Twice a month, we give you a bird's eye 🦅 view of the most interesting news and insights around... Successful Companies and Founding Teams | VC, PE, M&A, and Credit Transactions | Growth Metrics, Benchmarks, Charts & Data | New and Emergent Technologies | Productivity Hacks | Altitude is created for founders, bootstrappers, VCs, angel investors, marketers, technologists, executives, and operators—everywhere. Learn more about Cirrus Capital Partners at www.cirruscap.com
How Duolingo grew to 30 million users, G42 gets $1.5B from Microsoft, and how to use LinkedIn to your advantage
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Hey Reader, Altitude Edition 009 is hot off the press from Cirrus Capital Partners 📰 A quick note before we dig in... we have been very busy at Cirrus! I won't use the "golden age for private credit" or any other platitudes as an excuse, but we've seen increased demand for credit across most industries and sectors, and have spent a little less time writing and more time transacting on behalf of our clients. Not a bad thing! 😅 We also realize how busy every other founding team is running their own business, so moving forward we're going to catch our Altitude flight together every 2 weeks. We hope you enjoy our newsletter and continue to support us; always let us know how we can support you! Every couple weeks, we give you a bird's eye 🦅 view of the most exciting news and insights around...
Created for founders, bootstrappers, VCs, angel investors, marketers, technologists, executives, and operators—everywhere. Let’s get into it: Growth stories: Examples of companies that tried a thing, and it worked. The secret to Duolingo’s exponential growth In his blog post "How Duolingo reignited user growth," Jorge Mazal introduces insights from Sean Colombo, VP of Engineering at Duolingo, who details the growth strategies that have expanded Duolingo’s daily active users from 5 million to nearly 30 million over five years (insane!). The brass tacks: → Maintaining urgency accelerates compound growth. → Strategic advantages, like user desire to build habits, are essential in product differentiation. → Copying proven mechanics provides a foundation for subsequent innovation. → If managed well, notifications are powerful for sustained user engagement. How to put this into action:
Zigging vs. zagging: How HubSpot built a $30B company Dharmesh Shah, co-founder and CTO of HubSpot, shares some gold from his extensive entrepreneurial experience building a $30 billion company (nbd, right?). He emphasizes the importance of leveraging personal strengths, adopting a data-driven approach to public speaking, continuously iterating company culture, and using structured decision-making frameworks. HubSpot's culture of simplification, evidenced by strategies like the "one in, one out" rule, and its decision-making frameworks like "debate, decide, unite" have significantly contributed to its success. Dharmesh also talks about the effectiveness of using a 4P framework (Potential, Probability, Passion, Prowess) for evaluating new ideas, ensuring that simplicity is maintained as the company scales. → Understanding and playing to your strengths can lead to greater satisfaction and company success. → A systematic approach to public speaking can significantly enhance effectiveness. → Continuously adapting company culture is crucial as the company grows. Organic marketing: Benchmarks, case studies, and high-level insights Formula 1 (F1) undoubtedly transcends traditional sports boundaries. It's a global spectacle blending fast cars with a glamorous lifestyle. It's a multifaceted economic engine that involves a complex ecosystem of the FIA, Formula One Group, F1 teams, sponsors, and broadcasters. The "Netflix Effect," driven by the docuseries "Drive to Survive," has significantly boosted F1's popularity, particularly in the U.S., expanding its fan base globally. The resurgence in popularity under Liberty Media’s ownership since 2017 has led to strategic expansions and innovations that promise to propel the sport into new markets and formats. It's something I highly recommend founders to watch. Even if you're not promoting car races—you can apply these takeaways to your marketing strategy: → Multi-image posts drive significant engagement on LinkedIn, particularly for profiles with large audiences. → While not the highest for direct engagement, video content garners the most shares, amplifying brand visibility. → Polls are exceptionally effective in generating high impression rates, indicating strong viewer interaction. → Frequent and consistent posting is crucial for maximizing reach and engagement due to the platform's algorithm preferences. 2024 LinkedIn Benchmarks: Engagement Rate Data and Top-Performing Content Insights In 2024, LinkedIn's engagement rate soared by 44% year-over-year, with multi-image posts yielding the highest engagement, likes, and comments. Unsurprisingly, videos are the most shared content type. Brands, in general, increased their posting frequency by 10%; consistent posting has proven essential for maintaining visibility and leveraging the LinkedIn algorithm. Polls have also emerged as the top content type for generating impressions, indicative of LinkedIn's interactive user base. The bottom line is to look at LinkedIn analytics to understand audience demographics and tailor content effectively. The more you can enhance interaction and reach, the better.
Fundings, from big to small. G42, an Abu-Dhabi-based A.I. firm, gets a $1.5 billion dollar investment from Microsoft. This agreement follows the preceding negotiations between the US government and the firm, in which the latter agreed to divest from China and pivot to American technology. The firm previously came under scrutiny for potential ties to blacklisted Chinese companies. Auradine, a Bitcoin mining equipment manufacturer, successfully raised $80 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round, surpassing its initial goal of $70 million with new investors like StepStone Group and Top Tier Capital Partners and continued support from existing investors such as Celesta Capital and Mayfield Fund. This new capital follows an $81 million Series A round in 2022 and will be used to expand Auradine's production capacity and accelerate the development of its innovative mining technologies. OpenTrade, a web3 institutional lending and yield products platform, successfully raised $3.2 million in seed funding, bringing its total funding to $4.45 million. The round was supported by prominent investors, including the a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX), CMCC Global, Draper Dragon, Ryze Labs, and Plassa Capital. Jeff Handler, co-founder, and Chief Commercial Officer explained that the capital would be used to expand the team in all key areas. OpenTrade is built on Circle’s payment and DeFi infrastructure, utilizing USDC and EURC for on-chain lending products with targeted yields. The platform offers a unique enterprise-grade B2B2C product that integrates seamlessly into existing platforms and apps, offering RWA-backed yield products through partnerships such as with the crypto exchange WOO X, which began offering tokenized U.S. Treasury bills in Asian markets. Some advice, if you'd like: The SaaSletter: Too Little Value Selling In Episode 15 of a podcast, Matt Slotnick, Co-Founder and CEO of Poggio Labs, emphasizes the surprising rarity of value-based selling in organizations. This aligns pretty well with the findings from Price Intelligently’s “State of B2B SaaS Pricing 2023” report, which notes that value-based pricing is uncommon among companies with up to $99 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). Value-based pricing is underutilized despite its high profit margins, a significant missed opportunity for capital efficiency. An analysis from Ebsta and Pavilion in their “2024 B2B Sales Benchmarks” report reveals that a small percentage of sales reps drive the majority of revenue, and many deals are lost due to no decision being made. The lack of value-selling is evident in how deals are managed. Top performers address ROI early in the sales process, contrasting sharply with average performers who struggle more in the negotiation phase due to poor ROI presentation. And to summarize my summary...because you know I love summaries: → Value-based pricing is rarely used but is highly profitable. → Top sales reps are significantly more effective than their peers. → A substantial portion of deals fail due to indecision, not competition. → Presenting a solid ROI early is crucial in successful selling. The action plan?
7 Steps to Improve a SaaS Metrics Performance Problem This is a fantastic and detailed methodology for enhancing the performance of specific metrics in a SaaS business. It seems like a no-brainer, but it's worth mentioning that it's essential to involve the CEO and CFO, target team formation, empirical analysis, and continuous communication to ensure alignment and effective organizational execution. You'd be surprised how any of these can easily slip through the cracks. → Prioritize specific metrics for improvement. It is crucial and should be driven by top management. → Cross-functional teams play a crucial role in developing and executing improvement plans. → Continuous and clear communication is essential to align the company with the metric improvement goals. The Action Plan:
Until our next flight, Ryan Ridgway & your friends at Cirrus |
The Altitude Newsletter 🪂
from Ryan at Cirrus Capital Partners
Twice a month, we give you a bird's eye 🦅 view of the most interesting news and insights around... Successful Companies and Founding Teams | VC, PE, M&A, and Credit Transactions | Growth Metrics, Benchmarks, Charts & Data | New and Emergent Technologies | Productivity Hacks | Altitude is created for founders, bootstrappers, VCs, angel investors, marketers, technologists, executives, and operators—everywhere. Learn more about Cirrus Capital Partners at www.cirruscap.com