Roderik Hageman

1 month ago, we made a breakthrough. Our AI Elsie, sold itself. With no human interaction from our side. ❌ No SDR ❌ No sales reps ❌ No marketeer The yearly value of the deal is €8340. Our cost (CAC)? €30. Now, we're still beta testing the full AI sales with no human touch inhouse. So this is not viable on a commercial scale (yet). Currently Elsie handles about 10% of our total sales, without human touch. The rest is sent to our amazing sales team. Curious about the costs of a sales rep? Let's break it down. 👉 Monthly cost of a human sales rep in Sweden: – Salary + other cost: Let's say €5000 – Cost per meeting booked: €150 – Monthly cost 20 meetings: €3000 – Total monthly cost per rep: €8000 But you can do the math yourself. The future looks promising, doesn't it? #AISales #AIAssistant #LinkedClient

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If everybody goes after bigger clients, what about the small ones.. Arnaud Belinga 🧊🔨 from Breakcold is doing the opposite of 'what you should do' as a founder. They set out and entered one of the most competitive markets - CRM - and succeeded. We talked about: 🚣‍♂️ How to break into an extremely competitive market (CRM) 🚣‍♂️ Don’t create your own market, enter one with a crystal clear niche 🚣‍♂️ Bootstrapping a lean startup (PS. Skip the seed stage) 🚣‍♂️ Look at competitors and do the opposite, cuz food is left on the table 🚣‍♂️ 2 advice on creating good content: Write like you talk & use your own images Available where you listen to pods and watch videos. Search for Hot SaaS or climb the linktree in my profile #HotSaaS 🌶🚀

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Yet another Thursday. Yet another meeting. But hey! I wasn’t complaining. I was actually looking forward to it. Running a B2B SaaS start-up throws a lot of challenges at you but of late, I've been killing it! With a big smile, I was on the way to the meeting when I felt a sudden wave of discomfort coursing through my body. I realized I had unexpectedly started my periods. I excused myself and hurried to the restroom, desperately searching my handbag for my trusty Stayfree blue packet. I found none. Zepto came to the rescue. As I was looking through the options, I came across Nua Pads. I remembered hearing about it from a colleague a few weeks back. When it comes to something like pads as long as it satisfies my basic expectations, I stick to it and don't really experiment too much though I know new sanitary pad companies flood the market often (I have been using Stayfree since high school) But entrepreneurship did teach me a few things. When the situation demands, you pivot. I decided to give Nua pads a try. 10 minutes later, I was pleasantly surprised and ended up being hooked onto Nua. There was something about Nua pads that just hit the right mark. Was it because they were toxin-free and made with 100 % safe ingredients?  Was it because of the handy way each pad comes with its own wrapper that you can use to discard your pad? Definitely, but apart from all this what really sealed the deal for me was - their customizable subscription plans where you could personalize your plan based on your flow and frequency. Attention to your customer’s pain points says a lot about your business. While there are solutions available in the market for every problem, a lot of us fail to realize that the same problem is perceived differently by every customer as the impact that it has on the customer’s end is different. This is where customization of the solution you present for the problem that you address takes the main stage. By customizing your solution, you cater to every customer’s unique needs which, let's face it in today's world, is constantly evolving. In a world where we personalization at scale is a necessity, It's not just about providing a solution; it's about providing the right solution, customized to each customer. What do you think? Drop your thoughts below. #B2BSaaS #StartupLife #Entrepreneurship #CustomerSatisfaction #Customization #Personalization #femalefounder #Ownyourperiod #CustomerCentricity #NuaPads

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I can tell within 15 minutes if I should invest in a founder—Melodie van der Baan was one of them. Founders always ask what the investment criteria is for VCs. Investors will give different answers, but it almost always comes down to one thing - conviction in the founder / ceo. I first met Mel while giving a talk to the new Techstars cohort in 2022. I met dozens of budding entrepreneurs that evening, but Mel stood out amongst them. She told me about her company, which targeted the excess inventory market for SMB retailers across the country. It’s a complex solution in a legacy space, but what she lacked in deep technical expertise, she made up for in tenacity and grit that came through in aspects of her communication and follow-through. It reminded me a lot of myself early in my founder journey. We invested in the pre-seed round early in the journey and since then, they’ve rebranded to Max Retail and have gone on to raise a seed round and now a $15m Series A from top investors including Nosara Capital, Rethink Impact, LP, Interplay VC, M13, The Artemis Fund , StandUp Ventures, Overline VC, and Regatta Ventures. So what has made Mel different than other founders? ➝ High integrity - Mel always sends out quarterly investor updates without fail, including not only the wins, but also weak points and how they plan to address them. ➝ Look at their growth - it’s iterative and consistent. Nothing fancy or exponential - just quarter-by-quarter blocking and tackling to automate what had previously been manual industry-wide. ➝ Grit - instead of building in a go-big or go-home “waterfall style” and demanding everything be automated before going to market, she’s been able to chip away and reach product-market fit over time. Who’s a founder you believe in purely based on conviction?

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Read more on the 9 biggest startup mistakes and key takeaways from female entrepreneurs in the article below ⬇🌟 https://lnkd.in/egQrbh8N

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We have been advising B2B SaaS companies on how to leverage community-led growth for over a year now. Those companies are tapping into the power of community to drive serious growth. They're winning trust, loyalty and priceless user insights. Five examples of companies who are killing it: 1. Notion - This workspace app has over 100K members in their buzzing online community. They get users involved in product development, creating a real sense of ownership. 2. Figma - The design platform brings its community together through virtual events, workshops and hackathons. Designers get to connect, upskill and directly shape the tool. 3. Personio - The HR tech firm takes community offline with regular meetups for HR pros to network and share know-how on the future of the industry. 4. Miro - Over 35 million whiteboard wizards make up this online community. Forums, user groups and events help members collaborate and innovate together. 5. Airtable - This spreadsheet-database hybrid harnesses its community's knowledge through forums, templates and integrations created by users themselves. Want to dive deeper into this community-led growth movement? Don't miss "The Power of Community in B2B SaaS" at the Personio office in Amsterdam on May 22nd. We'll have Julia Pilkes (HubSpot), Koen Stam (Personio) and Lorenzo Tiberi (Crono) breaking it down while you network with other community builders from the best sales and marketing teams in tech. Spots are limited: https://lnkd.in/eP8D3ymM

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Candidates are always asking me... “How can I still stand out even if I didn’t go to top schools or I didn’t work at the best company? Market Thesis is the key 🔑. I’ll explain: If you put in the work, prepare some markets, and find great prospects within those markets … You can still impress your interviewers. Even if: – You didn’t come from a prestigious school – You don’t have a ton of finance or investing experience – You’re liberal arts major, an undergrad or an MBA looking to gain experience. Because when you do well in Market Thesis, it gives an impression that: “Hey, even though I haven’t done this in my previous job … I can jump in tomorrow to your firm and start adding value already because I have decent ideas, I’m following the right markets and I have good instincts.” Sure, it’s a lot of work. But, in some cases, it can be a great equalizer for candidates. *** Need help preparing for a market thesis? Check this out: https://lnkd.in/gJWN8Hdh #growthequity #venturecapital #privateequity #investmentbanking #vc #buyside #investing #interviewskills #finance #networking #interviews #recruiter #headhunter

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1 year ago I helped a founder raise £2m. When we began working, it seemed impossible. Why? Because he couldn’t stop talking during investor calls! This man had a great network. We were not worried about getting enough meetings for his fundraise. But as soon as he was in the meetings he would crumble. For the 1st call that he recorded for me. He spoke for a whole 29 minutes out of the 30 minute call! The investor asked one question before the founder who go on tangent after tangent. His 2nd call was better. But not by much. The investor was able to ask 3 questions, even though 2 of them was ignored or talked over. This founder was so focused on telling investors everything about his business. That no-one actually liked him. And they didn't want to keep speaking to him. Luckily we caught this early. (And why I say its so important to get practice calls in and record them). Because we then worked on how he answered investors questions in the right way. All so he could be more: - Clear - Concise - Conversational. And in the end he was successful. £2m successful. — P.S. If you want to chat about how I can help you with exactly this, comment below with "RAISE" or dm me. Because the only way to actually know how to speak to investors is to work with someone who's sat on all sides of the table.

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Every investor is looking to make the best decision possible. And so far data as been the most reliable way of doing so. But despite many efforts to become a data driven investor (👋 if your part of this team, welcome to the club) it’s hard to become one especially in VC. Why ? In first place to be data driven you need … data.  And data is hard to find in VC. So you’ll need to build a dataset. But building a dataset to analyse a deal is difficult cause information you’re looking for are scarce and spread over the internet. And it’s also difficult to match data from different sources. So more than often you end up doing it by hand and it takes a lot of time. So in the end investors put data driven approach on hold because of unreliable, incomplete or inexistant dataset to start with. And this where Luphy can help you. On the past months, we have taken this challenge head-on. The data collection is now fully automated for each deal you upload it make data access and use seamless for everyone in your team. If curious to try it out, hit me with a dm. PS : here's a beautiful picture of James Simons who brought the data driven approach to another level for hedge funds. We're hoping to do the same for VCs !

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𝘽𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙎𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙡: 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙈𝙮 𝙅𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮 Over the last six months, I have sent over 300,000 cold emails and successfully booked hundreds of sales meetings. Throughout this journey, I tested almost every sales tool available and learned extensively about Direct Cold Email, which remains one of the most effective growth channels for the majority of B2B startups. In a series of detailed posts, I will share my insights and provide best practices on how to set up a successful Outreach Channel for your company. The main points we will cover are: 𝟭. 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝟮. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗜𝗖𝗣 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘀 𝟯. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺) 𝟰. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝟱. 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗨𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 I will start tomorrow with an in-depth guide on how to set up your email infrastructure to ensure your emails land in the inbox of your recipients. Stay tuned! 💌 🚀 📈

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"Don't build your core product with no-code tools." ❌ Many founders believe no-code can't handle core products and if this is 2021 then i would agree. fortunately i've seen the progress made with no code tools and i can guarantee you that if you know how, you will be blown away by how leveraging no code tools will make you win in a very competitive market. Instead, the best founders know how to leverage no-code. 💡 Here are 7 steps that will help you build with no-code: 1. Identify the core functionality of your product. 2. Research no-code tools that can handle it. 3. Prototype and test your core product. 4. Iterate based on user feedback and testing. 5. Optimize for performance, scalability, and user experience. 6. Launch your no-code core product to users. 7. Continue improving and expanding your no-code product. Time is crucial especially in saas , its a winner takes all market. For example : if you use hootsuite for your post scheduling, are you going to use another content scheduling ? probably not. You'll know you're doing it right when users love your product. Remember — the idea is not to focus on the tools but finding method to build faster and smarter i will be posting my go to no code tools that will reduce your IT team size by up to 60% if you can master it. Good luck 🍀 , #linkedin #nocodetools #aimastery

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Our strategy at PeakSpan is simple - scaling a growth company successfully should be an iterative, incremental process. The decisions and options you have in front of you at $3M of ARR scale are vastly different than those at $10M and different still from those at $25M and beyond - scale your way into success sensibly, putting your foot on the gas more and more when the data asserts that you’re ready for it and it’s the right thing to do. This video encapsulates our approach in a nutshell - swinging as hard as you can for a statistically unlikely outcome when you’re a young, still very much evolving business, simply isn’t the value maximizing strategy. https://lnkd.in/e96AzU_N

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The easiest way to sell more? Loving the product you sell. Might sound stupid. But so true. Beginning of the year, things were BAD. We had to fight heavy bugs in BetterContact. I relied on it for my own outbound. And became pretty frustrated myself. Asking: would I even buy it as a user? 4 months ago, we heavily invested in infrastructure. Now it works like a charm. Not only are our users happier. But also myself with the product. Allowing me to be more energetic about it. And sell more. Result: 88% Q1 MRR growth Do you love the product you’re selling? 👇

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When should you start charging for your product? If you have a functioning product that solves for an acute pain point, you should start charging right away. As a founder you might think your product is immature compared to what it could become in the future, but don’t let that prevent you from putting a price tag on a game changing solution. Too often I find founders get uncomfortable with having the “let me charge you” discussion, but without trading real investment for the product you’ve built your customer will: ❌ devalue your product: customers can sense lack of confidence quickly. “I’ll do this for free” is another signal that your not confident in your product’s ability to deliver. ❌ put resources where bigger investment have been made: have you ever seen a $0 investment warrant the onboarding attention of enterprise software? Nope! The investment is not just a budget line item, but also an indicator as to how much exposure your project will get internally from an onboarding and mindshare perspective ❌ take advantage of your kindness: if you’re always giving without taking, that sets a bad precedent in the business relationship. Asking for budget puts you on a level playing field with other vendors so don’t let your future customers take without giving. What other mindset blockers are preventing you from charging for your product? #enterprisesales #founderledsales #b2bsales #techsales

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Ever struggle to keep your deals moving through the pipeline? Or find yourself unsure as to your next move in a tricky deal? 🚨 We just released our new ‘Deal Coaching’ functionality in Grw AI to guide you through your deals from start to finish 🚨 Our AI experts remember everything about your deals and are always ready to help. Here's how they help you win: Awareness - They already know where each deal is at so you don't have to explain each time. Comprehension - They understand the full context of your deals, the solution you sell as well as everything about your organisation's way of selling. Strategize - They work with you to navigate objections, challenges, and even complex negotiations. Actions - They create customized plans, run deal reviews and build slick customer comms to progress and close your deals. Imagine having an expert wingman in your corner whenever you need help! No more feeling stuck or uncertain. See the latest release in action here and DM me if you want to learn more! Special shoutout to David Brock for supporting us with this release and of course our amazing customers! Particular thanks to the teams at TradeWindow, Staffing Engine, Neara and ezyVet for your amazing feedback that led to this latest release!

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For 10+ years I've helped B2B founders build their Marketing using the AAA Framework. In that startup to scaleup phase, there are a lot of similarities. There always seemed to be friction creating revenue pull-through from Marketing efforts. So I developed the AAA Framework specifically for companies under $5M in revenue. A successful Marketing motion is built on a solid foundation. Here is how I create a Marketing & Revenue Pull-Through Action Plan for clients using the AAA Framework: ✨ Audit: - List of all past Marketing & Sales Campaigns - # of Leads, # of Qualified Opps/Deals created, # of Closed/Won during a period of time - Calculate conversion % (HubSpot Lifecycle Stage conversion report, pull Lead Statuses into a CSV and calculate outside of HubSpot, or Salesforce Lead Stages & Lead Conversion Report) - Determine ICP and Persona segmentation of Closed/Won business and Qualified Opps (custom report, pivot table) - Pull competitor data from websites, landing pages, and ads (manual data scrape or use a tool like PeerSignal.org, Facebook Ad Library etc) - Pull negative reviews from G2, Capterra, Trustpilot etc ✨Analyze: - Identify ICP and Personas you do well with - Identify where competitors aren't - Identify what users are frustrated with - Identify what competitors aren't saying - Identify gaps where you can shine ✨Action: - Develop improved messaging hitting on painpoints and what competitors don't do (ChatGPT can help here) - Create 30-60-90 Day plan for experimentation - Launch similar campaigns on same channels using different messaging and ICP targeting - Review learnings & conversion % at intervals to see if we're tracking historical or need improvements - Improve and iterate With the AAA framework I've helped companies ✨ Improve their differentiation & messaging ✨ Identify market & persona segments to focus on ✨ Double down on what's working ✨ 3X their MQLs ✨ Exceed their yearly Closed Won business target by 26% ✨ Add 7 figures to their annual revenue. See if trying the AAA framework in your business can drive the conversions you're looking for. --- Found this helpful? Share this post with your network to help others. Follow me ✨Carly J. Cais for more marketing to revenue tips. #marketing #revenue #saas With thanks to Nick Broekema for the fantastic carousel framework so I could share my AAA framework. Malkovitch, Malkovitch!

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𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁? Think you need a business school degree or a job at McKinsey to become a unicorn founder? Think again. Unicorn founders were global citizens, often with startup experience. They weren’t climbing corporate ladders; they were building products and engineering solutions. On average, they had 10 years of work experience and had lived, worked, or studied abroad. Check out this insightful research by Endeavor. Thanks Rubén D. and Chris Tottman

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Life update: I left my job. Being COO of a promising tech startup felt like the dream. But in the end, titles don’t = happiness. So, I’ve set out on a quest for meaningful work! 💃 And, I’m ready to bet on myself (or at least, some days I feel ready, and other days I succumb to the panic-puddle haha). I’ll be sharing my thoughts and experiences here as I go along - readiness, panic and all. So what’s next? I’m putting on my networking pants and exploring work with good people, that makes a difference in people’s lives. I’m tinkering with ideas, open to consulting, and ready to learn from others who have taken the leap to create a meaningful career on their own terms. (big shout out to the badass Milly Tamati, and Anna Mackenzie for your empowering inspo). Plus, I’m putting up the shingle of “founder in progress” while I iron out the details on a wee project I’m starting (and mustering up the guts to put out there). Stay tuned for more info 👀 Meanwhile, if you or someone you know is a mission-driven founder looking for an operations and marketing swiss-army-knife, halla at me! I’ve worked in startups and venture capital for 8+ years, where I’ve: • Helped founders raise over $14M in seed funding • Scaled teams from 2-25+ • Helped 30X revenue • Coordinated events for thousands of attendees, and • Creatively solved a LOT of complex, hairy problems If you wanna chat, snag a time in my calendar from the link in the comments 👋 PS. if you’re in the Vancouver area I’ll be running some events for founders & solopreneurs soon because I just loooove getting idea-people together. Say hi!

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Assessing a founder's tenacity is crucial in the investment process. Although hard to measure, this quality is evident through their past challenges and persistent pursuit of goals. By looking closely at their experiences and actions, you can often find breadcrumbs that highlight their determination and resilience. In startups, this quality distinguishes success from failure. It's not just about having a great idea, but also the tenacity to realize it.

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