Eric Ashman: “Every sales channel impacts your startup’s margin profile and cash flow in different ways. You need to consider the impact on your cost of sales, return rates, sales & marketing, and even the required expertise of your employees. Cash flow considerations can vary widely, and access to future funding or debt financing for inventory and capital investments can open or close some potential paths.”
Alex Zekoff: “The gold standard is a burn multiple of one — for every dollar you burn, you add a net new dollar in subscription revenue. At less than zero, you are in a cash-flow-positive position, which is really hard to do. But say that you are burning $2 million in a quarter, and you are only adding $500,000 of net new ARR. You are at a 4x burn multiple, and you probably need to start thinking about how to reduce that.”
Lewis Kallow on the ultramarathon mindset: “Your brain is hardwired to avoid pain and seek pleasure. This single drive is so powerful that it’s sculpted every aspect of the modern world. From our temperature controlled buildings, to our home delivered food, to our infinite libraries of entertainment beamed down from the sky, we’re now surrounded by miracles designed to make every aspect of our lives comfortable. Courtney, however, has learned to completely flip this instinct on its head. What she craves is discomfort. When things get tough during a race, Courtney enters what she describes as the “pain cave”. She uses visualization to picture herself in a cave with a hardhat and chisel, and as she pushes through the pain of the run, she imagines chiseling tunnels through the rockface. Pain is gradually chipped away into progress as her cave gets bigger and bigger.”
