| | December 20228CIOReviewIN MY OPINIONDavid M. FinzBy Adrian Petersen, Co-founder, AfterWork VenturesWe've talked to over 1000 founders over the past year and quite often walked away not understanding what stage the company was at and how it made money. If we have, it's because we've dug our heels in and asked a series of probing questions. Your job as a founder is to be a master storyteller and ensure the investor has all the information they need to seriously consider investing in your company. Here are some ideas to help you do just that. 1.Common Mistakes We SeeHere are some common statements we hear and the questions they leave unanswered. As you'll see, these stats don't tell the full story or communicate how your company is going. In fact, they bring up more questions than they answer.Doing this will differentiate you from other businesses vying for a spot in your investor's portfolio. It's proof that you `get' what matters to investors, can identify the important levers in your business, and articulate where your focus lies. Besides, all will be revealed in any decent diligence process. Remember, investors want to join you on the journey. If they didn't, they'd bypass the blood, sweat, and tears just and buy Amazon shares instead! You don't have to have everything figured out just yet.2. Decide on the Metrics That Matter to Your Business Avoid metrics that have the highest numbers and instead focus on metrics that are the most important. Investors want to see how you think about your 'North Star' metric to understand what moves your growth needle and how additional funds will supercharge your business. Turn areas of weakness into your strength by showing the investor you understand which levers to focus on to really drive success. These metrics will be different for different types of companies and will definitely change over time. For example, SAAS businesses will answer questions that get to the heart of monthly recurring revenue (MRR) like: SHOW US YOUR TRACTION. A NO-BS GUIDE TO COMMUNICATING WITH INVESTORSStatementQuestions We HaveWe've done over 100,000 in transaction volumeOver what time period? How does transaction volume translate into revenue?We've made over $300,000 in revenue.Over what time period?What type of revenue, is it recurring?We've had over 700,000 page viewsWhy are page views an important metric for your business?If page views are the start of your conversion funnel, how many people convert, and what is the average value of each sale?Hockey stick forecast revenue graph in year incrementsHockey stick revenue forecasts make their way into many pitch decks, but most are forward facing.Adrian Petersen
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