January 24, 2024   |   Read Online

"The fact that many of these numbers have barely changed is... CRAZY!"

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The Middle from GrowthCurve.io

Three ideas to level up your week.

Hey Reader,

Welcome to The Middle, your midweek rundown of the most interesting things we've read so far this week.

Brought to you by Jay & Jeff at GrowthCurve.io, formerly customersuccess.io.

We're here to help SaaS VPs, directors, and managers level up to become better business leaders.

Let's jump into The Middle...

  THE MARKET

Public SaaS: Still partying like it's 1999

"The fact that many of these numbers have barely changed is... CRAZY!"

David Spitz, founder of Benchsights, broke down public SaaS spending to see if we've gotten more efficient.

Gross Margin, R&D, and G&A (General & Administrative expenses) remain consistent with 2021 levels.

Sales & Marketing expenses improved in aggregate, but only slightly. Even so, acquiring a dollar of ARR has never been more expensive.

So what?

When SaaS company growth slows, profitability becomes critical to Enterprise Value (how much the company is worth to an investor/buyer). And profitability ain't gonna fix itself.

• Slow growth rates mean gross retention is key.
• Better retention means the Cost of Goods Sold is spread over a larger revenue base, improving Gross Margin.
• We need to scale productivity vs. adding headcount in almost every department.

Then again, maybe public SaaS CEOs see something others don't. Maybe there's a market rebound in our future.

(or maybe not... who really knows the future)

  BUSINESS OPERATIONS

The Use Cases are Endless

Robert Kaminski, Partner at Product Marketing agency, Fletch, provides a tactical breakdown of 5 GTM strategies:

What the heck is "go-to-market" besides a SaaS phrase that's being thrown around more than a frisbee in a dog park?

Go-to-market is a catch-all for your company's detailed plan to get its product into the hands of its target customers.

It includes target market definition, ideal customer profiles, segmentation approach, competitive analysis, value prop, pricing, marketing, and a sales & distribution model.

(That was a mouthful.)

Everyone not responsible for this thinks it's easy. It's not.

The waters are murky, and you must make it simple.

Perhaps starting with clarity on which type of go-to-market strategy you're pursuing is a great place to start. 👆

  LEADERSHIP

The illusion of choice

Teddy, co-founder at Alto Studios, breaks down a talk from legendary college football coach, Nick Saban.

We're suckers for a great sports coach with a soapbox moment.

And Saban certainly delivers.

“...the fact of the matter is, if you want to be good you don’t really have a lot of choices. It takes what it takes. You have to do what you have to do to be successful."

While referencing football and young college students, his point rings true. Even for those of us in business.

To be great at something, means you don't have a choice but to put in the work.

Saban's very clear - and he establishes a standard of excellence based on this ideal - its all about discipline and consistency.

It's not handed to you, and it's not handed to your teams.

No matter your area of expertise, it's the daily discipline of honing your craft - whatever that may be - that will differentiate you from your peers.

What's the craft you aim to improve?

Are you practicing daily?

Thanks for reading the first edition of The Middle, from GrowthCurve.io.

​Drop us a line, and let us know what you think.

Better yet, if you found it valuable - forward it on to a friend or colleague. We'll owe you one.

🚀

Cheers!

Jay & Jeff

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