Julien Hobeika

Learn from OpenAI’s playbook: Prioritizing key projects and empowering a mission-oriented team are essential for startups aiming to make a significant impact 👇 ➡ 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗲: Sam Altman, CEO at OpenAI and Brad Lightcap, COO at OpenAI 🔌 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿: Harry Stebbings, Founder at 20VC ✏ “20VC: OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Brad Lightcap on The Future of Foundation Models” ⭐ 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗜 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲: "There are two strategies to build on AI right now: [...] (1) to assume the model is not going to get better and then you kind of build all these little things on top of it; [...] (2) to build assuming that OpenAI is going to stay on the same rate of trajectory and the models are going to keep getting better at the same pace." ⭐ 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀: "At any given point in a company's life, there's only one to three things that really matter. And that spills over into how we run the team because [...] if we can align on what those things are, [...] then it helps me to translate down to the teams that I'm building." ⭐ 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆: "I think people criminally underrate how important it is and how much return you really get on just giving people access to the technology. [...] Someone who used to spend two days doing something now spends two minutes doing it and is freed up to do 85 other things in their daily life." ⭐ 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆'𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: "I watched what has happened to other tech companies when they just become the place you want to work because it's a good resume item. [...] I think companies that lose their mission orientation and get taken over by mercenaries usually come to regret that." ⭐ 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘂𝗻𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀: "Find a way to make sure that there's this very flat and even playing field when it comes to how you look to the team for perspective, decision-making, judgment, and creativity." ───── 👉 Follow me, Alexander Small, for tactics and strategies for building startups from industry-leading Founders, Operators and Investors

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Sifted just released their list of the most promising SaaS startups in Europe. https://lnkd.in/erxJRGzi If you are looking to leave your corporate job for a startup but aren’t sure where to get started, do this. 1. Look at sifted lift of promising startups and pick 10 that really interest you. 2. Based on your skill set, use linked look up the lead of the department you think you would be interested in. For example, if you want to get into sales then look up the VP of sales. 3. Send them a DM on why you want to work for the company and what impact you could have in your first 100 days working there. Don’t send your CV until asked for it. 4. Follow up diligently every few days. If after the third try, no one has got back to you, move to the next 10 on the list. It sounds simple, and it is. Recruitment is the hardest thing for growth stage startups, and no one enjoyed paying 25% recruiter fees. Good luck

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We realized with Elisa Llera and Erwan Gauthier that agencies had a specific approach to sales Namely: - No two deals are the same - Every deal counts, they are selling high-ticket services - Personalization matters even more as a result - They engage heavily on social selling, especially on LinkedIn - Sales cycle isn’t very standardized, it's the opposite of transactional sales - Deals length varies heavily - Nailing follow-ups is the name of the game - The most sophisticated ones tend to have an account-based approach, rather than a lead-based one only - They sell as a team We tried to sum it up in one video: https://lnkd.in/eBsrbMB9

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€25M, to build the one finance platform to rule them all. Proud to be partner of Pauline Glikman and Joseph A. from Day 0! When we first invested in Payflows, there were many other FinTech SaaS startups focusing on individual pain points felt by CFOs and their teams. Some of these companies try to improve accounts payable or procurement. Others tackle cash management or try to modernize the payment stack. Payflows stands apart by offering this and more as modules within an automated platform bigger than the sum of its parts. Each module can be purchased and deployed independently, but the offering becomes much more powerful when all the pieces of the puzzle are combined.   We partnered with Payflows team on their €5M Seed round, together with Ribbit Capital - all thanks to an intro from my friend Salomon Aiach, GP at Origins Fund. Their product quickly turned out to be such a customer hit that they never had time to announce the round. Fast forward one year. Customers include both public enterprise companies as well as growth-stage tech companies like Ornikar, Spendesk, and Swile and Podimo. Welcome Balderton Capital in today’s combined €25M funding round! In the comments, the story on Les Echos and an in-depth piece on why we invested. Can't wait to continue seeing the ultimate financial automation platform come together! (Photo by Samuel Sotto)

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Think Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, for your B2B persona. I'm very proud to share a Salto production 😉 - Config & Cruise - where Alex Ortiz will be driving and talking with interesting figures in the Atlassian ecosystem (with a focus on Jira). Kudos to Baptiste Pouilloux who took this project A-Z! Bravo! BTW, if you want him to write a blog post describing the process, tell him in the comments. Check out the first episode with Fun Man Andy, where he and Alex discussed AI, Configuration Management, and Marketplace Apps (see link in the comments).

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Marc Andreessen's Guide to Finding Product-Market Fit: Navigating the startup landscape can be daunting, but finding the right product-market fit (PMF) is a game-changer. Marc Andreessen’s comprehensive guide offers actionable insights into this pivotal aspect of building a successful startup. Here’s why understanding PMF is crucial and how you can determine if you've achieved it: Key Takeaways: 1) Defining PMF: It’s about having a product that satisfies the demands of a robust market. When your customers not only buy but advocate for your product, that's when you know you've hit the mark. 2) The Importance of PMF: The vast majority of startups fail due to a lack of PMF. Ensuring your product aligns with market demands is more critical than scaling prematurely. 3) Identifying PMF: Look for high customer retention, strong word of mouth, and consistent usage growth. These are clear indicators that your product fits well in its market. 4) Metrics Matter: Track metrics like customer acquisition cost (CAC) vs. lifetime value (LTV), retention rates, and Net Promoter Score (NPS) to gauge your PMF status. PS. check out 🔔 for a winning pitch deck the template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel https://lnkd.in/ejp-Bhnu

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Learn how to fine-tune your product to meet market demands with strategic customer conversations and data-driven feedback mechanisms 👇 ➡ 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗲: Brian Long, CEO & Co-Founder at Attentive 🔌 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿: Nick Moran, General Partner at New Stack Ventures and Nate Pierotti, Principal at New Stack Ventures ✏ “The Playbook to Finding Product-Market Fit, When Founders Should Begin to Scale, and Lessons from Building Attentive” ⭐ 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀: 💬 "I think that what we got right were two things. One, I think that we talked to a tremendous amount of customers, before we started building things. So we learned to hear their problems, hear their issues, and then start building and assaulting those, you know, rather than kind of just jumping right into build-build-build, so that saved us a lot of time." ⭐ 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸, 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀: 💬 "I think you're also looking at things like NPS, you know… because if that number starts dropping, it's often because you're no longer solving the problem." ⭐ 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆: 💬 "I think that we've taken an even longer term focus. We know what can be big. And we know it's dangerous to start getting an ego to think you can do things because it's always very hard. You've always got to think towards taking a longer term view, having a thesis around that view, and then understand how the pieces can come together for success." ───── 👉 Follow me, Alexander Small, for tactics and strategies for building startups from industry-leading Founders, Operators and Investors

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Aren't you curious how much others are paid? If you are, then take 5 minutes to complete this ESOP survey. We will send you the tea first ☕ Saison Capital & XA Network are conducting a study on ESOPs, whether your company has an ESOP policy or not, we'd love to hear your thoughts. Founder Survey: https://shorturl.at/xABIR Employee Survey: https://shorturl.at/ejr39

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I’m obviously a bit biased, but now is a great time to invest in tech ! Here’s why: 1) The valuation bubble of 20/21 now means valuations are lower in comparison to previous years. For investors, this means lower entry cost, increased bargaining power and higher long-term growth potential. 2) Despite valuations being low, startups that survive are stronger than ever– reduced capital, ‘free-money’ has stopped and lower valuations mean Founders need to be extremely capital efficient. 3) Again, because of less funding, companies are forced to get to traction quicker to survive and prioritise only the most important things. 4) Lower interest rates in the future will mean companies that survive now will thrive in the next market upturn. 5) If we look at VC vintages, 1-2 years after the dot-com burst and the 2008 financial crash business were incredibly successful. VC has a cyclical nature. This goes against what a lot of people are saying about the UK right now but we’re really bullish ! #techinvestment #investment #ukstartups

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Official Naruto mobile apps are coming! This isn't just exciting news for fans – it's a massive opportunity for app developers! Here’s why: ➤𝐒𝐞𝐤𝐚𝐢, a French startup just secured the global license (excluding China and Japan) to develop official Naruto consumer apps. ➤Sekai is actively seeking partnerships with skilled developers to create innovative and engaging apps.For developers, this is your chance to be part of a pioneering project that will define how fans interact with their favorite anime. ➤The anime industry boasts over 600 million fans worldwide, and Sekai is paving the way for high-quality, officially licensed mobile experiences. ➤No more app store takedowns! With Sekai's official license, you can focus on crafting exceptional apps without copyright worries. ➤Sekai is tight-lipped about the exact format, but they're hinting at social features, immersive experiences, and the chance to truly feel like a ninja! ➤Sekai has ambitions to secure new anime IPs every year, creating a global platform for officially licensed anime mobile experiences. This could be the beginning of a whole new way for users to connect with their favorite characters and stories ---- P.S. Check on the comments for link of the full article #apps #mobile #startup #anime

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Stripe advertises a 𝟮.𝟵% 𝗳𝗲𝗲 (+30c) - yeah, but AIPRM 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝟱.𝟴% What's up with that? That 5.8% is the average on all sales processed, across all transactions globally. Yes, international, yes currency conversion fees... But it doesn't look like we get the benefit of (much cheaper) US transactions with an 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝟱.𝟴% 𝗬𝗲𝘀, 𝟱.𝟴% 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗔𝗜𝗣𝗥𝗠 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗲. And that needs to improve.

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Dear network, practicing what we preach... we're looking for your inputs! 📣 How do you work on pricing? Answer this quick survey and help us making our Pricing Clinics even better! Your help with this would be just... priceless!!

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🎯The Serena European SaaS benchmark is returning soon for a 4th edition! 🎯 We started this public benchmark 4 years ago to empower every SaaS entrepreneur and investor in Europe with the data that truly matters through a valuable companion tool. The study explores 30+ crucial data points per company (NRR, ARR per employee, growth rates, burn rates, sales efficiency metrics, valuation benchmarks…) and allows SaaS players to make the most informed financial decisions. 🆕 This year, we’re teaming up with Google and Hubspot, focusing on creating a playbook for building top-tier SaaS companies. We will give AI extra attention and include data points like NRR, ARR per employee, growth rates, burn rates, sales efficiency metrics, valuation benchmarks, funding metrics, and more. And to build the most qualitative and comprehensive report, we need as many responses as possible to our survey. So if you’re a SaaS company in Europe, please fill out the survey (available below👇)! https://lnkd.in/eb7qCpjG ⏳Deadline: May 31 🎁 As a participant, you'll receive the report in advance, giving you a head start on the latest industry insights and trends. Responses will remain confidential and reported collectively. And of course, feel free to shoot this to your SaaS network ;) Serena Sébastien Le Roy Sybille Ranchon Heba Hitti

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In the last few weeks, we've rolled out some fantastic new features, and I wanted to share a few of my favorites with you: 1. 𝑩𝑬𝑻𝑨 𝑨𝑳𝑬𝑹𝑻: 𝒀𝒐𝒕𝒑𝒐 𝑬𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝑺𝒆𝒈𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝑪𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 📨    We are thrilled to announce the R1 phase for a new feature developed for agencies: the Segments Cloning feature.    Want to participate? Ensure you have at least two stores under your account or if you're an agency. Comment here or reach out to Tamara or Galit.    What is it about?    The ability to copy segments from one store to another.    Key Features:    ✔ Duplication of multiple segments to multiple stores at once.    ✔ Indication of which segments are eligible for copying.    ✔ Easy navigation to the relevant store after a copy is done.    ✔ Review and save the segment in the destination store to start collecting subscribers. 2. 𝑾𝒆𝒃𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝑬𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒍/𝑺𝑴𝑺 𝑭𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔! 🔗    Merchants can now send webhooks from flows, unlocking new opportunities to leverage customer data by connecting with 3rd party providers.   What is it?    Webhooks are a new action type in Flows, allowing merchants to seamlessly pass information from the SMS & Email app to another application when an event takes place. 3. 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 🔐    We're rolling out in beta (soon in GA) multi-factor authentication across all products. This may seem boring, but it's crucial for preventing misuse of customer data. Make sure to onboard to it! 4. 𝗟𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗹𝘁𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗳𝘆 🛍️    We're excited to announce the beta release support for Shopify's New Customer Accounts, enhancing the "All customers are members" opt-in strategy. This update simplifies the login process, improves shopper experience, and boosts engagement, making it easier for customers to earn and redeem rewards without creating an account or using a password. What else do you really like to see from the Yotpo team? What we released recently that got you excited? 💪🚀

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Launching a #startup ? 🚀 🌕 Congrats! But brace yourself for a reality check, What you think about your business, product, your customers, your investors— is wrong. Your first job isn't to build; it's to learn. Fast. Rip apart your assumptions with daily customer interviews, rapid lo-fi prototyping, and constant network expansion. Validate everything, trust nothing. Delay heavy development. Why? Because building on faulty assumptions only multiplies errors. Focus on quick deliverables—no more than a week.If you aren't adapting as fast as you're learning, you're just burning money. --- How are you cutting through the noise and challenging assumptions in your startup?

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🎉 The iOS app store Aptoide launching yesterday (as an invite-only beta) as a game-only distributor. And seems to be a very promising alternative to App Store. Here are 3️⃣ 3 key things to know: - Aptoide combines a freemium model with a rewards structure. For users, this means all the games will be free-to-play, but some will include in-app purchases. How this differs from the App Store is that Aptoide will give “bonuses” to people who regularly spend in-app, something that will work out to be a 5 to 10 percent discount on each purchase. - developers are charged 20% for organic in-app purchases generated by the Aptoide iOS marketplace and a 10% fee in all other cases — for example, when the developer advertises independently and drives downloads of the app. On the Android store, Aptoide charges 25% and 10%, respectively. Apple, on the other hand, charges a 30% fee across the board.  - Aptoide is paying developers between $1,000 and $2,000 to launch a game on its IOS platform, the higher amount going to those who include in-app purchases in their software. The company also handles the Core Technology Fee — a cost of 50 euro cents per annual marketplace install — from its cut of in-app purchases. The iOS side of things is in its infancy so clearly a lot can happen down the road - but def. something that should be on everyone's radar, especially for apps with global TAM. https://lnkd.in/dJT9K7FN #appmarketing #appstore #gamedevelopers

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In the 3+ years OneGuide has existed, we’ve run 200+ portfolio roundtable discussions. Here’s what I wish I knew about 200 roundtables ago… 𝗢𝗻 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗦𝗩𝗣𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲: 1️⃣ Include invitees below the CEO/Founder level → yes you want to engage your CEOs and Founders, but they’re also the busiest and least likely to show up to events. Functional leaders are often more eager to engage AND they’re the people who benefit most from tactical knowledge. Double win. 2️⃣ Encourage invitees to bring their team → by and large, you don’t need to worry about people forwarding the invite willy-nilly (they won’t). If you’re having an event on win/loss reporting and the VP of Marketing wants to invite their Product Marketing Manager, you should definitely let them! 3️⃣ Make sure registrants get a calendar item (WITHOUT clicking “add to calendar”) → the tool you use for registration should have a calendar integration so the event automatically gets added to the calendar. OneGuide didn’t have this for the first year or so, and it did make a big difference 😅. This also gives you visibility into who's accepted the calendar invite, so you have a better idea of the yield you’ll get. 3️⃣ Send reminders → the cadence we like best is inviting people a few weeks before the event, then sending two reminders: the day before and 15 minutes before. Tip: More attendees are not always better → smaller groups are often more engaged. My non-scientific assessment is that you get the most engagement with 6-10 people. As it starts to get bigger, the conversation becomes more one-directional. That isn't necessarily bad, but you should know what your goals are and adjust accordingly. 𝗢𝗻 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: 1️⃣ Ask for pre-submitted questions when people register → at that moment, they’re thinking about why they want to attend, and those qestions end up being interesting ways to get the discussion going. 2️⃣ Have a facilitator (separate from the people hosting/presenting) → that separate person can deal with admitting people, managing the recording, monitoring the chat for questions, or tech snafus. That way, the host and guest expert can focus on the conversation. 3️⃣ Bank 25-50% of the time for questions → you might intentionally put a slide somewhere in the presentation that tees up questions that people in the audience ask. That can be a good place to have a conversation checkpoint midway through the event. Then, make sure to leave time at the very end for questions. 4️⃣ If you do a feedback survey, do it through Zoom → we find that you get a much higher response rate from the survey if you embed it into the Zoom/webinar tool so that it flashes up on people's screens. The next best option is putting a survey in the chat, the worst performing is putting it in the recap email. Ran out of characters! Next post: planning content

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🌏 Open Banking & Bank Infra start-ups: what's the trend?  🌎 📊 📈 We’ve been hearing about “building for banks” but if we actually break it down, it seems to break into four segments: 1️⃣  Bank systems (CBS/LOS/LMS), 2️⃣ Credit Card Issuing and Management (CCMS), 3️⃣ Tech enabled banks 4️⃣ Account Aggregator model (AA) for open banking 💡 🎯 I’ve taken a look at Rev X (last valuation / ‘23 revenues). On average (out of the 10 I got details for), “building for banks” fintechs are trending at Rev X of ~21x. This is in line with what fintechs were trending at at IPO: ~19.6x. Deep dive: https://lnkd.in/ghb5w8iS 💡 📊 Visa is betting on this space. It acquired Tink (AA, Sweden) in 2024, Pismo (CCMS, Brazil) in 2022, and bid for Plaid (AA, USA) in 2020. And maybe more in the future? 1️⃣ Core Banking  / Lending Management Systems: Rev X: 11.3x - 20x ✅ Falcon: Founded 2012 (went through pivots), Raised 2 seed rounds, last round in 2022, HQ: India ✅ M2P: Founded 2016, Valued: ~$600M, Rev in’23: $53M, Rev X: 11.3x, HQ: India ✅ Lentra: Founded 2018, Valued: $400M, Rev in ‘23: $20M, Rev X: 20x, HQ: India ✅ Constantinople: Founded 2022, Raised $50M in 2024 Series A, HQ: Australia 2️⃣ Credit Card Issuing & Management: Rev X: 30-40x, only 1 ex, so may not be accurate M2P & Falcon who provide banking systems, also provide credit card issuing / management solutions. ✅ Pismo: Founded 2016, Valued: $1B at Visa acquisition in 2024, Rev in ‘23: $25M+, Rev x: ~30-40x, HQ: Brazil ✅ Hyperface: Founded 2021 by ex-Juspay founder, Valued: $65M, HQ: India ✅ Pomelo: Founded 2021, Valued: $100M+, HQ: Argentina 3️⃣ Tech enabled banks (fintechs with banking license): Rev X: 11.59 - 12x These banks provide payments infrastructure, as well as APIs to banks in their network. In the sample I’ve looked at, this segment seems to have the highest revenues. They also raised at higher multiples: ~11-20x. This is higher than what Indian banks are at as of ‘24 (range from 5x - 8x). And similar to start-ups building for bank systems. ✅ Cross River Bank: Founded 2008, Valued: $3B, Rev in ‘23: $150M+, Rev x: 12-20x, potential IPO in 2025, HQ: USA ✅ Solaris: Founded 2016, Valued: $1.6B, Rev in ‘23: $138M, Rev x: 11.59x, HQ; Germany 4️⃣ AA model (open APIs):  Rev X: 20 - 200x It’s possible some of these companies are overvalued. Plaid (200x), and Yapily (66x - 100x) seem to be trending on the higher side ✅ Perfios: Founded 2008, Valued: $1B+, Rev in ‘23: $50M, Rev x: 20x, HQ: India ✅ Tink: Founded 2012, Valued: $2B at acquisition by Visa in 2022, Rev in ‘23: $32M, Rev X: 62.5x, HQ: Sweden ✅ Plaid: Founded 2013, Valued: $13.4B, Visa acquisition bid $5B in 2020, Rev in '23: $64M, Rev X: 200x, HQ: USA ✅ True Layer: Founded 2016, Valued: $1B, Rev in ‘23: $45M, Rev X: 22x, HQ: UK ✅ Yapily: Founded 2017, Valued: $200-300M, Rev in ‘23: $3M, Rev X: 66-100x, HQ: UK For the detailed article, and more pieces like this, click here: https://lnkd.in/gYjh6H2c

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Fake investors: How to spot scammers and time-wasters, and protect your startup Don't fall victim to fake investors! In this article, we uncover crucial strategies for safeguarding your business from potential scammers and fraudsters. Key takeaways: - Build your network: Leverage trusted connections and attend startup events to meet potential investors. - Communicate openly: Ensure alignment in values and vision with potential investors to avoid conflicts. - Trust your instincts: If something feels off, investigate further and don't rush into decisions. - Conduct due diligence: Verify investor credentials and seek professional help to navigate fundraising deals. - Protect with legal documents: Use platforms like SeedLegals for secure fundraising and safeguarding against conflicts. Stay informed, stay vigilant, and protect your startup from the lurking dangers of fake investors. #StartupAdvice #InvestorProtection #Entrepreneurship

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