SaaS Roundup #197

Hello roundup reader,

There's nothing I like better than a solid growth story. If you're like me, I have just the thing for you this week.

It comes to you thanks to our friends from Leadfeeder, who share the lessons they learned from growing their business to $150k in MRR without hiring a sales team.

Please keep in mind that no salespeople were harmed in the making of this post!

Just because Leadfeeder found a way to grow without them (up to this point), it doesn't mean the same approach would work for any team. It also doesn't mean you cannot use these learnings if you already have sales reps.

I hope you enjoy the blog post.

See you next week,
Ilia @ ChartMogul

New from ChartMogul

5 Lessons from Growing Leadfeeder to $150k MRR Without Salespeople

Anna Crowe

Some companies thrive without a sales team, for others, it's impossible to bring customers without one. Even if you fall under the second category, there are still many lessons you can learn and apply from those companies that have managed to grow "organically".

"Rather than spend money on a sales team to push your product, invest in creating the best possible product. With enough backup from your inbound marketing efforts, it can practically sell itself over time."

Lessons Learned about Building Remote Customer Success Teams from 4 Years on the Job

Ingmar Zahorsky, ChurnZero

Our VP of Customer Success shares the most important things he's learned about building a (remote) customer success team on the ChurnZero blog. Whether you're building your first team or expanding an existing one, this has some great advice for subscription companies.

"Making sure customers fulfill their objectives with your product starts with your team but goes beyond it — the whole company needs to align towards the goal of ensuring your customers get value out of using your product."

What to Do If Your Business Decelerates

Jason M. Lemkin, SaaStr

Perhaps not all of us are at the stage where we would consider going from $4m to $5m in ARR in a year "decelerating", but this article contains important advice on how to reignite growth, no matter what stage you're at.

"[W]hat I learned, and what I’ve helped other founders with since, is that at least 8 times out of 10, if you decelerate post Initial Traction … if you act quick enough … you can Reignite Growth."

Marketing Lessons Learned over More than a Decade Growing Startups

Kyle Tibbitts

Startup marketing is one of those "black hole" areas where the simple laws of logic don't necessarily hold true — it's one of the "noisiest" areas with thousands of blog posts pounded every day, yet smart advice is hard to come by. That's why it's refreshing to get solid advice collected in one place.

"There are no shortcuts when it comes to great marketing. “Growth hacks” for products that don’t deliver real and lasting value are a waste of your and everyone else’s time. Remain laser focused on the customer and delivering the best experience possible. This is the north star."

The SaaS Trends You Need to Know for 2020

OpenView

It's still early January, so "2020 trends" posts are fair game. And this is a good one! OpenView got their team of experts on weight in on the trends they believe will drive SaaS this year. From KPIs for PMs to People Leaders, these are some of the most important things you might not be thinking about (yet).

"With the B2B SaaS space as crowded as it is, I foresee that in 2020 innovative companies will begin seriously targeting business “influencers” and ramping up their presence on G2Crowd or Capterra (or hopefully another review site will emerge that’s less “pay-to-play) in order to fill their top-of-funnel."

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