Delivering on Q3 forecasts!

I received some incredible news last night from two portfolio company CEOs updating me on our Q3 numbers.  They not only hit their respective forecasts set early in the year, but they beat them.  Normally I expect our portfolio companies to hit their numbers, but I am ecstatic because we delivered in the midst of the largest financial crisis we have ever seen.  While much news on the technology world is of doom and gloom, and while I too have been advising portfolio companies to conserve cash, it is nice to see that companies are still willing to spend if you deliver a strong value proposition.  More importantly these numbers speak to the commitment of the respective teams to do anything possible to deliver on the Q3 forecasts.  In each company, sales reps and executives flew out to key prospects and knocked off obstacle upon obstacle until they walked away with an order.  Ok, it is not as dramatic as it sounds as there were numerous meetings and technology proof of concepts before getting a sale, but the point remains that the companies that delivered did not wait for the orders but went out and got them.  There were a number of stories of sacrifices that were made including one sales rep who was expecting his third child yesterday but was at a prospect getting the contract inked and another one of a sales rep and sales engineer who camped out at a client’s office all day and wouldn’t leave until they had a signed contract.  Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures, and I hope that stories like these inspire you to keep fighting the good fight and to go out and make things happen.  Startups need to be scrappy and tough to survive!