Unsearchable Insights #4 [Site Now Live]
Managing start-up finances, international expansion, Unsearch project updates!
Hi Unsearch,
Happy Friday and it’s been another 2 weeks! Some of you may be wondering why we always choose to send these out on a Friday? The skeptics in the crowd might think that we’re hoping to create a subliminal positive link between Unsearch and end of a work week.
But really, it’s just because Friday is a naturally happy day. Why you ask? Well, it’s because the next day is sadder day!
Okay, okay, before you pelt me with rotten tomatoes, we’ve a packed issue this time round. We’re spotlighting some great Q&As on start-up finances from a 2xCFO turned founder, international expansion insights from the co-founder and former COO of Spin Mobility, and most importantly, our site is live!
So let’s jump in!
Top Q&As
What are some tips to model my start-up’s finances?
Key hits from Howard Katzenberg, Founder+CEO of Glean AI, 2xCFO @ Better+ OnDeck, and one of the youngest CFOs to take a tech company public on the Nasdaq.
Cash-based: You can get insanely complicated trying to spread out revenues and expenses over time periods. Frankly, in the early stages, your concern should really be cash, it’s the oxygen that keeps the business alive.
Conservative: Use your model to actually operate your business and be a base for important decisions. It should represent your cash runway and levers available to extend it. It shouldn’t be a “dreaming” or “best case” exercise.
Categorized: Don’t use the default categories in Quickbooks / other accounting system unless they accurately match your operations. E.g., QB lumps software licenses in “Office Supplies and Software”, and it doesn’t really make sense to lump tech stack expenses with coffee and paper costs
How to expand to overseas markets?
From Zaizhuang Cheng, the co-founder and former COO at Spin Mobility who scaled Spin across 4 countries and over 100 markets in US and Europe.
Hire a local senior person: We tried to go lean initially and make do with launch team from HQ but it came with a whole host of problems from language, networks and visa. Instead, make a senior hire locally and have them spend time at HQ.
Go visit the new country to test your product: Go back to basics to validate the problem. Our first international launch in Germany surprised me with how different things were compared to the US (excellent biking infrastructure, more resilience to bad weather)
Pay other companies to resolve issues in the short term: We worked with a global PEO to handle taxes/admin and even hiring. You should expect huge demands throughout your entire company because of the expansion, and any help you can get goes a long way
Project Update - We made it to Web1!
Thanks for bearing with us. After weeks of building, the Unsearch site is now live. It’s quite literally in its Web1 phase of growth, and we are slightly embarrassed by it so that checks out? (@reidhoffman)
Some things to take a look 👀,
📰 Browse all the past Q&As: Check out answers from other start-up builders categorized by function. There are some gems in there!
👤 Check out your personal page: We keep a personal and public archive of all your past writings and knowledge areas.
❓Inbox: See all outgoing and inbound Q&As
📧 Invite: Add people you think might benefit from Unsearch
True to Web1, this is largely read-only at this point with limited social features. In the next issue, I’ll share some thoughts on what’s coming up next and how we hope Unsearch would evolve over time.
Happy browsing and we would certainly welcome any thoughts on the build.
A Personal Ask
If you are open to sitting down for 30-mins to chat about stuff you know really well, I would be most appreciative! If so, please drop me an email here. For people I know, it’ll be great to catch up, and for those I don’t, it’ll be great to make a new connection!
Worth a read
Rocketships and Tractors: Benedict Evans talks about why for some companies, revenue is a feature
We Studied 50+ Start-Ups on TikTok and here’s what we found: Li Jin shares on areas where TikTok really excels for consumer start-ups
Google Search is Dying: Dmitri Brereton’s post that was widely shared on Twitter and shot to the top of Hacker News earlier this year