How We Got There

In today’s episode of How We Got There (which was recorded earlier this year), I talk with Ari Treuhaft, who is the COO of Litify.. Apologies for the audio quality but the conversation was too good not to share! He spent time at a law firm building an operating system for law firms on Salesforce and from there, Litify was born. They offer vertical SaaS for legal organizations, who think of themselves as unique and specialized organizations who need to build custom solutions. Litify has raised a series A pre-pandemic and now has over 200 employees and over 300 customers.

Litify is both an ISV and an OEM partner for Salesforce. Ari shares why being both makes sense for their business to align with buyers preferences in order to reduce go-to-market friction. They’ve found success in co-selling with Salesforce with OEM customers where the Salesforce sales teams was subsequently able to sell additional products, like Sandboxes and Marketing Cloud. And when a customer already has a footprint with Salesforce, they go the ISVforce route.

He talks about how he thinks about vertical SaaS and what they’ve learned from the likes of nCino and Veeva. One of the key learnings was around how to approach services internally and through SIs. Ari shares how they chose partners to work with in the SI realm and how you have to cut through a lot of noise in order to find the great ones. Align around values and mutual skin in the game….get into the single digits with target partners if you’re just getting started to go deep vs. going wide with efforts around enablement and training for your partners. As an ISV/OEM, you need to invest in these relationships.

Ari takes pride in providing a solution on the Salesforce platform in an underserved industry. On the flip side, he acknowledges that building out an internal Services team resulted in successful sales but a backlog of customers who weren’t getting live. They actually called up customers and shared candidly that they had to wait for kickoff for X months while they invested in their SI partner program training.

From a lead source perspective, for OEM leads they come from internal BD efforts and their SI partners. On the ISVforce side of the world, it is mainly the Salesforce AE/SE/RVP referrals. Ari shares some details about their SI partner referral program and how they share revenue with them in addition to having them perform the services. Across the board, focus on things that are working and do more of them. As you work to figure out what gtm channels are right for you, make sure you only run as many experiments as you can successfully measure. Once you start to see success in any of the experiments in the numbers, do more of it and maybe even drop the other active experiments.

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

Stony Grunow is a Co-Founder of Breadwinner and Co-Founder/CTO of Salesbolt. He shares how he got started in the ecosystem and how he solved a problem he was experiencing with Breadwinner - integrating Salesforce and online accounting platforms. On the Salesbolt side, they are solving the problem of customer contact data getting out of date in CRM by reaching out to LinkedIn to get the latest and greatest into Salesforce.

Stony shared about his first sale as Breadwinner as an English major who stumbled into technology. They didn’t build a way for customers to actually pay for the service (!) so they eventually sent an email that their “free trial” was ending….and many paid! As a founder without a background in sales, he is a delight to talk to about all of the things they’ve figured out along the way. Stony shares how they leveraged creating blog posts with intention to rank on the first page of Google for Salesforce and Xero integration.

Stony talks through how important focus was early and how their focus helped them make their decision around bootstrapping the Breadwinner business. He shares his biggest mistake being “Snow Goose”, a product they built for charities in England. The customers all wanted it, but none of them wanted to/were able to pay for it.

We weaved into talking out my dog, Mellow who was a Houston street dog before finding his way to our couch. #WhoRescuedWho anyway…back to Stony!

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

Resources:

This episode is brought to you by ISVapp. ISVapp is used by leading Salesforce ISVs and OEMs as the central toolbox to reduce churn, increase renewals, identify upsell potential, and close more deals. ISVapp is the only plug & play solution for the AppExchange AppAnalytics API and provides deep product insights. The set up is easy and takes less than 5 minutes. Visit isvapp.com to learn how you can take advantage of usage data in your app today.

Brooke Daniels who is a Director at Salesforce Ventures. She spent years using Salesforce before joining the core team and working on the Mulesoft acquisition integration. In her role, she is the go-to-market expert for Salesforce Ventures portfolio companies and helps portfolio companies as needed. Brooke shares the variety of funds under the Ventures umbrella including the Impact fund (sustainability and re-skilling the workforce) and the Slack fund in addition to Salesforce Ventures. The Slack fund does more Seed and Series A where Salesforce Ventures focuses more Series B, C, and Growth stage investing so now that the Slack fund is under Salesforce Ventures, they have an even broader thesis.

Brooke’s advice about fundraising starts with ensuring that you as a founder understand the type of funding is right for your business. Can your business achieve the high levels of growth that is expected? She walks you through expectations at each round from Seed to Series A and beyond. If you want to connect with Ventures about funding, email the team at [email protected]

The top two reasons they might not proceed is 1) not in their thesis so make sure to check their website and/or 2) it’s too early. She recommends connecting ~1 quarter before you start fundraising.

Brooke points to BetterUp as a great example of go-to-market as they’ve been success in both B2B and B2C markets. She cautions companies about the importance of go-to-market focus when nailing your initial niche vs. spreading yourself too thin, too soon.

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

Resources:

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.salesforceventures.com

Website: www.betterup.com

Website: www.databricks.com

This episode is brought to you by ISVapp. ISVapp is used by leading Salesforce ISVs and OEMs as the central toolbox to reduce churn, increase renewals, identify upsell potential, and close more deals. ISVapp is the only plug & play solution for the AppExchange AppAnalytics API and provides deep product insights. The set up is easy and takes less than 5 minutes. Visit isvapp.com to learn how you can take advantage of usage data in your app today.

In today’s episode, I am joined by Jack Campbell, Director of Strategic Partnerships at OpFocus, Jack has been in the Salesforce ecosystem for over 8 years with a focus on the System Integrators throughout his career. OpFocus is solely focused on helping SaaS businesses optimize their revenue operations and that usually centers around their usage of Salesforce. I was excited to talk to Jack because he sees a ton of growing SaaS business so he can share trends that are likely relevant to you as an ISV now, or in the future.

His top recommendation for ISVs to have an updated release date that is recent on your AppExchange listing! It’s a bad look to have that be from 5 years ago…

He works with a lot of companies that either just recently have been acquired or are targeting to be by another company or private equity (PE) so he shares insight how earlier SaaS businesses can do systems work early to make the process easier. The ease is important but it also increases organizational value because the acquiring entity and/or the public market analysts can have confidence in your numbers.

As Robert Smith, CEO & Chairman of the board at Vista Equity, said at a conference that was quoted in a WSJ article, “Software companies taste like chicken,” he said at a conference in New York a few years ago. “They’re selling different products, but 80% of what they do is pretty much the same.”

He shares his experience helping a SaaS business ensure they’re being compliant with ASC 606 and OpFocus’ reasoning, process, and outcomes from focusing their business to just SaaS businesses.

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

1:00 How did you make your way into the Salesforce ecosystem?

5:04 What are some industry trends related to SAS that might be useful for the ISV listeners?

7:57 Advice going through the process of getting acquired by private equity

14:44 What are you most proud of from your time at OpFocus?

15:23 Where does their main line of business come from?

19:28 Why did you go down the path of specializing?

22:44 Do you implement any ISV solutions that are out on the AppExchange and what are you looking for in a good AppExchange partner?

27:31 Rapid fire questions

Resources:

Jack’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-campbell-4361671a

Website :https://opfocus.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OpFocusInc

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/opfocus/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OpFocus

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/opfocus

This episode is brought to you by ISVapp. ISVapp is used by leading Salesforce ISVs and OEMs as the central toolbox to reduce churn, increase renewals, identify upsell potential, and close more deals. ISVapp is the only plug & play solution for the AppExchange AppAnalytics API and provides deep product insights. The set up is easy and takes less than 5 minutes. Visit isvapp.com to learn how you can take advantage of usage data in your app today.

In today’s episode, I am joined by Ian Gotts, Co-Founder and CEO of elements.cloud, who has been in the ecosystem for almost as long as it’s been around (2001!). After launching elements.cloud in 2016, he brings years of experience to the conversation that he is readily willing to share with others.

He shares about how they stay in their lane by working collaboratively with ISVs that are complimentary partners. Oftentimes there is feature overlap, don’t worry about it, instead focus on how you can combine to improve customer outcomes. Keeping it simple here is key to everyone involved here, don’t jump right to things like referral programs or reseller programs.

Their top producing lead source is when people who use them at one company move to a new one. Ian wrote a book about how B2B SaaS companies that offer an innovative solution should think about selling that I link to below. The goal is to help you sell to the evangelist when you are to the left of the chasm in Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm sense of the phrase.

Ian and elements.cloud is famously successful at Demo Jams. It’s not about if he walks away with a trophy, although they have won many, it’s more about leaving everyone in the audience with an understanding about what they do. He talks through how to get the most out of the Dreamin’ events and world tours. As a general rule of thumb, he estimates the budget will end up being double the money of the sponsorship when you factor in travel for booth staff.

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

Resources:

Website : https://elements.cloud/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elements_cloud

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elementscloud/

Ian’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iangotts/

Ian’s Book: https://elements.cloud/impact

[Book about Netflix] No Rules Rules: https://www.amazon.com/No-Rules-Netflix-Culture-Reinvention/dp/1984877860

This episode is brought to you by ISVapp. ISVapp is used by leading Salesforce ISVs and OEMs as the central toolbox to reduce churn, increase renewals, identify upsell potential, and close more deals. ISVapp is the only plug & play solution for the AppExchange AppAnalytics API and provides deep product insights. The set up is easy and takes less than 5 minutes. Visit isvapp.com to learn how you can take advantage of usage data in your app today.

In today’s episode, I am joined by Stevan Simich, Founder and CEO of Mogli, from working at Altvia to founding Mogli. He shares deep experience in how to look for patterns in customer interactions to figure out what to build, starting with services to connect with customer needs. Don’t productize until you see something 10 times in a row, a guiding principle to know when to lean in to any products.

Although word of mouth has really grown the business, he reflects that he wishes that he hired a marketing leader sooner. They get deals from a variety of sources from their AppExchange listing, their website, Salesforce AEs/SEs, and SIs in addition to word of mouth. Stevan shares how important ISV partner alignment helped everyone win in terms of business outcomes but also friendships.

I appreciate his focus on building the team and putting his employees first. Mogli runs EOS after rolling it out last year to help align everyone.

I enjoyed this quote from Stevan “I want what I do in a day to matter”.

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

Resources:

Website:https://www.mogli.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/moglisms

Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/company/mogli-technologies/

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/moglisms/

This episode is brought to you by ISVapp. ISVapp is used by leading Salesforce ISVs and OEMs as the central toolbox to reduce churn, increase renewals, identify upsell potential, and close more deals. ISVapp is the only plug & play solution for the AppExchange AppAnalytics API and provides deep product insights. The set up is easy and takes less than 5 minutes. Visit isvapp.com to learn how you can take advantage of usage data in your app today.

In today’s episode, I am joined by Chris Federspiel, CEO and Cofounder of Blackthorn.io. He shares his vision for Blackthorn and a bit about the journey along his way. His company has deep knowledge of going to marketing with what was previously known as Salesforce.org (or .org for short).

Chris is delightfully open (on LinkedIn and in real life!) and shares vulnerabilities of building a business while being bi-polar and the benefits he’s seen with therapy, especially as a founder.

He talks about using Capchase debt to fuel the growth of the business in a non-dilutive way, growing from 25 to 80 employees with over 100% growth last year…..and planning to double again this year! The way he’s structured the business with stock options, there is a good chance that an exit would create 18-20 millionaires in their ranks all while providing a 4-day workweek and donating a % of revenue, not just the profits.

They have found success with Salesforce System Integrators (SIs) in the ecosystem by serving them with technical resources that has led to referrals from that to help them grow their business.

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

Resources:

This episode is brought to you by ISVapp. ISVapp is used by leading Salesforce ISVs and OEMs as the central toolbox to reduce churn, increase renewals, identify upsell potential, and close more deals. ISVapp is the only plug & play solution for the AppExchange AppAnalytics API and provides deep product insights. The set up is easy and takes less than 5 minutes. Visit isvapp.com to learn how you can take advantage of usage data in your app today.

A special type of abridged episode to share a bit about the Dreamin’ events now that these are largely back on. Many ISVs attend and sponsor these events to drive awareness and leads for their business.

Eric Dreshfield is the Founder and Co-Chair for Midwest Dreamin’, who GTM Guides is a proud sponsor of this year, and he is the Product Evangelist of Mogli.

In this episode Eric shares who attends these events, how ISVs can make the most of them, and what options for sponsorship exist. If you’re interested in Midwest Dreamin’ or any of the other 10 on the calendar this year (https://trailhead.salesforce.com/community/conferences), this is worth a listen!

This episode is brought to you by ISVapp. ISVapp is used by leading Salesforce ISVs and OEMs as the central toolbox to reduce churn, increase renewals, identify upsell potential, and close more deals. ISVapp is the only plug & play solution for the AppExchange AppAnalytics API and provides deep product insights. The set up is easy and takes less than 5 minutes. Visit isvapp.com to learn how you can take advantage of usage data in your app today.

In today’s episode, I talk with Ryan Hitchler who is the CEO and co-founder of Centro. He shares how we got into the ecosystem. We discuss building a unique connector between Salesforce and Slack after his time at Conga and CRM Culture (ActionGrid). Ryan is the guy that I go to whenever I have any questions about Slack and is on the leading edge of all things Slack & Salesforce. 

I really appreciate his honest take of options for ISVs to learn more about Slack and how to integrate to it....with or without Centro!

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

This episode is brought to you by Appiphony. Appiphony is a leading Product Development Outsourcer that has been helping AppExchange partners architect, develop and get their apps through the Salesforce security review, since 2009. Appiphony is the only PDO funded by Salesforce Ventures and its customers include Stripe, Slack, LinkedIn, Docusign, and Salesforce. Visit www.appiphony.com to learn more about how Appiphony can help your organization successfully launch their app on the Salesforce AppExchange today.

Steven Jacobson, CEO & Founder of Appinium, shares his journey to the ecosystem with video and learning on Salesforce with Appinium and prior to that he founded Cornerstone for Salesforce (formerly CyberU)

Steve used feedback from Mark Cuban(!) led Steve to not only build a moat but build a river around Appinium. He shares candid learnings around how important having alignment is for a high-performing organization and how Salesforce’s V2MOM framework. Shoutout to Tiffany Kreinbrink on his team for rallying the company around V2MOM to drive direction. Appinium now creates a V2MOM with their prespective customers during the sales process that is handed off to the implementation & support teams to hold themselves accountable to what was discussed during the sales process. It’s helped improve sales metrics all the way through 118% Net Revenue Retention.

Steve shares his experience selling to Salesforce as a customer not once, but twice! It’s a journey but it is worth it. He is such an awesome person to follow in the ecosystem and is always willing to help other people out.

Tosie.force.org - Steven’s children’s non-profit. Our mission to help dogs and other animals find their Forever home. This company was founded, named, and run by kids! (With some help from the parents).

V2MOM Trailhead - A course to get introduced to Salesforce’s organizational framework. Use the V2MOM process to get aligned on goals and strategies across the company. (And maybe sell with it, like Appinium!)

This episode is brought to you by Appiphony. Appiphony is a leading Product Development Outsourcer that has been helping AppExchange partners architect, develop and get their apps through the Salesforce security review, since 2009. Appiphony is the only PDO funded by Salesforce Ventures and its customers include Stripe, Slack, LinkedIn, Docusign, and Salesforce. Visit www.appiphony.com to learn more about how Appiphony can help your organization successfully launch their app on the Salesforce AppExchange today.