For many startup software companies (and their founders), an early capital-efficient approach to growth can make a huge difference in the long run. It can be the difference between having 6 months of runway versus an endless runway. It can make the difference between needing to make deep cuts when the business climate gets rocky […]
SaaS Strategy Best Practices
Read, listen and watch SaaS strategy best practices for founders and leaders of growing technology companies. Join SaaS co-founders and operators for guidance on sales, marketing, customer success, culture, and institutional readiness.
The Product Led Funnel
The other day my partner at Arthur Ventures, Pat, and I were talking about the go-to-market motion of a partner company and he used a phrase I hadn’t heard before. Product-Led Funnel. If you are a software entrepreneur you probably spend a lot of time thinking about product-led growth. How to get it, how to […]
12 SaaS Pricing Strategy Resources
Pricing is one of the highest-impact strategic decisions that startups make, yet often the least amount of time is spent on it. As 2021 begins, companies are sitting down to finish up their annual plans. One of the most crucial parts of this process is often reviewing and refining pricing strategy, which can seem daunting. […]
How to Interview a Product Manager
This article should really be titled, “How to interview a product manager (if you aren’t a product person) “ Because customer success, marketing, sales, support, and other operational roles are key stakeholders in a SaaS organization they are often called into the interview process for product managers. Especially for a company’s first product hire when there […]
You Hired a Bad-Fit Executive. Now What?
We don’t need an article to tell you what to do. If you hired a bad fit executive you need to have them exit the business. Doesn’t matter how long it took you to find the person. Doesn’t matter how much money you spent on a recruiter. Doesn’t matter than now you are questioning your […]
Can Professional Services and SaaS Coexist?
My SaaS and startup DNA includes a lot of experience in running professional services organizations. But knowing how professional services revenue is valued in the market (not as much as you would think), and how hard it can be to maintain high margins, I can never recommend a SaaS launch a professional service offering. But […]
How to Roll Out OKRs for the First Time
Many companies struggle to roll out OKRs for the 1st time. It takes a few OKR cycles to feel like you really hit your stride. So, it’s probably not going to go perfectly when you are just getting started with OKRs, and that’s OK. Here are a few tips to help smooth the path and […]
A Straightforward Approach to Strategic Planning for Startups
Strategic planning is an area that many startup leadership teams struggle with. It’s often something companies want to do but don’t make time for. Or when they do it, it doesn’t really fit their business operating system and it ends up being outdated and forgotten as soon as planning is over. Until you have gone […]
5 Startup Roles That Help you Grow Faster
When you are growing fast you end up spending a lot of time getting the right people into the roles in the right structure to help efficiency, communication, quality, and results. Much of that work ends up being focused on departments, work to be done, and reporting lines. It’s neat and tidy. But, I’ve found […]
Who Owns SaaS Customer Expansion and Renewal: Sales or CS?
Determining if sales or customer success should own customer expansion and renewals is the age-old SaaS question. And not to spoil this article for you, but I don’t have the answer. Sorry. I know everyone wants a definitive verdict on this, but the good news is that either approach can work well. If you are […]