FINN’s Post

Word of caution as #founders rush into building new businesses because of new #AI superpowers: a bad business model is a bad business model regardless of the technology that's available to build it. History teaches us this. In 1860 the world stood in awe as messages were whisked from Missouri to California in a record-shattering 7 days and 17 hours by the Pony Express. The Pony Express dazzled with speed but fell to the telegraph. Today's LUPIs—Lyft, #Uber, Postmates, #Instacart with their dropping stock price and now bankrupt WeWork —echo this with swift/temp offerings that lack actual asset ownership. #BusinessHistory #Innovation LUPIs thrive on convenience but own none of the 'horses' (assets). They slice the revenue pie without growing it, a precarious model that risks sustainability. Instacart’s app doesn't necessarily boost grocery sales; it just shifts transaction modes. Wework leased long-term and 'rented' short term without creating 'more usage'. No new pie, just a different way to slice it. #BusinessModel Scale is the siren call for the LUPIs, but without added value, it's a path to nowhere. Bigger isn't always better. #ScaleUp #ValueCreation FedEx and UPS (who don’t deliver groceries for a reason) might teach a valuable lesson: profitability comes from premium niches and value, not just slicing the same pie in many more ways. Amazon's journey from broker to value-added service provider has always been misunderstood by LUPIs. They miss that it's about increasing the asset owner's value (increasing the number of customers the seller gets). And even #Amazon is having antitrust issues right now. LUPIs, stuck in the brokerage model, bleed money in pursuit of scale. It's a race against their own profitability. #StartupChallenges #GrowthStrategy To truly succeed, LUPIs must pivot from being mere middlemen to creators of real value for asset owners and consumers alike. #Disruption #Marketplace Without this shift, LUPIs may share the fate of the Pony Express (Wework has), outmoded by innovations that grow the pie instead of just redistributing it. #TechTrends The key lesson? True disruption lies in creating value, not just repackaging it because you have a new technology. I'm learning this every day! The future favors those who build, not just brokers. #BusinessInsights #FutureofWork

On the occasion of their #IPO this week, special props to #Instacart's #data team. This was [is] a team of innovators. The team wasn't just running experiments and building dashboards, but came up with tons of ideas that grew the company and made it profitable - customer by customer, cent by cent. Also, kudos to the leaders and XFN partners at Instacart, who (for the most part) learnt to leverage the Data Science team well. I am certain the ones who helped scale the company through the pandemic and beyond, will become founders and GMs of meaningful startups. (Some are already on that journey!) Lesson for all leaders: If you want to build an innovative company that makes magic and money (like Instacart did), build a strong data team and empower them. 

Here are 3 things you may NEVER do if you've got a new idea, advice from Y Combinator 1. Never dive deep into implementation - the biggest time trap for the technical founders is that they work on the implementation immediately once they feel excited about the idea. Instead, spend time on PMF early validation. Check out how Doordash validates the PMF in the early days https://lnkd.in/ecAAEd-z 2. Never talk about the idea - pull a large spectrum of people to talk to, post on Reddit, post on LinkedIn, share with friends and family. If your idea is about food delivery, bump into restaurant employees, if it's about pet merchandise, talk to a Hollywood star v.s a student you'll hear complete different answers, validate like hell. 3. Never stick with one idea - the benefit of a startup is the agility, move fast to learn and validate the idea, pivot when you have enough data points to prove you're wrong, if you have look out for Amplitude PMF story, their 1st product is nothing like Amplitude. https://lnkd.in/e_kCQYRC #startupadvice #inittogether #ycombinator

🚀 Build Products That Don’t Suck 🦆 MILKRUN was an incredible workplace, and I had the honour of being their first hire. But about four months ago, as you might have heard, things took a different turn. Since then, I've been hard at work, building my own product from the ground up. Throughout my career, I've had the privilege of working with companies of all shapes and sizes - from day zero startups to multi-billion dollar giants and agencies. One thing that remained consistent across these organisations is the difficulty they face in delivering products that customers truly want. Hours, days, weeks or even months are spent on user testing, market research, and gathering customer feedback before taking action on product ideas. 🧠 In my journey spanning over a decade, I've gathered invaluable insights that have profoundly influenced my product-building philosophy: 👉 Small teams can achieve remarkable product results, often surpassing larger teams. 👉 A whopping 80% of meetings are simply time-wasters. 👉 Most companies follow the herd blindly; rather than finding solutions that make sense for them. 👉 Shipping products is the best way to gauge their actual market desirability, not user testing or surveying. 👉 Positive user testing and survey feedback don't guarantee product success. 👉 Research doesn't have to be overwhelming. 👉 Starting from scratch can be daunting. Inspired by this philosophy, my co-founder Daniel Bowring and I are working on our new venture, spaceduck. We're dedicated to helping companies, big and small, build the most desirable products for their customers, quickly learn from them, and iterate for success. 💡 Our first product tackles competitor analysis for product teams, streamlining the process and saving you valuable time. No more manual research, creating spreadsheets, or endless tab-checking. We've automated it all and more for you. 🎯 We're driven to be the future of product research and development, starting with removing mundane tasks and automating them for your convenience. 📣 Follow our LinkedIn Page spaceduck and visit our website to sign up for our upcoming private beta. We're almost there and can't wait to have you on board for this exciting journey! Let's build better products together. 🚀🦆 #ProductDevelopment #Innovation #Spaceduck #ProductResearch

🎉 I am excited and proud to announce that I started my new role as Enterprise Account Executive at Plan A this week, combining business with purpose. 🎉 Plan A, supporting companies on their decarbonisation and sustainability path with data since 2017, is a category defining company and game changer in the field of GreenTech. 🌱 🌱 🌱 With that said, Plan A just raised in thrifty times a $27M funding from a number of renowned investors to start into a new growth phase. Why? Because Plan A is meeting one of the most pressing challenges facing companies today: How to ensure long-term success while meeting climate targets as a key competitive advantage. 🙏 Thanks to Lubomila Jordanova, Neil Delaney, Laurent Lasserre, Felix Schreitmüller, Hendrik Gormanns for your trust, Dan Khan, Sophia Zuleger and all the other PlanAteers for the unwavering support through the recruitment and onboarding process! 🙏 Way to go and big times ahead! 🚀 🚀 🚀 #plana #noplanb #greentech #decarbonisation #sustainability #corporatesustainability #corporatefinance #esg #netzero #co2reduction #climatetargets

The 'Grab' Effect: How Agility Transformed a Ride-Hailing App into a Pandemic Powerhouse. Companies that can adapt quickly to changing circumstances are the ones that survive and thrive. Take Grab, for example. The Malaysian ride-hailing giant, transformed itself during the pandemic. By rapidly expanding into food delivery, groceries, and financial services, they met skyrocketing demand, supported local businesses, and became an essential part of daily life. Their secret? Adaptability and customer focus. Grab's on-demand logistics model quickly transitioned from moving people to transporting food and essentials. They even launched GrabCare within 72 hours to provide healthcare workers with reliable transport options. So, how can YOU be agile in your business? 1. Be flexible: Your products, services, even your business model – everything can adapt. 2. Empower your people: Your employees are your greatest source of ideas. Let them shine! 💡 3. Embrace technology: The right tools can streamline your processes and give you real-time data for smarter decisions. 4. Stay customer-focused: Understand what your customers need NOW, not what they needed yesterday. Agility isn't just about speed, it's about being smart, responsive, and resilient. It's the key to navigating a dynamic world and achieving long-term success How has your business or life adapted to changing needs? Share your story in the comments and inspire others!

Just five months into my journey at Reelo, and this happens! Reelo has just announced a remarkable $1 million funding round led by the Silicon Valley product leader, Gokul Rajaram! Gokul's significant role in building Google Ads and Facebook Ads, and his involvement with Reelo, validate everything our team has been tirelessly working towards. When I joined Parin Sanghvi and Prit Sanghvi on their mission to revolutionize Customer Loyalty & Marketing Automation for the Restaurant & Retail industries, I never anticipated such an exhilarating journey! Despite joining as an intern, I was never treated as one . I pitched ideas, worked on them, learned extensively, engaged with users, understood their needs, and this experience has truly fueled my ambition to become the most successful PM ever! I'm incredibly excited to see the new opportunities that having Gokul Rajaram on board will bring for us. I can't wait to work on building a more data-driven product, delve into AI and ML, and showcase what effective marketing automation truly looks like. Read our complete story here: https://lnkd.in/dt44fdGU If you're curious about what we're building, visit us at https://reelo.io/ #getreelo #startupfunding #startup #productmanagement

🚀 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐈𝐏𝐎𝐬: 𝐀 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬? 📊 Recent IPO filings by Instacart and Klaviyo bring renewed hope for investors and tech employees after a challenging period. These IPOs are more than just market events; they are crucial indicators of how we should value startups. Here's why they matter: 1️⃣ 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲: The tech industry has been grappling with uncertain valuations since early 2022. Instacart and Klaviyo's IPOs will act as beacons, guiding us toward accurate valuations for private companies. 2️⃣ 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: These IPOs are poised to bridge the valuation gap that has stumped both buyers and sellers, leading to more informed investment decisions. 3️⃣ 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭: Employee liquidity, once vibrant in the VC landscape, has dwindled. IPOs will reignite secondary trading, allowing employees to realize the true value of their shares. 4️⃣ 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬: Investors should brace for adjustments from pandemic-era valuation highs, particularly for late-stage VC-backed firms. Understanding these shifts is key to navigating the current investment climate. 5️⃣ 𝐈𝐏𝐎 𝐏𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞: While Instacart and Klaviyo lead the way, the IPO pipeline for the remainder of 2023 appears limited. Late Q1 and Q2 of the following year promise opportunities for new listings. In summary, these IPOs serve as crucial tests for the tech industry, shedding light on how we should assess the worth of startups in today's ever-evolving market. #TechIPOs #VC #StartupValuation #MarketCorrection #InvestmentInsights #IPOAnalysis #ValuationTrends #TechInvesting

What an incredible day at Enable! When I joined about 1.5 years ago, we were just getting ready to close our Series C and position ourselves to double down on our incredible growth and success. We were about to dive into creating our second major product SKU (shout to Enable Special Pricing Agreements (https://lnkd.in/eFRApxVs or SPA as we like to call it). Only a year and half later, our growth has not only sustained, but we have grown even faster. Now, our deals are bigger, our customers more engaged and they are saving more and more money through our platform, and we have closed an incredibly successful round that will pave the road to create even more value for our customers and transform the ways organisations collaborate. It has been an intense past year on this incredible rocketship, and I know we are just getting started. Afterall, I have always wanted to ride a unicorn. And I could not be doing it with better colleagues, better partnerships across across the organisation, and the support and help every day of the world class leadership and board we have in place. Andrew Butt, Jerry Brooner, Nick Rose, David Hunt, Shawn LaVana, Alexandria Genetti, Tennyson Lee, Steve Sloane, Philine Huizing, Tim Guleri, Meraj Imani, Chelsea Tolbert, Karen Chastain, Emrin Dhatt, Heline Deconinck, Jonas Laucys, Cole Hecht, Elaine Dai, Norwest Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Insight Partners, Sierra Ventures, Lightspeed and every single Enablee who are the reasons this is possible. 🚀 https://lnkd.in/erWWQajC

Thanks so much to Matt Newberg for the article written about Prime Site Construction & Advisory. Please check out his comments on our services and his other exciting digital content!