The First Steps of a Founder

Parker quit his job as VP Finance at a late-stage startup in mid 2021. He raised $4M out of the gate because, well, it was 2021. But he didn't ramp up sales, he didn't hire 15 developers. He kept the team to 5 people for the first year.

He worked with a dozen design partners until the value prop was perfect. He even refused to let customers pay upfront in annual contracts. He wanted monthly payments to light a fire for him and his team.

This month, just 3 years after quitting his job, he closed a $28M Series A.

Here's exactly how he did it.

Why you should listen:

• Why the early stages are all about customer value and delight.
• Why you need to focus on product-market fit before growth.
• Why you need to solve a top-of-mind problem and deliver clear ROI to take off.
• How to transition from build mode to sales mode. 
• Why monthly contracts can provide valuable feedback loops for early-stage startups.

Keywords
Numeric, startup, product-market fit, funding, accounting, customer engagement, sales strategy, ROI, growth, Series A

Timestamps
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:07) Coming Up with the Idea
(00:06:13) Research, Taking the Leap & Pre-Seed Funding
(00:11:48) Keeping the Team Small
(00:16:55) Why Annual Payments Don't Work Early On
(00:22:10) The Challenges in Going into Market
(00:26:53) Measuring ROI
(00:33:26) Series A
(00:35:05) Finding Product Market Fit
(00:36:11) One Piece of Advice

Send me a message to let me know what you think!