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??

We’ve been thinking about elevator pitches all wrong.

I can’t memorize your elevator pitch. Neither can your mom, the other companies in the building, or your customers.

Yet we are all going to try to explain what you do!

We may even talk you up to friends and try to send business your way.

Your company elevator pitch is like a game of Telephone. You tell someone, they repeat it to the next person, and so on.

This repeats 10 times until you hear from a stranger that there’s an awesome new company that makes technology for purple ducks who drive space cars. And it’s your company!

So what happens?

It’s hard to remember and summarize a thing. Especially if you don’t spend all day, every day explaining it.  Especially if there’s complexity, nuance, or fancy jargon words.

So here’s my challenge (a request really — help me easily share your company!) to all the elevator pitchers…

Can you explain your company in 4 words or less?

Why You Need A 4 Word Pitch

In case my Telephone game example didn’t resonate, here are 3 ways a short phrase pitch can help your business.

1. Help others pitch for you

I probably say, “Do you know CompanyXYZ, they do <4 word phrase>?” 50 times per day.

Your mom says, “My child does <4 word phrase>,” 100 times per day.

If you don’t give us that 4 word phrase, we’re going to make up our own. (And it won’t be pretty!)

2. Make it easy to “get it”

If someone asks what do you do, give them an “ah-ha” moment as quickly as possible.

A 3 minute explanation is weird, hard to follow, and comes across as sloppy at best, unintelligent at worst.

One sign of intelligence is communicating complex ideas in simple ways.

3. Peak someone’s interest

What would you rather have — someone’s eyes glazing over or a curious follow up question?

With a short overview phrase, your audience can quickly assess if they want to know more or want to move on to a different topic. If you “force” a long winded explanation, it’s a missed opportunity for connection.

What Makes A Great 4 Word Pitch

The best 4 word pitches are a memorable, understandable overview phrase of what you do.

It will not be complete. It will feel WAY simplified to you as the founder (“we do so much more!”). But people will easily remember it and that’s important.

You’re striving for:

• People “get it” right away
• Easy to remember
• Normal words (PLEASE NO: “Management logistics discovery platform”)

It can (and will) evolve over time.

Feel free to test out different variations to see when people have an “ah-ha” moment vs. blank stare.

It’s also a great thought exercise and forcing function.

Do you understand who you are and what you do? Are you focused or trying to be too broad?

Here’s the thing — if you can’t come up with a 4 word description (as the expert of the business), how is someone else going to?

How To Use Your 4 Word Pitch

• Open every “what do you do?” conversation with your 4 word description of your company.
• Put it on your website.
• Include it in your investor update.
• Write it down for your mom. (The moms are sellin’ for ya!)

Need Help On Your 4 Word Pitch?

How do you come up with a 4 word pitch?

Tune in next week, where we talk through 5 strategies for finding your 4 words and give examples of real life companies that crush it!

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What makes it easy for you to remember a company pitch or description? Have you found that shorter explanations work better or do you disagree??

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Looking for your first investors but not sure where to start?

If you’re looking for traditional venture investment, I encourage you to:

• understand how venture capitalists think
• review these 3 secret tips
• make sure you’ve got your TAM-SAM-SOM dialed in
• know how to talk about revenue — even if you don’t have any
• show the money!

This works well when you’re in B2B SaaS, you know the tech industry, and you were born (or learned!) to sell dreams.

But what if you’re not in tech, too early for most investors, new to the fundraising world, or your business isn’t sexy to traditional investors (e.g. smaller market, high inventory, tighter margins)??

(NOTE: Do not despair if your business isn’t “VC sexy”! Real life success stories below!)

Here’s the question I ask when someone is thinking about capital:

Who has money that cares about this problem???

(ALSO NOTE: If the answer is “no one,” find a new idea! 😂)

Let’s go through a few examples…

1. Current Customers

Do you have any high net worth customers that might want to invest in your business?

Current customers are fantastic investors because they:

• Understand the amazingness of your product
• Are great ambassadors
• Want your company to grow and succeed (so they can stay a customer!)
• Have helpful feedback

Real Life

An Atlanta-based founder with a brick-and-mortar consumer business (who was nervous about fundraising!) reached out to her customers. She learned that one of her customers was a professional investor. They filled the full $2M round.

2. Future Customers

Who will be your customer once your solution is in the world? Are they business owners or high net worth individuals? Could they be investors?

Future customers are fantastic investors because they:

• Will be your first beta testers (warts and all!)
• Want the problem solved
• Validate the demand

Real Life

A company in the food tech space had restaurant owners participate in their first round of fundraising. Even at relatively small amounts of investment ($5,000-$20,000), these restauranteurs were key to growth and learning. They were the first users of the product, a great proof point for traditional investors, and provided capital!

3. Angel Investors, Celebrities, Individuals

Are there any well-known individuals who have been directly impacted by the problem you’re tackling?

Examples:

• Business leader outspoken about remote work → your productivity startup
• Celebrity who loves Chihuahuas → your lost pet tracker startup
• Entrepreneur who exited a company in martech → your martech startup

Real Life

A deep-tech startup in the cancer prevention space raised pre-seed funding from individuals directly impacted by cancer. These individuals were passionate about finding solutions with the means to support the work. They could write early checks that are too “risky” for traditional investors but essential to long term solutions.

4. Grants, Foundations, Accelerators, Niche VCs

With more support for entrepreneurship than ever before, there’s thousands of programs offering capital and resources.

When you ask, “Who has money that cares about this problem?,” the answer may be a nonprofit, an industry-specific accelerator, or an investment firm with a special mandate.

Examples:

• Flourish Ventures, an evergreen fintech fund for impact-oriented innovation
• Laerdal Million Lives Fund which measures investment ROI as # of lives saved
• Hudson Alpha AgTech Accelerator, one of many AgTech accelerators in the US
• Tory Burch Foundation offers grants, networking, and programs to 50 women founders per year
• Macy’s The Workshop, a vendor accelerator for diverse, Women, LGBTQ, and veteran founders

Real Life

An Atlanta-based fashion company went through Macy’s The Workshop and got a contract with Macy’s (along with great press coverage, connections, and a chance to win $100k in a pitch competition)!

5. Strategic Investors, Corporations

Strategic investors and corporate venture teams aren’t usually the first check but they can be a great option to explore if they care about your problem.

Too early for a strategic investor?

• Is there an executive at the company who would be an angel investor?
• Could the company be a beta or pilot customer (usually the first step to strategic investment later)?

Real Life

Get all the deets from this first-hand account on successfully raising from strategic investors!

6. HONORARY MENTION: Other Founders, Affinity Groups

While they might not care about your problem, they care about YOU!

Who in your circle may want to support your entrepreneurial journey?

Examples:

• Successful alumni from your college or high school
• Founders who have “made it” and want to pay it forward
• Someone else from your hometown (even if you don’t know them personally)
• A kindred sports/music/business/outdoors aficionado

Real Life

A successful consumer products founder in the Southeast got her first check from her hometown congregation minister.

Another founder in the Southeast got her seed round from a local “Garden Club” of high net worth women who loved supporting a founder but had never been asked.

Creativity is an essential trait of entrepreneurship.

Use your creativity to think outside the box when it comes to fundraising, especially if it’s a challenging economic environment or you’re not in a “typical” VC market.

What other strategies have you used for early fundraising? What’s the best story you’ve heard about someone’s first check? Any other non-traditional sources of funding to share?

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Hi, my name is Kathryn and I procrastinate.

Hopefully, right now, you’re thinking, No way. You deliver the O’Daily to my inbox every week on time.

But you also might be thinking, This does seem thrown together so that checks out. 😂😳

I used to hate my procrastination. I would be insanely jealous of my college friends who would be done with papers on TUESDAY for a Friday deadline. 🤯🤯🤯

I would sit down at my laptop on Tuesday night, committed to getting it done.

Four hours of Facebook later (it was still cool, okay?), I would head to bed with barely an outline.

Then I read this amazing essay by John Perry on “Structured Procrastination” that changed everything.

tl;dr — expect your procrastination. use it to your advantage.

How Structured Procrastination Works

1. Make a list of tasks in priority order
2. Do everything else on the list to avoid #1
3. Behold your amazing productivity and empty to-do list (except for 1 item)!

But…you didn’t get #1 done?!?

No problem.

1. Find an item that’s MORE important than #1
2. Tackle item-formerly-known-as-#1 to avoid doing new item #1
3. Congratulations! Your procrastination is helping you get shit done!

3 Ways To Activate “Structured Procrastination”

1. Create deadlines.

Schedule a meeting, tell someone you will have it by a certain date, hire a coach, make an accountability pod, sign up for a pitch competition, whatever will feel “real” and create pressure on your to-do list.

2. Leverage your “Tendency.”

I am an Upholder/Obliger. So I *KNOW* that I keep my commitments to others. When something is important, I promise someone I will do it.

3. Use calendar blocks (to know you’re behind).

I use calendar blocks to help me visualize the actual time I have to complete a task or project. A Thursday deadline becomes urgent on Monday when I clearly see I’m booked with meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Procrastination and Long-Term Goals

You might be asking, but Kathryn, how could you train for Ironmans as a procrastinator???

Or maybe you’re thinking, how the hell can I build a big ass company — a 10 year endeavor — when I procrastinate??

Here’s what’s worked for me — set up systems that make it easy to do the right thing.

I didn’t think of Ironman training as “I’m going to do this really hard thing today and then repeat it every day until forever.”

I met my friends for a bike ride. I went to Masters Swim practice. I did what my coach wrote in the training plan.

A lot of it was “show up” and then let habit (and peer pressure!) carry you.

Same can be true for startups and company-building.

Here are common accountability mechanisms:

• customer meetings/deliverables
• investor updates
• board meetings
• quarterly (monthly, weekly, daily) sales targets
• weekly team meetings
• daily standups
• product roadmaps/releases
• internal meetings about high priority projects

Some of these naturally occur, some will be cultivated as you grow, and some you may want to add intentionally today!

Trust Your Procrastination

I’m such a sophisticated procrastinator that I keep a 3 item to-do list.

Let me explain.

I never put “clean the car” on my to-do list.

I know myself well enough to trust that I will suddenly, urgently need to vacuum the car 15 minutes before we leave for a road trip.

Don’t force that gnarly chore on a laid back family weekend.

Same with wiping down ceiling fans, cleaning out photos, updating old blog posts, and whatever other crappy task I *should* do but just can’t make myself at the moment.

Enjoy the Guilt

All the anti-procrastinators right now:

But Kathryn — it feels so good to get your stuff done instead of having it hang over you!

Allow me to offer a different perspective.

I like the guilt.

When you read a blog when you *should* be replying to emails, it’s so much more indulgent and enjoyable!  

I’m going to treat myself. I stole this time! How luxurious to read the O’Daily.

If I’m already at Inbox Zero, I tend to meander aimlessly around Slack or LinkedIn. No productive learning or stolen moments of fun.

LAME.

It reminds me of the meeting cancelation paradox:

• Have 30 minutes open on your calendar? → That’s nice.
• Someone cancels a 30 minute meeting? → OMG WHAT WILL I DO WITH ALL THIS EXTRA TIME??

Instead of guilt, embrace the joy of procrastinating!

Repeat after me:

”I work well to deadline.”
”I know I’ll get it done when it matters.”
”I love using my procrastination to be productive and have fun.”
”I don’t beat myself up for procrastinating, I revel in it!”

Procrastination: Another Way to Say No

I spend a lot of time (practicing how to get better at) saying no:

• why to say no
• 7 ways to say no
• 4 more ways to say no
• how to say no to your boss
• how to have fewer meetings
• how to prioritize (aka figure out when to say no)

Procrastination is a secret, subconscious way to say no.

You say no when you have to. Because you ran out of time to do only the most important things!

It’s also a great way to say no to perfectionism and yes to shipping!

You may want 20 hours to perfect your slide deck but if you only have 2 hours, you figure out a way.

It’s not perfect but it’s live in the world which is 100x more important than perfect, especially at startups!

My 3 Steps To Blog Every Week

So how the heck to I get my blog out every week?

STEP 1: I tell my wonderful readers that I will email them on Tues. They are counting on me!!! (My Obliger tendency believes this. Reality is irrelevant. 😂)

STEP 2:  I schedule a calendar block and stick to it — no meeting creep!

STEP 3: **where the magic happens** I include time in my calendar block for Inbox Zero and other random productive tasks to make the most of my structured procrastination!

What tips or strategies do you use to avoid or leverage your procrastination??

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