Surefire Local's shift from managed services to SaaS, with a repeatable transactional sales motion, KPI discipline and timed debt capital
Chris Marentis · Surefirelocal
Published September 1, 2022In the next 20 minutes, you’ll learn:
- Bootstrap to Product/Market Fit
- Establish Strong Leadership & Culture
- Raise Capital & Hone GTM & CS Motions
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Chris Marentis explains Surefire Local’s progression from managed services to SaaS while preserving founder control. He covers product-market fit, switching to a repeatable transactional sales motion, KPI discipline, culture and people operations, timed use of debt capital, and data-driven customer-success systems designed to improve retention.
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“together a bunch of Point Solutions so from that we started a scaled managed Services Company because people were asking for help on implementing that plan we put together the system we put together that system is still the DNA of the SAS platform that we created it really just automates all those things that we put together in that system around 2014 apis are becoming developed”
“it's really around starting with dials you know demo sets you know you know dials to demo sets demo sets hell demos win rate mrr and by really looking at those in a micro level and even more so by team by vertical we're going after it gives you a lot of Rich data to help you better understand how your revenue is going to shape up in the next month or two but also where you need to spend”
“go into a conference room and you know whiteboard what do we want our culture to be it's it's not authentic and it's not going to be something that's going to be bought into by your people what we ended up doing is we did a survey of all the people in our company and we said we'd like you to describe in words all the good things you think about the Surefire culture and all the bad things that you think about the Surefire culture”
“understanding the right timing to raise debt Capital because you get yourself in serious trouble raising debt Capital too early so you know right now we're uh eight you know 22 about 18 million in bookings 19 million in bookings will end this year about 30 million in ARR but we really raised our first debt capital in 2016. it was only a million”
“then create really sophisticated models that start to look at predictive churn like in the next two to three months and it allows you and your customer success team to really start to get ahead of that you in effect I start to feel like I know more about my customers mindset relative to their relationship with us than they do or before they do and it's super cool then we feed that information into an”
“6 years as managed services company”
“Second section: Leadership and Culture”
“Raised $1.0M First Debt in 2016…”
“Early warning system on machine modeled health score updated weekly and feeds into account data inside Salesforce.com and Churnzero.”
“Starting w/ managed services one way to SaaS”
Video
How to 5x Your Bookings - Slide Deck
As a founder and three-time SaaS CEO and a senior executive in internet technology Chris has spent the past 30 years walking in other’s shoes. During that time, he has failed a lot and has succeeded often. It’s this experience that qualifies him to be a transformational executive coach. He has a passion for mentoring people, particularly those in the VC and startup space, and helping them become leaders.
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Each slide with a short explanation of what it shows. Open the slide text for its exact wording.
26 passages
How to 5x Your Bookings with a Transactional Sales Model for SMBs Chris Marentis CEO, Founder of Surefire Local Founder500, Sept 2022
The bookings chart rises from $0 in 2010 to $18.8m in 2022, with the steepest gains after 2020. The timeline marks the shift from agency work to the SaaS product.
Bookings Growth AGENCY SAAS LAUNCHED
Marentis traces Surefire Local's move from six years as a managed-services company to launching its own cloud software. The plan groups the work into product-market fit, leadership and culture, then capital, go-to-market, and customer-success improvements.
Over the next 20 minutes: 6 years as managed services company I’m going to show you our journey from managed services to SaaS Bootstrap to Product/Market Fit Establish Strong Leadership & Culture Raise Capital & Hone GTM & CS Motions Built & launched our own cloud SaaS application Fine-tuned the UX/UI & breath of features Revamped Executive team Clear KPIs through organization Align comp. and benefits Transactional motion Reinforce brand promise Leverage data to find friction and opportunities
Surefire Local combines reviews, business listings, content, lead generation, advertising, analytics, local SEO, and communications in one marketing platform. The diagram positions these tools as a way for small businesses to attract customers and operate more efficiently.
Ratings & Reviews Business Listings Content Marketing Lead Generation Online Advertising Analytics & Reporting Competitor Analysis Email, Text, Web Chat Digital Asset Management Social Media Marketing Local SEO Payment Processing Surefire Local Marketing Platform Business intelligence marketing software to help small businesses attract customers, grow profits, and maximize efficiency
The timeline moves from a managed marketing-services business to a local marketing cloud, a customer-facing platform, and a next-generation product. It also marks the development of repeatable customer acquisition and the addition of AI.
Surefire Local’s Story From managed-services to SaaS 2011 2014 2017 2019 2020 Surefire Book in 2010 Managed Marketing Services Local Marketing Cloud SLMP Launches to Customers Launched Next-Gen Platform w/ A.I. Built Repeatable / Scalable Customer Acquisition Capability
The playbook combines a defined sales process, a competitive and celebratory culture, and tools that make outbound selling easier. It emphasizes methodology, data, hiring, coaching, channel partners, scripting, and ongoing training.
Commit to a Process Create a Culture Make Inside Outbound Sales Easier Choose a methodology Use data to guide approach Challenge status quo Hire the best Leaderboards Friendly competition Celebrate ALL wins Make it fun (gongs, bells, music) Channel partnerships Proper scripting Gatekeeper training Segment intelligence On-going training A New Playbook to 5X Growth
For January through June 2022, the funnel lists 379.5k dials, 6.5k demo sets, 2k held demos, a 37.45% win rate, and $815.1k MRR. It shows the stages narrowing from outbound activity to booked recurring revenue.
MRR WIN RATE HELD DEMOS DEMO SETS DIALS TO DEMO SETS TOTAL DIALS 379.5k 1.71% 6.5k 2K 37.45% $815.1k *January - June 2022 Keys to Success & KPIs
This transition introduces leadership and culture as the next part of the company-building story. It marks a shift from the sales playbook to how the team operates.
Second section: Leadership and Culture
Surefire Local lists five values: purpose, connection, authenticity, high standards, and empathy. Together they frame how the company expects its team to work.
Leadership and Culture Empathy for the win We’re driven by purpose We connect to deliver We keep it real We never settle
The organization chart places the CEO above technology, finance, and president roles, with marketing, customer success, and people operations beneath them. The team is shown across Austin and the DC-Virginia area.
Executive Team Chris MarentisCEO Maureen MoranCTO Michael PiercePresident Mory WatkinsCFO Jeff GossmanEVP Customer Success Elizabeth MooreVP People Operations Sadaf Atashbarghi-Nehr VP Marketing Austin, Texas DC / Virginia
The company shows teams in Austin, Vienna, and Manila, with 253 people split between the US and Philippines. It highlights a remote-first model, benefits, a positive eNPS, and workplace recognition.
Austin, TX Vienna, VA Manila, PH Top Global Talent + Winning Culture Global Headcount: 253 USA: 135 Philippines: 118 Best-in-Class Benefits Remote-First Work Model +74 eNPS2022 YTD
This transition introduces raising capital and improving go-to-market execution. It shifts the story from company culture to financing and customer growth.
Last section: Raise Capital, Nail GTM
The chart rises from $0 in 2010 to $18.8m in 2022, after several years near $4m. It highlights the large increase in bookings during the final two years shown.
Bookings Growth
Surefire Local raised $1.0M in senior debt in 2016, with a one-year term, balloon maturity, Prime plus 2%, and 2% warrants. The lender also required cash and burn covenants, and tied the advance rate to gross churn.
Bookings Growth Raised $1.0M First Debt in 2016… 2016 Chris do you have visual of term sheet we can put here? Senior Debt with Venture Lender 1 Year Term; balloon maturity Prime + 2% 2% warrants Guaranteed by institutional investors Min Cash and Cash Burn covenants Advance rate dictated by Gross Churn
By 2022, the company describes $11.5M in financing: $4.5M senior debt, $4M subordinated debt, and $3M Series B preferred stock. The instruments used performance, change-of-control, and time-based terms.
Bookings Growth …Expanded to $11.5M Debt in ‘22 2022 $4.5M Senior Debt with performance to plan covenant; warrants $4M Sub Debt with EV based success fee upon change of control transaction $3M Series B Preferred Stock with time-based liquidation preference
The infrastructure diagram links support cases, omnichannel communications, analytics, and marketplace services through the platform. Customer data connects the platform with sales, service, and customer-success tools.
Surefire Infrastructure Stack 3rd party tools used for analytics internally SFDC Service Desk for cases and workflows Omnichannel SFDC Cloud (voice, chat, text, email, bot) Customer data connected across Involve.ai, SFDC, CZ, and SFL platform 3rd party marketplace services delivered through platform connections
The diagram places Salesforce at the center of customer and operational data flows, with customer-success tools and integrations around it. Its outer loop follows the account journey from onboarding and retention through prospecting and closing.
Customer Success and Platform AI
An AI-based health score updates weekly and feeds customer account data into sales and customer-success systems. The example dashboard combines usage, interaction, support, and sentiment indicators without exposing individual customer details.
Involve.AI Early warning system on machine modeled health score updated weekly and feeds into account data inside Salesforce.com and Churnzero.
The dashboard groups product events by accounts and contacts and plots activity over time. The view helps a customer-success team inspect adoption patterns and changes in engagement.
ChurnZero
The workflow routes qualifying account activity into an email communication play. Its reporting panel tracks whether recipients open or click, giving account teams signals for follow-up.
ChurnZero
Customer-success managers can track key metrics, review feature adoption, and trigger plays for configured customer segments. The workflow also shows engagement and lets managers turn account activity into follow-up tasks.
Churn Zero Account Playbook for account managers to track key metrics Events Dashboard to see progress of product adoption which features are used most Plays automated based on preconfigured customer segments. Allows Account Manager to see who has engaged with the play with open rates, click through rates etc. Can easily drill into details to get customer and contact information to set follow up tasks.
The chart separates gross churn from net churn and distinguishes actual results from projections. Both projected lines improve after midyear, with net churn settling near -1.9% and gross churn around -2.8% by year end.
FY22 Monthly Net & Gross Churn
The chart's retention line climbs from 84% to 99% across the displayed cohorts, while the adjusted cohort bars increase in size. It presents stronger cumulative retention alongside a growing customer base.
Early Cumulative Cohort Retention Trends 84% 93% 96% 96% 98% 99% M4
The comparison lists cumulative net revenue retention at 91% for October 2020 to March 2021 and 97% for October 2021 to March 2022. The newer cohort is higher by six percentage points.
Early Cumulative Cohort Retention Trends 84% 93% 96% 96% 98% 99% M4 M4 Cumulative NRR Oct ‘20 - Mar ‘21 Oct ‘21 - Mar ‘22 91% 97%
The recap links the shift from managed services to SaaS with customer-funded product development, adoption proof, leadership decisions, and consistent culture. It also emphasizes debt-funded acceleration, data and AI, and listening to customers.
Over the last 20 minutes, I showed you: Starting w/ managed services one way to SaaS Bootstrap to Product/Market Fit Establish Strong Leadership & Culture Raise Capital & Hone GTM & CS Motions Use customer dollars to build Prove adoption Assess and make tough decisions Commit to culture through budget and personal attention Be consistent Use debt to accelerate growth Leverage data/AI to drive adoption and engagement Focus on listening to the customer
The closing slide thanks the audience and identifies Marentis as Surefire Local's CEO and founder. It ends after the talk's product, team, financing, and customer-success lessons.
Founder500, Sept 2022 Chris Marentis CEO, Founder of Surefire Local
