Insight
Collin: Startups are screwed if seed VCs do not follow on
“And so you know that if you raise a seed round and then you raise a series A and the firm doesn't follow, then you're screwed.”
Insight
Founders should raise on business confidence, not arbitrary ARR milestones
“One thing I've realized is people will give you a lot of milestones that you need to hit in order to raise. So they will tell you raise a seed run when you hit that, and then a series A when you hit
One million in AR, whatever. And Series B when, but at the en…”
Insight
Startup transparency means sharing metrics, not dumping personal emotional anxiety
“The thing that I think is dangerous is transparency is not about sharing, ah, everything that's on your mind and the way you feel. And that's true internally and externally. So for example, in, inside the company, I can't say I'm freaking out about this compet…”
Insight
Startup board members cannot tell founders how to reach operational milestones
“So not helpful with, I feel like they are not helpful to tell you how you'll get to your next milestone. Like they don't have any answers for you.”
Assertion Supported
Sequoia built a custom Lego set to pitch Mathilde Collin
“What Sequoia did is they built a Lego, a custom Lego with the front logo and the Sequoia logo and then an FL tower cause I'm French and the Golden Gate Bridge, and they brought it to the office”
Disclosure
Mathilde Collin admits raising Front's early funding rounds was easy
“For us, at least, we've been fortunate enough, and every round has been super easy, so seed series A and series B, we raised pretty quickly. So if there is one thing that's not hard, and that's probably the only thing about building front, for us, it's been ra…”
Disclosure
Collin: Front avoided VC funds during its seed round
“So for example, seed round, I didn't know what I was doing. And so I didn't want any VC. So it was more angel investors would invest because I didn't want to have any pressure from anyone.”
Insight
Collin: CEO role changes every six months, requiring different coaches
“So my job changes probably at least every six months. And every time I need to learn a new job, and every time I don't know if I'll be great at the next job I feel like, one, having, ah, a coach is useful, and it can be a different coach every six months.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Collin: Front shares all runway, revenue, churn, and NPS data with every employee
“So, at Front, everyone knows everything about our runway, our NPS, our revenue, our churn, like, everything.”
Disclosure
Mathilde Collin: Investors Bet on Her Personally Rather Than Front's Metrics
“I think the thing that keeps me up at night is as the company is growing, like people put so much expectations on front and specifically on me. And so I keep hearing from a lot of different people, like the reason we're betting on front is because you're the C…”
Disclosure
Mathilde Collin admits Front ignored net retention metrics until Series B
“I had to wait till our series B, I think, to look at our net retention.”
Disclosure
Mathilde Collin packed 11 VC partner meetings into a single week
“So I scheduled all the partners meetings the week after. So 11 partner meetings in one week, which was pretty tiring.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Front scaled from $1 million to $10 million ARR in two years
“Two years.”
Disclosure
Collin: Sequoia Board Member Ran Front's VP of Sales Search
“So Brian from Sequoia, who joined our board a month ago, like, I said, oh, we need a VP cells, and he was like, I will run the search for you. And then he's, so our new VP cells is training on Monday.”
Disclosure
Collin: Front was conceived because she spent 6–7 hours daily in email
“I wanted to work on email because I was spending probably six or seven hours per day in my inbox.”
