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I bootstrapped my current company to several million in revenue. Both are valid strategies, but require very different skills and tactics. If you have another s
by rsweeney21 8y ago
I bootstrapped my current company to several million in revenue. Both are valid strategies, but require very different skills and tactics. If you have another source of income right now, I would implement a product driven growth strategy [0].
Give your product away for free for individuals. You'll remove all barriers to adoption and be able to grow your user base quickly. If your product is valuable, your product will grow virally inside a company as managers see other managers using it. Once you have a few managers at Company X using your product, that's when you call up the HR department and offer them a paid company subscription for features like teams/user management, single sign on, sharing one on one results up the chain, whatever. Your users at the company become your champions. You can also provide an upgrade path in app if companies decide they want access to those features before you realize it.
Use a tool like Intercom to track how many users you have within a company.
It will delay revenue for a while, but give you a chance to refine the product from user feedback. It's also a much more scalable sales/marketing strategy for solo founders.
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https://expand.openviewpartners.com/your-product-is-your-go-to-market-strategy-heres-why-b1881c0c521 https://expand.openviewpartners.com/your-product-is-your-go-...
https://mattermark.com/product-led-approach-sales/ https://mattermark.com/product-led-approach-sales/
- soneca 8y agoWow, that's gold, thanks a lot!! I have thought about this "individual managers as user/champions in company" before, but the path was not very clear in my head. Thanks for laying it out for me. I do have a day-job, so this is a totally valid strategy for me.
- rajacombinator 8y agoGreat post. Any other recommending reading on sales/marketing strategies?