(2016-07-12) Lemkin Why Some Saas Hit A Wall At $20m In Revenues

Jason Lemkin: Why Some SaaS Hit a Wall at $20m in Revenues. What’s going to stop company X from continuing to grow at outlier rates? “You’ll see,” they say. “I have so many companies in my portfolio that totally stalled out at $20m ARR”.

Turns out it’s always the same root cause.

They all aren’t beloved products. They all have low NPS.

The customers use the product because they have to. Not because they love to. It’s what we use for sales automation of a certain process

Because what happens is, just as you finally go from Mini-Brand to Real Brand, you start to get into every deal.

every prospect has heard of you. They all at least want to kick the tires

And if your customers love you — magic happens. This is when Second Order Revenue really kicks in

I don’t know what Box.com’s NPS and CSAT scores are. But I do know they are high. Otherwise, there’s no way they could generate 40% of their growth from their existing base. And if Box (and its CEO) weren’t loved, they’d be growing 15-21% a year. Not 37%.

First, if you aren’t measuring NPS and CSAT yet — start NOW. This month

Then, segment your NPS and CSAT, so you can see the trends

Then. Make measured customer happiness one your very core metrics at the company

Then, set a core company goal here to improve. To drive NPS up. Every quarter, and every year.

whatever your NPS and Customer Satisfaction is — you can drive it up.