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9 Do's and Dont's of Scaling a SaaS Business to $50m+ in ARR

... key lessons learned scaling G2

Godard Abel · G2

Published September 1, 2022
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About this resource

Godard Abel, founder of G2, shares his strategies to accelerate growth, build a great team, and frameworks he’s adopted on his entrepreneurial journey.

In 20 minutes, he shares:

- 3 paths to growth

- 3 talent strategy principles

- 3 things he’s ‘stolen from the best’

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What you’ll learn

Godard Abel explains how G2 grew through customer-led product decisions, disciplined cash-flow management, and an expanding software market. He closes with lessons on values, talent, and adapting the organization as a growth company changes.

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Key moments

Find the ideas you need and go straight to the source.

Build around customer insight

“it's a long time i turned 50 last year so i'm getting old but honestly i also like being the old guy it's actually i find it much more relaxing because i remember my first company i started when i was 27 and i was just full of adrenaline i had bigger biceps and uh but i really didn't know what i was doing it was all adrenaline energy i just want to build something you know i was in california at the time the silicon valley actually started my first company in 2000 and that was still i don't know how many of you are old enough to remember”
Watch at 02:53

Reach cash-flow positivity

“that allowed you to price it in real time make sure all the components fit together and even order it online and so the basic idea for big machines was let's help my father do the same thing but my dad only had two it people they didn't know anything about the internet they didn't have a website and they also were really just focused on their erp system and so really decided to build it what today you'd call the cloud i think back then we called it on-demand software and uh because we said hey let's just”
Watch at 09:10

Use the software-market tailwind

“that matt and i decided we wanted to go build another company because for a couple years we couldn't make any money at g2 and we had this great vision let's build yelp for software but then we realized nobody wants to write reviews and i think yelp their founder did some great blogs he's like yeah 99 of people only read reviews and never write them and forget i thought about myself i'm like wow i never wrote a review until i started review company but i'd read them i'm like this is great right tripadvisor yelp there's all like a free resource to me but i was too busy to write them and that's what we realized with gt we're like”
Watch at 15:58

Make values operational

“went from cpq to quote to cash we bought a billing company that was a great partner of ours and that really expanded the division now it's salesforce revenue cloud it's cpq plus billing and then also g2 we've done a couple siftery that brought us g2 track g2 stack so it's an exciting way to expand your footprint more quickly once you have momentum once you have money and i think what i think what i've done poorly so far and i would do better like henry is you know i think we haven't been thoughtful enough about integration and so i think that's something we want to do better going forward”
Watch at 22:15

Keep the right talent

“board meetings all hands meetings but i think now we've really formalized how we communicate because and i think people say this and sounds pedantic you can't communicate enough but it's true and conscious leadership i think this was during my first company there i am in 2009 with my baby daughter maddie uh my wife stacy and that's our big machines team early days we had really ugly branding didn't have a good cmo didn't have a cmo but those look at construction jackets”
Watch at 28:31

Ride large market waves

“Growth Tactics: #1 Ride Big Waves ‹#›”
Read slide 7

Build sales playbooks to scale

“BUILD YOUR SALES PLAYBOOKS TO SCALE Build and enable repeatable sales processes/systems At SteelBrick, this helped us hit our plan 14/14 consecutive quarters ‹#›”
Read slide 13

Acquire partners to accelerate

“‹#› ACQUIRE PARTNERS TO ACCELERATEKEEP THEENTREPRENEURS IN THE FAMILY Acquired 3 companies with fewer than ~25 employees across 2 companies to accelerate growth and win together InvoiceITJoinsSteelBrick! SifteryJoinsG2!”
Read slide 15

Nurture and retain talent

“‹#› Nurture Your Own Talent (High Performance Entry Level) and keep the best with you”
Read slide 17

The V2MOM execution framework

“V2MOM Drives Alignment and World Class Execution ‹#›”
Read slide 26

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Resource files

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  • Scaling Leadership During Hyper Growth (Slide 24)

  • 9 Do's and Dont's of Scaling a SaaS Business to $50m+ in ARR - Slide Deck

About the speaker
Godard Abel

Godard Abel

Co-founder and CEO · G2

LinkedInTwitter

Godard is a proven B2B entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of G2.com, the leading review platform and marketplace for B2B software and services. To scale G2, Godard has raised over $100M in capital from IVP, Accel, Emergence Capital, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Hyde Park and Chicago Ventures. Godard is also the lead investor andexecutive Chairman for Threekit, a powerful 3D product visualization platform that powers immersive eCommerce for leading B2C and B2B brands

Company revenue
$113M
Team size
1000

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Slide text

Find a passage in the slides and open the original deck.

35 passages

Lessons from scaling SaaS

  1. Slide 1Open deck

    March 2022 March 2022 | Godard Abel, CEO of G2 Godard Abel CEO of G2 9 Key Lessons Learned Building $50m+ ARR SaaS Businesses

  2. Slide 2Open deck

    About Me 20+ Year 5x SaaS Entrepreneur Godard Abel Co-Founder & CEO G2 $400M $360M $1.1B Valuation $55M Raised

  3. Slide 3Open deck

    First Company: Struggled and Learned Many Hard Lessons

  4. Slide 4Open deck

    ‹#› Second Company 100x Valuation in Less Than Two Years ‹#› ‹#›

A vision for trusted technology buying

  1. Slide 5Open deck

    G2 Vision Coming to Life: Consumerize B2B Tech Buying with Peer Insights and Real-time Data The Crisis of Trust

  2. Slide 6Open deck

    V2MOM (Salesforce) Conscious Leadership Keeper Test (Netflix) Entrepreneurial Lessons Learned Strategies to accelerate growth, build a great team, and frameworks I’ve adopted on my entrepreneurial journey Nurture Talent Create a PEAK Culture Evolve Leadership to Scale 3 PATHS TO GROWTH 3 TALENT STRATEGY PRINCIPLES 3 THINGS I’VE ‘STOLEN FROM THE BEST’ Ride Big Waves Build a Scalable Sales Org Acquire Partners to Accelerate ‹#›

Growth and scalable sales

  1. Slide 7Open deck

    Growth Tactics: #1 Ride Big Waves ‹#›

  2. Slide 8Open deck

    100,000+ Cloud Apps and Services $1 Trillion IT ServiceSpend $4.5 Trillion Total Spent on Business IT “Software is eating the world” Marc Andreessen 10% GrowthPer Year in Software ‹#› Sources: Gartner, McKinsey * Forrester projects that by 2023, 17% ($2T) of all software transactions will flow through Marketplaces Ride Big Waves - Accelerate the Inevitable!

  3. Slide 9Open deck

    Software is Booming in 60 Year Mega Trend ‹#› Source: Battery Ventures, Software 2019 TODAY $600 Billion $295 Billion $6 Trillion Global Industry Software Revenue

  4. Slide 10Open deck

    ‹#› Partnering to Bring G2 Everywhere With our powerful review syndication network, G2 reviews appear on the most popular tech marketplaces, extending your reach to 100+ million additional software buyers Unique G2 reviews syndicated across 100,000+ product marketplace listings 15+ Leading partner marketplaces powered by G2 reviews including 3 of the top 4 cloud marketplaces 500,000+

  5. Slide 11Open deck

    ‹#› Commit to a Vision to solve a big problem you uniquely care about Goerdt Abel

  6. Slide 12Open deck

    Growth Tactics: #2 Build a Scalable Sales Organization ‹#›

  7. Slide 13Open deck

    BUILD YOUR SALES PLAYBOOKS TO SCALE Build and enable repeatable sales processes/systems At SteelBrick, this helped us hit our plan 14/14 consecutive quarters ‹#›

Acquisitions and partnerships

  1. Slide 14Open deck

    Growth Tactics: #3 Acquire Partners to Accelerate ‹#›

  2. Slide 15Open deck

    ‹#› ACQUIRE PARTNERS TO ACCELERATEKEEP THEENTREPRENEURS IN THE FAMILY Acquired 3 companies with fewer than ~25 employees across 2 companies to accelerate growth and win together InvoiceITJoinsSteelBrick! SifteryJoinsG2!

Talent and culture

  1. Slide 16Open deck

    Talent Strategy Principles: #1 Nurture Talent ‹#›

  2. Slide 17Open deck

    ‹#› Nurture Your Own Talent (High Performance Entry Level) and keep the best with you

  3. Slide 18Open deck

    ‹#› We’ve grown talent across all global locations to serve global buyers and sellers 24/7 in multiple languages

  4. Slide 19Open deck

    Talent Strategy Principles: #2 Create a PEAK Culture ‹#›

  5. Slide 20Open deck

    ‹#› “Heart of the Brick” Culture -> “The Good Guys in CPQ”

  6. Slide 21Open deck

    ‹#› And at G2, Redoubling Focus Has Led to Great Results Regrettable Attrition eNPS (Satisfaction with Employer)

Leadership and execution frameworks

  1. Slide 22Open deck

    Talent Strategy Principles: #3 Evolve Leadership to Scale ‹#›

  2. Slide 23Open deck

    “Tribe” 1-50 EmployeesRapid Product/Customer Iteration “Just Get Stuff Done” for Customers Everyone knows Everyone “Hands on” Player/Coach Managers Founder/CEO Knows Everything “Village” 51-199 Employees1-3 Quarter Roadmaps Build Repeatable Systems/Processes Leaders Align and Enable Teams 1st Executive Hires (CRO, CMO,...) CEO Knows Most People and Initiatives “City” 200-999 Employees 3-Year Roadmaps Data, AI Driven Decisions/Processes Build Mature, Aligned C-Suite CEO Knows Minority of Issues Drive V2MOM Alignment / Accountability Drill Down into Big Issues Scaling Leadership and Culture ‹#›

  3. Slide 24Open deck

    Scaling G2 Leadership During 2+ Years of Hyper Growth Hit plan 6 quarters in a row after bringing in more experienced leaders Chief of Staff BCG alum w/ Stanford MBA “CEO in training” +1 AssociateDrive special projects and support investor relations Built Officeof CEO New Leaders ConsciousLeadershipCoach RealignedCofounders CEO & Leadership Team Coaching and Alignment Training 2nd Level Leadership CTO and CEO building G2 Labs 2 building nex-gen start ups ‹#›

  4. Slide 25Open deck

    ‘Steal from the Best’: #1 The V2MOM (Salesforce) ‹#›

  5. Slide 26Open deck

    V2MOM Drives Alignment and World Class Execution ‹#›

  6. Slide 27Open deck

    #1 Invest in PEAK Talent and Inspire Love Measures: Engagement (eNPS), Retention (Turnover), Hiring (People)#2 Grow Buyer Engagement and Influence Measures: Traffic, Reviews, Green Categories (SoV and Reviews) #3 Fuel Seller Growth and Adoption Measures: New Business (ACV), Retention (GRR, NRR), Green Adoption (% of customers) #4 Build and Launch New Business LinesMeasures: # of Adopted Customers for New Products, Customer NPS, ARR per Product #5 Drive Smart GrowthMeasures: ARR Growth, ARR Growth / Cash Flow G2 FY23 V2MOM METHODS AND MEASURES +40 Key Measures Reported to All-Hands ‹#›

  7. Slide 28Open deck

    ‹#› Board meetings Leadership meetings Sr. Leadership weekly meetings Monthly V2MOM reviews Semi-annual srleadership offsites Quarterly regional V2MOM reviews     All-hands meetings and events Monthly Global all-hands calls Monthly Innovation Pulses G2 Together ERG & Gives Events Semi-annual kickoff meetings REACH user conferenceannual Quarterly Board Meetings Monthly Financial and Measure Updates Ad-hoc calls for special topics Leadership Review and Communication Cadence -> Alignment, Celebration, and Accountability

  8. Slide 29Open deck

    ‘Steal from the Best’: #2 Conscious Leadership ‹#›

  9. Slide 30Open deck

    Your Team as 2009 My Conscious Journey Begins ‹#›

  10. Slide 31Open deck

    ‹#› My Storm Cloud of Anxiety https://www.inc.com/david-finkel/anxiety-is-common-among-entrepreneurs-here-are-4-tips-to-help-soothe-your-nerves.html

  11. Slide 32Open deck

    Conscious Commitments Lead to an Authentic Workplace Culture G2’s iNPS Scores Over Time ‹#› In addition to asking if our employees feel like their company is a great place to work (eNPS), we ask if they feel like they can be themselves at work (iNPS).

  12. Slide 33Open deck

    ‘Steal from the Best’: #3 Netflix ‘No Rules Rules’Adopting the ‘Keeper Test’ at G2 ‹#›

  13. Slide 34Open deck

    We’re a Team, Not a Family Our “Roster” Evolves, Our Respect for One Another Does Not 90% of G2 Managers Are “Keepers” ‹#›

  14. Slide 35Open deck

    March 2022 | Godard Abel, CEO of G2 ‹#› Godard Abel CEO of G2