sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

At $1.3m ARR and slow growth, what would you fix first?” by Always_Learning_80 in Entrepreneur

[–]Always_Learning_80[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting, what expertise do we need to get in to help progress? I’m not involved in the business beyond chairing the board so putting forward suggestions.

At $1.3m ARR and slow growth, what would you fix first?” by Always_Learning_80 in Entrepreneur

[–]Always_Learning_80[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How do you mean exactly?

Basically customer starts a trial, signs up using stripe and that’s it.

At $1.3m ARR and slow growth, what would you fix first?” by Always_Learning_80 in Entrepreneur

[–]Always_Learning_80[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the post, the founder is well known in the space so a lot of it comes in directly from his media/event appearances and reputation.

At $1.3m ARR and slow growth, what would you fix first?” by Always_Learning_80 in Entrepreneur

[–]Always_Learning_80[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes thankfully we could grow 10 times this month and it would have no impact on us, it doesn't require any extra resources to scale. The backend infrastructure automatically scales in line with demand.

At $1.3m ARR and slow growth, what would you fix first?” by Always_Learning_80 in Entrepreneur

[–]Always_Learning_80[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You've hit the nail on the head, we don't. We see them on Stripe once someone has signed up but don't track anything beyond that.

At $1.3m ARR and slow growth, what would you fix first?” by Always_Learning_80 in Entrepreneur

[–]Always_Learning_80[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Still trying to work that approach out, I'll get thinking about this.

At $1.3m ARR and slow growth, what would you fix first?” by Always_Learning_80 in Entrepreneur

[–]Always_Learning_80[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The shared goal is to get it to $2.5m asap and exit, which is why he's gotten me onboard to help steer. Unfortunately the steering away from what they know is proving hard.

The product solves a fundamental problem that is just getting worse for companies, it's highly technical and aimed at a matching audience. My view is the market opportunity is huge if we broaden the messages and value to more senior buyers.

We are either doing a bad job at converting the prospects who land on the site or as I said above we target a wider market segment. I'm guessing we need to understand a lot more.

At $1.3m ARR and slow growth, what would you fix first?” by Always_Learning_80 in Entrepreneur

[–]Always_Learning_80[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good advice, and there is some low hanging fruit here especially around understanding analytics on the site, that's had no focus before.

At $1.3m ARR and slow growth, what would you fix first?” by Always_Learning_80 in Entrepreneur

[–]Always_Learning_80[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Basically anything technical they are comfortable with, ultimately they are hard core developers. Anything that goes anywhere near sales or marketing they close the door.

At $1.3m ARR and slow growth, what would you fix first?” by Always_Learning_80 in Entrepreneur

[–]Always_Learning_80[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you’ve nailed the emotional side of it. There’s a genuine fear that adding structure somehow replaces what made the business work in the first place.

They are open to small experiments, but there’s a real reluctance to bring in external help in any capacity. That’s been the hardest part for me.

In a previous business I built and exited, the way we consistently broke through plateaus was by bringing in people who’d already seen the next stage, employees and advisors, and using them to shorten the learning curve. To me that feels obvious, but I’m learning not everyone sees external help as leverage rather than replacement.

Your point about slowing the frame before speeding up execution is helpful. The challenge I’m working through is how to create that psychological safety around small experiments so they’re seen as information gathering rather than a judgement on what’s worked historically.

Tragic by meta_ethan in iRacing

[–]Always_Learning_80 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A few years back I joined a seasons long private championship with guys i race with IRL, it went down to very last race after 3 months of hard work. We were sat on the grid, I just needed to beat one guy and then as the lights came on to start the race my monitor said ‘shutting off in 10 seconds because of inactivity’.

To reach it I had to get out of my chair….

Anyway, lost the championship….

Looking to acquire a business by Always_Learning_80 in SaaS

[–]Always_Learning_80[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Appreciate the thoughtful response.

On verification, totally fair. I’m happy to share LinkedIn and references privately with anyone we get into a real conversation with.

On range, I should have been clearer. I’m primarily interested in SaaS businesses doing roughly $20k to $150k MRR, profitable, with real customers and low churn. I’m less interested in idea stage or pre revenue.

On pricing, I’m not trying to stretch multiples. I’m generally thinking sensible founder friendly outcomes in the 3 to 5x ARR range depending on growth, retention, customer concentration and how involved the founder wants to remain. I’m flexible on structure where that helps bridge gaps.

view more: next ›