SaaS Ventures

Noticed a slowdown in enterprise procurement and sales cycles lately? Our founders certainly have. As I wrote to SaaS Ventures' LP base this week, founders are becoming increasingly creative in their lead generation methods. Here are the top three stories I've heard from our portfolio this year - stories about founders who tried novel, exciting corny or even downright silly tactics to generate leads. It doesn't matter how you got the deal across the line, as long as it works! Bronze Medal: Living Security, which attempts to quantify the security risk of every individual within an organization, built an app for VR headsets that, at a conference, allowed booth attendees to view their colleagues through the headset and evaluate their riskiness. Imagine turning to your friend boss and saying “you’re definitely getting phished, I’m marking you red!” Generating traffic at tradeshows is always tough, and LivingSecurity thought outside the box to create a fun and engaging experience that gets people talking about human security. Silver Medal: FirmPilot went to a trade show in Orlando and, given the plethora of prospective customers – mid size law firms – they passed driving around the trade show area, decided to stop off in person at 20 firms and drop off some literature to test whether that approach might work. But sales pamphlets get thrown into trash – unless they’re attached to fruit. So the FirmPilot team gave twenty coconuts to prospective customers with a note that said “you’d be nuts not to work with us.” Before my eyes finished rolling, five had reached out to schedule a demo. Gold medal: One of the most common challenges of our cybersecurity companies is proving that their product works. Often, their product only leaps into action once a hacker tries to compromise a victim, which is rarely conveniently timed during a proof of concept trial period. So when a prospective major customer asked Fleet Defender, Inc. to prove that their product actually provides security after a truck is hacked, FleetDefender gave the only logical response – as illogical as it may sound – “want us to hack one of your trucks?” To my shock, the prospect said “of course!” They currently have a test set up (on a test site, not a highway, don’t worry!) where FleetDefender will be intentionally hacking its prospective client! Ashley M. Rose Jake Soffer Terry Reinert you can pick up your prizes if you attend a 15 minute sales call with SaaS Ventures. SEE WHAT I DID THERE!

What are law enforcement, private industry & the government doing to disrupt the #ransomware ecosystem? On April 24, #RTF co-chair & Paladin Global Institute president Kemba Walden moderates a panel on disrupting the ransomware business model. The #24in24 Disrupt panel features perspectives from across law enforcement, private industry, and government with Amy Hogan-Burney (Microsoft), Brett Leatherman (FBI Cyber Division), Keith Rawson (NCA), Kevin Sherry (DarkwebIQ) and Maya Song (DOJ). Join us at #24in24! https://lnkd.in/e8Z5dfQb 

Kyle Hanslovan, from a bar in Glen Burnie to coming to our Founder’s Day to pass on the wisdom. Looking forward to 2024 and big things from  Huntress. Still rocking my red white and blue t shirt with the same logo as 7 years ago!

Spending time with friends & fellow entrepreneurs at SaaS Ventures’ annual Founder’s Day. Miami in the winter is not half bad—Tidal Cyber Bryson Bort Kyle Hanslovan Mike Starr Seth Shuldiner Collin Gutman Jesse Bloom