The SaaS Baton

The SaaS Baton Substack focuses on sharing actionable advice, strategies, and experiences pertinent to SaaS founders, covering areas such as market insights, product development, team management, scaling practices, and navigating challenges in the SaaS industry, derived from over 150 diverse sources.

Market Timing Product Development Team Management Scaling Strategies Customer Acquisition Product-Market Fit Financial Management Technology Trends Crisis Management Investor Relations

The hottest Substack posts of The SaaS Baton

And their main takeaways

Predicting SaaS waves 🌊

137 implied HN points • 17 Jan 24
💼 Business Startups Market Trends Product-Market Fit Entrepreneurship Marketing
  1. Market timing is critical for SaaS success; observe new technologies, shifts in build vs buy mindset, new classes of workers, and distribution channels to catch the right market wave.
  2. Product-Market Fit (PMF) is gradual and multi-step; look for early signals like interest in identified problems, prototype feedback, and product usage.
  3. To build a viral social media presence for SaaS, focus on entertaining content, avoid vanity metrics, design shareable paths, trust creators, and don't obsess over tracking social metrics.

JTBD-ing churn 🧲

78 implied HN points • 02 Aug 23
💼 Business Customer Insights
  1. Implement switch interviews to understand why customers stop using your product.
  2. Build a partner referral channel from the beginning to drive demand without heavy marketing spending.
  3. Utilize pricing exercises and customer feedback to ensure you are charging appropriately for your product.

Revisiting A/B tests in SaaS 💯

117 implied HN points • 26 Apr 23
🕹 Technology SaaS A/B Testing Data Quality Network Effects
  1. Running A/B tests on SaaS products has unique challenges beyond just having enough users for statistically significant results.
  2. Incorporating minimal clear constraints in projects can drive creativity and productivity, as seen in Buffer's Build Week.
  3. Establishing indirect growth channels, like Gusto did with accounting firms, can create network effects and be a win-win for both parties.
Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

Surviving SVB 😰😕😅

78 implied HN points • 15 Mar 23
💼 Business Startups Management Recruiting Transparency Product-Market Fit
  1. Surviving a crisis like the SVB chaos requires staying solution-oriented, generating multiple outcomes, and reaching out for support.
  2. In the early days, focusing too much on Product-Led Growth (PLG) without testing through outbound sales can be risky.
  3. Transparency in recruiting, from defining assessments to sharing feedback, can lead to better alignment with candidates and improvement in the hiring process.

"No PM, no problem"

78 implied HN points • 01 Mar 23
💼 Business Product-Market Fit Profitability Remote work
  1. Sometimes having zero product/project managers can lead to faster feature shipping and more engaged developers.
  2. Consider hiring contractors before employees to save on salaries and gain access to specialist talents.
  3. In assessing product-market fit, look for metrics like revenue, conversion rates, and NPS, and focus on fixing the most challenging aspect for improvement.

Surviving the end-goal ICP 🌤

39 implied HN points • 21 Jun 23
💼 Business Startups Venture Capital Pitching Fundraising
  1. Startups selling to other startups may not have their founder persona as the eventual ICP.
  2. Even with initial success, it's important for startups to continuously adapt and grow to meet market demands.
  3. When pitching to VCs, consider sending a separate pre-read document to control the narrative and ensure alignment in meetings.