Matthew Mazankowski

We sent out a survey after last year's Utah Tech Week. It had an NPS score in the high 70s. 💅 That said, we had 4 main bits of constructive feedback that were the most recurring. 1. There should be more *tech* in Utah Tech Week. Too much emphasis on the business side of things, and not enough on the tech. 2. Better representation. Not just race and gender, but lots of the feedback was about underrepresented industries/verticals. 3. Too much time in the car! 4. Keep the quality of events high! We'll discuss each of these in at our event tomorrow at 3pm at Pelion. (link in comments) 150+ founders/community builders/event hosts attending our event, which to my knowledge is the largest gathering of community builders in Utah. Stoked at the ways our community comes together to build. Come tomorrow! And also, lmk if the comments if you feel like a community/industry/group that you're a part of is underrepresented.

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99% of SaaS Startups I see don't produce their value-add services and create additional revenue streams. They "give it away" Here is how one of my teams made too much money (according to our analysts): - Find something that your post-sale team does over and over again - This could be a best practice or application - Create a low-cost, medium-cost, high-cost offering - Make it easy to sell and deploy - Get high-quality partners to deliver the low-cost offerings -Your team can deliver the new fun stuff to your high ARR customers --> Real-life example: At Brightcove, in the early days of video, we noticed that a large majority of our customers wanted a video portal. After building the same experience a few times, we created a template application that we sold and deployed at a pretty good margin. We created 3 price points (for example, 30, 60, 90k). We had marketing put together 1-page sheets for the sales team We made sure that anyone on our team could be brought into a presales conversation to talk about its ease of use We had so much demand for each version that we found 3-4 partners that were fully trained in how to build and deploy them. This was because our services revenue was too high a percentage for a SaaS company. From the numbers, it looked like the product was too complex to launch and needed services. The reality was that we created a services product that filled an area of high demand. This eventually was folded into the actual core product as an offering. The core PS team would then work on the super custom experiences (catchup TV that is integrated with cable permissions, apps, etc.) #startups #sales #professionalservices #saas #technology

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we're making progress with a Slack app that automates driving more & better practice / outputs / behaviors with your AEs & other sellers… goal: make role-playing practice more manageable, realistic, & consistent while applying it to actual deals during prep ofc we're plugging into AI for some fun feedback loops too 😊 our next phase is seeing how more teams react to decide what to build for early customers. we can focus on anything you're looking to improve right now: outbounding, cold calling, disco, negotiation, storytelling, improv, forecasting, testing champs, etc... let me know if you want to test it out with your team, or it's easy to get started with the link below. thx!

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For a long time, I had very naive ideas about prioritization. Here's what I've learned over the years. 1. Unless you are a tiny startup, your company is designed to do multiple high-priority things at once. The argument, "Well, if everything is high priority, nothing is high priority," almost never works (while rational). The 🐘 in the room is that the mix of high-priority things has changed, and the org design is no longer fit for purpose. What seems rational to you—oh, obviously that team is overwhelmed and we need to set priorities—is, behind the scenes, "Crap, we got the budget wrong for that group. Anyone want to contribute? No? Hmmm. Surely they are inefficient and can juggle more than one thing, right?" See below. 2. Most senior execs know that the plans will change. They know that by March, there will be a new set of priorities. So they focus on budgets, not priorities. So when you see lackluster strategies and vague priorities, remember that there is a whole other prioritization activity that centers around the allocation of money, how people get bonuses, very back-of-the-napkin revenue attribution models, etc. 3. Humans, in general, are not great at building a mental model for capacity. Capacity in software is hard. People aren't fungible. The architecture is what it is. You can't have huge teams. You are building the factory (to meet the needs of a strategy) AND the factory is building "the product." Oh, it isn't a factory: it is more like gardening. This is important because our mental models for what we are prioritizing (e.g., focus, capacity, typing, bandwidth, etc.) are often all over the place. 4. Most companies are not progressive when it comes to thoughtful re-orgs, org redesign, reallocating capacity, etc. The simple thinking is: "If we stop doing X, then we should let those people go because they fit in this cell on the spreadsheet." People too heavily couple the finance spreadsheets with one-row-per-person, and the (most often useless and made-up) % allocations to things. This means that basic things like having priorities and reducing work in progress are fraught with very justified fears around layoffs. To some, a pristine list of force-ranked priorities looks like heaven. FINALLY, we can make decisions. To others, it is NOT GOOD. This is why efforts to visualize WIP often turn into Game of Thrones. There's a silver lining with all this! If you are aware of these tendencies, you can figure out approaches to prioritization that can nudge the org in the right direction. Knowing that the theoretically pristine force-ranked list of efforts is likely not possible, you can devise other strategies like building more realistic models with finance and being more open to "everything in high priority" yet focusing on the actual conflicts/trade-off decisions, etc. And embrace products like Runway and DoubleLoop that engage people in tangible discussions about how $s flow into outcomes and then back into your core models.

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Hot take: The most impactful systems builders rarely come from IT. They come from Sales, Ops, Customer Success—the people who live and breathe the problem they’re solving, who’ve been told “no” more times than they can count, and who can’t help but think about optimizing every process in sight. These are the builders who see the inefficiencies hiding in the day-to-day and chase solutions to make things truly better, faster, and smarter. They’re the ones I want to see at the center of the future we’re building, not sidelined. But here’s the key: both IT and these frontline builders have to buy into working together. And I’m hopeful that AI can finally bridge this gap, helping each side speak the other’s language with minimal effort. When AI accelerates what no-code was always meant to be but hasn’t fully delivered on yet, we unlock the real potential of collaboration—systems that don’t just work, but transform the way we work. Let’s get there.

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99% of SaaS Startups I see don't produce value-add services and create additional revenue streams. They "give it away." Here is how one of my teams made too much money (according to our analysts): - Find something that your post-sale team does over and over again - This could be a best practice or application - Create a low-cost, medium-cost, high-cost offering - Make it easy to sell and deploy - Get high-quality partners to deliver the low-cost offerings -Your team can deliver the new fun stuff to your high ARR customers --> Real-life example: At Brightcove, in the early days of video, we noticed that a large majority of our customers wanted a video portal. After building the same experience a few times, we created a template application that we sold and deployed at a pretty good margin. We created 3 price points (for example, 30, 60, 90k). We had marketing put together 1-page sheets for the sales team We made sure that anyone on our team could be brought into a presales conversation to talk about its ease of use We had so much demand for each version that we found 3-4 partners that were fully trained in how to build and deploy them. This was because our services revenue was too high a percentage for a SaaS company. From the numbers, it looked like the product was too complex to launch and needed services. The reality was that we created a services product that filled an area of high demand. This eventually was folded into the actual core product as an offering. The core PS team would then work on the super custom experiences , or be focused on deploying the new tech to the 1st tier customers. #startups #sales #professionalservices #saas #technology

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The old rules for scaling subscription SaaS: - Charge based on seats - Charge more for premium features - Pay reps on first year bookings - Hand customers off to CSMs post-close - Get customers to commit upfront The new rules for scaling outcome-as-a-service products: 1. Charge based on units of work 2. Don’t put gates in the way of adoption 3. Pay reps on adoption (estimated/actual) 4. Every team plays a role in customer success 5. Invest in becoming predictable Moving from selling *access* to selling *work delivered* isn't a simple pricing change you can just announce in a press release. It's a business model evolution that looks a lot like the shift from on-prem to SaaS in the first place. — 🎁 For more check out Growth Unhinged, my free newsletter that’s sent to 58,624 readers every Wednesday: https://lnkd.in/exTbjKaM #ai #saas #monetization

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How to pitch: The company has zero traction —> “We’re early” You only have 2 customers —> “We’re working with design partners” You currently have no revenue but hoping some pipeline finally closes —> “we’re on track to exit this year at $3M ARR” You’re in the natural kill zone of a FAANG —> “We view them as partners rather than competitors” There’s no way the tech can actually work —>“We’re manifesting the future” And of course: One of your developers uses Co-Pilot to write some front end code —> “We’re an AI company”

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SaaS founders please trust me on this one. Regret is more expensive than tracking product data. Don't let hindsight be your only insight. --- P.S. If you're interested in learning more about which metrics you need to measure and how - I'm hosting a free webinar in July to answer all your questions 💡 Want to join? 👉 Like this post and comment "metrics" below and I'll send you the link :)

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To scale from $1M to $10M ARR, you need to turn your ad hoc GTM efforts into a well-oiled machine. This means creating repeatable processes across your entire GTM - from lead gen to sales to customer success. The good news for technical founders is that they're experts at solving complex engineering challenges with precision, efficiency, and structure. At this stage of startup growth, they need to apply that same systems-oriented mindset to GTM - which, for B2B startups, can be approached more as a science than an art. More in the May edition of B2BaCEO: https://lnkd.in/emsvFN9q

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I often get asked how founders should define and measure success for an early-stage startup. 🌱 The truth is, there's no one-size-fits-all answer.  Having worked with thousands ( 🤯) of companies over the years, I've seen firsthand the challenges founders face in identifying the right metrics at each stage of growth. This question stayed at the top of my mind during my three years at Amplitude‎ after they acquired our previous startup and during my time working on growth at Atlassian‎.  After a bunch of rotations, I've started breaking down the success metrics to focus on based on the three early-stage phases of the startup journey:  💡Phase one - Pre-product: Focus on customer discovery. Your north star? 10 LOIs from ideal customers to kickstart your pilot. It's all about validating the problem, solution, and business model. 🌱 Phase two - Early Product-Market Fit: Invest heavily in customer success. Aim for $1M ARR within 12-18 months. Build your growth model and track acquisition, activation, engagement, and retention. 🌲Phase three - Growth: Scale operations, expand your market, and optimize efficiency. Target $10M ARR in under three years, following the T2D3 (Triple, Triple, Double, Double, Double) framework. But here's the biggest lesson when chasing early success: It's not just about the numbers.  Your metrics should tell a story about the value you're creating for customers and help you create a culture that people want to contribute to. 🚀 Afterall, "What gets measured gets managed." Don't lose sight of the qualitative aspects of your business. Balance your quantitative metrics with customer insights and adapt the framework to your unique situation. Building a startup is a marathon, not a sprint. 🏃 Persistence, adaptability, and learning from failures are crucial. Use these metrics as guideposts, not hard rules. What metrics have you found most valuable in your startup journey? I'd love to hear about what’s worked in your experience, and what metrics you’ve stopped obsessing over along the way.  If you want to dive deeper into my thoughts around measuring early success on the way to PMF, I wrote up an in depth post on the Clarify‎ blog that I’ll link in the comments. ⬇️  P.S. Shoutout to James Lee‎, Somrat Niyogi‎, and others for your feedback on the article. 🙏 ‎

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Signed 5 awesome clients… Just in the last 10 days. Most of them 7-figure agency owners. 3 of them own 2-5 other businesses: SaaS Ecom Subsidiary agency That’s the power of running an successful agency. Once you figure out client acquisition… You can focus on building the team & automating the service delivery. But if you’re always having to chase new clients, you’ll never take off. 98% of agency owners: 🚫 do not have predictable pipeline 🚫 constantly have to chase 🚫 accept bad-clients to cover bills And as a result: They can never “build” an agency. They can never enjoy the fruits of their labor. Let alone, funnel cashflow into their next dream venture. Now that my client acquisition is set… It’s time for me to close enrollments and focus on: 1️⃣ getting client results 2️⃣ hiring the A-team 3️⃣ improving my service I’ll except 1 more client before I close enrollments. When I open up again, the service will be 10x But so will the service-fee. Right now, it’s September. Companies are looking for their new agency partner, it’s the easiest month of the year to sign big deals. If you want to kick-start your client acquisition with an X ad-funnel. Send me a DM. If you need more details: Like + Comment “case study” below: I’ll send you the exact case study walkthrough on how one if my clients is getting $1 qualified leads — and signed 5 clients for his agency just in September alone. You’ll see the exact: — funnel — adcopy — adcreative — audience targeting options A-Z Like + comment “case study” and I’ll send it over.

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If you're valuing SaaS companies like traditional ones, think again. You're probably missing key metrics. Here are the essentials you should focus on: - ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue): The lifeblood of SaaS, showing predictable income. - Churn Rate: High churn can sink future revenues. - Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Knowing this helps balance spending and growth. - Lifetime Value (LTV): This tells you how much revenue a customer will bring over time. Traditional businesses don't operate on these dynamics. SaaS companies scale fast and pivot quickly. By ignoring these metrics, you risk undervaluing potential gems. So, update your valuation toolkit. Agree or disagree? #BrainDumps | BrainDump #107

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Founders, waitlists don't work unless you talk about your product somewhere else or offer some type of lead magnet. Nobody cares about getting updates. That's not enough of a value exchange. Just published my latest teardown (search Roast My SaaS on YT) about a startup with a huge missed opportunity to capture leads & onboard them. Too bad the video is a little over 15 minutes and LinkedIn doesn't allow me to publish it here as well. #buildinpublic

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Looking for a Product Leadership role? Explore these top opportunities to drive innovation, lead teams, and shape strategy at these companies: 1. SVP, Product Management – MasterControl, Salt Lake City, UT (Remote) Lead product strategy and development for MasterControl's quality and compliance software portfolio while managing the product management team. MasterControl provides cloud-based quality and compliance software to over 1,000 companies in life sciences and regulated industries. 2. Group Product Manager - Microsoft Security Service Edge – Microsoft, San Francisco, CA (Remote) Lead Microsoft's Security Service Edge (SSE) offering, driving product strategy and development for Microsoft Entra Internet Access and Private Access solutions. Microsoft is a global technology leader with 228,000 employees across 190 countries, focused on empowering every person and organization to achieve more through technology. 3. VP of Product Management – Benevity, Seattle, WA Lead product strategy and development for Benevity's Finance Platform, managing a product team while driving vision, roadmap execution, and platform operations. Benevity is a B Corporation that provides social impact technology to Fortune 100 companies, enabling corporate giving, volunteering, and other social action initiatives. 4. VP of Product – Banyan Software, Chicago, IL Serve as a key executive leader at SoftSmiths (a Banyan Software portfolio company) responsible for driving product strategy, innovation, and execution in the energy sector, initially working independently with potential to build a product team. Reports to the CEO of SoftSmiths, working closely with VP Technology. Banyan Software is one of fastest-growing private software companies in the US that acquires and grows enterprise software businesses with dominant positions in niche vertical markets, operating with a permanent "buy and hold for life" strategy. 5. Director of Product Management – Mark43, New York, NY (Remote) Lead the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) product line and Mobile applications, managing a team of 2-3 Product Managers while driving product strategy and development. Mark43 is a technology company that develops cloud-native software solutions for law enforcement and public safety agencies to improve community safety and quality of life. 6. Head of Product – 0x, San Francisco, CA (Remote) Lead Product team overseeing consumer and developer platforms while driving product strategy and fostering team growth. Reports directly to the CEO. 0x is a Web3 company providing developer APIs for token access and liquidity, having processed over $130B in trading volume through major platforms like Coinbase and MetaMask. Want more Product Leadership roles? Access the weekly updated database: https://lnkd.in/gq9qY6s4

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One thing that I've come to believe is valuable early on at an early stage startup is measuring the right metrics. Even if you don't have MQL's, define them, measure them week over week. It'll make you start wanting to improve that number. Even if you don't have any active opportunities in deal cycles, measure them week over week. It'll make you want to improve that number. What I've seen happen when I open my mind to a new area of measurement or metric is that becomes something that improves over time. "What get's measured, gets accomplished"

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Hard truths- 1) Getting to 3X or 4X pipeline doesn't mean you will make your number. 2) Getting to 5X or 6X pipeline won't get you there either. I was in the cohort that helped create the 3-4X metric more than 20 years ago. It was wrong then and we just didn't know it. It is very wrong today. It didn't solve the most fundamental problem which is how we sell. If you are using BANT, ANUM or MEDDIC to qualify a deal, stop. Now. None of these tell if you the deal is qualified. They will create waste and poorly forecasted deals. If you are not training and scripting on discovery and then doing it as a distinct step in your sales process, AFTER you qualify your opportunity, you should start that now. Imagine sales as a manufacturing process. If we presume the need for 3-4X revenue in our pipeline, we are accepting 67%-80% waste of the raw material ( leads ). If we move to 5X, our waste is now 80%. That is unacceptable. AI won't fix this. Spending thousands on your tech stack won't fix this. Human leaders have to fix it. We have to examine every step and stage of your process. Optimize every action and interaction to reduce or remove waste and to maximize the yield of the raw material to get better finished goods with less. It can be done. My teams have done it. We exceeded our delivered pipeline consistently. Want to know how? You can DM me for a meeting or just schedule it via the link in my profile at no cost. ( Hint: if you have been following my posts, it starts with the ICP vs IOP and the "4 W's" ) Good selling!

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The first rule of high-growth startup ops is this: Bring people to the table who *already* have the answers to the test. Why? Because time is more expensive than money at most growing companies. RevOps is an iterative process. Accept that, build for today’s problems, and know that you’re going to have to keep adjusting along the way. It doesn't mean you shouldn't plan carefully. It means you shouldn't focus on scale at the expense of optimizing for what you're doing this month/quarter/year. The trick? Hire people who can help you think around corners and make sure that the systems you build today won’t break tomorrow. There’s nothing more valuable than somebody who already has the answers to the test — somebody who can say they’ve been there and done that before… 50 times over. You could be a brilliant engineer who’s built an amazing platform that’s changing the world… But if you haven’t already worked through common growth-stage ops problems, the time it takes you to figure it all out — which you probably can — will cost MULTIPLES of what you’d spend on bringing in the right people. Whether it be a qualified internal hire or an agency, you can’t afford to get this wrong. #b2b #saas #revops #operations #gtm #startups

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When was the last time the CSM for a product you use reached out to you for any of the following reasons: 1) to inquire about a role on your website that you're hiring for, and ask if they could maybe send any candidates your way 2) to congratulate you / your team on top notch usage or milestones of the product 3) for a heads up that they sent you a small gift in the mail through Sendoso just cuz... 4) to recognize you / your company around positive news / PR / award recently won 5) to reference a recent post you made on linkedin + share their thoughts on it 6) with a suggestion or recommendation to another vendor you might consider using, based on the needs you have expressed within your business Perhaps the really really good CSMs have engaged in this sort of interaction with you recently. But I'm assuming you are not on the recieiving end of it very often. Any CSM can send an email at 90 / 180 days to do a check-in / QBR, and share some sort of usage report. and YES, that's a critical part of the role. But if you really want to establish better relationships with clients, set aside the CSM checklist now and then, and engage human to human. Friends, this is a huge unlock for CSMs - leading to stronger relationships, generating better responsiveness from clients, increasing ability to multi thread, and positioning your service to be "taken with" if your POC leaves for another company. If my CSM interacts with me in some of the ways above, I view them as a partner (not a vendor) and thus... -when they wanna do a QBR, I inherently agree -when they reach out, I respectfully reply post haste -when they ask for a referral, I strongly consider it -when they inquire about agreed upon implementation / adoption milestones, I'm accountable. PS - this type of work does NOT have to require lots of time. If you're smart with alerts / zaps / time blocking, you can gather the info you need on your book of accounts with ease, and then spend the meat of your time in thoughtful, personal engagement.

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