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- 📶 March 2022 Recap
📶 March 2022 Recap
Revenue update, lessons from our experiments, and content from the month
Confluence.VC is the operating playbook for venture and growth equity investors. Since launching, membership has grown to include:
1,694 members 👥 from 1,196 unique funds 💸 across 151 different cities 🌎
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We're changing the format a bit for these monthly recaps.
The goal is to share our progress and lessons each month so that you all don't make the same mistakes we did.
We also want to do a better job of activating this community of readers, and we've included below where each of you can be most helpful.
MRR Update: $2,582
What went right: We spent most of the past 30 days rebuilding the architecture of our website. The goal is to make our website a more of a resource to people that haven't discovered us yet so that we build up more trust and convert web traffic at a higher rate. If you're interested in seeing how we're laying out the architecture, I've linked our outline here (our website is also www.confluence.vc if you'd rather check us out there although it is still a work in progress).
We also made a decision to invest into public-facing content more heavily as we see that as a moat worth investing in (more content > better discoverability > more customers > better business).
We've also set up more options for recurring revenue on the partner side (other companies that want to do co-sponsored content, projects, etc.) which we think will be a larger percentage of our revenue split. If you're looking to team up for some co-sponsored content, we'd love to talk.
What went wrong: Our MRR number remained relatively flat compared to last month. We've played around with different onboarding emails to drive subscription revenue higher on the membership side, but it's too early to tell how effective those experiments have been so far.
Digital product sales remained flat as well. We've started linking the Community Builder Playbook at the bottom of these emails to start marketing it more to those of you that it could help.
Lessons from the month: Businesses should be evaluated based on how they spend money to acquire customers. We've been lucky because 98% of our members join Confluence.VC through word of mouth, but we realize that we're leaving money on the table by not being more thoughtful with how we grow our member base. The majority of the revenue we have generated has been transactional (paid media, job board postings), and we want to spend that revenue to create stronger recurring revenue channels (member subscriptions, talent collectives subscriptions, premium content, etc.).
Finding a good web designer takes time; never commit to any service work without talking to multiple options.
Related to the above, if you want to create cash flow, start an agency; if you want to build wealth, start a SaaS. I've been in the SaaS world for the past ~three years, but it's pretty staggering how much you can quickly earn running a service-based business.
Where you can be helpful: Signup for our talent collective to make better hires directly from Confluence.VC.
We've done the hard part of curating a community of qualified venture investors. Everybody that is approved as a member has full-time venture experience, they don't need training, and they come with a network and deal flow.
Businesses that sign up for our talent collective get exclusive access and intros to these investors for $250 / month. You'll be able to filter based on skillsets, experience, and work preferences, and we'll provide you with new candidates every month.
If you want to leverage Confluence.VC to level up your team, join our collective here.
Links we like:
Featured jobs:
Liberty Mutual Ventures is looking for an analyst in Boston
Hitachi Ventures is looking for an analyst in Boston
Chamaeleon is looking for a remote associate (based in EU
Pallet is looking for a BD & sales rep in NYC
BBG Ventures is looking for an MBA associate in NYC
Touchdown Ventures is looking for a senior associate in SF
Jurassic Capital is looking for an associate in Durham
Rhapsody Venture Partners is looking for an associate in Cambridge
Join our talent collective if you want to get access to 100+ vetted investors that are looking for new roles. The first month is free using the code 'FREEPERIOD'.
Learning:
If you’re looking to become a master in building community…
We launched the Community Builder Playbook to share the playbook we followed to build Confluence.VC.
Building an online community has leveled up my life over the past two years, and I want to share that knowledge so you can do the same.This playbook includes 23 lessons on:
Creating a community from scratch
Convincing people to join
Scaling the right way
Monetizing your work
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