10 Ways to End 2022 Strong
Tomorrow is the first day of the last month of 2022. For some startups, December is the busiest month of the year. For others, it’s a time to reflect, recharge and set goals for the new year. Whether you’re sprinting towards the end of Q4 or beginning a slow wind-down into the holiday season, it’s important that you end the year strong.
Here are 10 ways any startup can end 2022 strong:
1. Go All-In on Sales
If December is a big sales month for you (or even if it’s not), considering getting the whole team involved in sales. In this kind of environment, revenue is everything, so be creative. Get engineers and designers involved in demand gen. Have HR and IT field sales calls. Company-wide contests can be a great motivator and help end Q4 strong. The whole company benefits from increased revenue and you get the added benefit of exposing your back office team to the customer front lines.
2. Talk to Your Customers
December is a great month to get feedback from your customers. Reach out to customers big and small, new ones and old ones. Find out what they like, what they don’t like, and what matters to them most. As a bonus, get the entire company involved — from engineers to accountants. Hearing firsthand what customers think and feel provides numerous benefits and can help set context for a strong new year push.
3. Build Your Investor Pipeline
The 2022 fundraising window is closed, but if you’re looking ahead to fundraising in the new year, December is a great time to prepare.
In order to run a high-velocity fundraising process, you need to build a fully-researched pipeline of qualified target investors. For early-stage companies, you’re going to want to identify 80-100 qualified target investors, which takes time. December is a great time to fill your fundraising funnel.
4. Benchmark
Investors won’t start new fundraising processes in December, but many will take “getting to know you” calls. Consider reaching out to 4-6 VCs at the top of your list with a specific ask:
I’m planning to fundraise in 2023. Would you be open to a 20-minute call during which I could share a bit about my business and get your feedback on what milestones we would need to achieve for you to take a fundraising meeting with me in the future?
Providing investors with a dotted line in exchange for fundraising benchmarks is a great trade for both sides.
5. Show Appreciation for Your Team’s Team
Most companies give year-end gifts to their team, but what about the people who support them? If you’re a typical startup, your employees have had their share of late nights and weekend pushes throughout the year. That can often mean cancelled plans and missed events. It’s not just your team members who make sacrifices in pursuit of your dream, it’s their family and friends.
Show your appreciation by giving gifts that benefit the people around them. First and foremost is the gift of time (I’m a massive proponent of shutting down the company between Christmas and New Years whenever possible). But you can also show your appreciation by giving experiences that they can share with their loved ones.
At DataHero, we regularly gave employees gifts that they could share with family or friends. For some It was weekend spa getaways, for others concert tickets. We customized the gift for each employee, taking into account their personal situation.
6. Do Something Fun
The end of the year is an important time for team bonding. Everyone does holiday parties, but what can you do that’s “different”? What can you do to show your team how much you appreciate them? You know your team best. If you’re going to do a year-end event, give it some extra thought and do something that they’ll remember.
Dog sledding is a great way to have fun!
7. Pay Off Technical Debt
If December is a slow month product-wise, it’s a great opportunity to give engineers (and others) free rein to fix things. The key is to leave it up to them. Give your team a week to work on any bug or refactoring project they want, whether or not it’s a top priority. Most engineers find this to be incredibly satisfying, plus the end result is a stronger codebase (whether or not their managers find the individual items to be a top priority).
At DataHero, we gave all engineers two “free weeks” at the end of the year. One focused on technical debt. The second focused on prototyping new features. It was a low-stress, high-productivity way to lead into the holidays, with everyone feeling positive and rejuvenated going into the new year.
8. Cut Costs
This might not be at the top-of-your-list, but December is a great month to go through your expenses and see if there’s any fat to trim. Software you’re not using anymore? User licenses you could aggregate into groups? Pending renewals you can renegotiate? With sales teams trying to hit their Q4 goals, there are lots of opportunities to get discounts and cut your spending going into the new year.
9. Research and Training
We’ve already talked about two types of research (customer outreach and fundraising benchmarking). December is actually a great month for the entire company to learn and improve. Here are just a few of the many ways you can use December to improve your company’s intelligence:
Read research papers
Perform competitive intel (learn about your competitors’ marketing plans, try out the latest versions of their products and even reach out to their customers)
Attend demos for and evaluate potential new vendors
Attend training courses
Plan conferences for the team to attend in 2023
10. Recharge
The last, but most important thing for to do in December is recharge. If you don’t have to work during the holiday season, don’t. Give as many people as you can a genuine week off (if December is a busy month for you — such as in retail/e-commerce — shift the week off to early January).
No email. No slack. No thinking about work.
And yes, I’m talking to you too dear founder. Rest, relax and recharge for 2023.
