Gearing up for Q1

January 10, 2025 (Review of Week 2)

Awright, everyone - it’s fully 2025, which is amazing. I guess no one writes paper checks anymore, so the indignity of having to scribble out 2024 and write 2025 for the first month isn’t a thing, but I’m still totally amazed that we live in the future.

So the immediate future: we will probably start hearing back about RFPs in about a month or so, and maybe slightly earlier in the case of the NYSERDA Data contract, since that is already well along. This means that we will have the new experience of the data backend team having a direct client – something that will no doubt take some adjustments by everyone. In the advance of that, this might be a good moment to do some cross-training on our data pipeline?

As for other preparation for the “big” RFPs: The most important thing for us to get done in advance of all that work is getting Programs and Projects well under control, and a close second is fixing scope builder and its associated stuff (deal with developments, fix up UX). So while which of these RFPs will come our way remains unknown, the immediate work for Q1 doesn’t depend on it (very much).

There’s a lot of exciting stuff around the corner!

Metrics

• Unique Buildings: 5,942 (December, +52 MoM)
• Annual Run Rate: $1.29M (no change MoM)
• Monthly net burn (accrual basis): $100,775 (3-month avg through Dec.)
• Year-to-Last-Month net burn (cash basis): $120,533
• 2025 Transaction fees to date: $0
• Outstanding invoices as of today: $128,489 (-19.95%, -$32,013 WoW)

Last Week’s Highlights

• Stefan joined as our new bookkeeper and we can keep pace with our Q1 FinOps goals. (EP)
• We submitted the CPC GGRF RFP in the nick of time! We wound up making some meaningful changes to the approach section (the main part of the proposal) in the final hours, which can be a little nerve-wracking, but I think they were the right calls. Fingers crossed! (JB)

Any missing highlights? Please share in Slack comments.

Crow’s Nest

Looking out for icebergs: What are the risks on the horizon that we’re watching for and navigating around?

Erika’s List

• We still need to make sure everyone is aware of the quarter’s goals and that everyone is updating their work plans for the quarter, regardless of 360. This year, we will (and should) be more consistent about looking at our quarterly goals and budget versus goals - we are growing and need to be aligned across all parts of our business in order to manage and sustain our growth. The goal is to make sure we do this in a way that is accessible and easy to manage.

François’ List

• The same theme will come back for a while: there’s a lot of uncertainty about which RFPs we’ll land, and even for the one we’re very likely to get (I want to call it the NYSERDAta RFP), we’re not shielded from surprises - there will be a big reveal about what their current data state look like, impacting how we approach our work.
• Our 360s help surface areas where we will need some smooth baton passing. I’m both looking forward to the growth this enables, and the additional work for everyone in making transitions of responsibilities smooth.

Jason’s List

• Keeping an eye on Generic Programs. There’s been good discussion about it so far–really confirming what needs to go in v0 and how it needs to work. I think that’s a good thing, and I’m eager to see how this amount of planning and scoping will impact the end result.
• Which RFPs will come our way? This is going to be on the list for a while.
• Izzy’s AI test work this month. How far can we take things, and how much of the pipeline can be built?

• When we will actually receive a 2025 contract from Willdan? I fear it won’t be until after the NYC Accelerator RFP is submitted. My main hope is that it’s a straightforward subscription renewal, without any shenanigans trying to change our business model.

  Marc’s List

• I am admittedly bleary eyed till the last major push of the NYC Accelerator RFP is done by 9 AM Monday… but….as soon as that is over, I want to shift gears to better understand both our current users and prospective users. It is no secret that we are trying to build for the future we want. But we still need to meet users where they are today. And I really think 2025 needs to be the year that we really start to ramp up our obsession with users.

On Deck for This Week

• Release 88 should include more building details fields, fix dashboard permissions, and really clear the deck for focus on generic programs and UI updates. (JB)
• Here’s what’s on the Company Radar

Please Leave Feedback

Please note your reaction to this update in the Slack channel. It helps us to know what is resonating, what is unclear, etc. Thanks!

• What are your highlights / lowlights?
• Did we miss a highlight? Something else you want to react to?

Jeremy (Coder) Jan 13th at 9:36 AM

So, with the metrics in the memo, how much “runway” do we have? (I’m not sure how to do that math.)

Erika (Growth Lead) Jan 13th at 9:41 AM

@Jeremy (Coder) our runway is currently 14 months. This is calculated as total assets (Dec 2024) / year-to-last-month net burn (Dec 2024). For some folks who may not know, as a startup, it is important to have a minimum of 12 months of runway because it gives the business enough time to grow without running out of money. (edited) :gratitude-thank-you: 1 :+1: 1

Jeremy (Coder) Jan 13th at 9:46 AM

For me runway is important to know because it determines how much we should be fast & sloppy with our coding. Is it ok to hurt our future selves in favor of gains today? If there’s not much runway, then we don’t need to worry about next year!

Jeff (QA) Jan 13th at 9:47 AM

How long does it take for us to know when we’ve won the RFP?

Erika (Growth Lead) Jan 13th at 9:48 AM

Also, the relationship to runway versus burn rate (what we could learn from it) is that a high burn rate could shorten that runway pretty quickly, which is why we want to manage our costs and look at our budget regularly. Conversely, a low burn rate (or lowering the burn rate) could extend the runway.