Sean Warren’s Post

Ever wondered why some SaaS companies skyrocket while others fizzle out? It's all about **customer obsession.** 🚀 Having worked with countless startups, I've noticed a trend: The most successful ones aren't just focused on their product—they're laser-focused on their customers’ problems and needs. They don’t just sell software; they offer solutions. 🔍 Listen actively to your users. 👥 Engage with them regularly. 🛠️ Iterate based on their feedback. By turning empathy into action, you can transform your SaaS from a good idea into an indispensable tool. What strategies have you found effective in truly understanding and serving your customer base? Drop your insights below! 👇

Your SaaS startup has hit $10K MRR, but growth feels random and unpredictable. Each milestone brings new challenges that catch you off guard, forcing reactive decisions instead of strategic moves. While others celebrate vanity metrics, successful founders focus on specific milestones that actually indicate readiness for scale. Target these critical scaling indicators: • Customer acquisition efficiency • Revenue retention patterns • Team productivity metrics Scale systematically through: • Operational efficiency markers • Predictable revenue streams • Growth-ready systems Achieve sustainable scale through: • Increased team effectiveness • Reduced operational friction • Scalable growth systems Action Item: Map your scaling journey with proven milestones that matter. Finding & using search terms proven to improve search visibility is one of the easiest ways to set & predict growth milestones. Here's the playbook 👇🏻 https://lnkd.in/dyJCYkMh

FROM THE IDEA TO FIRST CUSTOMERS IN 4 MONTH. SURVIVAL PROGRAM FOR THE FIRST-TIME SAAS FOUNDERS AT THE IDEA AND PRE-MVP STAGE Today I want to share exciting news for everyone who wants to start their SaaS-startup. ⚡️ If any of these apply to you: - You want to launch your first SaaS, and do it right from the beginning. - You are good at engineering or design, but have little to no experience in sales. - You are wondering how to get your first 100 customers - You have built your MVP, but received little to no interest in it from potential customers My next product is for you 😉 I’m working on a 4-month intensive course to help you: - Validate your idea and business model before writing a single line of code. - Develop a value proposition that customers would feel stupid saying no to. - Create a functional prototype of the product that customers would pay for - Build a scalable sales funnel through LinkedIn outreach - Attract a LINE of first customers before the product launch. In 4 months, you will complete the journey that takes 80% of the startups more than a year to complete. If you’re interested, register here: https://tally.so/r/mJ2dAR 4/12 seats are already taken. Let's talk 😉

This video is pretty funny. it reminded me of a dialogue between the product development team and the sales team that often happens in early-stage startups. There is a certain vision for the product, but at the same time, there are customers who always want to make changes. This is especially true when it comes to B2B SaaS and enterprise-grade software, with customers who are never happy with just what they get—they always want to customize.  It is a tough choice for the founder to skew the original design and purpose of the product to secure that very much desired contract from a big customer. Sometimes, they fall into the trap of customizing their product too much, later unable to scale it because of that one big customer. So, be careful out there and try to balance the interests of your vision with the desires of your customers, and have a laugh at this video.

Congrats, you’ve got your first customer! Now the onboarding will set the tone and level of trust with your customers. Kathryn O'Day has some tips to help startups run a smooth onboarding. What's your first step to onboarding new customers? 👇

💡What’s your most valuable lesson learned from a customer who churned? Here’s mine 😅 Once upon a time, working for a startup, we had a customer going through severe financial trouble. They were an early adopter and a good logo for us, but they also pulled us into a spiral of: 👎 Too many in-person meetings to ensure their team adopted our software and saw the value 👎 Hours spent creating tailored guides to stop them from asking the same repetitive questions 👎 Endless payment reminders (at one point, 8 invoices—imagine the cash flow pain for a startup!) Unsurprisingly, they eventually shut down, leaving us with all the unpaid invoices. You probably saw that coming, right? Learnings: ✅ Focus on the battles where you have a realistic chance of winning. ✅ Invest in finding and nurturing high-quality, ideal customers. ✅ Let toxic legacy customers go. It's ok to move on. ✅ Disqualify without hesitation, focus on quality. And remember: sometimes the best growth comes from knowing when to walk away 👋

One more year-end stat that fills me with pride: If you're a small and growing SaaS company, you probably have a big mix-up between your Customer Success and Support functions -- at least it's been true at most of the start-ups where I've worked. Way back at the end of 2022, we decided to re-think this; and we spent 2023 re-arranging, rebuilding, and re-training both ourselves and our customers about the distinction. All that hard work came to fruition in 2024, as our DriverReach support teams achieved solid 4.9-5.0 ⭐ reviews for their work in every month! (In case it's not obvious, this strong foundation in Support also enabled our reimagined Success team to focus much more on strategy and skill to guide our customers in leveling up their companies!)

The reality is that building a successful SaaS startup isn't a walk in the park. As the buzz around SaaS grows louder, the hurdles that come with it become daunting. From high customer churn to struggles with market penetration, it's a tightrope walk that many founders don't anticipate. So, what can you do about it? Start by investing in industry knowledge. Attend conferences, join communities, and learn from those who’ve been there. Analyze your competitors and truly understand the needs of your target audience to refine your product. Optimize your marketing funnel by employing automation and A/B testing to improve conversions. You know what’s at stake? Your reputation. Lowering your churn rate means more stability and less chaos in your revenue streams. Delivering exceptional customer support isn’t just nice to have; it’s essential for survival. And let’s not forget about the importance of a solid team. Consistently adapting to new technologies and ensuring robust security measures are non-negotiables too. It’s a lot, but if you approach these challenges head-on, you won’t just survive—you'll thrive. I invite all founders out there to share your own strategies or experiences. Let’s learn from each other. After all, we're all in this together. https://lnkd.in/eH3MwtXj

90% of SaaS Businesses Fail - Here's Why Even with a superior product, most SaaS startups fail. Because they don't have a well-defined go-to-market strategy. Many founders believe great features alone drive growth. The reality is so far from this thought. Here are the harsh truths every SaaS founder needs to know: 👉 Without strong brand identity and messaging, you'll struggle to stand out 👉 Without a clear marketing strategy, you'll just waste resources 👉 Without consistent user feedback, you're building in the dark 👉 Without skilled sales talent, even great products won't generate revenue The early days are challenging: - Long sales cycles - Cash flow constraints - Technical hurdles - Low customer engagement The hard truth? Building a great product is just the beginning. Why share this? I want to see SaaS founders go into this with their eyes wide open and I want to see more SaaS founders succeed. Building a SaaS business? Share your challenges below – I might be able to help. P.S. - You can check how we can help you as well at https://lnkd.in/dfHWkZQq

Struggling to build a SaaS outbound sales motion? In this video clip, Lars Grønnegaard Hansen, co-founder and CEO of Dreamdata, shares a valuable lesson. They hired a great salesperson from a late-stage startup. He built an outbound sales motion, but it turned out to be too elaborate for their early-stage startup. They realized it would take at least 6 months just to find out if the sequence worked or not! So they had to simplify it fast. They stripped things down to the basics and ran a 4-week experiment. It wasn't perfect by any means. But they were able to validate their approach with real-world feedback much faster and iterate faster. Remember: Done is better than perfect! --- Want more early-stage SaaS insights, growth lessons, and exclusive interviews with SaaS founders? Get my weekly SaaS Club Newsletter (link in my bio).