Thoughts on software, AI, and company building, with occasional sneak peeks at P9’s kitchen table.

Summary (80–120 words): The post introduces three cohort-analysis views for a SaaS Excel template: 1) MRR development by cohort over lifetime months; 2) the same data stacked by calendar month to show older cohorts’ contribution to current MRR and to gauge price changes and grandfathering; 3) cumulative revenues minus CAC by cohort to track CAC payback time—ideally measured on gross profit (revenues minus CoGS). In the example, early cohorts break even around month 6 and newer cohorts faster. Together, the views reveal cohort-level profitability and composition over time, helping teams monitor payback dynamics and how historical cohorts sustain current revenue. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): cohort analysis, SaaS cohort analysis, MRR by cohort, monthly recurring revenue cohorts, cohort lifetime month, calendar month cohort view, MRR contribution by cohort, price increase grandfathering, CAC payback period, customer acquisition cost payback, cumulative revenue minus CAC, gross margin payback, cohort break-even analysis, SaaS unit economics, LTV to CAC ratio, net revenue retention by cohort

Summary (80–120 words): This 14-slide deck, uploaded by Point Nine Capital, narrates an investor’s evolving relationship with Zendesk through distinct phases: early enthusiasm, an effort to raise a Series A, subsequent setbacks (“Ouch”), interpersonal or process frictions (“Drama”), and an eventual positive resolution culminating in gratitude. It functions as a concise fundraising case vignette, highlighting the non-linear nature of startup financing and the role of persistence and relationship management in reaching a successful outcome. The takeaway is that raising institutional capital often involves reversals before alignment is achieved, even for strong products and teams. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): Zendesk, Point Nine Capital, Series A fundraising, startup funding journey, venture capital, VC round, early-stage financing, SaaS customer support, fundraising setbacks, investor–startup relationship, term sheet, due diligence, SaaS case study, financing drama, fundraising narrative, startup resilience, growth capital, software-as-a-service financing

Summary (80–120 words): A nine-step playbook for raising venture capital. Founders should research investor fit by sector and stage, tailor outreach (avoid “shotgun” emails), and prepare core materials: a clear pitch deck, financial plan, and early traction. Set ambitious but credible expectations. Run effective in-person meetings with co-founders and avoid monopolizing the conversation. Remove obstacles by supplying missing data with sources and arranging reference calls; stay available. Create momentum by setting decision deadlines and updating investors on key milestones; avoid name-dropping and back-channel coordination that can form an investor cartel. Close by securing a lead investor’s signed term sheet, informing potential co-investors, and keeping options open until the deal is executed. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): venture capital fundraising, raise VC funding, startup fundraising process, investor targeting by stage and sector, warm intro to VCs, cold outreach to investors, pitch deck essentials, financial model for fundraising, early traction metrics, managing expectations with VCs, investor meeting best practices, reference calls and due diligence, create deal momentum and deadlines, lead investor and term sheet, VC syndicate and co-investors, avoid name-dropping and signaling risk, prevent investor cartel herding, closing a funding round

Summary (80–120 words): Practical Q&A on implementing SaaS cohort analysis. It clarifies cohort baselines: include all signups to assess overall retention; include only paid conversions (exclude free trials until conversion and non-representative “buddy” plans) when estimating LTV. Account for churn within the base month to avoid overstating month-two churn. Segment team vs individual accounts if teams are material. For churn rates, exclude annual plans that are not up for renewal; mixing plans is acceptable for activity/view-of-returning users. Read cohort grids horizontally to spot early drop-offs and stabilization, and vertically to assess product improvements over time. Estimate CLTV by extrapolating weighted 6–12 month retention and multiplying by ARPA; track paid customer and MRR growth from paid-only bases. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): cohort analysis, retention cohort analysis, SaaS cohort analysis, churn analysis, customer retention curve, base-month churn, free trial conversion rate, team vs individual plans, annual vs monthly subscriptions, logo churn (customer churn), revenue churn, net revenue retention (NRR), customer lifetime value (CLTV), lifetime value (LTV), average revenue per account (ARPA), monthly recurring revenue (MRR), cohort retention grid, cohort table, survival analysis for subscriptions, customer acquisition cost (CAC)

Summary (80–120 words): The post outlines four later-stage factors that increase a SaaS startup’s odds of scaling efficiently and building defensibility. 1) High search volume with limited SEO/SEM competition enables cost-effective acquisition and supports content-driven thought leadership. 2) “Land and expand”/bottom‑up adoption starts with individuals or small teams and grows to enterprise accounts; success requires a strong marketing site, frictionless onboarding, differentiated pricing (incl. freemium), and enterprise features (roles, SLAs, audit logs). Yammer exemplifies this path with broad Fortune 500 penetration and paid conversion. 3) Virality arises via sharing (e.g., Basecamp, EchoSign, Dropbox) or publishing (Shopify, Squarespace, MailChimp, Typeform, Zendesk tab), plus referrals/incentives. 4) Economic moats derive from platforms (Force.com), channels (SAP/VARs), lock‑in, network effects (FreshBooks, MailChimp), and data/benchmarking (Zendesk). Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): land and expand, bottom-up sales, bottom-up go-to-market, product-led growth (PLG), freemium distribution, self-serve onboarding, SEO for SaaS, SEM/PPC competition, search demand analysis, content marketing for SaaS, expansion revenue (ARPA growth), switching costs and lock-in, platform strategy and ecosystem integrations, reseller/VAR channel, network effects and data network effects, benchmarking and big data moats, B2B SaaS virality, viral coefficient

Summary (80–120 words): A guest lecture outlines the startup lifecycle—founding, pitching, financing, and exit—through a practical checklist and metrics. Founding choices include original vs copycat ideas, first-time vs serial founders, and incubator vs DIY setup. For pitching, prepare a deck, financial plan, MVP, and early traction; emphasize unit economics with non-blended CAC by channel, CLTV drivers (AOV, margins, retention), and cohort analysis. An ecommerce funnel example shows 2,000 ad views at €25 CPM yielding ~50 visitors at €1 CPC, a 2% conversion producing one customer, and CAC ≈ €50. Financing options span bootstrapping, crowdfunding, incubation, angels, and micro VCs; evaluate capital need, competition, valuation, ownership, timing, and investor value-add. Exit paths include M&A, secondaries, strategic investors, and IPO. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): startup lifecycle, venture capital basics, seed funding, angel investment, micro VC, bootstrapping, equity crowdfunding, incubators and accelerators, pitch deck, financial model, unit economics, customer lifetime value (CLTV), customer acquisition cost (CAC), LTV:CAC ratio, conversion funnel, cohort analysis, valuation, ownership dilution, strategic investors, exit strategies (M&A, IPO, secondary sales)

Summary (80–120 words): The deck identifies nine recurring mistakes in SaaS metrics and how to avoid them. It clarifies MRR versus cash inflow/bookings with a monthly-plus-annual plan example, and shows churn must be calculated only on customers who could cancel (don’t mix annual contracts in a monthly denominator). It stresses cohort analysis to understand retention and customer lifetime. Teams should track every step in the funnel using AIDA/AARRR (visitor-to-trial, trial-to-paid, referrals, retention, expansions) and avoid confusing website visitors with product users. CAC should be segmented by channel; blended CAC hides economics. Measure sales’ true contribution via A/B-tested conversion uplift. Most growth is linear with step changes; begin KPI tracking early to guide focus and provide history. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): SaaS metrics, Software-as-a-Service metrics, Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), Bookings vs revenue, Cash inflow vs MRR, Churn rate calculation, Customer churn, Cohort analysis, Net revenue retention (NRR), Conversion funnel, AARRR (pirate metrics), AIDA funnel, Visitor-to-trial conversion, Trial-to-paid conversion, Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) by channel, Blended CAC, Sales attribution, A/B testing sales impact, Exponential vs linear growth, KPI tracking

Summary (80–120 words): The post notes that investors, not only startups, can share “vanity metrics.” Prompted by a Karlin Ventures post and a Paul Graham tweet mentioned in Mattermark Daily, Christoph Janz publishes a chart of “days since last contact” for 26 active Point Nine Capital II portfolio companies. He emphasizes that contact frequency is an imperfect proxy for usefulness; sometimes investors should step back. Nonetheless, frequent, high-quality communication often correlates with strong founder–investor relationships. The main lesson: portfolio communication metrics can offer transparency and signal engagement, but they should be interpreted cautiously and not conflated with impact or value creation. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): vanity metrics, investor–founder communication, days since last contact, VC portfolio metrics, venture capital transparency, startup metrics, communication frequency, founder updates, investor relations, portfolio monitoring, communication cadence, check-ins, board updates, helpfulness vs activity, qualitative vs quantitative metrics, investor responsiveness

Summary (80–120 words): Six reminders for SaaS founders: balance paranoia about winning with patience for 5–10 year build cycles; deliberately turn your weak side (product vs sales/marketing) into strength via rapid learning and complementary senior hires; create a concrete annual plan with company-wide and quarterly OKRs spanning product, marketing, and finance; prioritize mobile with native experiences to preempt mobile-first disruption; avoid optimizing prices, lifecycle emails, or features for edge cases—serve the modal customer and accept some complaints; and raise capital when you can to de-risk and accelerate rather than when you must, given cyclical funding. References include Andy Grove, Gail Goodman’s “long, slow SaaS ramp of death,” winner-takes-most dynamics, and bell-curve pricing expectations. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): SaaS strategy, winner-takes-most markets, market leadership vs patience, Andy Grove paranoia, long slow SaaS ramp of death, Gail Goodman talk, product and sales balance, hire complementary executives, OKRs (objectives and key results), annual and quarterly planning, mobile-first SaaS, native mobile apps, lifecycle email marketing, SaaS pricing strategy, bell curve pricing, raise when you can not when you need, startup fundraising timing, de-risking capital raise, go-to-market strategy, cloud adoption timeline

Summary (80–120 words): Christoph Janz shares an updated Excel KPI dashboard for early-stage SaaS, adding support for multiple pricing tiers and annual plans, plus collapsible views of top KPIs. The template clarifies core metrics—MRR, churn, CAC, LTV—and helps founders and VCs align on definitions and reporting. It targets low-touch, SMB-focused SaaS and suggests adjustments for enterprise/high-touch sales and B2C/freemium (e.g., activation/referral metrics). Practical guidance includes demarcating marketing vs sales spend at the lead/trial handoff, handling trial conversions with assumed periods, and excluding plan-level “net MRR churn” due to misleading upgrade/downgrade effects. An update references tools like ChartMogul for real-time subscription analytics similar to the spreadsheet. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): SaaS KPI dashboard, SaaS metrics template, subscription analytics, monthly recurring revenue (MRR), annual recurring revenue (ARR), churn rate, net MRR churn, expansion MRR and contraction MRR, customer acquisition cost (CAC), customer lifetime value (LTV), LTV to CAC ratio, cohort analysis, pricing tiers and annual plans, per-seat pricing, activation rate, trial-to-paid conversion, freemium funnel metrics, CMRR vs MRR, sales vs marketing spend, low-touch SaaS metrics

Summary (80–120 words): Christoph Janz recounts a Point Nine Capital offsite where a planned two-hour session on OKRs expanded to a day, revealing how structured goal setting surfaces core issues and aligns priorities. He outlines OKRs as an Intel-originated, John Doerr–popularized system that cascades objectives and measurable key results from company to teams and individuals. He argues many firms have budgets but lack linkage and communication from top-level goals to employee targets, which is especially harmful in fast‑growing startups. Quoting Scott Allison, he notes OKRs discipline thinking, clarify what’s important, establish progress indicators, and focus effort. He also points to Google’s public guidance on implementing OKRs. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): OKRs, objectives and key results, OKR framework, goal-setting methodology, cascading goals, strategic alignment, measurable key results, progress indicators, company-wide objectives, team and individual goals, KPI alignment, management by objectives (MBO), balanced scorecard, Google OKRs, John Doerr goal setting, Intel goal system, startup planning, strategy execution, performance management, goal tracking tools

Summary (80–120 words): The post argues SaaS founders should track different KPIs as they progress through three phases: pre–product-market fit, post–product-market fit but pre-scale, and post-scale. Early on, focus on qualitative user feedback, development velocity, waitlist signups, and activation/usage events; consider NPS. After initial monetization, emphasize trial-to-paid conversion (typical 5–25%), churn and retention (target ~1.5–3% monthly churn), measure churn on both account and MRR bases, use cohort analyses for lifetime, maintain a KPI dashboard, and track ARPA. As growth scales, prioritize net new MRR (new + expansion − churn − contraction), CLTV/CAC ratio, and especially CAC payback time; avoid mixing monthly and annual plans; over-collect data to prevent gaps. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): SaaS KPIs, SaaS metrics, product-market fit metrics, activation metrics, trial-to-paid conversion, churn rate, logo churn, MRR churn, net new MRR, ARPA, ARPU, cohort analysis, customer lifetime value (CLTV), LTV, customer acquisition cost (CAC), CLTV/CAC ratio, CAC payback period, net revenue retention (NRR), net dollar retention, NPS (Net Promoter Score), onboarding metrics, subscription analytics, retention metrics, usage analytics

Summary (80–120 words): The post argues that SaaS startups must build a repeatable, profitable inbound sales process anchored in LTV-driven spend, aiming for a 6–9 month CAC payback. It outlines sales models by ARPA: self-service/no-touch at roughly $20–50 MRR, inside/transactional sales around $100+ (with possible exceptions via high conversion, fast cycles, and lower-cost sales teams), and field/enterprise sales near $3,000+ MRR. Pre-PMF, do unscalable customer work to find fit. Pre-scale, implement lifecycle emails, personalized outreach, segmentation/scoring, lead nurturing, rigorous A/B testing, and measure sales uplift versus unaided baseline to understand true ROI and CAC at scale. Post-scale, prioritize hiring, process, lead volume, and bring in a VP of Sales. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): SaaS sales process, repeatable sales model, profitable customer acquisition, CAC to LTV ratio, customer acquisition payback period, ARPA (average revenue per account), ACV (annual contract value), self-service SaaS, low-touch sales, inside sales (transactional sales), field sales (enterprise sales), inbound sales playbook, trial-to-paid conversion, lifecycle email campaigns, lead scoring and segmentation, lead nurturing, sales attribution vs baseline conversion, A/B testing for sales emails, product/market fit (PMF), VP of Sales hiring

Summary (80–120 words): The post recaps Point Nine Capital’s second SaaS Founder Meetup, held in Berlin, and points readers to a slide deck summarizing the event. The meetup gathered 113 participants from 15+ countries, including 67 SaaS founders, 39 co-investors and SaaS experts, and 7 hosts. It featured 21 presentations and workshops delivered by 22 speakers, with notable attendance from four Benchmark partners and the Zendesk CEO. The day was structured with morning and afternoon programs designed to share practical learnings among early-stage SaaS operators. The emphasis is on peer knowledge exchange, portfolio community building, and investor–founder interaction to drive actionable insights for SaaS growth and execution. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): SaaS founder meetup, Point Nine Capital SaaS, PNC SaaS Founder Meetup 2013, Berlin SaaS event, software-as-a-service founders, SaaS presentations and workshops, SaaS founders networking, SaaS investors and co-investors, Benchmark Partners, Zendesk CEO, early-stage SaaS, B2B SaaS community, venture capital in SaaS, portfolio company gathering, European SaaS ecosystem, cloud software startups, founder summit, startup meetup

Summary (80–120 words): The post offers a downloadable Excel template that operationalizes cohort analysis for early-stage SaaS by requiring only monthly cohort acquisitions and subsequent retention counts; optional MRR and CAC inputs enable revenue churn and cohort payback analysis. It details derived views: retention percentages by lifetime month (B1), churn versus the original cohort size (B2), and month-over-month churn relative to the prior month’s survivors (B3), explaining when each measure is appropriate. Parallel MRR-based tables (C1–D3) assess whether expansion lowers revenue churn versus logo churn. A second tab estimates cohort lifetime and CLTV, with caution for young cohorts, and highlights typical retention stabilization after early churn Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): SaaS cohort analysis, cohort retention analysis, churn analysis, customer churn rate, logo churn, revenue churn, MRR churn, net revenue retention, NDR, negative churn, expansion revenue, customer lifetime value, CLTV, LTV, CAC payback period, cohort payback analysis, retention curve, cohort analysis spreadsheet, SaaS metrics spreadsheet, Excel cohort template

Summary (80–120 words): Point Nine Capital’s 24-slide deck explains how to approach early-stage VCs: when VC money fits and when it doesn’t (VC ≠ sales; dilution trade-offs), what VCs seek (team, product, large/growing markets, unit economics, traction, exit), and how the process runs from screening to term sheet and legal due diligence. It outlines PNC’s focus (SaaS, network effects, commerce), fund size (€40m Fund II), check sizes (€100k–€1m+), and hit rate (10 of 2,500 plans in 2012, ~0.4%). Guidance includes using a concise 10-slide deck, avoiding NDAs, networking/warm intros, and “lines, not dots” persistence. It lists key term sheet clauses and notes negotiations hinge on competition and quality. Two brief case studies illustrate sourcing and conviction-building across geographies. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): approaching venture capital, seed fundraising, Series A fundraising, startup financing, investor pitch deck, no NDA for investors, venture term sheet basics, liquidation preference, anti-dilution protection, pro rata rights and ROFR, drag-along rights, founder vesting schedule, VC due diligence process, unit economics and traction, cap table dilution, warm intro to VCs, Point Nine Capital, SaaS fundraising

Summary (80–120 words): Christoph Janz outlines how venture capital firms should measure themselves. The ultimate metric is value delivered to limited partners, expressed as return multiple or IRR over a 10-year fund life. As interim proxies, firms mark portfolio companies to fair market value when new rounds set valuations and report quarterly, and continuously monitor portfolio companies’ financial KPIs via dashboards or monthly reports. Additional operating KPIs include: volume and quality of evaluated deals (tracked in Zendesk; example: 3,773 deals logged, 148 added in the last 30 days), response time to founders, potential satisfaction ratings of responses, investment selection effectiveness and follow-on allocation, and applying Net Promoter Score to founders to assess reputation. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): VC KPIs, venture capital key performance indicators, IRR (internal rate of return), return multiple, fair market value (FMV) marks, portfolio valuation markups, quarterly LP reporting, deal flow tracking, evaluated deals volume, response time to founders, founder satisfaction rating, Net Promoter Score (NPS) for VCs, investment selection effectiveness, follow-on allocation strategy, portfolio monitoring dashboards, Zendesk dealflow tracking, Geckoboard KPI dashboard, SaaS metrics for VCs, mark-to-market venture portfolio, TVPI and DPI

Summary (80–120 words): Christoph Janz shares a downloadable spreadsheet to standardize early-stage SaaS KPI tracking and communication with investors. The template (Google Sheets and Excel) later adds support for multiple pricing tiers and annual plans; guidance includes recognizing annual prepayments as monthly MRR and logging setup fees as non‑recurring revenue. Practical notes address when to record cancellations (when revenue stops), how to treat founder-led acquisition (as organic rather than “paid”), and handling usage-based revenue (include in MRR if stable, otherwise track as non‑recurring). The dashboard aligns with widely used SaaS frameworks (e.g., David Skok’s) and can be operationalized with tools like ChartMogul for real-time reporting, focusing on acquisition, conversion, retention, revenue, and unit economics. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): SaaS KPI dashboard, SaaS metrics template, SaaS dashboard spreadsheet, monthly recurring revenue (MRR), churn rate, revenue churn, net MRR churn, expansion MRR, customer acquisition cost (CAC), CAC payback period, customer lifetime value (CLTV, LTV), LTV to CAC ratio, ARPA (ARPU), funnel conversion (visitors to signups to paid), organic vs paid acquisition, annual subscription MRR, deferred revenue recognition, non‑recurring revenue, usage‑based pricing metrics, ChartMogul, Geckoboard

Summary (80–120 words): Christoph Janz shares a downloadable KPI dashboard template for early-stage SaaS companies, aligned with his prior financial planning sheet. The model tracks core funnel and subscription metrics: visitors, signups, free-to-paid conversion, MRR movements (new, expansion, contraction, churn), ARPA, CAC, LTV, and related unit economics. He notes definitional choices: record churn when revenue ends; treat founder-led acquisition as organic rather than “paid” CAC; include usage-based revenue in MRR only if stable, otherwise classify as non-recurring; recognize annual prepayments over the subscription term; and record setup fees as non-recurring. The post references David Skok’s SaaS metrics work, offers Google Sheets and Excel versions, and later adds support for pricing tiers and annual plans. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): SaaS KPI dashboard, SaaS metrics template, subscription analytics, MRR dashboard, ARR tracking, churn rate (logo and revenue), net revenue retention, LTV/CAC ratio, CAC payback period, ARPA/ARPU, cohort analysis (SaaS), trial-to-paid conversion, expansion and contraction MRR, revenue recognition for annual plans, non-recurring revenue vs MRR, SaaS financial model, Google Sheets SaaS dashboard, Excel SaaS KPI template, ChartMogul, David Skok SaaS metrics

Summary (80–120 words): The post argues that electronic signing is attractive both as a product and as a SaaS business. It highlights three advantages: inherently viral adoption via signers receiving documents, strong network effects within teams enabling land-and-expand sales, and straightforward tiered pricing tied to users and transaction volume. It contrasts signer-focused apps (SignEasy, SignNow) with end-to-end platforms (EchoSign, DocuSign, RightSignature, HelloSign), noting Adobe’s EchoSign distribution via Acrobat. Despite incumbent strength, the author sees whitespace because most signatures remain on paper and U.S. vendors have low penetration in Europe, suggesting opportunities for a European champion, vertical workflow integrations, or a mobile-first approach. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): electronic signature software, e-signing SaaS, eSignature platform, digital signature services, document signing workflow, contract e-signature, SaaS land and expand, viral SaaS product, freemium to enterprise pricing, tiered pricing SaaS, European e-signature market, vertical SaaS integration, mobile-first e-signature, DocuSign, Adobe EchoSign, HelloSign, RightSignature, SignEasy, SignNow

Summary (80–120 words): Christoph Janz argues that early-stage SaaS companies should “fill the funnel” by testing many acquisition channels and doubling down on what works, because there is no single scalable lead source and search demand is often limited for niche B2B. He advocates inbound marketing and lead nurturing: publish useful, non-promotional content across formats (blog posts, white papers, case studies, webinars, videos) to attract and educate prospects; he cites Zendesk’s content strategy and HubSpot as a primer. He also outlines channels to try—PR, referrals/virality, app marketplaces and integrations, SEM/SEO, paid social, display, retargeting, promoted tweets, channel partners, local meetups, and telesales—and recommends mapping a prospect’s daily habits to discover reach points. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): SaaS lead generation, B2B SaaS marketing, inbound marketing for SaaS, lead nurturing, demand generation, top-of-funnel, content marketing for SaaS, PR for startups, referral programs, product virality, app marketplace integrations, API partnerships, SEM for SaaS, SaaS SEO, LinkedIn Ads, Facebook Ads, retargeting, channel partners and VARs, telesales and telemarketing, local customer meetups

Summary (80–120 words): Christoph Janz explains why a micro VC model fits Point Nine Capital’s strategy after closing a €40m fund (targeted €30m) with LPs including Horsley Bridge Partners. The fund size supports a portfolio of ~40 early-stage Internet companies in Europe with meaningful reserves for follow-on rounds—a lesson from angel investing where limited reserves cause dilution and force premature external fundraising. He contrasts micro funds with large funds that must “return the fund,” requiring scarce €1B+ exits and large check deployment. The micro VC model aligns with an “angel VC” approach: fast decisions, minimal committees, founder-friendly, simple term sheets, and hands-on portfolio support. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): micro VC, micro venture capital, angel VC, seed fund, early-stage VC, European venture capital, Point Nine Capital II, Horsley Bridge Partners, fund-of-funds (FoF), follow-on capacity, reserves strategy, return the fund, billion-dollar exits (1B+), founder-friendly terms, simple term sheets, fast investment decisions, no investment committee, portfolio construction (seed), angel investor dilution, Series A dilution

Summary (80–120 words): The post outlines three SaaS pricing choices: whether to offer a free plan, which model to use, and how much to charge. It evaluates freemium tradeoffs—COGS, support load, upgrade path, price sensitivity, competition, network effects, and funding—and cites MailChimp as a case where a free tier also creates data scale advantages. If freemium doesn’t fit, offer free tools (e.g., HubSpot’s Website Grader). For monetization, pick value‑aligned “axes” (per seat or usage) to price by willingness to pay; examples include FreshBooks and MailChimp. Use multi‑axis tiers, aim for negative churn, and iterate: start cheaper, later raise with added value, grandfather existing customers, offer full‑feature trials, self‑serve monthly plans, and annual prepay discounts. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): SaaS pricing strategy, freemium model, free plan limitations, value metric, pricing axis, multi-axis pricing, tiered pricing, per-seat pricing, usage-based pricing, consumption pricing, metered billing, upgrade path, negative churn, ARPU, price sensitivity, price discrimination, grandfathering, self-serve free trial, annual prepay discount, pricing page design

Summary (80–120 words): Christoph Janz defines “unscalable hacks” as short-term, non-sustainable tactics that speed time-to-market, solve chicken-and-egg dynamics, or outpace competitors—useful especially for marketplaces and social networks seeking critical mass. He contrasts the programming sense (works only under constrained conditions, adds technical debt) with the business sense (operational debt accepted temporarily). Examples include PayPal reportedly seeding eBay listings that only accepted PayPal, Airbnb offering free professional photography to boost supply quality, marketplaces sending free leads to onboard providers, buying app-store rankings to trigger momentum, and in SaaS, intensive hands-on support to turn early users into evangelists. He notes ethical pitfalls (e.g., fake profiles) and cites “razor-and-blades” as a related pattern. Search Terms & Synonyms (10–20 total): unscalable hacks, do things that don’t scale, non-scalable tactics, chicken-and-egg problem, cold start problem, marketplace liquidity, supply seeding, demand seeding, two-sided marketplace growth, early adopter evangelism, hands-on user onboarding, growth hacking tactics, subsidizing one side of the market, app store rank boosting, professional photography supply quality, PayPal eBay seeding, Airbnb free photography program, razor-and-blades model, operational debt, critical mass strategy