Sara Archer: How Product and Sales Can Work Together to Find PMF (& Why We Built a CRM)

“Pick a lane,” said one ChartMogul customer. “This is a perfect natural extension to ChartMogul,” said the next. Going multi-product is a challenging, yet tried and true growth strategy. But, what role does a revenue leader have in influencing product strategy? How can they help you on the road to product-market fit? ChartMogul’s VP of Sales tells the story of building and bringing to market their new CRM — and what it’s like in early days to compete with some of the biggest players in SaaS.

Transcript

1. How product and sales can work together to find PMF... and why we built a CRM Sara Archer VP of Sales​ 1
2. Product ⚔️ Sales "I thought you said it was going live this quarter" "…FOR INTERNAL TESTING"
7. TFW… Let's build a CRM!
8. Why CRM?
9. • • • • • A natural extension of our existing platform and user behavior Retention Lead generation Revenue Fun 🎉
10. CRM & Subscription Analytics built for SaaS growth
11. …683 listings 😱
12. Multi-product is a tried-and-true strategy
14. Just 13% of Subscription Businesses Cross $10M ARR within 10 years
15. Finding PMF is a journey
16. 2 false starts Analytics for B2C Revenue Recognition
17. $400k in ~3 years from 63 customers
18. Post-mortem: what went wrong? New ICP Lack of domain expertise Fractured focus
19. with CRM, we doubled down Same ICP, buyer persona & narrative!
20. Lesson #1 Agree on why you're building a new product before you start
21. Be decisive about your 'why' • • • • • Drive demand Help retention Increase product stickiness Enter a new market Or...??
22. & about what constitutes success Total fail Good enough We're onto something 🚀 • • • low enthusiasm inability to book meetings difficulty answering questions • • high effort to bring about action confusion but no distaste • • • • handraisers self-service customers influencer interest people 'get it'
23. Bigger team Domain expertise Maturity Introspection Less tech debt
24. How do you know if you're on the path to PMF?
25. Early PMF signs according to a VP of Sales Feelings of pull versus push Your network rallies around you The team has a domain hunger Low sales friction with early adopters
26. 4 April 2023 – CRM MVP Launch!
28. “ Head of Sales at hot new Berlin startup Why should our startup choose your CRM over HubSpot?
29. “ CFO at big-bad SaaS co. What revenue recognition strategies do you support?
30. We built a team to help SaaS founders grow revenue — not be compliant.
31. Lesson #2 Picking the right ICP empowers sales to be experts capable of solving real business problems for your customers.
33. Product ⚔️ Sales
34. How to go from ⚔️ to 🤝 Sell the vision, test the messaging, get good at relaying feedback Build an opinionated product that delivers on its promise
35. • • • • Strong emphasis on design and high rate of innovation Clear timing and process Pristine documentation Strong theory of business • • • • • We are the hype Strong verbal skills Little fear of rejection The ability to sell your vision We protect the vision and communicate feedback clearly Sales Product 🤝
36. How product shows up for sales
37. How sales shows up for product
38. Lesson #3 Success is contingent on: (1) an articulate product vision (2) a culture of high performance (3) empathy
39. So, CRM PMF? self-serve revenue 200 accounts 15 paying 778 users
40. Wrapping it all up Picking the right ICP empowers sales to be experts capable of solving real business problems for your customers Success is contingent on: (1) an articulate product vision (2) a culture of high performance (3) empathy Agree about about why you’re building a new product before you start ​ #3 #2 #1
41. Want More? Sara Archer VP of Sales @ChartMogul 41
42. Thank you Sara Archer VP of Sales @ChartMogul 42