How should a CEO approach Series A funding?
This is the 62nd in a series of business tips from industry leaders that Enterprise Times has interviewed. Enterprise Times recently spoke to Yaniv Shor, Co-founder and CEO of Proggio, about the company. During the conversation, it was clear he has a good understanding of how companies move through different funding stages.
I asked what was the best tip he was ever given.
“When I started, I got a tip from a very seasoned investor, who finally also invested in the company. He said that as a company in a seed stage, you don’t have a second chance. You need to make sure that you are selecting the right strategy and that you’re executing this strategy with a very significant focus.
“Because, unlike big companies, and I came from big companies, I was part of Intel and Verifone. These companies can go in five directions, and then select number three because it works best.
“As a seed company, you only have one chance. You need to carefully think if this is the right thing to do. Then you need to be 100% on that. Otherwise, you will do 50%, you will try something else, and you don’t really know if you failed just because you had only 50% on one of the choices. This is the best tip I got when we were a very young company from someone who finally saw us executing and invested as part of Mango Capital Partners in 2018.”
I also asked Yaniv about what a business leader should consider when considering a Series A round.
“For people who are approaching an A round. It is very important not to focus only on the ARR. Entrepreneurs approaching A round they think that $1 million ARR is the Holy Grail. We’ll get there, and we’ll find an investor. It’s right, but it’s only the beginning. When you’re showing $1 million ARR, you better show product market fit at least a starting point for building a go to market engine. If you don’t have these two, then people will say, ’Yeah, these people are working really hard, they have a nice product, and they have some customers working with it.’
“If you can’t show that these customers are growing, seeing the value, and you have a systematic way to find these customers and to land and expand, then they will say, ‘Oh, it’s really nice, great company, we’re not going to invest.’ This is the best thing I can say to a CEO pre-round A. I’m trying to do exactly the same right now ahead of a B round, focusing on the go-to-market.”
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Colin Jordan
Founder, Kadre Marketing
[email protected]
Renee Chemel
VP Marketing, Proggio
[email protected]
