Morrow - May Letter
Step by step, shot by shot
Turning the tables back, the Morrow roadmap until the end of May held three priorities. Fast forward - it’s the end of May, so time to check the big board.
1) Secure pre-seed funding ✅
2) Launch the Beta Program ✅
3) Identify a technical co-founder ⬜
Overall, 2 for 3. In school, that gets you a “D”. In business building, it gets you a “pass”. The two objectives which were most within control were hit. The other, of finding a technical co-founder, has taken longer — as expected and as it should. From the highest view, the progress made over the past two months allows Morrow to step into the next phase of building, which marks as a win. It also introduces a new set of focus areas, some of which are highlighted in this letter. First, we’ll take a look at a few specific highlights of the past month…
Company updates —
1) Pre-seed round is raised!
Though this round will not be publicly announced, we were oversubscribed on the round and successfully hit our target raise amount. It’s a good win for Morrow that enables us to enter the next stage of company development.
This being my first time fundraising on my own, I’m proud to hit the target mark on schedule. Far more important is the outstanding group of investors that has committed to join the Morrow journey. This group consists of a top-tier venture capital fund and some of the best individuals I know, both in accomplishment and character — I couldn’t be more proud to have them as partners.
While hitting the capital raise amount is great, the real win for Morrow is the quality of people in our corner. Emphasis here will continue to be a constant.
2) Beta Program will roll into the summer
As I wrote about last letter, our Beta Program (which entails running free retirement transition services for participants) has proved to be a terrific way for us to deepen our understanding of our target users, while providing key learnings for how the service needs to look at scale. Recognizing this and the fact we’ve already built out the processes and systems to run the program, we will continue to run and scale our Beta Program into the summer. (Looking to bring on a summer intern to help with this! - see Areas of Focus section)
As for the current program, I want to highlight a few anecdotes that provide a window of insight into the impact the program is having —
Case A: A participant lost her husband prior to retiring. Previously, the husband had largely managed their retirement picture. While answering her immediate retirement questions and working to construct her financial picture, the Morrow team discovered she is eligible to receive over $2,000 in monthly Social Security distributions from her late husband, an input that consequentially alters her financial future.
Case B: A participant had not updated her will in more than 10 years and had rightly hesitated when a local lawyer quoted her $5,000 to update the will. The Morrow team directed the participant to a group of partner estate planners who could make the updates at ~10% of the original quote.
Case C: A participant couple nearing retirement had been financially impacted by COVID and was experiencing high anxiety around repercussions for retirement. They had this to say following their first session with the Morrow team: “What a blessing our meeting was to us. We are immediately working on our discussed action steps. I now do not feel like I’m groping around in the dark and waiting for the light to go on.”
3) Morrow accepted to First Round’s Discovery Assist Program
Morrow has been accepted into First Round Capital’s Discovery Assist program, a program to help early-stage founders to accelerate customer discovery. Over the coming weeks, we will be working with the FRC team to identify candidate companies to launch Morrow with and expedite access to corporate leadership.
Areas of focus —
With fundraising behind, areas of focus shift. Founding team hiring takes center stage. Over the coming month, focus areas for Morrow include —
1) Building out founding team —
This will be an all-hands, all-out, “hustle play” — a Morrow favorite. For anyone reading, this is a good time to get your notepad out! Until further notice, the founding team roles to be hired are:
Common across each role, we’re seeking:
3-6 years of relevant experience at a mid- or late-stage company
Individuals hungry to hustle, adopt responsibility, and build things
Individuals that get you excited when they talk about their work
Individuals you can be stranded in an airport with and somehow enjoy it
In-network referrals
Each of these roles will be compensated well and will receive founding-team level equity as core founding team members.
We’re also looking for a rock-star summer intern (ideally with a product interest) to join us and help execute the Beta Program.
2) Establish advisory board —
On the three-pegged support stool of people foundation, advisors take the third peg after employees and investors. Especially in the early days where building credibility and momentum are hardest, Morrow will look to take full advantage of the benefit a top-caliber advisor team can bring. It is likely to consist of a blend of leaders in: fintech, retirement / financial services, and corporate benefits. We look forward to formally introducing a few of the terrific advisors already working alongside Morrow.
3) Customer discovery & exploration
As we’re doing with our users through the Beta Program, we’re eager to go deeper in our understanding of our customer — that is, HR and benefits leaders at corporations. The graphic below paints a sampling of the type of company Morrow might pursue.
Other sectors of interest include spaces such as healthcare, education, and manufacturing. Throughout June, our discovery process will be a mix of teaming with First Round in the Discovery Assist program and leaning on our team of advisors to gather market learnings.
Founder perspectives —
Busy times! I nearly passed on this section for the month, but had one thought to share that pushes the limits of relevancy, but relevant enough that I chose to share —
If you haven’t heard, Phil Mickelson became the oldest professional golfer ever to win a major championship at the ripe age of 50 this month when he won the PGA Championship. So how does that relate to Morrow and/or retirement? Apparently enough that AARP published an article about the victory, which I’ll gladly borrow as a bridge of relevancy.
Aside from the obvious feat of accomplishing something no one has ever done, the powerful takeaway I had was in the area of elite performance and execution. Watching Phil execute each shot on each hole with such extreme focus was intense to the point where it could be felt through the television. Attention towards the leaderboard, the thousands of fans shouting his name, the historical significance of possible victory were nowhere to be found. His focus was wholly and intently on the immediate shot in front of him. Then, shot by shot, hole by hole, the sum of obsessive focus and elite execution on the present task culminated in victory — the outcome he desired, but hadn’t given a single thought to prior to winning.
“That’s going to be the biggest challenge for me because I kind of went from keeping my mind off of all the distractions and the noise during the week of the PGA to really letting it come in the last two days, enjoy it, and really it hit me in the last two days what just happened. Because when I’m doing it, I’m not fully aware because I’m so in the moment.” - Phil Mickelson, post-victory interview
The historic outcome he accomplished was nothing more than an accumulation of relentless focus and execution on the present task. In an arena of ultimate competition, powerful distractions, and fierce pressure that often resembles our environment, I took inspiration from his incredible demonstration of focus and believe there are plenty of lessons to borrow from that example when building a business.
“Plan the flight and fly the plan. But don’t fall in love with the plan. Be open to a changing world and let go of the plan when necessary so that you can make a new plan. Then, as the world and the plan both go through their book of changes, you will always be ready to do the next right thing.” ― Laurence Gonzales, Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
As always, thanks for sharing your eyes and time.
— Sammy