Founder Fridays No. 20
Founder Fridays No. 20
Practical Tips to help founders scale smartly.
Happy Friday!
As I mentioned in last week’s briefing, Founder Fridays is moving beyond just funding data. This week (and the second Friday of each month) I’m focusing on growth.
Additionally, I’m including a new section called Founder FAQs. I’ve worked with startups for 15 years. In that time I’ve realized that there are some questions that get asked over and over again. So, the purpose of this section is to give a quick answer to the question and allow you to click if you want to learn more. Hope it helps!
Rise of Notion
You’re probably a Notion user. But you may not know that, in 2015, this Silicon Valley startup nearly died. In this deep-dive article, you’ll learn where the idea for Notion came from; why it almost failed; and most importantly, what we can learn from their growth. Here’s the short answer to their “growth loop”: 1) Attract new users. People discover a template that solves an immediate problem, and they sign up. 2) Activate users. Onboard new users and serve up relevant templates for them. 3) Retain users. Serve them up yet more templates for different use cases. 4) Users build templates. Once a user has become a power user. they build their own templates that they then share with their community (and maybe even sell). How They Grow (45 minutes)
Scalable Unit Economics
In this four-step pricing framework, we’ll break your user base down into value-driving segments and sketch out each segment into four buckets: needs, willingness-to-pay, demographics and behaviors. You’ll use these segments to create product and pricing models that scale gracefully. This framework will also show you how to adapt these models to your product and your business so you can layer pricing models and customize them for your users. First Round Review (19 minutes)
Founder FAQ: What should I call this round of funding?
As founders are raising capital, two questions come up often: 1) What should I call this round of funding? 2) What is the difference between a Friends and Family, Pre-Seed, Seed and Series A round of funding? In this FAQ, we break down each of these funding rounds into sections: the product, the amount, the post-money valuation, the instrument and who these investors are. Westaway (3 minutes)
Startup Funding Guides
I’ve put together a series of guides to equip founders to excel at fundraising. These guides break down the deal term by term and give you negotiation tips so that you can speak to investors with confidence.
Should We Work Together?
Hi! I’m Kyle. This newsletter is my passion project. When I’m not writing, I run a law firm that helps startups move fast without breaking things. Most founders want a trusted legal partner, but they hate surprise legal bills. At Westaway, we take care of your startup’s legal needs for a flat, monthly fee so you can control your costs and focus on scaling your business. If you’re interested, let’s jump on a call to see if you’re a good fit for the firm. Click here to schedule a 1-on-1 call with me.