The SaaS Subscription
Startup CEO
Online Course + Excel Simulation Model
Get the big picture to confidently lead your SaaS subscription startup towards success.
Your life as a
SaaS Subscription Startup CEO
Boom! You’ve come up with an idea for a new SaaS subscription product.
Or maybe you jumped into a friend’s startup.
It’s so exciting to lead a dream like this…
But, at the same time, it’s soooo scaring.
Let’s face it: you came from a technical or functional role and you know that you must get business skills if you want to rock as a CEO.
Well, if you fail in changing your mindset towards business, succeeding will almost become impossible.
The truth is: your lack of business knowledge will result in LACK OF CONFIDENCE.
Then, my friend, life will hit you hard on your face:
- PEOPLE WON’T TRUST YOU: would you trust a leader who is visibly not confident about their decision? Me neither. When you have to make a decision and you lack the knowledge to support that decision you hesitate. And people will notice it. Immediately. And then…? That amazing funding is gone. That dreamed partnership is gone. That talented employee is gone. So, when you lack confidence, you ruin your chances to succeed.
- YOU’LL MAKE WRONG DECISIONS: when you lack confidence, your decision process is a complete mess. “What are our priorities?”, “How should we invest our startup’s cash in?”, “What should we do about our churn rate?”, “How should we deal with our costs?”. Questions like these will emerge all the time. And if you don’t have a great understanding about your startup’s big picture, things will be tough. You’ll end up guessing. Or worse, you’ll be influenced by the opinion of people who also don’t have a business perspective and… well… your time bomb is set to explode…
- YOUR STARTUP WON’T SUCCEED: Yep. If people keep doubting of you and you keep making the wrong decisions, the inevitable scenario is ugly. Subscribers won’t be there for too long. Investors won’t give you their money. Employees won’t be loyal to your startup. Partners won’t give you their ‘yeses’. The lack of knowledge—that causes you lack of confidence—will leave you in the middle of this perfect storm with no place to hide.
Acquiring business skills
and gaining confidence
Well, if you’re here it’s because you already understand the importance of educating yourself. And maybe you’ve already considered some paths to do that such as:
- Memorizing business metrics
- Reading like crazy about everything
- Doing a generic business course
But, these paths bring you more problems.
Just memorizing metrics without understanding them and the context from which they arise will cause you confusion and increase the risk of making decisions based on isolated metrics.
Studying like crazy about every single detail will paralyze you.
First, the knowledge is always advancing and it’s impossible to learn it all. Second, if you could do that, it would take you years and years (and more years). And, well… your startup hypothesis wouldn’t be valid anymore (or you would die before putting what you’ve learned into practice.
Enrolling in a business course is definitely helpful, but it won’t tell you about the specific characteristics of a business that lives in the intersection of the SaaS world, the Subscription world, and the Startup world.
In other words: despite these three worlds are located in the “Business Universe”, they require from you specific skills. SaaS companies are very different from physical product companies. Subscription revenue streams are very different from ecommerce. Startups are very different from established companies.
It's time to learn about .
The SaaS
Subscription
Startup CEO
Pack
The SaaS Subscription Startup CEO Pack was designed to speed up and strengthen your learning by counting on two powerful resources: An online course and an Excel simulation model.
Course
Learn SaaS subscription startup fundamentals that will help you gain a more structured perspective to understand your startup's context and your role as a CEO.
Excel Simulation Model
Play with your startup's assumptions in order to master its fundamentals and the relationship among them.
Course Curriculum
This course brings you essential business knowledge focused on SaaS subscription startups. Its chapters and lessons cover an array of complementary topics that will compose a strong picture of your startup's dynamics.
CHAPTER 1: Grab your cofee, and let's rock!
A brief intro about the course, the model, and the instructor.
CHAPTER 2: Mastering The Income Statement
We'll start by addressing the basis of everything: The income statement. Although some may think the Income Statement refers to the finance world only, it is in fact a very powerful tool that any CEO must nail.
CHAPTER 3: Managing Your Startup's Cash
Besides mastering your income statement, you also must know how to manage and assess your startup's cash. In this chapter, I'll present you essential cash metrics such as: "Cash Runway" and "Cash Burn Rate".
CHAPTER 4: Leading Through SaaS Metrics
Since you're leading a SaaS company, you must become aware of fundamental SaaS metrics that will help you better visualize and drive your startup's towards success. In this chapter, you'll learn about the following SaaS metrics: ARR, MRR, Rule of 40, and Magic Number.
CHAPTER 5: Revenue Assumptions
One of your main CEO abilities is to understand the pillars of your recurring revenue business model. In this chapter, you'll learn about the following revenue assumptions: Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Sales Cycle, Market Size, Pricing, and Churn Rate.
Now, it's also time for you to fill your startup's revenue assumptions in the Excel Simulation Model you received in the first chapter of this course. 🙂
CHAPTER 6: COGS Assumptions
The Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is another pillar of your startup that you should know better than anyone else. It shows you how you're allocating your startup's costs to serve the customers.
In this chapter, I'll present you the following COGS elements: Customer Support Costs, Customer Success Costs, and Development and Operations Costs.
Once again, you'll learn how to insert you startup's COGS assumptions in the Excel Simulation Model. This will help you organize your thoughts around COGS as well as visualize the overall impact your COGS has in your startup's outcome.
CHAPTER 7: OPEX Assumptions
Your Operating Expenses (OPEX) are those expenses critical to keep your business running. That's why, as a CEO, you must have them in mind all the time.
In this chapter, I'll talk about the following operating expenses: General & Administrative expenses (G&A), Marketing & Sales expenses (M&S), and Research & Development expenses (R&D).
As you did with the revenue assumptions and the COGS assumptions, in this chapter you'll also be able to insert your OPEX assumptions in your Excel Simulation Model.
At this point, you'll have inserted all the relevant info in your Simulation Model and, hence, you'll be able to visualize all the assumptions working together.
CHAPTER 8: Final Words
My final words for you. 🙂
The Simulation Model
This model will give you a more practical and complete approach to the topics you see in the course. Once you start playing with your assumptions in the model, you'll reinforce your understanding about how these assumptions relate with each other. Also, the model will help you visualize how these assumptions affect your startup's overall results.
* CAVEAT: Although the model allows you to simulate the impact of your assumptions on the other assumptions, as well as on the overall results, it is NOT a way to predict the future. That means, the numbers presented in the spreadsheet should be used only to enhance the learning coming from the course. It is NOT a guarantee of future results, nor a tool to be used as the basis of negotiations or strategic decisions.
Bonus
If you purchase the SaaS Subscription Startup CEO Pack, you'll get for FREE the Marketing & Sales Excel model.
In this model, you'll find a way to analyze your marketing initiatives through a structured and effective perspective.
Hi! Alex here...
Let me tell you a little bit about myself.
I started my career working in the corporate environment. I used to like it a lot.
I graduated in business and took a specialization course in Finance. And I ended up working for approximately 10 years in the Finance Corporate department.
There, I learned a ton of things, but I became really good at something: building Excel simulation models.
Well, fast forwarding some years (more precisely on May, 2017), I decided quitting my job. The reason? I was in love with entrepreneurship and the amazing world of startups. I was studying like crazy and tried some initiatives of my own.
Since then, I’ve been working directly with startup development by producing content as well as working as a mentor.
But, of course, I’m still using my talent in building simulation models on Excel to help entrepreneurs like you to boost their startup knowledge.
Ready to ?
Ready for this amazing journey?
So, take the first steps right NOW:
STEP 1: Click on The Green Button. Yep that beautiful green button at your right (if you’re in a desktop/laptop) or scrolling down (if you’re in mobile).
STEP 2: Insert your payment information. Once you click the green button, you’ll be directed to the checkout page (it’s a Teachable page, so you can trust on it). In this page you’ll insert your payment and billing information.
STEP 3: Access the course. After you proceed with the payment, you’ll get immediate access to the course.
STEP 4: Watch the lessons and download the model. In the course environment, you’ll see all the lessons and modules, as well as you’ll be able to download the Excel Simulation Model (it’s in the second lesson in the first module).
The SaaS Subscription Startup CEO
Online Course + Excel Simulation Model-
Online Course (~ 4 hours)
-
Excel Simulation Model
-
Excel Simulation Model Updates
-
Direct access to me (email)
Frequently Asked Questions
Most frequent questions and answers
Do I need previous knowledge on Excel?
Definitely NOT. The Excel simulation model that I provide in this course works like an app. Inside the Excel file, you have some "Input Panels" in which you'll insert your startup's assumptions. As soon as you include the information, the model will do the work for you. Of course, if you have any doubts, you can send me your questions and I'll respond quickly.
Is this course just for SaaS subscription startups?
Yes. Although many of the concepts presented in this course may apply to different kinds of startups, there are some specific topics that fit just for SaaS subscription startups. Besides that, the simulation model (Excel) follows the dynamics of a SaaS startup that has as its main revenue stream recurring payments.
Do I need to be a CEO?
Not really. Maybe you want to become a startup CEO in the near future. Or maybe you work for a SaaS subscription startup and want to increase your business knowledge. I would love to have you in the course, as long as it is clear for you its comprehensive /business approach (not technical, nor functional).
Will the course happen live?
Nope. The course is recorded which allows you to take it in a self-paced way. However, I plan to do live meetings in the near future with all the course participants who are willing to interact and learn more.
Will you provide Excel model updates?
Yes! Whenever I update the model (by adding features, fixing errors, etc.) I will send the new version directly to your email address.
What if I have doubts about the topics and/or simulation model?
You just need to send me an email and I'll send you the response as quickly as I can! 🙂
What else would you like to know?
Get in touch here.
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