The SaaS Venture

Hubspot has defined the SaaS sales funnel as Awareness, Engagement, Exploration, and Conversion.  This episode is focusing on Engagement in the sales funnel to move your prospect down further. For me it comes down to two main strategies: 1. Are you easy to work with? 2. Do you work how your customers want you to work?  I look at what makes for good CTAs, that appeal to all levels of engagement.  Q...

Part 2 or 2, what I got RIGHT the 2nd time around in SaaS starting Leadferno. The decisions you make when starting a company can have lasting, even forever impacts on the path of the company, so getting as many right as you can matters. Let's look at the main decisions I feel I got right in starting Leadferno . Prior:  Part 1 on what I got wrong .

Leadferno is my 2nd time around the block in SaaS. While I wasn’t a founder the 1st time, I came on as a partner to lead sales and marketing a year in. I ultimately became CEO and then led GatherUp to an 8 figure acquisition 6 years later.  So I think that qualifies as a first trip combined with cofounding and leading multiple digital agencies for over 15 years. I saw the early decisions, made som...

I take a look back at 2023 for Leadferno and share some of our numbers. We doubled our MRR over 2023, but I still feel we left a lot on the table. I also cover getting to meet with my co-founder Joel Headley in person last week to plan our 2024 and how much he matters to our business. Lastly we are giving the Leadferno website a big refresh for the first time since launching.

Another solo episode with Aaron. I talk about the features we've recently built for Leadferno. It's been 3 years since we broke code (over 2 years to market) and it I'm feeling like we have our true Version 1 - but my definition might be very different than yours or most. I discuss why I love "swiss army knife features" and our new report focused on quality and timing. Plus a marketing and sales u...

A bit of a change, it's a solo episode with just Aaron. I update a recent growth plateau for Leadferno. Churn is up some, leads and new accounts are down, and that combination makes for very little growth over the last 3 months. I share what I'm doing in marketing and sales to try to turn the tide and get back to stronger MRR growth in the coming months. If you have any feedback or suggestions on...

Darren and Aaron catch-up on the last few months of business. Darren shares a new product and pricing ... and get's some "spicy" feedback on it. 

Darren and Aaron discuss the benefits of user feedback. Do you know how your SaaS customers and users really feel? Ways to capture it, when to capture it, getting reviews, and all it provides when you have it. The guys also catch up on their latest feature releases, progress, sales, and more.

2023 is off to a fast start. Aaron and Darren catch up on what's happened to start the new year. New features, growth, marketing, demo challenges, and more.

A look back on 2022 and what took place for Leadferno and Whitespark. Features, sales, wins, challenges, hires, mistakes, and more are shared. We also look ahead to what kicks off 2023 for each of us.

Momentum is often cited as core to a company's growth. Aaron and Darren talk about at the power of momentum, when you have it, when you need to make it happen, how to help it happen, and more. We also discuss malt liquor and 40's in this 40th episode.

A recent tweet from B2B SaaS positioning expert and author April Dunford had the takeaway of "why choose you?" from your product demo. Aaron and Darren discuss positioning in your product demo, messaging, and marketing. In a crowded market with many solutions and choices, you need to understand and leverage what makes you unique and win in competitive comparisons. Here is April's Twitter thread .

We last talked churn in June 2019 on Ep. 8:  https://www.thesaasventure.com/episodes/08-churn-figuring-it-out-and-fighting-it 

Part 2 on what Leadferno and Whitespark are doing for marketing in 2022. Aaron talks about exploring paid search, co-webinars and hiring a service for cold outreach to book demos. Darren has been launching a ton lately and talks about their video marketing, landing pages and referrals.

Darren and Aaron talk about the SaaS marketing strategies for Whitespark and Leadferno in 2022. We covered marketing your SaaS features, podcast interviews and events. In covering just some of what we are doing - we declared this part 1, with part 2 to come! No doubt marketing your SaaS is so important in 2022.

Looking internally at your data, customer behavior and more can surface growth opportunities for your SaaS. Aaron and Darren discuss how to find these growth opportunities, some of Darren's discoveries and Aaron has a personal health update.

User onboarding in SaaS is a critical part of the user experience. Aaron and Darren look at the process of guiding new users to find value with your software product including sign-up, emails, in-app notifications, support and more. It all needs to work together to onboard a user and lead them to success with your SaaS.

A look ahead at what 2022 holds for Whitespark and Leadferno. Aaron and Darren lay out their hopes and wished for what they can build, accomplish, market and sell in the next year. 2022 should be a year of big growth for both SaaS companies.

Full show notes coming soon ... 

FULL SHOW NOTES [INTRO music] 0:00:11.4 Aaron Weiche: Episode 31, SaaS is a marathon, not a sprint. 0:00:16.2 INTRO: Welcome to the SaaS Venture Podcast. Sharing the adventure of leading and growing a bootstrapped SaaS company. Hear the experiences, challenges, wins and losses shared in each episode from Aaron Weiche of Leadferno, and Darren Shaw of Whitespark. Let's go. 0:00:42.2 AW: Welcome to t...

Show notes coming soon ...

FULL SHOW NOTES [INTRO music] 0:00:10.5 Aaron Weiche: Episode 29, Prioritize or Die. 0:00:16.2 Intro: Welcome to the SaaS Venture Podcast, sharing the adventure of leading and growing a bootstrapped SaaS company. Hear the experiences, challenges, wins and losses shared in each episode from Aaron Weiche of Leadferno and Darren Shaw of Whitespark. Let's go. [music] 0:00:42.5 AW: Welcome to the SaaS...

FULL EPISODE NOTES: 0:00:12.1 Aaron Weiche: Episode 28: Vision and Mission. 0:00:16.0 [INTRO]: Welcome to the SaaS Venture podcast, sharing the adventure of leading and growing a bootstrapped SaaS company. Hear the experiences, challenges, wins, and losses shared in each episode, from Aaron Weiche of GatherUp and Darren Shaw of Whitespark. Let's go. 0:00:44.2 AW: Welcome to the SaaS Venture podcas...

FULL SHOW NOTES [INTRO music] 0:00:12.0 Aaron: Episode 27: Plan the work, work the plan. 0:00:16.2 INTRO: Welcome to the SaaS Venture podcast, sharing the adventure of leading and growing a bootstrap SaaS company. Here are the experiences, challenges, wins, and losses shared in each episode from Aaron Weiche of Leadferno and Darren Shaw of Whitespark. Let's go. [music] 0:00:42.3 Aaron: Welcome to...

FULL SHOW NOTES [INTRO music] 0:00:12.2 Aaron Weiche: Episode 26, A Big Change. 0:00:16.0 S?: Welcome to the SaaS Venture podcast, sharing the adventure of leading and growing a bootstrapped SaaS company. Hear the experiences, challenges, wins, and losses shared in each episode, from Aaron Weiche of GatherUp and Darren Shaw of Whitespark. Let's go. [music] 0:00:44.6 AW: Welcome to the SaaS Venture...