SaaStr

The 7 Ways Prospects Choose One Vendor Over Another

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 07:45 AM PDT

There's a basic set of criteria most buyers look for. And breaking them down also shows us where the openings are for new entrants:

Most trusted brand. In the end, 80%+ of buyers are going to pick the most trusted or one of the most trusted brands in the space. This is not irrational. Most of us don't have the time or often the skills to truly decide which vendor is best. Brands are proxies for quality and trust. Imperfect proxies for sure. But proxies.
The one specific vendor with that key 10x feature. This is how some startups break into a space. Sometimes, a new entrant may be feature-poor and relatively new — but it has a new take on a space and has a new critical "10x" feature for you that no leading vendor has. A customer will often pick a new vendor if it has a critical integration, a critical workflow, a critical dashboard, etc. that the established leaders don't. More on the 10x feature here.
Far better performance etc. A version really of the "10x feature", but sometimes a specific vendor will have far better performance for a certain use case. Algolia search, for example, is 10x or more faster for certain types of search — but not all. Datadog also won here in part by making it far easier to monitor and manage all the critical parts of your application stack.
The one that is far easier to deploy. We don't all have time to deploy Salesforce. Pipedrive could be deployed in minutes. That led to a $1.5B exit.
Cheaper (sometimes). It's hard to build something big just because it's cheaper. SaaS isn't a commodity, not really. Every vendor is different. But once a market leader starts to go upmarket and get more expensive, that does leave a lot of room at the bottom. Often for several unicorns. More on that here.
The most enterprise vendor. Sometimes, the market leaders aren't enterprise-focused. This can create a niche for a more secure, more trusted, more workflow-ed vendor in the space. A related post here.
A vendor tailored just for your vertical. Vertical SaaS is booming. Why? Having a CRM, an ERP, a marketing automation solution tailored to your industry can be super helpful. Veeva is a great example, with 1,000+ customers for CRM and vault products for healthcare.

Which are you?

And a related post here:

5 Ways to Enter a Crowded Market. And 3+ Ways Not To.

The post The 7 Ways Prospects Choose One Vendor Over Another appeared first on SaaStr.

Monday.com’s Co-Founders: The Top 5 Do’s and Don’ts of Scaling

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 07:38 AM PDT

Monday.com has IPO’d at an almost $10B valuation, an incredible journey in just a few years.

We'd celebrate @mondaydotcom any day of the week. This morning, the team joins us at @Nasdaq's location in Times Square to open the markets in honor of today's #MNDY listing. pic.twitter.com/sm5rlkMRHa

— Nasdaq (@Nasdaq) June 10, 2021

We asked co-CEOs and co-founders Roy Mann and Eran Zinman, Co-Founders and CEOs to share with SaaStr their top 5 mistakes and learnings on the path to $300m ARR and a huge IPO.

5 Things They Would Do Again

#1 Measure Key Metrics From Day One. The answers you need will always be in the numbers. Starting out, there will be fewer metrics to track, and what you need to measure will evolve. That is totally normal. Monday.com built its own database to track company progress. Says Mann, "It was important for us to own the data, to know exactly what was going on…when you have problems, you don't have anywhere to hide. You own the data, it's yours, and that was instrumental in our ability to scale."

#2 Build Together. Transparency leads to ownership. Build a culture of openness in your organization. By sharing your company KPIs, earnings, numbers, etc., you encourage your entire team to take ownership of their roles and emphasize a common goal.

#3 Move Fast. Iterate until you get it right. Avoid the temptation to spend lots of time perfecting something for months. Introduce new products and updates quickly and incorporate customer feedback as you go.

#4 Be Open to Changing, Constantly. Growing fast is fueled by agility. Being too risk-averse is actually the riskiest thing you can do for your business. If you simply stick to the motions, you block yourself from opportunities to reach your full potential as a company.

#5 Don't Default to What Others Say or Do. Drill down on the advice and make no assumptions. Often it's easy to look at other companies to get advice or inspiration for your own business. While it is valuable to take external inspiration, be careful not to ignore what is best for your unique needs. Critically examine the "why" of advice you receive and ensure it aligns with your goals.

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5 Things They Would Do Differently

#1 Don't Only Focus Internally…also focus on what others are saying around you. There is a flip side to the "Don't Default to What Others Say" tip from above. If you focus too aggressively on your ideas, you may miss out on some great advice. Other people have different experiences than you do, and there is often value in a new perspective.

#2 The Areas of Your Company That You're Most Passionate About…might be where you're digging the biggest hole. Many SaaS leaders get very excited about an area of their company and invest much of their time working on that. But as the business grows, a founder's obsession with a specific area's success might hinder quick progress and scaling. A founder's time and effort need to be used elsewhere, and you must trust your team to take the reins.

#3 Just Because You Have Leadership…doesn't mean you have a leadership team. As Zinman points out, "It's not enough to hire super smart people, it's not enough to hire great leaders. I think the most value you can get is when the team is working together."

#4 Lead By Goals…where to go, not how to get there. As a SaaS leader, it's your job to set the business direction, and it's your team's job to figure out how to achieve the goals you set. Don't be afraid to take a step back and put confidence in your team.

#5 As You Scale, Maintain a Culture of Constant Feedback. It's essential. Go beyond one-on-ones and quarterly performance reviews. Create a culture of immediate, constantly flowing feedback with your team.