Matthew Mazankowski

Founders, you're losing deals by not having a clear discovery call plan. I've seen this a lot where founders looking to scale up their early sales efforts are going into it thinking the product will get them through the sale In most cases, this isn't the truth You need to have some sort of framework to make the selling motion more repeatable Instead of demo'ing the product, try learning more about them and their challenges first. Your goal should be to know enough to build a customized demo for them. This will help in building solid relationships, build value throughout the process and likely speed up deals on the back end of it. If you don't know where to start, hit me up and I'm happy to lay out some early sales structure for founders! Go crush it out there 🤙

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Niche doesn't mean single-product. Data from TideMark's 2024 Vertical & SMB SaaS Benchmark Report backs this up. The sauce for Vertical SaaS is owning a niche and layering new products over time to grow 'share of wallet'... Here’s what I’ve learned from acquiring and operating Micro SaaS: // Product Expansion: - Start with your core offering, but always be mapping out adjacent pain points - Look for low-hanging fruit - features users are cobbling together with spreadsheets or third-party tools - Aim for products that increase switching costs and make your solution "stickier" // Acquisition vs. Development: - Sometimes it's faster to acquire a complementary product than build in-house - Look for small, bootstrapped tools in your vertical that solve adjacent problems - Assess potential acquisitions based on tech stack compatibility and integration ease // Pricing and Packaging: - Bundle strategically - not all products need to be sold separately - Use add-ons to increase ARPA without scaring off smaller customers - Consider usage-based pricing for auxiliary products to lower the barrier to adoption // Sales and Marketing: - Retrain your sales team on solution selling rather than product pitching - Develop clear ideal customer profiles for each product combination - Use your existing customer base as a testbed for new products // Technical Considerations: - Plan for integration from day one - whether building or buying - Prioritize a consistent user experience across products - Consider a modular architecture to facilitate future expansion // Metrics to Watch: - Track product adoption rates within your customer base - Monitor support ticket volume as you add products - Keep a close eye on churn rates for single-product vs. multi-product customers The multi-product approach isn't just about making more money. In smaller verticals, it's often the only path to building a substantial business. It's about creating an ecosystem that comprehensively serves your niche, making it harder for competitors to dislodge you. Depth plus breadth. But don’t diversify for the sake of it — be strategic, based on actual user needs and market dynamics. Follow me if you want to learn more about my journey of acquiring & operating Micro SaaS. For the love of the game 🏴‍☠️ ⚡ #Growth #Product #Strategy #Sales #Marketing

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I wonder how a majority of SAAS companies who price based on seat licensing will adjust to an A.I. Agent model. Today a business would look like this: 12 Support Agents @ $30/month = $360/month With A.I. Agent - it could look like: 3 Support Agents @ $30/month = $90/month AI Agent(s) @ $xx/month ? The 3 Support Agents would only be required to handle escalations from the A.I. agent I don't see how they justify "seat licensing" for A.I. but they will try.

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Trying to get from $0 to $1M ARR? Find your PMF. Obsess over identifying a problem that a big enough market urgently needs solving. Talk to your customers about their most painful problems and validate your assumptions. Not all feedback will be valuable. Focus on insights from your early adopters—they become your ICP and shape your product. Stay true to your core customer profile. Chasing revenue or artificially widening the PMF dilutes your product's effectiveness. Your product can only meet so many needs. Tailor every feature to your ICP. Your first version is your Minimum Sellable Product (MSP). Make the MSP easy to use and beneficial. With customers using your product, continually collect feedback to improve: 1 - Offering 2 - Marketing messages 3 - Sales calls 4 - Pricing structure 5 - Demo flow If you reach $1M ARR, congratulations! Your product has real demand. Next, it’s time to think about scaling to $10M ARR. More on that soon.

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Why are some SaaS companies so tight-assed with their free trials? We've been thinking a lot about this at Arrows. For years, we did the standard time-based trial thing. You know what I mean—7 or 14 days to kick the tires, then pay up or get locked out. It... kinda sucked. People almost always asked for extensions. It felt rushed. And it didn't really give folks a chance to see how Arrows could work for their specific needs. So we tried something different. Now, anyone can create a free Arrows account with access to nearly every feature. The one big thing you can't do is invite your own customers. Is it perfect? Nope. But here's what we've noticed: 👉 People come into sales calls way more prepared. They've already built out templates, set up HubSpot pipelines and workflows, and usually just have a few specific questions. People who've created an account before scheduling a demo convert at ~2x the rate of others. 👉 It gives different types of buyers what they need. Some folks want to talk to our team right away. Others prefer to dig in solo first. Now they can. 👉 We're seeing some really cool "aha" moments. Just last week, a potential customer screen-shared their Arrows setup during an intro call. They'd already built out advanced templates using our most complex features—all on their own. 👉 It just feels more... chill? No arbitrary time limits. No constant "Your trial is expiring!" emails. People can explore at their own pace. Look, I don't know if this approach is right for every company. But for us, it's been super helpful in terms of creating happy customers right from the start. If you're in SaaS, how do you handle trials? And as a buyer, what's your ideal "try before you buy" experience?

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Good strategy = good alignment What alignment looks like for venture backed: • Raise VC • On a big idea that could be $1+ billion outcome • Team is motivated to build something big (not by lifestyle) • Performance culture of hard, hard work If any one of the components is out of alignment you'll have conflict.

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This recipe is working well for us. Use VC money to fund high leverage hires & investments in the org. Use revenue to fund the low leverage investments. Good way to discipline overheads.

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One realization we've made at Convoi is if we hear something 50+ times we need to build it for the Utah Startup Community. We've built three things so far, and just about to launch number 4 in a couple of weeks. First, we started Convoi Ventures to bring more capital to the earliest stage of startups. ~2.5 years in, we've backed 40 companies, 2/3 that are pre-revenue and 50% are first-time founders. Second, we started Utah Tech Week to create a grassroots event that will be forever focused on Utah and it's early stage startup community. The first year there was 114 events, and this past January, there were 197 events and 15k attendees. Third, we started a program for early stage founders that we think is going to be the flagship program for early stage founders in Utah. Our alpha program was a big success, and beta this summer will be even better. We'll announce after we're out of beta. :) Fourth, we constantly hear of folks at the largest companies we have in Utah that want to support our early stage startups. We're going to be pretty quiet about this one #IYKYK, but if you're a VP or above at a tech company (public, or Utah based series A/B) company, please DM if you'd like more details. Thank you for letting me interrupt my social media fast for this post. Back in my cave for a couple of months.

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Very hard: Convincing SaaS companies to prioritize user engagement over immediate revenue in a downturn. When markets are down, budgets tighten. And founders panic. Which leads to aggressive marketing campaigns targeting new customers. Even though I think this is a costlier with uncertain ROI. It also neglects increased revenue from upselling and cross-selling to existing customers. New customers will always choose the cheapest alternative. So, it's better to keep existing customers happy. In other words, don’t give them a reason to leave. Even if it means restructuring your pricing tiers. Research done by Frederick Reichheld, the inventor of the net promoter score, found that boosting customer retention by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%. I’d also add that optimizing operational efficiency can be a more effective strategy than budget slashing. For example, tools like Foundersuite offer fundraising templates, investor pipeline tracking, and other features to help founders streamline their early-stage fundraising efforts. Yes, that’s a shameless plug :) – but you get the point. Streamline, don’t slash and burn. Lastly, don’t be discouraged. Instagram, Uber, and WhatsApp all launched during the last recession. What are your tips for keeping customers happy and loyal during downturns? 💬 Credit: Jason Lemkin and Bain & Company. PS 🔔 Follow me for strategies and resources for startups and VCs! Looking to raise capital? 💸https://fundingstack.com/ for VCs and investors 💸https://foundersuite.com/ for startups At only $250/month: Fundingstack gets you access to 221+ global investors. Or you can send me a direct message with "FREETRIAL" and I'll give you a secret access link.

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You grew your SaaS business 32%? Congratulations! 😁… Top of the heap compared to public SaaS! But wait… You’re $20M ARR and spent $5 GTM for each $1 in net new ARR?  Ok… Not so good after all.😢 Benchmarks are great! Except when they’re not. You need context…. And the bummer is… most of the time it’s HARD to know where you stack up… We need a better view of the population! 🧐 It’s not "benchmarking"’s fault. We just need better, more reliable, up-to-date benchmarks. Public SaaS helps… since we can trust their financial reports, and we get them every quarter. But it's limited. As for private SaaS… all we get are 1x per year survey-based reports… and anecdotes. That’s not good enough! THIS…..THIS…. is what inspired me to build BenchSights. THE OLD WAY: - Surveys and Static PDFs - Whoever clicks - Time to benchmarks – weeks/months - 1x/year THE NEW WAY: - Interactive Application - Gated community + public SaaS - Time to benchmarks – 5 mins - Always-on, always-up-to-date To be clear – we’re NOT looking to replace the surveys.  They are excellent… with long tails of informative detail. Instead, we’re taking a complementary 80/20 approach (aka Pareto Principle) – updating the most salient metrics from our members in 5 minutes and delivering interactive, filterable benchmarks instantly — EVERY QUARTER.  BenchSights SaaS Metrics is now launching… We’re lining up up early partners – investors, ISVs, consulting firms, CEO/CFO networks, etc. – with good traction so far... … and now going out to companies directly to join (link in the comments) Of course, it’s completely anonymous (codename-based), confidential, and secure. Oh, and it's free to join. Stay tuned for a series of webinars & podcasts, starting with one hosted by my friends at NetSuite, on 11/17 (link below). If you've liked my provocative discussions on SaaS Metrics on LI… you’ll LOVE BenchSights SaaS Metrics…. Join us! #SaaS #SaaSMetrics #benchmarks

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RevOps leaders, this is the playbook you’ve been waiting for. In a world flooded with content that often lacks substance, the RevOps Docs for Startups by LeanScale are a breath of fresh air. This guide isn’t just another rundown of the basics—it’s an in-depth, yet easily approachable, guide to the rapidly evolving RevOps landscape, crafted from real insights gathered across 50+ hyper-growth companies. Huge shoutout to my longtime buddy Joe Zaghloul and the team at LeanScale for putting in the thought and care to make something truly impactful. The format alone—structured like API docs, complete with a changelog—makes it incredibly usable and memorable. #RevOps leaders and #GTM teams will find it packed with playbooks that feel almost built-in to the process. If you’re scaling a B2B SaaS, you’ll want to bookmark this one. It’s hands-on, actionable, and unlike anything else out there. https://lnkd.in/ekrUJAW5

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How did a YC founder scale from $0 to $4M+ ARR in 6 months? What I learned surprised me: Getting to $200k ARR is possible through just hacking something together. But to break past the $1M ARR mark and keep scaling? To sign enterprise contracts with name brand companies? That's a different milestone. The fact that a technical founding did this and handled it all through founder-led sales is even more astounding. Surely, there must be some kind of secret sauce, some kind of unexplained context, I wondered. How did 2 technical founders who graduated college recently build something so robust, so performant and scalable, that they had enterprise companies lining up left and right? But no -- the founder let me know they did this through great engineering and sheer force of will. No proprietary edge. No silver spoon. No past domain experience. And in that moment, that simple answer made sense. We've also been speaking with amazing product engineers, many of them former founders, for whom things are just easy. Sometimes they cite great engineering mentorship as the key to their success. But more often than not, they simply "get it." And my team and I have over time honed our ability to naturally spot what makes a certain candidate special. It's a unique combination of high horsepower, high grit, incredibly sharp slope growth, and an ability to parachute into any problem and just figure things out. What seems like a quarter-long epic to some folks is a one-week project to others. New domains are never daunting. Never learned GPU inference optimization? No problem. I'll figure it out. This is the kind of talent that all startups need -- but understandably is truly rare to secure. This is the truly great, truly unique product engineer. And startups are rapidly learning how this kind of talent changes their own growth trajectory.

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Churn isn't just a number; it's a reflection of your business's health. Most SaaS founders get this wrong, mistaking user churn for revenue churn. Here’s the hard truth: knowing why customers leave is half the battle. Successful churn reduction is about sustainable strategies, not temporary fixes. Companies that act on feedback, recognize the reasons behind cancellations, and perfect their onboarding can significantly cut churn numbers. Those who simply hide cancellation buttons or slash prices are just treating symptoms. Take a note from successful founders who maintain a clear picture of their customer base and adapt accordingly. They build strong relationships from day one—leading to insights that inform better product development. Let’s hear your thoughts on churn reduction. What’s been your experience? What strategies do you find most effective? https://lnkd.in/eYgq_MAE

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Over the last 8+ years, I’ve helped grow multiple startups across different verticals - each with completely different performance review systems. Some are political and opaque, and others are * refreshingly * transparent. We’re building Seam to help rewrite the playbook for performance reviews. Here’s a quick breakdown of our strategy: 1) Simplifying performance management Seam does away with the old system in favor of real-time data and transparency. It’s a breath of fresh air for everyone. 2) Removing guessing games With Seam, managers can analyze employee progress (or areas of improvement) in real-time — no more guesswork when evaluating performance. 3) Improving transparency (for everyone) It’s not just managers who benefit. Employees get to see their performance metrics — fostering healthy competition and promoting productivity. Performance management today is broken - we’re building Seam to fix it ⚡ https://lnkd.in/grBNi7ee

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A PE operating partner asked me to do a marketing audit on a SaaS port-co acquired for $235M. The problem: the company pushed back. I only needed 20 minutes with the head of marketing. But every week I got pushback for a different reason. This puts all of us in an awkward situation: — The PE firm wants ground truth on marketing — I want to render the service I've been paid for — It's hard not to conclude the port-co's hiding something Which, to be totally honest, I get. My marketing audits for PEs have: — Uncovered six figures in monthly wasted ad spend — Caused folks in the marketing team to lose their job — Revealed existential problems that go beyond marketing I never go in with the intention of making anyone look bad. Rather, I see the audit as a comprehensive blood panel. In an ideal world, lab results come back and tell the story of a healthy company that's crushing it. But sometimes, they uncover signs of a marketing sickness that, unless treated, can end up risking the health of its host—the company at large. And just like a healthcare professional— I don't enjoy being the bearer of bad news. But I do feel a moral responsibility to convey the truth, whatever it might be. P.S. Fellow marketers/PEs— Ever run into this kind of problem where a port-co won't play nice with a 3rd-party audit? Would love to know your perspective and whether you have any tips. (asking for a friend... ;-)

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“First-time founder: seeks ego validation Second-time founder: only cares about market validation” - Dan Siroker market. it’s the most important word in product-market fit. learn by going to the market.

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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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Imagine you’re meeting a VC today and pitching your company. Now, also imagine the VC goes home tonight and tells his or her spouse about the meeting with you. How do you think the VC would (or should) describe your product to the spouse? Remember, this is for someone who doesn’t have any context, and probably doesn’t have time to listen the whole story. If you can think of a story version that's plain and simple -- how you want the VC to describe your product to the spouse -- perhaps that version should be your pitch in the first place?

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