TechCrunch+ Roundup: Customer Personas, Content That Resonates, Efficiency Metrics VCs Love

I celebrated a friend’s birthday with a large group a few days ago and realized how hard it is to know who can’t carry a tune when the whole room is singing the same song.

The same is true for SaaS B2B startups: since many typically focus on LTV:CAC ratios, it can be a good way to hide weak metrics.

Dividing customer lifetime value by customer acquisition cost offers some useful information, but how accurate is your historical retention data and how much have you collected?

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“Today, investors focus on other efficiency metrics that paint a more reliable and complete picture of the startup’s capital efficiencyand you should too,” says Igor Shaverskyi, a partner at venture capital firm Waveup.

In this TC+ column, he offers a formula and benchmarks to calculate “how long it will take for customer acquisition costs to pay off”.

Now that VCs are leaning more towards due diligence, lowering CAC Payback and paying “special attention” to how the Rule of 40 works is proof that your team knows how to move directionally. Investors love that.

“In my experience, some companies can get to a good place in two quarters, but on average, it takes about a year,” Shaverskyi writes. “It all depends on the severity of your situation.”

Thank you for reading,

walter thompson
Editorial Manager, TechCrunch+
@yourprotagonist

How we use data-driven personas to radically improve the customer experience

I am constantly amazed at how many startups do No Develop customer personas.

Rather than extract information from user interactions to create avatars that represent real customers, many teams will substitute their own judgment and guesswork about what people like and don’t like.

Impartner’s vice president of product, Gary Sabin, says his company has “dived into the numbers” and “looked at 250 data points” to develop “people-based services in implementation, customer support and customer success.”

After one year, the company generated higher customer satisfaction ratings and NPS scores. “These people work for us,” says Sabin. “Your customer data can lead you to create the people who matter most in your customer base.”

Sometimes you need to cut your startup’s school ties

Considering how many startups spring from colleges and universities, it makes sense that so many academics end up in C-suites. But is that necessarily a good thing?

Last week at TechCrunch Early Stage, hardware editor Brian Heater spoke with SOSV general partner Pae Wu about partnering with teams that include teachers and students.

“There are some sectors where it can work really well to have members of your founding team stay in academia,” Wu said.

“We see this all the time in traditional biotech and pharmaceuticals. But in other types of situations, it can become, frankly, a drag on the company and problematic for founders who work full time.”

Ask Sophie: My STEM OPT is due in 30 days, what are my options?

Dear Sophie,

My STEM OPT is due in a month and my company did not register me for this year’s H-1B lottery.

I’m not sure what options I have now. Aid!

— Sleepless in Silicon Valley

How startups can produce social content that really resonates

There’s something painful about watching a company post something bland on social media in an attempt to go viral or hop on a trend. He always gives me a creepy, “how are you fellow kids?” vibe.

Rebecca Szkutak spoke with Rashad Assir (Head of Content) and Josh Machiz (Partner) from Redpoint Ventures last week to get their thoughts on how young brands can project authenticity.

“What we’ve really learned here is that it’s much better to get it out the door, ship it (similar to a startup) and really just see if it’s working, because if you have the inclination that it’s working, then you can invest more in it.” Machiz said.