Grow Your B2B SaaS

Want to build a strong for your startup? In the third episode of season two of Growing a B2B SaaS, host Joran Hofman delves into building a strong company culture to foster growth in a B2B SaaS organization. Joined by Mads Wedderkopp, CEO of Dream Influence, an influential marketing SaaS platform, they explore the significance of recruiting and retaining top talent to accelerate SaaS growth. Mads, drawing from his experience in scaling a SaaS company from zero to 6.5 million ARR, emphasizes the power of a strong culture in unlocking a team's potential. He shares invaluable insights on identifying core values and aligning team members to nurture a thriving culture. The episode also delves into the challenges and advantages of maintaining a strong culture while transitioning to remote work amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Tune in to discover practical strategies for cultivating a robust company culture that drives B2B SaaS success. Timecodes (00:29) Guest intro (1:21) Why you should listen to Mads (2:53) What Mads determines as a strong culture? (4:28) What else needs to be in place before you can really start building a culture? (5:54) Can you have a strong culture while working remotely? (9:15) Common mistake companies make while trying to build a company culture? (14:26) The effective hiring structure (14:54) Other Processes or strategies for building a strong culture.(Mads secret) (26:56) Why leveraging somebody else's network is important as a B2B SaaS company? (30:15) Advice on how to grow to 10K MRR ad then to 1m ARR (32:44) What Mads wished he knew 10 years ago (35:37) Mads contact info

In this episode of the "Growing a B2B SaaS" podcast, host Joran Hoffman interviews Michael Humblet, author of the books "Why Now" and "Nobody Knows You," and founder of Chaomatic, a service company aiding VW sales companies in generating more leads through creative content. Michael shares his insights on why businesses should invest in B2B software tools right now and how to overcome common challenges in sales and marketing. The conversation begins with Joran asking Michael why people should listen to him and why the timing is crucial. Michael explains that most businesses struggle with lead generation and lack trust-building strategies. He emphasizes the importance of fixing the "nobody knows you" problem by creating content, gaining attention, and building trust with prospects before engaging in sales conversations. Michael further discusses the sales process, focusing on techniques to move deals forward. He highlights the significance of simplifying complex solutions, demonstrating the interface, and showcasing the value of a single feature that can bring significant benefits. He also emphasizes the need to structure sales pitches effectively and reduce the initial meeting time to increase the likelihood of progressing to the next step. The conversation then delves into Michael's book, "Nobody Knows You," which addresses the challenges of building trust and gaining attention. He emphasizes the use of social proof, such as logos or faces, to establish credibility. Michael also explains the importance of attention and provides tips for structuring content and presentations effectively to guide the audience's focus. Finally, Michael shares insights from his book "Why Now," which focuses on accelerating deals. He emphasizes the importance of using the right sales methodology for different situations, injecting doubt or certainty depending on the prospect's needs, and providing a clear structure to alleviate concerns and promote faster decision-making. He suggests incorporating action steps at the end of each interaction to keep prospects engaged and move them closer to conversion. The episode concludes with a discussion on potential challenges when implementing the strategies outlined in the books. Michael advises seeking feedback from others and existing prospects to gain valuable insights and ensure effective communication. Simplifying messaging and aligning it with the language prospects use is key to successful implementation. Overall, this episode provides actionable advice and strategies for B2B SaaS companies to overcome common sales and marketing challenges, establish trust, and accelerate deal closure. Key Time codes [00:01:13.620] Why you should listen to you Michael today? And indeed, why now? [00:06:05.230] Why Michael wrote the book Nobody Knows  [00:07:00.590] - The content quality vs quantity analogy [00:09:08.440] - Understanding people’s interests. [00:10:03.360] - How long should you keep talking in a sales call? [00:10:48.160] - What really initiated Michael to start writing the book Why Now? [00:15:15.310] - How do you create doubt?  [00:18:20.080] – What is sales?  [00:19:24.200] - All the sales techniques to pull them very quickly to a closing. [00:21:26.560] - What are the biggest reasons sales get stuck? [00:25:13.670] – Knowing the exact words [00:25:40.410] – What is a good content Machine? [00:29:54.300] – Affiliate Marketing [00:34:16.280] - The five steps to the three steps. [00:37:53.470] – The future of AI? 

A profitable ad campaign is a marketing initiative that generates a positive return on investment (ROI) and achieves the desired objectives within a specified budget. In other words, it is an advertising campaign that brings in more revenue or value than the cost of running the campaign. The big question is, how do you run successful and profitable ad campaigns? The profitability of an ad campaign is typically measured by analyzing key performance indicators (KPIs) such as conversion rates, cost per acquisition (CPA), return on ad spend (ROAS), and overall ROI. If these metrics indicate that the revenue or value generated from the campaign exceeds the costs incurred, then the campaign is considered profitable. In this episode 1 of season 2 on The Grow your B2B SaaS Podcast , Joran Hofman hosts Today's subject matter expert is Michael Damnjanovic, CCO of Adline, an ad SaaS that helps clients make value-driving ads by leveraging artificial intelligence. Key Timecode (0:44) Introduction of topic and guest expert (01:21) Why you should listen to Mike (02:40) Minimal requirements for running ads (11:20) What is a profitable ad campaign (12:45) Steps to running a profitable ad (18:06) Role of artificial intelligence in creating effective ads  (20:03) Multi-channel marketing strategies (21:22) Advice to SaaS founders with 10K MRR (23:24) Advice to SaaS founder with 10M ARR (23:58) What he wishes he had known a decade ago (25:13) Mike's contact information: LinkedIn, podcast, Adline.com

Growing a B2B SaaS (Software as a Service) company to $1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) requires a well-planned strategy and consistent execution. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach, On the Growth Your B2B SaaS podcast, we hosted 20 quest experts on various subject matters. We asked them for this precious advice on how to grow your SaaS to 1 million ARR. If you aren't at this stage yet, then you will greatly benefit from our previous episode, where our guest experts advised on some of the key steps to help you get to 10k MRR. To move from 10k MRR to $1 million ARR our guest experts agree on some of the critical steps to take. Listen in and learn. Enjoy!

In season 1 of our podcast, we hosted 20 guest experts on various subject matters. The goal of our podcast is to help other B2 B Saas founders to grow. We asked our guests to share with us tricks and ideas of how to grow your Monthly Recurring Revenue and each expert had his own expert advice. Growing a B2B SaaS (Software as a Service) to $10,000 in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) requires a strategic approach and consistent effort. Here's a brief summary of the key advice and steps you can take to achieve this goal: Define your target market: Identify a specific niche or industry that can benefit from your SaaS product. Understand their pain points, and needs, and how your solution can address them effectively. Develop a compelling value proposition: Clearly communicate the unique value your SaaS provides to potential customers. Highlight the benefits, competitive advantages, and the specific problems it solves. This will help you differentiate your product from competitors. Build a minimum viable product (MVP): Develop an initial version of your SaaS that includes core features and functionality. Keep it simple, user-friendly, and focused on solving the most critical pain points of your target market. Launching an MVP allows you to gather feedback and iterate based on user input. Acquire early customers: Start by reaching out to your personal network, industry contacts, or potential customers who align with your target market. Offer them free trials, pilot programs, or discounted pricing to encourage adoption. Use their feedback and testimonials to refine your product and messaging. Implement a scalable sales and marketing strategy: Develop a comprehensive plan to attract and convert leads into paying customers. Utilize various marketing channels such as content marketing, social media, search engine optimization (SEO), and paid advertising. Build a sales process that includes lead nurturing, demos, and clear pricing plans. Focus on customer success and retention: Happy customers are more likely to stay and refer others. Provide excellent customer support, regular product updates, and continuous improvements based on user feedback. Implement a system to measure customer satisfaction and gather testimonials or case studies to showcase your product's value. Optimize pricing and packaging: Regularly assess your pricing strategy to ensure it aligns with the value you deliver. Consider offering tiered pricing plans or add-on features that cater to different customer segments. Experiment with pricing and monitor customer response to find the optimal balance between value and affordability. Expand your customer base: As you acquire more customers, leverage their networks and referrals to reach new prospects. Develop strategic partnerships with complementary businesses or industry influencers to expand your reach. Explore opportunities to collaborate with resellers or offer white-label solutions to penetrate new markets. Track key metrics and iterate: Continuously monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) such as MRR, customer acquisition cost (CAC), customer lifetime value (CLTV), churn rate, and conversion rates. Analyze the data to identify bottlenecks or areas for improvement. Adjust your strategies and tactics accordingly to optimize growth. Invest in scaling efforts: As you approach the $10,000 MRR mark, consider scaling your team, infrastructure, and resources to accommodate growth. Hire additional sales and marketing personnel, invest in customer support systems, and optimize your product's scalability and performance.

What is affiliate marketing? And why is it important for you to set up an affiliate program for your business? On The Grow your B2B SaaS Podcast , Joran Hofman hosts ⁠John Wright⁠ the Co-Founder at ⁠StatsDrone⁠. Having been in the industry for the past couple of decades, John leverages his academic engineering background to use data for business intelligence. He is keen to share his knowledge in affiliate marketing and business intelligence, which are increasingly important areas for SaaS founders in the digital business environment.  Key Timecodes (0:40) Introduction of today's topic and guest expert (01:27) Why you should listen to John (02:42) What is affiliate marketing (03:53) Why a B2B Saas should set up an affiliate program (07:44) Common mistakes for SaaS when establishing an affiliate marketing program (12:08) Strategies for scaling an affiliate program: (16:35) Ideal sources of affiliates for a B2B SaaS: (21:29) Challenges in growing an affiliate program (22:34) The future of affiliate marketing (28:00) Advice to SaaS founder with 10K MRR: (31:08) Advice to SaaS with 1M ARR (35:53) John's contact information

How do you Set up a Multi-Channel Marketing Tracking strategy? Are you doing the proper multi-channel tracking for your business? The key to business growth is tracking what is working and not working. In today’s episode, we discuss how to track all your marketing efforts across various channels. Julia Draghici is our guest expert today. She is the founder and CEO of CPV Lab, a bootstrapped tracking tool that helps businesses to manage their multi-channel marketing efforts. Why you need to listen to Julia: Julia has been a SaaS co-founder for the last 5 years with a computer science and economics background. In the previous 15 years, she has gained much experience in different work areas, including Project Management and Software Development. As such, she is skilled in customer support, affiliate marketing, sales, and strategic planning. What is multi-channel market tracking: Julia starts by unpacking omnichannel marketing to establish business visibility on all channels where the target audience is found. In this regard, multi-channel tracking entails monitoring the performance of your efforts across various channels. A SaaS can figure out the best-performing channels and thus place greater priority on them. In addition, tracking helps to understand customer behavior and affiliate partners. Minimum requirements for tracking multi-channels: According to Julia, the natural starting point of tracking them is defining them first. Defining a channel enables a SaaS to determine its target audience. Instead of following trendy channels by competitors, it is better to target channels with your ideal customer profile. Secondly, you should define your budget for the tracking effort. When bootstrapping, Julia advises splitting your budget across the various selected channels and testing them for about 3 months. It also helps to run display ads and engage partners to leverage their established marketing networks. Common mistakes in multi-channel tracking: Julia points to the failure to compare data between and across the various channels as the main mistake by most companies. Given that each traffic source has its tracking system, it is crucial to compare the data results to figure out the best-converting ones. She suggests that a SaaS should utilize a single tracking platform for the multi-channels to avoid the danger of wrong attribution. Time Stamps (0:40) Introduction of today’s topic and guest expert (1:27) Why you need to listen to Julia  (03:12) What is multi-channel market tracking  (04:45) Minimum requirements for tracking multi-channels:  (07:37) Common mistakes in multi-channel tracking: (10:21) Most suitable model for attributing conversion  (12:45) How multi-channel tracking helps determine performance  (15:05) Common pitfalls to avoid during multi-channel tracking:   (17:21) How to start multi-channel tracking:  (19:15) Winning strategies for top affiliate marketers:  (23:15) Advice to SaaS founders with 10K MRR:  (25:06) Advice to SaaS business with 1M ARR:  (27:21) Julia’s contact information 

How can you Win Against Big Competitors? Imagine your product competing against one of the biggest and already established Brands like Excel. What product strategy should you implement to measure up to the biggest market competition? A clear product strategy is crucial in today's increasingly competitive business environment. Accordingly, this is our topic of discussion in today's special live-on-stage episode. Our guest expert, Torben Schulz is the co-founder and CEO of spreadsheet creator Rows.   Why you should listen to Torben: With a management and consulting professional background, Torben is the founder of Rows, which seeks to become the best spreadsheets in the world. With household competition like Excel and Google Sheets, Rows' product strategy is geared towards giving users a more straightforward interface and data connectivity. In summary, Torben says the remarkable of his company are the reason any SaaS founder should give him a listening ear. Why a SaaS needs a clear product strategy: Torben argues that a clear product strategy gives direction to the SaaS and its people. With a clear product strategy in place, the designers and engineers in the organization have the necessary freedom and creativity to work on specific tasks. What is an ideal product strategy: The main building block of a clear product strategy, according to Torben, is a clear vision statement. The vision spells out the ideal customer profile and the problem that the product offers a solution to at present and in the future. In addition, it should articulate the jobs to be done in order to give direction to the people tasked with implementing the strategy. Importance of integrations in a product strategy: Torben indicates that integrations are key elements of Rows because they offer tangible value to the users. According to customer feedback, integrations is one of the main reason users prefer Rows over similar tools by competition. Although integrations are a major value driver, Rows adopts a freemium model, only charging for them upon upgrade after 10,000 executions in a single month. Our guest expert also addresses the element of churn regarding integrations, stating there is a low probability of churn when various spreadsheets and integrations are used. Free-trial integrations often have low retention because they are easy to use and do not need third-party intervention. On the other hand, integrations dealing with such complex workflows as Bigquery and Facebook, for instance, have lower churn rates because they require professional assistance with the tools. Time Stamps (0:39) Topic and guest expert introduction (01:38) Why you should listen to Torben (03:43) Why a SaaS needs a clear product strategy (04:46) What is an ideal product strategy (05:45) Importance of integrations in a product (08:23) Challenges with using multiple integrations (11:18) Role of a customer in product strategy (14:50) Importance of Artificial intelligence for SaaS (16:57) Other benefits of integrations to Rows (19:08) Common mistakes for companies with their product strategy (21:27) Advice to SaaS companies with 10k MRR (23:14) Advice to SaaS companies with 1M ARR

Is your B2B SaaS growing predictably? To realize desired growth, it helps to have the traction you can predict. This requires putting in place a working plan, which our expert guest today clearly spells out. Ton Dobbe is most suited to talk about predictable growth, given his many years working in the B2B industry. He is also the author of the informative book titled The Remarkable Effect. Why you need to listen to Ton: Our guest expert is highly experienced in matters B2B SaaS, having worked in the industry for over 30 years. His book, The Remarkable Effect, provides a tried and tested framework for accelerating your journey towards predictable traction. He has helped several companies with strong products that struggle with growing predictably. From the few business examples he quotes, it is clear that his framework is highly successful for businesses across various industries. What is predictable traction: Ton defines predictable traction as "the art of turning initial success into reliable acceleration motion of sales, not only in good times but also in bad times." He reckons that while any marketer can create traction for their product, the most important thing is the ability to keep getting up, especially during downturns. Why did he write The Remarkable Effect framework book: He was inspired by a guest on his podcast to write a book. As such, he wrote the book in which he captured all his past experiences and anecdotes from his podcast episodes. He titled it The Remarkable Effect from the podcast stories of remarkable software company personnel he hosted on his podcast. Ton was interested in discovering what makes remarkable software companies tick. The value lever of The Remarkable Effect framework: Ton unpacks the building stones of his remarkable effect framework: Value, Viability, and Volume. The value lever forms the foundation of a B2B SaaS, which spells out the remarkable aspects of the business in terms of the value their product or service provides to the ideal customer profile. Further, the business should provide a valuable and desirable product. Time Stamps (0:30) Introduction of today's topic and guest expert (1:31) Why you need to listen to Ton (04:30) What is predictable traction (05:15) Why did he write The Remarkable Effect Framework book (08:09­) The value lever of The Remarkable Effect framework (11:09) The viability lever of The Remarkable Effect framework (17:33) Step 3 The Volume lever of The Remarkable Effect framework (22:43) Common mistakes for business in predictable growth (26:27) How to implement The Remarkable Effect framework (27:46) When does a company need professional help with predictable growth (30:30) Advice to B2B SaaS with 10K MRR (33:14) Advice to B2B SaaS with 1M ARR (36:50) Ton's contact information

What is sales prospecting? And are you doing it right in your SaaS? In today's ever-competitive SaaS industry you must perform sales prospecting correctly to realize maximum growth. In this episode, we host a self-declared "Natural Geek" Founder, Investor, and Late Night Innovator Rob Harlow. Why you need to listen to Rob: He is a specialist in social Prospecting and has seen his company's Outbase grow tremendously year on year. Rob has access to a massive database of over 20 million prospects across 70 countries worldwide. As an industry leader in prospecting in the UK, their annual report, The State of Prospecting, is now a highly sought-after benchmark for Prospecting and optimization. What is Prospecting: Rob defines Prospecting as finding the right person in the right organization to determine that your product or service offering perfectly fits. He argues that Prospecting is an everyday function that every salesperson in an organization has undertaken or has become versed with. Prospecting has grown more sophisticated in the digital space with the advancement in technology. As such, companies can leverage more significant amounts of data and utilize various automated processes. Rob identifies three aspects as the main areas of Prospecting: researching, identifying, and engaging. Importance of Prospecting to SaaS Companies: In addition to product-led and sales-led growth, B2B SaaS companies require sales prospecting to match their ideal customer profile precisely. As an outbound strategy, Prospecting enables a B2B SaaS to scale its sales and marketing efforts. Our guest advises that a company should place prospecting at the center of the sales process, given today's digital capabilities. Minimum requirements for prospecting at a company: Our guest expert says that a company needs to have a functional CRM in place before starting the prospecting function. The CRMs serve to manage incoming leads and customer conversations properly. In addition, having a well-documented sales process is crucial because it makes the prospecting campaign a success. Common mistakes companies make in Prospecting: Rob points out that most companies need a sound technical setup to enable a successful prospecting effort. Given that emailing is also an integral part of Prospecting, the functionality of the messaging tools is crucial. An extensive target group also results in messaging that does not appeal to everyone, thus failing Prospecting. It is important to send emails to reach the right target accounts. Key Time Codes (0:08) Introduction of topic and guest (1:11) Why you need to listen to Rob: (2:15) What is Prospecting (5:19) Importance of Prospecting to SaaS Companies (7:00) Minimum requirements for prospecting at a company (9:23) Common mistakes companies make in Prospecting (14:30) Main takeaways from The State of Prospecting 2023 Report (18:50) Effectiveness of the email as a market channel (21:16) Strategies for effective Prospecting (25:40) Future Trends in Prospecting (32:35) Advice to SaaS company with 10K MRR  (34:03) Advice to SaaS company with 1M ARR (36:05) Rob's contact information