Our business is about achieving SaaS Growth by Design. This reminded me of cooking, another great passion of mine. You can’t just throw a lot of ingredients into a bowl, give it a stir and hope to have something that tastes great and is repeatable.
Which of course got us thinking. What are the ingredients you need for a SaaS Success Cake? What’s is the most reliable method for mixing them together and baking them?
Here’s our recipe card:
SaaS Success Cake Recipe
SaaS Success Cakes are really hard to get right, and most don’t achieve a full rise.
Here are the essential ingredients you’ll need, with a foolproof method
to follow to get a faster and more even rise.
Ingredients
1 Cup of Product Market Fit
The core ingredient for success is Product Market Fit. Make sure you have a great product in a large market you can reach, with customers who value what you’re selling
and will pay the ‘right’ price.
2 Tablespoons of Experienced Leadership
You can use an Experienced Leadership Team who knows how to scale a SaaS company, or get mentorship from experienced people to nurture and guide passionate leaders.
2 Tablespoons of Happy Engaged Talent
Happy Engaged Talent is important to stop the cake being bitter. The talent need to buy into your Mission, and know how to help you thrive.
1 Tablespoon of Competitive Advantage
Competitive Advantage can be bought from specialist shops. It’s needed as buyers
normally review a few potential solutions.
1 Sprinkle of ‘Magic Features’
Ingredients that are often forgotten are Magic Features. They add a depth of favour and give users Aha / Eureka / Wow moments. When added, users suddenly get your product and the special value you bring, and want to become customers.
Method
Roll-out your Experienced Leadership Team onto a well funded supportive board.
Spread a thick layer of Product Market Fit on top.
Next sprinkle Happy Engaged Talent, making sure the ingredients don’t split. Once they’ve come together position your Competitive Advantage and Magic Features carefully and evenly.
Next place the mixture is OKR software that can track and manage KPI Metrics, OKRs, Growth Initiatives and Check-ins for 1 to 6 years. This will ensure a fast and even rise from Start-up, to Scale-up, and Unicorn.
Here are some great OKR examples to use.
You’ll know the bake is going well when your MRR rises and Churn is low. Your SaaS Quick Ratio should be over 4. Your LTV : CAC ratio should be over 3, and some SaaS connoisseurs will want your Y-on-Y MRR Growth rate + your Profit to add up to 40% (Rule of 40).
In 1 to 6 years, depending on how you manage growth, you should see $100m ARR and become a Unicorn.
Can you make a tastier cake?
Share you ingredients and method using #saassuccess and we can feature them in this post and an ebook.
Of course if it’s great advice, you’ll get a mention and link to your website and / or social profiles.
