108 - Progress, Problems, Plans - F32
A disappointing three weeks. I was knocked out by Covid last week (hence this being a three week vs two week post), consequently allowing momentum to slip on new customers, funding and hiring. I need to reinject momentum now. Lots to be positive about. An important fundraising juncture coming in the next two weeks. Here’s the progress, problems, plans (PPP) post. It covers progress and problems from building Mayday over the last three weeks. And plans for the coming two.
Goals For the Last Three Weeks
These were the goals set in the previous PPP post:
Made a great commercial hire - not met;
40 VC meetings either held or booked in - partially met. Am at 30;
Followed up well on the webinar leads to convert at least 25 to active trialists - met.
Progress
It’s been brilliant to have Claudio join us this week. So excited at the product development firepower we now have with him alongside Griff and Pauline. Griff and Claudio have worked together before. It’s been fantastic to see how quickly Claudio is already making an impact. We’ve got a full roadmap with enhancements to Recharger and BRAG, along with launching the beta of Balancer, our intercompany loan account product, by the end of Q1;
There are positives on the funding front. Whilst not yet at the 40 target, I’m pleased with the volume of meetings I’ve had. Like a standup comedian, I continue to refine my pitch. I’m generally pleased with how I’m communicating it. And I’m excited about the second meetings I have booked in for the coming 10 days;
We’ve added another new customer. Now at 13 total. This one was notable as, right now, they are exclusively using BRAG, our second product. Barring the initial demo, they independently got themselves up an running with BRAG and seeing the requisite value to subscribe;
We’ve got 30 high potential trialists, most from the webinar we did with Joiin three weeks ago. Now it’s a case of ensuring they get active on the product in the coming weeks so as to be where they need to be to subscribe at the end of their 30 day free trials;
Generally really pleased with the level of BRAG usage and the feedback we’re getting from it. We’re working on an exciting new enhancement to it, but at it’s core we have lots of reasons to be confident it is already delivering material value.
Problems
We’re thin on pipeline and routes to hit our 100 customer OKR for Q1. I need to devote time to this next week;
Lots of VCs are passing on us, which is to be expected. Lots seem genuinely engaged and sincere in their desire to stay connected ahead of future rounds, with check in meetings booked in and requests to be added to our investor mailing list. I’ve lost none of my confidence and optimism re us. It feels like it’s a tough market. One of our investors is extremely well informed. He’s been really helpful with his advice. His suggestion: “If there is sufficient in the business to close the process and produce more proof points, I would. Then I'd take the next 6-8 months to reposition as a broader opportunity vs your current Xero intercompany module. I'd start delivering on product and traction that would prove your market size thesis. Of course it's a question of capital needed to deliver on that. The market really sucks right now”. Raising £1.5m remains our Plan A optimal way of funding the business. We could productively put that capital to work. But if at the end of February, we can’t see a clear path to that with one or more VCs we’d be excited to work with, we will shift to Plan B, raise a smaller additional amount of angel capital and focus on those proof points;
Commercial hiring we haven’t met the right candidate yet. Absent someone landing in our laps, I’m going to hold off proactive focus on this until we’re clear on what we are doing with fundraising. As that will shape what we’re looking for;
I’ve let general marketing fundamentals (social media, email newsletter) slip over the last couple of weeks.
Plans
Goals for the next two weeks:
Hell for leather all on the field to explore if fundraising Plan A is possible before pivoting to Plan B if not;
Within the bounds of fundraising first, maximising all opportunities to get to new leads to hit our 100 customer Q1 goal;
General marketing fundamentals back up and running.
Look forward to updating in two weeks!