2024 Pricing Survey

Lightspeed is conducting an anonymous pricing benchmarking survey. Usage-based pricing has become increasingly common in the past couple of years. This survey seeks to explore how startups view the trade-offs of usage-based economics and its effects on revenue models and customer preferences.

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Oct 27, 2022
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Treasury Matters

We recently brought together our Lightspeed early-stage Founders and Finance Leaders to discuss treasury matters and navigating today’s market.

Treasury Matters

Hosts

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Speakers

Sean Park

Managing Director, First Republic Bank

David Johnson

Board Member/Advisor, Rooled

Marc Greenberg

Head of Finance, Blend

Sean Park

Managing Director, First Republic Bank

David Johnson

Board Member/Advisor, Rooled

Marc Greenberg

Head of Finance, Blend

Event Recap & Takeaways

Key Takeaways

Fed Funds Rate
  • Inflationary environment
  • Fed has limited tools to try to decrease inflation
  • One tool is to raise the overnight rate - the “Fed Funds rate”. Federal Open Market Committee meets to discuss whether or not to raise rates. They’ve raised rates 5x in the last year - 2.75 increase this year already.
5 Things to Do in a Recession
  1. Control your burn - A good rule of thumb is to have a 24-month runway to outlast an economic downturn.
  2. Model Worst-Case Scenarios - When founders go to raise money, they typically show Best Case Scenario.
  3. Define Trigger Points - If you cannot survive 24 months, you may need to make these hard decisions.
  4. Communicate to Stakeholders - Communicate the plan to your Board of Directors and Investors. Get their buy-in.
  5. Gain Market Share - The goal is to come out of this whole. Those who survive economic downturns are the ones that will gain market share.
Evaluating Treasury & Investment Options
  • Discuss risk tolerances, investment themes and operational goals.
  • Confirm evaluation criteria and establish metrics.
  • Implement, iterate and evolve.
  • Align with you and what you’re comfortable doing.

The laddering of treasuries on maturity dates didn’t use to matter much, but as interest rates increase, it does matter. Getting an additional 1% makes a huge difference in this environment. Negotiate admin fees as best you can. Every 6 months take a look again at your cash forecast and treasury → what does your cash burn look like?

Managing Cash Not Needed for Immediate Operations
  • Keep 12-18 months in cash on hand. Growing it a little is helpful.
  • Construct a portfolio. You might have bonds but you may have risk when you go to sell them.
  • If you can handle the administration of it, have 2 banks and pit them against each other. Helps make sure fees and rates are appropriate.
  • Rate sheet there - but a few basis points might not be worth changing the relationship.

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