Growth
In my consulting and advising work, I’ve worked with a number of enterprise SaaS companies that get stuck with a broken go-to-market (GTM) motion. What do I mean by broken? * Chronic plan misses, and not by 5-10%, but by 30-50% [1] * Weak sales productivity, measured either relative to the
Marketing
Just a quick post to share the slides for the presention I gave today at SaaS Metrics Palooza, entitled You Can't Fix a CAC Payback Period: The Operator vs. Investor View of SaaS Metrics. (For those with Slideshare issues, Google Drive share is here.) The presentation discusses: * The
Leadership
To adapt Julius Caesar's famous opening line of the Gallic Wars: marketing as a whole is divided in three parts. * Product marketing (prodmkt), responsible in a word, for the message and how well it resonates with customers in the market [1]. * Demand generation (demandgen), responsible in a word,
Management
"I'm an CMO and it's 2018. Of course I've read Play Bigger. Duh. Do you think I live under a rock?" -- Anonymous repeat CMO Play Bigger hit the Sand Hill Road scene in a big way after its publication in 2016.
Management
The plot of so-called backstage musicals usually centers around the production of a show, often created to avoid imminent financial peril, as you’d find in many of the depression-era Our Gang movies. Invariably, as the characters realize their predicament, someone shouts the solution, “Hey, we can put on a
Management
I had a chat with a CMO a while back. DK: How's the relationship with your CRO going? CMO: Solid. We collaborate really well. DK: I've heard you've had some trouble hitting sales targets. CMO: Yes, well you know the targets are pretty aggressive
Marketing
Who are we? What does our brand stand for? What promise does our brand make? These are some of the questions that quickly come up when thinking about branding. In general, I think branding is a potential marketing rathole for startups, particularly early-stage ones. See my post entitled, If Rebranding&
Marketing
Just a quick post to publish the slides from the talk I gave today at SaaStr Europa in Barcelona on the top 5 mistakes in scale-up. Thanks so much to everyone who attended, stuck around for the AMA session afterwards, and gave me feedback or asked me questions at the
Boards
I'll be speaking next month in Barcelona on the first day of SaaStr Europa, held at the International Convention Center on June 7th and 8th. My presentation is scheduled at 11:25AM on June 7th and entitled The Top 5 Scale-Up Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. While
Marketing
When asked, “how is it going?” many companies will respond with something akin to, “things are looking strong, the pipeline is up to $50M.” Not a bad statement, but certainly an imprecise one. “Over what timeframe?” you might ask. To which you’ll typically hear one of two answers * “Uh,
Marketing
"Advertising is legitimized lying," said the English writer HG Wells. Pop marketing guru Seth Godin wrote a book entitled, All Marketers Are Liars (but cleverly redacted the title). Google suggestions reveal that people have plenty of questions about the authenticity of marketing: Another marketing book adapts the famous
Marketing
Just a quick post to highlight a video / podcast episode I recently recorded with Cillian Hilliard, fellow board member at work management leader Scoro, and investor at Kennett Partners. Cillian runs a great blog (complete with detailed financial models) at The Novice Investor. (Understanding SaaS Marketing as an Investor -