Anch.io’s Post

A foolish story in 3 parts: 1 - "I met a founder who refused to quit his job until he hit $1M ARR" 2 - "I was shocked when the founder told me he did most of that part-time." 3 - "In the meantime, he worked full-time on his consulting business. A consulting business that served the same customers as Knak." In other words, his full-time job was his own business. He was "all-in" the entire time. He just allocated his hours differently to more profitable business lines. This story is a complete joke for entrepreneurs to read.

Founders are told to go “all-in”. But I met a founder who refused to quit his job until he hit $1M ARR—then grew to $5M ARR & raised a $25M Series A: Knak grew to 700 customers & $1M ARR in a year. They cut their customer count to 250 while increasing ARR to $10M+. But that's not the most surprising part. I was shocked when the founder told me he did most of that part-time. My experience is your odds of success as a founder are maybe 5-10%—assuming you give it your all. Pierce hit $1M ARR on just ~20% of his time. He shifted his business from SMB to enterprise on part-time hours. He waited to quit until he'd locked in 3 enterprise customers at $100K each. In the meantime, he worked full-time on his consulting business. A consulting business that served the same customers as Knak. So even though 80% of his time wasn't spent on Knak, it was spent with customers. Clearly, his case was special. Then again— most cases are. As a founder, you'll get so much advice from so many people. "Go all in", "find a co-founder", "launch early"... But I've met founders who've built big businesses without doing any of that. I'm not saying you should blindly do the opposite. But you're the founder for a reason. And Startupland is full of exceptions. That's why the best formula is to listen to others— but trust your gut. /// Listen to the full episode on The Product Market Fit Show #startups #venturecapital #founders

Focus and niche are critical factors for startups.

Reps should fire VPs of Sales VPs of sales should fire founders And founders should fire their investors. This approach has always worked for me. The common denominator is "options". Whether you're a rep, a VP or a founder you must have options: Reps: a side hustle; connected to sales leaders outside your company, a personal brand VPs of Sales: a side hustle, connected to founders outside of your company, a personal brand Founders: a strong network of capital allocators, a personal brand detached from your startup. You may not be the CEO of the company, or the majority shareholder. However, you are the CEO and the only shareholder of your life. Own it. #sales #saas #venturecapital #Startups #GTMdebt

Just came across this gem from 2022. Spending time with your co-founders is so important. As your company grows, you can often lose touch with the people you started with. I've seen this happen before and I love that Dan Harrison and I are able to grab these moments together. Sure it's work travel and we both deserve a break, but look at that punum. Happy as a pig in shit he is right there. I'm not suggesting that you should blindly stick together if it's not right for the business. Tough decisions have to be made and what worked at the start often times doesn't work to the end. It's OK for founders to switch roles, demote each other, and break up. But if you had a good relationship, don't let the work ruin that. If it worked at the start, there's probably a chance you can make it work. But making it work, takes work. Here's to founders sticking it out and building the dream! #startups #builders #relationships

I met a founder who raised a $6M pre-seed—but took 3 years to hit $1K MRR. So he abandoned his 1st market—& grew 1000x to $10M ARR in 3 years: Alex Hoff quit the job he'd been at for 9 years and gave himself 6 months to launch a startup. A kid was on the way— and he had no idea what to build. He reached out to his ex-boss (the founder of a public company) for advice. He ended up getting him to join as a co-founder instead. That also got a him a $6M pre-seed, the former blackberry CTO, and a product. But 3 years and "10 ,000 trials later, we had one conversion and the feedback was very consistent: It was 'cute'. It was 'nice'. 'But we can't afford this'." From 2011 to 2015 they built, launched, and struggled. So with a few months of runway left, they abandoned the SMB market. And without changing the product, they went after MSPs (Managed Service Providers, aka outsourced IT firms). April 2015 - $1,000 MRR August 2015 - $10,000 MRR June 2016 - $100,000 MRR Nov 2018 - $1,000,000 MRR ($12M ARR) Auvik grew from $1,000 a month to $1,000,000 a month in just 3 years. It's rarely more leads, more funding, or more features that gets you to product-market fit. It's usually finding a smaller, more focused set of customers. Customers whose eyes light up when they see the demo. Because they know, instantly, that the product isn't 'cute'. It's an absolute, no-brainer, must-have. /// Listen to the full episode on The Product Market Fit Show #startups #venturecapital #founders

I got off the phone yesterday an entrepreneur who spent 20 years building a SaaS product for a market SeeSnap is going after. He sold that company for 8 FIGURES. It's so refreshing to speak BEEN THERE DONE THAT, IN YOUR MARKET FOUNDERS. What's different, they understand The market The challenges The competitors The product and what it solves The hiring and team challenges that happen (early days) How hard and iterative PMF is How hard GTM is How hard getting to "sticky" users is They understand pre-seed vs seed, vs series A (or bootstrapping) They understand hardship. They understand why some people need to STOP 🛑 advising your startup. (we actually talked about how 2 investors cost him a much bigger exit) These meetings are like AIR for exited founders like me. I need them, I can't live without them, I need more of this daily.n

Startup Co-founders, how good is your "business partnership" ? Finding a business partner is never easy. However, better understanding the mindsets and motivations of your counterpart — whether you are a lead founder or cofounder — will help you in the journey #startups #startupfounders