DON’T do these 68 things in your SaaS company by CBInsights

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Techceler...
Technology & Engineering
SaaS and Business Software
www.cbinsights.com
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DON'T
do these 68 things in 
your SaaS company
From HR to product to marketing, here's some of our screwups.
Presented by Anand Sanwal, CEO & co-founder
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First, some 
context
Some background on CB Insights so 
you can decide how much of what I'm 
about to say might be valid/valuable
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"I just think it is serving a different kind of need. It's a different 
business segment onto itself. And the segments that we are serving 
largely, I think, will remain separate and distinct from that. I don't 
think customers suddenly woke upand aid, 'We really don't care 
about consistently high quality products, and we don't need service 
and we don't need amenities.' I just don't buy it." 
 Chris Nassetta, CEO of Hilton on Airbnb
TECHNOLOGY IS EATING 
EVERY INDUSTRY
WE HELP YOU BITE BACK
CB Insights' technology market intelligence solution 
lets you predict, analyze and communicate emerging 
technology trends by mining millions of data points in 
ways that are beyond human cognition.
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(if these three had a tech focused baby)
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Search engine organizing 
massive unstructured 
data sets
CRM for big ideas
and knowledge 
management
The tech industry's 
most trusted and cited 
analysts 
See what other customers have to say at http://www.cbinsights.com/customer-love
"We use CB Insights to find emerging trends 
and interesting companies that might signal 
a shift in technology or require us to 
reallocate resources."
TRUSTED BY THE WORLD'S 
LEADING COMPANIES
Beti Cung
Corporate Strategy, Microsoft
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62
9
16
211
490
1200
1400
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016 (YTD)
From the NY Times to Bloomberg, CB Insights data and analysts are cited 
by hundreds of leading media outlets every month.
THE MOST TRUSTED SOURCE FOR 
INSIGHT ON TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
CB INSIGHTS MEDIA CITATIONS PER YEAR (THROUGH Q3 2016) 
Revenue-funded to 66 
teammates
Raised $10M Growth 
Equity round (end '15)
Will be 150 at YE 2017 
(vanity metric)
Because people are 
fixated on fundraising, 
the chart to the left 
shows our revenue of 
last year as funding 
rounds
Healthy 8-Figure 
Revenues
Grown revenue by 
100%+ for last 3 years
Anand Sanwal
CEO / Co-founder, CB Insights
Ran American Express $50M Chairman's 
Innovation Fund
Prior work in venture capital and M&A
Author of "Optimizing Corporate Portfolio 
Management" (Wiley 2007)
Graduate of Wharton (Finance/Accounting) and 
University of Pennsylvania (Chemical Engineering)
@asanwal
Questions / Help
asanwal@cbinsights.com
3 Miscellaneous Facts
1. Worked at Kozmo.com 
an infamous NYC dot 
com bust darling
2. Climbed Mt Kilimanjaro
3. Have run all 5 NYC 
borough  marathons
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This will be 
useless for
wantrepreneurs, people who 
believe VC is required to build a 
biz, folks who can't grind, or folks 
selling $9.95/month SaaS 
products (and many others)
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quote by Mark Cuban
#1
DON'T
take advice from non-
customers
"Only take advice from those who have to live with the consequences"
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#2
DON'T
tolerate high-performing 
assholes
They might provide short-term benefit but are cancerous to culture long-term.
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#3
DON'T
fall in love with 
pedigree
There are plenty of smart folks who aren't Google or Stanford alums.
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#4
DON'T
half-ass onboarding of 
new teammates
Teammates make decisions to stay quickly. First impressions matter.
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#5
DON'T
believe you have to 
raise VC
This narrative is great for VCs but is BS. Revenue is the best funding.
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#6
DON'T
be pressured into 
raising VC
Just because a competitor did doesn't mean anything.
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#7
DON'T
let them call you a 
lifestyle business
You can revenue-fund a giant (Mailchimp, Atlassian)
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#8
DON'T
waste money on PR to 
get customers
Especially early, do it on your own. Know what PR is good for.
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#9
DON'T
chase press in sexy but 
irrelevant media
It's easier to go after niche media which is less sexy and more useful. 
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#10
DON'T
believe your own hype
People are saying your co is amazing. Enjoy & forget. Stay paranoid.
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#11
DON'T
get fixated on losses
If you're doing it right, you'll probably lose a lot. It sucks but try to forget.
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#12
DON'T
think you know your end-
market from day one
Be promiscuous in the early days. Sometimes, customers show up you didn't expect.
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#13
DON'T
be promiscuous about 
your market forever
At some point, you have enough data. Pick a market and attack it.
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#14
DON'T
hire smart people and 
"figure it out later"
People do better with clear goals and priorities especially early on.
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#15
DON'T
hire under pressure
Every time we've rushed a hiring decision, we've regretted it.
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#16
DON'T
fire slow
Easier said than done TBH but culture is driven by people you hire and fire.
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#17
DON'T
inflate people's titles
When your startup scales, the inflated title holders get demoted. Not good.
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#18
DON'T
be afraid to hire expert 
advisors
We did too much non-core stuff on our own in the beginning. Made mistakes.
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#19
DON'T
be afraid to fire expert 
advisors
Sometimes, people/firms coast by on reputation. If you find this, run.
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#20
DON'T
do what Slack, 
Dropbox, Evernote do
Everyone is super smart until they're not. Do what is good for your biz.
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#21
DON'T
believe the easy 
hype BS
You can't growth hack your way to $100M in revenue.
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#22
DON'T
don't believe being 
outfunded matters
Money buys you time. It doesn't buy you the ability to execute.
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#23
DON'T
only celebrate big wins 
or sales wins
Highlight big and small milestones and recognize folks behind them.
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#24
DON'T
sell to startups
No money. High churn. They die. The definition of SaaS hell.
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#25
DON'T
be the lowest priced 
product in the market
This path generally sucks. Trust me.
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#26
DON'T
get cute with pricing
It's confusing and nobody is buying your important, awesome product cuz of this.
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#27
DON'T
be afraid to ask if your 
product idea sucks
Customers will tell you if it's something they'd pay for. They want you to win.
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#28
DON'T
respond to trolls
Obvious but don't. (TBH, I still do this to F with them from time-to-time)
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#29
DON'T
worry about perfecting 
your tech too early
Revenues > technical debt.  This will change as you scale.
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#30
DON'T
be boring
So much software marketing is boring. Have a voice. Be interesting.
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#31
DON'T
chase startup fads
Badges, AI. Big Data. Does it help customers?
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#32
DON'T
think biz dev / CS will 
learn through osmosis
Not investing in training as you scale will hurt you.
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#33
DON'T
wait to hire customer 
success
Even if churn is low, hire CS folks to ensure customers love you.
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#34
DON'T
believe in the one hire 
messiah
If you've got a mess, someone may fix it. But don't bank on it.
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#35
DON'T
half-ass reference 
checks
Whether it's a new teammate, investor or important advisor, vet them hard.
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#36
DON'T
meet with VCs unless 
you're ready to raise
If you meet them, even casually, it's a pitch.
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#37
DON'T
price based on 
competition
If you're indistinguishable from competition, that's a problem.
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#38
DON'T
think channel partnerships 
will save you
It's hard to get someone else to do the selling for you.
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#39
DON'T
dominate conversations 
w/ customers
The more customers talk during conversations, the better.
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#40
DON'T
try to delegate product 
management too early
In the beginning, the product managers are the founders & engineers.
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#41
DON'T
forget to ask for the sale
A quick yes is amazing. And a quick no is also pretty good. Don't get strung along.
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#42
DON'T
listen to people w/ no $ 
who want to "integrate"
99% of time, these people are collosal wastes of time. Show me the money.
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#43
DON'T
fear non-scalable work
Elegant solutions are often not worth the effort. Love the grind.
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#44
DON'T
worry about competition
Focus on the customer night and day. (Hint: Read Jeff Bezos on this topic)
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#45
DON'T
give a shit about 
Hacker News
God  we wasted so much time trying to get on the HN front page. 
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#46
DON'T
try to innovate in HR
Focus your innovation efforts on your product. 
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#47
DON'T
give perks you can't 
give forever
If the market turns downward, and the perk wouldn't survive, don't give it.
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#48
DON'T
hire salespeople till you 
can sell it yourself
If you're the founder and can't sell the shit out of it, nobody else will.
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#49
DON'T
think all leads are 
created equal
Double down on best ones. Some will never buy. Forget them.
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#50
DON'T
try to please everyone
You'll build a crappy product that doesn't get anyone fired up.
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#51
DON'T
worry about your 
personal brand
Unless it helps recruit teammates or customers, why bother?
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#52
DON'T
try to act like a 
"salesperson"
There is not one way to sell.  Do what's comfortable.
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#53
DON'T
ignore sales advice
There is a lot of wisdom out there. Use it.
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#54
DON'T
do 'demos'.
Have conversations
You're not a tool with buttons and features. Position yourself as more.
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#55
DON'T
be lazy after your first 
conversation
People are busy and aren't fixated on you. You have to keep them interested.
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#56
DON'T
buy whole grape / piece 
of watermelon thing
Focus on the narrative that works for you. Not one foisted upon you.
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#57
DON'T
believe the media/VC 
survivorship bias
79% of exits are < $200M. Google and Facebook are freaks.
2016 GLOBAL TECH EXIT VALUATIONS
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Source: 2016 Tech Exits Report
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Credit: Lockhart Steele
#58
DON'T
always look for new 
channels
It's better to be killer at a few channels than suck at many.
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Credit: Lockhart Steele
#59
DON'T
pointlessly network
If you're emailing to pick people's brains, swap notes, etc, stop it. Now.
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#60
DON'T
be a 'conference ho'
See earlier slide on pointless networking. Don't mistake activity for progress.
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Credit: Lockhart Steele
#61
DON'T
hesitate to 
"flood the zone"
Once you find something works, milk the hell out of it.
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#62
DON'T
deceive yourself on 
the size of your market
Build a product and price with your market in mind.
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Source: Christoph Janz
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#63
DON'T
fetishize failure
Failure blows. Don't make it ok and say it was a learning experience.
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#64
DON'T
worry about your name 
& logo too much
Cuz you will never do worse than us. CB Insights began as ChubbyBrain.
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#65
DON'T
expect clients to tell you 
what product to build
First, it is not their job. Second, their feedback will often be incremental. 
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#66
DON'T
do feature demos
Nobody really cares. They want to know why it makes their lives better.
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Source: Chris Brophy
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#67
DON'T
ever forget WIIFM
Nobody gives a shit about your product. They care about What's In It For Me?
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#68
DON'T
blindly follow this advice
There is no playbook. Anyone who tells you there is one is stupid and/or a charlatan.
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then check these out
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Memo: What does Trump's election mean for us? (view here) 
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Anand Sanwal
CEO / Co-founder, CB Insights
Ran American Express $50M Chairman's 
Innovation Fund
Prior work in venture capital and M&A
Author of "Optimizing Corporate Portfolio 
Management" (Wiley 2007)
Graduate of Wharton (Finance/Accounting) and 
University of Pennsylvania (Chemical Engineering)
@asanwal
Questions / Help
3 Miscellaneous Facts
1. Worked at Kozmo.com 
an infamous NYC dot 
com bust darling
2. Climbed Mt Kilimanjaro
3. Have run all 5 NYC 
borough  marathons