Six new FP&A vendors have entered the market since Vena and succeeded
Don Mal · They hit $100M ARR—in a "crowded market". Here's how they got to $1M ARR in just 18 months. | Don... · PMF Show · Sep 3, 2024 · at 13:23
Don Mal, co-founder of FP&A software company Vena, discusses why the corporate budgeting and planning market continues to support new startup entrants.
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“Since Vena, there have been another, let's call it half dozen vendors that have entered the space that are all doing well.”
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“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…”
Don Mal: Vena differentiated by embracing Excel rather than replacing it
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“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.”
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“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.”
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“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…”