The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

156: How to Grow From 100 to 1000 B2B Customers


Listen Later

 

In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how to go from 100 customers to 1000—how to focus, what to zero-in on, and how to intelligently approach the next phase of scale and growth. Listen as they highlight the power of grouping and segmentation, and why clearing 100 customers means it’s time to earn an intimate understanding of customer acquisition cost.  

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:30 – Steli introducing today’s topic and why they’re covering it

00:54 – Steli and Hiten had 2 previous episodes that touched on a similar topic before today’s episode
00:59 – Knowing how to increase your customer numbers is important because it demonstrates how your business will scale in the future
01:10 – You have to start measuring your metrics, KPIs, and start deeply understanding your user base from the metric standpoint

02:22 – This is high-volume SaaS

02:40 – Measuring the metrics isn’t really meaningful until you cross the 100 customer milestone

03:05 – Once you’re in the 100 to 1000 mark, start segmenting, or creating cohorts (groups of customers)

03:30 – Grouping your customers can help you get a better idea of what type of customers you are getting from specific channels

04:04 – Knowing the numbers helps you determine where to focus to reach the thousands
05:00 – Segmentation is also about knowing what is relevant to your product and business

05:39 – Segmentation includes the size of the customers, buying percentage, and geography

06:40 – Advanced level segmentations are where the customers are using the product more, what features of the product they are using, and how much they’re using the product

08:33 – There are a lot of KPIs that you can track

09:34 – ProfitWell as an online tool for getting your SaaS business understood

10:12 – Some SaaS business that are crossing the 100 customer mark are using Stripe, Braintree, and other paid online tool

10:30 – ProfitWell integrates with a lot of systems and gives you data off the shelf. It is also free

10:50 – The key metrics are still the same

10:54 – Average revenue per user, churn rate, MRR, and how MRR is broken down on a monthly basis

11:30 – Having a tool is basic and critical

12:16 – “You need to do the right thing at the right time”

12:34 – “Once you cross the 100 mark, that is the right time to look at the numbers”

14:10 – Having that 100 customer mark may lead you to get more people in marketing and sales

15:41 – At the point of 100 customers, ask yourself; what have I done to get these 100 customers?

16:10 – Most people focus on marketing channels selection and implementation without actually verifying if that channel will work or not

16:58 – Marketing generalists are more difficult to find than marketing specialists

17:20 – Find new channels and start experimenting

17:26 – Ask professionals for advice or get courses online like DigitalMarketer which is inexpensive

17:48 – “Look at what you’re doing , break it down, and understand your process”

17:56 – The process of blogging

18:33 – Force yourself to calculate and understand your customer acquisition cost

18:52 – If you hit the right level of marketing fitness, your churn will be relatively low and you’ll ready to scale to a thousand customers
20:18 – You can’t just assign blog posting to someone without knowing what drives people to your blog
21:36 – Sales in the first 100 customers
22:05 – Blog post on different hiring stages of a startup

22:45 – The people you won’t want to take in are senior sales people like a VP of sales

23:46 – Get more fire-power to run an experiment and include yourself as the founder

25:05 – As a founder, you need to involve yourself in every aspect of the compan...

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Startup Chat with Steli and HitenBy Steli Efti & Hiten Shah: Serial Entrepreneurs, Sales & Marketing Experts, Startup Investors & Advisors, CEOs running multi million dollar SaaS Startups

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

202 ratings


More shows like The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

View all
The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast by Pat Flynn

The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast

3,455 Listeners

The Cardone Zone by Grant Cardone

The Cardone Zone

3,919 Listeners

The GaryVee Audio Experience by Gary Vaynerchuk

The GaryVee Audio Experience

16,823 Listeners

The Side Hustle Show by Nick Loper of Side Hustle Nation | YAP Media

The Side Hustle Show

1,583 Listeners

Entrepreneurs on Fire by John Lee Dumas of EOFire

Entrepreneurs on Fire

3,831 Listeners

Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips by Eric Siu and Neil Patel

Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

1,254 Listeners

The Martell Method w/ Dan Martell by Dan Martell

The Martell Method w/ Dan Martell

575 Listeners

Noah Kagan Presents by Noah Kagan

Noah Kagan Presents

902 Listeners

REWORK by 37signals

REWORK

210 Listeners

The Russell Brunson Show by Russell Brunson | YAP Media

The Russell Brunson Show

969 Listeners

My First Million by Hubspot Media

My First Million

2,645 Listeners

Marketing Made Simple by StoryBrand.com

Marketing Made Simple

292 Listeners

The Startup Ideas Podcast by Greg Isenberg

The Startup Ideas Podcast

204 Listeners

Marketing Against The Grain by Hubspot Media

Marketing Against The Grain

355 Listeners

The Koerner Office - Business Ideas and Small Business Deep Dives with Entrepreneurs by Chris Koerner

The Koerner Office - Business Ideas and Small Business Deep Dives with Entrepreneurs

218 Listeners