Lillian Sheng

Lean Into Subscriptions

• Vertical SaaS can support longer payback periods than generalist SaaS. Historically, Toast had a 18-month payback period which is extremely long for a company selling to small businesses (I would have expected something between 6 to 12 months). It works because Toast has a verticalised and all-in-one platform. As a result, it becomes the last

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Kurt Vonnegut loved to speak to college students. He believed, if I may paraphrase here, that “we should catch young people before they become CEOs, investment bankers, consultants, and money managers (and especially hedge fund managers), and do our best to poison their minds with humanity.”

new restaurant onboarded → book photo shoot → edit photos → post to Sheets for approval → post to app

First, be unreliable. Do not faithfully do what you have engaged to do. If you will only master this one habit you will more than counterbalance the combined effect of all your virtues, howsoever great. If you like being distrusted and excluded from the best human contribution and company, this prescription is for you. Master this one habit and you... See more

Borrowing social capital is easier than creating it. MasterClass took people who were already famous and gave their fans even more access to them (without much burden on the celebrities). It’s tricky to create a world-class talent. The MasterClass model skipped the line of building a large audience and lots of credibility and instead, they... See more