For SaaS businesses, I’ve found the rule of 40 to be a useful management tool. The basic idea is that as a SaaS business, you want your growth percentage plus your EBITDA percentage to be 40 (or better). So if you’re growing at 50% per year, you can “invest” in growth by having a 10% …
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you’re in a group that is debating something–such as whether to take on a new investment–for a very long time? Let’s say your group is healthy and high-functioning. Normally decision making feels natural and strong, and you have a rhythm going for how you make decisions. …
We’re living at a time when valuations are very high, as Fred Wilson and Ari Newman have both recently pointed out. When valuations rise, so do the caps on notes, which are upper limits on valuation at conversion. In many cases the caps are very high because the entrepreneurs are telling the investors that they’re …
Quality time with your loved ones isn’t the only benefit of working away from the office. In fact, I’ve found that one of the best things I can do to increase my productivity and to start knocking off those particularly pesky tasks on my to-do list is to get out of the office. A bit …
Yesterday the news broke that PillPack is being acquired by Amazon for $1 Billion. I’m incredibly happy for TJ Parker and Elliot Cohen, co-founders of the pharmaceutical delivery startup. They started the company at Techstars in Boston in February 2013, and raised $4 Million around the time they completed the accelerator program. A couple years ago …
What makes an effective Key Performance Indicator (KPI)? How do you design your metrics to help your company achieve its objectives? First off, a good KPI will actually help you make a decision. The information should clearly tell you where you’re at and give you something actionable to do. Secondly, a useful KPI will typically …