Navigating the Challenge of Transitioning Demo Success to Market Scalability

As an early-stage Venture Capital firm, Canvas Ventures focuses on investing in financial services and digital health startups, with a proven track record of successful exits and a passion for backing CEOs who listen to their customers and are driven by a clear vision.

1. Creating a company in demo mode is easy, but scaling it and transitioning from a slick demo to full production is difficult.
2. Some companies fail to make this transition and blow up despite having backing from great investors.
3. Rebecca Lynn is the founder and managing partner of Canvas Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that focuses on financial services, digital health, and infrastructure.
4. Canvas Ventures has had successful exits with companies like Casper, Gabi, and Future Advisors.
5. Rebecca believes in the second-mover advantage, as it takes a lot of time, money, and patience to prove out a brand new market.
6. She invested in Lending Club, which wasn't the first mover but became the largest US tech IPO in 2014.
7. The best position for a company is when another company seeds the market, proves there's a market, and then the second mover can quickly come up with a better product and marketing without technica
8. A CEO's most important characteristic is salesmanship; they are constantly selling to customers, employees, and investors.
9. A good CEO listens to their customers and involves them in the product roadmap, like Jeff Tangney at Doximity did with his customer advisory committee.
10. When evaluating a CEO's salesmanship, Rebecca looks for their ability to sell her on their vision and be honest and transparent about their ARR.
11. The biggest mistake startups make is believing they have product-market fit too early and hiring expensive salespeople before they're ready.
12. Canvas Ventures advises startups to gradually scale, especially in the Enterprise space, by hiring director level salespeople first.
13. Rebecca helps founders understand their instincts and data and introduces them to people who offer a more complete picture of the situation.
14. She checks her assumptions and tries to find resources for founders if they need to make a shift in strategy or product.
15. When clients say the product is too expensive, it's essential to build trust and confidently defend the price.
16. Peter Yobo, with over 15 years of sales experience at Google, Dropbox, and Slack, created Peter O's Sales School with EO to equip startup founders and sales professionals with modern B2B sales ski
17. The course offers real-life examples and ready-to-use frameworks for crafting pitches, customer discovery, and negotiation.
18. Rebecca emphasizes the importance of understanding consumer usage, learning from users, and adjusting accordingly.
19. She looks for CEOs who are motivated by a strong drive and personal connection to their startup.
20. Confidence is crucial in business, as demonstrated when Rebecca's best friend from business school ranked herself as a 'one' in every category.
21. Founders should be more confident in themselves, as no one will believe in them more than they believe in themselves.
22. Rebecca was motivated to found Canvas Ventures because she wanted to create the venture firm she would want to fund her startup.
23. She enjoys working in venture capital and has remained in the industry despite initially planning to learn from it for her own startup.
24. Rebecca stresses the importance of being more confident in one's abilities, emphasizing that believing in oneself is crucial for success.

Source: EO via YouTube

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