Introduction
As we approach the end of 2023, many of us are reflecting on the progress we made.
But the close of the year is also about licking our wounds, tallying our wins, and learning from our losses.
For SaaS founders and operators, 2023 was a year spent in the trenches.
We revamped our strategies, overhauled our budgets, and sharpened our focus on efficiency. The once-loud mantra of “growth at all costs” has faded behind us, replaced by a new theme echoing through the streets: profitability and efficiency.
And SaaS Weekly has been with you every step of this journey.
We weren’t there to break the news, but we were there to guide your growth.
So, grab your coffee, settle into your comfiest (work) chair, and let’s dive in!
Here are the top 2023 SaaS reads that were clicked on the most by our subscribers.
These articles are filled with insights and strategies to shape your success story in the coming year.
And before long, your company’s growth story might be featured in the SaaS Weekly roundup!
The Top SaaS Reads of 2023
Aha! skyrocketed to an impressive $100 million in ARR, and they did it all without raising any outside funding (a posterchild of bootstrapped growth stories). Their strategy?
A laser-focused trial machine, perfectly engineered for one type of customer: software product managers. And get this - they're pulling in around 5,000 new trials every month. That's no small feat!
So, what's the takeaway from Aha!'s story? For starters, a killer inbound strategy is key. This means crafting content that hits the mark, fine-tuning your website to turn visitors into trial users, and guiding those trials to ensure engagement and conversion.
Article by: Kyle Poyar at Growth Unhinged
How long did you spend on customer discovery?
For the founder of Advocat AI, it took her 12 months! And it paid off. The company grew to over $1M in ARR in 2023. Here are a few lessons from the founder.
1) Don’t rush customer discovery, it may take multiple iterations before you find the core problem. 2) Involve your customers on day one, but be selective when building their feature requests. 3) Be outcome-focused not solution-focused when building your product.
Article by: Ian Ito at SaaS Weekly
Everyone loves a good come-up story. From Rocky to Rudy, and now to add Loom to the mix.
In Loom’s early days, the co-founders had maxed out their credit cards and were two weeks away from closing their doors. Fast forward to today, Loom is now valued at around $1.5 billion and has over 14 million users and 200,000 businesses on its platform. Here’s how they did it.
To onramp into the fast lane, Loom launched with a Product-led Growth (PLG) model and attracted users through a simple-to-use free Chrome extension.
The product’s quick time-to-value hooked users immediately, but it was the company’s execution to convert feedback into features that turned them into evangelists.
Article by: Jessica Tee Orika and Foundation
Not all heroes wear capes; some ensure your website converts prospects. Here’s a step-by-step guide to crafting a high-converting homepage.
1) Be hyperspecific about who your target audience is. Deepen your audience segmentation by focusing on horizontal (situation-based) or vertical (department or company-based) dimensions.
2) Shift away from generic messaging. Instead, tune into your champion's specific challenges and pain points, making it evident that your solution is crafted especially for their needs.
3) Stand out through structure & specificity. Strategically organizing your homepage content to foster trust, underscore the problem, and highlight your unique value propositions.
Article by: OpenView
In today's environment, the “growth at all costs” mantra has been replaced by “profitability and efficiency.”
As a result, SaaS companies are rethinking their priority. And the starting point is looking within their operations.
This article covers 40 strategies that SaaS companies can use to drive efficient growth. From improving Sales and Marketing efficiency to ramping up a product-led growth motion, and even reducing G&A expenses through vendor contract renegotiation.
Article by: Bessemer Venture Partners
Forecasting what deals will close over the next quarter (known as quarterly pipeline coverage) provides little value for SaaS companies with shorter sales cycles (30 days or less).
The constant influx of new opportunities makes forecasting difficult. Instead, these types of SaaS companies should view pipeline coverage on a monthly basis. Discover Dave's framework and more considerations in this article.
Article by: Dave Kellogg at Kellblog
The length of a companys sales cycle is affected by a number of factors: the intent of the prospect, the buy-in from decision markers, and of course, the procurement process.
But industry averages give companies a way to benchmark how efficient their funnel is (at least on a high-level).
For example, companies with an ACV of less than $2,000 have an average sales cycle of 14 days, but this can vary depending on your sales motion and product. This article walks you through six different ACV ranges and their typical sales cycle length for B2B SaaS companies.
Article by: Jason Lemkin at Saastr
Looking for more roundups?
Check out more of the top reads of 2023 by category. From Marketing to Finance, and AI in between, round out this year by reviewing the roundups of the most clicked-on articles.
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The Top Finance Reads for SaaS Founders in 2023
From down rounds to SVB’s collapse and shrinking SaaS contract values, 2023 has been a real rollercoaster. Dive into some of the most clicked-on Finance reads we’ve seen this year.
