You can have tiny margins if you have massive volume and huge growth. The lower margin you are, the more important it is that you have a highly regulated and controlled cost structure. You've got to be fanatical about making sure you're getting margin and your saving cost. Focus and discipline come pretty close behind tenacity....
NEA's Ben Narasin takes questions from founders: most important content in a pitch deck, COVID's impact on dealmaking, traits he looks for in founders & more!
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1:13 Paul: Has the current crisis changed your investment thesis? If so, how?
2:40 Ash/Christopher: How to overcome the money raised vs revenue generated in enterprise SaaS that requires heavy product work to reach product-market fit?
4:13 Emberlynn/Srinivas: What is the most important content in a pitch deck?
7:26 Guilherme: What will the VC funding landscape look like after the crisis passes?
8:37 Mary: What is the best way to present a newly launched startup that has been severely impacted by COVID-19 to investors?
10:48 Daniel: What advice would you offer college students passionate about venture capital so that they can also become investors?
12:22 Mark: What immediate skepticism do you have when you look at early-stage startups?
15:54 Len: What factor(s) would most set an early-stage (i.e. seed funding, launch-ready, pre-revenue) company apart from others seeking similar funding?
18:15 Aneesh: My startup sells multiple SaaS products for restaurant digitization. We don’t have the bandwidth to handle sales and marketing of all products at once. What should be our strategy to prioritize?
19:49 Linards: At what level of product traction will investors start to be interested? How does it differ across verticals?
22:40 Avidan: What role (if any) will equity crowdfunding play in the venture capital ecosystem at large?
23:43 Adam: What are you seeing related to startup valuations and VC terms post-COVID?
25:18 Emin: What kind of marketplaces would you like to see in the next 5 years?
26:34 Tammy: Do you think people will need a college degree for the jobs of the future?
28:48 Ellie: Post-WeWork, how should a tech startup with profit margins on the smaller side think about building a scalable and ultimately profitable business model?
30:15 Wei: What sectors are you investing in? What are you most excited about nowadays?
31:40 Ope: What skill sets do you need to move into VC from a non-Investment Banking background?
33:09 Suruchi/Mireille: In a medium article you wrote you wrote: "winter is here, severely ....don't obsess about the downside, think about the opportunities.” What opportunities have arisen so far? What changes are permanent and what changes are temporary?
35:20 Nghia: What are some books that you recommend today?
39:30 Ben: Are there areas that are non-investable at the moment whether it be overcrowded, overpriced, or the prospects aren’t great due to COVID?
40:24 Charles: Do you have any instances where a founder's positive or negative traits/signals have influenced a deal decision? On reflection, has instinct proved a better indicator than hard numbers?
43:42 Dave: What was your biggest exit/best investment? How did you source the deal? Alternatively, could you tell your worst anti-portfolio story (most successful company you passed on)?
44:46 Barry: What are some interesting healthcare startups or spaces that you have a favorable outlook for?
45:51 Raman: What’s your take on the future of learning?
