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Good Morning Operators ⚙️

In my previous startup, I helped over 25,000 founders incorporate their startups. What I saw after a founder incorporated haunts me to this day.

Buried in paperwork, violating state regulations, or ignoring employee compliance standards, founders would waste time trying to learn all the back office rules needed to run their business.

I would spend dozens of hours a month trying to help founders organize their operations. Unfortunately, founders who would try to do the work themselves would fall behind in their growth and product goals.

If this is you, I have a solution.

I’ve launched OpsZen, the first agency of its kind.

We handle all the HR, finance, and compliance back office work, so you can focus on the fun of building your company.

If you are interested in saving your valuable time, click here.

While I talk with founders about how to save them hours a month, let’s chat about three topics:

• How to run your fundraising calls

• Barrel vs ammunition employees

• How to set up your sales tax

Let’s get started.

^{Together With OpsZen}
How about taking a break from admin work?

Sometimes you just need a breather—from the endless HR paperwork, from the documentation you need to file to be compliant within a state, or handling investor audits as you raise your next round.

OpsZen takes care of your back office work including HR, finances, and compliance.

With OpsZen, you’ve got a chance to kick back and say goodbye to admin work forever.

Apply today.

1. Fundraising is a Debate, Not a Sales Pitch

Insight from Storytellers Playbook

Executive teams treat investor calls like they're delivering a sales pitch.

They shouldn’t.

Here's the thing about "selling": it often reeks of desperation.

Instead, try to engage in a meaningful dialogue between peers, not conduct a one-way sales presentation.

Try this:

1.  📖 Storytelling: A well-told story about the genesis of your idea can be more memorable than a barrage of facts.

2. 😲 Authentic Enthusiasm: Be enthusiastic about your vision. Nodding, making eye contact, and asking questions show that you're genuinely interested in the other person.

3. 🩳 Clarity and Conciseness: Communicate your ideas clearly and concisely. Articulating your thoughts shows confidence in your understanding of the subject.

You want to create an environment where investors feel engaged and connected to you AND your vision.

Embrace these investor conversations.

2. Finding Barrels  

Insight from Dorm Room Tycoon

Executives often face a baffling dilemma: hiring more people doesn't equate to getting more done.

Sometimes, productivity even dips. This can be a result of the Barrel Phenomenon.

In any organization, there are limited individuals who can drive initiatives to completion. These are the 'barrels.' The rest are 'ammunition.' The barrels that are crucial for pushing through projects.

The intriguing part about barrels is their uniqueness to your organization. So, a barrel at one company may not be at another. Recognizing a potential barrel often happens only once they're part of your team.

Once you have a barrel, focus on your startup's ratio of barrels to ammunitions.

A leader not only identifies this ratio but also spots the ammunition with the potential to transform into barrels. These individuals have a zest for learning, a readiness to embrace challenges, and a knack for inspiring others.

By nurturing these potential barrels, you can gradually shift your team's dynamic.

3. Setting up Sales Taxes

Insight from Stripe

Because sales tax regulations change yearly, they are a pain to deal with.

At a high level, businesses should only register once they’ve identified where they have a physical connection or economic nexus.

If you are an out-of-state seller, economic nexus is generally the standard for determining when to register to collect sales tax. Economic nexus thresholds are based on sales revenue, transaction volume, or both.

For example, in California, you must register and collect sales tax once you exceed $500,000 in sales revenue from customers in California.

Once you determine where to collect tax, your next step is to register with the state or local tax authority. This is crucial since you must be registered to collect tax before calculating and collecting sales tax.

No matter which type of products you sell (e.g., digital goods, services, or physical products), your registration process remains the same.

In general, these are the steps to register with a state to collect sales tax:

1. Gather business and contact information.

2. Visit your state’s Department of Revenue website.

3. Click on the “Sales and Use Tax” section of the website to register your business.

Since each state has its own sales tax authority, you must individually register to collect sales tax in each state. To register for a sales tax permit, visit the state tax authority website.

You can find the link for each state here.

4. The 3 Pillars of Running a Business

Insight from The Oxford Handbook of Expertise 

Have you ever wondered why fresh MBA grads struggle with using the theory they learned in the real world?

The answer is not so obvious.

They have yet to internalize the relationships between capital, operations, and their market.

Every great business person shares a standard mental model of business. The mental model captures a set of principles, is consistent across industries, and seems resistant to change.

The implication is that if you want to get really good at business, you should systematically acquire skills in the three categories specific to your business.

Then, understand the relationships between the three categories.

The three categories can be broken down into:

1. Operations - These represent operational concerns related to the business. This category can include organizational design, incentive structures, and the ability to get things done within the company.

2. Market - These represent the exec’s understanding of the market. This can include everything from market shape, competitive analysis, and positioning

3. Capital - This represents understanding basic financial concepts like cash flow lockup, return on invested capital, and margins. Depending on the business, the factors here may include expertise in raising capital (e.g., equity financing, debt) or the ability to understand potential changes in the capital environment.

With these three models interchangeably playing with each other, you can 10x your efforts of growing your startup.

Operators Library

• With the end of the year coming around, here is an EOY team retrospective template (Link)

• How to flip a boring topic to an exciting call to action (Link)

• Key differences between OKRs and KPIs (Link)

• How to go from project manager to CEO (Link)

P.S. If you want to get featured in this section, share the newsletter (your referral link is below), and I'll include you in a future issue of the newsletter. 

In case you're new: Who's The Bottleneck?

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How we can help you scale:

• ⚖️ Are you tired of wasting time on admin back office work? We are soft-launching our agency, OpsZen. We will handle your HR, finances, and compliance for one flat monthly rate. Click here to lock in your spot.

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Something Fun

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