A Customer Validation Framework, mutual action plans and a LinkedIn playbook behind 3,600% more engagement, from Dealpad's CEO
Adam Baker · Dealpad
Published September 1, 2022Adam Baker knows SaaS: he’s built 3 to over $20m in revenue.
In 20 minutes, you’ll learn:
- The playbook for increasing Linkedin engagement by 3,600%
- Customer Validation Framework for new launches
- Why deals don’t close + how Adam solves for it
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Adam Baker shares lessons from building SaaS companies, including customer data validation, complex sales processes, reducing contraction, and mutual action plans for closing enterprise deals.
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“please welcome Adam Baker to the stage [Applause] [Music] my father once told me that if you fail to prepare you're preparing to fail so this should be an interest in 20 minutes buckling I'm Adam I'm the founder of actually Four SAS companies one failed so I talk about that more than I do the the successes I've had I'm based in London I'm currently the founder and CEO of”
“bit about our customer base so we custom everything right so there's nothing off the shelf with churnally we've got some models that we use one of the biggest challenges we have is data getting our customers to or our prospects to share data with us it's one of the biggest challenges we've got from from one data center to the other for lots of different reasons and so we we really had to go back to the drawing board and figure out who our customer was who did we want to service we had at one point we had DHL calling us and”
“as well and then we we almost always talk to a the IT department so how do we then get your data what data do you have how's it structured can we even work with it and we go it takes about six weeks and we go through this process now you can do this for any single sales process you run it hasn't got to be as as detailed as this but if this works right because if you start getting the executive alignment um even if it's a 10K deal you're going to close that deal I've I've seen it”
“customer on you might sell 100 seats and you've still got that customer in 12 months time but you've probably churned 60 of your seats so you're Contracting Revenue and so what we look at is how you how you stop contraction and what we've found is that there are a number of kind of common triggers that um that really um determine whether a customer is going to Churn it on and so credit card expires if you if you if you enable your customers to pay via your your web app and they pay on the credit card their”
“one in uh Q what is that Q3 last year then they started to build out Mutual action plans via the opad and in the next quarter that's their close one and the following quarter that's their close one so mutual action plans and bringing your buyers together works brilliantly we see it repeatedly so I've already spoken to you about that and then finally I'll just jump through these things I just want to talk to you”
“Founder500, March2023 Adam Baker CEO of dealpad.io How to consistently win 7-figure software deals”
“How We Found Our ICP Personal profiling questions Day in the life What’s the business pain”
“The Best Seller in Your Company Will Always Be You My personal outreach on LI and email had 70% more response than our SDR team 36% of those responding to me = sale C-level relationships became the difference to us closing 3 $500k ARR contracts Founders shoot big and move the needle on getting shit done”
“Become Obsessed With Outcomes How is your product roadmap delivering the outcomes your customer is paying for? Never market a feature again. Show outcomes. Build a value-led sales motion Simon Sinek was right, focus on the ‘WHY’”
“How We Predict 98% of Churn Events Months in Advance Credit card expires Contract notice period too close to renewal date They haven’t seen growth You don’t know the precise combination of features that drive users to value, repeatedly”
Video
How I built 3 SaaS companies to $20m ARR - Slide Deck
Adam Baker is the co-founder and CEO of Dealpad. Adam has over 20 years of experience in software sales. He's on a mission to improve the experience for software sellers and buyers, by giving sales teams the tools and process to align with their buying committees.
Adam has founded, scaled, and exited two SaaS companies as CEO with $20M revenues and led global SaaS sales organizations, including at Salesforce.
Adam Baker · Dealpad
Adam Baker · Dealpad
Adam Baker · Dealpad
Armando Biondi · Breadcrumbs
Charlie Fritsch · Hotel Investor Apps
Damian Thompson · Revteam
Each slide with a short explanation of what it shows. Open the slide text for its exact wording.
42 passages
Founder500, March2023 Adam Baker CEO of dealpad.io How to consistently win 7-figure software deals
The talk promises tactics for improving win rate, building a go-to-market motion, and learning from several SaaS companies. It also points to frameworks and playbooks as supporting resources.
Over the next 20 minutes: Increase your win-rate by 40%+ I’m going to show you BUILD A WINNING GTM 3 CO’S, $20M ARR Resources How we increased Linkedin engagement by 3,600% Customer Validation Framework for new launches Sales Validation Framework to close deals Mutual Action Plan Enterprise SaaS Sales Playbook MEDDPPIC Scorecard
This section introduces lessons from building SaaS companies, illustrated with a product website. It sets up examples from growth, sales, and retention.
Learnings from Building 4 SaaS Companies
The dashboard screenshot brings together revenue at risk, churn trends, and customer counts. It illustrates how visualizing customer behavior can make retention risk easier to inspect.
Learnings from Building 4 SaaS Companies
The chart shows revenue growing from $20K in 2018 to $12M in 2024, with steady increases along the way. The rising bars set a growth trajectory for the company example.
Churnly Revenue Growth
The slide headline says DealPad grew ARR by $2M in Q1 2020. The performance chart shows closed and high-probability open business rising sharply by March.
In Q1 2020 DealPad Grew ARR by $2m
The method combines personal profiling questions, a day-in-the-life view, and the customer’s business pain. These lenses help describe who benefits and why.
How We Found Our ICP Personal profiling questions Day in the life What’s the business pain
The worksheet groups discovery prompts around efficiency and effectiveness, asking what slows work down and what prevents people from doing it well. The categories structure customer interviews.
The validation worksheet examines audience, problem severity, and marketability through questions about access, urgency, value, and willingness to pay. It turns an idea into a set of checks.
The workshop board groups feedback into themes such as missing benefits, complexity, integration, education, and understanding. Grouping the notes helps identify patterns behind resistance.
The board collects customer comments about complexity, missing features, integrations, education, and an overly simple sales process. The clusters reveal distinct sources of friction.
The roadmap screenshot lays out work for web, mobile, and marketing teams across the year. Shared timelines make dependencies and launch timing visible.
The sales approach emphasizes validating value, workshopping the business case, and focusing on outcomes. These activities help buyers connect the solution to business results.
How We Won Deals in Ultra Complex Process Value Validation Value Workshopping Focus on outcomes
The six-week timeline places executive alignment, stakeholder interviews, scope reviews, demonstrations, data validation, and business-case work in sequence. The schedule coordinates buyer participation and seller preparation.
The workshop template defines the objective, participants, agenda, timing, and deliverable for a solution demonstration. It keeps the session focused on fit, value, and agreed next steps.
Personal outreach earned 70% more responses than the SDR team, and 36% of respondents became sales. The slide also links C-level relationships to three $500K ARR contracts.
The Best Seller in Your Company Will Always Be You My personal outreach on LI and email had 70% more response than our SDR team 36% of those responding to me = sale C-level relationships became the difference to us closing 3 $500k ARR contracts Founders shoot big and move the needle on getting shit done
The sample messages open with a customer problem and invite a response without pressure. The examples model a conversational approach to prospecting.
The email screenshot shows a founder introducing the product and offering help, followed by a prospect asking how it works. It illustrates how direct outreach can prompt a practical next question.
The message exchange shows a professional connection beginning with a shared SaaS context and a simple invitation to connect. It illustrates relationship-led outreach.
The paired assets contrast a message about improving forecasting and quota attainment with an ebook on buyer-led sales processes. Both frame the offer around the customer’s way of buying.
The performance card reports 8.2K post impressions and a 3,640.2% increase, alongside 24 custom button clicks and a 71.4% increase. The metrics show how content activity can drive visibility and engagement.
Linkedin Content Works for Me
The slide asks whether the roadmap delivers outcomes customers pay for and urges teams to show the why behind the product. It connects value-led marketing with value-led sales.
Become Obsessed With Outcomes How is your product roadmap delivering the outcomes your customer is paying for? Never market a feature again. Show outcomes. Build a value-led sales motion Simon Sinek was right, focus on the ‘WHY’
Two reviews describe improved sales success and closed-won rates, with examples of better process, visibility, and predictability. The testimonials offer customer evidence for the product’s value.
This section asks whether contraction should count as churn. The question introduces a broader look at the different signals behind customer loss.
Churn Is Different Things to Different Businesses Do you view contraction as churn?
The slide says 98% of churn events can be predicted months in advance and lists expiring cards, renewal timing, lack of growth, and unclear value-driving feature use as warning signs.
How We Predict 98% of Churn Events Months in Advance Credit card expires Contract notice period too close to renewal date They haven’t seen growth You don’t know the precise combination of features that drive users to value, repeatedly
The table compares k-nearest-neighbor and random-forest models across precision, recall, F1, and AUC. The layout invites comparison across evaluation measures rather than relying on a single score.
The recommendations are to onboard and activate well, pursue growth opportunities, stop offering single seats, and integrate into customer workflows. The slide says 80% of churn happens during onboarding and activation, before it is visible.
4 things to Increase retention Onboard and Activate well - 80% of churn actually happens here, months before you know it Execute a growth strategy - spot opportunities to upsell and deepen dependency Stop offering single seats Integrate into workflows
The slide points to weak executive alignment, distance from the buying process, and difficulty showing value early. These conditions can prevent a promising opportunity from closing.
Why your Deals Don’t Close Lack of executive alignment Not close enough to your buying process Unable to show customers value early enough in the process
The opportunity table pairs won deals with ICP scores, owners, close dates, and stage. It provides a record for comparing customer fit across completed sales.
The product screenshot shows a mutual action plan with decisions, criteria, owners, and dates. It makes shared responsibilities and timing visible to the buying team.
The table lists closed-won opportunities with ICP scores and ownership. Looking across accounts provides more evidence about which customer profiles convert.
The second table extends the closed-won sample and includes a wider range of ICP scores. The entries support a consistent review of fit and outcomes.
The interface brings a sales deck, reviews, proposals, and a mutual action plan into one buyer-facing space. It keeps key information and next steps together during evaluation.
What is a Digital Sales Room?
The ten-step diagram moves from creating a personalized room through engagement, proposals, and a mutual action plan to closing the deal. Each step adds material or an interaction for the buyer.
How Dealpad Gets Deals Closed
The slide flags lack of balance, quitting too late, and exiting cautiously as founder traps. These are reminders to manage personal capacity and decision-making alongside company growth.
Founder Traps Lack of balance Be a quitter Exit cautiously
The curve shows repeated highs and lows between feeling like a winner and a failure, with the swings narrowing over time. It frames entrepreneurship as an emotional cycle that changes with experience.
Entrepreneur Emotional Cycle I’M A Winner Shut Up, Keep Working I’M A Failure IDEA INCEPTION TIME
The bar comparison makes the benefit of quitting the wrong thing visibly larger than the benefit of doing the right thing. It encourages founders to consider what to stop as well as what to pursue.
Benefits from Doing the right thing Benefits from Quitting the wrong thing
The paired donut charts compare work allocation before and now, showing less time in meetings and travel and more time with customers and on growth. The personal allocation also shifts toward family, friends, and vacation.
Find Balance & Do Less
The personal-time charts compare then and now, with personal time rising from 10% to 40%. The slices show more time with family, friends, and vacation in the current allocation.
Find Balance & Do Less
The slide advises evaluating an acquirer carefully, spending substantial time with its investors, avoiding earn-out terms tied to future growth or valuation, and fixing the trigger metrics in advance.
Earn-Out Chaos Evaluate your acquirer just as thoroughly as they’re evaluating you Can you work with the ELT? Spend at least 50% of your time with the acquirer’s VC’s/PE’s, not the founders/ELT Do not ever agree earn-out terms based on future growth or valuation Define and set in stone the metrics that’ll trigger your earn-out
The recap connects growth from $240K to $2.5M in 12 weeks with customer and sales validation, retention, deal closing, founder balance, and earn-out lessons. It summarizes the talk’s practical themes.
Over the last 20 minutes: How we grew from $240k to $2.5M in 12 weeks I showed you BUILD A WINNING GTM 3 CO’S, $20M ARR TACTICS How we increased Linkedin engagement by 3,600% Customer Validation Framework for new launches Sales Validation Framework to close deals Why customers leave Why deals don’t close + how I’m solving it Founder balance and earn-out chaos
The speaker thanks the audience and leaves his name, role, and company as follow-up context.
September 2022 Adam Baker CEO of dealpad.io