This presentation was delivered by Ajay Agarwal, managing director of Bain Capital Ventures, as part of the SaaStr Annual 2018 conference in San Francisco. It outlines the "secret" to building a billion-dollar software-as-a-service company -- transforming your product into a platform, so customers and partners can take advantage of your unique data, valuable user base and/or essential functionality. Ajay outlines the strategic questions and implications for product management, business development, sales and marketing.

1. SaaStr Annual 2018 // Product to Platform – 1Ajay Agarwal // ajay@baincapital.com // @ajay_bcv
BILLION DOLLAR SAAS
How product companies become platform companies
Ajay Agarwal
Managing Director
Your company?

2. SaaStr Annual 2018 // Product to Platform – 2Ajay Agarwal // ajay@baincapital.com // @ajay_bcv
Product
Application to solve a specific
problem or use case
Platform
Common infrastructure essential
to multiple applications
What is the difference?

3. SaaStr Annual 2018 // Product to Platform – 3Ajay Agarwal // ajay@baincapital.com // @ajay_bcv
What are examples of platforms and their products?

4. SaaStr Annual 2018 // Product to Platform – 4Ajay Agarwal // ajay@baincapital.com // @ajay_bcv
Proprietary and
Unique Data
Essential
Functionality
What is my value to platform partners?
Distribution
Channel
EXAMPLESVALUE YOU NEED…
Useful Data
Lots of Users
Valuable Features

5. SaaStr Annual 2018 // Product to Platform – 5Ajay Agarwal // ajay@baincapital.com // @ajay_bcv
What strategic questions to ask when building a platform?
Open vs Curated Paid vs Free
Scale Effects Network Effects

6. SaaStr Annual 2018 // Product to Platform – 6Ajay Agarwal // ajay@baincapital.com // @ajay_bcv
Developer
Relations
Channel &
Marketing
Your platform strategy leads to important questions…
Corporate
Development
CONSIDERATIONSFUNCTION
• What data could be securely valuable to other applications?
• How can applications provide value back to my platform?
• What functionality is “core” to my platform, and where can third parties
innovate—where should I build, buy or partner?
• Would my platform benefit from certification and training programs for
partners and professionals?
• Do I need a network of system integration partners, and if so, how do I
recruit and engage them?
Engineering • Is my application built such that functions, UIs, and data could be accessed
via API in a secure, scalable way?
Sales • What additional functionality could help me sell and retain the incremental
customer?

7. SaaStr Annual 2018 // Product to Platform – 7Ajay Agarwal // ajay@baincapital.com // @ajay_bcv
QUESTIONS?
How product companies become platform companies
Ajay Agarwal
Managing Director
Your company?