What books do you think helped you become successful and how did you cope with the more challenging aspects in running your startup?
Growing Our SaaS to $1M+ ARR: 7 People, 3 Years, No VC Money
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Re: Growing Our SaaS to $1M+ ARR: 7 People, 3 Years, No VC Money
#32Hey guys, My name is Mike. I'm co-founder and product at Everhour. I'd be happy to answer your questions if any. Feel free to ask here or on Medium.
FTA: > 5) The advantages of annual billing How do you encourage customers to choose annual billing?
I'd love to know the same question. We are making our way to $1mm ARR and have very low churn, but no annual billing option. Do you give a discount at all?
Re: Growing Our SaaS to $1M+ ARR: 7 People, 3 Years, No VC Money
#33So out of nowhere, people wanted use your product because you outstand as a way way different product? How is it much different than Jira with few plugins?
Re: Growing Our SaaS to $1M+ ARR: 7 People, 3 Years, No VC Money
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the venture capital market like in Belarus? What kind of options are there for a growing SaaS business, in regards to either angel investors or traditional venture capital firms?
Generally speaking, the are no VC is Belarus. However, we do have some great success stories (e.g. AIMatter (was acquired by Google), MSQRD (was acquired by Facebook)). Most promising startups incorporate in US from day one and raise money there. In addition, there are number of funds in Russia or Ukraine. In other words, if you have an interesting idea, you will find money or money will find you :)
Can’t believe you didn’t mention wargaming they are actually a unicorn.
Re: Growing Our SaaS to $1M+ ARR: 7 People, 3 Years, No VC Money
#35> CPC for the best keywords might be up to 10–15 USD. Is this for real ? 10$ per click ?!! That's really depressing, and completely shuts out all the small players.
That's likely for the top, most obvious, biggest keywords. Google Ads is very winnable if you're creative. Skip the obvious keywords and find other inroads. It can (and has) work for "small" companies not looking to brute force with deep pockets.
Re: Growing Our SaaS to $1M+ ARR: 7 People, 3 Years, No VC Money
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
$10-$15 isn't the most expensive. There are industries like insurance or loans where it can get as high as $50.
So for sleazy payday loan ads if you were to click them for a half an hour a day it could impact their bottom line?
Probably not, that'd be click fraud and the clicks wouldn't be counted.
Re: Growing Our SaaS to $1M+ ARR: 7 People, 3 Years, No VC Money
#37> CPC for the best keywords might be up to 10–15 USD. Is this for real ? 10$ per click ?!! That's really depressing, and completely shuts out all the small players.
$10-$15 isn't the most expensive. There are industries like insurance or loans where it can get as high as $50.
Mesothelioma can be in the hundreds per click.
Re: Growing Our SaaS to $1M+ ARR: 7 People, 3 Years, No VC Money
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
FTA: > 5) The advantages of annual billing How do you encourage customers to choose annual billing?
I'd love to know the same question. We are making our way to $1mm ARR and have very low churn, but no annual billing option. Do you give a discount at all?
Not an entrepreneur, but, 12 months at 10 months of subscription fee is still more than 6 months at 6 months of subscription fee. Always offer a "loyalty discount" if it means they commit to paying for a minimal amount of time.
Re: Growing Our SaaS to $1M+ ARR: 7 People, 3 Years, No VC Money
#39What books do you think helped you become successful and how did you cope with the more challenging aspects in running your startup?
I can see two questions. Let me start with books I can recommend:
(1) Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers — Weinberg, Gabriel (2) Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't — Harnish, Verne (3) The Lean Startup — Ries, Eric (4) 100 Days of Growth - Sujan Patel & Rob Wormley (5) Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose - Tony Hsieh
Re: Growing Our SaaS to $1M+ ARR: 7 People, 3 Years, No VC Money
#40Huge congratulations! I noticed there was a constant revenue at 20K MRR but then starting January 2017 it picked up in growth. How did that happen?