Daversa Partners’ Post

Elevating Innovations & Empowering Founders! I had an insightful discussion with a Tech Founder pioneering cybersecurity solutions, and the shared challenge was clear: Balancing innovation with market penetration is no small feat! Why do Most SaaS startups fail inspite of having a great product? Most Tech Founders I have spoken to in the last couple of months are still trying to identify the right team, the right process, and the right execution of Sales, Marketing & and Support. In all that, they are not able to raise funds. What if you want to focus on Building a great product use your mind in Innovations and leave the Revenue unhinged to a partner? Something is brewing, and we already did a test run with three tech founders who have benefited and are already seeing a pipeline being built in two months' time. We are bringing the Öne Missing Dot which was missing from Great Product to a Billion Evaluation. If you are a tech founder and believe you have an amazing product but don't want to get carried away like other SaaS Companies by hiring an expensive Revenue Generating Resource and waiting for 12 to 24 months for results? Drop me a message 😊 #Innovation #TechFounders #Sales #Marketing #Support #RCG #Growth #Strategies #future #digitaltransformation #Digitalmarketing #linkedin #RevOps

As a growing cybersecurity startup founder, I hardly get the time to celebrate what the team has achieved.  But today is different. Exactly three (🥉) years ago today, we incorporated Levo.ai here in #sanfrancisco to make the digital world safer. And amongst all the pandemic-induced chaos, this vision kept me grounded and excited. Luckily, the excitement has persisted, if not doubled, after all these years. Don’t get me wrong, founding a startup is not exactly a bed of roses. On the contrary, it is HARD. But if you start for the right reasons, you will find it incredibly rewarding like mine. One of the biggest reasons I have enjoyed this tumultuous journey is because these three years have been the steepest learning curve of my life. Thus, instead of celebrating significant milestones (of which there have been several), I choose to celebrate these learnings that led to them instead: 1. Enterprise Sales 💰 As an engineer, I had minimal involvement in sales and customer success conversations in my past roles. However, having had at least one customer call daily since becoming a founder has improved my ability to sell, pitch, and handle objections. And here’s the core epiphany superseding any sales tactic: If you are authentic in every conversation and action, your prospects will sense that authenticity and work with you. So, try to forge a genuine connection instead of performing endless pushy tactics. While the former can make you a quick buck, the latter is much more likely to build trust and a better relationship. 2. Team Building 💪 The selling is not just limited to customer acquisition. But also extends to hiring. I did hire some people as an Engineering Leader earlier, but hiring as a founder is an entirely different challenge. Thus, getting good at forming and articulating your vision well is the key to attracting great talent. And that’s just the beginning; you also have to check their skills and cultural fit. I had to interview 50+ candidates before hiring our second engineer (we got so lucky with the first one). 3. Building a high-performing team 🚀 After forming your core team, retaining them and innovating at the pace required for a startup is equally challenging. Talent retention requires balancing multiple and often conflicting interests together. While this is something I am still learning, keeping the core mission at the center of your decision-making always yields results in the long term, even if it is unpleasant for some at times. And when you do have to part ways, do it gracefully without burning bridges. Overall, I am astounded about how much I have learned and absorbed about cybersecurity, startups, and enterprise businesses over 500+ meetings with investors, founders, employees, and customers. I am incredibly excited about more such learnings as we move into our 4th year of operations. Upwards and Onwards 🚀🚀 #anniversary #gratitude #startup #entrepreneurship #tech #learning

Evolution Equity Partners' Centers of Excellence for Cybersecurity Growth Companies has a clear goal: To provide the 𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘺𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘵𝘰 𝘐𝘗𝘖 and help equip companies with the knowledge, tools and strategy to drive performance. Key focus areas include:  > Marketing and sales  > Product and engineering  > Business development  > Human capital  > Mergers and acquisitions In this post , we’re echoing nuggets of wisdom shared by Evolution Partner, Yuval Ben-Itzhak, on Customer Success for B2B SaaS 👇   → A good Customer Success team can elevate product experience, ensuring your product delivers maximum value. → Typically, CS reports to revenue owners (CRO, COO, VP of Sales, or even the CEO) → CS team’s typically begin as cost centers, depending on product maturity.  However, evolve into profit centers by driving expansion, upsell / cross sell, and enhancing net retention metrics. 📈 → Customer Support is different than CS in that Customer Support is reactive and technical. CS is proactive.  → Primary objectives of investing in a Customer Success team: product value adoption, increased customer retention, satisfaction, and advocacy to generate additional revenue. Curious about how to Implement Customer Success at different stages of your B2B SaaS company? Read Yuval’s original blog post here: https://lnkd.in/ddCaeAgi Stay tuned for more valuable advice from our Centers of Excellence team. 👇 Follow Evolution Equity Partners, the multistage venture capital firm investing in market-leading cybersecurity companies. #cybersecurity #venturecapital #founders #investors #defendandprotect 

How Evolution Equity Partners can support your cybersecurity firm? Learn more in this post about our Centers of Excellence

Hot take: It's OK to ignore your competitors. This week a fellow founder asked for my thoughts on what a big company in our space was up to, and... I was kind of embarrassed to say, I don't really follow them that closely. You see, my greatest limitation is my time and energy. And so one thing I give myself permission to drop the ball on is what everyone else is up to. If you're trying to win an industry, you might consider it part of your job to stay up on industry trends and the comings and goings of others in that vertical. You might need that information if you're trying to beat them. You might also need that intel if you're looking to win funding. VCs love to hear about what's happening all around you, so they can understand how you fit into that picture. But my goal isn't to be the biggest, and I'm not interested in convincing anyone to fund us. My goal is to grow a loyal audience and subscriber base, and earn enough market share to support a tiny, lucrative business. Because I run a small team on a bootstrapped budget where making things happen often relies on me, my biggest job — my most essential role — is moving us forward. My time is best spent building our products, understanding our audience, and hitting our goals. Knowing what our competitors are doing or even what the latest and greatest development is in our industry just doesn't make the cut. You might wonder, doesn't knowing what's happening in the industry help you inform your company's direction? Sure, occasionally. But usually it's more of a distraction than anything else. This inward focus? It's getting me where I'm going.

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮 "𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹" 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 / 𝗖𝗘𝗢 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁-𝘂𝗽, 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲-𝘂𝗽 𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱: 🫱🏽🫲🏽 𝗦𝗘𝗘𝗞 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗣 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗖𝗘𝗦 As a CEO who is not technical you should seek the help of "trusted" technology advisors to help hire technical expertise. Make sure you have validated the expertise of your chosen advisor by talking to people and companies they have worked with. If you are a scale up, ideally you want to talk to advisors that have been on this journey themselves.   🔎 𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 "𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧" 𝗖𝗧𝗢 / 𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗛 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗥 This is really important as not all CTOs are the same. A Founder CEO will need a "tech lead" type initially to help build the early versions of their offering.   The trusted technology advisor should ensure you are hiring the right technical person matched to the current growth stage of your company. e.g. More of a tech lead type if you are at pre-seed / seed stages and a candidate with experience of scaling teams in growth phases.    🧠 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗛𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡 𝗜𝗦 𝗡𝗢�� 𝗔𝗟𝗪𝗔𝗬𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠𝗦. A common and easy situation to be mindful of which can lead to issues within your technical team in terms of retention and morale down the line.   These technically brilliant and amazing motivators of people are rumoured to exist 🦄   🗣️ 𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗢𝗙 3𝗥𝗗 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧 / 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠 I have seen a number of examples where CEOs have enlisted the help of a 3rd party to build their "MVP" (and beyond) without the appropriate level of technical (and product) oversight.   The understanding of why technical and product choices have been made is super important here and having someone technically competent overseeing the 3rd party will ensure you avoid complete re-writes and wasted investment.   🏦 𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗚𝗘𝗥 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗘𝗦 Larger, more established companies are not immune to the above, poorly run and executed initiatives can also lead to expensive failures. The wrong type of leadership (hence culture) can lead to low morale, poor operational efficiency and underwhelming outcomes. It is highly likely that the CEO isn't the person who needs the trusted advice here but "heads of" units or divisions.   The above scenarios have been the reasons that I have joined start-ups, growing or larger companies on an interim or full time basis in my career.   🙋🏽♂️ I have helped to resolve issues with the wrong technical hire(s) 🏗️ Fixed issues with a poorly implemented platform build (in-house or external) ☣️ Dealt with poor cultures and relationships between technical & non-technical teams.   👇🏽 If you have any further thoughts or comments please drop them below! #culture #ceo #cto #hiring #tech #duediligence

On our Tuesday CyberSeed event, Chenxi led a fireside discussion with Yvonne Wassenaar (ex-CEO of Puppet & Board Director at JFrog, Arista Networks, Rubrik and Forrester). Chenxi, Mahendra and I intentionally don't record these sessions to allow our guests to be as open and candid as possible. Yvonne had some valuable insights to share, here are a few key points: 1) #Customers need to believe in your vision - Everybody wants change but nobody wants to change. Be thoughtful about how you get the market to believe that your product can dramatically change their output and drive business forward. 2) #Culture matters - As the CEO your goal is to create the best experience for your team. You can't promise an outcome but you can promise that they will learn new things, work with people they love, and impact the market they focus on. When the startup is small, every employee wears multiple hats and has the ability to learn endlessly. As the company scales, you need to allow employees to rotate across different types of roles in order to replicate this learning experience. 3) #Product depth is key - Instead of building a broader product with multiple lines from the start, you should go deeper in one area until you have the economics to set yourself up for long-term success. When money was free perhaps you could have done both at once, but times have changed. 4) Preparation when joining a #startup as a professional #CEO - Come up with your 90-day plan BEFORE joining the company. Use the interview process to better understand the business from the #founders and #board members. Come up with goals for the business and how you will measure success. 5) Recognize your position in M&A - There has been a big #valuation compression in the public markets which hasn't directly been felt in the private markets. Some startups have built a feature and not a company while others don't have sustainable unit economics. Be realistic about your position and realize that you can't hold on forever. If you're a current or prospective #cybersecurity or #IT founder and want to join future sessions like this or even just brainstorm what you are working on, please send me a direct message or comment below! #founderswanted #CyberSeed

Pivot Time. Taking personal stock. I’m building my fifth startup consulting company: 3 exits, 1 hired into a customer, 1 crash & burn (2008) This one is focused on Privacy and AI governance. In every startup, there is a pivot point and sometimes, several. My latest pivot point came early, as my initial assumptions changed suddenly.  I shifted back to “What am I really good at”? Emphasis on “I”. And, “What assets can I draw on”? The assets are primarily 30 years of relationships. On the former, I embraced self-reflection. Looking back on my career, I’m eclectic. I started as a nerdy computer engineer (BSEE); Shifted to market research analyst in the tech industry (competing w/ Gartner, etc); Grew into a couple CEO stints (MBA). Bought and sold a company; Then a dramatic turn to sales training. This led to leading sales and operations for a cyber security consultant (CISSP) startup.  Now, identifying alignment with security and growing demand, I’m shifting to Privacy (CIPP) and AI (soon AIGP). This diversity gave me top-level expertise across a huge swath of territory, but not tremendous depth (rarely more than 5 years each) in any segment. I contrast that experience with many of my peers who’ve spent 20-30 years in their target area. This self reflection led me to three primary focuses:    1)     I’m addicted to learning: Never satisfied, and always exploring. It’s a pretty  good asset in the emerging AI space that’s moving at light speed. 2)     I’m a really good management consultant: Consulting on market research and strategy. Consulting on sales techniques and sales management/ops. Consulting on cyber compliance. Now consulting on privacy and AI. Consulting is my constant, for the last 25+ years. 3)     Leverage the “assets”, which is my relationships. Being a mile wide and a meter deep, I need relationships and partnerships for depth in complementary areas. Fortunately, my breadth gives me lots of relationships. With that…. I’m finding my “theme” and doubling down on it. Pivots, self-reflection and growth are vital.  Thanks for anyone reading this, and for being my “depth” of relationships!

𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟭𝟬𝘅 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝟭𝟬𝟬𝟬𝘅? Any founder would love to have a Bret Taylor on the team - someone who is “not just a 10x engineer. He's like, 100x, or 1,000x engineer”. As Reed Hastings says, “the best is easily ten times better than average”, and that can be a game-changer for an early startup team. The real challenge for founders is how to get these standout players. Here’s our advice: 1. Embrace Chaos, Offer Freedom → Being too focused on avoiding mistakes stifles innovation. Instead, prioritize finding individuals with great judgement and give them the freedom to allow for rapid recovery. 2. Sell like Crazy → Even without a tangible product, focus on selling immediate impact. Talented individuals are drawn to solving intriguing problems, often ones that are neither obvious nor easy. 3. Ditch the basic recruitment 101 cheat sheet → Invest your energy in crafting a process tailored to the individual, make it an experience that prepares them to thrive on your team. In the competitive landscape of talent acquisition, going up against giants like Facebook and Google can feel like a modern-day David versus Goliath. But by changing up your recruitment approach, you can reap rewards beyond measure. Want to see how you could up-level your hiring game? Drop us a line and we’d be happy to conduct a free consultation. 👇 #StartupLife #TalentAcquisition

🚀 Starting with a problem is like planting the seed of innovation! 🌱 When I founded Virtualnonexecs.com, I was determined to tackle a challenge I personally faced - the lengthy and often cumbersome process of hiring Chair, Non-Exec, and executive boards. 😫 I believe that the best solutions come from a place of genuine need, so I set out to create a game-changer. The result? An interface designed for super-fast, efficient, and hassle-free hiring in the boardroom. The Virtualnonexecs Operator Network isn't just a platform; it's a tool I'd use myself because it addresses the pain points I've experienced first-hand. It's about bridging the gap between talent and opportunity seamlessly and without the £30,000+ recruitment fees expected by some recruiters in this space! 🤝 So, if you're ever faced with a problem that needs solving, remember this: Building a solution that you'd use yourself not only drives innovation but also ensures that you're on the right path to success. 💪 Solve your own problems, create value, and make life easier for everyone! Ps. This week we were asked to find a CEO for an upcoming PE transaction. I wake up to 10 HIGHLY relevant applications and even better, our CV Ranking Ai function has written a short report on each! Brilliant, if I do say so myself! Want to see a demo? https://lnkd.in/eD5gM2-3 Steve Benson Colin Bell Sarah Mann Michele Jackson Mike Critchley Stuart St V Fitzgerald JMW Solicitors LLP Imran Khan Marc Yaffe Ian Gillis Tom Yates Richard McGarvey Paul Cunniff BGF Sam Smith Kay Kennedy Elizabeth Gooch MBE Craig Richardson Gary Cain Chris O’Connell🍀 Tom Kelly Richard Joyce Samuel Allcock #Innovation #ProblemSolving #Entrepreneurship #Virtualnonexecs #nonexecutivedirector #virtualnonexecs