For the 112th episode of Burning Platform we have Ton Dobbe of Value Inspiration.
Ton and I regularly participate in our respective podcasts and video series. He is in constant touch with entrepreneurs in the EU discussing go-to-market, operational metrics and other hands-on topics especially in his CEO Mastermind sessions.
I always enjoy his realism and his prolific writing. We somehow missed connecting last year and am glad we got together early this year.
We discuss below three themes he is discussing with his clientele.
We start off with what Ton calls “funding freedom” around 4.45. How to navigate a complicated funding environment where only AI projects appear to be getting funded. He emphasizes customer revenue-based funding and not seeking financing out of desperation. We discuss how VCs have various milestones and metrics which are very different from customer expectations of vendor viability
Around 15.20 he focuses on new metrics like ARR per employee. While I thought he was focused on productivity, he has a much more interesting pov around AI augmentation of employees and we discuss GenAI use cases which don’t just focus on SG&A but the whole P&L, especially the revenue angle.
Around 20.00. we switch gears to what he calls the “resilience muscle.” We have had “crisis after the crisis thrown upon us” in the last couple of years – more volatility than ever before in history and his next book may focus on that specific topic. On the other side, we also discuss complacency in technology world. I make the point that Industry Analysts have not evolved their definitions of product categories and criteria for Magic Quadrants and Waves and that Wall Street does not provide premium valuations for “new” and against legacy product revenue. I invoke 3M, ranked 116 in the Fortune 500, which is driven by a metric that a third of sales should come from products that didn’t exist five years ago.
Around 29.00, I present slides on 4 topics on my 2024 research agenda – the short version. They include opportunities around Re-globalization, Massive Vertical Industry transformation, GenAI and broader automation and Modernizing Customer applications. Watch the fuller version of that segment in this Analyst Cam episode
It is a very wide ranging conversation – like most I have with Ton. Always learn new stuff from him.
