The Daily Index — Monday, November 13, 2023 · TLDR Index

HEADLINES & TRENDS

TLDR Founders

TLDR Founders

THINGS AREN’T GETTING BETTER IN SAAS, YET

HubSpot, Datadog, Wix, and Shopify all recently posted healthy growth rates. However, the reports from the CEOs at HubSpot and Zoominfo were clear - things aren’t getting easier, but perhaps the worst has bottomed out.

saastr.com · 2 min

TLDR Founders

BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR ASKS

Imprecise asks from leaders cause a disproportionate amount of turmoil and wheel-spinning. As founders, you can fall into the trap of asking for something perceivably small in a meeting that actually compounds into a large task involving lots of your team. Weigh those asks carefully before you make them.

staysaasy.com · 2 min

TLDR Founders

PURCHASING PATTERNS IN SOFTWARE

You’ve perhaps felt this firsthand from either side of the table. We’re seeing slower and fewer new purchases of software. The average sales cycle has lengthened from 32 to 44 days for net new software, a 37% increase.

tomtunguz.com · 2 min

TLDR Founders

THE 10X EXERCISE FOR FOUNDERS

As a thought exercise, think about what would happen if your business grew 10x. This thinking acts as a forcing function to think about the future, now.

davidcummings.org · 2 min

TLDR Founders

TEAM CHARTERS ARE A TRAP

Building team charters probably shouldn’t be too high on the priority list. The reasons involve the conflicts between bottoms-up v. top-down creation and buy-in.

lethain.com · 2 min

TLDR Founders

YOUR SMALL IMPRECISE ASK IS A BIG WASTE OF THEIR TIME

A good read about how to think through “managing up” as you navigate decisions in a complex organization. While this may not be founder-specific, it is helpful insight for anyone working in a large company.

staysaasy.com · 3 min

TLDR Founders

VOCAI CHATBOT (PRODUCT)

Resolve 80% of your customer support questions with no code.

voc.ai

TLDR Founders

SPEEDVITALS (PRODUCT)

Performance insights to help improve your website’s speed.

speedvitals.com

TLDR Founders

HIRING TOOL (PRODUCT)

An AI applicant tracking and hiring tool.

hiringtool.co

TLDR Founders

BRIAN CHESKY’S CONTRARIAN APPROACH TO PRODUCT, GROWTH, AND LEADERSHIP (73 MINUTE PODCAST)

Brian Chesky is the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb. This podcast dives into how Airbnb thinks about product development, unconventional growth channels, and how you can encourage your team to set ambitious goals.

lennysnewsletter.com

TLDR Founders

THOUGHTS ON BENCHMARKING

How do you know what the average compensation or R&D expenses should be for a company of your size, location, and function? Benchmarks. A word of caution - benchmarking data doesn’t answer questions, but it helps ask the right questions. You still need to do your own work to answer them.

lethain.com · 2 min

TLDR Founders

AI DOOMERS ARE FINALLY GETTING SOME LONG OVERDUE BLOWBACK

Those who said that AI would doom us all are now having to revisit their positions. “AI doom” really only helps the big guys and opportunities abound for the open source movements happening in AI.

bigtechnology.com · 4 min

TLDR Founders

A SAAS GROWTH SHEET

Community-led growth via Notion or personal branding plays via Keyplay - this sheet shows 18 ideas and examples from the best in SaaS to inspire your next move.

substack.com · 1 min

TLDR Founders

WHAT ARE THE BEST ARGUMENTS AGAINST RAISING VENTURE CAPITAL?

Playing the venture game certainly straps you into a set of expectations. Here’s an outline of the key things to consider before you raise funding.

saastr.com · 1 min

TLDR Founders

MO’ FOUNDERS, MO’ PROBLEMS

A guide to navigating the politics that typically comes with cofounder relationships.

every.to · 5 min