Mounir Laggoune

The most important fundraising KPI: 1st pitch → 2nd meeting conversion rate Is yours low? (< 30-50%) Something is wrong. Here's how to diagnose your issue and fix it: There are two types of potential problems... 1️⃣ Investor targeting 2️⃣ Pitching 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: The most common issue is targeting the wrong investors. Usually you're reaching out to investors that focus on a different stage or industry. Do some research on the investors that didn't convert to a second meeting. The most important resource: their portfolio page. Ignore the "about" section, or their blog. That's mostly about marketing to potential investors in their fund. Instead, look at what they've actually invested in and the stage at which they invested (Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, etc.) Remember: trust the portfolio, not the thesis. __ The other main issue is unclear outbound messaging. Investors think you do one thing (industry, business model, tech, etc.) but you actually do something else. I recommend sending your outbound email template to 5+ friends that don't know anything about your startup. Ask them: • What kinds of customers do you think we serve? • What benefits do you think we provide for them? • What product features do you think we have? • What technologies do you think we use? If more 20% of your friends answer these questions incorrectly, you need to write new outreach emails. 𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆: The most common issue is just that your pitch is weak. Usually because you aren't telling a story. You're just sharing disconnected data. The best pitches are stories that foreshadow the only possible outcome: your startup's tremendous success. It feels inevitable. The easiest test to figure out if you're telling a story: try connecting the main idea of each of your slides with "but," "so" or one of their synonyms. If the natural link between slides is "and" or if you can move the order around, you don't have a story. Chronology matters in storytelling. Go back to the drawing board and try to write your inevitable success story. __ Maybe your overall pitch isn't weak. But VCs may still be spotting a red flag when you pitch. It turns them off right away. If you think this might be your issue, it's important to start asking questions. Most pitches have time for you to ask questions at the end. Here's my go-to to diagnose this issue: "What would you need to see in order to get excited about investing in <<STARTUP>>?" If they tell you a primary KPI that you need to improve, then you've probably identified the issue. The other possibility: They try to avoid giving you a specific answer. If they're evading your question, you NEED to dig in to get to the bottom of it. Your fundraising success may depend on it. —— Was this helpful? 👍 like and ♻️ repost it to help other founders!

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***Roam September 2024 Investor Update*** Strong month of paid member growth and record usage, conversion, retention, & new customer activations. +4.3% paid member growth +9.4% meetings (Record) +5.3% messages sent (Record) 99.1%  Meeting Quality Score (Record) 69% free to paid conversion 70 New Customer Activation Meetings Scheduled (Organic Record)

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Sifted just released their list of the most promising SaaS startups in Europe. https://lnkd.in/erxJRGzi If you are looking to leave your corporate job for a startup but aren’t sure where to get started, do this. 1. Look at sifted lift of promising startups and pick 10 that really interest you. 2. Based on your skill set, use linked look up the lead of the department you think you would be interested in. For example, if you want to get into sales then look up the VP of sales. 3. Send them a DM on why you want to work for the company and what impact you could have in your first 100 days working there. Don’t send your CV until asked for it. 4. Follow up diligently every few days. If after the third try, no one has got back to you, move to the next 10 on the list. It sounds simple, and it is. Recruitment is the hardest thing for growth stage startups, and no one enjoyed paying 25% recruiter fees. Good luck

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Fundraising is like an enterprise sales motion. Your goal is to try to sell part of your company, but every VC has their own buying process, just like you do. And with any enterprise motion, there are: ➝ Multiple stakeholders ➝ Different people need to be convinced about different things ➝ An economic buyer you need access to And so on. But the thing is: I only realized this once I made that analogy. The hardest thing when dealing with VCs is knowing whether you’re actually landing the deal or not. Are people actually telling you the truth when they say they’re interested? With VCs, they’re not motivated to tell you the news because their overall goal is to cultivate the relationship. So, map out the fundraising process as an enterprise sales motion. Then, the rest of the process will become intuitive. For example, if the VC tells you things are great, but doesn’t put you in touch with the economic buyer – then are they really interested? Thinking of it in this way has helped me understand the different players and what they’re actually saying between the lines. The best advice—ask them about their company evaluation process. Every firm operates in such different ways that there’s no point trying to figure out how they operate. If you ask them, they tend to give you pretty high clarity in terms of how they move companies through their process. PS: Apologies for the low-quality video here, my webcam didn't want to focus for some reason.

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💡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐈𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞! 🌍 Fundraising is hard, but finding the right investors doesn’t have to be. This guide is your shortcut to 5000+ VCs, angels, and family offices across:  • 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: US, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and MENA.  • 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: SaaS, Web3, ClimateTech, DeepTech, and more.  • 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀: Pre-seed angels, fund-of-funds, and diversity-focused investors. What you’ll get:  • Verified global VC lists, tailored by stage and geography.  • Specialized directories like AI angels, accelerators, and niche family offices.  • Tools to focus your outreach and scale smarter. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/dtdyuUqP

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Does being a great VC = being a great manager ? Basically no.  Because the two are very different things.  (It’s not me, Kyle Harrison is saying so!) What's important for a VC can be summed up like that : "The two most important things are (1) performance, and (2) teamwork. But if you don't have number 1 then nothing else matters." Being a good VC is making the right investments to have a solid track record. The currency in VC is getting credit for getting deals done. This leaves little room for investors to train newcomers (ie. Associates/Analysts) because you don’t get recognition from that. So being a good manager isn’t valued as much as being a good investor. But problem is, building a solid track record is very different from building a long lasting investment firm, which can only be done by training associates and so being a good manager. David Haber compare the way VC are working with the way Chicago Bulls won championships in 1991-92 meaning winning on the back of 1 or 2 players (1 or 2 good investors) So the structural incentive rewards only deals getting done leaving on the side building a team that knows how to work together. Everything outside track record could be considered pointless. And that’s why VC can’t be considered as an apprenticeship business. But the the positive thing is, a lot of smart VC (ex: Sequoia Capital (US) or Serena (FR)) already know that training new generations is equally important as having a great track record if you want to survive on the long run. So remember as a VC, find great deals but don’t forget to find a great Associate that can succeed you ;) PS: I’m not going to say it but I could: Automate as much as possible to have time for your Associate. Many thanks to Kyle for this interesting piece! Link in comments 👇

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According to Harvard Business School, around 65% of promising startups fail due to co-founder disagreements. And yet the general thinking - according to YC - is that it’s still more advisable to look for a co-founder than to go solo. So if the pressure of finding your ideal co-founding team wasn’t enough, it becomes even more daunting when you’re aware of the risks. And yet, I find it interesting that some of the most successful partnerships arise more or less serendipitously. Take Dropbox as an example: initially a solo venture, Drew Houston was advised by Paul Graham to find a co-founder if he was serious about YC. Through friends of friends, he met his co-founder, Arash Ferdowsi, spent a grand total of 2 hours talking in a coffee house, and in his words, “got married on the first date”. Against all odds, the two had an incredibly successful collaboration that lasted 13 years. Embracing serendipity whilst actively seeking out compatible partners seems like a contradiction - but it’s often the case that when it does work, it’s really something to see. 🍀 Check out Drew's story below! #cofounders #founderstories #ycombinator #startups #founders

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We just launched our new Fundraising Co-Pilot on top of our existing network that makes it 25x faster and more efficient for founders to identify, research, and target their most ideal investor profiles. And we're giving 2 months of it away for free to 1 founder... But first, here's how the product itself works ⬇️ 1️⃣ M.L. Investor Matching: The backbone of our platform is a network where investors interact with startups. We use the tens of thousands of unique data points that we have on our network to find the most relevant investors for your startup using a proprietary algorithm based on their thesis, the firm's thesis, their portfolio, real time activity, and much more. 2️⃣ A.I. Research Agent: The most effective outreach is well-researched and personalized. Our research agent aggregates all relevant information about an investor to supercharge your outreach so the process takes seconds as opposed to 30 minutes. 3️⃣ Getting connected: Warm intros are often the best way to get in touch with the right investors. We help you find the best way to get in touch with the right investors (warm intros or cold messages), and then help you build the actual message. 4️⃣ Tailored outbound message generation: Messages have to be highly curated in order to stand out. We've built a model that is trained on successful outreach messages, combines all the right pieces of your information and theirs (from the research agent) to help you catch the eyes of any investor. It also learns to sound more and more like you the more you use it. 5️⃣ Status management and CRM: With our integrations, we make it easy to track the status of the raise and get insights into the startup's performance. You're also fully a part of the network and can track how organic investors engage with your startup. 🚀 The coolest part of all of this is you can try it for yourself in 10 seconds. We've built it into our landing page so all you need to do is put your website link in here https://theorcanetwork.com and watch the magic happen. Customers have been loving it in the 2 days since it has launched, so we decided to have some fun with a little giveaway: 🤑 Any founder who tags another founder in the comments gets entered into a raffle where the winner will win 2 months of the Co-Pilot plan for free. That's 9 days, 17 hours, and 20 minutes saved. Tag fellow founders below to be entered! As Charlie Wehan alluded to in his post, the fundraising co-pilot is just the tip of the iceberg in regard to the future of ORCA. A lot more to come with the power of the data we're collecting and the models we're building. Stay tuned 👀

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🚀 The Pocket Guide of Essential YC Advice: Elevate Your Startup Game! 🚀 Starting a business? Here's a cheat sheet from YC that can make all the difference: 1️⃣ Launch now: Don't wait for perfection. Get your product out there and iterate. 2️⃣ Build something people want: Focus on solving real problems. 3️⃣ Do things that don't scale: Personal touches can lead to big breakthroughs. 4️⃣ Find the 90 / 10 solution: Prioritize the most impactful tasks. 5️⃣ Find 10-100 customers who love your product: Early adopters are your champions. 6️⃣ All startups are badly broken at some point: Resilience is key. 7️⃣ Write code - talk to users: Balance building with real-world feedback. 8️⃣ "It's not your money": Be frugal and smart with investments. 9️⃣ Growth is the result of a great product, not the precursor: Quality drives expansion. 🔟 Don't scale until you've built something people want: Validate first, grow second. 💡 Key Insights: - Valuation ≠ Success: Focus on value creation, not just valuation. - Avoid lengthy deals with big customers unless necessary. - Steer clear of corporate development queries that waste time. - Attend conferences selectively - prioritize those that bring customers. - Pre-product market fit? Stay nimble and do things that don't scale. - Solving one problem well > solving many poorly. - Founder relationships: Your co-founders are your greatest asset. - Sometimes, firing a toxic customer is necessary. - Ignore competitors - focus on your path to avoid 'death by comparison.' 🌟 Final Tips: - Be kind! Courtesy costs nothing but means everything. - Prioritize your health - sleep, exercise, and self-care are non-negotiable. Let these insights guide your entrepreneurial journey. What resonates most with you? Share your thoughts! ⬇️ #Startups #Entrepreneurship #YCombinator #BusinessTips #GrowthMindset #Innovation

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3.5 years into our current fund and I'm doing some calculations. I'm super proud of the portfolio, they achieved an ARR that's a bit more than 2x the invested capital at the fund. This number is important these days since investment has been slow and most are doing well waiting to do their series A's. Total ARR / Total paid-in capital = 2.1 TVPI does not capture the growth until new rounds happen. I think this should be a metric for software funds, especially since our companies' gross profit margins have averaged 80% since they are all SaaS. Maybe a new metric called TARRPI (TARPI) should be included in our fund performance metrics. A number that shows how companies that make up the portfolio are actually doing. Instead of relying only on funding rounds which depend on market conditions and the ability of founders to either bluff or look like a national champion.

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65% of our new ARR last month came inbound. Our secret? We do one thing every early-stage startup should (but lots don't): Consistently publish social content. In March, we decided that we were going to go all-in on posting on LinkedIn + Twitter daily. A lot of Founders neglect it because they feel they don't have the time, or because they can't tie it to revenue effectively enough. We're 3 months in and it's clear that it is the easiest way to punch above your weight (especially in a competitive market like ours). Not to mention, it's been a huge money-maker for us. We're driving both top-of-funnel awareness and bottom-of-funnel conversions. When I was at the PLGTM conference earlier this year, I had multiple people come up to me and mention that they'd heard about me from my LinkedIn or Twitter posts. Opening a conversation with some familiarity to myself and Unify is insanely powerful. TLDR: Make social a core part of your GTM motion. Done right, you'll drive both top-of-funnel awareness and bottom-of-funnel conversions. ...unless you're in the outbound/GTM space. In that case, social is a complete waste of time and doesn't drive any results 😀 Check out Unify here: https://lnkd.in/gn_--FeC PS - as Reed called out in this tweet, a warning that you will 100% get roasted by your friends for being cringe 😁

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The Ultimate Cheat Sheet collection for SaaS leaders & Founders - by Vencha, Included #VC & Notion Capital Here you have 15 cheat sheets on marketing, sales, fundraising, pitch decks and more: 💵 How to price and package your software ? 🎢 The 5 prospect stages 🚀How fundable is your company? 💸 Leadership transitions at different stages of business growth 🎯 SaaS monetisation in 8 steps 🕹️ Identifying your market: TAM, SAM & SOM demystified 🛠️ How to skyrocket SaaS sales? ⚖️ The ICP Grid, goal setting and how to prioritize ? #Fintech #saas #CheatSheet #isaphr #isapone #isapsolutions #starthubagency #isapinvestments www.isap.group www.isap.one www.isap.hr www.isap.agency www.isap.investments iSAP Solutions ltd iSAP ONE iSAP.HR StartHub.Agency iSAP Group Investments ltd Tino Herold

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We got +100 NPS for our recent SaaStock Founder Membership (SFM) retreat. Based on feedback and on reflection, here are a few reasons why: 1. Magic 🪄: We sourced a magical location in the Agafay Desert, Les Terrasses D'Agafay. It created the base for the first wow moment. Also as we were in the middle of the desert, it kept the group together (as no one could leave). 2. Grounding ⛺️: Glamping instead of 5* resorts. Kind of an unexpected one but a good learning. The previous retreats had been in 5* resorts which we could go to any time on holiday with family/friends. Glamping I think resulted in us feeling a bit more grounded which helped with the openness and transparency of the group. 3. Fire 🔥: We had a campfire which every evening created a central space for us to congregate and we ran roundtable discussions for the whole group with a level of transparency not seen before. 4: Ice 🧊: We broke the Ice the night before the retreat started with a dinner in Marrakech. Allowed everyone to connect and familiarise if they were new to the group. 5. Space 🛸: The agenda allowed for lots of space for people to just talk and relax 6: Power of 40 🔋: Not that one, but we cap the size at 40 people. Just the right amount for everyone to connect and bond. With this, i think we found the recipe for the perfect Founder retreat. Already planning next years and wish the NPS scale could go above +100 #saastockfoundermembership #retreat #events #saas #founders #community

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Sam Altman was the President of YC. Startup advice given at YC: - Launch right away - Launch 1st version you’re embarrassed about - Raise very little capital up front - Don’t take big R&D risk - Find PMF quickly, with ‘something’ Versus how he launched OpenAI: - Raised 1B dollars of capital before any PMF - Took 4 to 5 years after launch to release - Didn’t talk to users upon release Moral of the story? Be careful of textbook advice, no matter who it came from. Prioritise finding smart people with solid analytical skills, instead. Then, make educated bets together.

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—> My Take on SaaS in 2025💙 : 1/ The market is overcrowded. By 2025, niche players will either be acquired or forced to pivot. We’ll see fewer tools, but the ones that survive will dominate their categories with deeper integrations and unmatched value. 2/ Automation and analytics will no longer be add-ons—they’ll be fundamental. SaaS solutions will need to offer smarter workflows, proactive insights, and seamless user experiences that solve problems before they arise. 3/ The subscription economy will mature. Companies will prioritize keeping their existing users over burning cash on ads. Continuous onboarding, usage-based pricing, and personalized experiences will define success. 4/ No-code tools will evolve into no-code ecosystems. Platforms won’t just help users build—they’ll empower communities to create and scale solutions without technical expertise. This shift will lower barriers for SMBs and fuel innovation. 5/ Security will become a deal-breaker. As SaaS becomes more critical to businesses, it will also become a bigger target. Investing in zero-trust frameworks and robust data protection will no longer be optional—it’ll be essential. 6/ The next wave of SaaS growth will come from emerging markets. These regions will demand leaner, cost-effective solutions tailored to their unique challenges. Expect new innovation hubs to emerge far from traditional tech centers. 7/ Customers are done with generic products. The winners in 2025 will be those who deeply understand their niche and deliver specialized solutions. SaaS will shift from broad horizontal scaling to focused vertical specialization. 8/ Confusing pricing tiers will die out. Businesses want clarity. Transparent, usage-based pricing models will align with customer success and build trust—key to long-term relationships. 9/ Businesses will move away from vanity metrics like user counts and focus on outcomes. Companies will ask, What measurable value does this software deliver? Providers will need to prove real ROI, not just flashy features. 10/ SaaS in 2025 will reward those who adapt, prioritize customer needs, and innovate relentlessly. It’s no longer just about building tools—it’s about creating value, ecosystems, and relationships that last. What’s the one topic you’d love to see me talk next? Let me know! 🔽 ************************************************ 📌 I’m the founder of Uptech Sol, a software powerhouse delivering innovative web and mobile solutions. 📌 Explore our website to see how we build scalable and impactful software solutions: https://lnkd.in/dBTXXm7q

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Why SanFran as city is unique + Europe can’t compete ? 300 000 millionaires & 80 Billionaires Even without capital raising, the probability of good knowledge transfer about how to build substantial (software) businesses seems to be working better on an order magnitude in that city, than in Europe as a whole

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Here are the full terms of our recent investment Round size: $61.500 (430.000 DKK) Equity dilution: 2% Valuation: $3.000.000 (21.000.000 DKK) Post Money Cap Pro rata: no Type: SAFE Round Stage: Angel For context: Alvas was founded 11 months ago We’re two founders, one highly technical, the other technical and highly commercial. We build product and get customers ourselves Early revenue with 12 clients and $3250 MRR Our product is simple to understand, solves a pain point for a smaller niche And we’ve shown how we create value for multiple big Danish brands 🦄 #investment #StartUp #founder #unicorn _________________ I’m sharing the journey of building a Unicorn We’ve recently received funding, and I’m sharing everything about the investment Tomorrow I will share why we raised, and what the money will be spent on Feel free to follow along

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Best tools for startup and scaleup CFOs - French tools only 🇫🇷 Whether you're launching your company or scaling your finance stack, we've got you covered. This list is not exhaustive, and we also want to share our feedback after nearly 2 years of using these tools at Hyperline. --- 🏦 Banking: Qonto / Memo Bank → We use both! Qonto handles our daily operations, while Memo Bank manages our term deposits (DAT in French). 🥸 Accounting: Pennylane → We've chosen Pennylane as the go-to accounting solution (and our accounting partner loves it too!). Bonus: seamless integration with Hyperline to collect all invoices. 💳 Spend management: Spendesk → A must-have as your team scales. Bonus: your team will love their autonomy with own card! (Lucas Bédout, as former VP of Engineering, insisted we include them in the list...🤪) 💸 Billing and invoicing: Hyperline → We love using our own product daily. The best solution on the market for managing finance operations from quote to cash (I'm not biased at all 😇). 💼 Procurement: Pivot / Payflows → If you're looking for a procurement solution, that's a good sign for your business. Simplify your life with next-gen procurement solutions! 🦸🏻‍♀️ People and Payroll: PayFit France / Lucca → We've been using PayFit since day one at Hyperline. I remember closing the first payroll with just myself 😂. Very user-friendly with excellent support, perfect for an admin novice like me. 💰 Cap table management: Equify → Your investors will appreciate a clear view of your latest round and future prospects. This was one of the first tools we implemented after our Seed round. --- I’m probably missing some tools. Please help me to complete this list in comment.

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Its tempting to say AI is the new oil. But oil is what is burnt. The engine burns the oil. Data and Information continue to be the Oil. We are in that same Information Age as theorised by Manuel Castells et. al. What's new is that we have just invented our Engine! And that's GenAI. Now we can put the Data to use... #genaiadoption #nlightn

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