7 takeaways from SaaStr Europa 2022

I have just returned from SaaStr Europa in Barcelona.

During the two-day event, I met with customers and heard from industry colleagues, SaaS founders, and the investment community. I also had the opportunity to take the stage and discuss a topic close to my heart: data-driven product design.

With over 30 hours of content, over 60 speakers, and many inspiring SaaS discussions, many lessons and insights have been gleaned. To sum up though, here are my top takeaways from SaaStr Europa:

Customers expect consumer-grade user experience (UX) more than ever, starting with the onboarding experience, which should be the bulk of your product team's focus, and continuing to grow product oriented. But what exactly is product-driven growth? In very simple terms, Product Driven Growth (PLG) is a go-to-market movement that leverages a product (and its excellent user experience) to drive the growth of a business and all of its stages of growth. funnel. The app itself, rather than ad dollars or sales awareness, is the driver. Organic discovery, viral loops and network effects play an important role. This makes PLG a relatively profitable growth strategy, without having to rely on hiring more sales people and a larger marketing budget. PLG will most likely require more R&D money to create a great product - but then it can scale. PLG can be used in tandem with sales and marketing motions. Companies that rely on product-driven growth select where and when to deploy their toolkit of go-to-market moves - combining them in different ways for different journeys: Start with a free product experience, then expand to a sales-assisted lead for enterprise leads. Start as a sales-oriented business, then add a free trial or freemium product a few years later. Use the proceeds to generate all new net income. Only use sales and customer success teams to generate expansion revenue. If your Net Revenue Retention Rate (NRR) is much higher (e.g. 115%) than your GRR (e.g. 85%), that means a segment of your customers really likes your solution. It's important to pay close attention to this segment, as they are likely your biggest fans, potentially KPIs, and can be big advocates for your brand and product. Satisfied customers are your best ambassadors! Employment trends are not a recession, but rather a market correction. Asana has seen 67% revenue growth so far in 2022, for example. According to Jason Lemkin, founder of SaaStr, and Saravana Kumar, CEO of Kovai.co, only "overvalued unicorns" are currently at risk, as their growth has not been sustainable. Hire leaders who understand scaling. You need people who are used to scaling and who can help you drive predictable results from a playbook. And if you want to make sure you can scale effectively, you need to focus on goal alignment. Highlighting the return on investment of your product goes a long way. It is important to share benchmarks and case studies to help your prospects understand the added value of your product/solution. Connecting with people in person is very powerful. What SaaStr has shown us this year is that virtual, while growing over the past two years and allowing us to stay connected, will never replace face-to-face interactions with prospects, partners and customers.

Keep your eyes peeled for the SaaStr Europa 2022 sessions uploaded to the SaaStr YouTube page in the coming weeks for more in-depth insights from myself and other SaaS leaders, founders, and entrepreneurs !< /p>