You can't run B2B SaaS without partner networks 🌐

You can't run B2B SaaS without partner networks 🌐 🫱🏻‍🫲🏽

This should not be a surprise, but networking is the bread and butter of our line of business of building B2B SaaS companies.

What does this mean for entrepreneurs?

When we partner with Entrepreneurs in Residence, their network ranks quite high as a differentiating factor. But beyond that, you cannot launch a B2B company without deliberately and consistently growing your network, which can then translate into a sales pipeline. 

How does Builders facilitate partnership networks?

On the Studio's side, we always aim to facilitate networking opportunities, apart from standard networking practices like attending events, personal brand building and LinkedIn outreach. This month has been particularly busy on the networking front for the Studio. 

First up, we hosted the inaugural Builders Investor House - an initiative that brings together our network of operator angel investors to collaborate on solving business critical problems faced by our portfolio companies. It was an intense few hours - with some very promising results. 

Secondly, we have a collab coming up with Pioneer Square Labs, complete with an exchange of talent from both teams. At the end of February, PSL is sending over Sanford to work with Builders' EIRs. The goal is to both validate a new business opportunity and pick up some knowledge about each other's frameworks and operations. A special shoutout to T.A McCann, Managing Director at PSL and my peers Morrow for facilitating this collaboration!

From our universe 🪐

• Firstly, a big welcome to Saul Johnson who's joining Noon's mission alongside Hendrik-Jan Griffioen, to build the next software solution for centralised company-wide well-being.

• Obeyo is taking big leaps with their product. They've just launched their chat feature, allowing shared living residents to communicate natively within the app. This gets Obeyo closer to becoming a fully integrated ecosystem for both residents and operators.

• We've introduced a new monthly meeting format - we call it the Big Bang meeting. This is a time when each venture gets to present their accomplishments and struggles during the previous month and their goals for the next one. We've experimented with different formats but we found that being laser-focused on goals is what gives the most clarity to the studio team.

• Lastly, Sharon, myself and Hendrik-Jan Griffioen (Noon's CEO) did an interview with Morrow about building out our studio EIR pipeline.

What we’re following 👀

• If you've ever wondered how a Startup Studio makes financial sense, I explain it all in an article: 'The Math Behind Our Startup Studio'. And spoiler alert, studios don't break even immediately. It summarises how we spend capital and the return ratios you should expect at different stages of a venture.

• The second hardest type of startup to build, besides a two-sided marketplace, is a one where the user and the buyer are different. Aaron Dinin calls it the 'buyer-user mismatch'. Check out his article about the biggest challenge that comes with starting this type of business.

• Acquiring your first customers is usually the most difficult step for a startup. And it is a step not often talked about amongst startup founders. Melio's team shares how they went from a 0 customers to a processing $2 billion in payments monthly in a detailed step by step guide.

• How do you know how much your network is worth? Mark Snape is adamant that your network's value is a measure of how many unsolicited ideas, requests and opportunities you receive. Take a look at his recent article on the topic.

• Lastly, I would like to share a story about startup building on steroids - how Domenico Gagliardi built and sold 3 startups in 6 months. It stands to show that time is not the limiting factor.

Come build with us 🧑‍💻

We are actively on the search for Future Founders in the Property Tech and HR Tech sectors to join us, as well as a Content and customer success intern (Dutch) for Influentials. 

• Future Founder in PropTech

• Future Founder in HRTech

• Content and customer success intern (Dutch) for Influentials

Are you interested, or do you know someone who could be a fit? Let me know, or apply directly through the links.

Until next time,

Michael van Lier

Managing Director at Builders