SaaStock 2019 - elizabeth cain

INSIGHTS FROM 500+ SAAS COMPANIES ON
HOW TO GROW
FASTER IN 2019
Kyle Poyar
Liz Cain
See the deck: openview.vc/SaaStock19

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN
SAAS
What’s most likely
to keep a founder
up at night?
A. Cash burn
B. GTM execution
C. Hiring the best talent
D. Fundraising
E. Product execution
SaaSbenchmarks.com See the deck: openview.vc/SaaStock19

3©2019 OpenView Advisors, LLC. All Rights ReservedSaaSbenchmarks.com
22%
26%
37%
50%
56%
Fundraising
Cash burn
Hiring the best talent
GTM execution
Product execution
WHAT FOUNDERS HAD TO SAY
💵
🔥
🦄
📲
💪

2019 EXPANSION
BENCHMARKS STUDY
639
Survey participants

639
Survey participants
70%
Founder or C-level
2019 EXPANSION
BENCHMARKS STUDY

639
Survey participants
70%
Founder or C-level
44%
Based outside the US
2019 EXPANSION
BENCHMARKS STUDY

639
Survey participants
70%
Founder or C-level
44%
19
Survey partners
2019 EXPANSION
BENCHMARKS STUDY

639
Survey participants
70%
Founder or C-level
44%
19
Survey partners
54%
B/w $1-20M in ARR
2019 EXPANSION
BENCHMARKS STUDY

639
Survey participants
70%
Founder or C-level
44%
19
Survey partners
54%
B/w $1-20M in ARR
2017
First year of the study
2019 EXPANSION
BENCHMARKS STUDY

COMPARED TO LAST YEAR,
WE’RE SEEING MORE FUNDRAISING
Equity Capital Raised by ARR
75%
53%
21%
9%
18%
23%
13%
8%
7%
17%
51%
32%
5%
15%
53%
$1-2.5M ARR
$2.5-10M ARR
$10-20M ARR
$20-50M ARR
<$10M $10-20M $20-50M >$50M
2x as many
$50M+ raisers
compared to 2018

BUT YOY GROWTH…
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
<$1M
ARR
$1-2.5M
ARR
$2.5-10M
ARR
$10-20M
ARR
$20-50M
ARR
>$50M
ARR
2018 growth rate
Median Growth Rate by ARR

BUT YOY GROWTH IS STAGNANT
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
<$1M
ARR
$1-2.5M
ARR
$2.5-10M
ARR
$10-20M
ARR
$20-50M
ARR
>$50M
ARR
2019 growth rate
2018 growth rate
Median Growth Rate by ARR

HOW DO WE
FIX THIS? 🔧⚙️
SaaSbenchmarks.com

GET FOCUSED

ARE YOU HEARING THINGS LIKE?
Our product can
work for everyone.

Our product can
work for everyone.
Can it???? 🙃

If we just build this
one feature, we
could sign up this
major account

If we just build this
one feature, we
could sign up this
major account
What’s the trade off?
🤔🤔🤔

Each sales rep has
their own way of
finding new leads.

Each sales rep has
their own way of
finding new leads.
WTF? 🤡

YOU HAVE A
SEGMENTATION PROBLEM
SaaSbenchmarks.com

PICK A SWIM LANE
TO WIN IN THE MARKET
SaaSbenchmarks.com

21
HOW TO GET FOCUSED
Study your win-loss
data and take the
time to enrich it
Don’t over-engineer it –
your sweet spot
shouldn’t be a surprise
Execution alignment is
more important than
being exactly ‘right’
1 3

NAIL YOUR PRICING

HAVE YOU THOUGHT
DEEPLY ABOUT PRICING?
SaaSbenchmarks.com

1% CHANCE OF
HURTING ARR
1%
Decreased
ARR

99% CHANCE OF
INCREASING ARR
1%
Decreased
ARR
0-9%
ARR increase
17%
10-24%
ARR increase
36%
25-49%
ARR increase
23% 23%
50%+
ARR increase

HOW TO FIX YOUR PRICING
21
Conduct pricing
research and collect
data on pricing
Designate someone
to own pricing
Test a higher price
(after customers have
seen value)
1 3

ADOPT PRODUCT
LED GROWTH

TODAY END USERS ARE
FINDING GREAT SOFTWARE

AND TELLING THEIR BOSS
WHICH ONES TO BUY

PRODUCT LED GROWTH
Product usage serves as the primary driver of
user acquisition, conversion and expansion.

THE PLG IPO WAVE IS
BUILDING
Product Led Growth IPOs Since 2012

I hate expense reports.
So annoying!
I hate file sharing.
So annoying!
I hate internal emails.
So annoying!
I hate scheduling.
So annoying!
I hate web conferencing.
So annoying!
I hate post-it notes.
So annoying!
BECOMING PRODUCT LED:
ANNOYANCE IS OPPORTUNITY

HOW TO PLG-IFY YOUR BUSINESS
PLG
Companies
All
Companies
Free trial offering 74% 45%
Product analytics for decision making 67% 31%
Self-service buying experience 61% 28%
Bottoms-up sales 55% 31%
Product qualified leads 53% 29%
Referral programs 50% 31%
Dedicated growth FTEs 47% 27%
Freemium offering 38% 18%

PLG TAKES PATIENCE
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
<$1M
ARR
$1-2.5M
ARR
$2.5-10M
ARR
$10-20M
ARR
$20-50M
ARR
>$50M
ARR
Non-PLG
Median Growth Rate by ARR and PLG Adoption

PLG TAKES PATIENCE
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
<$1M
ARR
$1-2.5M
ARR
$2.5-10M
ARR
$10-20M
ARR
$20-50M
ARR
>$50M
ARR
PLG Non-PLG
Median Growth Rate by ARR and PLG Adoption
Faster
growth
at scale
compared to non-
PLG companies

IT EVEN WORKS FOR ENTERPRISE
48% 42% 36%
25%
52% 58% 64%
75%
VSB SMB Midmarket Enterprise
PLG
Non-PLG
PLG Adoption by Target Segment

THE TAKEAWAY

Founders are having trouble sleeping.
They’re worried most about Product and GTM execution.
Fundraising is easy,
but accelerating growth is hard.
Start by picking a swim lane.
Getting focused allows you to hone your roadmap and GTM strategy.
Nail your pricing.
Put someone in charge and collect pricing data.
Adopt Product Led Growth (PLG).
Appeal to the end user; don’t annoy them.
THE TAKEAWAY
1
2
3
4
5

THANK YOU
G O T Q U E S T I O N S ? W E ’ V E G O T A N S W E R S .
T W E E T @ O P E N V I E W V E N T U R E

SaaStock 2019 - elizabeth cain

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