Zero to 50m

1. Zero to $50M Roadmap of the Key Stages, and How to Win at Each Stage

2. Search for Product/Market Fit Scaling the Business Search for Repeatable & Scalable & Profitable Growth Model The Three Phases of a Startup’s Lifecycle

3. The Most important Startup Questions • When will we run out of cash? • Are we on track to reach the milestones needed for a successful fundraise?

4. The Cash Out Graph $8m $6m $4m $2m $0 ($2m) Start Fundraising 3 months Oct-17 Nov-17 Dec-17 Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18 Jul-18 Aug-18 Sep-18 Oct-18 Nov-18 Dec-18

5. Startups are a race against time • The way to win is extreme Focus • & total alignment across all departments

6. But… what to focus on?

7. Since cash is crucial to survival…

8. … let’s look at how to successfully close your next round

9. Startup Valuations Time Valuation

10. Startup Valuations – The Reality Time Valuation Milestones

11. Scaling the Business Search for Product/Market Fit Search for Repeatable & Scalable & Profitable Growth Model The VC view - How risk changes over time Risk As perceived by the financial metrics and Growth Investors

12. Scaling the Business Search for Product/Market Fit Search for Repeatable & Scalable & Profitable Growth Model How risk changes over time Risk As perceived by Early Stage Investors

13. Scaling the Business Search for Product/Market Fit Search for Repeatable & Scalable & Profitable Growth Model And Valuations are inversely correlated to Risk Risk Valuation

14. Evidence of Product/Market Fit Evidence of Repeatable & Scalable & Profitable Growth Model Milestones for a Successful Fundraise: Series A Series A

15. Good Evidence of Product Market Fit • A number of customers have purchased • Referenceable • Customers are happy • Using the product (and would be very reluctant to give it up) • Realizing the promised benefits • Evidence of intent to expand usage • Churn is low

16. Predictable, Repeatable, Scalable, Profitable Growth Scaling the Business Search for Product/Market Fit Search for Repeatable & Scalable & Profitable Growth Model

17. What Growth Round investors are looking for

18. The key sign that you’re getting there: Bookings - (NOT Revenue or ARR!) For SaaS: Bookings = Net New ARR (New + Expansion – Churned) Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7

19. ARR with Flat Bookings ARR with Growing Bookings Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7

20. Net New ARR Expansion ARR (Existing Customers) Churned ARR (Lost Customers) New ARR (New Customers) The right way to measure SaaS Bookings

21. Key SaaS chart: 4 components of bookings $(15.0) $(10.0) $(5.0) $- $5.0 $10.0 $15.0 $20.0 $25.0 $30.0 $35.0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun ARR Bookings New ARR Net New ARR Expansion ARR Churned ARR Always look at a chart that shows the trendlines to see if there is growth

22. Break this into phases Search for Repeatable, Scalable & Profitable Growth Model Close early-access sales Make the customers successful Find Predictable and Repeatable Motion Make it Scalable Make it Profitable

23. At the beginning: No clear sales path

24. By the end: Well understood path • Lead funnel • Sales motion • Customer onboarding

25. Where do you start?

26. Pick one target market

27. … with a clear Use Case Use Case Benefit

28. Messaging • Business benefits, not product features • Clear • Simple • Short • Explains differentiation from competition

29. Initial Guess at Growth Process Website Free Trial

30. The normal approach to Funnel Design Vendor Centric

31. My view: the right approach to Funnel Design Buyer Centric Vendor Buyer-Centric

32. Buyer Personae See Appendix for more info

33. Map Buyers Process to Your Steps Research Shortlist Vendors Evaluation ROI & Justification Website Free Trial BUYER VENDOR

34. Get Inside Your Buyers Head Research Shortlist Vendors Evaluation ROI & Justification Website Free Trial BUYER VENDOR How are they reacting as they go through our funnel steps? What are they thinking as they go through their process?

35. Optimize Your Steps to Fit Research Shortlist Vendors Evaluation ROI & Justification Website Free Trial ROI Calculator Competitive Features Matrix BUYER VENDOR

36. Address All Decision Criteria Address Security Concerns 3rd Party Security Audit & Whitepaper BUYER Is this a safe vendor to choose? • Customer Stories • Safe Channel Partners

37. Blog post and slide deck: “Optimize Your Funnel By Getting Inside Your Buyer’s Head” http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/launch-scale-2017/

38. Fire Up an Initial Lead Source

39. Test and Optimize the Funnel Flow Fix Conversion Rate Problems Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects

40. Funnel Optimization Meeting Participants Sales Marketing Product Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Suspects Customer Success

41. Ideal Initial Sales Staffing Close early-access sales Find Predictable and Repeatable Sales Motion Make it Scalable Founders 1 more Pathfinder/Trailblazer Salesperson Sales Director (willing to act as a Pathfinder/Traillblazer rep for a few months) 2 Reps 2 Reps 2 Reps Make it Profitable

42. Pathfinder/Trailblazer Sales People • Not like ordinary sales people – who follow a playbook • They have to create and evolve the playbook • Which target market? • Who in the organization to sell to? • What messaging? • What sales motion? • What pricing? • What new product features are needed?

43. Bookings Driven by very simple math

44. What Drives Bookings? No of Sales People Productivity per Rep (Average) x PPR

45. Lets look at each of these in turn…

46. Number of Sales People One of the most common reasons for missing plan Didn’t hire sales people fast enough

47. Sales Hiring • You will need to build an in house recruiting machine See my blog post: “Recruiting: the third crucial Startup Skill”

48. PPR: Productivity per Rep • Quality of sales hires • Sales Training and Onboarding

49. PPR: Sales Training and Onboarding • Sales people: one of the most expensive resources • Yet typically little effort put in to sales training in early days • High payback • Worth having the founders spend time to develop & deliver a lot of the material

50. Productivity Per Rep (PPR) Rep Q2-15 Q3-15 Q4-15 Q1-16 Q2-16 Q3-16 Q4-16 John 120 165 180 145 80 110 195 Mary 80 110 135 155 150 145 Fred 60 35 75 40 55 Alice 85 145 160 180 145 Joe 60 110 85 130 145 Mike 155 170 145 190 Sarah 35 45 70 45 Sue 80 145 175 165

51. % of Reps at Quota 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Q1-16 Q2-16 Q3-16 Q4-16 % of Reps above 75% of Quota 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Q1-16 Q2-16 Q3-16 Q4-16 % of Reps above 100% of Quota

52. There’s one other thing that drives PPR Adequate Lead Flow

53. Compute Leads Required per Rep x No of Closed Deals = Reverse Funnel Conversion Rate Marketing Qualified Leads Required

54. This becomes the Contract between Sales & Marketing Marketing Qualified Leads Required Sales Marketing SDR’s

55. Scaling the Business Search for Product/Market Fit Search for Repeatable & Scalable & Profitable Growth Model More lessons we can learn from the three phase diagram

56. The Seven Sub-Phases Identified Build the product Search for Product/Market Fit Test hypothesis using product mock up on potential buyers Search for Repeatable & Scalable & Profitable Growth Model Close early-access sales Make those customers successful Find Predictable & Repeatable Sales Motion Make it Scalable Make it Profitable

57. #mistake Trying to force progress by jumping ahead before completing the current phase

58. Common Variations… • Building product before meeting enough buyers to validate the hypothesis • Hiring salespeople before the founders have proven that they can sell the product • Scaling sales before solving a churn problem • Scaling the salesforce before the growth process is predictable & repeatable

59. Burn Cash & shorten the runway

60. Scaling the Business Search for Product/Market Fit Search for Repeatable & Scalable & Profitable Growth Model What we’ve learned… Not predictable how long this will take

61. Scaling the Business Search for Product/Market Fit Search for Repeatable & Scalable & Profitable Growth Model Conserve Cash until the Scaling Phase Cash Burn

62. Scaling the Business Search for Product/Market Fit Search for Repeatable & Scalable & Profitable Growth Model A common mistake… • Not hiring enough sales people in the Scaling phase • Founders remain in burn avoidance mode

63. Milestones for a Successful Growth Round

64. Proof Points for Investors • Predictable, Repeatable, Scalable • Consistent growth in Bookings (not just ARR) • Proof that you can grow the sales organization, and make them productive • Proven lead sources that can scale • Profitable: • LTV > 3x CAC • Months to recover CAC ≤ 18 • Product/Market Fit • Strong customer usage patterns over time • Low customer churn, Net negative revenue churn

65. Freemium, Free Trials, Open Source The Product is your sales person

66. WHAT IS YOUR TIME TO WOW! ? Thanks to Gail Goodman of Constant Contact

67. Defining WOW! Thanks to Gail Goodman of Constant Contact A moment where your buyer sees something cool and exciting • Motivates them to continue exploring The moment when your buyer gets excited enough to want to buy Mini Wow! Full Wow!

68. Time to WOW! • How many steps? • How much time does it take? • How much FRICTION is involved

69. Remove Steps & Remove Friction

70. EXAMPLE

71. As eCommerce shoppers… … what makes us buy?

72. Photos Feature Summary Recommended Accessories Rich description Video Reviews Detailed Specifications Answer: Rich Product Content

73. Salsify – Product Content Supply Chain Automation Brands Photos Videos Text Specs Etc. Retailer Portal Retailer Portal Retailer Portal Retailer Portal

74. Salsify’s Original Trial Experience Sign up Wait for email with Account Open the App Learn the UI Import Content Locate & Export Content Export to new Retailer Sign up with new Retailer

75. Landing Page Lots of Fields

76. Next, Wait for Email…

77. Sign In… Now What? • Lots of work still required

78. Get Inside your Buyers Head and Analyze for Problems Sign up Wait for email with Account Open the App Learn the UI Import Content Locate & Export Content Export to new Retailer Sign up with new Retailer

79. Redesign Trial Steps for Problems (Friction, Concerns, & Motivations) Sign up Wait for email with Account Open the App Learn the UI Import Content Locate & Export Content Export to new Retailer Sign up with new Retailer Delay causing major drop off

80. First Step in the Redesign Import Content Locate & Export Content Export to new Retailer Sign up with new Retailer Sign up Learn the UI

81. New Landing Page: JUST YOUR EMAIL

82. Motivation: “If these guys are using it, it must be pretty good…”

83. Still leaves a problem: • Locate & Export Content • Then import to Salsify to have something to play with Then: Land directly in App

84. Major Friction + Other people involved = Long Delays Import Content Locate & Export Content Export to new Retailer Sign up with new Retailer Sign up Learn the UI

85. Offer a chance to start with Sample Data Sign up Import Content Locate & Export Content Export to new Retailer Sign up with new Retailer They now have the MOTIVATION to import their own data Play with Sample Data Mini Wow! Learn the UI

86. Eliminate the risk that they won’t find the path to Wow! Learn the UI Import Content Locate & Export Content Export to new Retailer Sign up with new Retailer • High friction • Too much risk they won’t find the path to Wow! Sign up

87. Guided Navigation Human Help available

88. Uplift - % Conversion, Before and After 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Before After Trial Request -> Logged into App Trial Request -> Product Page Trial Request -> Taking action 3x Overall Improvement

89. Next Problem Area… Sign up Import Content Locate & Export Content Export to new Retailer Sign up with new Retailer Play with Sample Data • High Friction • Long Delay

90. Google Shopping

91. Problem Solved – Export to Google Manufacturer Center Sign up Import Content Locate & Export Content Play with Sample Data Export to Google

92. Last Remaining Problem Area… Sign up Import Content Locate & Export Content Play with Sample Data Export to Google • Huge Friction & Delay • Other People involved

93. Scrape publicly available data from existing retailer’s pages Sign up Play with Sample Data Export to Google No import needed Scrape Content for them • They have my content in here already • They’re showing me all the issues Mini Wow!

94. Eliminates Need for Sample Data Sign up Play with Sample Data Export to Google See their own Data Scrape Content for them

95. Final Redesigned Process • Fast Time to Wow! • High conversion rates Sign up Export to Google See and solve problems with their own Data Scrape Content for them

96. SUMMARY

97. Search for Product/Market Fit Scaling the Business Search for Repeatable & Scalable & Profitable Growth Model Recognize where you are in the lifecycle

98. Scaling the Business Search for Product/Market Fit Search for Repeatable & Scalable & Profitable Growth Model Choose the right actions for your stage • Don’t jump ahead: • Expanding sales before product/market fit • Hiring too many sales people before the sales process is working

99. Avoid Underfunding - not enough cash to reach next milestone Time Valuation Next Key Milestone x Cash Out Date

100. Use the cash out date and financing milestones

101. … and Alignment

102. For more details on all these topics: visit ForEntrepreneurs.com Presentation Slides: forentrepreneurs.com/saastr-2018

103. APPENDIX

104. Getting to know your Buyer Personae • Identifying Characteristics • What are their key business goals? • How does our product help them achieve those? • What does their Boss expect of them? • What pain do they have that we address? • Is it latent pain, or obvious pain? • How do they describe the pain and what they are looking for? • (Helpful for messaging) • Are they out there searching for solutions? • If so, how? • Is solving this pain a high priority for them? • If not, what features would make it a higher priority? • What are the most important features on their checklist? • What are their reactions to our product/company? • What will they like? What will they not like? • What are the main questions and concerns they will have? • What are the steps in their purchasing process? • What are their likely decision making criteria? • Who else has to be involved in the decision (e.g. Business buyer, IT)? • Who influences them? (Sites, organizations, and people) • (Helps us figure out how to market to them) • Other characteristics that are relevant to this purchase • E.g. Developers: • Don't have a budget • Prefer Open Source, and don't like to pay for software

105. A more detailed look at what drives bookings…

106. Without Sales people Leads Simple linear relationship Conversion Rate Average Deal Size x x

107. But when you add in Sales People… Ramp Time Sales Capacity Limit

108. Growth comes in discontinuous units

109. The Unit of Growth Sales Person

110. Supported by Leads & Customer Success Sales Person $’s Marketing Spend SDR’s Leads Customer Success, Renewals, etc.

111. It’s not just the front of the funnel…

112. The Backend of the Funnel Closed Deals Loyal Customers who are Advocates Renew ExpandOnboard It’s all about LTV

113. Top Factors affecting Renewals • On-boarded successfully? • Champion still at the company? • Customer getting meaningful business benefits? • Is the product Sticky?

114. Dollar Renewal Rate is King See last year’s presentation Customer Renewal Rate >Dollar Renewal Rate