Investor Connect Podcast

Metrics Investors Use Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Investors also use metrics. Here's a list of key metrics investors focus on: Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) Growth - the overall growth rate of the revenue is a key factor. Month-over-month growth demonstrates product-market fit. Magic number - shows how sales...

On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Ahmet Şener, Managing Partner at Smart Citizenship. Smart Citizenship, is a citizenship-by-investment consultancy company aiming to bring unprecedented transparency to overseas investments made for the purpose of attaining secondary passports or alternative residencies. Powered by Smart Choice, the only algorithmic decision support system in the i...

Your Top 3 Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There are many metrics you can use for your startup. Focus on these top three metrics for your startup at each stage: For pre-seed, focus on qualitative activities such as customer interviews and community development. Track the number of calls made, the number of...

Efficiency and Predictability Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In addition to growth, there is efficiency to measure. This is important to consider as you grow your business. Here are some key metrics to use: Magic number - shows how many revenue dollars your sales and marketing dollars generate. To calcula...

This is Investor Perspectives. I'm the host of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding. In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled "Faith-Based Investing in a Post-COVID World", you'll hear about primary trends and what makes for a successful faith-based company. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new era. The faith-based investing sp...

Metrics for a Downturn Economy Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In a downturn economy, metrics can help you make decisions about your business. Here are some key metrics to consider: Net burn rate - measures the actual cash lost in a single month. To calculate, subtract the total revenue from the total amount of mo...

Thank you for joining us today for our TEN Capital Fundraise Launch Program. In this program, we help startups prepare for a fundraise. We provide templates, tools, eGuides, and advice to founders who are working towards raising funding. We'll kick off the session with a short overview on a fundraising topic, then we'll answer questions from the founders. I hope you enjoy this episode. ___________...

Segment Your Data Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In running metrics, it's important to segment your data as you grow. Segmentation helps identify the factors driving growth. Here is a list of ways to segment your data: Location - the geographic location of the customer such as city, state, region, or country. Ind...

Meaningless Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Some metrics are actually meaningless and tell you little about the business. Metrics should demonstrate customer interest and satisfaction through commitment of time or dollars. Here's a list of metrics to avoid: Number of downloads - by itself, it doesn't show...

On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Alex Fauvel, Founder and General Partner at Two Hop Ventures. Headquartered in Amsterdam, North Holland, Two Hop Ventures is a traditional investment firm that invests capital in projects from around the globe that aim to secure the internet on a blockchain. The fund focuses on pre-seed to seed-stage startups and does not acquire or handle any cry...

Marketplace Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Here are the key metrics for marketplace startups: Match rate - the rate at which buyers and sellers engage with each other. To calculate, take the number of transactions in which there is a successful match and divide by the total number of attempted transaction...

Customer Traction Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In raising funding, customer traction is a key focus point. Here are the metrics for measuring your traction: Customer acquisition - this includes all sources of leads such as website, email, social media, and referrals, as well conversion of leads to custo...

This is Investor Perspectives. I'm the host of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding. In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled "Faith-Based Investing in a Post-COVID World", you'll hear about primary trends and what makes for a successful faith-based company. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new era. The faith-based investing sp...

Challenges With North Star Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The North Star Metric seeks to capture the essence of a business in just one metric. It makes decision-making easier. Anything that doesn't foster that metric is deprioritized. It does change over time as the company's priorities change especially...

On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Brom Rector, Founder of Empath Ventures. Empath Ventures is a venture capital fund that invests in psychedelic medicine startups. They specifically focus on pre-seed and seed-stage psychedelic startups that are doing novel psychedelic molecule development and pick-and-shovel plays in the psychedelics industry. To date, Empath has invested in Mycro...

Finding Your North Star Metric Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The North Star Metric is the one metric that drives the growth of the core business. Founders use it to focus the company around a common goal. Some startups focus on signups, others focus on retention, and still, others focus on engagement. If you don...

Operational Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. An efficient operation is one key to a startup's success. Here are operational metrics you can use to check your startup: Basic efficiency - measures the overall efficiency of the business. To calculate, take operating expenses divided by the revenues. The smalle...

On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Peter Bruce Clark, Partner at Social Impact Capital. Headquartered in New York, New York, Social Impact Capital specializes in impact investing, which they define as investments that can deliver top decile returns in addition to a positive social impact. They focus on the "essentials of human need"​ — energy, water, food, health, environment, educ...

Product Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The product is the core focus of the early-stage company. Here are two key metrics for understanding the performance of your product: The Heart Metric measures the quality of the user experience with the product. Here are the components of it: Happiness - measures us...

Scale-Stage Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. After the growth phase comes the scale phase in which you ramp up the business. Here are the key metrics to consider at the scale stage: 1. Break-even per customer - this shows how many days until the new customer turns profitable. This is a key factor if you are...

This is Investor Perspectives. I'm the host of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding. In the continuation of our new Investor Perspectives series entitled "Faith-based Investing in a Post-COVID World", you'll hear about participation and growth in faith-based investing. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new era. The faith-based investing...

Growth-Stage Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Once you have product-market fit and start seeing growth, consider these metrics for your business: Activation rate - the percentage of users achieving some step in activating your product. This helps you determine where users are dropping off. Active users - th...

Startup Customer Success Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Once you have customers, the next step is to measure their success with your product. Here are some key metrics to use: Net Promoter Score - also referred to as NPS, this metric measures how loyal the customers are to the company. The metric asks the...

On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Raymond Luk, CEO, and Founder of Hockeystick. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Hockeystick connects startups with funders. Startups need capital and connections to grow fast. Hockeystick makes the process easier, faster, and more intelligent by using data to drive connections. Raymond is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He...

Seed-Stage Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Seed-stage startups have a few users trying out a beta product. The startup is working on the go-to-market strategy and focusing on customer acquisition. Key metrics to use are monthly unique users, monthly new leads, customer acquisition rate, and churn rate. Thi...