For SaaS startups, growth is essential. 

According to a recent report, in the very early days (<$10k MRR), a SaaS startup grows on average by 4.4 percent every month. By the time the average SaaS startup reaches the $50k MRR mark, it grows by 3.1 percent every month. And over time, as the company reaches a sizable revenue, growth slows down to around 2 percent per month.

Without this kind of sustained growth, SaaS startups are likely to run out of runway. That’s why many startups turn to marketing for their growth needs. However, according to SaaS entrepreneur Jason Bennett, marketing is only one function of the growth equation.

“Growth is so much more than marketing. It’s about aligning the teams, aligning the tools, and having the data to enforce accountability,” Bennett says. “Over the years, I’ve just learned what it takes to unify teams and establish relationships internally and really know your customer, so you’re serving your perfect customer and keeping them exceptionally happy.”

Bennett is a Fractional CGO and product-led growth strategist with more than 15 years experience in taking Enterprise SaaS concepts to market, scaling, and sometimes exiting. On July 21, 2022, he hosted a webinar for Founders Network members where he provided insights on how to grow your SaaS startup. 

In enterprise SaaS, too often the customer experience is ignored.
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To learn more about how to grow your SaaS startup, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from July 21.

Customer Experience

According to a recent report, 73 percent of customers agree that customer experience helps to drive their buying decision. However, for SaaS startups, Jason says CX often isn’t as high of a priority as it should be.

“In enterprise SaaS, too often the customer experience is ignored,” Bennett says. “Often, you don’t know your customer and you don’t know how to properly serve them. So there’s a series of issues that are just not being dealt with. And that’s especially true in enterprise SaaS, because customer experience is always back burnered.”

When it comes to growth, you have to account for the long term goal.
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Begin at the End

In order to align data, people, and tools, Bennett recommends a growth process that starts with end goals in mind and then works backwards.

“When it comes to growth, you have to account for the long term goal,” Bennett says. “And then you align that back to what’s most important over the next 90 days. And you get everybody on the same page.  And more importantly, you also have to look at your short and long term alliances and partners. And you can’t gauge who those really are unless you start at the end.” 

You need data so that you can measure results.
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Adding Value

According to Bennett, SaaS is all about what you do after the sale. Initiatives like product improvements, new feature releases, loyalty programs, and maintaining an open dialogue with customers can increase revenues by as much as 70 percent.  (In short, long-term customer lifetime value or CLV). Bennet says this is difficult to achieve with siloed teams and disparate communication. 

“You need data so that you can measure results,” Bennett says. “If we’re evaluating what we’re doing, we’re seeing if it’s providing value. For everything you’re working on, you have to ask, ‘why are we doing this?’  Does it align with the big picture?  And, is it important enough to focus on in this 90-day period?  Is this bumping up our revenue, bumping up our street credentials and so forth.’ Before we even start doing it, you have to determine if it’s a revenue generation thing that we’re doing right?”

In his webinar, Bennett covered:

• How to align data, people, and tools
• The key to creating exceptionally happy customers
• Why, and how, you should only focus on things that add value
• How to iterate fast

To learn more about how to grow your SaaS startup, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from July 21.

However, while this might be adequate for some of the top names in tech, sales acceleration expert James Watson says early stage startups should be spending far more on sales and marketing. 

“One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is they focus very little on sales and marketing,” Watson says. “Fifty percent of your funding should be going into product development and dev ops. Fifty percent should be going into sales and marketing.”

Watson specializes in helping businesses and startups build and scale sales processes and profits. He says establishing an effective sales and marketing strategy is key to sales acceleration and securing a second round of funding when the time comes. 

“One of the biggest mistakes startups make is they have a great idea. They sell someone on the idea. They get money for it and then they can’t cash the check,” Watson says. “Eight months down the line, they don’t know how they’re going to hit their sales goals.

“That’s where a lot of companies stall or fail. They get their first round based on a unique idea. The CEO is charismatic and they have a patent on some great technology. That works for a while. But when that runs out, you need a sales foundation that gives you predictable and repeatable processes. That’s critical. That’s what investors want.”

Here are Watson’s top three tips for sales acceleration in 2022.  

One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is they focus very little on sales and marketing.
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Refine your value prop

While it might seem like a no-brainer, Watson says establishing a unique value proposition is critical to success. No matter what stage of the game you’re at, having a refined value prop can be the defining factor in closing your next deal or securing an investment. 

“It should be unique and it needs to be something that improves the lives of others,” Watson says. “It’s not just about making money.”

Watson says your value proposition should also include your “why story”–what motivated you to do what you’re doing and how you got here. Once you have a refined value proposition, it should then be customized for different audiences including social situations, elevator pitches and investor meetings. 

“The first thing you really have to do is establish your company’s value propositions and come up with different levels of pitches that are appropriate for different situations,” Watson says. “Sometimes you’ll get a minute and sometimes you’ll get ten seconds. So it’s important  to have all of those things in place.”

The first thing you really have to do is establish your company’s value propositions and come up with different levels of pitches that are appropriate for different situations.
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The value of CRM

Watson says having an effective client relationship management system is key to achieving your sales objectives.

“It’s critical to have a CRM in place that is simple to use and allows you to measure results and establish the KPIs and metrics needed for each sales person,” Watson says.

CRM analytics can help companies identify important metrics like the ratio of calls to meetings, ratio of meetings to deals, average deal size, and the time it takes to close. Having this information allows companies to establish quotas and determine how many sales people to hire to achieve sales objectives.

“What are your sales objectives?” Watson says. “Start with the end in mind and then reverse engineer back based on those metrics to uncover what is a reasonable quota and how many people you are going to need in place to hit your target.” 

Oftentimes startups don’t have the sales processes in place and founders can’t execute the plan because they’re not sales people.
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Establishing a foundation

Sales acceleration starts with establishing the right sales foundation.

“You need a foundation,” Watson says. “You have to come up with a sales playbook, hire the right people, and onboard those people, which is a process. That’s the biggest challenge a lot of these founders face.” 

Despite the importance of establishing a sales foundation, Watson says founders aren’t always equipped to manage this task because they lack the sales background necessary for managing sales processes. Instead of taking on sales management themselves, Watson says founders should spend their resources hiring the right people to drive the sales process.   

“Oftentimes startups don’t have the sales processes in place and founders can’t execute the plan because they’re not sales people,” Watson says. “They’re going to run into a brick wall inevitably and a lot of them won’t get their next round of funding, which is why you have 90 percent of businesses failing.” 

Want to learn more? Tune in to Fire-Up Connect’s new radio show on Jan. 15, 2022 where Watson will discuss the fundamentals of scaling sales processes. Additionally, on Jan. 13, 2022, Watson will be hosting a joint webinar with LTS Accelerator called “All About Startups.”

Passion is a key ingredient in startup success, but according to serial entrepreneur Murli Thirumale, it plays a smaller part than many think. “What is truly important for a founder is not passion, but the ability to be your own worst critic. You have to constantly evaluate your own ideas while selling them to the public.” 

Thirumale, presented the leading keynote speech at fnSummit 2021, developed this theory through years of creating highly successful companies. He is the co-founder and CEO of cloud-native storage solution Portworx, which was recently acquired by PureStorage for $370M, and was previously co-founder and CEO of Ocarina Networks, which was acquired by Dell in 2010 and co-founder and CEO of Net6 which was acquired by Citrix.

“Validate, validate, validate the market opportunity before you found your company. This is the most critical piece of the puzzle.” - @PureStorage
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Selling first with the SDBS system

Thirumale attributes his career wins to a system he calls “SdbS,” for sell, design, build and scale. Unlike the conventional founder route – which often begins with a design, followed by pitching to VCs – Thirumale and his team start with extensive customer interaction. They choose three potential product ideas, build prototypes that are as close to a proof of concept as possible, and then shop them to 25 to 30 customer prospects and thought leaders – not VCs. 

According to Thirumale, a VC’s willingness to invest doesn’t always line up with market success. “It’s much easier for an entrepreneur to get money from a VC than it is to get money from a customer. A customer is not in the business of giving you their money; they’re in the business of hanging on to their money,” he says.

“What is truly important for a founder is not passion, but the ability to be your own worst critic. You have to constantly evaluate your own ideas while selling them to the public.” - @PureStorage
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The American Idol of founding

Instead of getting an early start in the race for funding, Thirumale suggests that entrepreneurs pretend their product exists and note how real people react. Do they resonate with the value proposition? “You need to focus on what the customer needs, not what you, as a founder, might like,” he explains.

This is different from conventional customer validation. Thirumale has observed that founders often become fixated on one concept and are unable to look at the market objectively. What may begin as authentic market research becomes a way for people to rationalize the decision they already made. 

Brutal honesty is necessary. “I call it the American Idol of founding. You let several ideas compete against each other. You can’t just fall in love with your own idea.” 

The ideas generated through early customer interaction lead to robust funding, with VCs often choosing to fund solutions about which customers are already enthusiastic. “Most of our Series A pitches have been audio clips from customer calls. We just show the customer describing their pain point and then present our product’s value proposition with the customer’s positive response.” Thirumale says. 

Product design and scaling also develop naturally out of the initial sales pitch, with iterations of the product constantly responding to ongoing customer feedback. 

“It’s much easier for an entrepreneur to get money from a VC than to get money from a customer. A customer is not in the business of giving you their money; they're in the business of hanging on to their money.” - @PureStorage
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A new way of taking risks

Thirumale is not a risk evangelist, preferring calculated risks to gambles. “You want to take an execution risk, not a market risk,” he insists.  While founders can control execution by “being awesome,” the only way to conquer the market is by giving customers what they want. When companies lean too heavily on passion, the result is plenty of product pivots and a general lack of direction.

Thirumale suggests another route: “When you hit a speed bump, sometimes the team will push the car. Sometimes VCs can help you by providing enough capital, but you know, what will always get you over a speed bump? A customer pulling you from the other end.”

Check out the FULL video from the webinar or to learn more about Founders Network see if you qualify for membership

Coaches can be game-changing for some founders. Similar to how a professional tennis player works with a range of coaches to polish different areas of their game (from serving to mental toughness), leaders benefit from expert coaching in areas ranging from communication to mindset to decision-making, and more.

But, with the glut of new coaches entering the field and promoting their services–who is the right coach for you? And, how do you know you’re investing your time and money well? 

Here is the rub–the very reason most founders seek a coach–to address blindspots–is the same thing that makes it hard to find the right coach–we don’t know what we need to maximize our growth. 

“The very reason most founders seek a coach--to address blindspots--is the same thing that makes it hard to find the right person--we can't always see on our own what changes will have the biggest impact on our growth.” -…
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Here are 5 tips for founders looking to hire a coach for the first time:

1. Understand your WHY.

Even if your biggest leadership edge is a blindspot that you can’t fully see or articulate, it helps to enter into the coach search process with clear goals in mind.

Are you struggling with low energy and burnout? Are you running into arguments with your co-founders? Are you struggling to prioritize and tackle hard issues?

In the modern world of coaching, there are coaches who specialize in everything, from breath and bodywork (ideal for imposter syndrome and other issues) to conflict and communication. Getting a sense of what you’re looking for will make you sure you get a lot of value out of your coaching engagement.

Here are some of the most common reasons I see founders hiring coaches:

• Experiencing lower than average confidence (or imposter syndrome).
• Feeling burnt out.
• Intractable infighting with co-founders and senior leaders.
• Lacking emotional resilience (feeling anxious, stressed, or hurt more often than you’d like).
• Awareness of a blindspot (such as being overly aggressive or a poor communicator).
• Hitting a plateau.

2. Coaches are not advisors.

One general piece of advice I recommend is not to hire a coach until after you get your first round of funding. Typically pre-funding founders are more focused on getting to product market fit, developing your business model and more. Many of the above issues may be present, but few people have the time or resources to invest in them at this stage–when the goal is making it to the next phase of your company.

This is not a hard and fast rule and I have seen many founders benefit from burnout support pre-funding and co-founder communication work and role conversations, pre-funding.

“One of the best ways to assess if a coach is a good fit is to ask them what frameworks have used for their own growth and what results they have seen from that work.” - @NathanParcells
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3. Quality is paramount.

Excellent coaches can be a game-changer in your growth trajectory and life. Mediocre coaches will waste your time and can even be harmful to your growth.

While referrals can help, one of the best ways to assess if a coach is good is to ask them what frameworks they use and how those frameworks have helped them grow?

Coaches who don’t practice what they preach are less likely to understand the nuances of how to help you and this is a red flag overall. 

4. Consider rotating coaches.

Similar to how many athletes change coaches (some to focus on different aspects of their game and some to bring new energy or life into their coaching relationship) I think this can be a powerful approach for founders too.

Each coach has a specialty, so when you work with different coaches you can 80/20 their best insights. In addition, if you find a coach you love where the trust established means you keep growing together, you can continue that engagement if you want.

Time-boxing the initial engagement to 3-4 months can help make hiring a coach feel less intimidating.

“Similar to how many athletes change coaches (to focus on different aspects of their game) this can be a powerful approach for founders--spending 4-6 months with a communication coach, then an embodiment coach, a leadership coach,…
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5. Commit

If you’ve had sample sessions with 2-3 coaches and found someone you like but are on the fence, I recommend going for it.

It’s worth it just to see what you get from the coaching relationship and to learn how you show up to an engagement like that.

Furthermore, the biggest impacts from working with a stellar coach come 2-3 months into the relationship once trust has been established. You don’t want to be on the fence the entire time so it’s best to commit for a period than re-assess when that period wraps up.

You should definitely be getting value throughout the engagement (and on every call with your coach) and you should end the engagement if it’s not the right fit, but in the end, there is power to committing and seeing where the process takes you.

Bio:

Nathan Parcells is an Executive Coach and Co-Founder Communication expert at Sharpend Coaching. Nathan also leads group coaching for founders on “Risk-Taking and Vulnerability.” Previously Nathan co-founded and led marketing at Looksharp. Outside of work, Nathan is an avid mountaineer, writer, and adventurer.

For Daniel Solomon, employing a Lean UX methodology has been vital. A lean methodology was first made famous by Toyota. Their system had been employed since the 1930’s to minimize waste. It did not gain widespread attention until the oil crisis of 1970’s when Toyota was able to show profits while Japan’s economy ground to a halt. Lean UX is when you take that methodology of maximizing efficiency and apply it to the software world, making it highly applicable to today’s founders.

“Lean UX is thinking beyond just trying to create a quick prototype. It’s more the thought process of a company or the founder, and how they implement those,” Solomon says. And in Lean UX what is key is breaking those ideas down into quick actionable steps. But the other critical component to all of this is time. Are you able to have your team work together in real time so that they are all on the same page? This real time collaboration means you won’t send things out to production needlessly. It means that every part of the team understands how it functions, and for instance, programmers are able to steer design based on what is feasible and a good use of resources.

“Lean UX is thinking beyond just trying to create a quick prototype. It's more the thought process of a company or the founder, and how they implement those.” - @DanielFSolomon
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But Lean UX is not just about early ideas and development. It should also be playing a powerful role in how you handle the company’s MVP. Once again, the timing is everything, and it is critical to allow customers to test the product long before it gets big, and adjust accordingly. Solomon explains that it is a lack of a Lean methodology that is the reason why many companies age and die, because they cease to build something without really understanding whether people really want it, or their innovation slows. But “it is the MVP that differentiates startups with corporate organizations, because you’re able to really speak to your customers and get that early feedback,” Solomon says.

“It is the MVP that differentiates startups with corporate organizations, because you're able to really speak to your customers and get that early feedback.” - @DanielFSolomon
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Building a product where adapting to early feedback is part of the business model means, “most importantly, you’re giving the user the best experience when they land on the platform, which, in essence, keeps your retention rates high once you have a final product, because you actually build a product for the user,” Solomon says. From acquiring new users to keeping them, the methodology of Lean UX is an invaluable tool.

“You're giving the user the best experience when they land on the platform, which, in essence, keeps your retention rates high once you have a final product, because you actually build a product for the user.” - @DanielFSolomon
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It is Lean UX which allows a company to test out ideas and hypotheses without using up valuable resources or creating wasted efforts. It is also critical to seasoned founders because it helps keep the focus central to what the customer wants and needs, and how to build the best product to fulfill those needs.

To learn more about Lean UX, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from September 21.

In September, Eroe CEO Solomon hosted an event on how and why Lean UX can help startups where he covered. 

• What is Lean UX?
• Why it should be central to building your product
• The importance of timing and the team
• How to remain true to core principles as a start-up pre-funding
• Why it is so important to validate hypotheses with data

To learn more about Lean UX, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from September 21.

According to experts, about 90% of startups end in failure. In many cases, entrepreneurs simply run out of money and are forced to quit. However, according to consultant and coach Holly Woods, there is a deeper reason for insolvency: Founders lack clarity about what matters to them and what they want to achieve. For several decades, Woods has been helping them find their purpose, which, in turn, leads to profit and success. “When you are focused on why you got into a product or niche, you can make decisions that result in more optimized strategies,” says Woods.

Having spent 35 years in human and organizational development as well as 30 years building and scaling businesses, Holly Woods, Phd is well poised to help clients discern their business intentions. She is the founder of The Emergence Institute, which guides visionaries, innovators and changemakers to get deep clarity about purpose and build products and business rooted in it. An Integral Master Coach, Purpose Guide, Professional Mediator and Facilitator, Master Energy Practitioner, and a Stages of Consciousness developmental practitioner, she is also the author of The Golden Thread: Where to Find Purpose in the Stages of Your Life (2020).

“When you are focused on why you got into a product or niche, you can make decisions that result in more optimized strategies.” - @hollykwoods
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At an upcoming Founders Network event, Woods will demonstrate how more precise clarity about purpose helps you create products that represent the true talents you bring to the world, enables you to stay inspired for the long-haul and more easily course correct, all while guiding your next steps toward profit.

To learn more about persevering through challenges, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from August 12.

Register at Founders Network and check if you qualify for full membership to: 

• Explore the Golden Thread that led you to your product/ innovation and business
• Become newly inspired about the WHY behind your product/ innovation
• Gain clarity, focus and flow to guide your next steps
• Reap the benefits of your precise purpose for yourself, your business and the world

For those doubting their ability to make a success of their current projects, Woods initiates a process of rediscovery. “Once founders reclaim their purpose and get reenergized, they can truly commit to their startup and persevere through any challenges that come up,” she explains. 

“Once founders reclaim their purpose and get reenergized, they can truly commit to their startup and persevere through any challenges that come up.” - @hollykwoods
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Using your Origin Story to Explore the Golden Thread of Purpose

Many of us live unintentional lives and are unaware that our impulses and the things that excite us are rooted in our origin stories. Woods helps people “unpack who they are” and look through their personal history to find the common themes and motivations. “The golden thread is really the thread of purpose as it weaves itself through your life and helps create clarity and focus about what would be your next best step.” Many people set out on a path because it seems like the most viable alternative for them, but don’t know why. Woods believes that becoming conscious about one’s deeper intentions will help refine efforts. For entrepreneurs, this knowledge helps them to best market their product or service and to become aware of the next step to take for the company’s growth.

Staying in Positive Motion with the Purpose Flywheel

Coined in the book Good to Great by Jim Collins, the term ‘flywheel effect’ refers to the concept that successful enterprises are characterized by a process that resembles pushing a flywheel, a mechanism once used in large machinery to keep them going. Companies operate successfully by creating systems that enhance stability, resilience and momentum, even in volatile growth phases.

“The golden thread is really the thread of purpose as it weaves itself through your life and helps create clarity and focus about what would be your next best step.” - @hollykwoods
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According to Woods, the “perpetual motion” mechanism suggested by a flywheel also mimics the notion of the evolutionary impulse to improve as a means of filling the ever-expanding universe. That requires iteration, which requires feedback. In our own lives, we must continuously experiment, fail and receive feedback from the system in order to learn – a process that Woods knows well from working with clients.

Inspired by her experiences setting up “virtuous cycles” for her clients, she created the Purpose Flywheel, “a continuous series of learning loops” that enable startup founders and others to find clarity about their direction and keep experimenting toward success.   

Taking the Next Big Step Amid Doubt

When you have created something successful, the next step can feel daunting. Woods recalls working with a serial entrepreneur who had successfully built a $500M environmental cleanup company. He was about to exit and had no idea what to do next. During his work with Woods, he became aware of his next desired direction, an area in which he had been volunteering his services, but he had a crisis of confidence about his right to turn a passion project into a business. After working through those doubts and getting precise clarity about his purpose, he immediately started building his new venture, this time in an arena that reflected his purpose. 

“It is difficult to move forward in things that matter most, to reveal ourselves to the world, so we choose something that feels easier.” - @hollykwoods
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According to Woods, “It is difficult to move forward in things that matter most, to reveal ourselves to the world, so we choose something that feels easier.”  But, she adds, it is only when we are in alignment with our purpose that true innovation can happen.

In that spirit, she has created the Purpose LaunchLab Incubator for innovators and founders who want to get more clarity about their purpose and product.  By approaching new initiatives this way, many entrepreneurs are finding they can improve efficiency and profit, leading to more startup success stories.

To learn more about persevering through challenges, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from August 12.

Below are some highlights of what you’ll learn from the panelists.

• Ataer Arguder, co-founder at Aura, will be the moderator of the panel.
• Tom Geary, founder and creative director of School of Thought, will talk about marketing and communication fails.
• Jen Portland, founder and “spreadsheeter” at Excel Rain Man, will give tips on scrappy sales techniques.
• Jefferson Nunn, managing director of Code Warriors, will cover how to start and maintain a successful SaaS company.

Geary sees many founders’ communication fails originate from “being inside the bubble.” If you’re inside your own company and invested in its success, of course you’re interested in it. But you aren’t the target audience for your pitch. Assuming your audience cares as much as you do creates many communication fails. From a marketing standpoint, it’s deadly.

The solution to this problem is overlooked by 90% of companies: Nothing matters in business if you don’t first get your audience’s attention. The new latency rate: doesn’t matter. The position in the Magic Quadrant: doesn’t matter. The series D funding: doesn’t matter. Get your target’s attention first or you are wasting your energy and opportunity.

Portland offers a couple savvy marketing tips: keep in touch with prospects in a genuine and simple way, and respond to correspondence quickly. Let people know that you are noticing their accomplishments with a genuine note, not a ‘like’ or canned ‘Congrats on your Work Anniversary.” You don’t even need to mention your business; the recipient will likely check out your profile anyways.

Responding to correspondence quickly, even just to let people know you will be back to them soon, shows professionalism. Portland customers have told her that her company’s speedy responsiveness make them easier to communicate with than their own employees. Be responsive not only to clients, but to everyone.

Nunn cautions that SaaS founders can run into many problems when starting a new software business. Contract mistakes with software developers cost time and money. Cloud hardware issues destroy consumer confidence. Lack of insight into consumer preferences can stop your business before it even starts. There are a lot of things that can happen, which is why it’s important to do things correctly from the outset.

Register now to learn more about these insights and others at the upcoming growth panel on August 10 at 9:30am PST. Join us at Founders Network or request an invite to see if you qualify for membership.

More about our speakers:

Ataer Arguder

Ata Arguder is a serial entrepreneur and consultant, based in London, UK. After working for 15 years in the entertainment sector in various companies including Sennheiser, he started a digital ticketing company in Istanbul where he generated 7x growth over two years and . After selling that company, he moved to London in 2017 and started Aura – Museum Genius with investment from credible investors, building a global platform for museums and their visitors. He is currently a co-founder in two London-based tech startups (Aura – Museum Genius and Breath Hub) and he is also representing Founders Network in the UK as their Regional Manager for the UK.

Tom Geary

Tom is a writer, creative director and the founder of School of Thought. Tom has worked at some of the world’s top agencies, including Goodby, Ogilvy NY, Butler Shine & Stern and AKQA, on more than 100 brands. Geary was the lead creative behind MsDewey.com, arguably Microsoft’s most successful viral project ever, with over 50 million organic hits. For three months, site traffic outpacedGoogle.com.  He has created highly-lauded campaigns for divisions of Microsoft, HP, Cisco and Adobe. His work has been featured in Communication Arts, Adweek, Creativity, and won dozens of awards. He’s also lectured at conferences and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.  Lest you think he’s beyond missteps, he turned down a job offer to be the CCO at some company named Salesforce.

Jen Portland

Jen Portland is the Founder and CEO of Excel Rain Man, a spreadsheet and data analysis firm with a focus on automation via Visual Basic.  They serve a range of clients from rising start-ups to the Fortune 500, including major retailers, financial institutions, hotels, hospitality groups, real estate portfolios, contractors and others. Most recently, they are winning government contracts as Jen pounds the (now virtual) pavement in New York City and New York State showing demos of their work, including Diversity Dashboards of how NYC interacts with MWBE vendors (Excel Rain Man is a WBE-certified business).  Since starting the company in 2008 as a 1-woman side project, Jen has grown Excel Rain Man into a thriving business with a staff of 12, comprised of top experts from around the globe with backgrounds in engineering, computer programming, mathematics, and finance. Jen’s perseverance and hard work grew Excel Rain Man while fully employed for the first six years.  This involved not only recruiting talent and growing a customer base, but also educating others that this type of spreadsheet help and outsourcing exists… thereby allowing others to focus on the more important aspects of their work and not to get bogged down in a spreadsheet. Jen graduated from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program in conjunction with the Tory Burch Foundation in 2013. Jen graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Sciences with a B.S. in Systems Engineering and a minor in mathematics.

Jefferson Nunn

Jefferson Nunn is a Chief Editor of Liquid Health News, also the Director of Biotoxin Foundation. Since 1999, he has been a consultant to high-net-worth individuals. Always an innovator, his ideas have generated millions for clients including Ronco and GoWireless. Jefferson has been involved in the cryptocurrency industry since mining my first Bitcoin in 2010, now he is Podcaster for BTC Manager. Since then, he’s met with many of the early pioneers in the cryptocurrency space including the founders of Ethereum and the founders of Crypto Capital in Panama, SALT, EasyBit and more.

At the beginning of any startup, the focus is always going to be on closing the deal. It is a new startup’s job to prove the viability of its business model. But past a certain point, the focus must move from viability to growth.

It is true that SaaS companies are reliant on customer acquisition and retention for this. Mickey Alon explains, “product success can be measured based on product adoption and customer engagement metrics.” It might seem like the way to achieve this is via product-market fit, but that alone is not enough. “Building a new and innovative product with well-defined requirements, on time and on budget, does not guarantee success.”

“Building a new and innovative product with well-defined requirements, on time and on budget, does not guarantee success.” - @mickey_alon
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Rather, to achieve success, it is imperative that marketing and customer success are tied into product development from an early stage. Timing is everything, and nowhere is that more true than with customer engagement and product development. It is critical to tie the two together to accomplish real growth. Alon explains that it is a “product-led approach that allows your product teams to deliver valuable features to the market sooner.”

“Product success can be measured based on product adoption and customer engagement metrics.” - @mickey_alon
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Join Founders Network as we host Mickey Alon’s Global Keynote where he will discuss in-depth these critical considerations for all SaaS companies:

• Why timely engagement is critical to driving growth
• Why product-market fit is not enough on its own
• How to deliver a winning customer-centric experience
• How to implement a better product-led go-to-market strategy
• How to use product teams to lead your company’s growth

Learn more about the many upcoming events hosted by Founders Network and request an invitation to see if you qualify for membership.

To learn more about considerations for SaaS, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from July 21.

After 13 years as CEO and Founder of Brandwatch, Giles Palmer reflects on what he would have done differently to grow his company. These reflections come on the heels of the company’s $450 Million acquisition by Cision.

Founder Giles Palmer has spent the last 13 years as the CEO of Brandwatch. His brand sentiment and social media listening startup was recently acquired by Cision for $450 Million.  In this piece, he offers advice to other founders about what he would have done differently to grow his company based on what he knows now.

Register for Giles Palmer’s global keynote with the Founders Network for more reflections on his founder’s journey, such as:

• Differentiating your startup in an up-and-coming niche
• Assessing risk and how it informs your decision-making as a founder
• Successful team-building as you scale

Register as a guest to find out if you qualify for full membership.

He Wouldn’t Focus on Fast Growth

Early-stage startups are typically losing money, and if they’ve fundraised there’s a pressure to grow quickly. As a result, founders are often forced into the trap of thinking short-term and believing that growth metrics are the only thing that matters. 

Brandwatch was no exception to this. And what Giles has since learned is that this focus on fast growth isn’t always optimal:

“A lot of smart companies balance growth with other important factors,” he explained. “Second and third-time founders who maybe have more knowledge or financial security may take a bit longer in the earlier stages to get to a point where they know who they’re going to sell to, what their pricing should look like and what a successful implementation looks like.”

When you’re a young company and not yet breaking even, Giles explained that it’s easy to become influenced by the customers that are saying yes in the moment: 

“The runway that you’re dealing with is pretty short term; therefore you’re vulnerable. You will take pretty much any deal or will work with a customer that is not really where you want to go. Even if they’re not blowing you off course, they might not be the right fit for you — they might be thinking of the relationship as short term whereas you’re looking to build it over time.”Being less selective about your customers often leads to a higher churn rate which leads to opportunity costs and poor metrics.  “One day you may realise that your customer base is half as big as another company that took more time to be deliberate in the early days. It’s also hard to undo those bad habits.”

“Try to ignore all of the external folks telling you that growth is everything. And try to think about whether this is the right fit. And if it's not the right fit, and if you've got a choice, don't take the customer.” - @joodoo9
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Giles explained that being more selective is a very conscious choice that a company has to make, and many companies will try to retrofit this choice later on with less success.

“Try to ignore all of the external folks telling you that growth is everything. And try to think about whether this is the right fit. And if it’s not the right fit, and if you’ve got a choice, don’t take the customer.”

So what does this look like on a practical level? 

Consider a zero commission sales model.

“I’d love to have a zero commission sales model where sales people are not paid to bring in customers, they are paid to actually find companies that are going to benefit from being customers of ours.”

This would mean starting with a bigger base by calculating their on-target earnings (OTE) and paying a higher percentage of it. 

“I just want you to bring in the right customers rather than bringing in everybody that you possibly can because you get paid more for it. So there’s a very interesting tension between sales person’s compensation and what’s right for the company.”

“Increasingly SaaS is a journey you go on together because they're choosing to subscribe every month or every year, so it's a constant commitment.” - @joodoo9
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Hire a User Experience Designer Early On

“There are product design choices you make at the beginning that show up for years and years as the product evolves. They’re really, really important,” Giles explained. 

Looking back, he wishes he would have hired a product designer that focused on the user experience within the first four or five hires. This is someone that can build a discipline around user research and product metrics to learn what features his customers are or are not using and can investigate why. 

To make sure you’re focusing on the right customers, you need to prioritize their input regarding features and integrations and other user experience decisions they’d like to see.

To learn more about reflections on a startup journey, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from June 3.

Look for customers that are ready to build a two-way commitment with the company.

“Increasingly SaaS is a journey you go on together because they’re choosing to subscribe every month or every year, so it’s a constant commitment,” Giles said.

Spend more time onboarding customers you know you want to keep and working out a two-way commitment. “Making sure that they live up to their bit of the bargain,” he explained. “For them to be successful, they also have to follow the program. It’s not just on the supplier — it’s a contract between two of you.”

“Entrepreneurs, most people actually, are pretty poor at evaluating their own ability. So I use enjoyment as a proxy for: are you any good at this?” - @joodoo9
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He Would Pay Closer Attention to What He Was Enjoying

As your company grows, as a founder, you have to make hard choices around which responsibilities to hand over to someone else. For instance, do you hand over much of the day-to-day decisions to a COO or do you maintain a high level of control as a hands-on CEO? 

To make these choices, Giles has learned to focus on what he enjoys. “Entrepreneurs, most people actually, are pretty poor at evaluating their own ability. So I use enjoyment as a proxy for: are you any good at this?”

For instance, if Giles had paid closer attention to what he was and wasn’t enjoying, he would’ve focused on team building at a much earlier stage.

Giles loves building teams, but about seven years ago, he realised that he was no longer enjoying the senior team meetings. So he took a look at his senior team and realized that there were no women or people of color on the team and most people came from similar backgrounds and had similar traits. He knew things needed to change, so his company significantly increased the size of the team and worked at making it more diverse.

Giles also spent time and energy on team development: utilizing team coaches, honing in the purpose of team meetings, and socializing outside of meetings. 

“We built up that working cadence over 18 months through an enormous amount of effort,” he explained. “And that team now runs the business incredibly well. It’s resilient, and people love being part of it; whereas nobody enjoyed being part of the team six or seven years ago.”

For Giles, the decision to become more knowledgeable about team building was one he consciously made about how he wanted his personal growth journey to match the company’s. 

“Have you graduated to the next level so that you’re able to do your job without it causing you many more degrees of stress and anxiety? If you haven’t, and the company is growing quicker than you are as a CEO, then that’s an interesting observation. And you have a choice: either you have to work incredibly hard to upgrade yourself so that you are able to carry on with the journey or you bring in somebody else alongside you.”

To learn more about reflections on a startup journey, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from June 3.

“My belief is a presentation should be a conversation, and the dominant force in that conversation is not what to say — it’s what to ask.” 

This is Greg Winston’s strategy behind selling anything — from ready-made products to selling equity in a startup.

A longtime sales veteran, Greg created and managed three record-breaking teams at Xerox and CBS/Warner Bros. with total revenue topping 473 million. He then moved his talents into consulting to help companies improve their sales systems and grow revenue.

Greg is now fundraising for his own startup, buydiverse.org, an online marketplace that promotes minority-owned small businesses. In the first two weeks of fundraising, Greg raised $750,000 in venture capital.

“My belief is a presentation should be a conversation, and the dominant force in that conversation is not what to say — it's what to ask.” - @1GregWinston
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At a Founders Network event, Greg will teach founders about the art of selling.  The goal of the session is to help each member keep their enterprise going with the fuel of revenue for equity.  All attendees will receive selling tools to guide their continued sales growth at the end of the session.

To learn more about improving your sales mindset, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from May 13.

Register at Founders Network and check if you qualify for full membership and get actionable advice on: 

• Applying the Giri method of prospecting
• Improving your sales mindset during sales presentations
• Strategies to understand an investor’s motivations
• Follow-up strategies that strengthen a relationship with an investor

You don’t always know what an investor wants to know. This is the value of utilizing strategic questions. “How do I offer the investor the information they need, as opposed to me spending all their time on a deck and graphics,” Greg explained. “That’s a dull presentation. Nobody wants that. They want you to present and go, ‘Does this make sense to you? Are we moving in the right direction? Is this what you thought there?’ All of these open-ended questions help someone have a conversation with you rather than a presentation.”

A place to start is learning what motivates the investor.

“You have to determine who you're talking to. Sometimes a savvy investor is emotionally tied to your concept, and you need to know that so that you can pull away from the numbers and talk about the intent.” - @1GregWinston
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Learn What Motivates The Investor

“Do you know why that person invests in the first place? Are you clear on their motivations? How can you tailor your pitch to that particular person and how can you hone in on the things that would cause them to get past no into yes?”

Greg explained that frequently, more experienced buyers or investors will be more tied to numbers whereas junior investors are more likely to be swayed by emotion. “You have to determine who you’re talking to. Sometimes a savvy investor is emotionally tied to your concept, and you need to know that so that you can use it and pull away from the numbers and talk about the intent.”

Use Questions to Negotiate

During one presentation, Greg asked the questions to learn the exact thing the investor needed to know in order to say yes. He was then able to negotiate with the investor and by the end of the conversation, the investor hadn’t just said yes, he’d actually increased his offer from $100K to $500K.

“If I say, ‘Well, just imagine what would happen if I take your information and I merge it back to my concept,’ this is how you get a person to see themselves in equity, not your concept.”

“I'm selling them equity in the concept, not the concept. And I think because we're entrepreneurs, we get tied up in the concept.” - @1GregWinston
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Focus on Equity, Not the Concept

“I’m selling them equity in the concept, not the concept. And I think because we’re entrepreneurs, we get tied up in the concept.”

When founders get too bogged down in explaining the mechanics of their idea, they can lose sight on the more important part to an investor, which is: how does this idea translate to revenue? 

“In most cases, investors need to know just enough to see that it could work. Once they’re past the ‘could work part,’ they’re done. What they care about is ‘Will this thing bring in 20 times, 50 times my investment? I’m going to make ten investments this year. I need one of them to hit big. Is this the one?”

To learn more about improving your sales mindset, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from May 13.