#SaaS

6 min

How to Increase the Average Revenue per User (ARPU) of Your SaaS Product

As the SaaS market becomes more crowded and the cost of paid advertising increases, startups are beginning to think about the different ways they can achieve a desirable growth curve without relying on the ongoing expense of chasing down new customers. In this article, we’re taking a look at some of the ways to increase the ARPU of any SaaS product, how to calculate ARPU, and why this metric can be effective as a growth tool. What does ARPU stand for? If you are a SaaS startu

5 min

Trends

What Is Dark Data and How Does It Affect Your SaaS Business?

Mention the words “dark data” and it immediately conjures up images of the Matrix, hackers, black hat tactics, and so on. Yet despite its cyberpunk connotations, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Dark data is an incredibly useful source of information that SaaS businesses can tap into to improve their processes. But what is dark data, why is it so useful for SaaS companies, and how can you use it to maintain a competitive edge in the market? In this story, we’ll take a

4 min

SaaS Growth

What to Do If Your SaaS Business Has Long Sales Cycles

A long sales cycle can feel like agony for your SaaS business. If it takes you six months, nine months, or a year to bring in each new customer, you might start feeling like you’re pushing something heavy up a steep hill. Sure, you make progress, but it’s exhausting, and your cash flow warning light is constantly blinking red. In the words of SaaStr Founder, Jason Lemkin: “Few things will frustrate you more in the early days than long sales cycles on bigger deals.” Lemkin’s r

6 min

Customers

Customer Success Metrics for Healthy SaaS Startups

The importance of customer success metrics There are an overwhelming number of metrics you could be tracking in your business for churn, growth, revenue, and retention. They all have their place, but customer success metrics provide some of the most significant insights for SaaS products. These metrics measure engagement and customer behaviors, helping startups identify specific areas they need to prioritize and improve upon in order to maximize growth. Below, we take a look

7 min

SaaS Growth

How to Improve SaaS Free Trial Conversion Rates

Free trials are one of the most effective ways to get new users to check out your SaaS product. In an increasingly crowded marketplace, the free trial sales model is becoming more popular as companies struggle to find ways to acquire enough users to keep up their growth rate without sinking their budget. Something that’s commonly overlooked with free trial plans is the strategy behind them that moves the non-paying customers to paid plans. After all – it’s not much of a sales

4 min

Bootstrapping

SaaS Finance 101: Funding for Startups That Are ‘Non-VC-Compatible’

While getting VC funding has long been touted as the ultimate goal — and a mark of pride — for tech startups, founders are increasingly skeptical that this is the best (or at least only) way to grow a company. VC firms are notoriously grabby — entrepreneurs trade a substantial ownership stake of their companies for access to VC largesse. A Shift Toward Bootstrapping More and more SaaS founders are recognizing that bootstrapping their company to a certain degree is not only po

4 min

Customers

How a Personalized SaaS Business Model Can Drive Customer Conversions

We’re all special. Or at least, we really want to be. How many of us stop short of buying something because it’s not quite right for our needs? And how many of us would buy that exact same product if it had those little extra details that would make it perfect for us as an individual? SaaS companies are increasingly looking at customization and personalization as a way to drive customer conversions. With the right SaaS business model and by listening to their customers, compa

5 min

Customers

Email Marketing: Onboarding, Retention and Reactivation of ‘Zombie’ Customers

Lifecycle emails are one of the most powerful items in your SaaS marketing toolbox. They are one of the best methods for engaging with your subscribers during onboarding, moving from trial to paid, and everything that lies beyond. Want to help new customers to learn about your product, keep current customers in love with your business, or reactivate missing customers? Emails can tick all of these off your list. SaaS Email Marketing: Segmentation and Personalization A segmente

8 min

Customers

Cold Email Marketing: SaaS Strategies for Customer Acquisition

Many SaaS companies have huge success using cold email marketing to grow their business, while others end up frustrated with little to show for their efforts. If email marketing is still one of the most effective marketing tactics, why do some companies struggle with getting results? Truthfully, it’s because most SaaS companies aren’t that great at finding qualified leads, creating conversion-optimized cold emails, or following up with prospects. Finding Leads for Your SaaS C

4 min

Client Spotlight

Why Niching Down Can Elevate Tech Startups to New Revenue Heights

Founders of fast-growing tech startups sometimes struggle with where to focus their offering. Is it better to cast a wide net to a large general market or to “niche down” and create more targeted products that will attract buyers in a specific niche? In many cases, the products or services that inspired a startup can have broad application across many industries, so it may be tempting to resist niching down your target market. But in today’s competitive software landscape, on

5 min

Accounting & Taxes

Why You Need SaaS Accounting Software for Your Startup

Spreadsheets vs. SaaS accounting software When you start making your first purchases for your startup, it’s easy to record them in an Excel or a Google Docs spreadsheet. You may be a spreadsheet whiz, or you you may have downloaded some free accounting templates on a website that helps people launch businesses. Excel spreadsheets may pass muster for the first weeks, or even months, as you’re getting your business off the ground, but continuing to manage your books that way —

2 min

Client Spotlight

The Art of Growing a Sustainable Tech Business

Knowify had what many SaaS startups dream about: an offer of VC funding. But the project-management software company’s response was less than enthusiastic: A firm “no thanks” sent the big money packing, leaving CEO Marc Visent to grow his company as he pleased and keep all his equity for his team. “Some companies are a perfect fit for a Series A, and some companies are not and need other funding options,” Visent recently told Lighter Capital CIO Allen Johnson. For Knowify, th

3 min

Startup Leadership

5 Best SaaS Books Every Startup Leader Should Read

We all know it’s hard for tech entrepreneurs to find time to read actual books. But there’s much wisdom on those dusty shelves, with valuable lessons for leaders of SaaS companies. So, what books about tech startups should every SaaS leader read? Here, our CEO BJ Lackland explains why you should pick up the following five SaaS books in your hours away from your laptop screen. Best SaaS Books for Startup Leaders The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz Awkward title, b

3 min

SaaS Growth

How Knowify Found the Perfect Source of Funding

Marc Visent, CEO of Knowify, and Allen Johnson, Chief Investment Officer at Lighter Capital, recently joined Intuit’s Developer Evangelist David Leary to talk about Knowify’s funding journey in an online “fireside chat.” Here are some takeaways: On Lighter Capital understanding SaaS models: In seeking funding, Visent appreciated how Lighter Capital understands how SaaS companies work. “A bank doesn’t have the knowledge to lend to a subscription-based company like ours, but Li

2 min

SaaS Growth

Why Underpricing a Monthly Subscription Product Undercuts Future Revenues

Subscription models bring a new level of complexity—deferred revenue, monthly recurring revenue churn, customer churn—but it also brings benefits: sticky revenue streams that one-and-done business models can’t achieve, low cost of goods, and gross margins that increase with scale. One of the easiest levers to pull is the cost of your monthly subscription model. Any freshman business student can tell you that the two sure-fire ways to increase profitability are to decrease cos

6 min

SaaS Growth

When (And How) to Build a Product Marketing Team

Ah, the old “what is product marketing” debate. And then there’s the product management versus product marketing dilemma, with the all too common tug-of-war struggle to divvy up areas of responsibility properly. Any way you cut it, product marketing is most often seen as something of a gray area, living at the intersection of your product, sales, and marketing organizations. And while there are plenty of good frameworks to help you figure out who should own what within your o

5 min

Accounting & Taxes

Q&A: SaaS Accounting Struggles Hold Startups Back From Funding

On Wednesday, we hosted a webinar about the critical accounting challenges SaaS companies face with inDinero. Investment Director Zach Hoene represented Lighter Capital, and inDinero brought Carter Hawke, Accounting Manager. The webinar covered many bookkeeping woes, from the new revenue recognition rules (effective 2019 for private companies) to accounting stock-based compensation to capitalizing CAC for new customer contracts. It ended with a Q&A where listeners asked for a

3 min

Metrics

Using Cohort Analysis to Make Your SaaS Metrics Actionable

As a SaaS entrepreneur, you have a lot of data coming at you. The volume and complexity of the metrics you collect can make your head spin. How to make sense of it all? One great answer is using cohorts. This means grouping your customers by their characteristics to break your data into manageable, actionable slices. Once you see the patterns in how different demographics use—or don’t use—your product, you can: Determine when and how to best communicate Identify flaws in your

3 min

Metrics

3 Shortcuts to Avoid When Calculating Your SaaS Metrics

Creating your first financial model and defining the right set of SaaS metrics can be daunting, especially for early stage SaaS companies with limited data. It’s tempting for founders/CEOs to take shortcuts that simplify their metrics, but this can result in misleading conclusions for themselves and their investors. In this post, I’ll share three common mistakes to avoid when calculating your SaaS metrics. 1. Oversimplifying your lifetime value (LTV) calculations The most com

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