How to lock in a powerful Series A

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Author

Michael Morgenstern
September 17, 2024

Happy Tuesday Brex community,

Right after closing your seed, start connecting with a handful of top-tier Series A investors. This isn’t just about networking—use these conversations to zero in on the specific metrics they’re watching for the next round. Go deeper than ARR and MRR; dig into metrics like Magic Number, Net Dollar Retention, customer concentration, and your CAC Payback Period.

For hardware companies, it’s critical to show mastery of key metrics like bill of materials (BOM) to demonstrate cost control, unit economics per device to prove profitability at scale, and cash conversion cycle to highlight operational efficiency.

If you’re in fintech, investors will be focused on metrics like Monthly Transaction Volume, Average Revenue per User (ARPU), and Loan Book Growth (if applicable). These give them insight into growth, revenue potential, and risk.

Stay on their radar by giving meaningful updates every few months—no fluff, just solid progress. When you hit your targets and still have runway, loop back with your core investors to kick off your raise. Keep the process tight and targeted with 5-7 investors at a time, refining your pitch based on real feedback.

Just because capital is flowing and valuations are rising, don’t get complacent. Series A investors know how to dig deep, so stay disciplined and focused on the key metrics.

Growing together, Michael Morgenstern

  • Brex Supper Club 9/17 in Atlanta w/ Drive Capital

    Designed as a private conversational dinner for founders

    Apply Here Brex Host: Michael Morgenstern

  • Brex Social Club 9/18 in Atlanta

    Designed as a mixer for AI Founders and soon to be founders building at Georgia Tech

    Apply Here Brex Host: Michael Morgenstern

  • Brex Omaksase Dinner 9/19 in San Francisco

    Designed as a private Omakase for Bay Area founders and investors

    Apply Here Brex Host: Jonathan Chang

  • Brex at The Scientist Founder 9/20 in Stanford, CA

    The Business Hypothesis & Operating Model

    Apply Here Brex Host: Sohila Zadran

  • Brexfast Club - Climate Tech Week 9/24 in NYC

    Designed as Brexfast for Founders and VCs in the climate space

    Apply Here Brex Host: Shai Goldman

  • Brex Supper Club - SF Tech Week 10/9

    Designed as a private conversational dinner for Bay Area founders and investors building in deep tech

    Apply Here Brex Host: Michael Morgenstern

  • Brex Supper Club - Boston Fintech Week 10/15

    Designed as a private conversational dinner for Boston area founders and investors building in Fintech

    Apply Here Brex Host: Michael Morgenstern

Soren Larson is the co-founder and CEO of Crosshatch

Crosshatch is the identity layer for personalization, allowing users to turn on hyper-personalization in their favorite apps. With just a few lines of code, developers can tap into rich user context - from grocery receipts to travel history - enabling AI-powered personalization from the very first interaction, no learning curve required.

Ambassador's Perspective: The promise of personal AI is that it can activate all our context wherever we are to delight us or save us time and money. Today, this vision is blocked by data silos: individual apps only know a slice of who we are. Crosshatch delivers on the promise of safe, truly personal AI by making our full digital identity available in any app with a simple tap of the Crosshatch Link.

Tatijana Janko is the Founder & General Partner at Fjor 

Fjor is a breakout fund based on a simple premise - top-tier operating founders have a unique ability to detect and accelerate the startups that will rise to the top levels of their industry.

Co-founded by unicorn-level operating founders and institutional investors Tatijana Janko (Managing Partner of Fjor), Charlie Feng (Co-founder of Agora and Clearco) and Ryan Chan (Founder of Upkeep), Fjor brings both sector expertise and fund-building acumen into a single product. Not just high-value deals in AI, enterprise and b2b fintech, but an exceptional institutional framework that delivers value to LPs and founders alike. High-profile portfolio successes include Pipe (62x), Zip (59x), EtherFi (57x), Slope (20x) and EvenUp (20x), attracting notable downstream investors such as Bessemer, a16z, Sequoia, USV, Tiger and Draper Dragon.

Fjor is backed by some of the most sophisticated single family offices in the US and Tatijana, its founder hosts a stealth institutional CIO roundtable in its fifth year called Allocator Confidential. 

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Don’t hesitate to reach out,🦾!