Weekend Reads and Listens
Ukrainian Freedom Fighters, Misrepresented SaaS Growth, and the best Product Market Fit Video Ever
It has been a week since I have last posted. It has been pretty crazy in the Paul house with family health issues and my sister being in Ukraine during this horrible time. On a side note, my sister has been documenting the Ukraine freedom fighters that fought Russia in 2014 and now are doing it again present-day in Kyiv. You can see her work here.
I had some insomnia last night, and I caught up on some reading.
I have lately been obsessing about the notion of product-market fit and what the markers of finding it in seed-stage are. I found this video that was perhaps the most extraordinary explanation of what is and what is not a product-market fit.
Clouded Judgement substack did a great post on COVID's software growth segments and identified three categories: Fake TAM, One Time Pull-Forward, and Durable Pull-Forward. This article is critical when evaluating growth sustainability and valuations within early-stage companies.
Capital Stack Podcast: Ryan Collins of Noro Mosley Partners on Healthcare IT investing and Defining Platforms
Ryan Collins joined Noro Mosley Partners (NMP) as a Vice President in August 2018. He supports the firm's investments in healthcare companies. Ryan currently serves on the board of Medix infusion, and serves as a board observer for Cariloop, Find help and Upward Health. Before joining NMP, Ryan served as a Private Equity Associate at the Riverside Company, a global private equity firm with $7 billion of capital under management. Ryan also previously worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at VRA Partners, an Atlanta-based investment bank providing M&A services to leading middle-market companies. Ryan received a BS in Commerce from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
What You'll Learn:
Series A and Series B considerations
How to assess a broader risk-portfolio
Thematic investing and organic growth
What defines a platform
Capitalizing on data collection
Healthcare IT adoption
Signals for deciding whether to underwrite
Product market fit - can you make it faster and more efficient?
Helping employers manage healthcare costs when an employee goes on specialty drugs
Cost management to lower deductibles - reduction in choice
What defines Tech-enabled services - a combination of software and the human element
Virtual care in digital health and recurring revenue models
Workforce management solutions, especially in Human Resource applications
Favorite Quote:
"Are you constantly getting the calls of people trying to partner with you?" - Ryan Collins