Fabrice des Mazery

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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A few prompts to inspire B2B startups to think bigger about their product marketing: ➜ What domain are we buying? (Full credit to ⚡ Sylvain Giuliani on this one) There’s nothing like thinking of a domain name that forces you to succinctly summarize your product's stance or purpose. Ask yourself, what does your product stand for or against? What are the broader themes or trends? Examples: Figma used designsystems .com and Segment used crm-is-not-enough ➜ What’s the headline of the press release? Amazon product managers famously use the 'working backwards' approach by writing a mock press release and FAQ for a new product. Thinking of just the headline forces you to distill the story you want the market to be telling about you. Examples of real headlines from TechCrunch: “Envoy Brings In $1.5 Million To Kill The Lobby Sign-In Book” “This startup believes mobile apps for businesses should work more like consumer apps” ➜ If we were to write a book today, what would be the title? Use this question to identify what unique knowledge your company has that can establish you as a thought leader, and educate the market. Examples: Equals just wrote “The Ultimate Guide to ARR”, Monte Carlo wrote “Data Quality Fundamentals” I’ve found these prompts to be a great way to inspire creativity, as they bring your positioning to life in a tangible way. #productmarketing

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💟 This is the kind of news that makes you love Venture Capital! 🦄🇫🇷 Some will only remember the €1.5 billion exit for a French company. It's not a UNICORN valuation, it's a real EXIT! 3️⃣ 6️⃣ Some will only remember the x36 multiple on investment. 💥 Some will only remember the €175 million proceeds returned to the funds with a single operation. 👑What I'll remember, is Denis Ladegaillerie's passion, vision, and ambition. These are the keys to success. Excited to share this fantastic news for Believe, for Ventech, but also for the entire Tech ecosystem! 🚀 #VentureCapital #SuccessStory cc France Digitale

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Here is a market research for your next product idea. Verticals at which VCs want to throw their wallets. https://lnkd.in/d_EhqYcU It’s not a secret yet for some reason YC doesn’t get enough submissions in these domains. There’a at least 1 good idea I’ve got from reading this - Programming Language (or framework or fork) for New Space domain. There are some lessons to take from SpaceX approach to development and how they handle system recovery. Having this baked into language with set of testing tools to stress test the system is something that is needed to make programming for New Space more approachable. You could license tools on top of that. Do you have any other ideas? #vc #money #ycombinator #programming #spacex #newspace #startup

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This is a great read by Sachin Rekhi that outlines the deliberate startup methodology. If you want to learn more - join me while I facilitate his Finding PMF course where we cover the methodology in depth, including case studies. Link to the course in the comments.

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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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Nearly every single new product will need to pivot before finding product/market fit. And yet, most teams are terrible at pivoting... Here's what I've learned about the fine art of pivoting well: First, you need to identify which of your product/market fit hypotheses is not working: 1️⃣ Problem to solve - Do customers not care enough about the problem you're solving? 2️⃣ Target audience - Is the product not resonating with your target audience? 3️⃣ Value proposition - Is your solution not addressing the customer's problem? 4️⃣ Competitive advantage - Is your product failing to differentiate relative to alternatives? 5️⃣ Growth strategy - Are you failing to attract adequate customers to the product? 6️⃣ Business model - Are customers unwilling to pay for the product? Once you've identified the specific hypothesis that is not working, you then need to generate alternative hypotheses for what might fix it. The task then becomes coming up with small tests you can run to validate whether your alternative hypotheses will indeed fix what's not working. You might conduct customer interviews, run growth tests, launch a new product feature, etc, all in service of testing your new hypothesis. Once you have some conviction on this new hypothesis, it's time to roll it out across your product. The final critical step is ensuring you then revisit each of your other hypotheses and make sure they are now in alignment with what you've changed. People often forget this step. For example, if you decided to move up market to enterprise, your existing growth strategy is unlikely to be effective for attracting enterprise customers, so that hypothesis now also needs to be updated to be brought into alignment. 👆 This is a preview of content we'll be covering in my Finding Product/Market Fit course. Join us for the May cohort to learn a modern approach to new product innovation: https://lnkd.in/gwKZDtX3

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I'm Seeking Fractional SaaS B2B Product Manager (and this could lead to many other opportunities) While some people think magical Smurfs do all this work at a startup, I assure you it takes a professional after a certain point, and Our startup has reached a critical point, and it's clear we need a professional in every role. We're looking for an exceptional SaaS product manager (onshore, offshore, or on Mars) who can work on a fractional basis. Initially, the role will require about 20 hours per month, potentially growing to 40-60 hours. Key Must-Haves for Our Early-Stage Pre-Seed Startup: (no exceptions at all) Customer-Centric Focus Understand and empathize with users. Conduct user research to validate hypotheses. Prioritize features based on user needs. Lean Product Development Implement MVP principles. Rapid prototyping and iteration. Focus on core functionalities first. Clear Product Vision and Strategy Define and communicate a compelling vision. Align strategy with business goals. Set clear, achievable milestones and KPIs. Cross-Functional Collaboration Work closely with engineering, design, marketing, and sales. Ensure alignment and clear communication across teams. Data-Driven Decision Making Use analytics to guide decisions. Track key performance indicators. Make informed decisions based on data. Strong Problem-Solving Skills Identify and prioritize critical problems. Develop creative solutions for user pain points. Anticipate and mitigate risks. Effective Communication Clearly articulate product ideas and progress. Write detailed product requirements. Present updates and gather feedback. WE REQUIRE REPORTING because of terrible prior experiences (with unprofessional people) we are now assholes about quality reporting. No weekly report, no paycheck. 😅 Resource Management Optimize use of limited resources. Identify and leverage external partnerships. Passion and Resilience Show enthusiasm for the product and mission. Demonstrate resilience in the face of challenges. Maintain a positive and proactive attitude. If you know anyone who fits this description, please let me know!

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During my time, Spendesk went from 10 to 500 employees and from $8M to $1B+ valuation in 3 years. 10 things I learned that I'm applying today at Hyperline 👇 1️⃣ Your first 10 hires should be people who could be friends with one-another 2️⃣ Set standards and then give early employees space, even if they do things differently than you would 3️⃣ The best product can win but the worst will necessarily loose, invest as much as possible in there as long as you can 4️⃣ Only hire profiles you need and don't duplicate roles unless absolutely necessary - each person you add will slow down the company 5️⃣ Create emotions around your brand, people should know who you are and what you stand for. Your culture, the quality of your product, etc... 6️⃣ Go global from day 1 if you have no infrastructure dependency. Translate your product, try selling in other countries early, you'll learn so much. 7️⃣ Live customer support with Intercom or similar chat is key in the early days, don't use 24h emails. 8️⃣ Analytics and tracking should be added immediately on your sales funnel, product adoption, and marketing channels - you can't optimize what you don't see. 9️⃣ Alternate intensity for employees, push for hard work most of the time but when taking a break (team dinner, offsites, etc...) don't be cheap. 🔟 "Hire slow, fire fast" is an idea from people who haven't hired at scale. You won't know more about a person by spending 12 hours with them instead of 6. Hire them, put them to work and you'll know.

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65% of our new ARR last month came inbound. Our secret? We do one thing every early-stage startup should (but lots don't): Consistently publish social content. In March, we decided that we were going to go all-in on posting on LinkedIn + Twitter daily. A lot of Founders neglect it because they feel they don't have the time, or because they can't tie it to revenue effectively enough. We're 3 months in and it's clear that it is the easiest way to punch above your weight (especially in a competitive market like ours). Not to mention, it's been a huge money-maker for us. We're driving both top-of-funnel awareness and bottom-of-funnel conversions. When I was at the PLGTM conference earlier this year, I had multiple people come up to me and mention that they'd heard about me from my LinkedIn or Twitter posts. Opening a conversation with some familiarity to myself and Unify is insanely powerful. TLDR: Make social a core part of your GTM motion. Done right, you'll drive both top-of-funnel awareness and bottom-of-funnel conversions. ...unless you're in the outbound/GTM space. In that case, social is a complete waste of time and doesn't drive any results 😀 Check out Unify here: https://lnkd.in/gn_--FeC PS - as Reed called out in this tweet, a warning that you will 100% get roasted by your friends for being cringe 😁

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Ask my partners Evan Allen Blair Merlino JT Benton and they'll tell you I'm a glutton for asking and figuring out not just what works, but how things work, and why. Perhaps it's the researcher side of me, but I get uneasy relying on heuristics/patterns without knowing what's causing it, not just for an intellectual curiosity standpoint, but because it introduces uncontrolled risk into the business. Power law is a classic example of this. Sure, it tends to work for large enough funds over a long-enough duration. To the degree that trend holds, everything is fine. If the trend all of a sudden breaks (some evidence suggests that may be happening in real time), then all of a sudden a lot of GPs and LPs are going to get crushed and no explanation or understanding as to why. As studio builders we don't rely on power law. We constantly develop and fine-tune our ventures to learn and master what is driving their value. We are by no means perfect, but in our estimation we're asking the right questions and seeking the right answers versus relying on a trend and hoping for the best.

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Text is not only text. Product benefit is not only a product benefit. When it comes to A/B testing, every little thing matters! Today, let's talk about how we present product benefits differently to see what works best. 🔹 Variation 1: We start with the strongest product benefit, then move to a weaker one, and finish with the least impressive benefit. 🔹 Variation 2: Mixing it up here: We put the strongest benefit in the middle and let the weakest one take the lead. Our results in A/B testing keep showing that leading with the strongest product benefits grabs people's attention better. By leaving the weaker points for last, we make a better impression. Have you seen similar results in your own tests? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments and feel free to vote with LinkedIn reactions. 🙂 #varifyio #cro #experimentation #conversionoptimization

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Perhaps the simplest but most important reframe for thinking about finding product-market fit, that I wish someone had told me 10 years ago: Smart people tend to think top-down, at scale, in abstractions: Personas, market segments, value propositions, product categories, etc. This is helpful in many ways. However, you actually find product-market fit bottom-up, in 1-on-1 conversations with prospective & actual customers. In fact, top-down thinking often *prevents* us from finding product-market fit. Because we're so committed to our theories, we have a hard time recognizing the real patterns of demand in our customer conversations. And we try to force our top-down theories on the market, which is neither fun nor effective. It was only through onboarding our first 300 customers 1-on-1 that I noticed a pattern that led to the *real* product opportunity, for example. Would I have noticed this if I hadn't done that hands-on work? Would I have noticed it if I'd been committed to some top-down thesis developed before working with 300 customers 1-on-1? Of course not. Everything in startupland talks at scale, in theory, in abstractions. Which makes sense in the classroom, in newsletters, and on social media. The only place it doesn't make sense is in practice.

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How do you get guest posts "right"? I don't have the answer, but I'm trying to figure it out! I want to incorporate more guests and experts into MKT1 newsletter, but don’t want to lose the strong POV and connected frameworks the newsletter is known for. Why? MKT1 Newsletter is moving from 1 to 2 posts a month, starting this month! The second each month will incorporate expert opinions or examples from the community. Thoughts on how you’d like to see me incorporate experts into the newsletter? Examples of great guest content?

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Whether you're a French startup founder or investing in the French tech ecosystem, this is a must-have resource: The Serena 2024 Edition of the Ultimate VC List is live! Fundraising can be incredibly time-consuming. That’s why, back in 2016, Serena created the Ultimate VC List to streamline the process for entrepreneurs in France. Now an interactive platform, it has supported over 100,000 entrepreneurs and VCs in the ecosystem. Some key trends Sébastien Le Roy and Maxime Furet spotted when putting this edition together: 🚀 The French VC ecosystem is thriving with new funds like Resonance, OVNI Capital, Yellow, and Varsity, signaling a vibrant and expanding market. 🌍 There’s increased interest from US and European funds for French startups, particularly in AI and climate tech, and a rise in non-traditional investors such as Business Angel Clubs and Family Offices (which are now covered by a new section). 🔧 Infrastructure investors are playing a critical role in funding innovative hybrid models amid global warming challenges. ♻️ The growing presence of impact VCs highlights the focus on socially and environmentally impactful investments.

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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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This is interesting! Do keep working on it Naza Metghalchi! In our experience, we often see the desire to use existing tools (e.g. CoPilot) for individual activities that are actually enterprise processes in disguise. For example, drafting a policy or job description. Sure, one person could draft a JD, but in practice it involves a hiring manager's expertise, an HR leader (for org chart), a recruiter, and often other stakeholders. An AI equipped to help the initial author often fails to automate enough of the workflow to be considered valuable. Then, teams revert back to previous workflows. I'm curious to see where users draw the line between high/low complexity and individual/enterprise processes. And if this is a gradient, where along each axises will we find the most value addition?

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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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https://lnkd.in/epFgH79T You’ve probably read tons of articles about the different rounds of VC funding and all the associated terms, but how often do you come across something that really breaks down the numbers? Ever wondered how to keep track of your startup’s equity as you grow? Dive into our hands-on guide to cap tables, where I break down everything from your first seed round to that exciting exit moment.  By walking you through various scenarios and terms with comprehensive examples and visual aids, I offer a solid foundation for managing equity financing in startups. While real-world cap tables can be intricate, this primer ensures fair ownership and proceeds distribution, helping you maintain investor confidence and support your startup’s long-term growth.Let’s get your cap table game on point!