Until you know what it takes to achieve success from your customers’ perspective you will just waste valuable time. – Jason Whitehead For many startups the customer is an important piece in the puzzle that is your business’s success. In order to be successful, think of the business and the customer as a companionship that will ultimately mold the future of your startup. This companionship takes time and dedication because it takes unbelievable effort to get it just right. In the beginning, it may not be clear what the majority of your customer base wants and seeks. It’s your job to find out. The key is continuing your relationship with the customer and seeking both the trials and the errors as you grow alongside your customers and clients. You must always be aware of your customer. You’ll need to get out there and figure out their wants. You’ll need to pick apart what they’re really looking for. Unfortunately, a lot of startups tend to enter into their respective spaces with blinders on. It’s easy to become so focused on the product and what your team is building that customers take a backseat to the company’s vision. However, keep in mind that you won’t be able to bring your best product to the general market without listening to the customers first. Putting the customer in 2nd place can also cost you some valuable and irreplaceable time. So, always listen to what the customer has to say, even if you don’t agree at first. Persistence is key. You’ll be wearing many hats as an entrepreneur and that’s one of the most exciting parts of running a startup. However, the focus should always remain on the customer, regardless of how many hats are worn. Persistence will drive your relationship with your customer base and your customers will appreciate the effort. They will appreciate the effort because you are working toward something that works for them. The customer is the single most important person that will propel your business and your product forward into success.

As a startup it’s good to know where you stand in terms of funding. Did you know there are several key factors that come into play? Investors will look at a number of things when considering if they’d like to move further. Key Factors Include: -Product -Monetization -Revenue Model -Competitive Advantage -Market Size -Team -Growth Rate -Customer ROI -Exit Potential It can be a lot of information to sort out, so we’ve come up with an easier way: our Venture Funding Calculator. Just answer this short list of questions and automatically get results showing how fundable your company is. The calculator provides a quantitative score of how investors, like VCs, angels, and family offices, will value your deal based on the team, product, revenue model, value proposition, exit potential and other characteristics of your startup. The score highlights where you currently stand, and what you can do to improve your score. A score above 50 means your startup has enough merit that investors will give it some consideration. A score above 80 indicates medium interest, while a score over 90 will translate to strong interest from investors. In just a few minutes, you can learn what to change to get the funding your company needs to move forward. What’s your score?

“Your audience is waiting for your stories. They have memory slots tailor-made to light up and remember you.” ― Steve Woodruff Every business has a story to tell and it is important to tell your story to the best of your ability. Sharing a personal element when it comes to your business is bound to draw people in, capitave, and persuade others to consider the problem you’ve discovered and why it requires a solution only you can produce. In addition to the problem and the solution, it’s also important to talk about the challenges you’ve faced and overcome. Sharing your story offers the chance to draw on a relatable experience giving you the opportunity to connect with those who can help you and your business to reach its full potential. Be sure to explain your current business status and where you see it heading in the future. One of the best ways to tell your story is to make it as concise as possible. This is where understanding the elevator pitch becomes incredibly important. The elevator pitch means being able to tell your story and pitch your business in 60 seconds or less. This type of pitch is ideal when it comes to making the most of your words in a limited amount of time. Another thing to think about is: If you only had 5 words, how would you pitch your business? The best business strategy involves a short and sweet synopsis. Think about 5 well thought out words that sums up your company. Remember you’re on a mission to showcase your startup and catch the investor’s attention. Tell your story and practice the ability to keep it concise.

Considering Your Raise A lot of businesses start with a large number. They begin with the complete raise they anticipate to run. Typically this number ranges between $1M and $10M. It’s good to have the big picture in mind. Some companies consider raising it all at once because they want to get the fundraising out of the way. However, one thing to consider is that raising too much money on a round will cost you equity. This may be equity that you don’t have to give up. Keep in mind that your valuation is low at the beginning. It’s best to raise only the funding you need to reach the next milestone, and no more, no less. As you grow the business, your valuation will go up which means you give away less equity. Think about breaking your fundraise into tranches. It will save time and make each fundraise easier. Your milestones In fundraising are specific goals you need to accomplish. When crafting your fundraise story focus on key milestones including those you just hit and those you are striving for. This demonstrates you are making progress. Here are the 4 types of milestones to consider: Team
 – Make sure you are hiring key people that can help you grow the business. Product – This means bringing the product to a new level of completeness. Sales – Strive for achieving sales traction such as reaching $50K MRR. Fundraise 
- Aim for landing a big investor with a specific commitment or investment. While you may not always hit the milestones you planned, you will most likely find success along the way which demonstrates accomplishment to showcase to potential investors.

If you are a startup raising funding, it’s good to have a few key principles you can rely on. Being an entrepreneur and scaling a business is a hard, but it’s supposed to be. You need a complete team to start a business – someone building it and someone selling it. It isn’t a team if everyone is building it and no one is selling it. You’ve got to be all-in. Part-timers need not apply. But remember that sweat equity is table stakes – not valuation metrics. Startups often assume investors want big revenue, but what investors really want is predictable and repeatable revenue. In an early stage company, the revenue is never large. However, if it’s predictable based on recurring revenue, repeat revenue or known lead generation funnels, then you have a growth story to tell the investor. Build and test your funnel so you know it works. That way you can tell a growth story instead of telling the ‘we’re a unicorn’ story – which nobody believes. Don’t expect funding to solve all your problems. Funding should be an enabler that accelerates what you already have going. You’ve heard the saying- if you build it they will come. But things work differently in the startup world. Sell it first, build it second. If you can’t sell it in the first place, there’s no need to build it in the second place. Many startups over-spend on their tech and then then have trouble finding buyers. A better strategy is to sell it and then build out what the customer wants.

When you’re a startup and want to expand, it can be a daunting task to figure out which products to develop. Before you dive in and spend, it’s a good idea to ask yourself “who will pay for this?” It’s important to ask yourself these questions to make sure that your overall cost also matches your sources. If you are working with an existing product that needs an upgrade, your current customers are a great source of payment. It’s important to ask yourself these questions to make sure that your overall cost also matches your sources. If you are working with an existing product that needs an upgrade your current customers are a great source of payment. You can even survey your customers about what their needs are. If you decide you’d like to develop a new product, it’s a good idea to find customers who are willing to prepay. If you can’t find those customers you should reconsider. A lot of startups think that pre-selling a product is difficult to do. In reality, it’s about the same amount of work. You can get a lot of benefits when working with your customers in the product development phase. You get a clear idea of problems that need to be solved and what customers are willing to pay for. It can also give you a slight competitive advantage. Matching product development with customer payments keeps you aligned with the market.