Capital Chronicles #17

Hello there! Welcome to Capital Chronicles, saving you hours every week with ~2-3 minute summarised insights from the best venture builders, investors and capital allocators out there. This week: how to sell $1M+ B2B deals as a startup, testing Mendoza line with other growth trajectory frameworks, an R&D Reporting guide from ICONIQ Growth, and Insight Partners deliver the State of Enterprise Tech for 2024.

As subscriber #TBD, each web link below takes you to:

• A link to the original article (read time: varies)

• Summary / insights / implications per article (read time: 2-3 minutes)

Now, read on for the latest…

🛠️ On venture building…

How to sell $1M+ B2B deals as a startup, from Scale Ventures Partners. A succinct guide built on four foundational principles to secure large-scale business deals.

• Why you should read it: In an era where selling to enterprises has become increasingly challenging, the Scale Venture Partners team simplifies the approach to targeting those "whale" accounts. The principles focus on building the right solution for the right problem, selling to the right customers (the CEO), quantifying ROI, and protecting value in your pricing. While it may sound straightforward, this framework can serve as qualifying criteria for any deals in your pipeline.

🧭 On venture investing…

Startup growth trajectories and the SaaS Mendoza Line, by Dave Kellogg. Dave discusses the evolution of the SaaS Mendoza Line, comparing the original 2018 version with the updated 2024 version, highlighting changes in IPO expectations and growth trajectories.

• Why you should read it: Dave does an excellent job of breaking down the recent update to the SaaS Mendoza Line and other growth trajectory rules, helping founders and investors better think about forecasting revenue growth and reverse-engineering what a desired future outcome should look like today. Importantly, growth rules of thumb like T2D3, the 85% growth endurance rule, and others often have many boundary conditions and are products of the environment in which they were created. So use them with this in mind.

📖 Learning resource…

The R&D Reporting Guide, from the ICONIQ Growth team, offers a comprehensive framework for technology organizations to track, leverage, and report on key engineering metrics. It also includes an accompanying R&D Board Deck template.

• Why you should read it: R&D is critical for technology companies, yet it is often the function that organizations have the least visibility into. Unlike sales, marketing, or finance, it can be challenging to find relevant or publicly available data to benchmark engineering team performance. This guide includes best practices for designing and operationalizing engineering reporting alongside a set of key metrics (with detailed definitions and calculations) to benchmark and report on performance.

📊 Market insight…

The State of Enterprise Tech 2024 by Insight Partners is a report based on insights from over 400 enterprise leaders. It highlights key areas of investment and provides a comprehensive analysis of the current trends and future directions in enterprise technology.

• Why you should read it: The report serves as a valuable tool for understanding where technology leaders are placing their bets and how these decisions will shape the future of enterprise tech. Priorities include customizing AI models, improving data management, and enhancing both customer and employee experiences through technology. Cybersecurity also remains a top priority, with increasing attention on cloud platform security and leveraging AI for security operations.

🎲Lucky dip essential reads…

• Sarah Guo and The Power of Conviction

• What Separates a Good Startup Founder From a Great One?

• The death of software. Greatly exaggerated?

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Have a great week!

Josh