The Revenue Formula
Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan
This podcast is about scaling tech startups.
Hosted by Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan, together they look at the full funnel.
With a combined 20 years of experience in B2B SaaS and 3 exits, they discuss growing pains, challenges and opportunities they’ve faced. Whether you're working in RevOps, sales, operations, finance or marketing - if you care about revenue, you'll care about this podcast.
If there’s one thing they hate, it’s talk. We know, it’s a bit of an oxymoron. But execution and focus is the key - that’s why each episode is designed to give 1-2 very concrete takeaways.
Hosted by Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan, together they look at the full funnel.
With a combined 20 years of experience in B2B SaaS and 3 exits, they discuss growing pains, challenges and opportunities they’ve faced. Whether you're working in RevOps, sales, operations, finance or marketing - if you care about revenue, you'll care about this podcast.
If there’s one thing they hate, it’s talk. We know, it’s a bit of an oxymoron. But execution and focus is the key - that’s why each episode is designed to give 1-2 very concrete takeaways.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Aug 8, 2023 • 30min
1 year in 30 min: 6 things you've missed
One year has passed, and maybe you've missed an episode or two. In this episode we've picked our 6 favorite takeaways and distilled them in a short 30 min episode. This is what we covered:(00:00) - Introduction
(01:56) - Quick review of year 1
(05:23) - 1: the 10% rule to double revenue
(08:57) - 2: CAC is useless
(12:08) - 3: Want sales consistenct? Try this
(18:19) - 4: 200 QBRs later, they're broken
(23:03) - 5: 1 thing to scale
(26:14) - 6: 5 efficiency plays you haven't thought of
Aug 1, 2023 • 34min
Cash Cows and Stars: Allocate resources like this
What if you had $10 million to allocate in 2024? How do you know to spend that cash in the best possible way? Simple: act like a portfolio manager.In this episode, we borrow lessons from Boston Consulting Group's Growth Share Matrix and show you how you can apply that to your revenue engine. After this, you'll never look at your GTM strategy the same way again.Read More: https://growblocks.com/blog/allocating-capital-is-easy/
Jul 25, 2023 • 31min
Forget alignment, just agree on this
In this episode, we want you to forget all about the word alignment. Because even if you do achieve it, it won't drive growth on its own. Alignment should be an outcome, not a tactic.In this episode, we explain why the classic concept of alignment is broken and what 3 things you should have your team focus agree on instead to drive efficiency.
Jul 18, 2023 • 31min
If your target is at risk, listen to this
2/3 sales reps aren't completing quota. Sales cycles are extending. Win rates are down. Yeah it's tough - that's why we cover what you can do to get back on track.What we covered 👇(00:00) - Introduction
(01:35) - The problems in SaaS
(05:05) - Only 2 out of 3 reps hit quota
(06:44) - We need an impact now
(07:28) - First step - do the analysis
(09:09) - Time is neglected
(12:09) - Where is the volume
(13:24) - The limitations of CAC Payback
(17:36) - Now what?
(20:00) - Help customers overcome indecision
(22:01) - An example
(25:39) - Another example
(28:32) - Find problems
Sources mentioned:Solving underperformance by Winning by DesignDemand picking up a smidge by SaaStrDecline in win rates by Jacco Van Der Kooij
Jul 11, 2023 • 31min
NPS Sucks
Net promoter score is terrible - it's become useless for SaaS. We discuss the problems with it, and how to fix it.(00:00) - Introduction
(01:39) - The old framework: Net promoter score
(04:47) - The problem with NPS
(06:21) - It's self-correcting
(07:29) - A metric that can be gamed nicely
(09:35) - Promoter today, detractor tomorrow
(10:15) - A honeypot for promoters
(11:35) - Are the teams using it? And what is it needed for?
(11:56) - OK, NPS sucks. Now what?
(12:28) - If the focus is retention & satisfaction, listen here
(24:13) - For word of mouth - listen here
Also mentioned in this episode:Earned Growth Rate from HBRNPS isn't a leading indicator of churn from GainsightPS: NPS was developed in the 90s by Bain & Co -- before SaaS really came around.
Jul 4, 2023 • 29min
Drive customer growth
The biggest growth lever you have? It's your customers. In this episode we talk about CSMs, incentives and 4 common expansion strategies.(00:00) - Introduction
(02:17) - The CSM rule of thumb
(04:39) - It's decided then, this year we focus on our customers
(08:31) - The role of the CSM
(11:33) - 4+2 ways to drive expansions
(12:06) - Usage
(12:53) - Tiered
(13:31) - Add-on
(13:56) - Products
(14:14) - The add-on you can do today
(20:03) - The 2 bonus tricks
(21:27) - Track decisionmakers
(22:52) - Incentivizing CSMs
Jun 29, 2023 • 41min
Special: Revenue Planning (With Ben Murray)
We’ve been zinging finance a bit on the show. Today we decided to invite a SaaS CFO, Ben Murray.We talked about how the two functions should create a solid revenue plan together - how to manage crazy ambitions and much more.(00:00) - Introduction: Finance + RevOps
(03:52) - How the CFO sees RevOps
(05:22) - The focus is on sales and marketing
(07:09) - Getting operational
(08:32) - CFOs
(10:43) - What planning looks like
(15:02) - Hidden improvements
(24:22) - Driving the plan forward
(26:16) - Creating flexibility in the plan
(31:01) - Selling to the CFO
(33:16) - Making the case
(38:53) - Where should RevOps report to?
About BenBen is a fractional CFO and founder of TheSaaSCFO.com and TheSaaSAcademy.comWant more from Ben? Check out his newsletter here https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page
Jun 27, 2023 • 26min
Pipeline coverage is worthless
You have a pipeline coverage ratio (PLC) of 10x. Is that good? Is it bad? Will you hit target? Will you team understand it?The only thing you know for sure: It needs a winrate of 10% to work out.But how do you use it operationally? Well.. It's pretty difficult. We dive into the problems with PLC in this episode.(00:00) - Introduction
(01:26) - Pipeline coverage isn't helpful
(11:53) - Pipeline coverage gets impacted so many ways
(13:47) - This is how you can use PLC
(16:33) - What's the alternative?
(22:15) - The "boring" answer
(24:06) - Unblended PLC
PS: Want a masters degree in B2B SaaS? Head over to the revenue letter.
Jun 20, 2023 • 30min
Churn is dying, let’s save it
You can calculate churn however you want. The problem? Churn as a metric will start to lose meaning.Toni and Mikkel discuss the different options to make it useful.(00:00) - Introduction
(01:58) - What churn was used for
(04:35) - The intention behind churn
(07:36) - Churn definitions from public companies
(10:46) - The most brutal churn
(12:42) - So what do you do with churn?
(18:43) - Collateral damage
(21:19) - Churn defined, now what?
(23:11) - Vintages of customers
(25:09) - Creating future churn
(26:45) - But.. How to improve it?
SourcesYou can check how different companies report churn here (http://christophjanz.blogspot.com/2017/12/how-public-saas-companies-report-churn.html )Watch Dave Kellogg's presentation on churn here.Something you want us to cover? Drop us a note on podcast@growblocks.com
Jun 13, 2023 • 31min
Want predictable revenue? This'll help
The most predictability businesses have for revenue is the forecast. But what are some other simple steps you can take to build more predictability on revenue?Toni and Mikkel discuss non-magic steps you can take towards predictable revenue.The industrialization of sales (05:09)How to go about it (06:32)Giving targets to your team (08:31)Steer clear of magic (10:31)The 10% rule (11:02)Give quarterly targets (13:44)Where will you add a buffer? (14:47)How do you get to quarterly targets? (19:41)Too much cushion? (21:33)Focus on the 10 percenters (25:30)The board and the plan (26:50)Interested in GTM live? You can sign up here
