose us👇 ✅ The funnel editor: Pedro found our funnel editor to be the most flexible he’s used. It’s easy to create various pop-ups and deeply customizable with the ability to add rows within rows, all without needing to code ✅ User experience after buying: Post-purchase, systeme.io keeps things straightforward and user-friendly. Users can easily manage contacts, permissions, product access, and more from a single tab This functionality significantly saves time and streamlines customer support efforts, making it invaluable for entrepreneurs who handle their own customer service ✅Effective email marketing: For Pedro, email marketing is crucial, and systeme.io has been a game changer. He found other platforms either overly complex or ineffective Systeme.io, however, simplifies the process, allowing him to efficiently manage his email campaigns without the hassle Thinking about how systeme.io can help your business too? Discover how our platform can transform your marketing and sales processes just as it did for Pedro Click the link below to see Pedro’s original post in the systeme.io group and discover exclusive strategies that hundreds of successful online business owners are using right now 👇 https://lnkd.in/dAXXiQnR

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From $16m to $30m ARR in 2 years. Even after laying off almost 50% of the staff. First, here some metrics to note: $30m ARR as mentioned above Cut employees from roughly 250 to 150 Have over 45,000 customers (big and small) Avg subscription per client is $1,200/mo Total funding as of the interview $58m Nathan Latka on Youtube sat with Chill Piper CEO Nicolas Vandenberghe to discuss about their recent growth strategy to hitting $30m ARR. Company: Chill Piper - helps sales teams automatically schedule appointments with leads. Here are my takes, and insights founders can apply to their startups. 1. On product launch Launch product sequentially. In the order of complimentary and problem research. Let the team ask themselves this two questions: What product is close to what we currently have? Which product in the roadmap is likely to succeed? 2. On going for multiple product lines First get clear on the above two questions. Then document a clear order of operations Then let everyone contribute giving reasons on their product development choices 3. On customer acquisition channels that scaled to $30m Chill a great SDR team of almost 20 people. Collaborative integration with partners like Gong, G2, Clearbit and more. Traffic from Chill logo watermarked on the scheduling solution Into the $100m ARR mark, Nicolas revealed: A self-service option is the works ChatGPT for Calendly is in the pipeline A focus on organic search - pointed out by Nathan. p.s: Get proven product marketing resources. Link on profile.

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The rationale behind GoHub Ventures investment in Indigitall's Series A 👇 1. World Class Team 2. Huge Problem with Big Market Opportunity 3. Great traction and growth 4. Extraordinary Go-to-market Execution ____ You can learn more about this on Gohub Ventures' Blog, link in the comments!

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I've interviewed over 50 SaaS founders about how they launched their first pricing offer. From these interviews, I've compiled 5 main principles to keep in mind when you want to launch your SaaS pricing. This will be the main topic of the first article in Pricefast's newsletter. Among the people mentioned in the article: Asma Makni from Tggl, Arthur d'Achon from Sidely, Louis Chenais from Specify, Luuk de Jonge from Contrast, James de Wasseige from Cycle App and more... We will be publishing this first edition tomorrow, so subscribe to receive the article directly in your inbox! Link to the newsletter in the first comment below 👇

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Assessing the Culprits: iFood, Government Taxes, or Labor Laws? Which has the most significant negative influence on the financial health of ghost kitchens? iFood's Role: iFood charges a commission that can be as high as 40% on orders, if you account for all the extra marketing plugins you add to leverage sales inside the platform. Data from Inca Sushi: Initial Revenue: 30,000 BRL/month iFood Commission (40%): 12,000 BRL Revenue Post-Commission: 18,000 BRL The commission directly reduces the kitchen's operational income, which is a critical factor in covering fixed and variable costs. The steep commission rate forces kitchens to increase prices, which can reduce competitiveness and customer demand. Calculations: If iFood were to reduce its commission to 15%: iFood Commission (15%): 4,500 BRL Revenue Post-New Commission: 25,500 BRL Increase in Monthly Revenue: 7,500 BRL This change could potentially transform a kitchen's financial scenario from barely breaking even to achieving a comfortable profit margin. The Role of Government Tax Policies Taxes are levied on various fronts: revenue income, the upcoming VAT with the new tax reform, and payroll which can collectively eat into the ghost kitchen's profits. The burden can be significant, especially when taxes are applied to gross income rather than net income. Suppose the government provides a tax incentive, such as a 10% reduction in tax liability: Original Tax Liability (Estimated 4% on Gross): 1,200 BRL/month Reduced Tax Liability with Incentive: 1,080 BRL/month Annual Savings from Tax Incentive: 1,440 BRL While helpful, the savings from tax incentives are relatively modest compared to the direct costs imposed by iFood's commissions. The Constraints of Labor Legislation Brazil's labor laws are designed to protect employees, ensuring severance pay, mandatory benefits, and strict termination penalties. These regulations can make labor costs one of the most inflexible and challenging expenses to manage, especially for businesses experiencing fluctuating demand. If labor law reforms reduce the severance penalties by 50%, the savings could be substantial: Cost per Employee Turnover (Current): 3,900 BRL (including severance, vacation payout, etc.) Reduced Cost with Reform: 1,950 BRL Annual Savings for Four Employees Turned Over Once: 7,800 BRL Though significant, these savings are still less impactful compared to the potential increase in revenue from reduced iFood commissions. Identifying the Biggest Villain While all three factors significantly impact the profitability of ghost kitchens, iFood's high commission rates emerge as the most substantial immediate financial drain, directly slicing into revenue before any other costs are considered. Reductions in these commissions could immediately and significantly boost profitability, more so than changes in tax policies or labor laws. #ifood #clt #govbr

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Hey @Elon Musk and @Joaquin Teixeira, Globo’s valuation here! We just ran a valuation based on Globo’s 11 years historical financial figures. And their 2023’s just went out of the oven today, you probably won’t find this analysis anywhere else in the world :) Disclaimer: Klooks is the leading provider of private companies’ financials in Brazil with clients such as S&P Global (Capital IQ), Moody’s Analytics, London Stock Exchange Group and others. All data in this post was taken from public documents filed by the reference company. On the 21st of April 2024 (yesterday) Elon Musk replied Joaquin Teixeira’s post (a right wing comedian) asking what would be Globo’s price (Twitter post thread with my comment here: https://shorturl.at/lnHOY please like and comment to help us getting attention!!). Well, Globo is a private company and since Klooks is the largest database of private companies’ financials in Brazil, I thought we were in a good position to give an idea to fellow Elon. So, to analyze it, first things first. Please welcome Globo’s historical 11 years financial reports in PDF in this link: bit.ly/globofin. I added a summary as an image here in this post, as you might be able to see below. We could make a quick EBITDA multiple based in their 2023 figures. They had BRL 1 billion EBITDA and, according to Klooks M&A monitoring, Brazilian private markets have been trading at around 5,2x EV/EBITDA, I could say quite comfortably their enterprise value based in 2023 figures would be somewhere between BRL 5-10 billions (and since they have a negative net debt, equity value would go to 12-17 billions BRL - roughly USD 2.4 - 3.4 billions). But I think the key question here is “what is an appropriate EBITDA projection for Globo?”. Would that be 2023’s 1 billion or 2014’s 4,4 billions (what would take Globo’s price to somewhere between 6 and 10 billions of dollars). What is more likely to happen in the following years? Based in Globo’s financial figures, there is a hypothesis that its EBITDA might be correlated to government administrations (during Bolsonaro's their results were much lower). Could 2023 be the start of an EBITDA revamp? Hard to say. The media market has changed drastically since 2014 with an expansion of streaming services and advancements in social media. We understand that government can help but might not be that decisive, so 2023's basis is probably more realistic than 2014's. Anyway, they managed to have positive EBITDA in almost every year of the time series. Apparently, it is quite a good cash cow. I think it might be an investment to consider, particularly with a significant earnout component. And you could buy Klooks too, the bundle is surely much cheaper than Twitter 😂 (Sorry I didn’t run a full DCF, I’ve got to get my kid at school now! I will keep you posted if I make it) Ricardo Amorim, Fernando Nakagawa, Raquel Landim, Caio Junqueira, Bruno Carazza, Bruno Rosa, Luiz Guilherme Gerbelli

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Nowadays, there is an obsession with product-led-growth (PLG). Yes, you can acquire users while you sleep but PLG doesn't always represent the fastest path to revenue growth... As an example, PLG-tactics are a function of growth experiments, which take time to observe ( "If you move the front door, will more people come in?"). So the feedback loops are pretty drawn out, and you can only execute one real growth experiment at a time. However, once you get it right, there is potential for non-linear revenue growth, which is what gets everyone jazzed. On the other hand, Sales-Led Growth requires humans (aka cost) and a sales process. At best, we're looking at linear revenue growth (more sales capacity = more revenue growth), though you can quickly hire a salesperson and iterate on a sales process weekly. You also get a lot of face-time with the market to course-correct value propositions and beyond. Like most things, tactics depend on context and goals, but I'd encourage everyone to make a conscious decision rather than defaulting to what's sexy or in vogue. Anna Polovnikova at Upsilon shares this proven strategy to master Sales-Led-Growth 👇 1. Understand your customer's pain points through market research and tailor your product to solve that problem. 2. Identify your end users so you can deliver value. 3. Choose the right SaaS model based on your target market. 4. Stand out with a unique product, a compelling sales pitch, and a clear value prop. 5. Implement a solid sales strategy by deeply understanding who your customers are and personalizing it to their needs. 6. Use tech to enhance customer experience and personalize service. 7. Engage customers where they are - whether that's through events or social media platforms like LinkedIn. 8. Build rapport and relationships with your customers. 9. Keep track of metrics and performance. Use data to analyze what went wrong so you can fix it and what went right so you can replicate it again. Anyone out there recently pivot to SLG? If you're a MicroSaaS startup planning an exit strategy, let's connect! #MicroSaaS #Startups #tech #Success #B2B

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$30B market cap, 100 million customers with 90% of growth coming through word of mouth. That's Nubank in a few words. One of their most important element is the 'Sean Ellis score', which they use to find product-market fit. They ask customers, "How disappointed would you be if this product went away" and the answer options are: a. Very disappointed b. Somewhat disappointed c. Not disappointed  d. I no longer use this product If a majority of the answers tend towards option D, they do away with it. If it tends towards option A, they invest in making it even better. This scoring system can be applied in any business. And it's most effective when you involve your strongest customers (the most engaged). They'll teach you more than many of your weaker customers. You can pick up your phone and call 10 customers, drop a poll on your social media page, or send a survey to your email list. Nothing beats product-market fit research based on customer engagement. #customerengagement #productmarketfit #emailmarketing

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𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀… My friend Alexey Mozgolin, a visionary and expert in app monetization, has written an e-book about what he knows best.   Here, I'll be sharing the ideas that resonate with me the most. Share in the comments: what's the main reason some projects don't monetize their apps right from the start and delay it until later stages? Ways to address this issue in the cards below ↓

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Consumer AI Apps show weaker retention compared to incumbent apps. So how B2B AI apps can prevent churn and increase retention? This post by Bessemer Venture Partners summaried 7 product strategies, but it really followed 4 themes: 1. Nail distribution: meet users where they are, offer your AI products via integrations with exisiting software, mobile apps, plug-ins, chrome extensions 2. Create value: Build a stand-alone AI product that offers a unique & tangible value as an entry point, but then also build across the chain to "occupy" more of the workflow 3. Use Data & Model as moat: Leverage proprietary data in your AI products or/and go multi-modal to provide more value 4. Use NFX as moat: Build a platform with 2-sided network effect I argue these tactics are actually applicable to not just B2B AI products, but AI created an opportunity for startups to disrupt incumbents and create new values. Post in first comment

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