In 2011, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel, started giving $100k to young entrepreneurs under 22. ...but only if they would drop out of college. $100k paid to 20 applicants per year without taking any equity at all.  There was nothing in it for him. So why did he do it? 

Take everything you think you know about sales teams… And get ready to throw it out the window. I mean it. Sales, as a concept, is still dragging a lot of dead weight from old-school sales gurus chanting “ABC - Always Be Closing!” The SaaS business model is being polluted by these old ideas that just don’t work. For decades, we’ve needed a fresh new take on sales training strategies...

When you first came up with a price for your SaaS product, I bet you did one of 3 things: Picked a low number because “you’re just starting out” Matched (or beat) a competitor’s price Chose a number based on what you would spend How would you feel if I told you to take that price… and double it?

How fast can you scale a software business? 0 - 150 employees in 12 months...? How would you even manage that?! For Elias Torres, the CTO and co-founder of Drift, and my latest guest on the Escape Velocity podcast… it was easy. Elias is the stuff of legends. He’s a machine. He’s been either the founder, CTO or VP of engineering at: Hubspot  Performable Lookery And now Drift. He’s very technical, a coder at heart, but he’s mastered how to

How do you sell your SaaS? I mean… how does that process actually look, end to end, from meeting a buyer to pocketing a 7+ figure paycheck? Buying and selling a business isn’t like walking into a store, picking an item off the shelf and approaching the counter. There are valuations, due diligence, escrow accounts, handover processes, and more… before the massive paychecks can get cashed. It’s quite a process.

Being a venture funded SaaS founder is like walking into a casino to bet all of your employees’ salaries… every single day. Your decision to make one choice over another - bet on red or black - can cost your company millions. A few wrong bets can dry up your finances and run your company into the ground. But a few consecutive right bets can leave your competition for dead and give you the lion’s share of the market.

Years ago the so-called “secret” to B2B company growth was getting leads.  If you got enough email addresses or phone numbers that you could give to your sales team, you were going to make BANK. Not any more. Everyone is on LinkedIn, social media accounts are 1-click away, and business emails get scraped and sold daily. It sucks… but it’s true. The question isn’t how to get leads, it’s “How do I make them stop and listen?”

If I could take all of the BS about “success” and cram it into the single most actionable statement ever, it would be this: The key to success is consistency. I don’t care how cheesy it is... It’s the truth. Print it on a T-shirt. Crochet it on a wall hanging. Hashtag it on Instagram. Just don’t forget it. If you want to be successful at anything BE CONSISTENT.

Pop quiz: Does a Freemium business model really convert to a growing SaaS? Sure, you get widespread access to potential customers…  But are they just there because it’s free? Or do they end up paying?

I nearly screamed at my lawyer…  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Years ago, I was finishing up a real estate deal when my lawyer told me that I had to notarize a document. No signature, no deal.  But that signature had to be from a notary, someone that’s earned the authority of the state to approve that I actually was who I said I was.