York IE Chief Investment Officer Joe Raczka joined the Mindset Investor Interview Series to talk about product market fit, go-to-market (GTM) strategies and managing sales growth for startups and SaaS companies.
About the Mindset Investor Interview Series
The Mindset Investor Interview Series, hosted by Verlin Gradney, founder of the Mindset Startup Academy, helps founders and entrepreneurs learn directly from investors and other members of the venture capital community.
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Key Takeaways
Defining a GTM Strategy
“Understanding your ideal customer profile, being able to build a repeatable go-to-market motion — those are some of the key elements that we look for. These days you hear about everything from self-service, product-led growth, up to direct sales and enterprise sales. Every company and every market is different. We like to see, in many cases, multiple sales channels in a GTM strategy. Not to the point where it’s confusing, but if there’s different buyers up and down the market, I think you can build a more rocket-proof GTM strategy.”
Impressive Founders and Companies
“Entrepreneurship is booming. It’s never been easier to start a business. There’s a lot of private capital out there. And maybe some of the macro factors change that in the short- to mid-term, but for now, there’s tons of capital. And you’re seeing really interesting people who have already had fairly exceptional careers saying, hey, now’s the time. The pandemic provided people with a little bit of a kick in the butt to get out there and get the courage to start something new.”
Unrealistic Growth Projections
“Sometimes we see these models built with this outrageous hockey stick of growth. While we’d all like to think that that’s possible, when I see those slides in decks, I tend not to look at the deck again. It’s unrealistic. Growing a SaaS business, by the nature of recurring revenue and how the numbers flow, it’s really hard to achieve that outrageous growth.”
