How I hit $15m ARR using 4 new growth playbooks
Summary
TLDRIn this transcript from a live event, Nathan Ladka shares his journey from a struggling startup to a thriving SaaS company. He discusses tactics for competing with well-funded giants, including aggressive cost-cutting, converting sales commissions to stock, and leveraging customer feedback. Ladka emphasizes the importance of focusing on revenue-generating marketing strategies, such as comparison guides and conversational ads on LinkedIn. His insights offer a practical roadmap for B2B software founders seeking sustainable growth and effective fundraising.
Takeaways
- 🗓️ The event discussed in the transcript took place on March 28th and 29th, with a follow-up event planned for September 5th and 6th in New York City.
- 💡 Nathan Ladka, the speaker, is a serial entrepreneur who has launched and sold a software company, written a best-selling book, and is currently involved in investing in B2B software founders.
- 🚀 Nathan emphasizes the importance of non-dilutive funding and encourages founders to sign up at founderpath.com for potential capital without giving up equity.
- 📈 The speaker discusses the challenges of competing with a well-funded giant in the market and shares his company's journey from near bankruptcy to financial stability.
- ✂️ In a critical financial situation, Nathan took aggressive measures including cutting expenses, negotiating with the sales team, and focusing on revenue-generating marketing campaigns.
- 🔄 He implemented strategies to regain lost customers and introduced a mini-version of the product to retain them and generate additional revenue.
- 📊 Nathan highlights the significance of focusing on board-level KPIs such as revenue, CAC, and pipeline, rather than vanity metrics like leads and impressions.
- 💼 He shares a success story of growing from 2 million to 12 million in ARR using specific playbooks that have been tested and proven to produce results.
- 🛑 One of the tactics mentioned is the use of comparison guides from review sites to intercept deals at the last minute and position the company as a strong contender.
- 💬 Conversational ads on LinkedIn are presented as a quick way to generate pipeline by offering something of value in exchange for a demo call.
- 🔄 The 'Clos Loss' campaign is a tactic of revisiting lost deals and using the reason for the initial loss as a point of personalization to re-engage potential customers.
- 📱 B2C social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, and TikTok are suggested as underutilized channels for B2B marketing with potential for high returns.
Q & A
When was the live event at SAS open.com mentioned in the script?
-The live event at SAS open.com was recorded on March 28th and 29th.
What is the next SAS open event scheduled for?
-The next SAS open event is scheduled for September 5th and 6th in New York City.
Who is Nathan ladka and what is his background?
-Nathan ladka is a software engineer turned marketer who launched and sold his first software company in 2015, wrote a Wall Street Journal bestseller, and created founderpath.com, where he has invested in over 400 software founders.
What is the primary focus of the company Nathan ladka founded?
-The primary focus of the company Nathan ladka founded is to provide non-dilutive deals with B2B software founders, ensuring they don't have to give up equity.
How did Nathan ladka's company manage to survive during the period of financial struggle?
-During the financial struggle, Nathan ladka's company survived by cutting expenses, converting sales commissions into stocks, launching a mini version of the product for retention, and focusing on marketing campaigns that directly generated revenue.
What is the significance of comparison guides in the script?
-Comparison guides are significant as they allow the company to parachute into deals in the last minute and potentially steal them away by providing an objective comparison of features, which can be sorted to highlight the company's strengths.
What is the purpose of convo ads as mentioned in the script?
-Convo ads are used to generate pipeline quickly by offering something of value in exchange for the prospect's time for a demo, allowing the company to have a direct sales conversation with potential customers.
What is the concept behind the 'Clos loss campaign' mentioned in the script?
-The 'Clos loss campaign' involves going back to companies or buyers where deals were previously lost, using the reason for the loss as a personalized message to re-engage and potentially revive the opportunity.
Why is B2C social considered a valuable channel for B2B marketing according to the script?
-B2C social is considered valuable for B2B marketing because it allows targeting of the same people using the same email or PII on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, and TikTok, where they are less accustomed to B2B ads, potentially gaining their attention.
How does the script suggest using buyer intent signals to gain a competitive advantage?
-The script suggests using buyer intent signals to identify companies that are in the midst of making a purchase decision, allowing the company to target them with comparison guides and other marketing materials to influence their decision.
What is the importance of experimenting with different marketing channels as highlighted in the script?
-Experimenting with different marketing channels is important because it allows marketers to break the status quo, reach potential customers where they are, and discover new opportunities that competitors may be overlooking.
Outlines
📈 Overcoming Financial Challenges and Scaling a Business
In this segment, Nathan Ladka, a software entrepreneur and author, discusses his journey of scaling a business from 2 million to 12 million in ARR. He shares the challenges of competing with a well-funded giant and the strategies he employed to ensure his company's survival and growth. Key tactics include cutting expenses, converting sales commissions into stocks, launching a mini-version of the product to retain customers, and focusing marketing efforts on generating revenue. Nathan emphasizes the importance of data-driven marketing and experimentation to guarantee a predictable pipeline. His company's turnaround involved aggressive measures that eventually led to a break-even point, securing investments, and achieving sustainable growth.
🚀 Leveraging Review Sites and Buyer Intent Data for Deal Acquisition
Nathan explains how his company utilized review sites like G2 to enhance their profile and gain credibility, which was crucial for attracting potential customers. By investing in reviews and buyer intent signals, they were able to identify companies in the market for their product and engage them with comparison guides. These guides, provided by G2, were sorted by features where Nathan's company excelled, increasing their chances of being considered during the purchasing decision. This strategy allowed them to parachute into deals and compete effectively against better-funded competitors, even without extensive marketing budgets.
💡 Implementing High-Impact Marketing Tactics for Pipeline Generation
The speaker outlines several effective marketing tactics for generating a sales pipeline. One such tactic is using LinkedIn's conversational ads, which function like promoted emails, to offer something of value (like a gift card or a marketing audit) in exchange for the prospect's time for a demo. Another tactic is the 'Clos Loss' campaign, where they revisit lost deals to identify new opportunities based on changed circumstances. They also leverage user gems data to track when contacts switch jobs, allowing them to re-engage with prospects in their new roles. The speaker emphasizes the importance of personalization and credibility in sales outreach, which can lead to reinvigorated interest and pipeline growth.
🛍️ Breaking B2B Marketing Conventions with B2C Social Media Strategies
Nathan challenges the common belief that B2C social media platforms are ineffective for B2B marketing. He advocates for experimenting with ads on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, and TikTok, using unconventional targeting methods. By bidding on people rather than relying on native B2B targeting, marketers can disrupt the status quo and capture the attention of a broader audience. The key is to understand the unique targeting capabilities of each channel and to be willing to test and iterate to find what works best. This approach can lead to significant arbitrage opportunities and break through the noise of traditional B2B marketing channels.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡SAS Open
💡Competition
💡Product Market Fit
💡Non-dilutive Deals
💡ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)
💡Runway
💡Aggressive Measures
💡Comparison Guides
💡Conversational Ads
💡B2C Social
Highlights
The live event SAS open.com was attended by a thousand software CEOs with the next event scheduled for September 5th and 6th in New York City.
Nathan ladka, the speaker, launched and sold his first software company in 2015, wrote a Wall Street Journal bestseller, and created founderpath.com for non-dilutive deals with B2B software founders.
Founderpath.com has invested over $150 million in over 400 software founders, aiming to provide capital without giving up equity.
The speaker discusses strategies to grow from 2 million to 12 million in ARR using tested playbooks to produce a pipeline.
Nathan ladka's background in robotic software engineering transitioned into a successful career in B2B marketing, leveraging his technical skills in a technical job market.
The company's revenue growth was initially slow, taking years to find product-market fit, but eventually led to significant ARR growth.
Facing a financial crunch, the company took aggressive measures to cut expenses and convert sales commissions into stocks to sustain the business.
The company focused on generating revenue directly from marketing campaigns rather than just leads or pipeline.
Nathan ladka emphasizes the importance of being a sustainable company to attract better investors and terms.
The company renegotiated growth targets multiple times, aiming higher after securing funding and achieving product-market fit.
Four key playbooks are discussed for B2B SaaS companies to compete against giants with more funding.
Utilizing comparison guides from review sites to intercept deals at the last minute and present an objective comparison.
Implementing conversational ads on LinkedIn to quickly generate pipeline by offering something of value in exchange for a demo call.
Running loss campaigns to revisit lost deals and re-engage with prospects under different circumstances.
Using B2C social media platforms for B2B marketing by leveraging precise targeting and standing out against the usual content.
The importance of experimenting with different channels and tactics to break the status quo in B2B marketing.
The presentation concludes with a call to action, offering the audience Nathan's contact information for further engagement.
Transcripts
quick context this was recorded March
28th and 29th so a couple weeks ago at
my live event SAS open.com we had a
thousand software CEOs there if you
missed it we hope to see at the next one
September 5th and 6th in New York City
SAS open.com but for now let's jump into
the recording the bank account went down
and down and down how do you compete
with a giant that has like 400 million
if I'm not mistaken in funding how do
you compete with someone like that now
how did we make it and that's the
majority of this presentation
hey folks if we haven't met yet my name
is Nathan ladka I launched and sold my
first software company back in 2015 and
went on to write a book about it which
you guys made a Wall Street Journal
bestseller purchasing over 30,000 copies
thank you so much for that after the
book I launched this show and went went
on to create founder path.com I raised a
large fund to do non-dilutive deals with
B2B software Founders so Far We've
invested in over 400 software Founders
totaling $150 million here in 2024 we're
doing three to four New Deals per week
so if you're looking for Capital and
don't want to give up Equity go sign up
at founder path.com for free to get your
offer all right let's jump into the
interview from 2 million to 12 million
in ARR and what particular playbooks we
use to get there some of them are not
very sexy but they've been tried over
and over and over and are guaranteed to
produce pipeline so focus on
that a little bit about myself I'm a
software engineer a robotic software
engineer in my background I turned into
a marketer at some point did a good job
because I have a technical background
and today B2B marketing is a very
technical job so I've done well as a VP
of marketing and at some point I saw the
gap between what is available to a vpf
marketing in terms of data and
technology and what is possible in terms
of data technology for a BB marketer and
I made a choice to take the leap and
start a company that if you're our
customer you essentially don't have you
don't have to hope for pipeline you
don't have to you know be a rocket
scientist to generate pipeline because
you use experimentation and data as a
means to an end to guarantee that you
have predictable Pipeline with economies
of
scale a little bit about our Revenue
because that's that's the proof that you
should listen we had a very interesting
path where it took us years to find
product Market fit for years we built
this piece of software and did a lot of
customer development and in
2020 we found what we thought was
product Market fit I was so happy after
years finally a meaningful re Revenue
number a meaningful ARR but
unfortunately this also happened at the
same
time have you ever been in a situation
as a Founder where you're worried about
your
Runway I couldn't sleep during that time
we had less and less money in the bank
and although we had product Market fit
you know we had a repeatable sales cycle
the same kind of customer the same kind
of pitch roughly the same amount of
Revenue but the bank account went down
and down and down and investors wouldn't
take my money not the good investors I
had a bunch of sharks who thought it
were bleeding and would give us terrible
term sheets but no good investors want
to put their investment on the
table and so in one day I've decided
that try instead of trying the same
thing trying to raise money with the
same story that I have product Market
fit Etc I have to take ownership on on
the future of the company and so we
decided to cut enough of the spending
and I'll show you exactly what tactics
we did what we took such aggressive
measures to make sure that next time we
go fundraising we don't need a fund
raise and when you don't need the money
when you go to an investor and you tell
them this is happening anyway you are
invited to join us for this journey the
conversation is very very different you
talk to different people much Kinder
people and you get term sheets that
you're proud of not something that
you're ashamed to go to your board with
so what did we do first things first the
decision that many people don't like to
do cut expenses we I went through every
line item in QuickBooks every line item
in my American Express credit card and
whatever was not necessary to keep the
lights on I didn't pay
just like that my credit score went down
to about 300 at some point with American
Express they didn't like that and they
would call me every day pay your bill I
like I'm not paying anything out of the
bill until I have money then I'm paying
all of it and you know that happened
eventually but I didn't like the the the
path in between I have some derogatory
marks uh and I'm proud of it because it
saved the company I also went to my
sales team who were doing great and told
them look I can't really pay you but
you're doing a good job can I convert
some of your commissions into stocks and
surpris inly more than 50% said yes the
best sales people in fact said yes and
now they are they majority stakeholders
in the company a bunch of other hacks we
did we launched I talked to all of the
customers I I decided that moment that
I'm going to meet every customer that I
have you know we only had like what 50
or 40 but I met all of them and learned
that for some of them that were about to
churn a piece of the product was still
relevant to them so we launched a mini
version of the product and we're able to
to maintain some of the some of the grr
some of the retention
we did a bunch of other measures for for
example every campaign that I had every
marketing campaign that I had had the
all the way to revenue uh Roi return on
investment I made sure that every
campaign that we have generates Revenue
not just pipeline not just leads but
actually goes all the way to revenue and
so we were able to focus and then
quadruple down on what was
working and so that was that was kind of
the mecs we took from here I can tell
you we got into Break Even it you don't
see it here that was the previous
present a but I got we got all the way
to I think 25 Grand in the bank it's
like not a lot of money in the bank
almost going under and then slowly going
up from that moment I was able to get
200k in account receivable debt from
that I was able to get 300K in
convertible note and then $2 million uh
raise and then a 4 and a half million
right after that so being sustainable
company chills out investor they're like
all right there's one less risk I know
you're not going to run out of money I
know this is happening anyway looks like
you have product Market fit now I'm
going to give you a
shot and that year was a special year
because after we raise that money
suddenly the survival was like we didn't
have to survive we didn't wake up every
morning okay how am I making it one more
day and from that mindset when you not
have when I still get cash updates by
the way twice a week so I still have a
little bit of PTSD but I don't wake up
every morning thinking I'm running out
of cash and that gives you a little bit
of okay now let's think about the vision
what do I want
and when things started working out the
product Market fit was really there and
so once we started investing in sales in
marketing we're a little bit more more
spendable than before we started
focusing on what is what is repeatable
that can take us to the next level and
we actually negotiated if if the year
before I negotiated with the board to
cut the growth by half because I didn't
have the money to support that growth
this year we're like hey how much more
can we grow this may not last forever
which it didn't right the economy tanked
so like how do we take advantage of a
market that is growing and so we we
renegotiated with my leadership team
three times and we almost made it to the
third goal so instead of gr to five
instead of going to 7 and a half which
was the new goal we decided 12 and a
half is the third goal and we almost
made it now how did we make it and
that's the majority of this
presentation there are four four cool
playbooks some of them came from us
metadata and some of them came from our
customers because we run demand
generation for B2B companies B2B SAS
companies mid markets then we have a lot
of proof a lot of quantitative proof on
what works when I say works again I
don't talk about vany metrics I don't
care about leads don't care about
Impressions click through rates all of
those cool you know kpis that that you
know growth uh hackers talk about I
really don't understand much about I
dive all the way into board level kpis
Revenue cak
pipeline comparison guides so we were
poor still even with an a round we were
competing with giants that were creating
categor is spending lots of money on SEO
and sem you know owning all the display
inventory so how do you compete with a
giant that has like 400 million if I'm
not mistaken in funding how do you
compete with someone like
that one hack is called comparison
guides we were able to parachute into
deals in the last minute and steal it
away How does it go so most companies
invest advertising and marketing money
in the entire funnel everything from
what is this category about what problem
are we solving who's the best vendor
what are the features why is our pricing
the best this is cool if you have the
money to do it that's amazing if you
don't we didn't we said hey we're going
to focus on one area only when they get
to the place where they're already
qualified they already know they want to
purchase something and they're just
comparing vendors comparing features
based on the problems that they have I
want them to know about us in fact when
they do the comparison I want to be the
one that gives them the comparison guide
and so what did we do
first thing
is um review sites just like there is
Yelp for a consumer there is G2 there is
trassy radius and a bunch of other
websites to help consumers of SAS
determine which vendor they should go
with right this exists we started paying
the biggest check I paid was for G2 I
paid them for two things one to have
lots of reviews so that our profile
looks good our customers loved us and
wanted to make sure it's very public so
we had one of the best G2 profiles if
you go there you're already half in the
second one is how do I know that the
deal is being cooked right if my
competitor is talking he's not telling
me hey I'm talking to this to this
Prospect you should join in I need to
figure out that the deals are in the
making so I purchased the buyer intent
signal it's a very fancy name to pay for
a web blog data G2 would send me their
web blog data it's like an a bunch of
ips and URLs and what I did with that is
reverse IP so I understand which company
it is which which location it is I know
who is my customer so I will go and find
the contacts of that customer and I
would start bombarding them with emails
and adds to tell them hey I think you're
in a buying cycle for this particular
product right here's a comparison guide
It's a gener generic comparison it's
objective comparison guide and the
comparison guide was not created by us
it was created by G2 so there is
credibility to it but as the author as
the one who is sorry as the as the
vendor I can determine which which
features I'm sorting the guide by and I
can sort it by the features that I'm
best at for example we're best at Roi
the best vendor in our category and so I
would go and sort the buyer guide based
on this feature and when the customer if
they care about Roi or ease of
implementation or customer service boom
we come up first even if you don't come
up first it's still worthwhile to do it
because if you're in the top three or
top four it's very likely that the
person is going to give you a shot
they're going to give you half an hour
on the phone to make convince them even
if they use it as a negotiating tactic
they're going to give you the time of
day to at least compare you to someone
else so comparison guide from review
sites you don't brand it don't brand it
with with your logo make sure the the
the the person who is buying understand
this is an objective as much as possible
objective comparison and you'll get a
shot at a
table this is how to do it it's not very
complicated I do the step by step by by
the end of this presentation you have my
email I think Nathan will also send you
uh these slides but this is a very easy
to implement within I would say a month
you can have this up and
running second one convo ads many times
CEOs of SAS companies or VP of
marketings for SAS companies ask me how
can I generate pipeline quickly I am
told that there's no Silver Bullet it's
wrong there are some silver bullets out
there you can apply tactics a Zer some
game of time and and money and and the
audience you're going after right like
you have there there are some
restrictions but there are particular
playbooks that can generate pipeline
quickly I'm not talking about like ebook
leads webinar attendees no I'm talking
about people who will hop on a call
knowing they're going to be sold to is
the person you want to sell to and you
have half an hour to try to sell them I
can't guarantee you'll sell them but
you'll have half an hour to try and do
it how do you do it LinkedIn has this ad
type called conversational ad it's
basically a promoted email right you get
emails all the time on your email you
don't open them they're in the
promotions tab but on LinkedIn you get
emails and if you pay for it as a vendor
you can be on top of the list so you'll
be the first person that they see on
their email and it's a chat bot that you
can create it's a workflow that
basically ask them and the work for that
we use is either giving a gift card a
donation or an audit a marketing audit
for your company so something of value
you get something of value for free in
return you give us your time half an
hour 25 minutes for a demo this tactic
we've been using it maybe for four years
now it hasn't been exhausted all of my
customers use it it hasn't been
exhausted it's you know the RP Char is
not there you can't get it for really
cheap anymore because many people know
about it but this works and within weeks
within maybe a we two weeks of of
executing this campaign you would be
able to start seeing a flow of demo
request as simple as that uh it's not
rocket science the steps are here you
can determine exactly which buyer which
influencer which message you want to get
them you pay for the email you pay for
the targeting you also pay usually for
some sort of a value ad where it's a
gift card or an audit or whatever it is
that you want in return you get a shot
in selling to your prospect and if even
if you don't sell at the very least you
get the objections and you can learn and
iterate next one Clos loss campaign this
didn't use to be like nicely packaged in
a slide like that but I started using
this tactic many years ago it used to be
me and my VP of sales sitting in a bar
doing shots two of our laptops open and
as time goes by we're less worried the
typos and the type of emails that we
send and how many emails and is it
perfect no but basically the tactic is
you lost many deals sometimes to price
sometimes to a competitor sometimes due
to timing and so you go back to the same
company and you go back to the same
buyers two different a revenues same
buyer different company things change
same company different buyer different
point of view you go and you use
whatever reason you lost that deal if it
was budget maybe now there is budget if
it was timing maybe now is the right
time if it was a competitor maybe that
competitor sucks so you go and you have
that message you started conversation
with that person and the other Avenue is
we want a huge deal just by going to the
same person who liked us but it could
she couldn't bring us into that company
she later joined topot big ass logo that
we still have and we were able to win
that just because we walk it up it's
like hey you remember us you liked us
you work in a new company now and so the
are very simple here where you need to
gather the data from your Salesforce you
can add on top of that information from
user gems user gems is a very unique
data source that tells you which people
switched which jobs uh another thing
that you can put there is the reason why
you lost that deal because that's how
you personalize the message you you the
the the opener for the
conversation that simple tactic always
gets you uh pipeline back always this is
the email that we sent it's not very
sexy it's long but you can notice two
things maybe you can you cannot I'll
tell you first this is not hopspot this
is a polo we have hopspot but we don't
send this email from hopspot because
this is not a marketing email it's a
sales email also the email doesn't come
from a marketing at metadata or my my AE
or my VP of sales no this comes from the
same ICP I find the same person that I
sell to and I find the same person in my
company who is equal and I sent that
email from them because there is much
more credibility there's comaraderie
between a marketer and a marketer versus
a salesperson and a marketer those two
things very high M very high open rate
and reply rates and you can see below oh
no you cannot see now you can see below
the bunch of opportunities within less
than a week it's a healthy open rate you
know 30% of the people open the email
some of them reply a bunch of new
opportunities some of it you don't even
see here it's conversations that happen
over text oh I saw that email yeah I'm
I'm ready to to to hop on another call
oh it wasn't right before let's hop on a
call now so not very sexy tactic I do it
every quarter guaranteed to wake up some
buyers and get you some uh some deals
back on the table it's very important to
add new contacts to to the companies
that the the the champion moved to
another one so you add more and more
people into that into that contact so
that one of them will give you a shot
last but not least b2c social how many
times have you heard the
sentence Facebook doesn't work for B2B
they say it all the time all
kind of secret cows out there go
Massacre them because you'll be the one
who breaks the status quo you'll be one
of the only marketers out there who goes
and bid on people on Facebook on Twitter
on Instagram on Reddit on Tik Tok people
are everywhere all the time and if you
target them
if you like if you target them properly
meaning if you don't use the channels
native targeting which sometimes doesn't
make any sense for B2B right Facebook
doesn't care about B2B they make 90% of
their revenue from political and
consumer campaigns so they don't have
any job title or company name on
seniority but we do we're not not not
the only vendor but we're one of the
layers of targeting for a company like
Facebook so if you target exactly the
same people using the same email the
same piis now you have a whole new
channel and first of all
it's interesting because you'll be able
to distract them they're so accustomed
to the usual content on Facebook some
see a B2B ad for them you're going to
get their attention two you're going to
be doing crazy Arbitrage in our platform
we constantly clone automatically
campaigns exactly the way they are chel
one campaign type to the other because
the cap goes down significantly you're
you're competing against many many less
people so gives you the opportunity to
Target more people with the same
budget so take a look every channel
gives you different types of targeting
capabilities on Kora on Reddit you can
Target based on questions on tags people
are asking questions about what problems
are you solving whatever problems that
you're solving put them in a long
sentence now you'll start targeting
based on that tag it's very very
powerful but you have to experiment you
have to experiment constantly and see
what works for you just by trying just
by trying you'll be outside of the 99%
of the marketers who only go after
LinkedIn and Google and that's it
that's it I'm one and a half minute
before my end thank you for your
[Music]
time thanks very much
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