Introduction

The co-founder of Boast AI, Lloyd Lopez, introduces himself and the purpose of the traction session. He also briefly explains what Boast AI does.

• Lloyd Lopez introduces himself as the co-founder of Boast AI and explains that today's traction session is brought to you by Boast AI Launch Academy in partnership with Growth Lasers.

• Lloyd explains that there are hundreds of billions of dollars in government funding and tax credits available for businesses but it's a complex application process. Boast AI automates this process so businesses can get more money without risking their time or team.

Case Study: How Boast AI Successfully Transitioned from Services to Recurring Revenue Business

In this section, Lloyd talks about how Boast AI transitioned from a services business to a recurring revenue business successfully.

• Lloyd talks about how Boast AI transitioned from a services business to a recurring revenue business successfully.

• He discusses how they managed the transition and saw mammoth growth in their valuation and economics as they switched from services to essentially a software business.

• Lloyd explains that when they started the company, they were working on different ideas such as an ai for sales and consulting firm doing r d tax credits. After some failures, they decided to pivot from a services company to build technology.

• He talks about how customers want an outcome rather than software. They already had clients paying them for offering this service manually which made it easier for them to migrate into software.

• Lloyd explains that complex ai applications require manual work before applying machine learning. They launched at SaaStr in 2017 after putting together an MVP.

• He talks about how they grew from 2 million to 7 million during COVID and had been doubling. They never thought anyone would fund them, but there was a lot of inbound from the community, and the deal with Radiant just happened.

Tips for Turning a Service Business into a Software Business

In this section, Lloyd shares his number one tip for turning a service business into a software business.

• Lloyd's number one tip for turning a service business into a software business is to focus on getting customers the outcome they want rather than focusing on software.

Automating Business Processes

In this section, the speakers discuss the importance of automating business processes and how to go about it.

Automating Business Processes

• Start by getting customers and ensuring they are happy.

• Identify common tools used by your customer base and build integrations to automatically ingest data.

• Normalize data so that algorithms can be written to make sense of it.

• Do things manually first, identify what takes up most of your time, then automate those tasks.

The Benefits of Automation in Enterprise

In this section, the speakers discuss the benefits of automation in enterprise and how it can lead to rapid scaling.

The Benefits of Automation in Enterprise

• Replacing expensive human labor with automation can lead to high gross margins and rapid scaling.

• Companies like Surge and Data Pure use humans for data labeling for high accuracy tasks such as parsing large amounts of data for companies like Walmart.

• One company was able to achieve $10 million ARR in 18 months through significant replacement of human labor with automation.

Jason Saster's Career Journey

In this section, Jason Saster talks about his career journey as an entrepreneur, investor, and community builder.

Jason Saster's Career Journey

• Jason Saster is a serial entrepreneur turned student of SAS who took what he learned building Adobe Sign to $10M and $100M before sharing his mistakes and learnings with other startups he invested in.

• His number one advice is not to be a serial entrepreneur but to do one great B2B startup and never quit.

• Jason's greatest business mistake was selling Echo Sign to Adobe at $1M a month when it had the potential for compounding growth.

• Jason founded SaaStr, the world's largest SAS community, and built it into his life's mission.

Building a Successful Startup

In this section, the speaker talks about the importance of building a successful startup and how it is more important than being a serial entrepreneur.

First-Time Successful Entrepreneur

• The speaker emphasizes that building a successful startup is much more to be celebrated and emulated than doing 12 startups at the same time from Tulum or being a serial entrepreneur.

• He encourages founders to build and try to create unicorns even if they don't come close. Cloud and SaaS are so big that even if you grow only 40% last year, you can still make your existing company better.

• The speaker advises entrepreneurs not to be serial but instead double down on their existing company, especially if they have NRR north of 100%.

Larry Ellison's Success Story

• The speaker defines his version of "serial" as someone who starts something, makes it great, sells it, then starts another one. He cites Larry Ellison as an example of someone who has never sold his shares in Oracle and has become the single richest person in tech.

• He de-glamorizes the concept of exiting companies because there are fewer reasons to exit now than there used to be.

What If You're Not on Pace to Be a Unicorn Yet?

In this section, the speaker talks about what entrepreneurs should do if they are not on pace to become unicorns yet.

Importance of First Million in Revenue

• The speaker mentions that getting people to buy a new product is harder than it sounds. Therefore, reaching the first million in revenue is crucial for any startup.

• He advises entrepreneurs to focus on growing even at a mediocre rate and not worry about going from one to ten in six quarters.

• The speaker cites UiPath as an example of a successful IPO that took 10 years to get to 1 million in revenue. He emphasizes that what really matters is the velocity coming out of the first 10 million in revenue.

Importance of Brand

• The speaker mentions that what really carries startups through brand is their velocity coming out of the first 10 million in revenue.

Building a Mini-Brand to Reach Success

In this section, the speaker discusses how building a mini-brand can help startups reach success.

Importance of Building a Brand

• A brand around a couple thousand customers can carry you.

• Qualifying 11 vendors is time-consuming, so most people only look at one or two vendors or have niche needs.

• Getting to the top one is crucial.

Pushing Through Slow Growth

• If growth is slow to ten, don't sweat it. Just get from one to ten.

• Even if growth is slow, you can still build a successful company like UiPath or Squarespace that took years to reach $1 million in revenue.

• Settle in at $10 million and start adding incremental improvements.

Analyzing Management Team and Upgrading

• After reaching $10 million, analyze your management team and upgrade where necessary.

• Enhance backfill and settle in while adding incremental improvements.

Timeframe for Success

• It takes 12 years to IPO and SAS and 10 years to get to a billion-dollar exit.

• Even huge successes take a decade, so be committed if you want success as an entrepreneur.

• Most founders who quit after making millions never go on as founders again.

Conclusion

The speaker concludes by emphasizing the importance of being committed as an entrepreneur and building a mini-brand early on.

Importance of Commitment

• Building a successful company takes time but settling in at $10 million with incremental improvements can lead to success over time.

• There's nothing better most entrepreneurs could do than build a billion-dollar company over ten years.

Insights on Co-Founders and VPs

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of having a great co-founder and VP to help grow a startup.

The Importance of Having a Great Co-Founder

• A great co-founder is essential for startups struggling to grow.

• Each co-founder should be better than the other.

• Startups with a great co-founder have higher chances of success.

• It's possible to find a co-founder later in the startup journey.

Finding an Ex Post Facto Co-Founder or Amazing VP

• An ex post facto co-founder is someone who becomes passionate about your product later on and helps carry some of the load.

• Finding an amazing VP who takes ownership and carries some of the load can also make things easier for founders.

• Look for someone who is passionate about your problem, product, and what you're doing.

Final Thoughts

In this section, the speaker shares his final thoughts on growing a startup.

Key Takeaways

• A great co-founder and VP are crucial for startups struggling to grow.

• Passionate people who care about your problem can help carry some of the load.

• Keep pushing on during tough times.

The Top Three Loads for a CEO at a Fast Growing Company

In this section, the speaker discusses the top three loads for a CEO at a fast-growing company.

Stop Being an Individual Contributor

• CEOs need to stop being individual contributors.

• Even if they are still running social media or outbound, they need to stop being an IC.

Stop Being a VP

• CEOs also need to stop being VPs.

• Sometimes, CEOs hire great sales reps but can't find a VP of sales, so they have to do it themselves.

• This is not uncommon for marketing-focused CEOs who are natural marketers.

Hire Great VPs

• The third point is that CEOs need to hire great VPs in every area.

• Hiring great VPs will not only make each area perform better but also take the load off the CEO's shoulders.

• A sign of a great VP is that you look forward to your one-on-one each week and informal conversations with them.

How Long Should You Give Your New VP?

In this section, the speaker talks about how long you should give your new VP before deciding whether they will work out or not.

30 Days Is Enough Time

• Founders often make the mistake of giving their new VP too long to prove themselves.

• You'll know in 30 days if your VP is going to work out or not.

• This applies to every functional department.

• Things don't have to be perfect after 30 days, but things need to improve.

What Does a Great VP Sales Do in the First 30 Days?

• A great VP sales brings in a couple of new great reps, moves out one or two reps that aren't performing, and does a better job closing deals that are already in the pipeline.

• If you swap out the two worst reps for two better ones and jump into three deals, you'll see an improvement.

Leading Indicators

• What are some leading indicators to look for between weeklies or quarterlies that show your VP will fly?

• For example, what does a great VP product do?

• The key things to look for in each functional department are different.

Impact of a Great VP of Sales

In this section, the speaker discusses how a great VP of sales can impact a business by identifying the best closers on their team and routing precious leads to them. They also bring in new people to improve revenue and pipeline.

Identifying the Best Closers

• A great VP of sales identifies who on the existing team is good and who isn't.

• They route precious leads to the best closers.

• They bring in one or two people they know to increase revenue.

Improving Revenue and Pipeline

• The best VPs learn quickly that underperforming reps need to go.

• They bring in new hires that want to work for them.

• They improve lead scoring, collateral, messaging, email marketing, drip marketing, etc.

• There is usually some improvement in the funnel within 30 days.

Impact of a Great VP Demand Gen

In this section, the speaker discusses how a great VP demand gen can impact a business by improving the funnel within 30 days.

Improving Funnel Within 30 Days

• A good VP demand gen always sees some improvement in the funnel somewhere within 30 days.

• They improve lead scoring and build better collateral for sales reps.

Impact of a Great VP Product

In this section, the speaker discusses how a great VP product can impact a business by talking to customers within their first two weeks and impacting the roadmap.

Talking to Customers

• Every great VP of product talks to customers within their first two weeks.

• They impact the roadmap by bringing in external resources to improve integrations, etc.

• They jump in on customer conversations and help deals close.

The Importance of Hiring a VP of Product Early

In this section, the speaker emphasizes the importance of hiring a VP of Product early on in a startup's growth.

Why Hire a VP of Product Early?

• A VP of Product can help manage product complexity and simplify it for customers.

• Hiring a VP of Product early can lead to closing big deals with enterprise companies.

• The order in which you hire VPs depends on finding great candidates, but hiring a VP of Product early is crucial.

The Magic of Having a Great Header Product

In this section, the speaker discusses how having a great header product can be magical for closing deals.

Benefits of Having a Great Header Product

• A great header product can help close big deals by providing unique solutions that competitors cannot offer.

• Sales reps with deep subject matter expertise can leverage the header product to create magic on sales calls.

Order for Hiring VPs from 0 to 10 Million Revenue

In this section, the speaker discusses the optimal order for hiring VPs in startups from 0 to 10 million revenue.

Optimal Order for Hiring VPs

• Do not wait too long to hire a VP of Marketing; it is better to hire them earlier rather than later.

• Hire a VP of Engineering early on to take care of mundane tasks and free up time for innovation.

• There is no set order for hiring VPs; find great candidates and hire them as soon as possible.

Mistakes Startups Make When Hiring VPs

In this section, the speaker highlights common mistakes startups make when hiring VPs.

Common Mistakes When Hiring VPs

• Waiting too long to hire a VP of Marketing.

• Not hiring a VP of Product early on.

• Not hiring a VP of Engineering early on to take care of mundane tasks.

• Failing to recognize when VPs need to be swapped out for better candidates.

Hiring a VP of Marketing and Demand Gen

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of hiring a VP of Marketing and Demand Gen at the right time to avoid hitting a wall in lead generation.

Hire a VP of Marketing and Demand Gen Early

• Hire a VP of Marketing and Demand Gen when you have some repeating revenue or at least at the same time as you hire your first sales rep.

• Founders wait too long to hire a VP of Marketing and Demand Gen, sometimes until they hit 5-10 million in revenue. This is a mistake because it can cause leads to plateau.

• Leads always plateau if you don't inject new programs or marketing campaigns. Don't wait too long to make this hire.

Hire a VP of Sales After Two Reps

• Hire a VP of Sales after you have two reps that can hit quota. Don't wait until you have three or four scale sales reps.

• A good VP of Sales will take what she learns from those two reps and hire three through three hundred.

• If founders don't hire a good VP of Sales after two reps, they may struggle with sales later on due to lack of engine for recruiting, training, or managing.

Common Mistakes in Hiring Sales Reps

In this section, the speaker discusses common mistakes made by founders when hiring sales reps.

Mistake #1 - Hiring Too Early

• Hiring sales reps before having product-market fit is one common mistake.

• Hiring sales reps before having a repeatable sales process is another common mistake.

Mistake #2 - Hiring Too Late

• Waiting too long to hire sales reps can cause leads to plateau and revenue growth to slow down.

• Founders should hire sales reps when they have a repeatable sales process and are ready to scale.

Mistake #3 - Mishiring

• Mishiring is a common mistake made by founders when hiring sales reps. This can be avoided by using data-driven hiring processes and focusing on culture fit.

Hiring and Recruiting in 2022

In this section, the speaker discusses the challenges of hiring and recruiting in the current environment of many well-funded startups. However, he also notes that there are more potential candidates available than ever before.

The Good News About Recruiting

• Startups are going through phase transitions, creating more candidates.

• More directors, VPs, and others suitable for a startup exist today than five years ago.

• There are romantics who have an almost irrational attachment to your journey. Find them.

How to Navigate Hiring and Recruiting

• When recruiting yourself as a founder, find romantics who want to be on your mission with you.

• You cannot compete for fungible people; you cannot hire the AE that is interviewing with 23 SaaS companies and wants an easy job.

Being the First AE at a Startup

In this section, the speaker talks about why someone would want to be the first AE at a startup and how it can be challenging but rewarding.

Advantages of Being the First AE

• Work with the CEO directly.

• Be on the front lines.

Challenges of Being the First AE

• No help.

• Bug-ridden product that doesn't do anything.