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