How to Grow your SaaS Startup with Jason Bennett

For SaaS startups, growth is essential. 

According to a recent report, in the very early days (<$10k MRR), a SaaS startup grows on average by 4.4 percent every month. By the time the average SaaS startup reaches the $50k MRR mark, it grows by 3.1 percent every month. And over time, as the company reaches a sizable revenue, growth slows down to around 2 percent per month.

Without this kind of sustained growth, SaaS startups are likely to run out of runway. That’s why many startups turn to marketing for their growth needs. However, according to SaaS entrepreneur Jason Bennett, marketing is only one function of the growth equation.

“Growth is so much more than marketing. It’s about aligning the teams, aligning the tools, and having the data to enforce accountability,” Bennett says. “Over the years, I’ve just learned what it takes to unify teams and establish relationships internally and really know your customer, so you’re serving your perfect customer and keeping them exceptionally happy.”

Bennett is a Fractional CGO and product-led growth strategist with more than 15 years experience in taking Enterprise SaaS concepts to market, scaling, and sometimes exiting. On July 21, 2022, he hosted a webinar for Founders Network members where he provided insights on how to grow your SaaS startup. 

To learn more about how to grow your SaaS startup, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from July 21.

Customer Experience

According to a recent report, 73 percent of customers agree that customer experience helps to drive their buying decision. However, for SaaS startups, Jason says CX often isn’t as high of a priority as it should be.

“In enterprise SaaS, too often the customer experience is ignored,” Bennett says. “Often, you don’t know your customer and you don’t know how to properly serve them. So there’s a series of issues that are just not being dealt with. And that’s especially true in enterprise SaaS, because customer experience is always back burnered.”

Begin at the End

In order to align data, people, and tools, Bennett recommends a growth process that starts with end goals in mind and then works backwards.

“When it comes to growth, you have to account for the long term goal,” Bennett says. “And then you align that back to what’s most important over the next 90 days. And you get everybody on the same page.  And more importantly, you also have to look at your short and long term alliances and partners. And you can’t gauge who those really are unless you start at the end.” 

Adding Value

According to Bennett, SaaS is all about what you do after the sale. Initiatives like product improvements, new feature releases, loyalty programs, and maintaining an open dialogue with customers can increase revenues by as much as 70 percent.  (In short, long-term customer lifetime value or CLV). Bennet says this is difficult to achieve with siloed teams and disparate communication. 

“You need data so that you can measure results,” Bennett says. “If we’re evaluating what we’re doing, we’re seeing if it’s providing value. For everything you’re working on, you have to ask, ‘why are we doing this?’  Does it align with the big picture?  And, is it important enough to focus on in this 90-day period?  Is this bumping up our revenue, bumping up our street credentials and so forth.’ Before we even start doing it, you have to determine if it’s a revenue generation thing that we’re doing right?”

In his webinar, Bennett covered:

• How to align data, people, and tools
• The key to creating exceptionally happy customers
• Why, and how, you should only focus on things that add value
• How to iterate fast

To learn more about how to grow your SaaS startup, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from July 21.