The SaaS business model has risen to popularity for many reasons - it’s fast-paced, creates residual revenue streams, and well, the multiples are strong. However, while many are flocking to reap the benefits of the SaaS model, truly understanding how it works sustaining success over time is not as easy as some make it look. Rajesh is going to walk you through the key elements of winning the long game in SaaS - how to win customers, how to create long-term relationships, and how to avoid churn. He will also provide insights on the differences between commercial and enterprise customers and the key metrics to keep an eye on as you grow your business.

1. Land>Expand>Explode: How to
Win the Long Game
in SaaS
Rajesh Ram
CCO & Co-Founder at Egnyte

2. • Launched in 2008
• Content Platform for Business
• 600+ employees
• Privately Backed
• Polaris, Kleiner Perkins, Google, Goldman Sachs
• 15,000+ Paying Customers (No Freemium)
• Balfour Beatty, Boston Consulting Group, BuzzFeed, IKEA, NASDAQ, Red
Bull, Yamaha

3. Market focus and results
• Target market
• Commercial (10-500 emp.)
• Mid-market (500-5000 emp.)
• Target buyer
• IT
• Used by all employees
• Who we do not target
• Consumers (freemium)
• Large enterprise
• Annualized gross $ churn < 6%
• Average customer life > 5 yr.
• Net retention rates > 100%

4. Land>Expand>Explode
- Consumerization changed enterprise software sales
- Try before you buy
- ‘Big deals’ upfront are few and far between
- A sale is the beginning, not the end
- Earn your business every year (churn is a reality)
- Competitive landscape for SaaS makes “lock-in” harder
- Land>Expand>Explode
- Mission statement driving our behavior vs. a self serving strategy
- Create mutual value vs. customer-vendor transactions

5. Defining Land>Expand>Explode
150
0Employees
Local Addressable MarketUse Case
Universe
1
2
34
5
6
Industry
Value Attainment
Churn Risk
Land Expand Explode

6. 1) The Land
- A promise to solve the customer’s problem
problem
- Understand needs  Articulate a solution
- Can they learn from you
- Unique knowledge, peer experiences and data
- Establish ‘value contract’
- Quantum of value (Financial or operational metrics)
- Time to value
Value Attainment
Churn Risk
Land Expand Explode

7. 2) The Expand
-Fulfill value contract
- Builds your “champions”  internal virality
-Ingredients
- Product experience
- On-boarding experience
- How you address ‘unknown unknowns’
-Types of expand
- Increase in units
- Additive use cases
- Advanced features
Value Attainment
Churn Risk
Land Expand Explode

8. 3) The Explode
A successful explode is possible with
- Reliability of product & customer experience
- Increased value attainment
Continued education
- Is there greater value to be achieved?
Industry presence and alignment
- Creates peer pressure and validation
- Risk mitigation for the buyer
Executive alignment
- People buy from people

9. Mutual benefit peaks
150
0Employees
100% Local Addressable
Market Penetration
100% Use Case
Coverage
1
2
34
5
6
Value Attainment
Churn Risk
Land Expand Explode

10. - Solve a problem for one project
- Project IT decision (no corporate IT)
- Delivered unique solution and $5M savings
- Internal virality
- Project IT decisions (no corporate IT)
- Corporate IT slowly took notice
- CIO decision to standardize across company
- Eliminated competitive solutions
- 100% use case and LAM penetration
- Customer has been with us 7 years
Expand: Spread to 12 projects
(750 employees)
Land: DFW project
(150 employees)
Explode : Company wide
(3000 employees)

11. The Takeaways
- Land  Expand  Explode has to be an internal battle cry
- A strategy to build and sustain customer value
- Creates partnerships and long term customer champions
- Requires investment and collaboration across all functions

12. Thank You!
Please feel free to email me at:
RRam@Egnyte.com