Growth strategies should be tailored for the different stages a B2B SaaS is in. Founders should make sure their product, marketing, sales, and support strategies always go hand-in-hand regardless of the stages their companies are at. Great articles I drew my ideas from: 1. Joel York's Three SaaS Sales Models http://chaotic-flow.com/saas-startup-strategy-three-saas-sales-models/ 2. Guillaume Lerouge's Go-To-Market Strategy for B2B SaaS Companies https://www.slideshare.net/GuillaumeLerouge1/go-tomarket-strategy-for-b2b-saas-companies

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Growth Strategy for B2B Saas -
How to Build Your Product Into a Growth-Ready One?
YuHsuan Chao

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YuHsuan Chao
Product expert and serial entrepreneur in SaaS. Experienced in the
full lifecycle of SaaS from development to go-to-market, currently at
Zendesk helping thousands of businesses deliver the best customer
experiences.
Areas of interest:
B2B SaaS, API platforms & scalable systems

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● What is B2B SaaS
● Different phases of B2B SaaS lifecycle
● The GTM strategies for B2B SaaS
● How to work with your product team for growth
● Q & A - Discussions
Agenda

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Why this matters?
B2B SaaS are very different from consumer softwares. How different?
In a lot of cases, you’ll find yourself trying to sell something that doesn’t even make
sense to the average person.
In this webinar, we are going to introduce the key phases of a B2B SaaS product’s
lifecycle, and provide pragmatic advice on its GTM and growth.

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B2C vs B2B at a Glance

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B2C product B2B product
Users = customers* ≠ customers*
PMs are often consumers themselves are often NOT customers nor users
themselves
Metrics surrounding user behaviour
(engagement, retention, etc. “Power user”
concept is strong)
user behaviour is NOT the only thing
(SLA; reliability & stability; feature utilisation rate;
sales data, …)
Development
lifecycle
usually shorter usually longer
Revenue NOT always paid by the customer
(from the users; ads; ecosystem)
from the customers directly
(usage/plan; add-on; API/SDKs; professional
service; training)
Channels of
distribution
where the users are
(mostly self-onboarded)
bottom up vs. top-down
(self-onboarded; sales-assisted; channel partners /
resellers)
B2C vs B2B Products

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Different phases of B2B SaaS
Credit: Lauren Bass
These 4 strategies should always go hand in hand:
● Product
● Marketing
● Sales
● Support

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GTM for SaaS - i
Credit: Joel York
● Three SaaS sales models
○ Customer Self-Service
○ Transactional Sales
○ Enterprise Sales

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GTM for SaaS - ii
Credit: Joel York
● Increase velocity
○ Choose a big market
○ Hone your product for it to sell itself
○ Increase organic growth
○ Do your SEO. Create an online community
● Increase profit
○ Δ (ASP - CAC)
Go after the most profitable segments
Increase operational efficiency
● Increase value
○ Enable mass customisation
○ Don’t chase elephants at the start

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GTM for SaaS - iii
● Startups usually grow towards the upmarket
Credit: Joel York

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GTM for SaaS - iii
● Startups usually grow towards the upmarket
● Don’t just sell tools. Sell solutions to a
problem.
Credit: Joel York

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GTM for SaaS - Wrap up
Credit: Guillaume Lerouge
● Choose your battlefield - who are your customers?

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Credit: MarketingWeek
Working with your product team for growth

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Discussions
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