Growing Revenue: Perspectives from Investors

Today’s episode features world-class insight on driving revenue
growth from investors behind some of the most successful startups
in recent history. We offer perspectives from both Venture
Capital and Private Equity with our guests, Neeraj Agrawal,
General Partner Battery Ventures, Dave Tiley, Senior Operating
Partner Align Capital Partners, and Izhar Armony, General Partner
CRV. 


Tune in for tips on what to look for when investing in
early-stage companies, the attributes investors seek when making
leadership hires, and the four key dimensions of investing:
market, team, technology, and the deal itself. Learn all of this
and more in this conversation with our hosts John Kaplan and John
McMahon. 


Here are some key sections to check out:


01:42 Successful versus unsuccessful start-ups


7:50 How CEO selection determines success 


16:47 The investor’s “Rule of 40”


21:47 Differences between VC and PE investors


29:47 Focus on growth or earnings?


35:10 Attributes to look for when hiring leaders


45:10 Common mistakes of early-stage companies


53:07 Product-market fit in early-stage companies 


HIGHLIGHT QUOTES


Neeraj on looking for a strong sales mentality when hiring CEOs:
“The art of sales is more important than it was a few years ago
because there's scrutiny in every decision. Having somebody who
can connect the dots between the business problem, the value
property or product, ROI, dealing with CFO scrutiny… that's all
gone from “nice-to-haves” to super important right now.”


Dave on the mindset of going from good to great: “If we're not
getting better each and every day in every phase of the business,
and we think somebody else is, then we're not putting our best
foot forward for our employees, shareholders and investors…
You're just trying to optimize it and take it to the next level.
Building companies to get to $20 million is one thing, but to get
to $50 and then $100, you know, they're just different stages and
steps; there's a different playbook for each.” 


Connect with our amazing guests in the links below:


Neeraj Agrawal on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/neerajagrawal2000/

Dave Tiley on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/davetiley/

Izar Armony on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/izhararmony/

 



Check out John McMahon’s book here:
https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064


HOST: John McMahon 


GUESTS: Neeraj Agrawal, Dave Tiley, and Izhar Armony


Revenue Builders Podcast