Alex Sandkuhl的动态

Over the past 10 years, I’ve bootstrapped startups $0-$1M three times. Each time was TWICE as fast with HALF the resources. Here’s the breakdown of what I did, how long it took, and how many FTEs we had: 1. Robly Email Marketing January 2014 - May 2015 - Took 17 Months, staff of 25 when we hit it - Entirely sales-led - We had a call center to book a $35/mo subscription and did a 1-to-1 manual onboarding (it was a really, really good list) - Stalled out at $3m ARR, sold to PE in 2020 for $10m 2. GetEmails (now Retention.com) November 2019 - April 2020 - Took 27 weeks, staff of 6 when we hit it - Did Facebook ads, drove a 15min demo - Diana Ross did a thousands of them - Currently $21.7m ARR, 27% total margin 4.5 years later 3. RB2B March 2022 - June 2022 - Took 16 weeks, staff of 5 when we hit it - Founder-brand driven Inbound-led Outbound (mostly Linkedin) - Check out our dashboard (in comments ??) for up-to-the-minute metrics TAKEAWAY: Startups are HARD. The longer you do this, the more skilled you become at the craft. We’re all looking to capture lightning in a bottle. Each swing you take, you’re closer to it. Keep building.

Some startups are not VC-fundable. (They are not building to get funded anyway) These are family-owned businesses that are building software or SaaS for their own use-case. They are building it to solve their own challenges in their specific industry. Their TAM is usually insufficient for VCs looking for 100x returns. So it's not fundable for most VCs. But it doesn't mean that their startup is a bad idea. In fact, this can be profitable sooner than most funded startups. An additional cash cow for the older businesses. However, getting their marketing right can be challenging for these SaaS founders. (I know how hard this could be as an accidental SaaS founder myself) So if you are not VC-fundable but have an MVP, leverage CaaSocio's experienced B2B SaaS sales and marketing lean team. We’re here to translate your ideas, voice, and product concepts into a messaging guide that you can use for all future marketing and outreach assets. Talk to us when you're ready to leverage our lean team for a fraction of a "marketing team" cost. #saasmarketing #b2bsaas #GTMlaunch

Let's talk about the SaaS metrics that make VCs' eyes light up! As someone who's seen hundreds of startup pitches, I wanna share the numbers that matter most ?? Let's break down the essential metrics that show your startup has legs: ?? ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) This is your north star! It shows investors you can actually make money consistently. Even if it's small, if that has happened in a short time it will get VCs excited about your potential. A good phrase to use is "Already $XXk ARR only X months since launch" ?? Pipeline value Your sales pipeline is like a crystal ball for VCs - it shows what's coming next. A healthy pipeline (especially with larger enterprise deals) signals that your current ARR isn't just a lucky break. ?? LTV (Lifetime Value) This is pure gold for investors! High LTV means your customers stick around and spend more over time. It proves your product isn't just a one-hit wonder but a long-term value creator. If you see a few churn you can calculate this, otherwise you'll have to do an estimate. ?? CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) Your CAC shows investors how efficient your growth machine is. If you can acquire customers cheaply, VCs see dollar signs - it means their investment will go further! You want your CAC to be maximum your LTV split in 3, rather 4 is better. Include all marketing spending and sales team salaries divided by number of new customers over that time period to calculate your CAC. ? Bonus: Demo-to-Customer Conversion Rate This is my favorite hidden gem metric! High conversion rates from demos show your product truly solves a pain point and your sales process is dialed in. This conversion rate should be at least 10%, at 20%+ you would stand out compared to most other startups. Remember founders: These metrics tell a story about your future scale potential. That's exactly what VCs bet on! ?? What metrics are you tracking in your SaaS startup? Share below! ??

Great insights! I completely agree that the landscape for startups is shifting. As technology becomes easier to build, the challenge of selling it effectively has become the new frontier. Santosh Sharan, your point about founders with strong sales and marketing backgrounds thriving makes a lot of sense. Do you think this trend will also reshape how early-stage companies prioritize their founding teams? Will we see more VCs favoring teams where sales and marketing leads take the spotlight over technical founders in the initial stages?

With all due respect, I am willing to bet (all in?) against the prediction, "The average age of a YC startup founder is 29 years old. In the next 5 years, I think this may increase to 39 years old." Here's why: Most of the zero-to-one startups (creating new markets) will need to heavily leverage AI (and other next-gen technologies) to not just build their moats, but to even earn their right to play at the table. This is where 39 year olds will have a tough time competing with the 20 year olds. Older people are at a huge disadvantage, as they have been hard-wired to think of traditional approaches to solve problems. AI-first generation will easily beat them. It seems like selling is getting harder, just because most startups are still indulging in the games/rules that were set by the previous generations. The new tech (AI) will lead to emergence of new business models, where not having exposure to previous-gen business models will become an advantage -- allowing for discovery of radically different pathways suited for modern ways of solving problems. There are always exceptions, and there are older people who think and behave very differently from the majority at that age. However, if I have to bet based on age, I would be heavily biased towards the 20 year olds vs. the 39 year olds.

As AI makes it easier to build technology, sophisticated go-to-market will be critical to success. You enhance your go-to-market, you need to use machine learning and data techniques, like: – customer segmentation – LTV analytics – A/B testing and multivariate testing – customer research – churn and customer satisfaction modeling Go-to-market will get more complex, so you will need to use more sophisticated tools ...

The average age of a YC startup founder is 29 years old. In the next 5 years, I think this may increase to 39 years old. Here’s why: BACKGROUND A few weeks ago I was Austin for a RB2B offsite. On the sidelines of our meeting Adam, Diana and I were reflecting on how it is becoming harder to sell technology but easier to build technology. And it is a complete flip from before. On the flight back I realized this will have a huge impact on how startups are funded... ? In the past: - VCs invested in founders that were hands on with technology - They could code themselves or attract others - They had high energy and were knowledgeable about new technologies - Selling was much easier. Brute force worked.? - They were often selling to first time buyers that were not savvy.? - Typical profile: An engineer with 5 years of experience with good pedigree In future: - Selling is becoming harder while building a technology is becoming easier.? - Buyers are no longer naive. They have a ton of information. Their decision making process has gotten complex.? - There's increased competition not just from local players but also global vendors - All this is making GTM and selling more difficult.? - Founders that already have an audience will do much better to get to Product Market fit.? - Typical Profile: A Sales Leader or a Marketing Lead with 10-15 years experience that is a trusted advisor for buyers in a given domain In the past, the only way VCs made money was through homeruns and 15x returns. However, with rising economic uncertainties, the VC math may change for some segment of investment and a slightly more experienced GTM profile will appear like a good bet for investment. If you are in Sales or Marketing and have entrepreneurial aspirations, your time is here. GTM is getting complex. Stay ahead of the curve with modern GTM strategies and build an audience that trusts you. This audience will be key to you launching your next venture.?

Great read, very relevant for all the marketers and decision makers. “Building audience the trusts you” is the missing link for most of the enterprises running behind quick success with AI. They forget that their customers also have access to AI and it’s not difficult to build a solution these days. Credibility and proven use cases can do wonders for businesses. Words of wisdom coming from a mentor. Thanks for sharing sir. ??????

If you have PMF, you need a weekly GTM cadence Startups that reach PMF are necessarily chaotic. You’re growing, but it’s hard to find the right Marketing channels or Sales process to grow further and faster. Most startups with PMF still fail (per Jason Calacanis) because “repeatable, scalable, and profitable growth” is extremely hard (per David Skok). More than the key hire or new tool, getting to this sort of “GTM Fit” requires a weekly GTM cadence. David O. Sacks wrote that a Cadence is critical for rapidly growing startups and I couldn’t agree more. In the past year, we've honed a right-sized approach to help Series A, B, and bootstrapped startups gain visibility into how they’re growing and systematically address problems along the way. Why As you grow, your clock speed will slow. Your OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) takes longer with more people, process, and tech in the mix. Dedicated time and space to review GTM performance, identify issues or opportunities, and take action on them will help you maintain a fast rhythm, even as you’re doing more and your team grows. What Doing this well is a matter of daily habit and weekly ritual. It starts with daily updates (Equals makes it easy, via Slack), so everyone knows your key metrics. It’s sustained by weekly GTM reviews on Monday, where your team identifies important issues, acts on them, and follows up on the prior week’s actions. Good looks like what Bobby Pinero and team did in Intercom’s early days. How Crawl ??, walk ??, run ?? is the key to being successful with this and how we work with early stage startups: 1??First, we build the Core Startup Reporting to be reviewed daily and acted on weekly. 2??Next, we conduct analysis, develop insights, prepare slides, and run your first Weekly GTM meeting to set the standard and onboard your exec team to this process. 3??Finally, we help your execs run the meeting, from day-before preparation to focusing on recommendations and decisions, rather than mere recap. When You’re ready for this as soon as you’ve got PMF, need it as soon as your team looks at KPIs in more than one system, and will absolutely want it if each team (Finance, Sales, Marketing, etc.) has their own goals and/or reporting. Who A founder or Head of Revenue/Finance/GTM should own this with analyst support, since it’s critical to your growth. If you lack bandwidth in-house, talk to us. We’ve helped multiple SaaS, E-commerce and healthcare startups stand up and run their weekly GTM cadence.?? Where Build reporting in one place and with one data source. Use Equals to get spreadsheet, BI, and AI capabilities on top of your database, CRM, payments, or other system of record. If you have multiple data sources or systems, use Mozart Data to centralize the data and set the foundation of your data stack. If this resonates, lets talk! Our new Core Startup Reporting package helps you establish your own cadence! #saas #ecommerce #healthtech #analytics #bi

If you have PMF, you need a weekly GTM cadence. That's how you get to GTM Fit - repeatable, scalable, and profitable growth