Vladislav Pavlov

When we started AccessOwl, the idea was clear: Okta is a poor fit for many companies looking for an easy way to manage their SaaS apps. Along the way, we kept hearing one piece of feedback repeatedly: “If you automate my SaaS tools, can you also show me where we’re currently wasting money?” We must have talked to hundreds of IT admins (many of whom I’m happy to now call customers). It quickly became clear that modern companies don’t just need to manage employee access to their SaaS apps - they require an entirely new set of tools that companies like Okta simply don’t provide. That’s why we’ve been building AccessOwl to be more than just an access management tool. Customers can now manage their entire SaaS apps, access, spending, and compliance all in one central place. Thanks to everyone who supported us along the way! There’s so much more to come, and we’re looking forward to the next launches 🤠

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Our latest post features a detailed list of #gaming startups, including their funding details and market insights. https://lnkd.in/dsvqrVKw #startup #startups #venturecapital #funding #vc #investmentbanking

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B2B Enterprise VC firms list. Find #EnterpriseVC firms. Access 850 #B2B #Enterprise venture capital firms list. https://lnkd.in/da3VRDrE #startup #startups #vc #venturecapital #funding

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We just published a blog post on #startup #fundraising and how you can prepare for this process as a #founder. Take a look! https://lnkd.in/d9kYGkBF

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B2B Startups: It's (almost) never an additional feature that saves you. It's (almost) always an additional swing with the market, a pivot in pitch/positioning (i.e., ICP or use case) that can save you. #startups #enterpreneurship

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🚀 As a startup founder, we offer you the opportunity to pitch your business directly to relevant regional investors. 👉 Apply now for an exclusive spot in our Scale Match event, scheduled just before the highly anticipated Investors Day on May 27. https://lnkd.in/dxdQ2Us7 We offer startups the chance to promote themselves to regional investors brought to the event and raise investment. Why you should join: ✅ If you want to raise an investment, this is the perfect place for you. We have over 10 potential regional investors you can meet 1:1 with and many more to approach at Investors Day. ✅ You'll attend the Investors Day event on May 27 at BT Stup, which brings together the entire startup and investor community 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 #8 is a matchmaking event dedicated to SEE startups ready to get on board top-notch investors and innovative partners from the corporate landscape. By participating in this event, you can create invaluable connections, onboard the right partners, and significantly accelerate your startup's growth. Don't miss out on this opportunity! #ScaleMatch #InvestorsDay

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Lokein had a productive monthly metrics monitoring session yesterday with one of our clients in the low enterprise customer segment. Led by our Customer Success Manager, the discussion with their CMO focused on refining our client's user engagement strategy by leveraging our engagement software, "EINgage". User Engagement is a crucial pillar in our growth framework. Our premium plan clients benefit from comprehensive software solutions including the growth framework designed to enhance operational efficiency and user interaction, ultimately aiming to triple their revenues and reduce costs by threefold. “We believe that every business is entitled to grow”. #CustomerSuccess #UserEngagement #EINgage #GrowthFramework #ClientSuccess #Lokein #vivarix

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What do the founders of Stripe, Supercell, Wise, Google Maps, Bolt, Alan, DeepL, Wolt and wefox have in common with the founders and partners of investment firms like Sequoia, Y Combinator, Atomico, Index Ventures, General Catalyst, Seedcamp and Point Nine Capital? They're all supporting The EU Inc Petition - and we'd love to make the Belgian tech startup and investor ecosystem aware of this movement, so we can potentially collectively weigh in on this important topic as a community! What is it all about? The 'EU Inc' petition is essentially a strong call for a pan-European entity to simplify cross-border operations and fundraising for tech startups (called the '28th regime' in Brussels parlance). Such a new entity would: - Standardize investment processes to enable genuine pan-European investments. - Establish a unified employee stock options program to share startup success more widely. - Simplify cross-border operations, such as employment and capital flows. - Fully digitize the incorporation process, reducing it to just a few hours – entirely in English and online. And why does that matter? In the words of the folks behind the initiative: "The results? ​​Faster scaling. More breakout successes. An influx of global capital. Europe becomes the best place to build a groundbreaking business, and the launchpad for the largest and most impactful companies of the future. This isn't about mimicking Silicon Valley. It’s about amplifying our unique European strengths: our diversity, our decentralized talent pool, and our unique startup hubs. The ingredients are here. The momentum is building. European startups, investors and leaders stand united and ready to act." The #EUInc Petition is getting monumental attention and support across the ecosystem; more than 10,000 companies and 600 VCs have already voiced their support by signing. That is because the time is now! From 4-12 November, a total of 26 Commissioners-designate will face questions from the European Parliament as they make their case to be part of the EU's new executive. We think this needs to be firmly on the agenda, and then it needs to get and stay on the list of priorities. The goal is to get 'EU Inc' into the European Commission's working program - which kicks off on December 1st - by highlighting its importance to the European innovation and investment ecosystems. Do you want to support the initiative? Please find a link to the petition in the comments. PS: Kudos to Philipp Herkelmann, Andreas Klinger, Simon Schaefer and Vojtech Horna for the amazing work kickstarting the 'EU Inc' movement in the first place.

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The SaaS industry is still growing. But much more slowly. Last month I shared an Aleph statistic. Over the last 3 years we have invested in 17 companies. Only 1 out 17 was a classic horizontal SaaS company. SaaS was the single best business model of the last cycle (2008-2021), but the category has since entered a maturity stage (see graph below). This new report from the wonderful software team at Avenir clearly illustrates it. Growth rates for the combined SaaS industry are quickly declining as we are entering the later stages of maturity. In other words, there’s already an established software company in most sectors - and there’s very little room for entirely new software categories. At Aleph we still believe there’s an opportunity to build successful SaaS companies, but new entrants would have to carve out market share in existing industries and displace existing vendors. Vertical software is one area where lesser competition makes it more attractive, but entrepreneurs in crowded horizontal markets would have to work harder than ever before. Another key takeaway from the report - there are only 72 publicly traded companies (with market cap > $5Bn) with a combined market cap of $5.8Tr. However, 56% of this value is attributed to Microsoft alone, followed by a very long tail of lesser performing companies. Moreover, only 2 of the largest 11 companies were funded after the year 2000 (ServiceNow, CrowdStrike). If you are building or investing in SaaS, you should definitely read the full report by Jared Sleeper, Hannah Bao and David Prilutsky (link in the first comment).

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Easy tips for good sleep and a healthy mind. Founders need these for sure: - No one cares about you Haters trying to boost themselves by tearing you down. Cuz they suck. - Will this matter to you in 5 years? Nope - you’ll forget it entirely. Everyone else will forget in 10 min. --- P.S. Oh, one more natural and healthy way to sleep better. A trustworthy partner! That partner? Me, of course! Not the most modest thing to say, but it’s honest. I can help you with: • Business processes • No-code automation • UI/UX and Graphic Design • Webflow & Framer DM or book https://lnkd.in/ek-8JYsm

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Before Freska became cool we had a massive issue of attracting tech talent to code a popular Ruby-React stack at an unknown cleaning company instead of 826364 sexy consultancies and crypto/blockchain/you-name-it startups. So one creative talent acquisition hack we did, was tracking toilet lines of Slush 2017 with Raspberry Pi beacons while advertising heavily in the toilets we also cleaned. It kind of communicated we’re not just another cleaning company. Massive success. Developers and also investors enjoyed our very aggressive retargeting afterward as well. Well, I just randomly ran to Jere and guess what: THE LANDING PAGE STILL EXISTS! Enjoy the one of the most creative tech talent acquisition hacks ever made by a cleaning company:

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Launch your AI chatbot with VAKX and ChatGPT in just a few steps. Perfect for businesses, startups, and anyone looking to boost engagement and support. 💬✨ Join the VAKX ecosystem and start building your AI assistant today! #AIChatbot #Chatbot #ChatGPT #VAKX

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Where B2B founder should start to become a professional seller? During sessions with B2B company founders - I have been asked many times where and how to start to become professional at selling. After 7 years of consulting I started to summarize most important findings. Sales is about fundamental things that founders need to know about: 1. Sharpen your saw: give yourself time and space to gain knowledge about psychology, relationships, finally selling. 2. Learn by doing: get out there and sell. 3. Success doesn't come overnight. It takes time, dedication, and perseverance. 4. Failure is inevitable. Learn from it and keep moving forward. 5. Self-care is non-negotiable. You can't lead effectively if you're burnt out. 6. Customers buy solutions not problems. 7. Selling is based on delivering value and building long term human relationships. 8. Sales is > 60% listening 9. Good sellers are curious about everything. 10. Ask open-ended questions. 11. Manage the sales process as a "quid pro quo". 12. Don't talk about competitors unless directly asked. Do you agree? What would you like to add or don't agree with? #selling #founders #checklist

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As a startup founder in charge of Go-to-Market, I realize that the most important thing is bringing in revenue to pay the team and keep the lights on. So, I’ve been subscribing to more sales content (my whole feed is now sales content 😂). Below is a screenshot of a weekly newsletter from one of my favorite sales trainers, Jeremy Miner. His training has made me realize that even though I'm a strong communicator, there is much more to learn about being a better salesperson, like tonality and asking key questions. For job seekers, 90% of the interview is about how the interviewer thinks of you, and 95% of what the interviewer thinks of you is how you portray yourself and communicate, both nonverbally and verbally. My ability to vary my tone is a major plus that has enabled me to take on student leadership roles and speak at university commencement. Jeremy mentions it as vital in sales, and I will say that it is also vital in interviews. Check out what Jeremy says about tonality below. #internlaunch #buildinginpublic #Project365 #Day10

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Hebbia, an AI startup that helps businesses analyse all types of data to answer more complex, multi-step questions, raised a $130 million Series B from a handful of big-name investors. The new round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and included participation from Index Ventures, GV (Google Ventures) and Peter Thiel. The round — which initially was reported late last month — values the company at approximately $700 million, per Bloomberg. “There have been seven major technological revolutions in human history: fire, agriculture, the wheel, repeatable manufacturing, electricity, the internet and AI,” wrote George Sivulka, Hebbia’s Founder and CEO, in a blog. “AI is undoubtedly the most important technology of our lives. But technology doesn’t drive revolutions — products do. Hebbia is building the human layer — the product layer — to AI.” https://lnkd.in/eFx95Dh2 #LegalTech #Legal #Law #Funding

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I recommend reading Martí Gou's article "Learnings of not finding product market fit in a ’24 B2B SaaS startup." Martí shares his experience developing Gretel. 🤝 "Once you raise from VC firms, you only have one option: go big or go home. Becoming a “good business” or a “profitable zombie not growing 20–30% each month” isn’t good anymore." 🚀 I share the link in the first comment. 👇 #growth #growthhacking

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