War Report: August 2022
We share our milestone numbers and objectives in our August 2022 War Report, as well as the learnings and advice we have collected. We hope they will be useful in providing lessons for others who are in similar situations to ours or can benefit from their publication. Building in public is not easy, but we pretend our best.
As we mentioned last month, summer time can be challenging for companies like us. Well, August was like facing the final boss in your favourite video game. Holidays hit hard. Although we try not to block the rest of the team with our vacations, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders make communication during the summer months much slower. Undoubtedly, it is a great idea to design a crash plan for Summer months, or just be aware of the situation.
Sales (without taxes): We have failed to achieve the goals we set ourselves at the start of the month. As you may have guessed by now, summer is not a good time to do business, so we are sharing our numbers in complete honesty.
Billing (without taxes): And also another noticeable number that has drastically fallen in this month. We can say that this is a consequence of the previous issues. In any case, the decline in billing has kept pace with the drop in sales.
Current: It's the small victories that count the most. Last month we had a very negative percentage in our Current, and we have been able to recover those figures quite a lot. Well, at least we have something to celebrate, right?
| MONTH | SALES | BILLING | CURRENT VARIATION |
|---|---|---|---|
| JULY | 230.732€ | 239.256€ | -251.597€ |
| VARIATION | -47% | -49% | +98% |
| AUGUST | 120.280€ | 119.881€ | -4.083 € |
Sales (without taxes): consulting services, Manfred Daily offers, or commissions coming from hiring processes.
Billing (without taxes): invoices sent out. They tend to match sales, but we still have a certain time gap and, in addition, the invoicing assumes the possible corrective invoices that have to be made.
Current: the company's total assets and economic rights (cash, assets, outstanding receivables, and dividends).
GOALS
We took some time off in the team, but we have been preparing for an amazing second half. “Winter is coming”, as the Starks used to say, and it is now that we must prepare ourselves to be brave warriors and protect Winterfell.
Our product and development team was finally able to overcome the very challenging task of synchronizing with LinkedIn, which had been so difficult for us so far. It's never too late to keep adding features to make life easier for our Manfredites!
And last but not least, we have welcomed a new Fredder to the team. Bárbara joins the scouting team, and we couldn't be happier to have her in the family. We will keep working hard to help you find your dream job!
AUGUST GOALS
Sales
- To sell and invoice at least €140K (😞): The month has been complicated in every way. There was an expected slowdown in activity and communication with buddies and candidates, but it was way more than we thought. This has been Manfred's worst month of the year, and we are not going to decorate it in any way.
Product & Development
- Synchronization with LinkedIn (😁): We did it! After many weeks of hard work, we have managed to synchronize data with most of the testing accounts we have. We still have a lot of work to do to overcome more barriers and read/write more fields, but we are getting closer so that the manfredites don't have to log into LinkedIn to bring their data to Manfred, nor to have it updated.
- New portal (😑): Our goal was that the information that you can now manage in Manfred should already use the completely new layout. However, the development team is taking advantage of all the restructuring to complete several pending refactorings. Even though it is taking longer, it is a worthwhile investment.
Marketing
- Website Features Page (😑): It is still a work in progress, although we can say that it is well advanced. The copies are ready and fresh out of the oven, but it has been necessary to prioritize other tasks.
- First Job Offers Emails (😊): Manfredites, we care about you. This is why we have started sending you the first offers by email based on your preferences. In order to continue to meet your needs, we will continue to bring you opportunities that match your interests. Our first tests went very well, and you will hear from us again!
- Sharpening the Axe and getting prepared for September actions planned (😁): If we know anything, it is that we are ready to take the world by storm. Keeping September in mind will be very important for us, and we're looking forward to attending many community events, which we'll discuss in next month's goals. After much preparation, we have made sure that nothing has been left out.
SEPTEMBER GOALS
Sales
- To sell and invoice at least €250K: We will have a lot on our plate in September. There are many people who decide to change jobs, and companies who decide to expand their teams by launching recruitment processes. We will be ready to help you! We are facing the final stretch of the year with enthusiasm and excitement to reach our goals, so we are not going to stop or give up now.
Product & Development
- New portal: We have put all of our focus into completing the portal by the end of September. We can't wait to show it to you! Are you ready? 💪
Marketing
- Sponsoring and participating in miduConf & SOSZ22: Back to school? No, much better! Back to events and supporting the community. We will be sponsoring two conferences this month, miduConf and SOSZ22. ⚠️ Excitement alert: for the first time we will be on Twitch at the first-ever miduConf hosted by content creator, Midudev. Leonardo Poza will be in charge of making the debut on the streaming platform.
- "Developer Career Report" campaign launch: September is going to be full of awesomic content. This includes the "Developer Career Report", a project we have been working on for a while. We are really looking forward to you seeing it!
- Launch of the new portal’s campaign: This one has to be memorable. We have some very cool features that deserve a special launch. Just a little hint, you won’t look at Manfred the same. 😉
- Case studies from our clients: We focus on you, manfredites, in everything we do. We also want to hear from our customers about their experiences working with Manfred. Therefore, we will interview them, so we can learn about their success stories in the selection process.
Happiness
- Creating and designing the offboarding process: We didn't need an offboarding process until now, but sadly we must say goodbye to one of our Fredders. Luismi has decided to take a different direction in his professional life, and we wish him the best of luck. No matter where you go, you'll always be a part of us 💙. As a result, we have focused on creating an offboarding process that is as beautiful as the onboarding, which is equally important.
- Bringing back our weekly Brown Bags: As the summer comes to an end, we are bringing back our Brown Bags, where we hold technical trainings by and for the team. There will also be guests giving us tips on asynchronous work.
- Start the search for a new Fredder:As a result of Luismi's departure, we have begun the search for a new SDR partner as we define the role. Our focus will be on finding a candidate that fits the position we are seeking and who can contribute to the Manfred family.