TechCrunch+ Roundup: Build a Better Dashboard Platform, Multipath Onboarding Tips, Selling to CISOs

Writing a crisp summary for a board meeting requires multi-stakeholder input and more than a little research.

People often treat it like an unpleasant chore, but done right, these sessions are an opportunity for founders to hone their storytelling skills, engage their team, and get more value from investor relations.

Amy Cheetham, Partner at Costanoa Ventures, shared 11 dashboard slides with TC+ that show effective ways to convey accomplishments, project details, team hiring and growth, and other key priorities.

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“The slides in this article are not intended to be a complete dashboard.,” she writes. “These are examples of actual early-stage board slides from seed and Series A-stage companies that did a great job informing their boards and prompting constructive discussion.”

Harnessing your team to prepare for a board meeting is a great way to combat what I call “CEO syndrome,” a terrible affliction that encourages many founders to believe they’re the hardest-working people in the room.

Playing the hero is hard work! Instead of bragging, let your team leaders speak for themselves.

Thanks so much for reading,

walter thompson
Editorial Manager, TechCrunch+
@yourprotagonist

3 Questions CISOs Expect You to Answer During a Security Keynote

No one sells security solutions in the room – CISOs are more likely to make decisions after they’ve initially been presented with them once they’ve gained buy-in from other decision makers.

“The CISO deciding whether or not to incorporate their product has less time, budget, and staff than in recent years, and their presentation has to be much better to make the cut,” writes Nancy Wang (general manager and director of engineering, AWS Data Protection, Venture Partner, Felicis Ventures) and Steve Zalewski (former CISO Levi Strauss, founder of S3 Consulting).

In this article, the duo asks and answers three questions CISOs will consider before signing a contract. First and foremost?

“How does your solution help me sell more X?”

A pot of gold at the intersection of DevOps and generative AI?

Is generative AI ready to help humans manage increasingly complex tech stacks?

Anna Heim interviewed Rona Segev, co-founder and managing partner of venture capital firm TLV Partners, to learn more about AI-related startups helping improve DevOps.

“I think the next really interesting phase is going to allow those very, very strong AI engines to help us manage the infrastructure right and manage the configuration,” he said.

“It’s going to take a while, but I think this will be a breakthrough going forward.”

How this investor widens his network by turning down warm leads

I avoid stating the obvious, but in case you haven’t noticed… venture capital is a relationship game. However, if you already have a second-degree connection with an investor, it’s not that hard to get a meeting.

Warm introductions are a form of currency in tech circles, but GoAhead Ventures “claims that it will listen to anyone’s pitch, no matter where in the world they are or what they are building, as long as they are a seed or seed company.” , reports. Haje Jan Kamps.

There is only one condition: “They insist on a video pitch.”

It’s never too late to align product market fit metrics with your company values

At TechCrunch Early Stage, Dominic Madori-Davis spoke with David Thacker, General Partner at Greylock, about how he defines product-market fit and why it’s just a form of social proof that investors are looking for.

“It doesn’t mean you’ve released a product and scaled it to millions of customers and users,” Thacker said.

“What I’m looking for is some semblance of what you’ve built is resonating with a set of customers.”

Your site needs more than a single user onboarding experience

In the early days, most founding teams focus on building strong sales funnels, but customer segmentation can be accomplished during the acquisition process, if you know what questions to ask.

Getting new users to share data about their past product experiences or future goals is the first step in building customer personas, says growth expert Jonathan Martinez, who identifies several variables that can help drive retention and conversion.

“It’s true that while you can add some extra friction with the questions on your lead form or onboarding flow, this will pay big dividends for your consumers’ overall experience.”