SaaStock Founder Membership (SFM)’s Post

Last week, we signed our first Enterprise client at Reditus ✍️ 🎉 What a journey it has been so far. One thing I can tell you already: You can't build a SaaS alone. In December 2022, we decided to rebuild our app fully and re-launched it on Product Hunt on June 2023 (and became the product of the day) 🔥 This decision meant that Ovi Anca and Daniel Nadasan could not build any new things and could only launch a 2.0 app version. As you can calculate the time frame, it took us around six months 😰 Working on such a big/long project when we were in the early stages and bootstrapped was a hard decision and financially challenging. I'm so happy we made this decision and the 2.0 version app they have been able to build 🙌 In short, we now have a stable app that is easy to build on and allows us to develop quickly. In addition to a pool of 11.000+ B2B SaaS affiliates who can see the programs in the Reditus marketplace, we are now also starting to allow SaaS companies to recruit affiliates from our app. This makes our tool more suitable for bigger companies that want to recruit vetted affiliates with an audience matching their ICP. We have built a way to migrate programs to Reditus, and in the following weeks, we will launch our LinkedIn and YouTube connections next to our existing Google Analytics integration. Making it easy for SaaS brands to identify if the affiliate has the traffic they are looking for on the channel they want to be found on 🕵️♂️ With a tool that is now more suitable for bigger companies, you will have different sales cycles, security questionnaires, and other things related to selling to Enterprises. Luckily, I was in Morocco at the SFM retreat at the time this happened, where I could gain knowledge from ±40 founders and receive help on the spot 🙏 Being a part of different communities has been great for me in gaining new knowledge and being able to ask for help or learn by helping others. It is great to see how other SaaS founders are willing to help each other. To summarise, building a company requires a great team and a good 'support system' around it will help you to stay sane & keep going forward 🛣️ The road of a SaaS founder is bumpy and chaotic and will probably never go as expected or planned. Thanks for everyone's support on our journey ✌️ For the other founders reading this 👇 Keep moving forward, stay consistent, and keep driving value for your clients 🚀 ---- 🔔 Follow me (Joran Hofman) or the Grow Your B2B SaaS Podcast for more B2B SaaS content. Or check out Reditus | B2B SaaS Affiliate Marketing Software & Network for setting up an affiliate program for your B2B SaaS.

I talk to so many founders who grew their valuable SaaS business out of their services business that I wonder why this isn’t a recommended path for young founders. There are many obvious benefits: 1) Young entrepreneurs learn how to actually run a business with customers, employees, cash flow, and competitors. 2) You can learn where problems exist that haven’t been solved yet. 3) You can survive long enough to use your team and time to test many theories before finding a big idea to bet on. 4) Services businesses require software, too. Build software for internal use, then sell it to others. But it’s not popular to say, “Go start a tech-oriented services business first and then start a SaaS business after that.” That sounds like it will be hard and take a long time. Maybe it will take time, but you’ll probably get to a successful SaaS business faster. Ian Brodie described how he and a college buddy wanted to start a software company on the Practical Founders Podcast this week. But they didn’t have the idea or any experience. So they started working in the affiliate marketing space and then created a steady services business called Grovia to help ecommerce sellers recruit affiliates and influencers. They sold Grovia to Acceleration Partners after two years in 2022. It was a small win by VC-industry standards, but it was big for Ian, who got cash and validation for creating a real business. Ian and two other co-founders immediately started a real software company, Levanta, with affiliate marketing software just for Amazon sellers. In their first year after launch, Levanta has experienced rapid growth, with $3 million in ARR serving 700 Amazon sellers and 3,000 affiliates on the platform. He is glad he started Grovia first before launching Levanta for several reasons: “I definitely believe in the benefits of starting with a services business first–-before starting a SaaS business. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s starting a business for the first time and wants to learn about a space. “You can spin up a services business so quickly because you can market it cheaply at first, start delivering value, and then grow to a point where you can bring on additional talent. “Then, you can start experimenting with an engineer to build a product by adding a tech-enabled aspect to your services business. That allows you to learn a lot about a particular industry and become practitioners. “You can become experts in a particular space and know what problems are missing. If you do go and start another company, that’s where the SaaS opportunity lies. You’ll know exactly where that is.” There are many ways to start a successful software business. Starting with a services business first is just one way to do it. Check out the interview here: https://lnkd.in/gmzAhpeY Did you start your SaaS business out of a services business? #practicalfounders

I have launched over a dozen SaaS partnerships that led to six figures or more in revenue. I have also launched dozens that flopped. Here are some thoughts from the last 6 years of doing partnership work with other tech tools. #1 A few years ago I ran a co-promotion campaign where it drove $40k in revenue for us and no sales for our partner. It was a disaster. But why did it happen? Our tool was a $30/m easy bolt-on and their offering started at $1000/m. In retrospect, it’s easy to see why it was an easy lift for their customers but not visa-versa. We made the mistake of just looking at the industry in isolation. #2 Even if the price is comparable, what is adjunct functionality versus core ecosystem functionality. At ActiveCampaign if we work with a partner who operates a core part of a brand's business (say a Shopify, or Square), their ability to drive demand for us from their base makes a lot of sense. If it’s a largely downstream application, it can still have value, but it isn’t likely to be a huge demand driver. You don’t go buy a car because of its carport plug-in compatibility. #3 You need to get aligned goals upfront. Even if the partner has a downstream functionality, they can absolutely still help with re-activations, or retention or other important business goals. Don’t lose out on an active, engaged partner who is willing to push from their end. Just make sure you choose a goal where both sides can win. #4 Like so many things in SaaS marketing, look for any signal. I know 5-10 trials or 2-3 sales when you email a list of 200k seems like a failure, but if there is any meaningful signal it can mean the demand exists and there is value doubling down. #5 Even if you are a small brand, say $1-10m ARR, you can get the attention of larger brands and get massive distribution, but you have to take initiative. You make the content (they can help distribute). You kick off the social posts and community posts and blog articles. At ActiveCampaign, as someone who selects what strategic partners to double down with and as a larger brand, I will happily work with a $10m ARR brand that is highly motivated and takes initiatives over a $1b brand where it’s one blog post a quarter and tons of back and forth for basics. Be a fast mover and doors will open. 

The 6 lessons from hitting $1k MRR. and trying to hit $10k/mo. ( and my takes) Am big on the early days of scaling a SaaS product. At this stage, is when most of the creative juice emerges from. And for obvious reasons: - Budget constraints - Small team wearing many hats - Little to no awareness by customers This calls for creative ways to get infront of buyers. As am scrolling on reddit, I came across this founder sharing how they hit $1k/mo with their SaaS. The lessons on what worked are something to ponder over as: - Startup founder -Creator building SaaS - Product marketer. Here are the summaries from u/kevivmatrix 1/Customers will only pay if they hit a paywall or limits. If you are giving too many features in free in lieu of acquiring customers, please consider that these customers may never pay for your services. 2/ Don't keep your pricing too low The founder kept reducing our prices to get customers but it didn't work. ($59 -> $9). What worked was refining the product and then keeping the starting price at $39. Unless your app is really useful, people will not pay, regardless of low price. 3/Writing a lot of content (articles) for bottom of the funnel keywords. This one is subjective in my opinion, it depends on the product and target audience's buying stage analysis. 4/Getting listed on established marketplaces that fit your domain. For the founder , it was Heroku and DigitalOcean. There are a lot of companies that offer integrations where you can list yourself and drive leads. 5/ Providing quick support is useful. It helps customer go in your favour compared to bigger brands. A lot of our customers have mentioned that they started paying us just because of the support that was provided. 6/Listen to feature requests but implement things that makes sense to your product and ICP Otherwise, you will have a product that is not good for anyone. Don't get trapped in the product roadmap of cranking out features, instead of focusing on revenue. On hitting $10k MRR, one Redditor shared an insights worth noting. The founder to focus on partnerships with newsletters and slack communities. Adding an affiliate components will be a great incentive to land these partners. In the end, scaling beyond $10k in revenue will require doubling down on what is working. Being in the markeplaces is one such example. P.S: Get weekly freely newsletter on proven product marketing; productletter.beehiiv.com

I have a *huge* pet peeve when it comes to agency x SaaS partnerships, and I am not shy about it. Many of our In Social Partner Managers have heard me say this, including the teams at Shopify and Klaviyo, whom have heard me yell this from the rooftops lately (!!!): ➡️ MRR should be a more important factor in valuing your agencies than net new referred revenue! Almost every tech partnership I know of ignores this, and focuses their program almost entirely on the number of net new $$$ referrals to determine the worth ("status") of an agency partner, while completely ignoring the recurring revenue *we the agency* ensure they are making. We're the ones using the platform on behalf of the clients, after all. Most SaaS companies don't realize how much control some agencies (ie us)r have over the client's chosen tech stack. It's *us* who tell our clients which tools we trust, which tools we've been able to drive results with, and which tools *we use most efficiently* to keep their agency fees down. And the clients *listen* to us. They've hired us for a reason. On top of that, an agency that is doing well is an agency that has long-term relationships with their clients, and may not always focus on bringing in new ones. Aren't those the agencies you want to partner with? The one whose clients trust them for the long haul because they know what they're doing? In some cases, we're taking over the tech stack from an agency who didn't do so well the first time - so while it's their referred revenue, we're the ones keeping the customer on platform. SaaS companies don't seem to realize that the agencies with high net new referrals are usually the ones that also churn and burn - it's a numbers game to them, and they couldn't care less about client retention. Are those the agencies you want representing your SaaS brand? Whatever happened to the idea that you make more money from your existing customers than trying to bring in new ones? We certainly believe in this, especially because we know just how high CPMs and CACs are these days. It's about nurturing your clients/customers and keeping that revenue stream consistent, especially in such a tumultuous time for the Ecommerce industry. So, I beg of you, our wonderful tech partners ✨ PLEASE value the agencies who have high MRRs even if their net new referrals are low - the agencies who are using your platforms to drive results, and the agencies who are ensuring our clients are sticking with your platform so that you keep making money. ---- Shoutout to W. Stewart Wesley and Imran Kurani from PartnerPage who are truly leaning into this methodology by giving us agency partners a way to help merchants on behalf of tech companies. These merchants are *not net new referrals* but *we* are helping them stay on platform thanks to this program. #ecommerce #saas #techpartnerships #digitalmarketingagency

Launched my SaaS ossa.ai 3 weeks ago Here's an update: We are closing in on 1000 total sign-ups. (1/4 are paying users) We realized that we need to implement a free trial system as soon as possible. Once great piece of advice I got from an advisor is that a paid-in-full only option requires a ton of conviction from the internal team (on marketing side) and the affiliates in their content creation. AKA you have to get someone to pay in full before even getting to test how great the product is. Instead, let people test the thing and let the product produce the conviction. We have gone back on forth on this concept for many reasons, but have decided that it is the best interest of the company and the users to implement this. I halted the affiliate posts until we make this change. In the first day with 2 affiliate posts, we had 180+ sign-ups. By the end of the week, we will have onboarded at least 15 affiliates that will be posting at least twice a month for various platforms the foreseeable future. This strategic shift will be sign-up focused instead of sales focused. Hypothesis is that this will be a massive lever to severely increase goodwill and user acquisition from affiliates and their audience. Also, in theory, this will increase conversions for affiliates as their only job is get people to sign-up and try the thing, and product will do the rest. (We can also retarget users who sign-up by providing credits and other value to increase likelihood of them using platform). Will provide update on this within the week once implemented to evaluate results.

3K Followers Thank You! I'm delighted to commemorate reaching 3,000 followers with all of you! Let's take a stroll down memory lane since May 23, 2023, and extend an invitation to continue our journey together. The Mission At LimitlessMe, we specialize in turning marketing challenges into triumphs through our innovative hub-centric system. Whether you're a business owner, brand, coach, marketer, CEO, founder, or aspiring entrepreneur, our mission is to empower you to discover, grow, and thrive in the digital realm, even if you're starting with no prior experience. The Accomplishments 1. Established LimitlessMe Hub: A transformative "Make More Money" HUB, offering a chance to claim a slice of the future with our Affiliate Business System. Explore the Hub: https://limitlessme.ca. 2. Founded LimitlessMe Community, "Affiliate Hub Connect": A dynamic space for learning and networking. We invite you to join us in both groups:   - LinkedIn Group: https://lnkd.in/gCHi6D_R   - VIP Private Group in the HUB: https://lnkd.in/gJxmc5ej 3. Hosted "Purposeful Living" Audio Event: Joined by Eny Osung, Hannah Idachaba, and Izu Samuel, we engaged in meaningful discussions about the essence of life and the pursuit of success. 4. Launched Weekly Newsletter, "Affiliate Money Hub Insiders": Our inaugural edition debuted on March 5, 2024, and now we're on the 3rd Edition. Subscribe now for insider tips and trends in the hub-centric connector model, along with strategies for sustainable earnings. Subscribe now ! https://lnkd.in/gXe39XrN 5. Introduced Hub Blog, "Limitless You Insights": Dive into a wealth of insights and inspiration. Subscribe now! https://lnkd.in/gcMN9VyB 6. Offering Free Course, "7 Steps to Freedom": This comprehensive guide to affiliate marketing success, valued at $497, is now available for free. Claim your gift: https://lnkd.in/gHvRwyM9 7. Hosting Free Demo Webinar on "Affiliate Business System": Join our exclusive webinar where we'll unveil the secrets to building and launching your own highly profitable affiliate marketing business in just 7 days or less, step-by-step, even if you have zero experience. Register Now! https://lnkd.in/gaeUKvSV Let's continue this journey of growth and success together! ------- Hey, it's Abby Chan, BSN, MN, ICU RN here, DM, hit the bell and follow me if you are ready to make the change.

🤔 Are you looking to scale up your SaaS business without breaking the bank? 💡 Well, you're in luck! Affiliate programmes (when done well) could be a great way to do it. 🌟 But I wouldn't be me if I didn't highlight the pros and cons. Before you jump in head first, here's the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.🕵 The Good: ✅ Trust baked in: The right affiliates will do the marketing for you. They already have a receptive audience. Their audience also trusts them. This means a higher likelihood of sales. ✅ Performance-based: You only pay your affiliates when a sale happens. So, it can be a great way to get off the ground without hiring a sales team. The Bad: ❌ Management: All affiliate schemes need to be managed. There are often lots of costs that come out of the woodwork. Successful affiliate programs choose their affiliates carefully. The reason is better affiliates get better results in the long run. So, don't incentivise short-termism. Better affiliates are the ones who market ethically (more on that below). Better ones also get better results and are easier to manage. They're just a little harder to find. Nothing worth having is easy, right? ❌ Lack of control: Once you provide affiliates with the information they need, it's up to them. Their role is to sell. So, they don't care as much as you do about the impact on what they do. An employee follows your guidance to the letter. An affiliate won't. The Ugly: 😱 Question marks about the customers: Affiliates are usually chosen based on complementary audiences. When you bring them on board, you know little else... most of the stats that an affiliate or influencer won't give you a real idea of outcomes. So, be wary. I've heard some horror stories over the years. 😱 Brand damage: As I pointed out earlier, you have little control. Choose the wrong one (or worse ones), and the things they say or do could severely impact your company. Choose wisely and set clear expectations. 😱 Misleading affiliates: Affiliates are 'guns for hire'. Their sole aim is to sell. They could mislead customers and the companies they represent. This is by no means the norm, but it happens. This is why you need clear parameters for your affiliates from day one. Get expectations and guidelines in place. It'll save you stress, reputational damage and plenty of sleepless nights. My top tips to avoid affiliate agony... 1️⃣ Define your audience clearly. 2️⃣ Have a clear brand story in place 3️⃣ Set guidelines from day one 4️⃣ Cut out the bad apples immediately 5️⃣ Track performance - and check what they're sharing, regularly Do you have any affiliate stories of your own? Share in the comments below 👇 Have a wonderful day, and speak soon, Mikey #Brand #SaaS #storytelling #brandMarketing ing #marketing #affiliateprogrammes #growthopportunities

2:1 LTV to CAC = 1.5x gross profit valuation 3:1 LTV to CAC = 5.3x gross profit valuation According to a16z, “our 3x LTV:CAC business is worth more than 3 times our 2x LTV:CAC business, and our 5x LTV:CAC business is worth more than 5 times!” This is why so many brands are leaning heavily into organic channels, owned assets and partner led growth. But there are a lot of things that stifle success with organic. Here are some things to avoid… Collaboration Kerfuffle: Here is the problem with running collaborations. It usually goes like this. You run a promotional push to each of your respective audiences and when a bunch of their customers don’t buy, you decide it isn’t a fit. So the answer is just be patient, and with time these will work out…. Right? Not quite. Some companies genuinely aren’t a good fit and you could do 10 co-promotions but it would just be burning attention with your audience. You need a better plan. In the research phase, you want to make sure that you have shared ICPs AND comparable price points. I remember once I ran a promo with a company that had the same audience but their product was $800/m and ours was $39/m. In retrospect, it’s not hard to see why our audience didn’t convert for our partner.   Next, don’t just run a dry promotion to each other’s lists. Get creative. Maybe you start a tool-tip series where you highlight three great tools each week and how to get the most of them. Maybe you start to share a creative story each week that keeps readers in suspense and culminates in a great offer. Your first co-promotion might not drive a ton of sales, but how are opens? How are clicks? Did folks respond? You need to find ways to measure if your audience cares. Making Partner-Led Growth Just About Affiliate Commissions: Partners can be a consistent channel of growth. But too often teams try to expand partnerships by just offering bigger aff % and looser parameters about who they take in. Here is the thing… If you look at nearly any SaaS, they follow the Pareto Principle where 20% or less of partners (usually it’s literally less than a dozen partners) drive 80% of the partner growth. So I recommend going after less partners, but better fit ones, really invest in supporting ones who have real communities, ecosystems or site traffic and only work with folks who truly “get” your product. Don’t be scared to offer partners a unique deal, even if they don’t normally do sponsorships or influencer agreements. Generic Email Lists: The best email newsletters drive ROI and you own your data, which makes them a resilient growth play. But most newsletters suck. They are unfocused, they try to do too much and they don’t present novel information. Great B2B newsletter's #1 invest in creativity. Do things other newsletters aren’t. Use real data. #2 Set crystal clear expectations. Let them know when you are contacting them and exactly what about. #3 Give real replicable steps to take information and reproduce a result.

Competitor comparison pages are great for driving high intent traffic to your SaaS. But most of the time startups make 'fake comparisons'. Most comparison pages are: ✅ We can do X,Y and Z ❌ Competitor can NOT do X,Yz, and Z And most startups miss a clear positioning. For me, a good comparison page focuses on the main difference. The competitor is good in X, but we focus on Y. This can include 1 or more of the following criteria: 🔸 Product category 🔸 Target audience / ICP 🔸 Pricing 🔸 Key capabilities/features Cello.so (with Stefan Bader) are doing a great job. "Rewardful focuses on affiliate referrals; Cello unites user and affiliate referrals on one platform." 👉 The first sentence gives visitors a clear understanding of what both tools do. Check the guide in the comments to learn more about BOFU content pages (like comparison pages). #saas #saasmarketing #contentmarketing