Clint Phillips, CEO of Medi.ci – Curing Health+Care, an end-to-end virtual care medical platform, is no stranger to dealing with the unexpected. 

In 2009, when his two-day-old daughter Gabi suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of her body, the need to provide her with adequate care led him to found 2nd.MD, which recently sold to Accolade for $460M. 2nd.MD, which helped thousands of people gain access to high-quality second opinions, set Phillips on the path of healthcare reform. So, when the pandemic hit, and his new venture Medi.ci came up against challenges, he was ready to adapt. He will provide those experiences at a Founders Network keynote talk on December 15. Register with Founders Network to know if you qualify for full time membership.

To learn more about how to deal with the unexpected in your startup, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from December 15. 

In his webinar, Phillips covered:

• How to examine your company’s vision with objectivity
• Ways to approach investor relationships during a pivot
• What Elon Musk said about failure and how it can help you
• How to cultivate a flexible founder mindset

“We had to take a hard look in the mirror. We had not raised all that money around changing healthcare to be a little niche product in a doctor's office. We had to do something meaningful that we could be proud of.” - @HBD_Clinics
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A pandemic pivot

Medi.ci was planned as a SaaS business, with medical practices simply buying the platform and using it without oversight. But as a result of COVID-19, practitioners shifted to medical care via video, and telemedicine laws changed to facilitate new needs. Phillips watched as entities like Zoom and low-budget apps captured a large amount of the market share. He felt he needed to do more than offer doctors a software platform. He wanted to model the perfect medical practice, helping the staff and patients fully maximize its benefits.

“We had to take a hard look in the mirror. We had not raised all that money around changing healthcare to be a little niche product in a doctor’s office. We had to do something meaningful that we could be proud of,” he says. 

To do this, the company required a much larger vision, what Phillips calls “a major pivot.” They had to go back to shareholders and admit that some of their assumptions had been wrong, and that to affect change, they would need to own the value chain, to hire primary care doctors and specialists, train them and build a vertically integrated model.

“We were going from being the WhatsApp of healthcare to being the Mayo clinic of healthcare,” he says. 

“We had the first few people call us. Nobody had ever called us. We had banged on every door, but then customers began asking us to solve their problems. It's not a future guarantee, but it feels good.” - @HBD_Clinics
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The challenges of change

As exciting as this felt, Phillips describes a humbling process: “We had funding; we had the team, but we were all wrong. I had to lose credibility with some investors who felt we were changing our tune.” The change also meant that half of the employees were no longer needed, including the sales team hired to sell the platform to medical practices. Although those individuals were able to get other work quickly, Phillips says laying them off was not easy.

Still, the team trusted their instincts. It helped that Phillips had experiences at other companies with investors who initially doubted a direction, but were pleased with the long-term success. “One day they got a check and were like: “Oh, you’re a genius,” Phillips recalls. 

“So, you spent $20 million on the wrong platform. It’s unpleasant, but it's behind you now. You can't beat yourself up every day. Now, you have to go forward.” - @HBD_Clinics
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Feeling the wind in your sails

With time, the difficult move began to pay off, says Phillips, and Medi.ci began to “feel a little wind in our sails.” 

“All of a sudden, we had the first few people call us. Nobody had ever called us. We had banged on every door, but then customers began asking us to solve their problems. It’s not a future guarantee, but it feels good.”

Phillips recommends the book Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model to other founders dealing with a similar fork in the road. Its main thesis is that flexibility is key for a founder and that “you’re increasingly likely to find your right model when you aren’t as bullheaded around your original idea.” He notes that it is natural for founders to want to stick to their original idea, but that humility is crucial, recalling that Elon Musk famously said that there was a 50% chance that Tesla would fail. 

Today, Phillips advises other founders to allow their perspectives to change. He tells of some expert advice he received from one highly successful investor. “So, you spent $20 million on the wrong platform. It’s unpleasant, but it’s behind you now. You can’t beat yourself up every day. Now, you have to go forward.”

To learn more about how how to deal with the unexpected in your startup, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from December 15. 

Cybersecurity expert Alon Arvatz has long anticipated threats before they happen, but as Co-founder of threat intelligence platform, IntSights, he has also learned to look to the past.  

“People often talk to founders about the importance of pivoting, of doing something different in response to market changes, but sometimes you just need to get back to your roots,” he says. 

IntSights was recently acquired by Rapid7 for $335M, taking its place as a highly successful player in the fast-growing cybersecurity market. But, according to Arvatz, who is now Senior Director of Product Management at Rapid7, there was a time when the company temporarily lost its way. In his role leading strategy, Arvatz helped realign the company with its original mission. At a Founders Network keynote presentation on January 18, Arvatz provided his advice about how to use the past to help steer your team to a successful future.

“People often talk to founders about the importance of pivoting, of doing something different in response to market changes, but sometimes you just need to get back to your roots.” - @IntSights
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Democratizing threat intelligence

In 2014, Arvatz and his Co-Founder Guy Nizan, who trained together in an elite Israel Defense Forces intelligence unit, decided to help small and mid-sized companies upgrade their cybersecurity efforts.

 

To learn more about how to use the past to help steer your team to a successful future, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from January 18.

“Companies need to do more than secure their own environment. They also need to look at ‘enemy territory,’ to understand what threats bad actors are planning. Based on that, we can also prevent attacks before they happen,” he explains. 

Arvatz says that while large enterprises have the resources to employ 5-20 team members to spend all day logging on to hacker forums on the dark web, scanning social media and searching through data sharing platforms and phishing repositories, SMEs just can’t afford that. Even when smaller companies succeed at identifying a threat, they often fall behind trying to neutralize it. “If it’s late, it is not intelligence,” says Arvatz, quoting one of his mottos.

IntSights leverages technology like automated scraping of data from the web, AI and NLP to analyze data and isolate only the threats that are relevant to customers. The team also developed software to automatically neutralize that threat, such as contacting Facebook to remove a fake social media profile or deleting data from a phishing website. Aiming at companies with small security teams, the IntSights platform was purposefully designed to be simple, with zero configuration.

“Without fully understanding what we were doing, we built a platform that would allow organizations of any size to leverage threat intelligence, which is something that didn’t exist before. We sought to democratize threat intelligence, so any company could benefit, not only giants like Citibank and Bank of America,” Arvatz says.

“Without fully understanding what we were doing, we built a platform that would allow organizations of any size to leverage threat intelligence, which is something that didn't exist before.” - @IntSights
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Why bigger isn’t always better

As IntSights grew, it began to market itself to bigger companies – despite the original plan to serve mostly mid-sized clients. “Everyone said: ‘The big contracts are with the biggest enterprises. You need to aim higher,’ so that’s where we took the company,” Arvatz recalls.

Problems soon began to emerge, from released features that were not impactful enough for existing customers to a misalignment between product, sales and marketing. Soon, there was noticeable “friction” between the sales and product teams. 

Feeling that a significant change was necessary, Arvatz consulted with a member of the board directors as well as an industry expert, before deciding to take bold action. “Sometimes, you just need to trust yourself. We realized that we needed to go back to our origins and focus on mid-sized enterprises because they’re really the ones who need us and can best benefit from our technology,” he says. 

The fact that those companies represent a bigger portion of the market, with some eventually set to become tomorrow’s large companies, added to the decision. IntSights is also furthering its expertise aimed at specific sectors, an area of growth that fits well with their original mission.

“Sometimes, you just need to trust yourself. We realized that we needed to go back to our origins and focus on mid-sized enterprises because they're really the ones who need us and can best benefit from our technology.” - @IntSights
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Finding your way home

Having helped his company right its course, Arvatz is often asked to help other founders reconsider their approaches to strategy. He recommends renewed belief in your own thoughts, humility and a willingness to consult with outside experts, when necessary.

“At the end of the day, you know your company best. You took the company this far. Trust that with your own common sense, you can take it further,” he says.

Ongoing communication with the whole team is also crucial, especially when realigning  product and marketing teams. “Get input from everyone that’s going to be affected and create iterations. At every step, keep them in the loop, And if you do that, you ensure that once the product is out, everyone is on the same page and running in the same direction.”

Today, as he continues to work with his team to identify their ideal customers, he is struck by the path they’ve traveled.

“When you start something, you look at the market, see pain points and make the decision to help your customers by solving a problem. Sometimes, you can do a whole market analysis and try to rebuild your DNA, only to realize the same things you knew at the beginning.”

Register with Founders Network to know if you qualify for full time membership and learn:

• Why SMEs may represent the future of threat intelligence
• What all companies can learn from the cybersecurity market
• How to handle friction between product and marketing teams
• When and how to trust your founder instincts 

To learn more about how to use the past to help steer your team to a successful future, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from January 18.

Healthcare is a fast-growing market, but entrepreneurs looking to enter the fray should be aware that there is more to it than supply meeting demand, says Midori Uehara, VP and Head of Business Development at Cedar, a healthcare fintech platform.

“Healthcare is not a typical good or service. Unlike in most businesses, the buyers are different from the decision makers, who are different from the people who are benefiting. Market forces are often distorted or not applicable at all,” she says. 

Uehara, who will be delivering a Founders Network global keynote on November 17,  co-founded OODA Health, which was recently acquired by Cedar for $425M. She provided insights on how entrepreneurs can succeed in the healthcare market. 

To learn more about insights on how entrepreneurs can succeed in the healthcare market, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from November 17.

Long passionate about the topic, Uehara studied public health policy and human biology at Stanford and then ran strategic implementations at Castlight Health, following a few years in management consulting at Bain & Co. After earning an MBA and MPP from Harvard University, she co-founded OODA, which brings cutting-edge fintech to the healthcare industry.  While she’s a staunch believer that adequate medical care is a human right, she is also a realist, who is aware that change often follows financial incentive.

“Healthcare is not a typical good or service. The buyers are different from the decision makers, who are different from the people who are benefiting. Market forces are often distorted or not applicable at all.” - @CedarNY
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Follow the money and mind the product-market fit

“If you want to have an impact in healthcare, you have to follow the money. This means identifying where money is being spent (or wasted), and recognizing solutions must deliver financial value to get traction – you can’t appeal just to the goodwill of an organization,” she explains. Uehara says that although they are often nonprofits, healthcare players are incentivized to maximize their bottom lines, so tech solutions must deliver financial value if they are to be widely adopted.

For example, OODA’s digital patient payment platform focused on tackling the disconnect between “payers,” usually insurance companies, and the “providers” who bill for services, ranging from hospitals to physician offices to labs processing samples. These two groups often battle over administrative and billing issues, leaving the patient caught in the middle. OODA’s solution pioneered a ground-breaking business model and novel technology to bring the two sides together on behalf of the patient, partnering with multiple large payers and providers across the country.

As OODA grew, however, it became clear that the new business model as designed wouldn’t scale in the absence of broader policy or regulatory change. “While OODA had achieved significant traction and strong relationships with innovative enterprise partners, our initial solution was too reliant on bringing payers and providers together at the same time,” Uehara explains. “We needed a foundation of a scalable product with strong product-market fit as a springboard for the systems innovation we had demonstrated was possible.”

“If you want to have an impact in healthcare, you have to follow the money. This means identifying where money is being spent (or wasted), and recognizing solutions must deliver financial value to get traction.” - @CedarNY
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Enter Cedar, a later-stage startup that was already successfully addressing pain points in the patient financial experience for the provider market. When it acquired OODA, Cedar gained the ability to bring payer data and engagement into the patient billing process, as well as expand into addressing administrative pain points in the payer market – a win for both companies. 

Uehara’s own journey as a co-founder influences her advice to other entrepreneurs: “When you’re trying to get to initial product-market fit, start narrow. Don’t try to do too much. Don’t spread yourself too thin across too many stakeholders in the enterprise healthcare ecosystem.”

Raise enough money to withstand long sales cycles

She adds that providers and payers are infamous for being hard to sell to, so entrepreneurs should raise enough money to withstand long sales cycles. That means getting plenty of investment in your company and a strong team in place, even before you have any customers. 

“You need a bench that’s deep enough to support you when organizations are pushing on your capabilities and technical sophistication,” she says.

“When you're trying to get to the initial product-market fit, start narrow. Don't try to do too much. Don't spread yourself too thin across too many stakeholders in the enterprise healthcare ecosystem.” - @CedarNY
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Learn the policies that dictate healthcare tech 

Even with adequate investment and a tight product-market fit, many well-meaning technologists fail when it comes to introducing new tech tools for the industry. According to Uehara, that’s because they don’t understand the underlying system incentives and policies that dictate the use of seemingly outdated tools.

“Pure tech people come in and say some variation of: ‘Wow, fax machines! It’s obvious, all we need is an email system for healthcare. Why don’t we have that?’ But that fails to consider that the fax machine may be the optimal solution given the existing system,” she says, adding that the “graveyard” of tech solutions rejected by the industry include those created by Microsoft and Google. More viable solutions come from those who understand the underlying incentives of the industry and the policies that drive them.

Uehara has devoted her career to this kind of in-depth knowledge, something she speaks about with noticeable passion. “There’s nothing more important than your health and the health of your loved ones. And when you don’t have it, nothing else really matters. I’m continuously struck by the significance of healthcare in our lives,” she says. 

To learn more about insights on how entrepreneurs can succeed in the healthcare market, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from November 17.

Moderator:

Pete Crawford

Pete is a 7-year cannabis industry veteran as VP of Supply Chain, VP of Professional Services, and CEO. He is a named inventor on two cannabis industry device patents, and has held multiple technology company leadership roles prior to his cannabis journey. Bend Oregon resident, father, husband, traveler, live music lover, and SaaS enthusiast.

Bondi attributes her ability to quickly learn different technologies and envision their potential value in the marketplace to a sense of curiosity born from early work as a reporter. She considers asking good follow-up questions and her obsession with details key components of her big-picture analysis. “I think curiosity about how other companies work, of the learnings they’ve had, is really important for a founder. As a leader, I don’t just think of our company, but of how we fit into the ecosystem,” she says.

Her prior experience as a CMO who was brought in repeatedly to get companies to acquisition, the next round of funding, or IPO, has also endowed her with special expertise in GTM (go-to-market) strategy, a topic she’ll be discussing at fnSummit. 

“You can’t design your go-to-market strategy in a silo. You don’t want to just go forward and then, at some point, the product person turns around and says: Why are you doing this?” - @kbondi
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Use thorough analysis to know your customer 

Before creating any B2B go-to-marketing plan, Bondi says companies should determine to whom they are selling their product or service. She cautions that this sounds simpler than it is since thorough analysis is required to determine who makes the purchasing decisions within a company and who and what are influencing them.

She tells of a company that offered a freemium model for a dev tool and assumed sales would follow. She notes this is often an assumption with freemium models, but more is needed than simply making a product available with a free tier. To this point, when Bondi analyzed the company’s highest-value customers, it became clear that the users were not the buyers. While the tool was used mostly by developers, those who made the decision were focused on an architecture shift. Their title didn’t matter as much as what the buyer cared about most. While the developers liked the tool, they didn’t make large purchasing decisions. As a result of this finding, Bondi changed the GTM strategy to focus on adoption at the user level, while emphasizing architectural benefits to address the needs of prospective buyers. 

She explains: “If my product can help save time, but that isn’t one of the buyer’s top concerns, it’s a nice to have, but not a must have. Without the urgency of addressing a perceived immediate need, this misalignment leads to a sale being put off to a later date.” 

“One of the challenges is that VCs often have a certain idea of how go-to-market should work. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. As you grow, the market may change, and your strategy may need to change too.” - @kbondi
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Align your GTM strategy with all parts of the company 

Although the right sales pitch is crucial, Bondi believes an effective GTM strategy goes beyond sales and marketing, touching many areas including company vision, product design, and finance. For example, before creating a strategy, there must be communication between the product managers and marketing teams.

“You can’t design your go-to-market strategy in a silo. You don’t want to just go forward and then, at some point, the product person turns around and says: ‘Why are you doing this?’” Bondi recommends transparency, so that all departments are aligned and working toward the company’s larger vision.

Neura: Successful GTM strategy in action

When Bondi was brought in as marketing CMO at Neura, an Israel-based AI company, it had less than 5,000 active users. Because implementing Neura began with an SDK, the company initially thought targeting small organizations through hackathons would be a faster path to implementation. However, once implemented, they saw usage fall off and projects abandoned as there was little need behind them. 

“I think curiosity about how other companies work is really important for a founder. As a leader, I don’t just think of our company, but of how we fit into the ecosystem.” - @kbondi
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Bondi took a different approach, which included integrating third-party data showing the number of downloads apps had per month. She then set a minimum of 50,000 downloads a month as a baseline criteria for beginning sales talks with a potential customer. Within nine months, this approach led Neura to have over a million active users. Four months after that, they added an additional 500,000. 

“We succeeded because I changed the go-to-market to match what we needed, instead of staying with what seemed easy and not really thinking about the motivation on the user side,” she explains.

Don’t be afraid of change

Bondi has found that to get GTM right, ongoing measurement and change is often necessary. “One of the challenges is that VCs have a certain idea of how go-to-market should work. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. As you grow, the market may change, and your strategy may need to change too.” 

So how does she get others on board to implement change? “It’s not such a challenge when you can back up what you are suggesting with facts. You bring people into the process, rather than dictating to them,” she says.

fnSummit, taking place from October 13-15, 2021, is an annual event where founders, investors and partners come together to explore the theme of growth. Located in a beautiful resort in California’s Carmel Valley, the event will offer participants a chance to network, share ideas and enjoy a variety of recreational and team-building activities. 

His early experience at Solidcore, which was later acquired by McAfee, set the stage for his management approach. He learned how a large company determines their ideal customer profile and launches new products. So, when he took on a leadership role at Demisto, he was clear about the importance of defining a product and matching it with customer needs to convert leads. 

However, Bhargava says he encountered a challenge familiar to startups – how to align the product management and marketing/sales teams. “In many companies, product teams are building a product that is for one type of audience, while the sales and marketing messages aim at a completely different one. The teams usually meet once a week, or once in two weeks, and there is little alignment,” Bhargava says. 

“The positive with transparency is that even if people do not agree with the decision, they understand the reasoning behind it.” - @rishi_bhargava
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Creating a culture of collaboration

To avoid this, Bhargava took a fresh approach at Demisto. As the marketing leader, he took part in every product decision and acted as a ‘bridge’ between the two teams. “I was able to understand the direction of the product and implement the right things on the go-to-market side. I could also convey customer feedback to the product team, to make quick, accurate product decisions,” he explains. 

The teams, not just their managers, were also encouraged to communicate openly. “ If anyone had a question about the marketing theme or the direction of the product, they could just ask. So, it was a very, very collaborative culture that way,” he says. 

This led to what Bhargava calls a culture of course-correcting, an ongoing process of reassessment that prevented the need for any major company pivots. “We had the sales guys write a field report back to the product teams on a regular basis, saying what the customer liked and how the product failed. We never curbed any opinions. We welcomed them and even shut down some features based on that feedback.” 

“Scaling is about discipline without slowing down. Sometimes, when you put in too much structure, you slow down.” - @rishi_bhargava
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Confronting the challenges of scaling

Transparency came with its own challenges, especially as the company grew and moved from open discussion to practical decisions. Bhargava says that Demisto handled the problem by creating a culture of never looking backward. Everyone was free to share their opinion, but relevant leads carried the day. 

“We debated very vigorously; but at the same time, once we committed, there was no more looking back. The positive with transparency is that even if people do not agree with the decision, they understand the reasoning behind it,” he explains. 

Scaling required further planning. He explains: When you hire five new sales engineers, you need to make sure they’re doing the same thing. And if one of them isn’t, how can you bring them back to task?

“Scaling is about discipline without slowing down. Sometimes, when ou put in too much structure, you slow down. I think you need to strike the right balance between planning and still keeping the agility.”

“If two people have never done kayaking before, they usually go in circles because they’re not aligned. If you align them, they start to go in a straight line and at a fast pace.” - @rishi_bhargava
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Alignment: From kayaks to companies

Ultimately, Bhargava was able to lead his team to success by keeping them focused on serving customers. At every stage he would ask: What would the customer want? How do we engage with our customers? What value can we give to customers without trying to sell them anything? He shared those questions with his teams, and encouraged them to work on answers together. 

He likens his management philosophy to navigating a kayak with another person. “If two people have never done kayaking before, they usually go in circles because they’re not aligned. If you align them, they start to go in a straight line and at a fast pace.”

fnSummit, taking place from October 13-15, 2021, is an annual event where founders, investors and partners come together to explore the theme of growth. Located in a beautiful resort in California’s Carmel Valley, the event will offer participants a chance to network, share ideas and enjoy a variety of recreational and team-building activities. 

“I just really like getting stuff done and producing products. Having a small, highly motivated, flexible team is what gets me out of bed in the morning,” he says.

Matteson will present his thoughts on creating a successful lean startup at this year’s fnSummit, as part of a panel discussion with other entrepreneurs. He’ll talk about some of the key elements in creating a concentrated team, as well as how to work smarter and be more productive with fewer resources.

Roadster, which offers car dealers the tools to sell new and used vehicles online, initially sold new cars to consumers online, but pivoted to a SaaS business when the founders realized that offering dealers the benefit of complex software tools proved more lucrative. According to Matteson, the fact that the company was composed of a devoted, highly creative team helped make the pivot successful.

“I think there's just this natural thing with a smaller team. The fewer the people, the less meetings you have, the less hierarchy you need, the less things get lost.” - @foundersnetwork
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“Most of us had worked together before, so we had a lot of mutual respect underlying everything. I think there’s just this natural thing with a smaller team. The fewer the people, the less meetings you have; the less hierarchy you need, the less things get lost,” he says. 

He adds that from the start, Roadster was focused on efficiency, taking a page from the agile playbook as they worked on “busting problems up” into tasks they could do incrementally. “We were always looking for the minimum viable piece we could ship, get feedback on, and iterate,” he says. 

Building the right team

Matteson explains that the right team is crucial for lean startups. “We tend to prefer generalists as opposed to specialists. So especially at the start, and if you’re small, you can’t necessarily hire a security guy, an ops guy, and a database guy. Team members must be able to wear multiple hats,” he says.

He adds that a previous company he co-founded used an offshore team to solve some relatively simple, well-defined problems, but with Roadster, the needs were different.  When it came to Roadster’s numerous data integrations and complex business process, as compared to typical e-commerce, it was important to be able to generate ideas and iterate with others in the same time zone. 

“We tend to prefer generalists as opposed to specialists. Team members must be able to wear multiple hats.” - @foundersnetwork
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Why I am a Heroku fan

Good technical choices are especially important when on a tight budget. For Roadster, the choice to use Heroku as a hosting service instead of AWS (Amazon Web Services) was key. Heroku functions as a kind of wrapper around AWS, allowing you to deploy in the cloud but with “fewer knobs” than AWS, making the process a lot simpler to manage. It offered the Roadster team confidence that their services were set up securely rather than having to make multiple choices.

Matteson says: “I’m a Heroku fan. We didn’t have a lot of high performance or traffic concerns. We’re not running gaming analytics. It also saved us quite a bit of money by not needing dedicated ops staff and helped keep our team small.” 

“I’m a Heroku fan. We didn't have a lot of high performance or traffic concerns. We're not running gaming analytics. It also saved us quite a bit of money and helped keep our team strong.” - @foundersnetwork
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Keeping the architecture simple

The Roadster team also chose architecture that was “intentionally not exotic” even though its competitors invested in microservice architecture. Matteson explains that microservice architecture, which can assist the rapid, frequent delivery of large, complex applications, can also introduce a lot of unneeded complexity.. 

“We were definitely concerned about having modularity in our code. We didn’t want just like this big mudball that no one can keep track of, but I think a lot of people do the microservice thing, so they can break teams up to work on the services that have different deliverables. In a small team, we didn’t feel like we needed to start with that,” he says.

According to Matteson, building a profitable lean business is less about frugality at all costs and more about spending wisely, an approach he will discuss at fnSummit. 

“I think we were willing to spend money where we thought it was smart, as opposed to spending extra time. So, if there was a service that could host a component for us, as opposed to our having to host it, we tended to make that trade-off,” he explains.

fnSummit, taking place from October 13-15, 2021, is an annual event where founders, investors and partners come together to explore the theme of growth. Located in a beautiful resort in California’s Carmel Valley, the event will offer participants a chance to network, share ideas and enjoy a variety of recreational and team-building activities.

“In my experience, most startup founders that learn from their mistakes end up succeeding. It may not be a multi-billion-dollar success, but they end up building something of real value and in that sense succeeding,” he says. 

Breakstone presented a keynote speech at fnSummit 2021, in which he’ll detail seven lessons for founders. He’ll tell personal stories and offer advice on topics such as the importance of choosing the right co-founders, knowing market size, building your team and pushing for speed to market.

“As a founder, you’re selling the future. You're selling a vision.” - @MichaBreakstone
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Create perceived momentum

According to Breakstone, being the fastest at getting a product to market is critical, but that’s just the start. A company must also create the sense that they’re moving even quicker than they are, a concept he calls “perceived momentum.”

“As a founder, you’re selling the future. You’re selling a vision. Your company is getting a valuation of $50 million before you have earned a cent because people believe that you understand something about the future that they don’t yet, and that you can get them there,” he explains. Perceived momentum can be generated by hiring people or appointing board members who are stars in their field. “If you have 10 people on your development team and four are out of Google, you’re already looking bigger than you are,” he says. Breakstone also suggests that founders publish thought pieces that position themselves as leaders and that they invest in a compelling design language. 

“Another trick to build momentum is to space out your company announcements. If you have made five advancements quickly, announce them over a few weeks, so that you create the sense that you are continuously moving forward,” he suggests.

However, Breakstone cautions not to create a false sense of reality. Honesty and authenticity are key. “You don’t have to have all the answers. You just have to convey the confidence that you are moving quickly to find the right answers,” he says.

“You're selling a dream, so it better be a dream that is worthwhile. I think it's important to be motivated from a deep place. If it's only for money, it's going to be hard to maintain over time.” - @MichaBreakstone
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Believe in your mission

Creating a buzz only works if you believe in what you are creating. He explains: “You’re selling a dream, so it better be a dream that is worthwhile. I think it’s important to be motivated from a deep place. If it’s only for money, it’s going to be hard to maintain over time.”

Breakstone will share some of his own experiences with finding a sense of mission, detailing how the objectives of a company may change over time, but the mission and vision can be maintained, anchoring decisions in deeply considered company values.

”At the end of the day, getting employees, investors, and customers to follow you is so much easier if (a) you have a deep and compelling vision of the world, and (b) you actually believe in it.”

“You can scare people into working hard. You can try to ‘buy’ people into working hard, but one thing you can’t do is buy their hearts and souls.” - @MichaBreakstone
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Put people before product

Of all the lessons he presents, Breakstone is most passionate about the need to treat people – the team, clients and co-founders — with respect. Aside from it being the right thing to do, he also adds that he believes it is a predictor of success. 

“I’ve worked with over 200 companies in the last three years, and I can tell you that people who take care of others succeed more than those who don’t.” 

He cites a Google study that found that “psychological safety,” a state in which people feel comfortable being vulnerable and empowering others, was the number one predictor of a successful team. 

“You can scare people into working hard. You can try to ‘buy’ people into working hard, but one thing you can’t do is buy their hearts and souls. The only way to truly motivate them is by treating them well, treating them as partners in your journey.” 

Check out our video from the event and see if you qualify for membership to attend upcoming Founders Network events.

fnSummit, taking place from October 13-15, 2021, is an annual event where founders, investors and partners come together to explore the theme of growth. Located in a beautiful resort in California’s Carmel Valley, the event offer participants a chance to network, share ideas and enjoy a variety of recreational and team-building activities.

Alex Bean is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Divvy, the leading spend and expense management platform for businesses. Founded in 2016, Divvy makes it easy to access the funding you need, no matter the size of your business. During their 5 year run so far, Divvy has been used by well over 3000 companies across the country. 

Prior to Co-Founding Divvy, Bean worked in sales and marketing for Surge, Fresh Consulting, Lucky Scooter Parts and Ananya Group and had no prior FinTech experience. Bean says he has always thought as an entrepreneur and was never afraid of taking risks, teaching skiing in high school and creating businesses with friends to earn money; it seems that Divvy was inevitable. Born because Bean’s partner wanted to find a way to see his budget in a timely manner. 

“Your job can be more than just running the company -- it should be creating value for the people who work for you, and creating opportunities for growth for yourself as an entrepreneur.” - @Alexwbean
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Being a founder is all about the journey. You have to find out what it is that you want out of your company. How will you provide a quality experience for your customers? How will you build a strong team? What will you value most in terms of equity or compensation? By being transparent about these questions, you give yourself the best chance at figuring out how many people are really on your team for the right reasons and what exactly your role is. Alex Bean is here with five questions that will help others get their startups off the ground.

To learn more about steps you can take to increase founders success, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from September 15.

What is my role as a founder?

Alex Bean wants to help you fill in the blanks so you know that your role isn’t defined simply by what you produce or what you endorse. However, think about it like this: you’re not just an entrepreneur; you’re also a product manager, marketing expert, director of engineering, customer service rep, etc. Your job can be (and should be) more than just running the company — it should be creating value for the people who work for you, and creating opportunities for growth for yourself as an entrepreneur.

Product Market Fit

In the process of validating product/market fit for a new venture, it is important to understand what constitutes product/market fit. Product Market Fit is all about demand. Does the product you have created satisfy the needs of consumers? Many believe in the 40% rule, where at least 40% of customers surveyed responded that they’d be strongly disappointed if access to a product or service is no longer available. As a business owner, it is essential to know where your product or service stands. Are you selling something that someone will miss if it suddenly disappeared? If not, you’re likely not selling a product that has reached product market fit.

Divvy had what Bean calls a “crazy” product market fit, raising capital quickly even by today’s large rounds and venture pre-emption standards. 

“How to scale quickly begins with knowing your mission and how you will proceed.” - @Alexwbean
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Turn Your Startup Into a Scaleup

A startup is exactly what it sounds like; a business venture that is still working on funding, getting their product out in the world and working on sorting out their concepts. However, a scaleup is different. A scaleup is a product that is already established in the market and is experiencing growth. How to scale quickly begins with knowing your mission and how you will proceed. How will you attract funding? How will you stay focused during the early days (and even between stages)? The answers lie in gathering knowledge from those who went before you so you can learn from the best. Alex Bean has those answers. 

Scaling

How do we scale quickly – while handling the major pains of building a company? This is the question Bean wants answered by any prospective founders he’s spoken with thus far. It’s imperative to find a way to successfully scale a company quickly, as it requires an incredible amount of discipline and attention to detail. For Bean, it comes down to two things: hiring the right people and trusting the right people with his data. 

“It's imperative to find a way to successfully scale a company quickly, it comes down to two things: hiring the right people and trusting the right people with his data.” - @Alexwbean
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What tools can you use?

There are several things you can do as a founder to increase your chances of success. If you are looking for a way to support yourself while building your company, creating jobs, spreading the word or whatever else is in your mission, the following advice may help you. It’s not always easy to know what tools would best serve you and your needs – especially when it comes to something as intimate as starting a business. On the other hand, there are some very useful and effective ways that anyone can use to build their business – even if they’re not very technical. 

Check out the video of Bean’s event to get in depth answers to these questions:

• What’s my role as a founder – beyond building a company?
• Where can we innovate – while creating demand for our product through product market fit
• When should we seek funding – turn your startup into a scaleup
• How do we scale quickly – while handling the major pains of building a company? 
• What tools can we use? 

To learn more about steps you can take to increase founders success, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from September 15.

He spent ten years with Accenture before moving to Miami and becoming an entrepreneur in 2004. His first venture was Livin’ Interactive, which focused on custom experiential marketing solutions. It was that fervor for technology and education that fueled his desire to empower teachers and engage students with a mobile platform that led to the creation of Nearpod in 2012. In 2019, Nearpod acquired Flocabulary, an educational content company that delivers its lessons through hip hop. 

“We saw explosive growth in student users this past year, reaching a total of 1.8 million new students and partnering with 161 new school districts since the start of the 2018-2019 school year alone.” - @felipenearpod
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In early 2020, when schools around the United States and around the world were forced to close amid a worldwide Pandemic, Nearpod was essential in getting teachers and students alike through this unprecedented time by offering free access to schools impacted by the Coronavirus Pandemic, and they were honored to do so. Through Nearpod, teachers were able to offer students a remote learning experience through video, quizzes and even digital field trips. It had all the makings of a company to stay with.

To learn more about exit strategies, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from August 18.

However, Nearpod was recently acquired for $650 million by Renaissance Learning, a Wisconsin based K-12 software company, in what Sommer calls an “interesting transaction.” For his speaking engagement, Sommer will be here to talk about his exit strategy and share tips on handing over a company you’ve created to someone else, especially amid a global pandemic when your product is in high demand. In 2020 alone, Nearpod grew by 50%. It’s used in all 50 states and in nearly 2000 school districts with 1 million teachers using the product and 2-3 million students accessing it daily.

“We saw the company doing really, really well, we felt it was also a personal decision. We were ready to move on and close this chapter at a good moment.” - @felipenearpod
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“It is important to understand where you are as a company,” Sommer says about his exit strategy. For Sommer and his team, they wanted a full exit and wanted Nearpod in the hands of a company who could take the platform to the next level and having a partner on the investment side is key to a good exit. “It would be a mistake to go into an exit without advice from a professional,” says Sommer. With that said, there is an element of going with your gut that Sommer  used as well. “We saw the company doing really, really well,” he says, “we felt it was also a personal decision. We were ready to move on and close this chapter at a good moment.”

None of it could have been done without Sommer’s team, however. “No one has a company without a strong team,” Sommer says and his team was integral in all parts of the transition process. A team is what a potential buyer evaluates and without a strong team, the potential buyer will want out. Over the years, Nearpod built a very interesting team that grew the company significantly. 

“Of course, this pandemic was a huge push for us, but we were in the right place with the right technology. The company and the product is super strong. I look forward to seeing what Renaissance is going to do.” - @felipenearpod
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After a well deserved break, Sommer plans to start his next endeavor in the impact space while becoming even more involved in the thriving Miami entrepreneur scene.

For more from Felipe Sommer on entrepreneurship, join him for his talk on exit strategies and creating a successful acquisition on August 18th by joining Founders Network and signing up to attend. Register now or request an invite to see if you qualify for membership and to learn more of these key takeaways:

• Understanding where you are as a company
• The benefits of a strong team
• Knowing when to exit

To learn more about exit strategies, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from August 18.