why aren't all 12 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public
record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable
ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't;
assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card:
▮▮▮▮▮ certainty ·
▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Insight
De la Nuez: Invest in UX design before sales and marketing
“I would actually invest in product user experience, design, and, ah, and delivering a great user experience even before I invest in sales, before I invest in marketing.”
What-if
De la Nuez: UserZoom should have raised capital after three years
“Honestly, I think that if I could go back and do it again, the lesson I learned is that I, we could have raised maybe three to four years in, rather than seven years in. Because the problem with not raising is that you potentially miss opportunities, right?”
Disclosure
De la Nuez: UserZoom never picked the highest valuation across funding rounds
“We didn't worry about valuation in all three rounds, to be honest with you. You know, we didn't pick the partner or the, in this case, the private equity that gave us the highest valuation.”
Insight
Chesters: Startups must focus on one target persona until scaling
“So, you may have heard this before, but we think this is still really, really important to think about, and it's to define one persona until you scale. And as a CMO, I just love to hear a founder give this advice, because it means that a marketer and the produ…”
Assertion Supported
De la Nuez: UserZoom reached $800M valuation via Thoma Bravo deal
“We raised a thirty four million dollar round in 2015. Then we raised a hundred million dollar round in 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic. And then about a month ago, we closed a deal, a strategic investment a strategic growth investment with Toma Bravo…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Building 79 features for PayPal unlocked Google and Amazon sales
“Luckily, Alfonso decided to take the UX researcher persona, which was the PayPal option, and, you know, built, I believe, 79 of those features, and that enabled the team to go and sell the same proposition to people like Google, Facebook, Amazon, eBay.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Chesters: UserZoom is nearly at $100M ARR
“About half of that has been in SaaS. Couple of big companies, Medallia, Google, and in addition to helping users who scale to a hundred million ARR, which we're nearly there I've also advised and mentored some very early stage start-ups, which was a huge ton o…”
What-if
De la Nuez: UserZoom should have invested in product marketing earlier
“Doing things simple when you're already at a hundred million, trust me, is a lot harder than doing it at the beginning. So my lesson, I guess, in this case is I wish I had done this earlier. I really wish I had done product marketing a little earlier, would ha…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
UserZoom reached $10M in revenue on just $1.5M in funding
“In our case, we waited for seven years, guys, and I can tell you know, honestly, you know, we were past the ten million dollar mark, And we had only raised, I think 1,000,001 and a half million, more or less, between, again, friends, family, and fools, bank lo…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
De la Nuez: UserZoom raised $34M without pitching at $10M ARR
“Once we passed the ten million dollar mark, VCs were pitching to us. It was incredible. You guys are past ten million dollars in a growing market, and your EBITDA positive, they were pitching to us. I was, I'm not lying if I tell you that I was able to raise, …”
Disclosure
De la Nuez: UserZoom vetted Thoma Bravo for four years before partnering
“You know, we got to know the Toma Bravo guys for about four years before we eventually, you know, decided to partner up.”
Disclosure
UserZoom: Early enterprise contracts started at $30k to $50k annually
“So therefore, they were happy to pay us, you know, 50,000 or 30,000, I think is where we started, 40,000 a year, which we thought was quite a bit.”