In B2B SaaS, the expectations for a $10,000/mo marketing team are totally different from a $100,000/mo one.  As a Founder, CEO, COO or CMO, you need a way to know: • How do I forecast the amount of lead gen and revenue results to expect? • How large a marketing team do I really need? B2B SaaS companies move through predictable stages of marketing focus, cost and size (as described in the popular T2D3 book). With people cost being a majority of the cost involved, every hire needs to be well...

Many sales forecasts are inaccurate. Let's make yours more predictable: 1. Ground your projections in actual data instead of feelings.  Many forecasts are based on opinion rather than actual data. If you’ve been in business for 3 or more months, you likely have access to data you can use. Let’s say you had 20 demos and 2 closed-won deals in the past three months—with this information, you can start to build a picture of your conversion rates. Roughly 10% of your demos convert to closed-won...

A simple 4-step approach to get your goals back on track: Define the problem. Write it down—be specific. Make sure everyone agrees on the problem. This step is incomplete until everyone interprets the problem in the same way.Uncover the ~real~ root cause. People often jump too quickly to conclusions and favor obvious explanations for symptoms. Most problems are nuanced with many contributing factors. Try to unpack all of the potential causes.Document all possible solutions. Once you’ve...

Jason Fried (37Signals) recently published an open challenge to the software subscription model—their stance is that customers should once again be able to buy and own software products. To pay for them once and own the source code. We discuss both models' pros and cons and speculate why Jason and the 37Signals teams introduced this strategy and manifesto. Here are some of our key takeaways: In the last few years, many software companies were able to get away with neglecting the second “s”...

Google has always guarded its search ranking factors. But thanks to the recent antitrust suit between the DOJ and Google, we now get a glimpse into the inner workings of their ranking systems through previously confidential internal documents.  Here’s what we’ve confirmed about the process so far:Whenever new content is published and indexed on the internet, Google’s goal is to (as fast as possible) understand how relevant it is for searchers using its engine. Google uses three main factors...

Our best practices for presenting your marketing plan to the board of directors as companies are in the thick of 2024 planning. General guidelines: First, there are general guidelines you should always keep in mind when presenting your plan to the board: Come prepared - Don’t present plans that aren’t pressure tested. If you ask for money, be ready to answer questions about the specifics—results, how you’ll get there, data behind your hypotheses.  Lead with the red - You’re not...

Strong product marketing is crucial for early-stage software companies. But it’s also the most significant gap for many. Whether it’s your first marketing hire or someone from your founding team, someone on your team should be able to connect their deep understanding of your product (features, capabilities, value delivery) with an overarching go-to-market plan. Some of the core product marketing capabilities your team needs are: Positioning: Understand your market and the competition....

The content playbook that worked in the 2010s doesn’t work anymore. Things like keyword search volume, word count, and post date/time don’t have the same impact they used to. Instead of working backward from keyword to content, good content marketing does the reverse—start with a question you think you can answer better than someone else.  Don’t worry about the keywords for now. There are two steps to nailing good content in 2023: Understand the problem. Who are you talking to? What are...

The true definition of product-market fit is highly contested online. But one thing is clear from our experience: most founders think they’ve hit PMF far before they truly have.  What does product-market fit (PMF) actually mean; and how should your go-to-market techniques change once you get to PMF?  Product-market fit means finding a defensible beachhead of customers (a cluster of similar customers) who pay, stay, and refer others like them.  In this episode, Stijn shares a simple list of...

2022 and 2023 brought new pressure to the software industry that many mature industries have felt for a long time. Here’s our take on what happened and where we go from here. What happened? 2010–2021 were the years of plenty, with an extra push in the back from COVID Since growth capital was so cheap, it was easy to get away with mediocre performance  The bar of performance was not high enough Growth was seen as a metric of success, not profit  Where do we go? Add discipline to how you...

What should you look at when your pipeline and revenue numbers start falling behind? What are the first things you should focus on?

Early quantitative findings from our experience conducting audits of B2B SaaS startups

How much pipeline should marketing be responsible for?

What do you look for in a marketing leader over time, when should you bring on a strategic marketing leader, and how do you make sure they’re the right fit?

Should you build partnerships with other companies? If yes, then when?

How does your company and market maturity stage affect your go-to-market?

Why you should (almost) always start with inbound marketing

Why, how, and when to outsource some or all of your marketing function

How to approach SEO when you’re early stage

Today we’re discussing how and when to introduce new verticals into your website, landing pages, and other assets.

Sharing stories and wisdom about positioning and niches

How should you use OKRs throughout your teams?

Discussing Stijn’s new book, a playbook for driving exponential growth in B2B SaaS companies

Content is king. But why? And how do you approach it?