This week’s SaaS roundup features tips for optimizing your SaaS tech stack, extending SaaS platforms, utilizing pay-per-click advertising and more! Let’s get started…
Why You Should Optimize Your SaaS Stack for Flexibility
First up, our friends at Blissfully take a hard look into the future of SaaS, sharing some thoughts on how we can all be better prepared for what’s in store. Stating that at least one of the hot new SaaS apps you may be preparing to implement organization-wide is going to be replaced in a year, the unaccredited author of this piece rallies for readers to prioritize flexibility when building and optimizing their 2019 tech stack. Apps will come and go, and the agility with which you can replace apps or add new ones should ultimately propel the pace of innovation at your organization. Flexibility is a key aspect of staying focused and maintaining steady growth. Out with the old, in with the new, and on with the pace of business.
To prepare for the inevitable reality of app turnover, it’s a good idea to streamline your app approval, implementation, and removal processes to make them as efficient as possible. This way, when the time comes to make a change, it’s not a massive headache to do so.
– Blissfully
What Compounding Subscription Cash Flow Really Means (and looks like)
Nick Franklin of ChartMogul published a brilliant piece on compounding subscription cash flow, what it means, and what it looks like. As SaaStr‘s Jason Lemkin has famously stated, everything in a subscription-based business compounds over time – for better or worse. Diving into the finer aspects of what this means, Franklin shares some of ChartMogul’s own MRR and cashflow cohort analysis charts from past years, shedding light on how the company continues to grow, and how they use compounding revenue to their advantage.
This is why subscription businesses are so magical; every year you’re in business the cashflow generated by each year’s cohort of new customers compounds on top of the previous year.
– Nick Franklin
Recipes for Extending SaaS Platforms
Next up is E2X‘s Ronan Forker with his list of unique recipes for extending SaaS platforms. Though we were previously unfamiliar with his work, Forker proves himself early on in this 9-minute read as a well educated, succinct and insightful SaaS industry professional with a lot to say. Forker sets out to prove that adoption of a SaaS paradigm doesn’t restrict the user’s ability to customize, pointing out that with commercetools, users have many opportunities for customization that other platforms do not have. The body of this article further develops this thesis, powerfully concluding with its point clearly made. We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on the E2X blog in the near future!
The approaches presented should be balanced with some realism. This means we would not advocate any one mechanism of extension on its own, and would therefore suggest an approach where all situational considerations are made. The common ground will be using the correct approach for the specific task.
– Ronan Forker
When is Pay-Per-Click Advertising Viable in SaaS?
Depending on who you talk to, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is either a cost-effective lead generation channel, or it’s a blackhole of wasted time, energy and money. The success of this method largely depends on how you go about it, the expectations you have going in, and what you’re trying to achieve. Cobloom‘s Ryan Law takes readers through the ins and outs, pros and cons, and subtleties of PPC and how to use this method to achieve powerful results.
It’s important to remember that you’re getting benefit from your PPC above and beyond new customers and revenue: you’re getting data. You’re learning which messages resonate with people, which problems you can solve, which features they want and how much they’ll pay for them.
– Ryan Law
Account Executives in SaaS: What It’s Really Like
In this piece Copper‘s Natalie Yacob gives Medium readers a behind-the-scenes look into the daily responsibilities and challenges shouldered by SaaS Account Executives (AEs). Though partially driven by a desire to simply be understood by her contemporaries, Yacob’s piece proves invaluable to anyone looking to assume the role of an AE as well as those looking to understand the various aspects of how sales teams operate. With the article totaling out at a short and sweet 7 minutes, Yacob’s first-person look into the life of an AE is well worth the read.
Sales is about creating mutually beneficial business relationships — not just at the time of the sale, but years down the road too.
– Natalie Yacob
SaaS Stocks Reach Fresh Highs
No explanation needed for this one. Crunchbase‘s latest article covering the rise in SaaS stock value serves as both a news brief and a pat on the back for those working to drive the SaaS industry forward. While this current moment is a truly amazing and hopeful time for SaaS – the future is looking bright as well. Crunchbase writer Alex Wilhelm dives into what this rise means, rounding his presentation out with a set of compelling data to back his findings.
It’s a pretty good day for SaaS.
– Alex Wilhelm
Happy reading!
Thanks so much for joining us for another SaaS roundup. We hope to see you here again next Monday!
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