tl;dr - Customer gifts take longer than you think. Here’s a timeline and questions, specific ideas, and lessons learned. Get employee gifts too!

The most important blog of the year.

Your annual reminder — and ultimate guide — to start on Customer (and Employee) Holiday Gifts!

But, Kathryn, you say. It’s barely October. Surely I have several more months.

No, my friend, you don’t. In fact, you may already be behind.

Luckily, as an experienced Customer Gift Procrastinator, I mean, Planner, I have you covered with:

• expected timeline
• strategy considerations
• lessons learned
• specific ideas

You can thank me later…with a not-crappy gift because you got such a head start on things!

1. Customer Gifts Timeline & Planning

Remember when I said you might be behind schedule?

It’s ONLY 9 WEEKS UNTIL BUSINESSES CLOSE FOR THE HOLIDAYS (not including Thanksgiving break).

Mrs. Claus is freaking out right now. But you don’t have to.

Check out the Customer Gifts Timeline Guide to see each step and how long to plan for each.

You’re going to start with strategic questions and some key considerations like:

• Why — customer gifts serve many purposes, what’s the top objective
• Who — which customers to send gifts to
• How Much — your budget (including shipping)
• What — what’s the right gift for your specific gift recipient

Then, you’ll rack your brain for good gift ideas.

But that’s where #2 comes in…

2. Customer Gift Guide: 7 Easy & Specific Ideas

Swag packs, cupcakes, branded fun stuff — lots of good ideas from specific companies here. (Or snag some ideas from our Employee Gift Guide.)

AND — since you’re ahead of schedule — you can even explore things like a collab with a favorite local brand or swanky custom items, like this program via West Elm.

What are your favorite items, businesses you want to support, or the best gifts you’ve ever gotten?

BUT WAIT — before you finalize and spend $100 per customer, you may want to review #3…

3. Lessons Learned From Real Customer Gifts

Turns out the thought really does count. Even with customers!

Here are my 3 most memorable customer gifting experiences — including mistakes made and the top gift of all time!

Here’s a teaser:

• $30 branded cookies vs $100 Amazon gift card
• Engineers like swear words
• Goat farm caramels

Spending more $$ does not necessarily mean a better gift.

GREAT NEWS for a startup budget! 🙌 🙌

4. Don’t Forget Your Employees!

Since you’re thinking about gifts and finding a high res version of your logo anyway…might as well take care of those employee holiday gifts too!

Here are 10 Employee Gift Ideas including free and remote-friendly options.

The holidays are a great time to create memories or fun traditions with your team or gift an item they’ll use frequently.

If you’ve seen my Rigor Yeti mug or Atlanta Ventures hoodie, you know that:

1. I’m a tech cliche.
2. I get lots of use out of great employee gifts!

If you’re thinking about “making memories” through a company holiday party ➡️

PSA #2 - Make reservations for company holiday parties YESTERDAY!!!! Slots fill up fast. Weekday pricing is more startup friendly than Fri or Sat 😉

Company holiday parties are a great time to include significant others or families as a thank you to them as well!

What’s your best advice for customer gifts? Any recs on specific vendors or items? Any lessons learned? Are you ahead of schedule this year?????

In honor of Venture Atlanta and the kick off of InnovATL, we’re talking conferences!

Looking for conference strategies on how to get new customers and meet investors?

That is not this post.

(Go here and here for great content on those topics.)

Want not to feel like total crap and avoid conference idiocy with real life tips from someone who has been there?

THIS IS THE POST FOR YOU!

I have conference street cred:

• 1,000,000 hours (or thereabouts) talking to strangers, working the booth, and, let’s be real: partying 🤙
• 7x Dreamforce attendee, SugarCon, Saastr, ExactTarget Connections, Pardot User Conference, a bunch of others I can’t remember
• Wore a navy blue polo and nurse shoes for at least 3 Dreamforces
• Conference and booth duty all week, raced a half Ironman on the weekend
• Fake partied with my team when I was 1st trimester pregnant (see tip #6!)
• Mistaken for a booth babe (embarrassing & flattering)
• Threw up on public transportation

Now, I’m no Derek Grant or Ali Gooch.

(If you’ve seen them conference, you KNOW.)

They are black ops level conference masters.

But I’m a student of the game, with many years of experience, and here to pass on hard-earned conference wisdom.

Read on for the top mistakes I’ve made, I mean, advice on bringing your conference A game!

10 Conference Tips You *ACTUALLY* Need

1. Drink Alllllll The Water.

See a bottle of water? Drink it.
Water for sale? Buy it.
Free conference water? Take 4.
Branded water bottles from a booth? Yes please.

If you haven’t had a sip of water in the last 30 seconds, you are massively dehydrated and will die by the end of the week.

Binge drinking water is the #1 rule of conference success.

Normally, I’m a bring-my-own-bottle kinda gal. Save the world, avoid plastic.

At a conference? Sorry, Earth. Hellooooo BPAs.

THIS IS ABOUT SURVIVAL.

Speaking of survival…

2. Locate The Closest Starbucks.

If you don’t know where the Starbucks is, it’s too late.

Here’s why you need Starbucks:

1. Coffee.
2. Very strong coffee.
3. Large cups of coffee.
4. Relatively healthy snacks (especially in California). LOAD UP.
5. Spinach, feta, egg white wrap for breakfast. I suggest 2.

If you can find an amazing local coffee shop, go for it.

When I’m in conference beast mode, I like to sell out to corporate chains for the consistency, known menu, and to avoid decision fatigue.

Also, sometimes finding the SECOND CLOSEST Starbucks is the real win. All the caffeine, half the line.

3. Never Party With Sales.

Think you can hang with the sales team?
Wrong.

Want to go out with your friends in sales?
Terrible idea.

Sales people are conference immortals.

They can drink a gallon of vodka, go to bed at 4a, wake up smelling fresh and looking sharp, and then close 10 deals in a single day.

THIS WON’T WORK FOR YOU. (Unless you are a sales immortal…)

Ditto for anyone from Australia or the UK.

They are cooler than you, their livers are stronger, and their accents provide unlimited charisma.

Partying with Australian or British sales people will be the most fun night of your life.

But you will oversleep your alarm, smell like vomit, and turn into a worthless Con-Zom (Conference Zombie) for at least 2 days.

It is never rarely worth it.

And speaking of oversleeping alarms…

4. Set Your Phone Alarm Now.

Recurring alarm, set for the whole week, on the earliest time you’ll need to wake up.

And for godsake bring a battery pack!!!!!!

Do not leave your hotel room without a phone charger, battery pack, and phone at 80% battery.

Because you know what causes an alarm malfunction? A phone that is totally dead because you forgot to plug it in.

Not that I missed my 8am coffee meeting at Marketing Cloud Conference in 2013 because of a dead phone battery….😬

5. Hide For At Least 5 Minutes Every Hour.

The bathroom makes a great hiding spot. (Especially if you’re following #1 Drink Allllll The Water.)

Guys - please weigh in. I’m not familiar with the men’s bathroom.

You can also find a tiny corner and fake charge your phone.

If sunlight is within a 1 mile radius, head outside for a breath of fresh air and glimpse of nature before returning to the dungeon vortex, I mean, conference.

Tiny moments of peace and recharge are the key to conference stamina.

Heroes are made on Days 3 and 4.

6. Learn How To Fake Drink.

A skill I perfected while secretly pregnant at a conference but something I’ve really leaned into as I’ve gotten older and weaker.

Of course, it’s totally fine to just drink old fashioned water (see #1 Drink Alllll The Water) but certain social situations will be very conducive to booze (e.g. entertaining customers who want to rage, team bonding, etc.).

A few strategies depending on how covert you need to be:

1. Order a beer in a bottle. Excuse yourself to go to the bathroom. Ask the server to dump the beer and fill with water.
2. Order vodka and soda. Follow server, update your order to be soda and lime. But keep them in on the secret so they “announce” it as vodka soda.
3. Go for a non-alcoholic beer or other NA liquor. Unless someone else knows their NA brands, no one will notice. Athletic Brewing Company makes delicious “near beer.”

7. Meet Someone For A Workout.

Shout out to Blake Koriath, my conference running buddy.

Many better decisions were made because I had to meet Blake for a 6am run.

Plus it’s a great way to catch up without sitting and eating a meal or drinking coffee!

Is this a shameless plug for Pitch and Run ATL at Venture Atlanta this week?

Nope.

But this is!!!! →→→

You should come to Pitch and Run on Wed, Sept 27, 2023 at 6:45a. Register here!

(You don’t need to attend Venture Atlanta to join for the run.)

8. Invest In A Good Mint.

Coffee breath? No thanks.

Tequila fumes leaching from your body. Also, no thank you.

I love chewing gum. But as my first booth boss informed me, it’s tacky and distracting.

Find a great mint, stock up, and let your breath confidence flourish.

9. Expect To Get Sick.

90% chance you get sick.

At the very least, you’ll lose your voice.

Lack of sleep, constant junk food, too much talking, germs from far away lands, sticky handshakes, close talking with hundreds of strangers.

You’re basically licking a petri dish while punching your body in the face!

How can you get ahead of this?

Make sure to pack cough drops, Emergen-C, chapstick, and hand sanitizer.

It won’t make a difference but you’ll feel proactive!

10. Schedule a 1 Day Return Buffer.**

**DOES NOT INCLUDE TRAVEL!!!

Block your calendar for at least one day after you get back for follow up and digging out of your inbox.

If you don’t do follow up now, it will never get done.

If you think you can do it on the plane, you’re wrong.

If you think you’ll do it the night you get home, also wrong.

Block your cal, work from home, and recover, I mean, get shit done to make the conference worth it!

Prepare To Dominate

Absolutely no tips on networking, selling, prospecting, or how to work the booth.

(You know how to do that.)

But EVERYTHING you need to have your best conference yet.

Avoid zombie status.

Achieve conference immortality!!

What’s your best conference advice? Are you a conference immortal? What’s your best conference story??

Onboarding your first customer is exciting…and terrifying!

You want it to go perfectly but, if you’re like most founders, you don’t have decades of customer success experience.

I already shared 4 important (and quick!) ways to prep for the onboarding.

Once you’ve prepped, you still have to execute!

Here are my top tips for a smooth onboarding — when you’re a busy founder and need to maximize time — from years of working with customers.

8 Tips For A Smooth First Onboarding

1. Create a simple checklist and timeline.

• Mentioned this as part of your prep — but it’s so important I’m saying it again!!
• A checklist/timeline (even if it ends up being inaccurate!) will pay dividends in terms of how a customer perceives you, their expectations, preventing miscommunications, and both of you staying organized.

2. The first call should be a “Kickoff Call.”

• Don’t call it an “Onboarding Call” because customers will think the onboarding is done on one call. (Learned the hard way 😂)
• Usually all the stakeholders join for the first call.
• If that feels too risky, do a planning call with your power user/buyer to discuss the best roll-out strategy for their company. Let them guide you.

3. Set pre-scheduled (weekly) check-in calls.

• Find a regular time and put these on the calendar right away.
• Probably weekly but maybe daily or bi-weekly depending on the product.
• It will deflect a lot of one-off questions, provide accountability on both sides, and prevent customers from “going dark.”
• You can always cancel a meeting if you don’t need it (← explain to customers too!)

4. Go for a quick win.

• What’s the fastest, simplest way for a customer to start seeing value?
• Your product probably has several helpful benefits — which one should they prioritize based on their goals and timeline?
• Getting that first win will buy you time and goodwill for the bugs, complexity, and other snafus that are sure to come up.
• Plus, your customers are busy and this is one of many priories. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with a new product and put it off. A simple focus makes it manageable.
• Remember — just because you want to show off the bells and whistles of the thing you’ve been building for months doesn’t mean your customer is the right audience. Save it for your co-founder!
• A good analogy here is the gym. If a trainer shows you every piece of equipment on your first day, you will be overwhelmed and do nothing. If they show you how to do squats and push ups, you’ll come back and can add more over time!

5. Hold their hand!

• Do everything you possibly can for them. Make it as easy as possible.
• Be available, reply quickly, set up training calls whenever they want.
• Yes, this isn’t sustainable. But your product is probably pretty rough, you’re learning a lot, and you can always teach customers “how to fish” later.
• Right now, you just want happy customers getting value as quick as possible!

6. Set up a support@company.com email.

• The *one* small scalable thing that may be helpful is to set up a support email address monitored by multiple people.
• Especially if you travel, have an engineer or two, or there’s a number of end users.
• No need for a support tool yet. Just an email address. Maybe route it to Slack or have it forward to everyone’s email.
• Unless you’re literally the only employee, you don’t want to be a single point of failure, especially if there’s an urgent issue.

7. Have your sales deck ready.

• You may need to explain your company and value prop to new users.
• Don’t create a new deck for this!! Just use your sales deck and skip to the appropriate slides.

8. Don’t create any other materials.

• Yes, you want to be prepared. You want to wow your first customer.
• But writing how-to articles or putting together training decks is premature.
• Figure out what questions or problems your customer has, create the content on the fly, THEN save that for your future knowledge base or next onboarding.

It’s All About The Learning

You’re ready to onboard! It will be messy. You’ll make mistakes.

THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT!

Listen to your customers, help them succeed, and improve as you go.

It won’t be perfect but if you focus on getting better over time, you’ll be amazed at how much better Onboarding #10 and #100 and #1000 are!

What other tips or learnings do you have for someone’s FIRST customer onboarding??

For more customer tips, check out these posts too:

• Your Customer Success Starter Pack
• The 1 Metric That Will Transform Your Customer Success Program
• ICYMI: Customer Success Blueprint for 1, 10 & 100 Customers
• What Are Customer Win Slides & Why You Need Them
• Angry Customers Are A Good Sign - Here's Why!
• 1 Tweak To Massively Increase Customer Adoption
• Finding a Champion User and Leveling Up Your Customer Adoption
• 6 Tips To Supercharge Your Customer Success Hiring Plan
• 3 Customer Onboarding Stages to Prep For As You Grow
• 6 Tips For Startups When Selling To Big Companies

Yay!! You have your first customer! Congrats!!

You’re on cloud nine until you realize…what does onboarding look like? how do I make sure we do it correctly and professionally so that we keep them as a happy customer??

If you are just getting started with your first customers — or maybe you’re on customer #100 but have been winging it thus far (totally normal btw) — here are 3 simple steps to prep before you kickoff your first onboarding!

Next week, we’ll dig into specific best practices for the onboarding itself.

1. Review What You Know

What information have you already collected about the customer? Go over it holistically so that you’re prepared.

• Who are the buyers and users? (LinkedIn profiles, job titles, names, emails, personal details, etc. ZinniaAI can prep this for you!)
• What tools are they already using?
• What are the main goals or initiatives going on that made them purchase?
• What does the company do?
• What internal quirks or challenges do they have?

#PROTIP

Put all the information you gather in a single place — Google Doc, Slack channel for each customer, Notion. This is the very beginning of your official or unofficial CRM!

It can be messy right now. Don’t overthink it. You’ll hire a customer success person later who will chastise you and fix it up 😂

2. Identify Their Goals & Your Goals (hint: they’re different)

Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. You must be able to answer:

What is the North Star metric of your customer?

It is *NOT* usage of your product.

What is the thing your power user is measured on and gets promoted for?

There are probably specific initiatives that your buyer is talking about — “we need to launch an AI feature set” — but underlying that specific project is the larger goal of generate revenue, improve customer retention, increase product stickiness.

THAT IS THE NORTH STAR!

Once you identify your customer’s North Star…

• What milestones will support their North Star?
• What are the goals they’ve mentioned?
• Can you show the impact to their North Star within the product? (probably not — something to work towards over time!)
• From your perspective, what will a successful implementation look like?
• What are you hoping to learn or optimize for with this first customer?
• What is the #1 metric or outcome that will indicate you’ve crushed it??

#PROTIP

Jot down the “end goal” of what it looks like when this customer is successful. What are the things that need to happen to get the customer there? Make a list. It’s probably a combination of training, product setup, and planning. Put it in “order of operations” and remove any non-essential items.

Focus 100% on the steps to get your customer to the first win as fast as possible.

This list becomes your first onboarding checklist!

3. Draft a Timeline & Checklist

Even the most simple outline will help a ton to set expectations, make you seem professional and prepared, and prevent miscommunications!

• Does it take 1 week or 1 month to get up and running?
• What items does a customer need to prepare? What can you do for them?
• Do any trainings need to be scheduled?
• What needs to be done first to unlock next steps?

Use your list of items from #2, add some loose dates or time ranges (e.g. 1 week before launch), put a logo on it (yours and the customer’s to really wow them 🤯) and you have an onboarding document!

#PROTIP

Use this as a “starting place” or a “framework.” Explain that it’s not set in stone and you can iterate based on the customer’s schedule and needs.

It’s helpful to have something on paper but you don’t want them to hyperfocus or nitpick.

And everything will be different than how you planned!

4. Have Benchmarks Ready

One of the most common customer questions:

What is everyone else doing? What is the norm? What does “good” look like?

I know what you’re thinking…it’s my first customer. How do I know any of that stuff??

Here’s the thing:

• You know more than you think. You’ve been researching and building and talking to other companies with their same problems!
• In their mind, you’re an expert. They are counting on you to guide them.
• You don’t need perfect data to provide a helpful answer. It’s really about a starting point and helping people feel “okay” about what and how they’re doing it.

#PROTIP

Here’s some phrases to use to help with benchmarking and establish credibility.

“Most companies like you do xyz.”
“A typical implementation is 6 weeks but every customer is different.”
“An industry benchmark is x% but it can be as high as y% and low as z%. Improvement over time is the most important metric.”
“The most recent report from <IndustryNews> has x as the average. What I’m seeing on the ground is that that may be underreported.”

Boom!

Take 60 minutes (or less) to do these 4 things before your first customer onboarding kickoff and you’ll be ahead of most onboarding experiences out there!

Want even more real world advice about customer onboarding???

• 3 Customer Onboarding Stages to Prep For As You Grow
• Your Customer Success Starter Pack
• ICYMI: Customer Success Blueprint for 1, 10 & 100 Customers
• What Are Customer Win Slides & Why You Need Them
• Angry Customers Are A Good Sign - Here's Why!
• 1 Tweak To Massively Increase Customer Adoption

PLUS — more tips for your first customer onboarding next week!

What was the most helpful tip for your first customer onboarding? What lessons did you learn?

You know what’s harder than finding a needle in a haystack?

Finding a dang co-founder!

You know you want one — whether for technical help, sales help, sanity checks, or simply moral support when you’re doing the really hard thing of starting a company.

The magical, ideal co-founder is someone:

• you’ve worked with before (bonus: started a previous company with them!)
• who balances your strengths and weaknesses (professionally & personality-wise)
• you want to see every day for the next 10 years
• who will help you weather the ups and downs

Easy peasy 😂

If you’ve already found this person, congratulations!!!! (And pass this article to someone still on the hunt.)

If you’re still looking for “The (Co-Founder) One,” my best advice is to date before you marry!!!!!!!

(Note: actual romantic dating of your co-founder is not recommended! 😂 It’s a metaphor, people!!!!)

It’s possible to unwind a mistake but it’s often expensive, stressful, and time intensive.

All things you don’t want on top of the already expensive, stressful, and time intensive experience of building a company!

Here are 4 ways to de-risk that whole co-founder thang and find your next startup partner!

1. Check References

Hopefully this goes without saying but — for the love of everything — ask around.

Check official references! Talk to unofficial references!

What do previous co-workers, employees, investors, or co-founders say about this person?

What are their quirks, when do they shine, and what stresses them out?

I’d expect to hear 95-99% rave reviews.

If there’s any red flags, get out now!

Those bridges they burned? They’ll light yours on fire too!

2. Contract Engagement

💕Engagement.💕 Ha! I’m hilarious.

But seriously. If you find someone with tons of potential, see if they’d be interested in a 1-3 month consulting gig.

It’s a great way for both parties to understand strengths, weaknesses, goals, working style, and overall compatibility.

Make sure you talk about any concerns or feedback along the way.

This is important because:

• EVERY RELATIONSHIP TAKES WORK. Even with the most perfect co-founder, you’ll disagree, get annoyed, and have conflict. You have to be willing and prepared to work through things. Begin as you mean to go on!
• You want to see how they communicate and respond — with language, action, and change (or not). Startups are hard. What does someone do in the face of conflict or hardship? Better to know now than later!
• See how your conflict and resolution styles work together. It’s not just about how someone reacts to conflict and feedback, it’s also about conflict compatibility. If you both like heated discussions, great! If one of you does but the other would prefer a calm debate, this could be a big sticking point down the road.

If you don’t know after 3 months, it’s probably a no.

If you’re really not sure after 3 months, pinpoint exactly what your open questions are and figure out a way to vet those items specifically and quickly.

3. Start With A Different Role

Not everyone has interest in or the life circumstances that allow a contract engagement.

If you think someone has potential as a co-founder or they express interest in being a co-founder but you want to de-risk it, start them in a specific leadership position.

For example, bring someone on as a CTO or Head of Sales to start.

You can always promote them to co-founder later. (It’s quite common to add a co-founder months or years after the company started.)

This works for any C-level position as well as co-founder.

If you think someone has potential but they’re a little green, give them a general or less senior title to start (e.g. “Head of” or <area of focus> “Lead”).

Explain that titles and responsibilities will grow and evolve as the company does. Then you can promote them or share feedback on what they need to improve.

When I joined Rigor, I was interested in being COO eventually, but I knew the immediate need was in Customer Success. So I started as Director of Customer Success and did a lot of general company organizing and managing along the way. A year later I was promoted to COO. It was a natural transition that the CEO and I both felt good about.

4. One Year Vesting Cliff

This is a fancy stock term.

Here’s what it means:

They get nothing if they leave or get fired before the 1 year mark.

Note: make sure you have a lawyer (or ChatGPT 😂) to get the wording and details right! The O’Daily is not legal advice.

It’s a very, very standard term for startup stock agreements.

It’s LITERALLY been in every startup stock agreement I’ve ever seen from a reputable startup.

If someone pushes back on it, it’s rather suspect.

If someone wants to vest right away or is not planning to be with the company for more than a year (when hired for full time role)…there’s a significant misalignment somewhere!

If someone is with your company for over a year and then things go south, presumably they’ve added enough value to deserve 25% (of a 4 year total vesting timeline, another common vesting term) of their allotted stock/options.

If they didn’t add enough value to earn that, it’s on you as the founder for not moving them along sooner. (But not on Day 364 — bad look. You’ll know way before then. Rip the bandaid off as soon as you know. There’s never a good time and waiting doesn’t make it easier.)

Patience, Grasshopper

Finding the right co-founder can be one of the most important things you do!

It doesn’t happen overnight.

Give yourself time and some safeguards to make sure it’s a great long term partnership.

What other strategies have you used to find, vet, or “date-before-you-marry” your co-founder?

Don’t have time to read? Check out @KathrynODay on Instagram for bite-sized O’Daily videos (and heckling/cameos from my husband 😂)!

I loooooove self improvement books. Health, business, minimalism, entrepreneurship, money, parenting. I read them all.

I get excited to try EVERYTHING that’s suggested.

Is this you also??

Openness to new ideas and a constant drive to improve are fairly common traits of entrepreneurs.

Getting overwhelmed by the unlimited improvement ideas is a common side effect!

Whomp whomp.

How do you make new habits manageable? How do you incorporate ideas or improvements into your life?

I LOVE Atomic Habits and the many strategies that James Clear discusses:

• Changing your core belief
• Bundling/stacking with other habits
• Doing it with a friend or group

Here’s my own 3 step process to figuring out which ideas and habits are worth keeping and which ones are not for me!

And here’s a fun story about habits, testing, feedback, and iteration over time at a startup!

3 Easy Ways To Build Lifelong Habits

1. Treat it like a test.

Think of your new habit as a test. Low pressure and low risk.

Tests work and don’t work. There’s no personal failing. It’s not about your identity. It’s a low risk, time-boxed experiment.

”Tests” work well in business too!

I often think of new initiatives as a test. Even if I hope (expect!) that it will be wildly successful, I position a project as a test to myself and others to keep the stakes low and feedback high.

Testing also makes you open to data, feedback, and analysis — from yourself and others!

• How is the test going?
• How do you feel?
• What results or early indicators (if any) are you seeing?
• What do those around you say?
• Are there any metrics you’re tracking?

Too often, we internalize a habit as something we must do. If we don’t stick with it, it feels personal. We beat ourselves up. We feel shame, guilt, incompetence, fear, and lose confidence.

Maybe it’s just not the right time, implementation, or strategy for this habit.

By moving on from this “test,” we are freed up for a new habit that may be more important, aligned, or impactful.

In business, we are free to test new ideas and use money and time in a higher value way.

It’s actually hugely positive when a test doesn’t work. Now you know!

I’ve been trying to say “like” less often, take cold showers, and regularly read S-1s for years. But it hasn’t stuck. I could self flagellate for these horrific failures. Or see it as a test I ran that didn’t work.

I may try it again later or there may be something better to focus on!

Special shout out to the amazing Margaret Weniger who pointed this “testing” mindset when I was a guest on Rising Tide podcast. I had no idea. Margaret is an incredible coach with life-changing insights!

2. Commit to a timeframe upfront.

Every test needs a timeframe. Give your habit test an end date.

You want enough time to get through the initial suckiness of starting something new. There’s a learning curve, extra work, mental adjustment, culture shift, schedule accommodation, and a multitude of other things that get easier with practice and routine.

Rolling out a new program at work or trying a new workout are both a heavy lift (pun intended 💪).

For a company, a few weeks or a few quarters may be the right timeframe.

For a personal habit, it may be days or weeks.

I like to give something at least 3 weeks unless it’s clearly a no-go!

You also don’t want to do something forever if it’s not the best use of time.

So — when thinking about your habit — what’s the shortest amount of time to test it while still giving it a fair shot?

Decide upfront so you can get started on your test and focus on the habit itself.

Don’t look up until you hit that “Habit Test Done” calendar reminder!

3. Evaluate the sustainability.

I am too dang old for fads and short term fixes.

When I am in the midst of a habit test, I literally ask myself, “Would I do this the rest of my life? If not, how can I adjust it so that I could do it indefinitely?”

This may sound extreme.

But you know what’s extreme?

Sticking to habits that are not sustainable.

Sometimes there’s a habit that’s part of a finite goal. Like, riding your bike 200 miles in a weekend to train for an Ironman. Or practicing your pitch 3x/day until demo day.

These are perfectly reasonable short term habits.

I’m also a believer in a learning focus. I spent a lot (like, A LOT) of time on blogging early on as I learned. Over time, I got faster and it got easier. But I still block time every week to blog.

I take slightly fewer meetings to accommodate my writing time. That’s what makes it possible to write the O’Daily (weekly!) for the long term. (See? Sustainability, baby!)

When you force it, make it an extra thing, or are too extreme, you won’t stick with it.

Or in a company setting, when you try to force an unsustainable habit, project, or culture, your team may not stick with you!

I’m a believer in the marathon. Startups are consistent execution over years, not a few all-nighters at the end of the quarter.

You can’t “cram” for a startup or a marathon. You can’t “cram” for a habit either.

Make it consistent and repeatable in a long term way!

It reminds me of this awesome tweet from Alex Friedman:

How do you know if a habit is working?

Yes, look at the data, ask for feedback, get all the objective info you need.

But I find the most important indicator is more subjective:

How do you feel?

Questions To Ask Yourself:

• How do you feel about the habit itself? Do you like it? Dread it? Find it annoying? Get excited about it?
• Does the work or time feel worth it?
• Is your company hitting its stride?
• Do you feel more clarity or energy?
• Does your team like it? Does your family like it?

Yes, you will probably have sales numbers, Whoop scores, or other “hard” info to evaluate.

And sometimes things can be beneficial without people “liking” it, e.g. children eating broccoli or your team being accountable to metrics.

But often, you’ll have a directional sense of “keep” or “go” before you see the data.

Test habits, listen to your gut, and improve in a sustainable way.

Your (startup) marathon will thank you!

What’s the most important habit you’ve cultivated? What helped you establish the habit? How did you stick with it over the long run?

When you’re going out to market to raise money, remember to always save your best for last.

But how do you know who your best are?

Here are my favorite tips to find the ideal investor for your specific business!

Remember — investment firms are as different and varied as startups themselves.

To an untrained eye, every “firm” is the same just like every “startup” is the same.

After some light research, you can easily understand the wide variety.

Know what industry and stage they usually invest in to prevent wasting your time or theirs. (Dave Payne agrees.)

These tips apply to any stage but if you’re looking for your first money in, check out 6 ways to find funding to get the creative juices going!

5 Ways To Find Your “A List” Investors

1. Start with the Good Ole Internets.

Going to lump a lot of things into one category here but basic Googling or ChatGPTing is your friend.

Crunchbase, PitchBook, and other investment database websites are very helpful.

LinkedIn and Twitter — probably better for deep dive research than finding net new investors but definitely check them out! See who is talking about investing or a thought leader in your space.

Things to pay attention to when vetting a firm:

• what stage they typically invest in
• average check size
• industry focus
• traction milestones they look for (revenue, users)
• business model focus (B2B, marketplace, consumer products, hardware)
• other preferences (location, demographic, founder criteria, ownership, lead/follow)

Don’t forget to look at strategic investors depending on your stage and industry. They often fly under the radar but can be a great option!

2. Ask other entrepreneurs.

Find out who they recommend, spoke to, **AND ALSO** if they had a list they used.

Lists from fellow entrepreneurs often have notes or additional context (plus save you hours of work)!

Even better if they are in your industry or business type.

If one of their investors is a fit for you, ask for an introduction!

3. Look at competitors or companies you admire.

You’re building a subscription-based makeup company? → Who were the first investors for Stitch Fix or Birch Box? Add them to your list!

Who is someone that recently raised in your space that’s not a competitor? → Who invested? Who else did they talk to? If you’re not competitors, people are usually happy to share this info.

Who did your biggest competitor raise from? → They probably won’t invest in you but that’s a good starting place for research.

• What is their investment thesis?
• What other companies are in their portfolio?
• Who were those companies’ other investors?
• What terms or language do all these investors use to describe what they do?

Follow the breadcrumbs to further customize your list and find other investors in your space!

4. Check out industry events.

In the Southeast, Venture Atlanta is the largest investor/startup event. Are there investors in attendance who match your stage and industry?

If your business isn’t B2B SaaS or Fintech (two favorites of the Southeast), what are the top consumer products, robotics, marketplace, or mobile app events?

Or maybe you target a specific vertical — what are the best aviation, solar panel, or manufacturing events? Investors will attend those looking for talent and new products.

Who is posting, speaking, or sponsoring those events?

Know someone attending? Maybe they have a copy of the attendee list they could share with you…😉

5. “Who should we be talking to?”

This is your new favorite question.

Ask your mom, the grocery store cashier, your kids’ friends.

Okay, maybe not them.

But definitely other investors, mentors, founders, anyone in the startup world! Most times, they won’t know someone or it’s someone already on your list. But every so often, they’ll have an “A List” gem for you!

DIY Project

I love interns (as you know) and they can be a great resource to get a list started.

BUT YOU CAN’T DELEGATE THIS COMPLETELY.

The learning from the research is invaluable.

You will start to know the firms, lingo, trends, people, and inner workings of VC.

You’ll get a feel for the firms you like the best, current fundraising economics, how companies are positioning themselves, and more.

Compile your “ideal list” while you’re fine tuning your pitch deck (especially that $$ and TAM) and let the fun(draise) begin!

Remember — don’t start your fundraising process with your ideal investors! Start with friendlies who are not a fit. Save your best for last so you’ve perfected your pitch by the time you speak to them.

Now that the summer slow down is over (hellooooo school year), we’ll share more fundraising tips and process advice in the coming weeks!

What other suggestions do you have for founders compiling a list of potential investors? How did you find your target investor list?

Last week, we shared 8 firms in Atlanta that invest in healthcare and life sciences.

It’s an amazing list but many incredible startups are outside the investment theses of these firms.

I consulted the big guns to expand the list!

Insert Jane McCracken.

Founder, CEO, Board Member, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Angel Investor, Life Sciences Guru, and Awesome Human.

She has taken multiple companies public, led multiple companies as CEO, and founded multiple companies with successful exits (several in life sciences). And she lives RIGHT HERE IN ATLANTA. 🤯🚀🦄

Jane had great recommendations! (Duh.)

Here are 10 more investment resources to check out if you’re building in the life sciences, medical device, or biotech space.

**With a BONUS SECTION for “Who’s Who in Life Sciences in the Southeast.”**

Let the life science innovation continue!

10 More BioTech & Life Sciences Firms To Check Out!

(1) Ariel Savannah Angel Partners (ASAP)

• Angel network in Savannah, GA 
• Many members are doctors
• Primary focus is life sciences and biotech
• ATL investments: OXOS, Skintelligent

(2) Hatteras Venture Partners

• Based in Research Triangle Park, NC
• Biopharma, med devices, diagnostics, disruptive healthcare IT
• ATL investments: Clearside Biomedical, Gozio

(3) Council Capital

• Based in Nashville, TN
• Healthcare private equity firm ($5-50M revenue, $1M acquisitions)
• ATL investments: Endochoice (med device), Ingenious Med (healthIT)

(4) Dynamk Capital

• NYC-based firm focused on tools, tech, services to enable biologics discovery, development and manufacturing; no med devices or therapeutics
• Stage agnostic, usually $500k-$5M check size
• ATL investments: Lucid Scientific

(5) Seed to B

• Digital health companies with early product market fit ($500k+)
• 🍑🍑 FROM ATL! (Yay! Snuck this one in.)
• ATL investments: Moonlight Therapeutics, OncoLens

(6) GRA Venture Fund

• Public-private venture fund investing in research-driven, Georgia-based startup companies including life sciences, manufacturing, agriculture, or technology
• Big focus on GA-based university departments that are commercializing the tech
• ATL investments: many

(7) Epidarex Capital

• US + UK-based fund investing in biotech, pharmaceuticals, med devices, health tech in emerging or under-ventured research hubs
• Full criteria here
• ATL investments: Nyra Medical 

(8) HealthQuest Capital

• Growth-focused venture fund for healthcare transformers including med devices and diagnostics.
• Invest $20-100M per company for commercial-stage scaling

(9) Oak HC/FT 

• Any stage investment (but usually later) for healthcare and fintech (thus, “HC/FT”)
• Primarily digital health
• ATL investments: OncoHealth

(10) NEA

• Global firm with any stage investment (seed to public) in healthcare or life sciences
• They write lots of big checks with a large portfolio; $25B under management

BONUS: Life Sciences Who’s Who in the Southeast

• Southeast Life Sciences, a unified network for medtech and bioscience innovation, partnering, and investor relations in the SE
• Maria Thacker Goethe, President & CEO of GA Bio
• Sherry Farrugia, CEO at Global Center for Medical Innovation
• Scott McCarty, Director of Life Sciences at Silicon Valley Bank

HUGE THANK YOU again to Jane McCracken for sharing her wealth of knowledge with The O’Daily! 🙏🙏🙏

If any of these firms or resources might be a fit for you, build that relationship and don’t forget to talk about the money!

What other life sciences firms or resources should we add to this list? Any tips for founders reaching out or pitching in life sciences??

Atlanta is a hotbed of biotech and life sciences talent.

We have Georgia Tech, Emory, the Center for Disease Control, and many other institutions with incredible doctors, researchers, and engineers — plus funding and facilities for innovation.

One of the reasons my Atlanta Ventures colleague A.T. Gimbel started the Atlanta Healthcare Meetup was to highlight and bring together the people and companies in these spaces!

I often meet great founders working on healthcare, biotech, medical devices, or life sciences who are raising money.

Here are some great Atlanta-based firms to check out!

Not a biotech founder?
This post isn’t that fun for you.😢

Make it fun for someone else.
Share it with your healthcare founder friend! 🥳

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8 Atlanta-Based Healthcare & Life Sciences Firms To Check Out

(1) Laerdal Million Lives Fund

• Invests in digital solutions to help save lives
• Fund success metric = number of lives saved ❤️
• Becca Shmukler is in Atlanta, though parent company Laerdal (producer of CPR mannequins) is HQ’d in Norway

(2) Shorewind Capital

• Early stage frontier tech that optimizes health and climate
• Nick Fragnito is an Atlanta-based partner and also awesome triathlete!

(3) Wellstar Catalyst

• $100M fund to provide capital to startups improving the healthcare ecosystem
• Check out their 6 keys areas of focus
• Stefanie Diaz, also the host of She Conquers Capital, runs the program

(4) Portal Innovations

• Early stage biotech and medtech investment
• Building co-working lab space at Tech Square, coming online in 2024
• Suna Lumeh is head of the Atlanta market

(5) Steel Sky Ventures

• Female-led fund investing in women’s health
• Medical devices, consumer health, digital health, new healthcare delivery models, ePharmacy, retail therapeutics
• Maria Velissaris, the founding partner, recently moved to Atlanta 🍑

(6) Noro-Moseley Partners

• Series A or B funding for digital healthcare companies
• $10-20M investment for companies with $2-$20M ARR
• Ryan Collins focuses on healthcare; Elizabeth Stephens does general B2B tech

(7) Fulcrum Equity Partners

• Series A or B funding for healthcare services (or B2B SaaS)
• $5-30M investment with $1M EBITDA or $2M ARR
• Phil Lewis is a partner and long-time Atlantan

(8) BIP Ventures

• Seed, Series A, Series B for software or tech enabled services including healthcare
• Tami McQueen is an amazing community and startup leader

(P.S. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Atlanta Ventures does seed/Series A for digital healthcare companies, primarily B2B SaaS, but we’ll be a footnote, not on the numbered list 😜)

We’re lucky to have many great firms in Atlanta!

Of course, there’s always startups that aren’t the right stage or target for these firms.

No problem!

Here are 10 more life science investors PLUS a bonus section on Who’s Who in the Southeast biotech world.

(Spoiler Alert: a few more GA-based firms are on that list.)

Remember to build that relationship, talk about the money, and let the fundraising commence!

What other healthcare or biotech firms in Atlanta should be added to this list??

Last week, we talked about a 4 word pitch and how it can be an amazing tool for your startup!

A bite-sized phrase about your company is WAY easier for people to:

• remember
• share with others
• understand in a split second
• promote on your behalf

Seems “easy” in theory but how do you actually figure out the best 4 words?

Here are 6 strategies plus *5 REAL WORLD EXAMPLES* to help you dial in your perfect, bite-sized pitch!

6 Ways To Find Your 4 Words

1. Use AI.

Technology is a good place to start. 😁 Explain what you do and see what ChatGPT or Bard comes up with. Include prompts like, “Explain it to a child” to get simple, not jargon-y language.

2. Ask people to explain what you do in 4 words.

Pick a variety of people. Sometimes people who don’t know your business are better at this. Definitely ask people who are concise and good at word-smithing or simplifying.

3. Eliminate words from your current elevator pitch.

Write down your several sentence pitch. Start crossing out words. See what’s left. Does it make sense? Can you take away more? Substitute a word?

4. Make a list of words that describe what you do.

Mix and match. See what clicks and fits best.

5. Read Language Market Fit.

Follow the activities and process they recommend.

6. Attend Pitch Practice.

My amazing colleague, Jacey Cadet, VP of Marketing & Community, hosts *free* Pitch Practice every week at the Atlanta Tech Village.

Start on your own then attend Pitch Practice for expert feedback!

Can I be “BigCompany for <my market>?”

Saying we’re “Uber for x” can sometimes work — if the reference company is big enough and your analogy is clear.

But I’d encourage you to be “ride share for x” or “a marketplace for y” over using someone else’s company.

Large companies often have multiple business lines and revenue models so it’s not clear what part of that you’re mimicking (are you Uber ride share or Uber eats???).

Analogy companies can also hit rough patches. There were times when being “WeWork for…” or “Uber for…” would be a detractor.

Also, unless it’s a really really big company, you run the risk of referencing an unknown company. You’d be surprised how many multi-billion dollar companies are niche or obscure even to other business people.

Most importantly though, using your own words and descriptions shows you can stand alone in your clarity, vision, and focus!

What If It’s 5 Words?

Short and easy to remember! I will give you 5. Even up to 7.

You can go as low as 2 or 3.

But it has to be CLEAR and CONCISE. Think: a short phrase.

You can always add MORE detail to a short blurb. But you can’t unwind a too-long explanation.

Awesome 4 Word Pitches

Looking for examples or inspiration? Here are companies that I can describe without checking their website — my litmus test 😉

Infinite Giving - Modern Investing for Nonprofits

Greenzie - Software for Robotic Lawnmowers

Intown Golf Club - Social Club for Golfers

Prismm - Digital Vault for End-of-Life

Laine London - Wedding Dress Rental

Remember — people won’t remember the details. But they will remember how you made them feel.

Like, confused. By a long pitch. 😂

They will also remember 4 easy words that describe your company!

So nail down that simple phrase and let word-of-mouth unleash it’s magic!  

What’s the best bite-sized pitch you’ve heard? What company descriptions can you remember off the top of your head??