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Finbarr Taylor:From Scotland to Silicon Valley:...

Turing Fest
July 22, 2024
18

Finbarr Taylor:From Scotland to Silicon Valley: Lessons Learned Raising $100m & Building a Global SaaS Business

Finbarr Taylor, CTO and co-founder of Shogun, will share his remarkable journey from studying Computer Science at Strathclyde University to co-founding a successful SaaS company in Silicon Valley. The talk will cover key phases of his entrepreneurial path, including his early ventures in web development, his experience at Groupon during its IPO, and his time working at a YC startup. Finbarr will delve into the founding and growth of Shogun, highlighting the challenges and triumphs of building a tech startup. He will share practical lessons on product development, scaling operations, and navigating the complexities of fundraising and market dynamics. The audience will gain insights into maintaining a strong company culture, the importance of rapid iteration, and the realities of startup life. Finbarr's talk will be structured around key themes of building, growing, and leading a tech company, offering valuable advice for founders at all stages of their entrepreneurial journey.

Turing Fest

July 22, 2024
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  1. Annual growth rules of thumb CONFIDENTIAL 2024 © SHOGUN //

    23 3x ~10% monthly 4x ~12% monthly 5x ~14% monthly 10x ~21% monthly 2x ~6% monthly
  2. $240k ARR -> $1.2m ARR Growth tactics ↗ App Store

    Optimization ↗ Shopify Partnership ❄ ↗ Customer Experience Key hires ↗ First support rep ↗ A few contract engineers Key milestones ↗ Team from 2->8 ↗ Passed $1m ARR 🎉 CONFIDENTIAL 2024 © SHOGUN // 25
  3. How to raise a seed round ↗ Nick Raushenbush: How

    to run a strategic seed round process → https://medium.com/@nickraushenbush/how-to-run-a-strate gic-seed-round-process-d10ca5f4302f ↗ Paul Graham: High Resolution Fundraising → https://paulgraham.com/hiresfund.html CONFIDENTIAL 2024 © SHOGUN // 28
  4. $1.2m ARR -> $5m ARR Growth tactics ↗ App Store

    Optimization ↗ Shopify Partnership ↗ Customer Experience ↗ Agency Partnerships ↗ BigCommerce ↗ Founder Sales ↗ Price experimentation ↗ Event Sponsorships Key hires ↗ Head of Partnerships ↗ Head of Design ↗ Head of Engineering Key events ↗ Team from 8->35 CONFIDENTIAL 2024 © SHOGUN // 31
  5. Series A Process CONFIDENTIAL 2024 © SHOGUN // 34 GET

    INTROS COFFEE CHATS ONE PARTNER PITCH FULL PARTNER PITCH TERM SHEETS CLOSE Figure out how to get connected to target investors. Meet and greets. Casual get to know. Get one partner excited about what you’re doing. Present to the entire partnership of a firm. Ideally you have multiple offers and can negotiate better terms. Lots of diligence and legal paperwork.
  6. $5m ARR -> $10m ARR Growth tactics ↗ App Store

    Optimization ↗ Shopify Partnership ↗ Customer Experience ↗ Agency Partnerships ↗ BigCommerce ↗ Founder Sales ↗ Price experimentation ↗ Event Sponsorships ↗ Content Marketing ↗ Ads ↗ Sales → Cross sell/up sell ↗ SFCC Key hires ↗ Head of Marketing ↗ Head of Growth Key events ↗ Team from 35->70 CONFIDENTIAL 2024 © SHOGUN // 38