This week’s roundup includes a comparison of the metrics of funded vs. bootstrap SaaS companies, five insights to SaaS customers, analysis on the future of the industry, and how to approach SaaS marketing.
Funded vs. Bootstrap: Comparing the Metrics of 37 SaaS Companies
Overview
Senior Research Analyst, Clement Voillon, decided to take the metrics compiled by Nathan Latka on 12 bootstrap SaaS companies and compare them to 25 VC SaaS companies. What does the data say about the future of bootstrap SaaS and is it a smart direction to take a startup?
“This is probably the data point which surprised me the most. The average MRR of the bootstrapped startups on this list is $364K and the median value is $227K, compared to $599K and $329K for the funded ones, knowing that the median value raised by funded businesses is $1.2M (and average = $5.8M).” [Read more here.]
5 Things to Know About Today’s SaaS Customer
Kissmetrics
It’s time to start selling like it is 2016 and that takes understanding and accepting that SaaS customers are savvy. The old gimmicks no longer work. They know the difference between a feature and a benefit, so stop selling features as “benefits”. They know you are probably not the only option as a solution so they will do the research. This article addresses today’s customers ability to research and their desire for quality, speed, consistency, and novelty. [Read more here.]
The Future of SaaS And What to Do About It
GetDrip
Like all things tech-related, SaaS grows and changes constantly at a rapid pace. This article highlights some of the factors, changes, and possibilities of the future of both horizontal and vertical SaaS. Industries are becoming increasingly dependent as well as more familiar and comfortable with SaaS products, and this can only mean good things for anyone currently in the space. [Read more here.]
How SaaS Marketing is Different from Every Other Type of Marketing
Kissmetrics
Possibly one of the hardest aspects of running a SaaS business is figuring out how to market the product. SaaS has no physical presence; it’s always changing; most product names don’t even begin to explain the product itself. The good news is, there are advantages of SaaS marketing and even rules that apply specifically to SaaS. (For example: giving away freebies and free information is a great SaaS marketing tactic!)
“SaaS marketing is not for the faint of heart. It’s challenging. And it is critically different from virtually every other type of marketing that the world is aware of.” [Read more here.]
How your SaaS business can drive growth through customer success
Silicon Republic
Lincoln Murphy of SaaS consulting company Sixteen Ventures uses a customer success growth strategy and in this article, Alex Theuma, founder of SaaScribe, dives into how this model can be applied specifically to SaaS businesses. The overarching premise is that the every aspect of the business is built around embracing the customer. But why do this?
“Customer success is when customers achieve their desired outcome through interaction with your company. Customer success-driven growth is growth that happens because your customers succeed, upgrade, buy more, and tell their friends.” [Read more here.]
