As the year comes to a close, we’re reflecting on the conversations and ideas that resonated the most with our community in 2024. The past year was marked by innovation, challenges, and the continuous effort to scale incredible companies. Here are the top nine stories from this year, spanning topics like AI, leadership, scaling strategies, sales, and more.
90% of VC Board Meetings Are a Complete Waste of Time by Matthew Cowan
In this article, Matthew tackles one of the most frustrating aspects of startup life: unproductive board meetings. He analyzes why these meetings often fail to deliver value and proposes actionable strategies for founders to transform them into powerful tools for strategic alignment. His main advice for founders is to prioritize clarity, decision-making, and collaboration over performative updates.
Culture: The Foundation of Everything by Vanessa Camozzi
Building the right company culture isn’t just an HR initiative—it’s the foundation of every successful startup. And founders are responsible for implementing that culture. Vanessa’s article highlights how culture impacts everything from hiring to innovation and details the steps founders can take to ensure their culture scales alongside their company.
6 Questions to Ask to Avoid Customer Failure by Lak Ananth
Customer success begins with asking the right questions. In this guide, Lak breaks down six critical questions that every founder should ask to avoid pitfalls in customer retention. From identifying pain points to aligning expectations, this is a roadmap to long-term customer satisfaction.
Leverage Your Beginner’s Mindset: Using AI to Innovate a Vertical by Gaurav Kotak, Jorn Vanysacker, and Julien Steel
AI is reshaping industries at an unprecedented pace, and this episode of AI Unveiled encourages founders to adopt a beginner’s mindset to stay ahead. Gaurav and the leadership team at Henchman share how pairing curiosity with AI-driven insights can lead to solutions that redefine industries and create lasting competitive advantages.
Time to Automate Your Sales Tech Stack by Wikings Machado, Morgan Lopez, Albert Cheng, and Michael Heilmann
Sales teams everywhere are feeling the pressure to do more with less. This guide to automating your sales tech stack is an essential resource for leaders looking to streamline their processes. It includes an industry overview to get you started on building out your stack.
Build Optionality: Navigating an Acquisition by Lak Ananth and William Smith
Navigating an acquisition is one of the most high-stakes moments for any founder. This article offers a playbook for maintaining flexibility and protecting your company’s interests during an acquisition.
Putting It All Together: Build Your Sales Enablement Playbook by Wikings Machado
This comprehensive guide walks founders through building a customized sales enablement playbook, providing actionable strategies to empower teams and close deals faster. It also includes a template you can use to start your company’s playbook today.
How to Scale a Mission-Driven Startup by Vivian Cheng and Erez Druk
Scaling a mission-driven startup presents unique challenges. This episode of AI Unveiled explores how founders can maintain focus on their mission while achieving sustainable growth. Erez shares his experience scaling his startup to rocketship status, navigating fundraising, and hiring mission-driven talent.
Going Indirect: Kickstarting a Channel Sales Program by Wikings Machado and CJ Radford
Direct sales strategies often dominate early-stage startups, but the pivot to channel sales can unlock new levels of growth. This article lays out the steps for successfully launching a channel sales program and the benefits of going indirect.
Conclusion
Thank you for being a part of our community! We hope these resources can continue to help you as you enter 2025.
