In this episode we talk about product strategy. How do you make sure your product wins in the market? How do you make key product decisions, and how do you manage mistakes? We are here to help! In this episode we answer questions including:

• What do you do when big feature releases fail to move the needle?
• How do you balance different requests from different customers?
• What's the best way to communicate product roadmaps?

All of these questions were submitted by listeners just like you. You can submit questions for us to answer on our website TheStartupHelpdesk.com or on X/Twitter @thestartuphd - we'd love to hear from you!

Your hosts:

• Sean Byrnes: General Partner, Near Horizon www.nearhorizon.vc
• Ash Rust: Managing Partner, Sterling Road www.sterlingroad.com
• Nic Meliones: CEO, Navi www.heynavi.com

Reminder: this is not legal advice or investment advice.

Q1: What do you do when big feature releases fail to move the needle?

Utility drives adoption, not novelty. If a release flops, you likely prioritized "pixie dust" (like bolting on AI simply to be trendy) over solving a "hair on fire" problem.

Focus on Pain, Not Trends: New technology is a tool, not a strategy. A feature only matters if it delivers a 10x improvement on a core, high-pain customer job. If it's a "nice-to-have," it will be "rarely-used."

The Iteration Mandate: Don’t be afraid to ship imperfect work, but be terrified of stagnating. You cannot expect your first implementation to be the winning one. You iterate to find the 10x value; you don't start with it.

Q2: How do you balance different requests from different customers?

Diverging requests are a warning sign of a "Verticalization Challenge." You cannot build two businesses at once. If you try to serve every request, you multiply complexity and halve your focus. The result is a B+ product, and B+ products do not win categories.

To win, you must be the best in the world for a specific customer profile before you can be good for everyone.

The 60-Day Focus Framework:

1. Select: Pick the profile with the best blend of pain, willingness to pay, and market size.
2. Sprint: Ignore all other segments and focus on that profile exclusively for 60 days.
3. Validate: If you don't see breakout momentum, pivot to the next profile.

Q3: What's the best way to communicate product roadmaps?

Trust is the currency of product management. You earn it by balancing two distinct timelines:

Sell the Dream (Long-term): Customers treat their purchase as an investment in the future. Share your vision and intent to get them excited about where the ship is going.

Deliver the Reality (Short-term): Ruthlessly over-deliver on the next 60-90 days.

The Trust Equation: When you provide undeniable proof of execution in the short term, you earn the right to be ambiguous about the long term. If you miss short-term dates, your long-term vision looks like a hallucination. Give them proof so they can believe in the dream.

In this episode we talk about venture capital (VC) firms. Many startups want to raise funding from VCs, but how do VC fund make decisions? How do they think about companies? What goes on behind the scenes after you pitch at VC? We are here to help! In this episode we answer questions including:

• What steps do VC firms follow to make an investment?
• What happens when VC partners disagree on an investment?
• What exactly are VC firms looking for?
• What are VCs measured by?

All of these questions were submitted by listeners just like you. You can submit questions for us to answer on our website TheStartupHelpdesk.com or on X/Twitter @thestartuphd - we'd love to hear from you!

Your hosts:

• Sean Byrnes: General Partner, Near Horizon www.nearhorizon.vc
• Ash Rust: Managing Partner, Sterling Road www.sterlingroad.com
• Nic Meliones: CEO, Navi www.heynavi.com

Reminder: this is not legal advice or investment advice.

Q1: What steps do VC firms follow to make an investment?

The top of the funnel is massive. It includes founders reaching out cold via email, warm intros from fellow founders, and meetings at conferences. The "email filter" is usually the first point of contact.

From there, the process typically looks like this:

• First Meeting
• Meet the Team
• Team Decision
• Diligence

The funnel narrows at every stage, filtering out 99% of companies. The "golden ticket" is a warm intro from a proven founder. That being said, if you lack a network, you must not shy away from cold outreach – but your pitch must be exceptional to survive the filter.

Q2: What happens when VC partners disagree on an investment?

Understanding the decision process is key. Do they need consensus, or can a single partner push a deal through? During your first meetings, do your own diligence to ask how the firm makes decisions.

You need at least one partner who is obsessed with what you are doing. Treat your lead partner as your internal co-conspirator. Once you leave the room, they have to go to bat for you against skeptics. Don't just pitch your product; pitch the arguments they will need to use to convince their partners to say "yes."

Q3: What exactly are VC firms looking for?

VCs work on behalf of Limited Partners (LPs) to produce returns that beat the market. Because of the Power Law, one win must pay for all the losses in the portfolio.

Therefore, VCs want companies that can grow fast for a long time. They are looking for:

• A Massive Market
• Competitive Advantage (Defensibility/Tech)
• High Velocity

In short, they need proof that the startup has the capacity to achieve escape velocity. This includes a stellar team, strong product engagement, and an acceleration of product adoption.

Q4: What are VCs measured by?

Ultimately, it comes down to DPI (Distributed to Paid-In Capital). This is actual cash returned to investors. When a VC has good numbers on this, it’s all they talk about.

Before DPI, LPs look at interim metrics:

• MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital): Paper gains on the money invested.
• IRR (Internal Rate of Return): A measure of the speed of growth of investments.

However, for a VC to actually get paid, they need DPI. They need to return the fund multiple times over. Liquidity matters.

In this episode we talk about growth. Every startup wants to grow faster, but how do you do it? What channels are better than others? Are there secrets to growth? We are here to help! In this episode we answer questions including:

• Are paid ads a good idea?
• How do we scale inbound traffic?
• What drives customer referrals?

All of these questions were submitted by listeners just like you. You can submit questions for us to answer on our website TheStartupHelpdesk.com or on X/Twitter @thestartuphd - we'd love to hear from you!

Your hosts:

• Sean Byrnes: General Partner, Near Horizon www.nearhorizon.vc
• Ash Rust: Managing Partner, Sterling Road www.sterlingroad.com
• Nic Meliones: CEO, Navi www.heynavi.com

Reminder: this is not legal advice or investment advice.