On this episode of the DevReady Podcast, Andrew and Anthony sit down with Matt Wolach (Founder Xsellus & SaaSThe term SaaS stands for Software as a Service. SaaS is an evolution of an application that runs on the... enthusiast).
Matt has been into SaaSThe term SaaS stands for Software as a Service. SaaS is an evolution of an application that runs on the... for about 15 years. On the podcast, Matt shares his insights into how to develop a SaaSThe term SaaS stands for Software as a Service. SaaS is an evolution of an application that runs on the... company, how to market it to the right people, and how to scale to something big—even in a world dominated by cloud When referencing computing, the term 'cloud' refers to the generalisation of interconnected computers and services running on the Internet,... services.
“Free trials are not your closers. Free trials are not your closers.” – Matt Wolach
Matt argues that people are usually missing one or more of the four pillars of scaling your SaaSThe term SaaS stands for Software as a Service. SaaS is an evolution of an application that runs on the... company. He developed these pillars as follows:
- Attract—This is where you guarantee you bring the right people in.
- Engage—It doesn’t matter how you do this, but you need to find a way to engage your customers in a meaningful way.
- Close—Once you’ve spent the money attracting and engaging them, you need to close the deal. Focus on emotion.
- Scale—We need to be able to repeat this.
Beyond this, Matt shares key details about what actually works when thinking about attracting and engaging the people who will really allow your company to flourish.
Key takeaways from this episode are that you need to figure out how to remove barriers to your product (both on entry and exit), and that there is a way to use emotion to create buy-in that transforms into real conversion. Matt says emotional language is about getting people to see services applied to their very own situations. Get them talking about themselves to understand real emotional value.
“People get emotional about themselves, about their own world.” – Matt Wolach
Topics Covered:
- SaaSThe term SaaS stands for Software as a Service. SaaS is an evolution of an application that runs on the... businesses.
- Methods to scale a SaaSThe term SaaS stands for Software as a Service. SaaS is an evolution of an application that runs on the... business.
- Steps to attract customers for expansion.
- Why you need to pounce.
- How to remove barriers to entry (so you can close).
- Understanding the middle ground.
Key Quotes
- “I help other software founders to not go through those early-stage struggles that I went through.” (3:00)
- “It’s really hard to find anything that’s not server-based now.” (4:45)
- “Whether or not you do it, your information is still there.” (6:00)
- “Everyone is so used to being pitched at for some new software tool.” (7:30)
- “We, as founders, still have conversations with our market.” (9:20)
- “Competitors will come.” (18:00)
- “Never make it hard for someone to hand you money.” (26:15)
- “If they’re not a good fit, don’t make it hard for them to transition out.” (29:30)
- “They kind of sell themselves.” (34:20)
- “Hire three; fire two.” (36:30)
- “If you have the right process, it’s all about reining them in.” (39:45)
