Sydney Wong: How to Best Prepare Your SaaS Startup for Funding in 2021

This episode is sponsored by Horizon Capital, an M&A and micro private equity firm that acquires and grows SaaS companies. Horizon Capital only works with SaaS companies generating between $500K and $5 million in annual recurring revenue, where they help them unlock the true value of their business and scale to the next level. Whether you're ready to move on to your next startup or want to work with the right growth partner, Horizon's team will work with you to find the best structure possible. From M&A strategy to capital investments, SaaS is all they do. Simple as that. If you're a SaaS founder with less than $5 million in annual recurring revenue and are looking to sell your business, visit horizoncapital.com today and get a free valuation. If you'd like to sponsor the SaaS District podcast or recommend any guests that you think would be valuable to be on the show, visit horizoncapital.com/saas-podcast today. Thanks again, folks.

Hello, hello everyone. This is your host, Akeel Jabbar, and welcome back to another episode of SaaS District. In today's episode, we'll be talking about how to best prepare your SaaS startup for funding going into 2021.

Today we have our guest, Sydney Wong, joining us.

Sydney is the founder and CEO of VentureX, which is a startup platform that prepares and connects startups with investor funding and also offers startup tools for tracking product validation and business planning for early startup entrepreneurs looking to reach new revenue, new customers, or funding. Inspired by a courageous and life-altering experience in Silicon Valley, Sydney bootstrapped her vision to help startups. Today, Venture X has over $200 million of investor funding to help give out the most promising and prepared startups in the world. So welcome, Sydney. Super glad to have you on SaaS District Show today.

Thank you so much for having me. It's really great to be here.

No worries. So, uh, for those in our audience who don't know who you are and your background, can you share a bit about your background? What were your past ventures and what was the story and motivation behind starting Venture X, I believe in 2016?

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So, um, basically around 2016, just before that actually, I, um, had a friend who said if I was very interested in tech and startup, that I needed to move down to Silicon Valley. I'm currently and was still living in Montreal at the time. So within that timeframe, I bought a one-way ticket and I moved down there and I moved in with him. And so I was there for several months just talking to all these different great entrepreneurs and everyone I could meet. So everyone on meetup.com, every dog walker on Wag, and every driver on Uber. And it was so interesting to kind of see and understand their startup journey. So at that time, I was really inspired by the early-stage startup scene, which was why I wanted to specifically provide something that contributed to that community. And then when I came back here to Montreal, I started building VentureX, which is a platform that helps early-stage startups get connected with funding and also, more importantly, get prepared for that funding.

Got it. So you came back to Montreal, you know, you got inspired, you came, you wanted to build that environment and that ecosystem. What was kind of your vision at the time? Like, what were you thinking of? you know, helping people? What did you see around you in Montreal that was missing in Silicon Valley?

Yeah, so it was a really great energy in terms of the early stage. So a lot of collaboration and helping each other, validating ideas, and all of that was great. But one of the things that was so strange that I found was that this was the kind of industry— startup funding was the kind of industry that looks for innovation on a day-to-day basis, and yet the industry in itself was not innovated. For many, many generations. So it was very old school. It was very, you know, um, it was done over and over again. It was time for a change. And this was the kind of thing that we wanted to do, which was to really put your metrics, your success forward ahead of everything else, because at the end of the day, that is how you are really building your business and moving forward.

Yeah, that's true. Um, and being that, you know, we are in a SaaS District podcast, where a lot of our listeners are in the SaaS space. Love to hear kind of what's your take on the current environment of the SaaS industry, and how much is that part of your guys' investment strategy portfolio at VentureX?

Yeah, so, um, at all of the different, um, venture funds that are part of, uh, VentureX and also Mad Ventures, which was— which is the partner that we have, um, in terms of our angel fund personally, that is a big majority of actually our portfolio companies. So I don't have the exact number of how many, um, companies there are that are, you know, in terms of the percentage, But the majority of them are SaaS, and it still is part of our comfort level and part of our ways of seeing how things can always be improved in the future, and the future of work, the future of life. And all of that really does boil down to how you're innovating different SaaS products and tools, right? So having said that, it's still, you know, what we're looking for in terms of these kinds of early-stage SaaS companies are still conversion, engagement, retention, usage. But it's really more important how each customer and user are using these SaaS tools. as opposed to just how you are converting them over and over again, right? Because a lot of the SaaS companies that we work with are very much long-term plays.

Right.

So it's how you are adapting to the new environment, such as, for example, COVID-19, and going into 2021, but also how you're retaining and keeping those customers, right? And are you doing things that are really adaptive in order to maintain the KPIs that you really need in order to get that next stage of funding, or that next milestone in your business? So whether that be retention, retaining all the customers or how they're using your product or service.

Got it. And then so if those in our audience are maybe at that stage, they may be interested to raise capital. What is your guys' current investment criteria? Do you have some certain metrics you're looking for? What do you look for in a winning startup other than, you know, being a little adaptable into, into the market right now?

Yeah, so it is super competitive, of course, to get funding in any stage. At the early stage, it's still about 3% of those companies that are fundable would actually get the funding. And this is including angel angel, and this is including early-stage VCs. So there are lots of little funds that are popping up everywhere that people should look into other than just straight institutional funds.

Right.

There are things called super angels as well as micro VCs. So these are all these other funds that are in between that are coming up because the arena is being so competitive these days, and they may be a great fit for you because it just does depend on what kind of strategic help that you need, what kind of network that you need, and if these people have expertise in your particular field, right?

Right.

So these are all the criteria that is always super important whenever you reach out to any fund. Our criteria is that we write $25K checks. We are follow-on investors. So one of the first questions we normally ask is, you know, who's your lead investor? How are you getting your lead investor? What are they specialized in? Because at the end of the day, you want everybody to be able to contribute to your business moving forward in one special way or another. But we also wanna make sure that you have the expertise on your team To be able to go to that next level, right? So, um, and then having said that, of course we are, um, at VentureX really focused on your KPIs and your metrics. So if you are a SaaS, we would be asking, okay, well, how many customers are, um, coming back and what is your customer lifecycle look like?

Got it. And are you looking for companies only in Canada or North America? Are you guys open to other countries?

Our fund is open to, um, Canada and the US. However, our 250 partners that are part of, uh, the VentureX community Got it.

And what's the ideal stage? So you're saying more of that angel stage, like where you're funding them, and what are the valuations you're typically funding them at?

Yeah, so that's a great question. So it really does depend on the industry, of course. Some of them can actually skip through pre-seeds, for example, and go straight to seed, which is great, or they can even go straight to Series A, which is also great. So it just depends on what kind of business that they are actually in. But for us, at seed stage, which is the majority and the more typical ones, we would be looking at around the $5 million valuation mark. So it's not too, too high, but you're able to show some sort of traction at that time. And if you are coming in with a much higher valuation, then that's fine. It could be a better fit for some of our partners.

Cool. Makes sense. So, you know, as a startup founder, you know, raising capital for any startup, you know, you probably understand this is super challenging, but it's also exciting. Part of running the business. But, you know, you mentioned so many different kind of options in the space that you can pick from— micro VC, institutional, all these, you know, super angels. You know, how do you choose the right one as a SaaS startup? I mean, there's so many options. How do you know what's the right one for you and when's the right time to start raising capital?

Yeah, so that's a great question. One of the places I would look at is definitely Crunchbase or somewhere like AngelList. So the reason I would look at those options is actually see what other investments and/or ventures that this particular VC or this particular angel fund has invested in before. This would be public information after they've actually already invested. And then you can ask yourself, well, are these people partners? Are these people competitors? You know, why did they invest in them? Are they going to invest in me in the same way? And, you know, if you can, what was their valuation? And on all of these kinds of questions. So this should all be part of your research when you're choosing the right partner. If somebody is investing in your direct competitor, they might not be very good for you to choose from, so it may be a wasted effort for you to even apply. However, if it's a great partner within your industry, then that is something you should actually bring up during your pitch meeting, because it shows that you know your industry really well, you know what's going to move you forward in terms of your roadmap, but even more importantly, you have done your homework and your research, so you really do deserve this time, and you really deserve having having the capital in order to, to move forward with your business.

Yeah, um, you know, so there's the option of, you know, raising capital, but there's also the option of, you know, bootstrapping. So I don't know, you know, what, what your thoughts are based on your experience. When do you recommend entrepreneurs to, you know, you know, actually, you know, you should probably tell them that, hey, you should probably just bootstrap versus going out and raising external capital? Is, is it for everybody to go out there and raise capital?

No, so there is not, uh, so one of the One of the first lessons that I actually learned when raising our fund was from somebody who gives money to funds. So she said, if you want to get investment, you have to create an investable business.

Right.

That does not mean you're going to create the best business. It just means you're going to create an investable business. So that is a type of business that would generate a certain kind of trajectory in terms of your return on investment, right? But is that really the best one that you're ever going to create? Maybe, maybe not. That really depends on your personal beliefs and your experiences, your backgrounds, and the expertise of your team. However, most companies will be bootstrapping. That has happened in the past and it will still happen in the future because such a low percentage actually get funding. It's just that we think it's a lot because we hear it on the media a lot, of course.

Right.

Because it's a news thing, it's a flashy thing, and it's something to be celebrated usually in our culture. However, all it is is that There was a— the managing partner of 500 Startups said this best. He said, fundraising shouldn't be something that is this celebrated, especially in Silicon Valley. It's like saying that the cook just got all of his ingredients, but you haven't made anything yet. So why are you celebrating right after he did all the shopping? And it was a really funny thing to say.

Yeah, it's like, here's some— you probably have a couple of grocery items, and then they're like, here's like— they just throw a bunch of others Because now you have to figure out actually how to cook this meal for like 1,000 people, right? So it's not that easy.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Yeah, I guess, I mean, I think that is an underrated thing that's not celebrated as much and maybe should be, right? Like people going out there and bootstrapping good companies. I mean, look at, there's been some successful companies out there that have done it, right?

So nothing wrong with that. Yeah, absolutely. And you also have to remember that as somebody myself who's turned down $4 million in funding, which also sounds kind of insane, but you have to see, were they the right characters to come into your story at this time or your journey at this time? Yes or no? Because once they do sign, you can't ever get rid of them. So you have to know, is it the right timing? Is it the right partner? Is it the right opportunity? And the answer isn't always going to be yes just because having money seems nice.

Exactly. Yeah. I mean, it comes with— there's no free lunch. It comes with something attached to that, right? There's other obligations. That you have to think about. So you turned down $4 million. I want to hear that story quickly. And then from your side perspective, what's the most common reason why you're turning down an offer to invest in SaaS companies?

So, um, here in Canada, they were all in Canada here. Um, we have a lot of early-stage funds and early-stage organizations that provide funding. Um, however, you always have to think of what's the next step, right? So as an investor now, myself, I am always thinking, okay, what does Series A, what does Series B, what does Series C look like? Whereas as an early-stage entrepreneur, you're not always thinking about that. So what's really important to understand is that when you're getting these different kinds of offers, you are really looking at, okay, will this person be able to actually help me raise the next fund? And am I at the right stage right now? Which at the time, I really wasn't, to have to give up so much of my company that it wouldn't even be worth raising for the next round. And also, maybe these are not the right groups of, you know, individuals or opportunities that would make it very appealing for the next round to be raised. So if you have given away a certain percentage in your early stages, your later stages might be harder for you to raise, if you raise at all, you know.

Right.

You are offered certain opportunities that have exclusivity clauses. That is also something that you really need to talk to your lawyer in depth about. What does that mean? How long does it last? And how does that affect my fundraising in the future? And how does that affect my mergers and acquisitions in the future? So all of these things come into play that put a different price on the contract than what's on the contract.

And what was the reason that you guys are refusing or saying no to SaaS companies?

We're saying as an investor?

Yeah.

So there are a few red flags that I think that people don't really talk about as much. One of them is, who's on your advisory team? It's great to have advisors, but there are a lot of people that are not really advisors, and people just put them on their slides, which is odd. And then there are some people who are advisors, but they came in so early that they took up a huge chunk of the company to be an advisor. So those are the kinds of things that were red flags that we have seen in the past. So if you have somebody who has 7% or more as advisory fees, that's enormous. And has it happened? Yes, it's happened like today. But information is always out there and available for you to see like what is normal, what is the average, and, you know, things like that. So there, there was a company that was a SaaS company that came to us that was like, okay, well, we have this very famous person that is part of our advisory team. And this famous person actually does do angel investing, but would not invest in this company. So these are also things that are red flags.

Interesting.

And this person, who's the advisor, had 15% of equity in the company without being an investor, just an advisor. And so it's like, those are the kinds of things that, you know, when we challenge the business models, like, how does it work? Even if you're solving this problem, are you Are you solving it in terms of, are you 5 times better than the current situation and solution, or just like a little bit better? And also, who else is on your cap table? Who else is on your board of directors? And who else is on your board of advisors? So these are the key things that we do ask often when it comes to SaaS companies.

Cool. So 3 things you mentioned, right? So your board of advisors, who's on your advisory team? 2, look at the cap table, make sure it's clean. You know, enough space for, you know, not dilution? And then 3, is your product actually a lot better than what's out there? Are you just trying to copy, right? Yeah, makes sense. Yeah. And then throughout your guys' program, after you guys, you know, invest into the company, are there any, you know, underrated resources that you share with these startups that they can leverage to grow their business? And do you also provide them with additional capital beyond that?

Yeah, so I used to write actually a lot of grants and business plans for companies before I started all of this. So I did that for like 8, 9 years. So I did actually have a realm and like a binder full of different kinds of resources where people can get money for free. So one of them, for example, was that we just ran a webinar. So VentureX just ran a webinar last week, and 2 of them were in the video game industry. So I don't know if you know this, but there were— the video game market in Montreal is especially is very, very big. There is $50 million in terms of a media fund that is available from the government for film and video games. And so in order to get this, you have to just fill out this grant. It's super long, but you can get like over $1 million, and it's non-dilutive, and you don't have to give up any equity. It's really just like a grant that's out there. There are also other ones that are more low-interest loans and things like that. So I do recommend going through these things because they, they give you an opportunity to test out your idea without actually diluting any part of your company. So it's very industry dependent. The other thing with tech is that here in Canada we have large R&D credits. So over 80% of your development costs, so costs for your developers, can be covered If you can get that, that would be fantastic. It is not just for startups. It's actually for all corporations. So the reason that, you know, we have certain kinds of developers, we have certain kinds of tech people that are here is for these specific supported programs. So these are the kinds of resources I do encourage people to go through. I actually encourage them to go through before they look for institutional funding because they are able to utilize these programs and they are able to get funding. this opportunity to, like I said, test, pivot, reiterate, and, you know, readapt their ideas.

Yeah, yeah, I love those— that shred credit. It's, uh, it's awesome. Uh, uh, what, what are some other, you know— so you mentioned like, you know, there's also other financing options, institutional. There's also other ones coming up like revenue-based financing that they're non-dilutive as well. Um, you know, so 9— I guess maybe comparing that option, non-dilutive versus dilutive, When do you think it's better to leverage it? And do you guys work with that option as well? Do you guys offer any of that?

Yeah. So one of our partners is, um, is in the crowdfunding, uh, in terms of equity and, um, and revenue sharing area. So, um, there are different kinds of contracts where that is available and not available. So you do have to be careful of those ones. So, um, I do like the fact that if they already have received it, then that's great. Then that's great. That's a huge plus for before you even go to pitch to investors, because it shows that you were very serious about your funding, you had done this program, and you were very confident that you were able to pay back this revenue-sharing model, which is fantastic. It's not always like that for SaaS businesses, but if you can, it shows that you're super consistent, and more importantly, your customers are there to stay, right?

Right.

That's the only way to actually make this model work. However, The other side of this is just to make sure that your lawyer is looking through the contract and the licenses correctly. So not all of these different kinds of partners and agencies may have the right license because it's very expensive. When we were looking into expanding in Asia, that kind of a license for revenue sharing or crowdfunding is over $1 million, and it takes 2 years to get.

Wow.

So there were a lot of— there was only like one company at the time when I was there that actually got it. But other companies that were looking to expand in those directions and looking to get funding in those ways need to then really be careful. Like, you know, how is this company structured? What do I have to pay back? And are they legal or not? Because if not, and they shut down right after you get your agreement, then you're not going to get your money anyway.

Okay, good thing. I've never thought of that, but that makes sense to have a look, make sure your lawyer double-checks that. So, within your guys' existing portfolio, you mentioned a lot of, a huge percentage of it or a percentage of it is SaaS companies. I'm sure you see a lot of different levels of growth and success. I guess that's part of the game. But from the top performers, can you pinpoint maybe and share any trends from what differentiates the top performers from the others? Is it the product? Is it the team? Is it just timing? Is it luck? What can you see? Do you see a trend across them?

Yeah, so I definitely see timing as probably the biggest factor. So there actually was a great TED Talk talking about startups and how there were a lot of different factors that determined the success or failure of it. But I totally agree that actually it is timing. So if you think of it, let's say we take an example of Uber. That you know came out in our lifetime. But if it had come out earlier or later, it would never be that same kind of success because the gig economy wasn't there earlier. Right? Right. It was very difficult to even explain to people something that never existed. But if it was starting to happen and things were starting to pop up at the same time as Airbnb, the same time as you know what what is it called in TaskRabbit, yeah, in the US, because we don't have it here. And at the same time as all of these other things, it gets to be bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And then what is your differentiating factor? Well, Uber is one of the absolute most efficient HR recruiting agencies in the world because they can recruit and train people super, super fast, more than any real HR agency, right?

Right.

And so these are the kinds of things that have to do with timing in the market and the way that people are accepting and adapting to things in the market. Another great example that happened would be, of course, we are in a time where online is going crazy right now, right? However, let's say, you know, when we were in elementary school or high school and you were telling people, okay, well, I just bought a bunch of clothes online, you would get the strangest look. And now we're buying groceries online where other people are picking food that we put into our mouths, and we just seem to be okay with that.

Yeah.

So what does— what was the difference in that? It's the exact same thing. But the difference was timing. And our biggest difference in this lifetime, in this generation, is a global pandemic that is forcing us to be comfortable in ways that we were not comfortable 15 years ago, or 10 years ago, even, when, you know, Amazon first announced they were buying Whole Foods. And you're like, why? It's gonna go bad by the time it gets here. And they have to figure out how that will not be true, right? So all of these things have to do with the timing and success of things. Companies that are currently being sold are sold for maybe slightly lower valuations than they would have a year ago because there is a pandemic, because there is a recession. And what does that have to do with their actual business model and their solution? Not much. They didn't really change anything, right?

Right.

The market perception has changed everything.

So you say market and timing. So yeah, I guess you can look at, for example, like Zoom or Shopify, right? I mean, their product was there before they were growing, but I mean, all they did— I mean, you call it just luck and timing and, you know, things just accelerated everything. Yeah.

Yeah. There was a funny one that I, that I heard, uh, which was that when people ask why isn't Skype doing better than Zoom right now, because Zoom's market share is incredible. Right. But Skype has existed for 25 years. And they go, well, do you want to just hop on Skype later? Yeah, send me the Zoom link. So that's how they are saying it now, which tells you so much about the market perception and the timing.

Yeah, I never thought of that. Send me your Zoom link and Skype. Yeah, funny. Cool. So speaking of timing, going into 2021 now, if you were to go back in time or if you were thinking to start a new startup today, you had, I don't know, $1,000, $10,000, let's keep it limited. with some factors. How would you go about researching that right idea, and how would you invest that capital as efficiently as possible? Where would you invest it?

Yeah, so some of the best things that I have seen are those that are really challenging and observing what the new market behavior is going to be like, right? So that's always super interesting to us. So if we were to kind of see the very interesting startups that we've been talking to that will be launching very soon, either at the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021, is There are lots of advances in healthcare. There are lots of advances in just consumer health in general, not necessarily in medical and biotech healthcare. One of them was this young entrepreneur out in Italy who wanted to do audio-based diagnosis for health. So if you were on the phone, how would your healthcare professional diagnose you and be socially distanced and be safe if you have something that was very It is not a global pandemic that was the first airborne one. That's not true at all. And so then having said that, you know, how can you diagnose people with speech therapists, with respiratory experts, and of course doctors that are specialized in these areas? So these are the kinds of things that I think are super interesting. You know, what can you do? What is it that you can do to help people? that would have helped save a lot of lives. And is this something that can reoccur again in 10 or 20 years? It could be, just something different with a different name and different predictions and different results, right? But, and then these are the kinds of things that are more and more customized and more and more individualistic as well. And then another very interesting one is from an angel investor that we interviewed on our podcast, which is called Spotlight. So he's a healthcare specialist. He comes from a family of healthcare professionals, which is great. He's out in the UAE, and he was talking about using— understanding people's DNA and genetics in order to best adapt their actual medication. So we do that currently for our food, right? If you have dietary restrictions, you tell that to the waiter at your restaurant, or you tell that to friends or family whose place you go over for dinner. But how often do you tell that to a pharmacist if they didn't ask you, right?

Yeah.

And you're like, oh, by the way, this is— these are all the things that I'm actually, um, you know, not as, uh, like, these are things that, that don't react to my body as well. So because you just may not know, and, um, being able to be more customized in things as important as medicine and health and, uh, and these kinds of things, we are seeing more in the forefront as a huge part of that next step. And looking forward to seeing how we can best adjust how the pandemic is teaching us these really valuable life lessons and what we really do value, which is life.

Our life. Yeah. Yeah. So if you were to start a startup today, you would probably go into the health space, is what you're saying?

I don't know enough about the health space, but I do hope so. Yeah. I hope that it will be somewhere that is Making lives better for individuals out there.

Nice. Yeah. So, I think that startup you mentioned, that's similar to like a 23andMe, I think it's what they're called, right? So, I think we should all be walking around and sharing that with our— at the restaurants, at the pharmacy. It's like, here you go, let's just look at this. Yeah, smart. Cool. Sydney, who or what are 3 best resources, whether it's books or people, mentors, or people just you follow? you would say have been instrumental to your success over the last few years?

So my favorite author is Tim Ferriss. He's a prominent angel investor out in Silicon Valley as well as a best-selling author, right? So I've read all of his books, the first one being his very famous The 4-Hour Workweek. And it is not really about how do you make everything into like the smallest amount of time. It's really about if you only had 4 hours in a week, what would you spend it on? So prioritizing your time, your skill set, and hiring for your weaknesses, I think, is a great, great lesson to learn. So I follow him wherever I can. I also like to follow Noah Kagan, who really does challenge early-stage entrepreneurs. So he was number 30 at Facebook and lost all of his shares. Also a great story there, in case you don't know it. I highly recommend that as well. He has something called Office Hours these days. So I see that. I don't know, it's in the middle of the week, it's like Wednesday or Thursday, and you can send in any kinds of questions that you want to him, and then he'll go through the whole hour answering different questions, always about early-stage startups. So I think that that is wonderful. And they're usually either students or they are young people that are following him, and it's just his style of providing information. So I think that that is a really great resource. And then the last one is, I would say, I would say, like, it's called the power of 5. So it's answering the question in a different way. You are your average of 5, right? This is actually also a Tim Ferriss teaching. But if you are wanting to change your perspective, or you're wanting to get better mentorship, or you're wanting to get, you know, different information about different aspects of your life, it could be about career startup, it could also be about finance or health. Or different lifestyle, whatever it is. Think about the 5 people that you associate the most with in the past 7 days, the past week. Okay? And you are going to be the average of that. So if you want to do better in finances, are you associated with people that are very money conscious? Are you associated with people that are very price conscious or aware of the economy or what their different levels are for each of these things? So I like to have regular chats with certain investors that I admire that are in my network. So certain angel investors, I have one from Israel I talk to often, one in Munich that I talk to often, and one in Silicon Valley who I talk to. He's not an investor, he just likes to invest in stock market and trade and stuff. But just having conversations about what's new and what's interesting, what's going on in my life, and these different kinds of catch-ups every few weeks. I find it to be super helpful, especially because we're all grounded and we can't really go anywhere. These are the kinds of calls you should be having every few weeks with people that you admire in those certain ways.

Right.

So it's almost like what people call like a mastermind these days. And yeah, I'm a strong believer that your net worth is directly tied to your— sorry, your net worth, right? Yes, absolutely.

Yeah.

I'm a huge fan of Tim Ferriss. I think he's one of the few podcasts that I actually listen to. I'd love to have him on the show as well. I think he's on my top 5 list. So if you have a connection, please make that. Cool. So Sydney, you've had obviously some good success with building your firm and fund. But today, what does success mean to you today? Whether it's personally, financially, business-wise, there's no rules or right answer.

Yeah. So I think in this day and age, it really does— I think everyone has really redefined what success really means to them. And to me right now, it just means a balance. And if you asked me 12 months ago, that's probably not close to what the answer would have been.

Yeah.

And yeah, so I think that it is a balance of all of these things. One of the things that I do is to understand that my success is embedded in my routines. So knowing what you do on a day-to-day will tell you what you'll be doing in the next year and understanding what your priorities are, whether you're doing personal growth, learning, all of these things. I just wrote a book in the first quarantine. We have had 2. So in the first quarantine called How to Have a Good Day. And those are the kinds of things that really does talk about your different goals, your balance, and how you are producing things for your community and for the greater global world. But yeah, we can send you a link to that as well. But that is what success means to me now.

Nice. Love it.

Just balance.

Sydney, appreciate you jumping on SaaS District today. What are your future plans for Venture X going into 2021? And how could our audience get in touch with you to learn more about possibly getting funded for their SaaS startup?

Yeah. So there is a contact us form on our website. So please make sure that you send us your contact and we'll, we'll have somebody that reaches out. We have a bimonthly now. Bimonthly webinar to talk about and answer questions for early-stage companies. So make sure that your audience signs up for that as well. We have it available and posted on LinkedIn, so they can grab their tickets there. So the next one is going to be in the third week of January. And it's been super, super great to get to have groups of startups to be able to have more intimate conversations with and be able to help on a more individual basis. So we do really love that. In terms of the fund in general, definitely would like to invest more and have a much more diverse portfolio and look forward to just growing our network in terms of the startups as well as the investors.

Cool. Cool. So we'll add all those links in our show notes so everybody could check that out as well.

Cool.

Thank you so much for joining us, Sydney. I really appreciate it. And good luck with your fund.

Thank you, Akeel. Have a good one.

You too.

Thank you all for watching this episode and joining SaaS District today. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell for future episodes where we interview top leaders in the SaaS industry. If you're a SaaS company looking to grow and unlock the true value of your business, get in touch with us at Horizon Capital and myself or one of our consultants will provide a free assessment to help you get there and hit your goals. If you have any feedback or suggestions, If you have any questions for this podcast, please comment down below and help us improve our content for you all. Thanks again and see you on the next one.