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How Pavilion Creates Over $10M ARR Through Efficient Growth & Extreme GTM Alignment

Shifting from growth at all costs to profitable growth through retention, unit economics, and payback periods

Sam Jacobs · Pavilion

Published September 6, 2024
About this resource
Format
SaaSOpen 2024 NYC
Length
24 min video
Inside
8 key moments
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What you’ll learn

Sam Jacobs explains Pavilion’s shift from growth at all costs to profitable, efficient growth. He connects retention, unit economics, payback periods, onboarding, and GTM alignment to sustainable recurring revenue.

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Key moments

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Retention drives recurring-revenue value

“you do differently in this modern world and none of this should be rocket science but I want to underscore a couple things that you can do to align your business around profitable efficient growth what we know is that uh again no no uh nothing revelatory here retention drives all valuation for recurring Revenue businesses right and that sounds obvious and yet if we go into a boardroom most of the time historically we've been talking about the sales funnel uh all the way up to the point of sale we've been talking”

Calculate CAC and lifetime value correctly

“spend more than uh okay oh it's good we're fixing it on the Fly there we go oh it's beautiful all right there we go there we go okay so the point is does your team understand how all of this works do you understand how to calculate customer acquisition cost many people say that they do but then they don't uh do the calculations properly or they leave critical things out do you understand how to calculate lifetime value it's gross margin contribution per customer it's not Revenue per customer”

Understand the cost of long payback periods

“over a longer period of time the first is it requ it ties up your capital in in that sales cycle right so it's bad for your balance sheet but it also requires a much higher predictability and point of view on what's going to happen in the future so imagine that you have a three a three-year payback period what that means is you put a dollar in at the top of the machine uh in 2021 and you don't get that full dollar back until 2024 well has the world changed from 21 to 24 I would think we would all rades changed a lot so the other problem with long”

Orient onboarding around high-value actions

“make sure that you're driving your onboarding experience towards activities that you understand our different differentiators for your product and that will lead to high engagement post onboarding which would be you know the period from really 30 days into the customer Journey all the way up to the first renewal all right almost done last thing I will tell you is uh if you are an outbound driven or a human driven sales and marketing engine and you want to think about you know how do I make more money how do I lower my customer”

Understand Pavilion community scale

“Pavilion Today 10,000+ Global Members 450+ Cities around the world that are home to Pavilion members 47% Sales 27% Marketing 13% CS 9% Operations 4% Emerging Functions Members by Function 55% SMB 30% Mid-Market 15% Enterprise Companies by Size The World’s Largest Private Community For Go-To-Market Leaders and Their Teams”

Move beyond growth at all costs

“Growth At All Cost Since the summer of 2021, the growth rate has been cut in half… Annual 36% 18% 40% 30% 20% 10% 2021 2022 2023 2024 Revenue Growth Rate”

Balance customer and investor value

“Customer Value Investor Value ? The harder route The easier route”

Start with customer delight

“Moments that Matter: Start with Delight Aware Discover Consider Buy Adopt Use Renew Expand Attract Engage Delight 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8”

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About the speaker
Sam Jacobs

Sam Jacobs

CEO and Founder · Pavilion

Company revenue
$10M

Slide by slide

Each slide with a short explanation of what it shows. Open the slide text for its exact wording.

19 passages

Efficient growth and GTM alignment

  1. Slide text

    SaaSOpen, September 2024 How Pavilion Creates Over $10M ARR Through Efficient Growth & Extreme GTM Alignment Sam Jacobs CEO & Founder, Pavilion

  2. Pavilion began with a small gathering

    A monochrome photo of a small group seated around a dinner table frames the early days of the community.

    Slide text

    How it started…

  3. The community has grown into an event

    A selfie-style image shows a large gathering of members, contrasting with the original small dinner.

    Slide text

    …how it’s going

Pavilion today

  1. Pavilion serves a global GTM community

    The slide reports 10,000+ global members across 450+ cities. Its charts show members spanning sales, marketing, customer success, operations, emerging functions, and companies from SMB to enterprise.

    Slide text

    Pavilion Today 10,000+ Global Members 450+ Cities around the world that are home to Pavilion members 47% Sales 27% Marketing 13% CS 9% Operations 4% Emerging Functions Members by Function 55% SMB 30% Mid-Market 15% Enterprise Companies by Size The World’s Largest Private Community For Go-To-Market Leaders and Their Teams

  2. Community growth accelerated early

    The line chart rises from 2019 through 2022, then grows more gradually through 2024.

    Slide text

    Our Growth

  3. Customer and investor value feel different

    The illustration contrasts investor value as the easier route with customer value as the harder route, leaving the audience to consider which path to take.

    Slide text

    Customer Value Investor Value The harder route The easier route ? ? ?

  4. Investor value became the easier path

    The growth chart is annotated with investor value across the later period, framing that phase of growth around investor priorities.

    Slide text

    Our Growth Investor Value

Moving beyond growth at all costs

  1. Revenue growth rate has slowed

    The annual revenue growth chart declines from 36% to 18%, and the slide says the growth rate has been cut in half since summer 2021.

    Slide text

    Growth At All Cost Since the summer of 2021, the growth rate has been cut in half… Annual 36% 18% 40% 30% 20% 10% 2021 2022 2023 2024 Revenue Growth Rate

  2. Acquiring new ARR costs more

    The client acquisition cost chart rises from 150% to 264% as a share of net new ARR, while the slide says the cost has nearly doubled.

    Slide text

    Growth At All Cost …and the cost of acquiring new ARR has nearly doubled. 150% 264% 300% 200% 100% 2021 2022 2023 2024 Client Acquisition Cost as a % of Net New ARR

  3. Net revenue retention is falling

    The NRR chart declines from 123% to 113%, with the slide warning that the trend will ripple through the first half of 2024.

    Slide text

    Growth At All Cost NRR is experiencing a sharp decline, which will ripple through the first half of 2024. 113% 130% 120% 110% 2021 2022 2023 2024 Net Revenue Retention 123% 100%

Customer and investor value

  1. Customer value is the harder route

    This build shifts the comparison toward customer value as the easier route and investor value as the harder route.

    Slide text

    Customer Value Investor Value ? The harder route The easier route

  2. Customer value builds durable businesses

    An illustration of hands shaping a form accompanies the statement that companies prioritizing customer value build durable businesses.

    Slide text

    Companies that prioritize customer value build durable businesses.

  3. Customer-driven growth can compound

    A rising curve moves through scalable, sustainable, and durable stages over time. The slide says growth driven by customers can surpass acquisition-led growth at a lower cost.

    Slide text

    What Do Successful Companies Do To Grow Efficiently? Time Total Scalable Sustainable Durable Customer-driven growth surpasses growth from acquisition. Growth from customers comes at a lower cost. $10M $100M $1B $10B Revenue [mUSD]

  4. Recurring impact creates recurring revenue

    The lifecycle diagram moves from awareness and education through selection, mutual commitment, onboarding, adoption, and expansion, with recurring impact positioned as the source of recurring revenue.

    Slide text

    ONBOARDING AWARENESS EDUCATION SELECTION MUTUAL COMMIT ADOPTION EXPANSION Recurring Revenue is the result of Recurring Impact I Nailing Customer-Driven Growth

Creating delight across moments

  1. Start customer relationships with delight

    The journey groups awareness and discovery under attract, consideration and purchase under engage, then adoption through expansion under delight.

    Slide text

    Moments that Matter: Start with Delight Aware Discover Consider Buy Adopt Use Renew Expand Attract Engage Delight 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

  2. Investor value is highlighted on the growth curve

    The graph build marks a later section of the growth curve as investor value.

    Slide text

    Our Growth Investor Value

  3. Customer value is highlighted next

    This build adds customer value to a later section of the same growth curve, completing the contrast between the two sources of value.

    Slide text

    Our Growth Customer Value

  4. Shift from growth at all costs

    The recap calls for moving from growth at all costs toward growth based on customer value, delivered through moments that matter.

    Slide text

    The end of growth at all cost Next: Growth based on customer value Drive customer value by implementing moments that matter Summary 1 2 3

  5. Thank you from Sam Jacobs

    The speaker closes with a thank-you and an invitation to connect.

    Slide text

    SaaSOpen, September 2024 Thank you! [redacted email] Sam Jacobs CEO & Founder, Pavilion