Business Model and CAC
Page directory
Pricing strategy
Unit economics
References and Evidence
Overview of channels
Deployment of customer acquisition channels
£672
Standard license
Billed monthly at £56 /seat
A flexible license built for startups
Monthly pricing to reduce upfront investment
Access to professional DFM capabilities at a fraction of the cost
Competitive pricing for larger companies
Yearly licenses and unlimited seats to enable large-scale DFM transformation within the company
Costs 1/4th of a professional CAD license
Managers can make up upfront costs within 3 days
Similar costs to DFM courses but with more value
£750
Plus license
Billed annually
Pricing strategy
Unit economics
Deployment of Customer Acquisition Channels
Accelerators and Makerspaces are prioritised before pre-seed funding is raised due to their low costs
Community events drive significant traction but are expensive to book the venue
Influencer marketing is more unpredictable and expensive, and hence is used after seed-funding is raised
Founder-led sales
Expected customer traction
2 /month
1,114 contacted /month
~200 unique companies
x 3% respond
x 70% shown demo
x 44% purchase
Increase to 3 /month in Y3 due to increased brand reputation
1
1
1
3
2
Description
Outreach on LinkedIn, email, and follow-ups from in-person events
Demos are scheduled if required, and based on current most-developed prototype
Next steps
Continue startup outreach
Shortlist target events
Validation
Kartal C. (Systems Engineer, Osler Diagnostics): Through cold outreach, agreed for us to test on parts
Ben T. (Design and Manufacturing Engineer: Naiad Aqua Systems): Signed letter of intent to run beta test [Fig 1]
Lionel G. (General Manager, CMR Surgicals): Internal review to team members and contact [Fig 2]
Costs (excl. salary)
Increase to £870 /month for LinkedIn Sales and increased budget to also attend conferences in Y3
£29.99 LinkedIn Premium
+ £200 per month on local hardware-based events
£230 /month
4
5
Accelerators
Description
Validation
Expected customer traction
Costs (excl. salary)
1 /event
15 startups /accelerator
4 are relevant
x 43% beta test
x 31% purchase
Highly variable on accelerator and demographics of accelerator, average between 4 accelerators taken and modelled in finances
1
1
2
2
1
Decrease to £12 /event due to reuse of assets
Partner with accelerators and run DFM workshops with their startups
Target TRL 3+ startups looking towards manufacturing their prototypes
Greenhouse from Undaunted willing to share our materials with their current startups [Fig 3]
CRL accelerator has invited us for their demo day to gain insights from their companies [Fig 4]
£6 transport for total journey
£20 for printing visual assets and brochures
£26 /event
Next steps
Attend demo day of CRL accelerator
Send DfM guides and advertisements to startups in Greenhouse
Reach out to Future Worlds and MedTech Superconnector to partner
3
4
Makerspaces
Description
Validation
Expected user traction
Costs (excl. salary)
2 /makerspace
500 users in newsletter
x 4% visit website
x 44% will request demo
x 20% will purchase
Increase to 4 /makerspace in Y2 due to increased brand recognition
1
1
2
2
3
4
Decrease to £12 /event due to reuse of assets
Advertising software through makerspaces and the channels they use such as their newsletters, Slack, Discord, and other such channels
Posters were hung in Bluegarage makerspace, but only 6 responses were obtained in 2 weeks [Fig 6]
Bluegarage have already added a feature in their newsletter [Fig 5]
Hardware is Hard has expressed willingness to do so [Fig 7]
In talks with the COO of ScaleSpace for a feature in their newsletter too
£6 transport for total journey
£20 for printing visual assets and brochures
£26 /makerspace
Next steps
Reach out and record response rates to newsletter signups
Ask Bluegarage and Hardware is Hard to provide feedback
Different posters have different URLs for A/B testing, so that data will be analysed
Community events
Description
Validation
Expected customer traction
Costs (excl. salary)
5 /event
50 companies at event
x 50% are relevant
x 44% interested to demo
x 44% purchase
No significant increase expected due to similar nature of each event run
1
2
3
3
Decrease to £312 /event due to reuse of assets and sharing venue booking cost between co-sponsors in Y3
Partnering with hardware startups or consultancies to run events
Talks/keynotes/panels with key stakeholders
Matt Stedman from Hard Stuff is currently in discussion with us to plan an “Industry 5.0 Fireside Chat” where Effio discusses the future of DFM with Autodesk and Kuka [Fig 8]
£1000 venue booking
£20 for printing visual assets and brochures
£1020 /event
Next steps
Prepare materials for event with Hard Stuff
Contact Imperial Enterprise Lab to book room at a lower cost
Finding another co-host alongside Hard Stuff for an event
4
5
Costs likely to increase to £10,000+ while targetting influencers with higher follower count, but will obtain similar number of customers per pound spent
Influencer marketing
Description
Validation
Expected customer traction
Costs (excl. salary)
5 /month
20 contacted
x 15% willing to lead sales
x 3000 followers
x 1% of viewers are customers with a need
x 6.1% purchase
Increase in number of customers proportional to increased number of followers of larger influencers targeted
1
1
2
4
3
5
Leveraging influencer’s communication channel (social media, reviews, blogs, etc) to promote the product for financial compensation
By reaching out to 20 influencers, 3 have replied and shown interest
Scotty Allen, having 1.9M subscribers, has shown interest in promoting us after we launch a commercial product [Fig 10]
£400 budget for LinkedIn influencers with >5k followers
£1200 /month
Next steps
As per learnings, supplement the current list of 20 influencers with more
Pay one LinkedIn influencer with 3000+ followers to promote Effio, analyse results
Use analysis results to plan future influencer marketing
5
Effio Financial Template
References
Founder-led sales
Based on current outreach success rate, 286 connected with in 1 week, 50 were from unique companies, 9 people responded
Expected around 10% will not be make the demo calls (conservative)
As per B2B SaaS conversion rates for demos: https://maxiality.com/what-are-average-b2b-saas-conversion-rates/
As per website: https://www.linkedin.com/premium/products/?referenceId=MsmrpRUrQEieNdPAYCHL5w%3D%3D&trk=pre_hub_b_upgrade&utype=explore_all
Assuming two founders attend 5 events per month, priced on average around £20 per event: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/medtech/
Accelerators
Averaged across 4 accelerators, CRL accelerator, Accelerate Cambridge, Future Worlds, and MedTech Superconnector, it appears that on average, there are 15 startups per accelerator, where on average 4 are relevant
As per standard B2B conversion figures: https://maxiality.com/what-are-average-b2b-saas-conversion-rates/
London Zone 1-2 journey both ways: https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/new-fares#on-this-page-2
Conservative estimate of printing brochures and A2 posters on campus
Makerspaces
500+ members in Bluegarage’s newsletter (provided by Ana De Pellegrin, Community manager at Bluegarage), and 23 have visited the website from there
As per standard B2B conversion figures for becoming an interested lead on the website, and then converting based on demo booked from website: https://maxiality.com/what-are-average-b2b-saas-conversion-rates/
London Zone 1-2 journey both ways: https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/new-fares#on-this-page-2
Conservative estimate of printing A2 posters on campus
Influencer marketing
Based on results from current efforts, where 20 influencers were reached out to, 3 replies were received
LinkedIn influencers found had on average 3000 followers, with Kyle Shropshire having around that number
Based on preliminary searches of his followers, only 1% were found to be viable customers for Effio
Based on LinkedIn ad conversion rates: https://www.webfx.com/blog/social-media/linkedin-conversion-rate/
Values approximated based on Instagram influencer pricing: https://www.shopify.com/uk/blog/influencer-pricing
Community events
100+ people attended Hard Stuff’s Planet-friendly networking event. Assuming on average 2 people per company, there would be 50 companies
Given that people actively choose to come to such events based on their passion, this seems like a fair assumption
Assuming those interested in the demo is equivalent to converting a sales lead into an SQL, and then using live demo conversion rate: https://maxiality.com/what-are-average-b2b-saas-conversion-rates/
Conservative, expensive room to book: https://www.tagvenue.com/rooms/london/43725/the-oxford-market/basement-bar
Conservative estimate of printing brochures and A2 posters on campus
Founder-led sales
Figure 1: Letter of Intent from Ben Thorpe
Figure 2: Bringing up Effio in an internal review
Evidence
Accelerators
Figure 3: Director of Greenhouse willing to share material with cohort
Figure 4: CRL accelerator inviting to join their Demo day
Makerspaces
Figure 5: Bluegarage agreeing to put Effio in their newsletter
Figure 7: Hardware is Hard indicating possibility of being included in letter
Figure 6: Poster placed in Bluegarage
Figure 8: Matt Stedman proposing an event with us (Hard Stuff)
Community events
Influencer marketing
Figure 9: Kyle Shropshire (LinkedIn Influencer) offering some parts for us to test on
Figure 10: Scotty Allen (1.9 M subcribers on YouTube) indicating that he will promote us after the launch of the commercial software