Insight
Lead generation is the absolute number one first hire for a startup
“Not only did we hire, you know, our first person to generate leads, but I've done that in my last two startups since as well. So it is the number one hire in my opinion. If you don't have leads, you don't have sales. If you don't have sales, you don't have a c…”
Assertion Supported
Don Mal: Vena differentiated by embracing Excel rather than replacing it
“All of the vendors were replacing Microsoft Excel as the tool that most companies use for budgeting and planning. We actually embraced Microsoft Excel as the grid technology in our software, so we kept people in a very familiar environment, and you know, we us…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Mal: Planning software vendors replacing Excel succeed mainly in enterprise
“The vendors that have done well, you know, extremely well in the market where they replace Excel have gone more to the enterprise segment of the market, larger companies.”
Insight
Founders should launch products in domains they already know how to sell
“I always tell young entrepreneurs, Hey, look, stick close to your nettings, you know, come to market with something you already know how to sell.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Six new FP&A vendors have entered the market since Vena and succeeded
“Since Vena, there have been another, let's call it half dozen vendors that have entered the space that are all doing well.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Vena landed Wells Fargo early, charging banks $500,000 for mission-critical reporting
“One of our first 20 customers was Wells Fargo, as an example, and we sold to all, you know, a lot of the big banks in the U.S. After that, but we were getting half a million dollars a year from the banks to use Venna for mission critical regulatory processes.”
Insight
Don Mal: FP&A software ROI comes from leverage, not headcount reduction
“The biggest thing in that space is, is really getting the most out of your team. You know, when you think about the manual Sort of archaic way of doing budgeting and planning of like sending spreadsheets, chasing the numbers, manually consolidating the results…”
Assertion Supported
Mal: IBM discontinued Clarity Systems' product after acquisition, opening market for Vena
“When IBM acquired the company where we worked, they discontinued the product that we then re-entered the market with our own approach, so we fill that void in a sense. Their product, the company that was sold to IBM, had an Excel look and feel capability withi…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Mal: Vena's early mid-market contracts averaged around $30,000 per year
“The primary one was budgeting and planning to mid-market, which, you know, might've been in that kind of 30,000 dollar per, per customer
per year range”
Assertion Supported
Vena took five years to hit $10M ARR, then eight to $100M
“If you go back to Vena, like those first five years, you're just building that first, like getting to five to ten million of ARR, you know, that's really what you're doing, I think, in most cases. But then if you think about where Vena is today, like eight yea…”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Don Mal: Vena reached $1M ARR in about 18 months
“A million would have been literally, I'd say maybe a year and a half.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Mal: Vena spent over $1M launching enterprise go-to-market
“Early days at Vena, going back to Vena now, had invested over a million dollars launching a go to market motion for enterprise. Okay. Hired very expensive sales reps.”
Disclosure
Don Mal left a seven-figure salary to co-found Vena sight unseen
“I left my very, very high paying job to start Vena. I think like it was a seven figure income the year I left just to take a risk to start something, but I did it without even seeing the product.”
Disclosure
Don Mal left Vena at $50M ARR before it reached $100M
“I mean, I left Vena five years ago when we were halfway there, but the company was well on its way, and so great to see that they have eclipsed the hundred million ARR mark.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Vena sold perpetual on-premise licenses before pivoting to cloud within one year
“Early days, we were an on-premise solution actually. But within about a year, George, you know, really determined we needed to be a cloud first, you know, type of application be, you know, when I say cloud first, we cloud second, I guess, but it was really qui…”
Disclosure
Mal: Vena raised nearly $30M in its combined Series A/B round
“Before we actually did a series, proper series A, we actually called our series A and series B because we raised, I think, close to thirty million dollars you know, from our first real serious investor that came in.”
