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.

2022 B2B SaaS Trends
by SaasOptics

…survey found that the #1 reason for customer churn, all the way up until series C, is poor customer fit—make sure you have a solid understanding of what you offer and how it benefits the customer. Some companies convert prospects by promising features that are to be added later in the product roadmap. However, if/when those promised features never show up, churn is inevitable.

Everything You Need to Know About Customer Advisory Boards
by Cori Pearce at ChurnZero

…a customer advisory board is a group of trusted, hand-picked customers or influencers brought in by a business to be thought leaders and help the company gain key insights into their customer base. Those on customer advisory boards can help by:
Contributing to the shape of marketing campaigns
Giving advice on future product ideas and concepts
Sharing first-hand insight into the customer experience
Gathering and sharing vital intelligence about the market

Sales Efficiency is Back in Fashion. See, e.g., ZoomInfo, Bill, and Atlassian
by Jason Lemkin, saastr.com

Public SaaS companies that are hyper sales efficient haven’t been hit nearly as hard, if at all, compared to those that are less efficient…sales efficiency does seem to be back in fashion again in SaaS, after no one seemed to care all that much for a while. SaaS stocks that aren’t that efficient just haven’t held up nearly as well as the efficient ones, even where they’ve experienced torrid growth. Worth keeping an eye on, and at the margin, perhaps just making sure your CLTV/CAC and Magic Number math make sense. And that perhaps, you have a path to cash-flow positivity and higher operating margins a bit earlier than planned.

I Don’t Know, But Let Me Get Back to You
by David Cummings, davidcummings.org

On the surface it seems so simple and obvious, yet few entrepreneurs do it. First, it shows a level of humility and honesty that’s not common. Entrepreneurs aren’t expected to know it all. With that said, entrepreneurs should be curious and have an innate desire to learn and grow.

How long will you wait?
by David Frankel, Founder Collective

When people talk about how stressful startups can be, the image is often cinematic — a high-stakes negotiation to close a big deal that could make or break the company. The reality is often less dramatic. It’s a slog that requires stores of self-esteem and fresh capital.

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