On average, 30% of revenue for SaaS companies comes from partner programs. And huge publicly traded companies such as HubSpot and Shopify rely on their partner channels for nearly 40% of their revenue! Early on with your program, you might feel like a partner channel is growing painfully slow, but in reality, the long-term value of this channel is huge.

In this episode, Bryn Jones, founder of PartnerStack, breaks down the ins and outs of how to build a great partner program for your company. Dave talks with Bryn about what investors think of partner programs, how to pitch investors on the idea, what percentage of sales should you give out in order to attract the right partners, and how to build your partner program in a responsible way. 

In this episode you’ll learn:

0:00 Introduction

3:18 Bryn talks about his experience at YCombinator

8:40 Bryn breaks down the 3 main factors of a partner channel

12:22 What does a really great partner program look like?

15:02 What percentage do you see most SaaS companies giving up to their partners in order to make a sale?

19:27 What do investors think about the revenue stream that is partner revenue?

28:35 What has that growth journey been like at PartnerStack?

35:25 What have been the mistakes that you've made along the way?

44:36 The Salty Six

This is an actionable episode — we hope you enjoy! Get ready to #ScaleOrDie...

We're excited to have you along for Season 1 of #ScaleOrDie. Before you leave, be sure to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, post a comment, or share with your friends! Tune into more episodes at useproof.com/scaleordie and read more stories at blog.useproof.com. Follow Dave & Proof on Twitter — @DaveRogemoser and @UseProof. We publish episodes every week so be sure to check back often for more interviews with the internet’s best minds in growth!

For the past 6 years, Ed Fry has been working in B2B companies such as Hubspot, Hull.io, and Inbound.org. Shortly after our interview, Ed started working as a  SaaS growth consultant and now works as Head of Growth at Paddle, a UK-based SaaS for subscription and E-commerce.

Our conversation with Ed covers the role of data in 2019. While data is becoming ever more available, the sheer volume of data at your disposal can also be frustrating. Where do you start? What do you do with all this data? How does data impact important growth metrics?

In January 2016, Ed went on a journey to really get into data and data strategy to create more personalized experiences for customers. In this episode, Dave talks with Ed about how to use data to scale your startup, how to use data to personalize experiences for users, and what some B2B startups are doing wrong with data.

Listen in and get some free growth consulting from Ed! 

In this episode you’ll learn:

0:00 Introduction

3:57 Ed’s 2016 deep dive into data

11:56 Where most B2B startups are getting it wrong or getting stuck when it comes to data

14:06 Ed describes his time at Hull.io

24:07 Listens to Ed’s advice on the practice of using personalized data to scale your startup

26:14 If every piece of data was available — what would we do?

31:28 The Salty Six

This is an actionable episode — we hope you enjoy! Get ready to #ScaleOrDie...

We're excited to have you along for Season 1 of #ScaleOrDie. Before you leave, be sure to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, post a comment, or share with your friends! Tune into more episodes at useproof.com/scaleordie and read more stories at blog.useproof.com. Follow Dave & Proof on Twitter — @DaveRogemoser and @UseProof. We publish episodes every week so be sure to check back often for more interviews with the internet’s best minds in growth!

Kirsten Newbold-Knipp, an original member of the Hubspot mafia (listen in for details), shares her in-depth knowledge of how to better unite sales and marketing teams. She’ll share her insights from years in leadership at some wildly successful B2B brands: BigCommerce, Gartner, Hubspot, and Convey. 

Our conversation covers how to host great user events that drive intimacy with your customers (she started Inbound) as well as some indicators of when exactly your business is at the point to host a customer event. We’ll also help you think about how to measure marketing success and create an inter-channel connectivity as you grow your brand.

In this episode you’ll learn: 

0:00 An introduction with Kirsten

5:00 How to use events to create intimacy with customers (and how we ended up creating Inbound)

12:10 When your business should start hosting events for customers

26:20 How to coordinate your marketing and sales efforts

33:53 Where sales and marketing commonly break down 

40:59 The Salty Six

This is an actionable episode — we hope you enjoy! Get ready to #ScaleOrDie...

We're excited to have you along for Season 1 of #ScaleOrDie. Before you leave, be sure to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, post a comment, or share with your friends! Tune into more episodes at useproof.com/scaleordie and read more stories at blog.useproof.com. Follow Dave & Proof on Twitter — @DaveRogemoser and @UseProof. We publish episodes every week so be sure to check back often for more interviews with the internet’s best minds in growth!

Tithe.ly is a SaaS business that’s going after a huge, but underserved market: churches and religious institutions. 

And for the past several years, the business has been growing like crazy, with over 700 religious institutions signing up per month. But that’s not even the crazy part! 

Tithe.ly wants to make sure customers really love them. When a new prospect or customer signs up for the software, they get a personal welcome call from someone on the Tithe.ly team. 

In this episode, Frank talks with Dave about delivering delightful customer experiences, investing in content, and how to creatively scale a business.

In this episode you’ll learn: 

0:00 Introduction

2:11 Learn about Tithe.ly’s business model

4:08 Insights into growth channels 

11:00 Creating exceptional touchpoints with customers

24:34 Lessons learned about SaaS over the last 4 years 

30:28 The Salty Six

This is an actionable episode — we hope you enjoy! Get ready to #ScaleOrDie...

We're excited to have you along for Season 1 of #ScaleOrDie. Before you leave, be sure to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, post a comment, or share with your friends! Tune into more episodes at useproof.com/scaleordie and read more stories at blog.useproof.com. Follow Dave & Proof on Twitter — @DaveRogemoser and @UseProof. We publish episodes every week so be sure to check back often for more interviews with the internet’s best minds in growth!

5 years ago, Jonathan Kim started Appcues to help product and growth teams create more relevant onboarding flows. Today, Appcues serves over 1000 customers and has grown to nearly 70 employees. 

Jonathan’s idea all started at the end of his career at Hubspot, as he was having a conversation with his boss, the future founder of Drift, David Cancel. 

In his words: “David Cancel comes over to my desk and he's like, ‘Hey man, like I've been seeing you and you're either at 110% and you're super passionate about something, or you're just not passionate at all. 

We caught up a little later and you know I started talking about this thing. I was like, oh man, how about we crack this huge problem around user onboarding — and check out this landing page I built and it could be like a real product.”

And he said, "The way you light up about that, ‘that's what you're really passionate about.’” 

He was like, "You should go do that." And I said, “Okay I guess you're right. I just kinda quit on the spot because I was so passionate about the problem.”

In this episode you’ll learn:

0:00 Introduction 

1:28 What exactly is Appcues? How would you describe the business?

2:43 What allows you to build a great company with great products? 

7:38 A growth strategy built on inbound marketing

14:59 How to approach pricing as you move up-market

20:48 Jonathan's thoughts on how companies should be thinking about on-boarding

29: 03 The Salty Six 

Running a business and running a family is no easy task. But Laura Roder manages to do both — and she has some great insights on how to be a full-time parent, an entrepreneur, and continue to have a normal work-life balance. 

In this episode, the conversation is focused on how to create a business that works on your terms. To work in a way not dominated by due dates and deadlines but one in which meaningful work is done over a period of time. Learn how Laura applies this idea into both her personal life and her business.

Show notes:

0:00 Introduction 

1:32 What is MeetEdgar? 

2:55 Building a business on your own terms 

8:54 Principles for creating great remote work 

20:01 How to be a parent and run a startup 

25:19 The story behind launching and growing Meet Edgar 

41:10 The Salty Six

This is an actionable episode — we hope you enjoy! Get ready to #ScaleOrDie...

We're excited to have you along for Season 1 of #ScaleOrDie. Before you leave, be sure to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, post a comment, or share with your friends! Tune into more episodes at useproof.com/scaleordie and read more stories at blog.useproof.com. Follow Dave & Proof on Twitter — @DaveRogemoser and @UseProof. We publish episodes every week so be sure to check back often for more interviews with the internet’s best minds in growth!

Eric runs Single Grain, the digital marketing agency running paid traffic, SEO, and content campaigns for many of the biggest names in tech (such as Uber, Salesforce, and Lever!) Eric is also the founder of a SaaS company called Clickflow, which helps businesses grow organic traffic and revenues.

In this interview, we have an in-depth discussion on content marketing. We'll learn about SEO strategies, proven formulas, driving traffic, link building, content creation, podcast creation, and paid ads. This episode is full of simple, practical information that you can apply to your startup… today! 

In this episode you’ll learn:

0:00 Introduction
3:28 What’s working for SaaS right now
5:39 Learn how Eric is driving traffic and getting trials for Clickflow
6:20 When is a SaaS company ready to spend money on paid traffic?
8:29 SEO? Content? Learn about what you should be doing at every stage of business.
9:59 Is there a simple formula forSEO?
20:02 Should startups be getting involved in podcasts?
30:08 Eric’s growth strategy for ClickFlow
34:35 The Salty Six

Ian Blair, Co-Founder and CEO of BuildFire, isn’t your average SaaS CEO. Ian is like the Dos Equis man (the most interesting man in the world) of SaaS. Ian’s definition of fun ranges from driving exotic cars to surfing and flying planes the world. Oh, and did I mention he’s only 26 years old?

Listen to this episode to get Ian’s unique story about the different channels of growth he focused on while scaling BuildFire into one of the largest app agencies in the country. In this episode, we’ll talk through creating sustainable organic traffic through SEO, how to multiply the effectiveness of your sales team, and Ian’s perspective on fundraising. In this episode you’ll learn:

1:08 Ian’s most expensive hobby

4:08 The background on BuildFire

5:28 How much should you charge for your subscription software?

9:17 Fundraising strategies 101

14:49 Creating sustainable organic traffic for your business through SEO

20:49 Scaling the sales side of your company

28:38 The Salty Six

This is an actionable episode — we hope you enjoy! Get ready to #ScaleOrDie...

We're excited to have you along for Season 1 of #ScaleOrDie. Before you leave, be sure to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, post a comment, or share with your friends! Tune into more episodes at useproof.com/scaleordie and read more stories at blog.useproof.com. Follow Dave & Proof on Twitter — @DaveRogemoser and @UseProof. We publish episodes every week so be sure to check back often for more interviews with the internet’s best minds in growth!

Ever been overwhelmed while trying to figure out exactly what to test on your site? You’re not alone. Every time you go online to Google “conversion optimization,” you’ll see thousands of sites touting proven strategies that you need to try on your own site. Where do you start? Peep Laja has built CXL by helping provide strategies for companies of all sizes to implement CRO.

While conversion optimization might not be as sexy as traffic or funnels — it’s value can’t be diminished.Peep started diving into conversion in 2007 when not a ton of other people were doing it, and he currently sits at the cutting edge of CRO strategies

Join us as we learn from Peep’s decade long career pioneering CRO.

Show Notes:

1:08 The backstory on how Peep got started in Conversion Optimization
2:53 Common mistakes companies make with CRO
6:03 “99 proven strategies for conversion” — which one works for you?
9:54 The best practices for quality assurance when you’re A/B Testing
17:26 Insights about user testing
37:25 The Salty Six

This is an actionable episode — we hope you enjoy! Get ready to #ScaleOrDie...

We're excited to have you along for Season 1 of #ScaleOrDie. Before you leave, be sure to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, post a comment, or share with your friends! Tune into more episodes at useproof.com/scaleordie and read more stories at blog.useproof.com. Follow Dave & Proof on Twitter — @DaveRogemoser and @UseProof. We publish episodes every week so be sure to check back often for more interviews with the internet’s best minds in growth!

Our interview with Chris covers a whole lot: from his relationship with his co-founder (who also happens to be his freshman year college roommate) to the many risks he's taken over the years to grow to nearly 1 million accounts & tens of thousands of paying customers!

Along the way, Chris has approached growth in an incredibly interesting way. He's one of the biggest proponents of brand advertising, he takes calculated creative risks other CEOs would avoid, and of recent, he's raised a debt round to buy out his investors.

Overall, Chris thinks about business in a really unique way and our conversation provides some great insights about how to build a product with a customer in mind, how to take risks, and ways any business can be slightly more creative!

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

1:04 Learn about Wistia’s Business
7:03 Co-Founder Relationship with his roommate from freshman year of college
17:34 What led to Wistia feeling like they had traction in the market
25:10 $111,000 Creative Marketing Risk
34:15 Salty Six

This is an actionable episode — we hope you enjoy! Get ready to #ScaleOrDie...

We're excited to have you along for Season 1 of #ScaleOrDie. Before you leave, be sure to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, post a comment, or share with your friends! Tune into more episodes at useproof.com/scaleordie and read more stories at blog.useproof.com. Follow Dave & Proof on Twitter — @DaveRogemoser and @UseProof. We publish episodes every week so be sure to check back often for more interviews with the internet’s best minds in growth!

In this week’s episode, I’m subbing in my good friend and co-founder, Chris Hull. While I’ve been focused on leading the Product Team for our Lifecycle Campaigns product, Chris has been helping lead the launch team for our Smart Content product.

So often in business, we tend to think about things as controllable or non-controllable. But when you launch a product, it can be overwhelming as you think of all the things that are completely out of your control.

At Proof, we have been focusing on what we can control, how we can prepare for launch now, and how we can be flexible when we do finally launch. Our approach during product launch has been to define a controllable outcome and create a process to evaluate that process at regular intervals. Finally, we’ve built a system to get feedback at the end of all this.

Come join us in this episode as we try to “win the launch,” before we launch.

Liking Founder Friday? Have an idea for a topic you'd like us to cover? Tweet at Dave — or shoot him an email at [email protected] & tell us your thoughts!

We're excited to have you along for Season 1 of #ScaleOrDie. Before you leave, be sure to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, post a comment, or share with your friends! Tune into more episodes at useproof.com/scaleordie and read more stories at blog.useproof.com. Follow Dave & Proof on Twitter — @DaveRogemoser and @UseProof. We publish episodes every week so be sure to check back often for more interviews with the internet’s best minds in growth!