Freakin’ typography. Add that to the list of things I never thought I’d learn. Yet I’m proud to say I could now rock the basics like a champ. Did I take a course? Nope. Read a book? Not this time. Instead, I tapped into one of the most underleveraged sources of knowledge capital that EVERY software founder should be capitalizing on:

Can we talk about your MRR for a sec? If you’re like most founders I coach inside SaaS Academy, chances are you: Obsess about growing it Overcomplicate how to do it Truth is, if you’re experiencing a plateau in your MRR, it probably has much less to do with your company’s growth potential, and everything to do with how you’re over-complicating the process of tapping into it. In this week’s episode, I cover the 6 things you can do TODAY

Some of you are gonna hate me for even saying this. Might even have some intense fist-shaking action. But it’s gotta be said. There is such a thing as having too many leads.  

If you’re in the software game for the long haul, at some point you’re going to have to disrupt yourself. This could mean announcing major price hikes, firing most of your customers, drastically trimming your product line, and even shifting core product functionalities. Scary? Of course. Necessary? You freakin’ bet.

We’ve all seen it. The over-enthusiastic startup founder who hands out equity with the same discretion as a pre-teen using their parent’s credit card to buy front-row Bieber tickets. *sigh* And I totally get it. In the early phases of your startup (especially the idea stage) you might not have the cash on hand to cover the major expenses related to developing your MVP.

If I handed you a blank check and a portfolio of five software companies and asked you to acquire one of them by the end of the day… how would you feel? Would you panic? Would you know exactly what to look for to pick a winner? Or would you go off a hunch and risk picking a dud? Evaluating a SaaS company for acquisition is a stressful and intimidating process if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

When I started Flowtown, we were treading water in the reddest of oceans. Social sharing and publishing tools were all the rage, and standing out from the crowd was NOT going to be easy. Fortunately, we were able to lean into one key differentiator in our feature set for our product called Timely. It was almost criminally simple -- but by being the only social publishing tool that CHOSE the ideal time to post for you (based on our algorithm)...

Not all leads are created equal. Even if you’ve dialed in your ideal customer profile and built out your distribution channels to only attract the perfect prospect… ...you’re still gonna have to implement systems and filters to separate your buyers from your tire kickers. This is especially true in the scaling phase where spending too much time with non-buyers will tax your sales team, inspire bad decisions with “false negatives”, and create a whole slew of crushing inefficiencies. After taking

Prospect: “Great product. It’s just not a now thing” You: “Okay cool. Totally get it. Thanks for your time.” Boom. That right there is a masterclass on how to blow a SaaS deal, deprive a would-be customer of the value they could’ve received, and being forced to go back to your team with your tail between your legs.

Ever read about those outrageous “rider” demands that touring musicians demand from the concert promoter? … Iggy Pop demands a Bob Hope impersonator. … Mariah Carey insists on gallons of vitamin water to bathe her dogs in. … Van Halen would refuse to take the stage if a brown M&M found its way into the candy jar. Borderline insane right?