Jason Lemkin, the founder of Saastr has written “The Ultimate Guide for scaling, sales and Raising Capital” compiled from his responses on Quora. All 100 of them. Here are some of my favorite questions and their answer highlights. Read the book for the detailed responses. It is a quick read and the Return On Time is phenomenal.
Q23. What are some rookie mistakes founders make during VC meetings?
Very interesting list which includes – Not standing while presenting, Bringing wrong people ( consultants. anyone who is not 100% involved) Not sending the deck ahead of time, Not answering questions, claiming things that cannot be backed up in Diligence and, not using the first slide to sell the company
Q46. What are the things startups have to get right?
Not Required list includes – Rock Star Founders, Amazing Technology, Being first to market. While the must have list has – Total Commitment, Product Market fit, and obsession amongst others.
Q53. What are some best practices for SaaS lead generation? How should a startup approach lead generation for a SaaS product that sells in the $99-$499/month range?
At $99 per month you need a viral component to scale. Free Webinars, Partner leads may work. Flexibility increases as you move higher with Price. All in all, they are very different kettle of fish.
Q54. What is the average customer acquisition cost for a SaaS company?
Typical expectation is that it will be less than the first years revenue from the customer. Rule of thumb – successful SaaS spend about 20-30% of the fully calculated CLTV on customer aquisition. In high value enterprise deals software companies often spend 150% of the first year ACV.
Q55. What is a good month over month (MoM) growth rate for a SaaS company?
10% MOM till you hit $20mn ARR. There is more interesting data – best SAAS companies get from $2mn t to $5mn on 5 quarters or less.
Q57. What are some pivotal moments that every successful SaaS company has?
These include getting the first 10 unaffiliated Customers, The moment of realization that you will not make it, Too much to do for every single employee, When the recurring lead machine kicks in, Being close to being cash flow positive – with the revenue stage these situations occur and how.
Lots to learn from these 105 pages.
To download the eBook go here :
The Ultimate Guide For Scaling, Sales and Raising Capital https://bit.ly/2EVfzo6
