Rajeev Subramanyam

What does great look like in Net Revenue Retention performance in 2024? Some companies continue to deliver NRR of more than 150%. How are they doing this? https://lnkd.in/gZ9hauYS #NRR #NDR #SaaS #generativeAI #pricing

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One of my favorites, Jordan Birnbaum, unpacking noncontextualized guidance and the pitfalls of "generally accepted wisdom." "The only way in which noncontextual business advice can offer value is if you think like an artist. It may be wise to borrow or, even better, steal. But following noncontextual advice without evaluating your context is like wearing a blindfold on a mountain climb because you got the directions 'up.' Then, what to make of the 'importance of saying 'No'' articles? Be intentional with focus and clear with goals, which for 97 percent of us include career development. Careers are developed by saying 'Yes'; please do not actively avoid things that might broaden your horizons." https://lnkd.in/eJe7gMvk

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This is a must read for anyone who believes a more connected world will be better for all of us. And according to Putnam, we are at a crisis of disconnection. Unfortunately, he doesn't offer too many solutions so I'm hoping this platform can chime in with some ideas. "And the third variable that we look at is harder to discuss and measure, but it’s sort of culture. To what extent do we think that we’re all in this together, or it’s every man for himself, or every man or woman? And that has exactly the same trend. What caused that? I am trying to get to the issues of causation because it turns out to be morality, according to my reading of this evidence. What stands upstream of all these other trends is morality, a sense that we’re all in this together and that we have obligations to other people. Now, suddenly, I’m no longer the social scientist, I’m a preacher. I’m trying to say, we’re not going to fix polarization, inequality, social isolation until, first of all, we start feeling we have an obligation to care for other people. And that’s not easy, so don’t ask me how to do that."

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Great article on how our broadening solutions are pushing Plaid into new market segments and unlocking value for the Enterprise!

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It is no secret that fundraising has been incredibly challenging for founders at all stages. According to Carta’s Q1 2024 State of Private Markets report, Seed stage deal count fell 33% from Q4 2023 and Series A deal count fell 36%. Additionally, total cash raised in the same period was 30% less at each stage suggesting rounds sizes are also getting smaller. In this next edition of Collaborative Fund's Founder Support Series, I get into the details of how to prepare to fundraise in a challenging environment. Have a read and let me know what you think: https://lnkd.in/gJjqhsCd

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That pre-approved platinum experience isn't all it was cracked up to be. Over the years, credit card perks and frequent flyer programs have become less attractive and more complex to consumers. In many cases, redemption opportunities have become limited, and rewards devalued. That could all change as the federal government takes a closer look at points and miles, raising scrutiny on loyalty programs. Meet the biggest influencer duo today...Cash Back and Rewards. How many of us are influenced by rewards programs when making a purchase? Be honest. When you're paying for that overpriced artisan latte coffee or buying that expensive watch you don't want your significant other to know about, chances are the points you get affects which piece of plastic you use. And then you redeem those points for even more stuff. The impact is real. For example, co-branded airline cards are used by 30 million consumers in the U.S. and generate $23 billion in economic activity. My points were devalued, and all I got was this t-shirt. The fact of that matter is the value of points is completely up to the companies issuing them. So, 5,000 points may be enough to secure those Sarah "Relationship Breakup" McLachlan tickets one month, but may take twice that the next. It's worth noting that these kinds of changes typically happen behind the scenes and without notifying customers. Government overlords and consumers have something in common...they're not happy. Credit card loyalty programs are typically more costlier than the average credit card with annual fees as high as $650 and average interest rates of 25.3%. Tied to that are the promises made around sign-up bonuses, changes to point values, obstacles in redeeming points and loss of rewards when cards are closed. Those add up for consumers, and they certainly add up in the plus column for card issuers. Wait, this leprechaun seat is the upgrade? Loyalty programs are a big source of revenue for major airlines. For example, Delta Air Lines raked in $6.8 billion in revenue from its loyalty program in 2023, while American Airlines expects 80% of its 2024 revenue will come from loyalty program members. Like one too many prunes before boarding a cross-country flight, the popularity of rewards programs comes with a caveat. Consumers might be missing out on a fair deal due to hidden complexities that devalue their hard-earned points. And who couldn't use a fair deal these days... https://lnkd.in/gTxatTxi #creditcard #airlines #rewards #loyalty #perks #payments #government #regulation #consumers #inflation #economy

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In case you missed it Monday: Google has updated their documentation for the Beta Carousels feature and provided clearer guidelines. To be included in this new feature, you will need a summary page and structured data. The ItemList, along with the basic subtypes, will do the job. Once you've completed these requirements, you can either wait for Google to update your page or fill out a form if you're located in the EEA (European Economic Area). This is an easy way to stay ahead of the curve on new features with very little lift. #Google #BetaCarousels #SEO https://lnkd.in/gi8Xrp5U

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One year at our annual offsite the company leadership shared the mantra for the year: the Genius of the AND. It is a concept from Jim Collins’ Built to Last. Collins writes: Builders of greatness reject the "Tyranny of the OR" and embrace the "Genius of the AND. They embrace both extremes across a number of dimensions at the same time… Some examples: 👉Quality AND productivity 👉Core business growth AND new category expansion 👉Margin AND market share And at a higher level: purpose AND profit, autonomy AND accountability, deliberation AND action. When conflicts arise between things you want—and they arise all the time in business and life—it is important to have tiebreakers. Without tiebreakers, it becomes impossible to seriously pursue goals, in the same sweep, that are at odds with each other. One tiebreaker strategy, and there are a few of them, is creating “even over” statements. It is something I learned about in Aaron Dignan’s Brave New Work; the breadcrumbs for the idea go back to entrepreneur Tom Thomison. I’ve boiled it down to a simple protocol.  1️⃣Write a priority (or a core value) for your org (or team) on the right.  2️⃣To its left, write down something that is more important.  3️⃣Trade off the two priorities by adding “even over” between them. You cannot go wrong with this. For example, you may write, User growth even over unit economics (if your product has found PMF and is in the early growth stage) Or, you may say, Unit economics even over user growth (if you have successfully monetized your product, having grown and scaled, and are now in the gravy train phase) Go through with this exercise and you’ll end up with a series of statements that are true for your organization and that will make trade-offs explicit during confusion. So what about the Genius of the AND? Is it flawed? I think it may be misunderstood and hence mis-applied. People mistake Genius of the AND for A + B. It is not. It is creating a third option C that combines salient elements of both A and B but is different from each. It is a kind of creative solutioning. The Four Seasons hotel chain came about as a rejection of the narrow choice hoteliers faced in the early 1960s: luxury (big business hotels) or personal touch (small motels). My firm’s Genius-of-the-AND ask was quality AND productivity. In hindsight, we could’ve used the opportunity to rethink quality. We used to calculate a certain metric as the quality North Star. Did that matter to customers? Was there something else that was a truer indicator of value to customers? That confusion was an invitation to explore, much like Issy Sharp understood that business travelers longed for a touch of home and modern conveniences. What are your thoughts about when the Genius of the AND applies and when an “even over” strategy wins? When should we make trade-offs and pick a side and when should we reject uncomfortable trade-offs and look for creative solutions? #strategy #curiosityovercertainty

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Hey, I just recorded a Loom explaining how we can use Spark Toro to analyze our target audience for credit repair services. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gNREmQ98. It's really helpful for understanding our audience's interests and finding potential opportunities for featuring our services. Let me know if you have any questions!

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Want to learn more about the role of the business user in low-code. Watch this fun episode of Low down on Low-code!

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Cash discount and surcharging are hot topics with merchants - and their customers who are in some cases footing the bill. Payway®'s latest blog breaks down the differences between the programs and the legality of each. As always, transparency is the best option. Read more below...

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Boston is one of the best cities in the world for sports AND startups. How many others can say that?? When I started MGMT Boston I wanted to explore the relationship between sports and startups in this city. Last week we co-hosted a breakfast with  Kristen Craft from Fidelity Private Shares to meet some startups and operators building (and interested) in Sports, Gaming & Wellness around the city to uncover some of these insights. If you’re a growing startup evaluating your cap table management tools, you need to get in touch with Kristen asap! Jon Von Deylen from Drive by DraftKings brought his learnings & investment perspective to the breakfast. Drive is a multi-stage venture fund that invests in SportsTech & Entertainment with founding partners who include DraftKings, General Catalyst, Accomplice, and Boston Seed Capital. Jon shared... 70% of people in the U.S. say they are sports fans which implies 180M adult fans 124M people watched Super Bowl LVIII and 68M of that audience gambled on the Super Bowl per the American Gaming Association This implies ~60M Americans did not gamble on the Super Bowl and that number would be upwards of 100M+ if you extrapolate to the broader sports fan figure of 180M As of their Q1 ‘24 filing, DraftKings Inc. had roughly 3.5M monthly active users. So even this $16B+ market leader only serves a small (albeit high value and growing) portion of the broader sports fan base. ❗🤸‍♂️ 💡 There’s a good argument to be made that there are some big businesses to be built catering to 100M+ casual fans. 💡🤸‍♂️ ❗ Ahead of the breakfast, I chatted with some members of the professional sports community to hear about their relationship with the local startup ecosystem. In short? It’s varied. Professional athletes get a ton of inbound interest across a variety of requests so they’re often playing defense and choosing from the myriad of opportunities in front of them (or not at all) with agents, managers, and advisors playing gatekeeper. It’s hard to audit quality and often “too hard” to figure out what is worth spending time on, especially with a high performance job where so much of your attention needs to be on the playing field. At our breakfast we had representation from Cephable, Ekkobar, eSki, WurQ, WHOOP, Mementix App, Modulate, SportsVisio, Shift Group and more. Thanks to all who made it.

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The day after I wrote this article, an article was posted on Linkedin about how PE firms are abandoning the "old" ways, and looking at asset efficiencies. Nice pivot, but one consultant's efficiency is another professional's last day at work. Can we look at the picture wholistically and generate a better result?

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DFAR, DFRR, DPT, SEC, BNPR, FTA, FTE, FNMR, FRR.....endless acronyms. So many identity verification metrics - but what do they all mean? Here's a reminder for you - https://lnkd.in/dyv4KGM5 #Identityverification #IDV #acronyms

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Big day today. For the first time, Workday is part of the Fortune 500 list. We are in good company - 60% of the Fortune 500 use Workday. Fortune features our CEO Carl Eschenbach and other CEOs talking about what it means to be on the #Fortune500 list. #TeamWDAY

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Am I connected to anyone that works on Meta's ad platform (or perhaps a third party expert that can help)? Grant Singleton and I are hitting some serious walls with our Meta ads integration, and have drawn a blank connecting with any sort of technical support from their team. Thanks in advance for any contacts or direction! #metaads #api #integrations

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With the recent OpenAI and Google AI announcements, agent and bot-to-bot experiences are coming closer to reality and will impact brand experiences in a significant way as my colleague Elizabeth Papasakelariou recently shared with CGT. #GENAI https://lnkd.in/gaQXsDq2

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Earlier this month, PitchBook reported that "13 percent of venture GPs don't plan to raise another fund as the LP pullback spoils fundraising efforts, according to PitchBook's semiannual VC Tech Survey. That's double the rate in H1 2023, when 6 percent said they had no plans to raise another fund. Ultimately, this is good for startups in the long term, because it ends a 10-to-20-year cycle of cheap money propping up a system that hasn't placed innovation at the forefront of its thesis in a long time." https://lnkd.in/ekYdEJYe #inc #entreprenuership #venture #venturecapital #techinnovation #technology #startups #startup

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So very cool to see how BlackRock has streamlined product operations with Airtable: more than 80 hrs/week saved in productivity for PM and PMM! https://lnkd.in/gW-fb62V #productmarketing #productmanagement

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