TrainingPeaks - Gear Fisher, CEO When you’re launching a smaller subscription company you often start with homegrown billing solutions. When successful market adoption puts pressure on your systems, you need to achieve more enterprise class capabilities and scale. Come learn about key considerations for CEOs in smoothly navigating this transition process and setting yourself up for massive growth.

1. Out With The Old In With The New
From Legacy To Zuora
Gear Fisher
Co-Founder & CEO
@gearfisher | gear@trainingpeaks.com

2. The Nine Keys to Subscription Success
$
PRICE
ACQUIRE
BILL
COLLECT
NURTURE
ACCOUNT
MEASURE
ITERATE
SCALE

3. What
We
Do
So#ware
for
tracking,
analyzing
and
planning
endurance
training
(cycling,
running,
triathlon)
Athletes:
B
to
C
Coaches:
B
to
B

4. Background
• We’ve
been
SaaS
since
before
it
was
a
thing
• Started
in
October
2000
using
hand
coded
tools
• Numerous
aHempts
to
“roll
our
own”
• Now,
50
people,
$7M
revenue,
can’t
manage
it
• We’ve
le#
a
lot
of
money
on
the
table

5. Growth
over
the
Years

6. Future
Growth

7. Zuora
Phase
1:
ImplementaKon
• 6
person
team,
2
devs
full
Pme
@
2
months
• Methodical
phased
approach,
99%
API
• Challenges:
internal
resourcing
and
Pme
• Full
implementaPon
10
months
• Phase
1:
B
to
C
subs,
coupons,
bundles

8. Zuora
Phase
2:
MaximizaKon
• Post
busy
season
(April-­‐Oct)
– B2B,
coaches,
usage/metered
per
client
– Cash
to
Accrual
– Legacy
migraPon
– InternaPonal

9. Who
we
are,
who
are
you?

10. Brand
IdenKty
&
PosiKoning
• Who
you
are
sets
an
expectaPon
of
how
you
conduct
business
• We
are
premium,
high-­‐end
• Refund
policy,
trials,
coupon
codes,
gi#s,
bundles,
partners
• Always
cauPous.
New
vs.
recurring
promoPons

11. Business
Models
• 30-­‐day
trial,
2000
• Trial
with
credit
card
up-­‐front,
2002
• Freemium,
2007
• Premium
trial-­‐freemium,
2013

12. Challenges
• Processing
credit
cards
sucks:
complexity
• Card
expiry
issues,
InternaPonal
problems
• Things
always
changing
• Edge
cases

13. …There’s
More
• AccounPng
(month-­‐end,
cash
vs.
accrual)
• Metered
usage
billing
• Payment
plan
dynamics
• One
Pme
charges

14. …SKll
More
• Upgrades
/
Downgrades
• Bundles
&
cross
selling
• Experiments
• ReporPng!!!
KPI
tracking

15. K(ey)KPI’s
• CONVERSION
• CHURN
• ARPU
• LTV
• ..
And
if
you
can
figure
it
out:
SAC
…
Solved
with
SAAS
OpPcs

16. Just
Track
It
• Tired
of
figuring
out
how
to
calculate
KPI’s
• Zuora
&
SAAS
OpPcs
just
makes
it
standard

17. Billing
nightmares
• Story
Pme:
• Edge
cases
are
the
death
of
you
• Manual
override,
means
manual
oversight:
fail

18. What
made
us
give
up?
• Hamstrung
by
home
grown
system
(3rd
generaPon
since
2009)
• Answer
was
always:
“yeah,
but,
we
have
to
change
our
billing
system”
• Leaving
money
on
the
table
(expiraPons…
ideas
never
realized)

19. What
made
us
give
up?
• UlPmately:
We
want
to
grow
and
focus
on
our
products,
not
our
billing
system
• We
needed
a
plalorm,
not
a
product

20. How
we’re
doing
it
• Manager
of
business
systems:
Z-­‐Champion
• Know
the
business
rules
• Coordinates
interacPon
of
all
stakeholders
• Keeping
it
simple
to
start
• Training
for
accounPng
procedures

21. Lessons
Learned
Point
1:
D o
y o u
l i k e
m o n e y ?
Point
2:
Point
3:
Let
your
developers
and
tech
resources
focus
on
product
What’s
your
business?
Start
early
ReporPng
done
right;
No
programmer
needed

22. Lessons
Learned
Point
4:
D o
y o u
l i k e
m o n e y ?
Point
5:
Point
6:
Too
criPcal
to
get
it
wrong
or
half-­‐ass
it
Business
partner,
not
product
provider
ExperimenPng
process
so
much
easier
with
a
plalorm

23. Q&A
Thank
You
and
Good
Luck!
@gearfisher
gear@trainingpeaks.com