So, I’ve written a bunch of emails to prospective investors this week that we have pretty much wrapped up our Pre-Seed at $1.4M (third in PRI debt, balance equity) and that we are in build mode.
Build mode (vs. maintain and improve mode) is hard because it’s a constant struggle to find that goldilocks zone (hacky, but not stupid) that allows for speedy delivery of brand new stuff. There will be a range of opinions on where that “not stupid” (or to use use François Huet’s much nicer idea, “being kind to your future self”) line is. But wherever it is for you, now is the time to hew close to it!
Why are we in such a hurry? Well, because we’ve made it this far, we have some unprecedented opportunities to totally change industry norms, starting with New York. Marc Zuluaga has done a completely fabulous job of getting in front of the most influential people in government, and they’re all giving us a chance to prove that we can scale retrofit execution with our software. I’m truly not exaggerating: I was at an event with Rit Aggarwala, NYC’s Chief Climate Officer, yesterday – he knows exactly what we are doing. The Chief Sustainability Officer of the nation’s largest municipal housing agency (Jen Leone) is on record saying Momentum is a game-changer. The folks running the the NY State energy office (NYSERDA) have invested nearly $1M in us and are pushing us to hurry up. One of the country’s biggest philanthropic foundations is investing in us because we are “the solution that has grown from our (community development) industry.” And I haven’t even gotten to GGRF!
Here’s the thing tho (and Marc can agree or disagree with me), these folks have a timely problem on their hands and we’re either going to show up NOW when they need us, or they will take their disappointment in hand and go through the slow slog of business as usual. So that is the pressure that I am feeling right now. It’s our moment–are you feeling the urgency?
New revenue this week: 0 - but oh so close to the $180k from Related
2024 ARR: 0
2024 New customers: 0
Old revenue collected this week: 0
Outstanding invoices as of today: $179,141.70. ←- mostly 2 months of Willdan
Monthly Retro - I thought it went really well and some good ideas came out of it!
Landed the Willdan - ConEd MFEEP renewal! Thanks Jason Block for continuing to nurture that relationship. It again took some back and forth to come to agreement, but I think we really did finally get to a better understanding that hopefully will carry forward and make future negotiations less difficult. I’ll let Marc Zuluaga speak to his meeting with Brian this week.
Fundraising: Got NY Ventures wire! Still working on closing Kresge loan and waiting for NU Impact. We had a lot of legal matters in ping-ponging around this week, between the Kresge loan and the Related contract.
Revenue: Related is close. We got their final list of buildings and we’re down to hammering out one three-word phrase as far as contract language goes. So. Close!
Refocusing on feature releases: I’ve put some tentative timelines to the critical path for National Product, and I’m hopeful that clearing out the zombie tickets will help us get into build mode!
Staffing:
Designers - Jason and I are doing a final interview for a part-time freelancer who seems very promising.
Customer-focused help for Marc Zuluaga - Not yet moving.
FinOps help - Erika interviewed a fractional CTO (2-degree referral from an investor) who seemed more aligned with what we need. We have another meeting next week with the person referred by our other investor.
Looking forward to François’ 60-day 360
Revenue follow-ups Wrap up Related with a bow (on the 40 separate order forms). Marc/Erika pls start reviewing renewals!
Features Hoping to really start getting a solid shared understanding of the game plan for the next 3-4 months.
Release: I have a sightly better idea what might be in next week’s release, but I’m still not 100% up to speed.
Some of my personal to-dos:
This totally rolled over -→ LL97 321 Go! website: Text tweaks and front-end responsiveness help from Henry Baum. Let’s get this thing crossed off the list nice and early.
Finalize NYSERDA impact report
Automate Marc’s 40 order forms/invoices for Related
And here’s what’s on my radar screen - what am I forgetting?
Feel free to leave comments below (edit on a layer to add your notes), or leave a comment.
Did I miss a highlight?
Did I miss something that should be on my watchlist?
Something else you want to react to?
| Chuck Lin | |
|---|---|
| Erika Parkins | We’re in an exciting position and definitely feel the urgency. Looking forward to what we build next! I think we can find a way to promote more of the great things people have to say about us too! |
| François Huet | |
| Henry Baum | |
| Jason Block | I am excited for Build Mode. I left a couple of comments above. Thanks for putting these together! |
| Jeremy Parker | I’m feeling the urgency |
| Maksym Khrystunov | |
| Marc Zuluaga | |
| Naina Shah | |
| Reuben Firmin | |
| Robin Neri |