Blue Horizon’s reading list is a curated collection of articles for SaaS founders and management teams. We are entrepreneurs and operators who have lived through the process of founding and scaling software companies. Here are the articles and resources we found useful this week.
How Customer Success Software Benefits Your Sales, Marketing, and Product Teams
by ChurnZero
When other departments — such as Sales, Marketing, and Product teams — don’t prioritize or understand your customer, no amount of work will transform your company into a “customer-centric” company. It takes a company-wide effort to put the customer at the center of your business.
Your 3 Pricing Strategy Choices: Grow, Skim, or Follow
by OpenView Partners
The hardest part of startups is making choices. Not decisions but choices. A choice is a decision between alternatives, whereby deciding to do one thing you are also deciding not to do another. Pricing strategy selection is a choice. Or at least it should be.
Is the “Covid Boost” Over in SaaS? It Depends. A Tale of Two Trends.
by Jason Lemkin, saastr.com
“In general, the “enterprise boost” from Covid seems to have years to play out. CIOs immediately had to buy certain products in March 2020 (Cloud contact center, Zoom, esignatures), but other changes take years to play out. Some budget immediately went the Cloud, but other budgets are in a 2-5 year transition process that has been accelerated by Covid, just not overnight.”
Andrew Chen on how tech’s giants drive growth with network effects
by Intercom
Networks have different underlying structures. While in some companies, like Uber, growth is bound by geography, others, like Airbnb, have a global network effect. Context is important…Get small groups of people excited about your product and move from there, network by network.
Top 5 Things We Learned from BUILD in 2021
by OpenView Partners
It’s easier to say that you’re customer-centric than to actually be customer-centric. Most companies delegate this to user research, annual surveys or maybe the founder’s gut. It’s not enough.
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Blue Horizon acquires and invests in profitable software businesses with stable recurring revenue streams. The Blue Horizon platform combines long-term capital and industry expertise with an operating model that enables businesses and their leaders to focus on growth and profitability.