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Ransomware tactics, Figma alternatives, building effective churn surveys

OperatingSystem is a newsletter that curates news for SaaS/digital product CEOs who want to grow with or without VC funding. If you enjoy this newsletter, send it to an industry friend. If you received this from a friend, you know what to do: Subscribe

GTM πŸš€

Event-driven customer acquisition

The event-driven marketing strategy involves creating content that is relevant for a short time span but can potentially become viral due to an underlying trend. Understanding customer problems and identifying events that increase the problem you solve is crucial. Companies like Cisco, Hubspot, Adobe, and SAP use event-driven marketing tactics.

Enterprise selling success

ZoomInfo's CEO Henry Schuck shares insights on leveraging AI for efficient sales and building strong relationships with clients. He emphasizes the importance of partnership with clients and advises leveraging the champion in the business to facilitate C-suite involvement.

SaaS Go-To-Market challenges

Dave Boyce, founder and CEO of PLGrowth-At-All-Costs, discusses why traditional GTM strategies are faltering and how Product-Led Growth might offer a solution. The conversation explores the rising Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) and decline in Net Revenue Retention (NRR) in SaaS companies.

Product-led growth strategies

Companies like Notion, Dropbox, and Spotify have successfully implemented Product-led growth (PLG) strategies, reducing time to value and creating a self-sustaining growth engine.

Development πŸ’»

Kano Model for customer satisfaction

The Kano Model, developed by Professor Noriaki Kano, is a theory of customer preferences that identifies 5 types of features and explains how to prioritize them to maximize customer satisfaction. Understanding this model can help product teams avoid becoming a feature factory while still delighting customers.

Balancing exploration and exploitation

Balancing exploration and exploitation is crucial for a business's strategy, particularly as it grows and evolves. The concept of the 'pendulum' illustrates how companies oscillate between exploring new opportunities and exploiting existing ones. Finding the right balance is key to sustainable growth.

OperatingSystem is brought to you by Liberate Labs.

Liberate Labs is a SaaS growth studio that helps non-technical CEOs solve GTM, product development, & growth marketing challenges.

Decentralized user research

Decentralized user research involves distributing the responsibility for user research across different teams or individuals, rather than centralizing it in one department or person. This approach can provide diverse perspectives, improve communication, reduce biases, increase ownership, and enable faster iteration in product development.

Cross-platform development

Cross-platform development is becoming increasingly important. While there are challenges, cross-platform development offers a balanced approach between cross-platform advantages and native functionalities.

Podcast: Platforms, People and Process for Great Developer Experience

In a recent podcast, Daniel Bryant discusses the importance of intentional culture, cognitive overload, and the challenges of learning to be a good programmer today.

Distribution πŸš›

Customer-led growth

Customer-led growth focuses on protecting and growing revenue from existing customers rather than solely relying on new customer acquisition, highlighting the need for a shift in prioritization.

Strategic churn

Strategic churn, the intentional loss of poor-fit subscribers, prioritizes value over volume and focuses on quality over quantity, leading to more sustainable growth.

Building a good churn survey

An article on building effective churn surveys emphasizes the importance of understanding churn in B2B SaaS companies. It provides a step-by-step guide on creating a good churn survey, covering categories of involuntary and voluntary churn, and offers examples of how to refine the survey to gather more accurate data.

Leadership 🐘

Bootstrapping insights

A reflection on bootstrapping strategies highlights five key approaches that propelled a startup from bootstrapping to $16K monthly revenue and successful fundraising: prioritize traction over early funding, leverage cost-effective marketing, expand product offerings, optimize unit economics, and harness insights from experienced advisors.

Product vision vs. product strategy

Understanding the difference between product vision and product strategy is crucial for creating successful products. A product vision is a clear and concise statement that outlines what you hope your product will become when fully developed, while a good product strategy is focused on customers and has a concrete plan for achieving the vision.

Venture capital insights

Ayanna Alexander-Laine, General Partner at Freedom Trail Capital, shares her insights on what she looks for before making a VC or Angel investment. She emphasizes the importance of a product that stands out in the market, a proven and promising team, a clear path to profitability, and a positive impact on society.

Stripe's evolution

Stripe's journey from a simple payment processor to a comprehensive fintech platform demonstrates the power of a clear vision, relentless focus on user experience, and continuous innovation.

AI Enablement πŸ€–

Operational scalability insights

In an interview with Bart Fanelli, CEO and co-founder of Skillibrium, he shares insights on setting up systems, procedures, and people to prepare a business to scale, highlighting the significance of role-based skills, workflow, and objective measures.

Figma competitors for product teams

Figma has become a favorite among designers, but it has limitations in interactive prototyping, design handoff, and code-based design. The article compares Figma with its competitors, providing an overview of six alternatives that product teams frequently use.

SaaS and Generative AI

The potential impact of generative AI on the SaaS industry is significant. The article discusses the importance of embracing technology evolution and leveraging existing data and distribution. It also provides examples of established companies that have innovated to surf the wave of new megatrends and emphasizes the need for legacy SaaS companies to adapt to the changing landscape.

Ransomware tactics analysis

A recent study of ransomware actors' tactics reveals that gaining initial access to targeted networks is a top priority. Phishing for credentials often precedes these attacks, followed by exploitation of known and zero-day vulnerabilities, and employment of defense evasion tactics.

Chatter πŸ’¬

Seeking advice for bootstrapping

A bootstrapping startup founder seeks advice and insights from the community on managing finances, customer acquisition, product development, scaling up, and common pitfalls. This post serves as a call for help and an opportunity for others to share their experiences and learn from each other.

Reducing churn in B2B SaaS

GrowSurf, a B2B SaaS company, shares their success story of reducing monthly churn rate from 7-12% to 3-4%. By analyzing internal data, improving the product, enhancing onboarding, boosting customer support, and targeting better companies with higher pricing, they significantly reduced churn and improved overall business performance.

Non-technical founder launching a SaaS company

A non-technical founder shares their experience and seeks advice on launching a SaaS company without extensive technical knowledge. They highlight the importance of understanding the software's functionality, identifying potential pitfalls, and building a strong team, while also emphasizing the need for a solid business plan, marketing strategy, and sales approach.

That’s a wrap–

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Have a fantastic rest of the week! πŸ™‚