Joanne Chen’s Post

Following and reporting on key metrics is one the most fastest and most efficient ways to gauge your startup’s performance. Pick 4-5 key metrics from your relevant industry and stick to them from the start, some really important ones for startups especially B2B are: 1. Revenue (or Gross Transaction Value) 2. Burn rate (and runway) - how fast you are burning through the cash on a monthly basis 3. Retention rate- how many of your customers stick to your product month on month. Avoid changing your reported metrics and don’t cherry pick the metric that just looks good because most times investors will realize the metrics are being hidden on purpose.

In the past, software helped customers be more efficient or effective in doing their jobs (as a sales person, a lawyer, an accountant or a researcher...). Now, I think there is an opportunity for new players to deliver directly the full service that software was initially only "supporting".  VCs don't like this approach from startups, yet. But that's not the point. The point is: will customers - and how fast - adopt this new approach and embrace this new AI-native service delivery? https://lnkd.in/dmiePPsJ

🔍 I met with 120+ startups this summer and 🔍 asked them about their key sales challenges...here's what I learned📚 📢 They complained about not getting the right leads and/or not closing enough deals. ⏱️ The third contender was long sales cycles.... 💰 It comes down to two sides of the same coin: 1️⃣ Access leads 2️⃣ Convert meetings to sales 💵 This proverbial coin cannot be cashed in or used if you don't have both. 🧲 While there are a ton of ways to access leads and generate appointments, it seems that most prospects ghost the startup after a demo. 💔 I've been told it's like going on a great date only to never hear from them again. 🩺The remedy? Pre-qualifying prospects before a demo takes place. 📞How? 20-30 min discovery calls. 📚The problem? Many books, blog posts, frameworks and tactics have been written, only to confuse founders into a soup of acronyms and over-analysis of what is quite simple. 🛠️The fix? Our 'Disco Playbook'. It has templates, AI prompts for scripting, videos and a super simple workflow that'll have you up and running within a day or less. 🆓 To get access, no cost, just comment 'disco' below and we'll send you the link. (Make sure we are connected so I can DM you the playbook)

Breakfast with founders 🥐 Today I met with Michael Theodore Michael is the co-founder of scalr - a platform design to remove uncertainty in sales through internal and external data insights. (Think smart revenue!) We discussed all things: - Starting a business from pain points and uncertainties taking from Michael's experience in sales at Uber and CloudKitchens - but even then, the importance of spending time to validate problems before building a product. - When testing needs to happen and coding isn't your strength, Chat GPT can really help bridge the gap between no-code tools and the need to go all out on developer resources. It's not the end result, but it's a sure resourceful way to get there. - We discussed the potential of more SaaS businesses being bootstrapped. Given the barrier to entry continues to lower and technology becoming easier to build, are most SaaS businesses looking to raise 'just because'. - Getting your value proposition clear. How do you explain what you do without just talking about benefits and features. Can users really empathise with the pain point if they can't understand what it is? Sales leaders, scalr might be one to check out! ----- If you're an investor or founder keen to meet, I'd love to have breakfast with you in London. Link to sign up is in my featured section. Naturally, I can't meet with everyone, but I'll always try to make time to speak!

Unlock Tailored Solutions for Your Company! At Bizdev International, we specialize in detecting and solving complex business challenges. Our seasoned Business Analysts delve deeply into your company’s intricacies, leveraging their expertise to provide adaptive solutions. It’s a journey - one that requires precision and experience. But here’s the exciting part: 𝗕𝗲 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝟭𝟬 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝘂𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝟭𝟬𝟬% 𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝘀! Don’t miss this opportunity—contact us today and let’s pave the way to success together. Whether you’re a startup, a mid-sized enterprise, or an established corporation, our team is here to guide you toward growth and prosperity. #bizdev #Partnership #VietnamIT #BizDevInt

If you're a fledgling tech/SaaS company, you're likely thwarted by constant challenges and uncertainties on your path to growth and scalability. 😠 Frustrated by inconsistent sales? 💰 Just can't land that major client? 📉 Sales plateauing? (or even slowing down altogether?! 😫) At Oxford Growth Advisors, we've seen all of these hurdles (and more) over our decades in the industry. We specialise in helping ambitious companies like you overcome these roadblocks and fast-track your success. Visit our website today to learn more about our innovative growth strategies. #TechGrowthStrategies #ScalingSuccess #BusinessGrowthSolutions

There’s a ton of players in the community that do what we do at DMZ - so what’s our competitive advantage? Prioritizing service excellence. We're founder-obsessed, considering every detail of the founder experience. From the coffee we serve to the tailored mentorship we provide, and our international expansion plans to help founders break into new markets. Here’s a page from our playbook on how startups can become customer obsessed: ➡ Embrace a customer-first mindset. Infuse this philosophy into your startup's core, articulate it in your vision and prioritize customers in daily decisions. ➡ Operate with a sense of urgency. Balancing automation with personal attention is crucial to ensure a professional experience with genuine human interaction. ➡ Create joyful moments. Build lasting customer loyalty by going above and beyond. Foster a personal connection and encourage honest feedback. These personal touches create trust and loyalty. ➡ Implement a customer feedback loop. Knowing what your customers want is key for any startup. Use customer feedback to grow. To achieve excellence, you must be ruthless on quality across the board—that’s the bottom line.

As a bootstrapped founder, DataBees’ early growth relied heavily on my personal network and direct involvement in every sales deal. Clearly not scalable— startups can't depend on founder-led sales forever. If you're chasing every deal you'll be spending time working in the business instead of on the business. In short, you'll get tunnel vision instead of seeing the big picture. If there was any early-stage advice I’d give to another founder it would be this: Once you detect the signals of product market fit, find people you trust and equip them with the right tools to transition to a scalable and repeatable GTM strategy. • Align hand offs between marketing, sales, and customer success teams to onboard effectively. • Cultivate leadership skills within your GTM team so they can own the entire sales cycle. • Invest in sales and marketing channels to expand beyond your network. • Develop a repeatable, efficient sales process. • Build playbooks and pricing guides. ------------------------------------------ Drop me a follow for more on data enrichment, business life and B2B sales.

10 things I've already learned in my first week of joining a software startup in the Senior Living industry: 1) listening & iteration is key 2) there is a lot to do, build out & optimize. It's part of the journey 3) we need to move fast 4) internal communication needs to be flowing continuously (product, sales, customer support, etc) 5) double check that pages, websites, phone numbers, etc are updated 6) the software platform is complex, but in a really user friendly way 🦄 7) it's so important to over deliver. Provide everything possible to the client. 8) customer testimonials are a must have 9) ask the right questions to potential clients to a) learn more about the software's use case and 2) build credibility 10) never stop learning and moving Week 2, let's get it 🔥 #startup #software #seniorliving #assistedliving #sales