Savvy entrepreneurs tell you not to just “Build It and They Will Come” with your software startup. But once in a while, very rarely, this product-only strategy actually works. Word spreads so …
In modern SaaS, TAM is overrated and TIME is underrated. It's about time we started talking about TIME > TAM. What's your TAM (Total Available Market)? That's generally an investor question. How …
Raising VC funding is not very common. And it's very expensive for founders, but... There’s something that many SaaS founders miss by not having experienced investors: Help from expert advisors who are …
Twenty years ago, it was really hard to build software, but it was relatively easy to find open markets with people eager to buy from you. It’s the opposite now. It’s …
Most new SaaS founders don’t realize the bottom of their revenue funnel isn’t selling new customers. Sales is important, of course, but it's just one step in the revenue system that …
How are SaaS companies growing when top-of-funnel tactics that worked last year almost don't work at all this year? More content, outreach, and spending on sales and marketing have less effect …
One of the most common ways practical founders get into SaaS is by creating a software product business out of a service business. But it’s harder than it looks to try …
What's the weakest link in your SaaS revenue growth chain? Where should you focus first to have the most efficient impact on revenue growth? Growing revenue isn't simple or obvious or …
SaaS pricing can be easy when you start, but it’s always more difficult to manage as your company grows. Pricing improvement decisions get complicated quickly. When you are starting, you need …
Vertical market SaaS companies are great businesses with efficient customer acquisition and sticky solutions. But a single industry focus can also have speed bumps that must be managed well, or …
30% average annual revenue growth is healthy and sustainable for most bootstrapped SaaS businesses, but it's a nightmare if you have raised big VC funding. Here's why: Many B2B SaaS acquirers …
Some larger fintech payments businesses are buying smaller vertical SaaS businesses--as a form of distribution. They are acquiring customer bases to sell more of their payments services. Investors and acquirers love …
The most important letter in MVP is the V. It’s the Viable in Minimum Viable Product. Viable means highly useful. Minimum means incomplete and imperfect. When should you ship your new …
When you have a vertical SaaS business, your churn rate is either a force multiplier for your business--or a growth killer. High churn for too long will permanently hobble your …
“Our SaaS product works, we have happy customers, and we have enough leads—but our demo close rate is too low.” Every day, B2B SaaS founders tell me about the hard problems …
Doubling down on a narrow niche is the fastest way to create a $5 million - $10 million ARR (revenue) software company that can create life-changing wealth for practical founders. But …
Creating software to improve your own services business can be a great way to create a standalone SaaS business. But some major pitfalls trip up most founders who are trying to …
Perseverance usually comes at the top of the list of entrepreneurial success traits. But there’s a twist that isn’t so obvious that makes perseverance work. Persistence doesn’t help if you keep …
True product-market fit usually takes years; most startups don't get there. But there's a rare situation when a software business can start with product-market fit and ecstatic customers years ahead of …
For up-and-running SaaS companies, growth isn't just about GTM--going to market to acquire new customers with marketing and sales efforts. There are other levers that help create more efficient revenue …
People-powered tech businesses require documented processes much earlier than scrappy “software-only” solutions. These founders procrastinate documenting processes and enforcing processes at their peril. On the outside, services-assisted SaaS or tech-enabled services …
I recently interviewed a dozen founders who have run their software businesses successfully for 15 years or more. When asked how they sustained profitable growth for so long, they all …
I talk to so many founders who grew their valuable SaaS business out of their services business that I wonder why this isn’t a recommended path for young founders. There are …
I have worked with hundreds of software startup founders on their messaging and websites through the years--and watched the results. Here are the simplest ways to improve conversion on your website …
I just crossed 40,000 followers on LinkedIn last week. Here's how I doubled my followers last year with 5.3 million post impressions--and, more importantly, why. I'm not recommending you do these …
Most practical SaaS founders want to do better with SEO to drive efficient revenue growth. More organic, less paid marketing. Who wouldn’t want that? When it works, an inbound marketing strategy …
I delete comment spam on my LinkedIn posts. They add no value to the real discussion there and are clearly promotional, AI-created or not. It's like barging into a real conversation, repeating …
Your SaaS startup can make a better version of something that already exists or it can make a new thing that people haven’t heard of yet. They are two different …
The SaaS business model keeps getting better while the VC business model is getting worse. They are headed in opposite directions. The SaaS business model is one of the best business …
Your Crappiest Customer Profile (CCP) is the opposite of your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). They exist on a continuum of customer traits that will either accelerate your business or kill …
The fastest way to grow your early SaaS startup isn't working on your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). It's identifying your CCP--your Crappiest Customer Profile. Finding and saying No to your most …
Product-Market Fit and Ideal Customer Profile are usually 25% demographic traits and 75% behavioral and belief traits. Many founders don't learn this until too late. The first cut of PMF and …
The SaaS founders I know with the highest growth rates in 2023 are also the most clear about what they want to accomplish in 2024. I have been working with dozens …
There’s a hidden truth behind the product-market fit that creates happy customers and efficient growth in any SaaS business. Product-market fit sounds like this: Make an amazing product that delights your …
SaaS startup founders often neglect a very important goal area when planning for next year. This question won't appear in any planning frameworks, but it creates a powerful multiplier that …
The biggest challenge for 90% of software companies isn't "building a better product." The biggest problem is getting new customers, revenue, and growth--reliably and efficiently. The growth side of the business …
One of the most powerful ways to improve startup execution and align your team is to become great at setting a single goal to rally around. I'm surprised how many founders …
Some things have to change as your SaaS company grows bigger. But not all things.If your company is bootstrapped and growing very fast, you can choose what to change and …
For certain startup founders who are wired to be generously helpful, creating an active community of peers can be a powerful way to fuel customer growth with loyal fans. But thriving …
Every software founder understands that if they build a valuable company, they can win a big financial prize if they sell it someday. Work hard for many years. Be frugal …
Here's one of the most dangerous words for ambitious entrepreneurs: EVERYONE. "Everybody who wants to save money should want what we have." "We sell to every small business." "Every doctor's …
Growing from $5M to $10M ARR is almost the opposite game for B2B SaaS companies than getting to $1M in revenue. It's so different that very few sales leaders or salespeople …
The "Purple Ocean" strategy has the best odds of success for SaaS startup founders who want to grow efficiently without big VC funding. It's a twist on the Blue Ocean strategy …
Last week, three practical founders told me, "I could raise a few million dollars, but I don't know how we'd invest that much money so quickly." I hear this more often …
What should I do with my slow-growing SaaS startup? Should we stick it out or find a better opportunity? A founder I know asked me this question this week and we …
Once or twice a year, a new software entrepreneur tells me they "don't want to be pigeonholed." This inevitably means they didn't want to declare a clear focus and specialty. They …
Three SaaS CEOs I advise are looking for fractional CMOs right now--or potentially senior new marketing leaders. They each have growing software businesses with $2M-$5M ARR, but their marketing managers and …
There have been layoffs in big tech and many former execs are now fractional experts and consultants. I'm getting a lot of outreach for referrals, but many new service providers …
The common sales and marketing tactics used by SaaS companies have been beaten to death. This creates the primary risk for new software startups. It's just very, very difficult for frugal …
The potential success and value of your modern SaaS business is all about Sales and Marketing. Quality products are necessary but not sufficient. This is often a hard lesson to learn, especially …
If you have a product that solves a real problem but you are struggling to get attention and convert customers, you have a marketing and sales problem. 90% of up-and-running …
I talk to practical founders every day who have built really valuable software companies without any outside funding. No two founder stories are the same. They do it in their own …
Most of my conversations with startup and early-stage software founders this week weren't about funding or bootstrapping. They were about how and when to FOCUS to accelerate traction and growth. Focus is …
New software founders often ask me to review their funding pitches or their startup strategies. I let them talk and I ask questions. Then I tell them "This is what it …
I spent 3 days with 8 successful SaaS founders last week. Each founder presented their vision of what they are trying to create with their company. These discussions were very different …
Most VC investors and software entrepreneurs were skeptical of the new SaaS recurring revenue model during 2005-2010. Why would you invest so much upfront and only take a little slice of …
Every year we all get more automated robocalls, unsolicited emails, robotic LinkedIn DMs, and spam texts. It makes us tired. We don’t want to hear from marketers and outbound sales development …
Two weeks ago I called my mobile phone service provider and told them to shut off my voicemail completely. I was getting 5-10 spam voicemail messages a day. I haven't received …
One of the biggest differences between bootstrapped software companies and their VC-funded peers is their time frames. Most venture funds have a 7-10 year time horizon. The companies they back need …
It’s rare when a business in a tech-laggard industry like real estate creates its own custom software for internal use. And then spins it out to create a new software company …
I heard from three new SaaS entrepreneurs this week who each had the same question: How should we price our software now that we have our first 5-10 happy customers? First, …
I wish more bootstrapped SaaS founders would think like VCs. Not about taking on big funding, of course. It's how VCs play the Power Law to patiently look for an advantage …
Investors and bootstrappers have very different reactions to achieving real Product-Market Fit. Big Funding Investors: Great! You have finally happy customers and accelerating revenue. You should add our rocket fuel funding …
Venture capital investors won’t invest if your payback opportunity isn’t big enough to provide massive returns. What if your growing software company could someday provide those big VC-scale returns, but not …
The journey of successful software companies is most often told with a revenue line that goes up and to the right. We don’t hear much about the internal growth that had …
We heard about big VC funding and sky-high stock prices in 2021. Now we’re hearing about layoffs at most of these companies in 2023. Go fast and spend big while you can. …
Patience is an underrated superpower of successful entrepreneurs. I don't mean slowness or never being bold. You can be fast and impatient about SMALL things like execution and experiments. Speed works here. But …
So many things are changing in the software startup game every year. But there are still some universal and fundamental “laws of nature” that haven't changed. Yet. These tend to be how …
A really important milestone for a new startup is getting “traction” with your earliest customers. Traction simply means having enough customers using your enough of your product so you can get …
It's that time of year when ambitious entrepreneurs and startup leaders plan for the next year of their quests. Now it’s time to assess how you did this year and determine …
Founders often tell me, "How can we be big unless we sell to everyone?" I call this the Target Market Trap. It's where most startups get stuck on their way to …
Why doesn't Chik-fil-A sell hamburgers? Chick-fil-A is the 3rd largest fast-food restaurant chain in the US, behind McDonald’s and Starbucks. They just sell chicken sandwiches. $17 billion of them a year. Chick-fil-A doesn’t …
I have been blogging, speaking, and contributing on social media for over 15 years. But I didn't create big crowds and make a sizable impact until I did this: I FOCUSED IN …
There are many levels of traction in the software startup journey. Here are the levels I see most often: Idea Traction - You tell people about your idea and they don't …
It’s generally easier to start a software startup with a group of potential customers with a big problem they will pay to solve. Then build a product just for that. Or …
It’s easy to get ahead of yourself and build too much product before real users get their hands on it. Some industry experts go and build the “complete solution” before talking …
The most successful founders and CEOs say NO more than everyone else. How does that work? Doesn't having a bigger business allow you to say YES more often? You'd think so, but …
There are some tried and true practices that work in the startup game. But even when you do all the startup steps in the right order, it usually doesn’t work. Most …
People ask me all the time about their startup or product idea. "What do you think of my idea?" I don't give them any answers. I can only ask them a …
"One big reason we were successful is that we identified our ideal customer profile early, and we owned it, and then we really targeted them. "When you can start saying NO …
The average valuation for a growing $3M-$5M ARR SaaS business is a 7X multiple of revenues, for the small slice of higher-quality deals I see. Some are higher, some are …
One of the biggest differences between successful practical founders and founders who have raised big funding is not their speed. It's their PACE. Practical founders go slower at first. It makes all …
I talked to software founders last week in Ireland, Salt Lake City, El Paso, Dallas, Phoenix, and other places. I didn't recommend the same thing to any of them about funding …
"It's all about the X." I told that to a technical founder yesterday and it finally got through to him. We were talking about their prospect pipeline, expenses, milestones, funding, and marketing …
If you didn't hear this story for yourself, you might not think that a tiny software company could bootstrap and grow profitably for 8 years, then finally raise outside capital …
I was on an accelerator panel this week to give feedback to the founder of a marketplace startup. Her company has already generated over $500K in net revenue with no outside …
There has been a serious pullback in the valuations of private and public software companies this year. But I'm not seeing a serious pullback in demand for software tech from business …
"The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed." -- fiction author William Gibson. You've created a new thing that actually works. But that's not enough. A few customers use …
Building a software product is very hard. But getting customers, revenue and steady growth is now the HARDER PART of the startup-to-scale game. Great products are necessary but not sufficient. It doesn’t matter …
I have seen a lot of technical founders become capable CEOs and great leaders. But I have never seen a savvy business/sales founder develop into a great coder and engineer. This is …
When I’m talking with startup founders, I often use a specific term that requires some explanation. It's LEVERAGE. As in "Where's your leverage in that area?" This isn't financial leverage that multiplies your …
Entrepreneurs are optimistic. They find hard problems and think "I could fix that." Normal people don't do this. Most people run into problems or frustrations and just think "that sucks." A big …
Measuring avg. Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) with clarity and confidence is really hard when you are starting your SaaS business. Here are the most common CAC mistakes that SaaS startup founders …
For startups trying to find traction and happy customers, it just doesn't pay to try to sell to everyone in your market. Or the average customer. For startups selling new things, …
One of the most useful tools I use in entrepreneurship and marketing is The 10% Rule. I use it every day. It works like magic well when looking at any market …
What's the least believable part of this startup financial projection chart? Hint: It's not the hockey-stick revenue growth. 100% YOY revenue growth is not common, but it happens. The crazy part of this …
The savviest entrepreneurs and the most experienced marketers know something that isn't obvious. You wouldn't know it if you haven't done it for years. It just looks easy and effortless when you …
I talked with a technical founder today who never got revenue traction in his startup, but he was able to sell his technology to a bigger software business that wanted …
The most successful founders I know are extremely savvy about execution. Superpowers. But they also were thoughtful and clear about the strategic decisions they needed to make to execute so well. Most …
Here's my definition of strategy: Strategy is just the decisions you make that make execution work better. If execution doesn't improve eventually, it was the wrong strategy. I believe these things about strategy …
I caught up with a founder friend yesterday to hear about his new Web3 startup that uses blockchain, cryptocurrency, and NFT technologies. We last spoke when we both lived in Phoenix …
A founder I advise just sent their annual 2021 investor report today. They grew from $1.8M ARR to almost $5M ARR this year. This means the value of the company more than …
Here's my favorite thing about the crazy game of growing startups into bigger global companies: Fast-growing companies are opportunity factories. Fast growth creates massive career acceleration for those who join early, grow …
"How big is your potential market?" is an interesting question. But it's not very helpful to software startup founders. Here's what's actually useful: "What's the fastest way to get 100 or 1000 extremely …
Last week in Phoenix I spent an hour with my good friend Hamid Shojaee to talk shop on his AZ Tech Podcast. Here's what we talked about: What's happening in …
I have talked to dozens of founders and CEOs this month about their plans for 2021. The most powerful words a founder can say about their plans next year: Doubling down. "We …
"Why do we need to worry about our category as a startup right now?" That's a common question. The category game is not for every business. Small businesses play in existing categories. …
A real conversation with a talented and dedicated founder: "The seed investors I'm talking to don't think our TAM (total available market) is big enough since we focus on healthcare." Really? How …
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