Best Practices for SaaS Business Expansion

The shift from seats to agents pressures SaaS margins. At the same time, the longstanding practice of getting enterprise customers to pre-commit and also prepay for functionality they may never deploy will get harder as CIOs look to free budget for their own LLM costs. To weather the storm, some SaaS companies have increased prices. This boosts revenue and margins in the short-term but can't be done repeatedly and creates even greater scrutiny over shelfware as procurement teams right-size and shift contracts to "pay as you go." To achieve sustainable growth, SaaS companies need to become hyperefficient at sales and marketing. Here are common ways to do so and who's doing it well: 1. PLG. Shopify and Atlassian exemplify efficient go-to-market based on product-led growth with free trials, low-friction upgrades and upsells. Their sales teams only need to get involved in the biggest opportunities at the largest accounts; every other step in acquisition, commercial transaction, activation, onboarding, and growth is self-service and automated. 2. Vertical SaaS. Guidewire Software and Veeva Systems are laser-focused on insurance and life sciences, respectively. Rather than casting a wide net, they spear-fish with deep domain knowledge and purpose-built solutions for that industry's specific workflows and regulatory requirements. Guidewire doesn't need to buy Super Bowl ads– their annual customer conference is the Super Bowl for property & casualty insurance executives. Nearly zero GTM effort is wasted– unsurprisingly they're the two most efficient on the list. We modeled Hearsay Systems after both these companies, and this focus allowed us to win incredible market share among Fortune 500 banks & insurers despite only raising $60M in totality. 3. Relocate operations to lower-cost regions and AI. This is private equity's favorite playbook to take costs out of companies they buy. Field sales continues to shift more to Zoom, which means you can hire AEs anywhere. Inside sales contributes a greater % of revenue as PLG motions are established. AI handles top-of-funnel leads qualification and generating marketing content and campaigns. 4. Focus on gross revenue retention. Because of high customer acquisition costs in #SaaS, leaky buckets are margin killers. Use LLMs to help customer success teams analyze product usage, segment cohorts, and identify opportunities to increase value realization. Put in guardrails to prevent sales reps from overselling an account, as doing so only creates churn in the next renewal cycle. 5. Introduce another product line. This only works if your new product has the same buyer as your existing products. Many SaaS acquisition pro formas fail to actualize for this reason, as it's not actually feasible to have the same AE sell both old and new products. Every SaaS company right now needs to double down on one or more of these levers in the AI era.

Your customers' network is a low cost, high impact way to drive SaaS growth. But how do you harness the power of positive network effects? Positive network effects occur when the value of your tool increases as your user base grows. Like LinkedIn... it becomes more valuable as more professionals join the platform. For SaaS companies, larger networks lead to several competitive advantages: – They're more trustworthy – They entice advertisers – They encourage referrals and word-of-mouth – They build more unique user-generated content – They increase retention To activate these effects, start by mobilizing your current user base. There are (at least) five proven strategies: 1. Increase reach with shareable features Take Pinterest as an example. Users can create shared 'boards' to collaborate on projects. This either re-engages current users or prompts new sign-ups when boards are shared. 2. Drive referrals with growth loops Consider DocuSign's growth loop. Every document sent for signature serves as an introduction to the platform, potentially converting recipients into new users. 3. Improve product quality with user-generated content GitHub leverages user-generated content to improve product quality. Developers contribute to existing projects and end up hosting their own, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of engagement. 4. Drive acquisition with incentives Airtable incentivizes referrals by crediting $10 to your account when you invite new users. This simple yet effective strategy turns every user into a potential brand ambassador. 5. Re-engage dormant users Venmo ensures each transaction appears in a public feed, prompting likes, comments, and reminders that bring users back to the app. Bonus: you can (and should!) combine multiple strategies. LinkedIn, for instance, uses referrals, re-engagement tactics, and registration incentives to create a powerful network effect. By harnessing the power of your user base, you can create a self-propelling mechanism for growth that benefits both your app AND your users.

After selling iContact for $169M and coaching hundreds of SaaS founders, I've seen what separates 3X exits from 10X exits... It's not just your product. It's your go-to-market system. Here’s how the top B2B mid-market and enterprise founders do it 👇 1️⃣ Build a comprehensive ABM list of your entire ICP This used to cost $50K just to get started. Today it's $600-$2000 for 100,000 leads within your ICP. Most B2B SaaS companies have a TAM of 5,000-100,000 companies, translating to 25,000-500,000 decision-makers. Use Apollo, Clay, Instantly, or ListKit to build this database. It's the foundation everything else builds upon. 2️⃣ Deploy AI-personalized outbound at scale Generic "would you like a demo?" emails are dead. Use Instantly or Clay + ChatGPT to create hyper-personalized messages at scale. Not the same message to 30,000 people, but 30,000 unique messages tailored to each recipient. The response rates are 3X higher when you personalize based on their LinkedIn profile, company, and recent news. 3️⃣ Make your brand omnipresent with targeted ads Take that same ABM list and upload it as matched audiences on LinkedIn, Meta, and Google. Follow this: retargeting (low cost, high performance) → matched audience ads → lookalikes. The same people getting your outbound messages will see your ads everywhere online. 4️⃣ Don’t wait for inbound SEO-driven inbound still works, but it’s no longer enough. Organic traffic is down. HubSpot’s own traffic dropped 65% in 6 months. - You can’t wait for buyers to find you. - You must reach them first. Hence, matched audience ads + AI outbound is how modern SaaS companies are filling their funnel. 5️⃣ Break the sales + marketing silos Most founders hire sales. Then hire marketing. And then struggle. The companies that win treat this as a unified revenue engine: • Marketing → omnipresence • Sales → closing • Success → expansion All aligned to one thing: revenue growth. 6️⃣ Track the metrics that actually matter for valuation Every $1 you spend should drive a measurable return. Key metrics to track: • CAC • Cost per qualified lead • LTV:CAC ratio (aim for 6-8:1) • Payback window (6-9 months if bootstrapped) • NRR (110% annually+ for mid-market/enterprise) Each month: cut what’s underperforming, and scale what works. The impact on your exit is massive. One SaaS company we worked with: 5M → 11M ARR in 12 months. Growth rate went from 30% to 60% annually. Instead of a 3X multiple ($15M exit), they're now positioned for 7- 8X ($70-80M exit). Same product. Different GTM system. Don’t leave money on the table because of this. Build it now. Exit on your terms. ------- That’s exactly what we help SaaS founders do inside SaasRise (Link in comments if you want to learn more).

Customer Success is a revenue function. Stop treating it like a help desk. For too many SaaS companies, CS has become the department of "did you turn it on and off again?" — then leadership wonders why retention is suffering. The most successful organizations I've worked with take a fundamentally different approach: they build Customer Success with the same rigor as their sales organization. Here's how forward-thinking CS leaders are making this shift: 1️⃣. Reframing onboarding as value acceleration, not feature training When a new customer joins, the focus shouldn't be "here's how to navigate our UI." It should be "here's how we'll help you achieve the business outcome you purchased us for." The best CS teams are scrapping feature-focused training for value-focused activation that connects directly to ROI. 2️⃣. Running discovery as deep as sales does Elite CS organizations don't accept the sales handoff at face value. They conduct their own thorough discovery to uncover the true business objectives behind the purchase. This allows them to create success plans that address actual priorities rather than assumed ones. 3️⃣. Building a renewal pipeline with the same discipline as sales Assuming renewals will happen is the fastest path to churn. Top CS functions forecast renewals using objective data: stakeholder engagement, milestone achievement, and demonstrated business impact. They track timelines, decision paths, and apply the same forecasting rigor sales teams use for new deals. 4️⃣. Measuring outcomes, not activity Login counts and feature usage don't convince CFOs to renew. Business impact does. Progressive CS teams are shifting from product usage metrics to business outcome metrics: time saved, revenue influenced, costs reduced. 5️⃣. Developing commercial acumen in CS teams Renewal conversations are business discussions, not friendship check-ins. The best CS leaders invest in teaching their teams how to handle procurement objections, negotiate effectively, and recognize early warning signs. --- Is your Customer Success function built to maintain licenses or drive business growth? When customers consider whether to renew your solution, they ask one question: "Did this make us more successful than we would have been without it?" Not "Was our CSM responsive?" Not "Did we use all the features?" Not "Were the QBRs well-organized?" Revenue impact. That's the bar.

So we have a classic set of New Year’s Resolutions in SaaS that we update every year. The best grow faster than ever. And yet, many are still struggling to get over the Crash of 2022. AI is remaking so many categories, but it’s often murky exactly … how. Unicorns are back in force, but IPOs and Big M&A aren't. So with that … here are Your Top 10 New Year’s SaaS Resolutions for 2025: #1. Go Hire That Missing VP! The best way to get out of a hole is to hire a great VP. A great VP Sales. Of Marketing. Of Product. Of Eng. What’s your #1 VP hole? Well, stop saying you can’t hire anyone. Stop doing it yourself. And just go finally hire her. This is your #1 lever to do better in 2025. #2. Make Absolutely Sure Your Burn Rate is Under Control Venture Capital is out in force for the hottest AI companies — but in many cases, it’s checked out in other categories. The #1 issue I see is founders >almost< getting the burn rate under control. That won’t work. Even a burn rate a smidge higher than plan tends to compound to … a burn rate that is out of control. #3. Find a segment of your customer base that is still doing really well. And sell hard there Toast says restaurants aren’t slowing down. Shopify is seeing higher e-commerce growth at almost $10B ARR (!) than it’s seen in years. Healthcare has seen no real downturn or impacts. Asana may have slowed, but Monday is on fire at $1B+ ARR. #4. Don’t settle for less growth than Your NRR + 20% Even if times are tougher, don’t settle for growing at least +40% next year. Don’t hide in excuses and a high NRR. Don’t hide in renewals and in your CRO forcing the base to pay more. #5. Launch a truly great second product Best case, your happy customers buy more from you. Worst case, they still use it and are happier. All the best are now multi-product. And most of us regret not having gone there a bit earlier. #6. Launch a truly more valuable, new higher-end edition Raising prices may or may not work for you. But launching a new, more enterprise / more powerful / better edition? That’s a value-add, done right. #7. Just move on from any underperformers It’s just harder to know these days before you make a hire, especially with remote and hybrid work. If you’re stuck with any underperformers, just humanely move on from them in January. There’s no room to carry them anymore. #8. Promote your best, and give extra grants to the best Promote your top ICs, and if you can, promote a Director to VP. And whether you promote them or not, get extra stock grants to your Top 10% hires. #9. Do a better job communicating with your investors If you ever want more help from your investors, you have to communicate. Do prompt monthly updates. Do board meetings every 8-10 weeks. Do a real budget, get it approved. #10. At least grow faster than the competition Really find out how your Top 2-3 competitors are doing. And at least grow faster than them. At least take market share. That’s a win and a victory right there. 

I spent the last weeks reverse-engineering how AI-natives grow so fast. From $1 to $10M measured in months. Here’s what I learned.. Most use a: - Subscription pricing model - PLG-like GTM motion And, obvious but worth calling out: - They did not hire 10's of SDRs, AEs, and CSMs But also surprisingly... - Very few used AI-tools in their GTM motions So what do AI-natives do to catapult growth? It’s a simple two-step process: Step 1: Obsess over “Immediate and Recurring Impact” + Instant setup & onboarding + One-click integration + Intuitive, self-guided UX + Rapid path to habit-forming daily usage Step 2: Enable users to become your growth engine They designed this in... + Built-in viral loops (users invite users, word spreads organically) + Real-time data infrastructure & mindset (to figure out what works) + View retention & expansion as outcomes, not goals with campaigns Important!: Most AI apps right now don’t require centralized approval and often have freemium starting points, e.g. users can "buy" it on the spot. Now compare this to the classic SaaS-native playbook which relies on an approach around two “reservoirs”: 1. Lead Reservoir Fill it with leads—email captures via content, SEO, outbound, events etc—and “nurture” them. As you grow, marketing must find ever-more leads to hit the next growth target. It never stops, that is... until it breaks. 2. Customer Reservoir This is all about getting renewals, better yet expansions from your champions. It takes time (years) for growth to compound, and most SaaS-natives don’t have that time. For example most CROs are on a 18-month fuse. They want growth now. Important observation, buyers and champions are rarely users. So you are talking to a very different persona (and not one driving adoption on the ground). With that said, AI-natives leverage a very different reservoir: 3. User Reservoir Say per customer there's ~10 users. That means 100 customers = ~1,000 users—several of whom get asked once or twice a year, “What do you use?” by their peers. Users are by definition your ~ICP So that’s not just a lead; that's more likely an immediate opportunity. Key insight: As growth accelerates you gain more users, more uses = more pipeline. In other words, the system start to, in part, fuel itself. We performed repeated scenario analysis on this, using their metrics, over and over again, and the math back this up. This works. The key difference? - SaaS-Natives look at customers as "Logo's" - AI-Natives look at customers as "Users." So maybe the 2026 growth playbook should bring more users into the fold? If you are intrigued and want to dive deeper, join one of our Growth workshops in the next weeks: - San Francisco (At Dropbox) - Chicago (At G2) - Washington (At Pavilion GTM Summit) - New York (At Insight Partners), and - Ghent (At WinterCircus). You know where to go for the 🔗 for the dates and details👇.