In Demand: How to Grow Your SaaS to $100K MRR

Welcome back to In Demand!  In this episode, Asia and Kim take on three topics founders don't talk about enough: how to listen for insight during customer research, what it really looks like to run a fast-moving (but focused) marketing team, and the difference between great managers and great leaders. Whether you're hiring your first team, navigating leadership, or trying to pull messaging clarity from customer interviews, this one will hit home. Got a question you'd like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.   Links: DemandMaven Bob Moesta (Jobs to Be Done) Examples of great leaders: Steve McLeod - founder of Feature Upvote  Josh Ho – founder of Referral Rock Rand Fishkin – CEO of SparkToro The Captain Class by Sam Walker Chapters (00:01:00) - The difference in how Asia listens during customer research interviews.(00:06:30) - Your prospects might be comparing you to solutions you aren't aware of.(00:08:27) - Once you start noticing a pattern, look at the behaviors that the pattern is leading to.(00:10:45) - What's a value theme, and how can you use them to attract better-fitting customers?(00:15:50) - How Asia turns research insights into actual team priorities.(00:20:30) - What it really looks like to operate as a fractional CMO.(00:24:20) - Inside a product marketing launch: managing briefs, ownership, and execution.(00:31:55) - Leadership vs. management: what's the difference, and what are the traits of good managers vs. the traits of good leaders?(00:42:00) - What makes someone a visionary, and how does that fit into leadership and management?(00:46:00) - Personal examples: Asia's mom as a bank manager, Kim's thoughts on captains and coaches.

What happens when the market wants one thing, but you want to build something else? In this episode of the In Demand Podcast, Asia and Kim unpack the emotional tension founders face when their product attracts a different kind of customer than they originally set out to serve.  From internal conflict to organizational confusion, they explore how this misalignment can quietly stall growth and what it takes to move forward with clarity. Got a question you'd like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.   Links:  DemandMaven Dr. Sherry Walling The Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Shit Together by Sherry and Rob Walling   Chapters (00:03:00) - When your product grows in a direction you didn't intend.(00:05:40) - The founder-product conflict: There is a new segment of the market that is growing and more important, but you're not as excited to serve them.(00:11:30) - When you are serving multiple segments, you eventually face a choice on which segment you will focus your product.(00:14:40) - How this tension has shown up in the history of DemandMaven and how they've adapted to it.(00:15:11) - Start by mapping your options and the trade-offs of each. But if you want to move forward, you've got to make peace with the trade-offs.(00:19:00) - You can commit to one path and still pivot later. Decisions are not permanent.(00:21:40) - Not choosing a clear direction is what kills momentum. Committing to one path, even if it's not the best path, will almost certainly be better than thrashing between options.(00:24:25) - What keeps founders stuck: emotional attachment, ego, identity, fear, and discomfort.(00:28:05) - The conflict has to be resolved. Staying stuck drains time, energy, and growth.(00:31:00) - Resource: Dr. Sherry Walling's work on founder emotional health.

When does it make sense to bring on a Fractional CMO, and what should you expect from one? In this episode, Asia and Kim dig into the ins and outs of Fractional CMOs: what they do, when to hire one, how they're different from heads of marketing or full-time CMOs, and the biggest risks and rewards founders should know. Asia also reflects on her current work as a Fractional CMO and shares how she approaches structure, team-building, and strategy without getting stuck in the weeds. Got a question you'd like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Chapters (00:02:05) - Fractional vs. full-time: what's the difference and when does each make sense?(00:03:30) - A CMO's core responsibilities: budget, strategy, and team.(00:05:30) - You don't need a team in place already to hire a CMO, but you do need budget and runway.(00:07:00) - Heads of marketing often get hired like CMOs, but they're not the same.(00:11:45) - A head of marketing thinks in channels, whereas a CMO thinks in markets, products, and investment strategy.(00:13:45) - Product marketing, demand gen, hiring, retention, and outsourcing are important parts of a CMO's responsibilities.(00:16:15) - Attribution and analytics, even if it's messy, is something that a CMO should take ownership of.(00:21:30) - You might need a CMO if you're making investments that aren't paying off and no one's connecting the dots.(00:23:15) - Trial periods are worthwhile when you're hiring for a CMO role since hiring the wrong person in a c-level role is costly.(00:26:50) - There are different types of CMOs, some are more visionary and others are more operational.(00:33:15) - The biggest thing to monitor with a fractional role is if marketing falls behind because there isn't a full-time leader.(00:36:00) - Less time can lead to more focus. A great fractional CMO will have a high level of clarity about priorities.

Growth isn't just marketing. And if you're stuck and growth isn't happening, you'll need to look beyond marketing and acquisition.  In this episode of the In Demand Podcast, Asia and Kim break down what it means to troubleshoot growth. They explain how growth work goes beyond campaigns and into retention, expansion, pricing, onboarding, and more. Plus, they dive into how product marketing overlaps and differs from growth and why founders often under-invest in the real levers that move growth. Got a question you'd like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.  Chapters (00:01:44) - Growth marketing vs. head of growth: very different roles.(00:04:47) - A head of growth looks across the whole business, not just marketing.(00:05:40) - An early mistake founders often make is to focus only on marketing and acquisition when they are trying to solve growth problems.(00:08:07) - The moment Asia realized marketing wasn't enough and how that led her into growth.(00:12:40) - Troubleshooting growth means identifying why growth is slow or stuck.(00:15:00) - Step by step on troubleshooting growth and benchmarks that matter.(00:22:45) - Troubleshooting = identifying root causes and giving you a clear plan to fix them.(00:30:30) - Product marketing overlaps with growth, but it's not the same job.(00:35:56) - Recap of what differences exist between a product marketer, a VP of growth, and a marketer.

Most SaaS companies hit growth plateaus, and too many founders assume the problem is either unsolvable or too complex to fix. In reality, that's rarely true. In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim unpack how to shift your mindset from "This can't be solved" to "Who's already solved this, and how can I learn from them?" They also introduce CUES, a prioritization framework that helps you focus on the right growth ideas instead of spinning your wheels. Got a question you'd like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. Chapters (00:00:55) - Why founders often treat growth problems like they're unsolvable.(00:05:22) - There are a lot of founders creating pain for themselves by trying to reinvent the wheel.(00:08:02) - Almost every single growth problem has been solved before, you just need to find the people who did it.(00:09:00) - Books, articles, and experts: where to actually look for answers.(00:14:10) - Learning enough to get started and putting your knowledge into practice.(00:19:15) - One of the things founders need to be able to do at a high level is understand trade offs.(00:24:00) - What does the process look like for troubleshooting growth?(00:25:00) - What net revenue retention tells you and how to find and use it in ProfitWell.(00:34:00) - Spotting the levers: activation, positioning, and pricing.(00:39:00) - Prioritization traps: why common frameworks like ICE often fail.(00:42:55) - Try CUES instead: Confidence, Understanding, Ease, and Speed.(00:55:05) - Recapping what was covered on this episode.

Hiring for marketing is hard, especially when you're a technical founder. If you've never worked closely with marketers, how can you confidently hire one? In this episode of the In Demand Podcast, Asia and Kim break down why marketing hires are so tricky for SaaS founders. They walk through the differences between strategic leaders vs executors, how to define the role you really need, and why under-hiring is one of the biggest mistakes founders make. Got a question you'd like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.  Chapters (00:01:10) - Why is hiring for marketing so hard (especially when you're a technical founder)?(00:05:00) - Don't base your hiring benchmark on celebrity marketers.(00:06:50) - Sometimes the people who are best at self-promotion aren't the best at marketing your business.(00:09:55) - Start by defining your fully loaded marketing budget and if it's possible for you to afford a quality full-time hire.(00:12:30) - Strategic vs. tactical hires: What kind of marketer do you need?(00:17:30) - Why experience with a similar company in a similar stage is critical.(00:20:33) - You can't spot fit from a resume; you must dig in during interviews and think about how you will work with this person.(00:29:30) - VC vs. bootstrapped: know who your role will attract.(00:35:05) - Consider overseas talent as there are great marketers at much more competitive salaries(00:38:00) - Use the Rule of 40 to assess when you're ready to hire.(00:43:00) - Successful ROI on a marketing hire is not only about growth rate, it's also about creating a qualitative impact, like freeing up the founder to have a higher impact.

Welcome to the new season of In Demand! For this season, Asia is joined by her new co-host Kim Talarczyk the Client Services Manager at DemandMaven! In this first episode of the season, Asia and Kim discuss recent conferences like MicroConf and Indie Founders, highlighting the value of founder communities and the insights from conversations with founders. They cover how DemandMaven is changing and new projects, like Asia's work as a fractional CMO, and how the changing tech paradigm is changing businesses in 2025.  Chapters (00:02:07) - Meet the New Co-Host: Kim Talarczyk(00:08:39) - What Asia learned from her experience at Indie Founders(00:14:00) - Reflections from initial experiences as a fractional CMO(00:16:00) - The tension that often exists within founder CEOs (00:19:00) - What makes a good CEO (and why founders often aren't best at CEO work)(00:27:00) - Planning in unpredictable times(00:30:00) - Why acquisitions are an important signal of industry changes (00:34:25) - Delta's 100 year anniversary and decade long trends(00:41:15) - The power of podcasts and the challenge of creating when it can feel like you're talking into a vacuum(00:48:30) - Future plans for In Demand

Every long-term customer your business has went through a series of decision and said yes at each step along the way. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down the 8 customer yeses and how you can create an environment that makes it easier to get a yes each step of the way. TL;DR 2:30 - There is a series of 8 yeses that a prospect needs to go through to become and stay a customer. 3:10 - #1 Yes, I have a problem. A the start comes an initial recognition of the problem. 3:40 - #2 Yes, I want to solve that problem. Realizing you have a problem doesn't mean you are ready to take action to solve it. A customer needs to be motivated or ready to take action and often only a customer can take this step. 5:13 - #3 Yes, I want to try your solution. Out of all the solutions that exist, a customer needs to be aware of your solution and view it at the top of their possible options. 6:10 - #4 Yes, I understand why this is valuable. Typically in SAAS this will happen through a free trial or an initial round of research. 6:50 - #5 Yes, I want to become a customer. The prospect is ready to pay and use the product. 8:10 - #6 Yes, I want to renew. Every month, quarter, or year your customer needs to continue paying and not churn. 10:15 - #7 Yes, I think that new plan or add on will be valuable for me. 12:45 - #8 Yes, I recommend this product. Ultimately you want any customer to be happy enough that they would recommend the product to someone who asks about it. 14:00 - There is an also a bonus 9th yes. Yes, I'm okay paying more. You want most of your customers to be so happy with the product that they would stay if you raised the price. 15:45 - It is worth going through the different yeses so that you can put yourself in the mindset of a prospect or a customer and all the steps they need to go through for your to have a thriving business. 20:30 - When you only focus on KPI's you can lose focus on creating an environment that makes it easy to say yes at each of these steps. A no at any of these steps means you are losing money. 21:30 - Ask yourself and tune in to your intuition about where your customers today stop saying yes?

Your business growth feels like it’s plateauing and so you’re thinking about focusing on a less aware audience is that a bad idea? In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down 5 levels of audience awareness and where it makes sense to place your marketing attention and budget. TL;DR 3:00 - Going after unaware audiences is the last thing you should plan to do when you're growing your company, but there are lots of marketing agencies that will recommend you do just that. 6:20 - Going through an example of why a founder might get to a place where they want to go after unaware audiences. 7:30 - "Unaware audience" comes form Eugene Schwartz's idea on 5 levels of awareness: Unaware - people don't even think they have a problem or a pain point. Problem Aware - people who experience the pain, but don't know there is a solution to it. Solution Aware - people who have decided that they want to find a solution to the problem they've faced or pain they're experiencing and are beginning a search. Product Aware - people that have become specifically aware of your product and have likely started engaging with your marketing. Most Aware - people that have done their research, watch reviews and tutorials, downloaded a guide, attended a webinar, etc. 13:45 - You should not focus on an unaware audience because convincing someone they have a problem, when they don't care is an incredibly difficult and costly challenge. 18:00 - If you get to a position where you are a market leader and feel that the marketed is capped, it may make sense to allocate resources to unaware audiences, but is likely a better strategy to look at other problems and paint points you could solve for a different problem aware audience. Hubspot starting in marketing automation and expanding into sales and customer success is a great example of this.

Now that you know the basics of how to get started with building out a marketing team it’s time to diving into how and when to hire your first marketing leader. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down types of marketers that makes since as a first hire, where to sources them from, and how to set them up for success in the first 90 days. TL;DR 1:36 - Who is the best type of marketing to hire? If you are in the software space, you should really only be looking at a generalist who is well versed on demand generation or content marketing. If you are a self-serve, low LTV business, then content marketing makes the most sense. If you have a high LTV and a longer buying cycle, then demand generation is more important. 6:40 - The single most important thing when making this hire though is finding someone who has worked in a similar stage of growth for a similar company. 9:00 - When you are creating your job description you want to focus on what stage of growth you're in and after that, what type of tech experience do you want them to have. 9:55 - There are a few different places that you can focus on for sourcing talent: Your own personal network LinkedIn Recruiting sites like Indeed, Monster, etc. Recruiting and headhunting firms 12:45 - What is important for your hire to know after you've hired them? The vision of your company The specific goals for the company Clearly outlined expectations for the role Existing marketing strategies and plans 21:25 - Defining the first projects for your first hire Creating a 90 day plan for what you want to accomplish over the first 3 months is a great way to get started. Right from the start talking to customers and listening to any recorded customer interviews that exist

One of the questions most founders have is, "How do I start building a marketing team?" In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down the options that exist for founders starting to build out their marketing teams and what is the best fit for companies depending on the budget and time constraints they are facing. TL;DR: 1:20 - The four options for building your marketing team are: Generalist or specialist contractors Agencies or consultancies Full-time or part-time employees Learning marketing and growth yourself as a founder 2:36 - The best option for you will depend on your budget, what the business needs, and what you need as a founder. 5:00 - There is no perfect formula for who to hire, but there are patterns. When you have less than $10K in MRR, usually contractors and limited consulting are the best options for you. If you are above $10K in MRR, then you could start thinking about hiring an employee to focus on marketing. Some say wait to $50K in MRR, but when it makes sense for you will depend on your growth track. 7:00 - Contractors work in some different ways: Sometimes they charge a flat rate and sometimes will work as per hour or per project. You can find jack-of-all-trades type contractors up to hyper-specialized contractors. Typically it is easier to find talent and it is pretty low risk to hire contractors. The potential downside to contractors and freelancers is that you end up taking on more management work as a founder. 11:15 - Agencies and consultancies Agencies tend to be more expensive. At the lower end from $5,000 to $7,000 and at the high range $10,000 to $30,000 a month. Agencies specialize in execution. They can usually work fast and deliver quickly. Typically with consultancies, they are not actually doing the work but helping you bring clarity and perspective on how to overcome the challenges facing your businesses. The range for consultancies is also very large all the way from $6,000 or $7,000 up to close to six figures. Not all agencies are great at e

What are the four traits that separate the highest performing CEOs from their peers? In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down the decision-making and approaches great CEOs use to consistently generate results. Here’s the link to the article discussed in todays episode: https://hbr.org/2017/05/what-sets-successful-ceos-apart TL;DR: 2:24 - What set's successful CEOs apart from their counterparts? Deciding with speed and conviction Engaging for impact Adapting proactively Delivering reliably 3:08 - Deciding with speed and conviction, for a CEO it is more important to make good decisions fast than to make great, but slow, decisions. You almost never have perfect information, so you will always be making a decision with uncertainty Wrong decisions are usually better than making no decision at all 10:30 - When you are struggling to make decisions in a team, a CEO needs to be able to make decisions with conviction and be able to get their team onboard. 12:00 - Two good questions to ask yourself in the decision-making process are: What is the impact if I get it wrong? How much will it hold up other things if I don't move forward on this? 13:50 - It's also important for a CEO to know when a decision should be made by someone else. A CEO doesn't have infinite energy, so they can't be responsible for all decisions. Often it is better for the CEO to guide and coach others on making the decision. 19:59 - Engaging for impact is about how do you align your resources and how to you ultimately plan and create paths to execute. It means that you as CEO are aware of the challenges you are facing and that you've got the right people on board to address those challenges. 25:00 - CEOs that engage for impact are not afraid of conflict. They dive head first into solving contentious problems if it will affect the company. 27:55 - Adapting proactively may be a lot more important for a large company, but even at the early stages of a SaaS business, it is important for a CEO to understand the changes that are taking place in the company and marketplace. A way to think about this is how are you filling the time you have with thought-provoking information or insights that you can use to act in new or different ways

As a founder it can be hard to pull back and step into the role of CEO, but usually that is the most important move you need to make for the long term success of your company. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, CEO of DemandMaven, breaks down how to think about making the transition from being a great founder to being a great CEO! Timestamps for TLDR: 0:35 - Welcome back to the In Demand podcast! 1:25 - The focus for this upcoming season of the show is on being and becoming a better CEO. 3:22 - What does it mean to be a CEO? Making great decisions, being a therapist, being the coach for the team, creating vision, framing the firms business challenge, 8:30 - It is important to understand the role of CEO no matter the business because when founders start taking themselves seriously as CEOs they make better decisions, build better teams, and help evolve the business. 11:15 - Being a better marketer boils down having a better sense of psychology and awareness about your target audience on top of having a really good understanding of the landscape that is available to you. 15:00 - When it comes to founders who don't transition to CEO, they often get bogged down in tasks because they haven't figured out how to delegate and then spend time in roles that don't fit the zone of genius of the founder. 17:45 - How do you make the transition from founder to CEO? You start by taking a step back and looking objectively at where things in your business are getting stuck because you don't have enough room on your plate 19:00 - When a founder is not acting like a CEO they struggle to see challenges within the organization from an objective perspective 22:10 - Finally when founders don't transition to CEO they usually move slower than the rest of the market

Quick update from Asia + where this podcast is going next.

When it comes to marketing, you can’t improve the things you’re not measuring. That is why understanding and knowing how to use and measure your marketing efforts is so important as a founder. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, starts a three part series on analytics and attribution. We start by overviewing the different types of analytics that a SAAS startup is likely to work with (and should be focused on), and then discuss the five key principles to keep in mind for attribution.

When it comes to marketing, you can’t improve the things you’re not measuring. That is why understanding and knowing how to use and measure your marketing efforts is so important as a founder. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, starts a three part series on analytics and attribution. We start by overviewing the different types of analytics that a SAAS startup is likely to work with (and should be focused on), and then discuss the five key principles to keep in mind for attribution.

Is your marketing great, good, or non-existent? No matter where it is today, it’s important to recognize where you are and what your next steps should be. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down the three stages of marketing, how to know which stage you're in, and what to do to level up from one stage to the next! The three stages of marketing are: From No Marketing to Some Marketing From Some (or bad) Marketing to Good Marketing From Good Marketing to Great Marketing

Is your marketing great, good, or non-existent? No matter where it is today, it’s important to recognize where you are and what your next steps should be. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down the three stages of marketing, how to know which stage you're in, and what to do to level up from one stage to the next! The three stages of marketing are: From No Marketing to Some Marketing From Some (or bad) Marketing to Good Marketing From Good Marketing to Great Marketing

Is your growth strategy working? There are few questions as important. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, walks through the three stages of growth, and the key actions for assessing and planning for improvement from each stage. Understanding where we are at when it comes to growth will help you know where to focus and what next steps make the most sense on your growth journey.

Is your growth strategy working? There are few questions as important. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, walks through the three stages of growth, and the key actions for assessing and planning for improvement from each stage. Understanding where we are at when it comes to growth will help you know where to focus and what next steps make the most sense on your growth journey.

As a founder, you probably think of new growth ideas everyday. But how many of the ideas do you follow through on? Deciding how to prioritize your growth ideas is the critical first step to implementing them. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, walks through the different frameworks you can use to evaluate your growth ideas and decide which you will prioritize.

As a founder, you probably think of new growth ideas everyday. But how many of the ideas do you follow through on? Deciding how to prioritize your growth ideas is the critical first step to implementing them. In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, walks through the different frameworks you can use to evaluate your growth ideas and decide which you will prioritize.

How do you know if you have product-market fit? You measure it! In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down the different ways to think about measuring product-market fit and how to apply it in your SaaS business.

How do you know if you have product-market fit? You measure it! In this episode of InDemand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down the different ways to think about measuring product-market fit and how to apply it in your SaaS business.

Does your business have product-market fit? Are you sure? There can be a lot of grey area when it comes to understanding your business's product-market fit, but with a bit of examination, we can bring clarity to the topic and plot a course for strengthening your products fit with the market. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down product-market fit and how to think about measuring and improving your own product-market fit as you bring to market and grow your product.

Does your business have product-market fit? Are you sure? There can be a lot of grey area when it comes to understanding your business's product-market fit, but with a bit of examination, we can bring clarity to the topic and plot a course for strengthening your products fit with the market. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, breaks down product-market fit and how to think about measuring and improving your own product-market fit as you bring to market and grow your product.

When it comes to measuring marketing nuance is key. For every market, product, and business, the results of marketing have their own specific context. To understand when you should be expecting results from your marketing efforts, you need to understand the context of that work.

We all start our businesses for different reasons. For some, it is a personal pain point--a problem that we want to solve for ourselves. For others, it is a person or group that we want to help. No matter how you start as a founder, it is crucial that you find the big why for your business--the reason your business exists.

In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio, founder of DemandMaven, shares the principles for growing a SaaS company when you are competing in an overcrowded market. At DemandMaven, we just wrapped up a project for a client that was in one of the most competitive markets. While we had some incredible wins, we also had many lessons learned. We distilled those lessons into 6 principles for founders to apply when they are entering a highly competitive market. Dive deeper by reading the full article that inspired the episode: https://demandmaven.io/lessons-learned-from-competing-in-an-overcrowded-market/ TLDL: You’re going to need a clear, competitive differentiator. This differentiator is what makes you different, better, and special. It sets you apart from everyone else. Maybe you’re tackling a specific pain for a specific audience better than the other guys. It’s going to have to actually be better than all of the other competitors. “Better” is also not as cognitively clear because to almost every founder, their product already is “better”. But it has to be recognizably “better” to the customers as well. They’ve got to feel that “betterness”. If it’s not better, it’s going to have to be a little cheaper, although some would argue this would need to be the case regardless as a new player in a highly-competitive market. Have zero friction to signing up and becoming a paying customer. It needs to be pretty easy to make a decision about the product and actually sign-up. Some would argue that adding barriers to entry would increase demand, but that totally depends on how many competitors there are and how frictionless they appear to be. Time to value is also a critical component when weighing how to approach this. The longer time to value, the less friction you’ll need to have. Find a channel with the most opportunity. If you’re in an extremely crowded market, then it’s likely that most acquisition channels will be tapped (and maybe maxed out with extremely high CPLs). You’ll need to follow basic rules on ARPU and adjust CAC accordingly, but after that, prioritize the channels you can either beat the competition at, are totally untapped, or both! Lean into your strengths skill-wise and resource-wise. This one’s a tough one because they’re not always obvious and it seems like a weird thing to list. But knowing the competitive landscape, you’ll need to identify what you can provide that’s better and different from a marketing perspective. So if you’re good at speaking, networking, writing, building, whatever — leverage that because it (usually) can’t be copied. All of that, of course, within the context of what your buyers are most likely to do, consume, and care about. These 6 basic principles are really just the start. To stay competitive in a cr

Product market fit is often talked about like it is a specific destination. A place you arrive at once and know that you’ve arrived. But the reality of growing a SaaS company is that you may not know if you have product-market fit or if you have it, you may not know how good the fit really is. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio of DemandMaven shares the seven best indicators for when you’ve found product-market fit and how to take action if you haven’t reached them yet. TLDL: It feels like you are guiding a boulder down a mountain, not pushing it up the mountain. When customers are signing up despite some product issues and every new lead or customer doesn’t feel like a lot of work, that is an indicator that you’ve found product-market fit. Prospects are willing to pay right now and they don’t bat an eye about the price When you have customers finding you and signing up right away, that is a great sign of product-market fit. Retention and active users improve with every new cohort of paying customers If you look back 12 months (or 6 in case of being a new venture) and you have retained at least 50% of your customers and that rate is growing over time, that is a great sign of product-market fit. Running a product-market fit survey and getting 40% of your customers saying they would be very disappointed if your product disappeared Using the SuperHuman fit survey (https://firstround.com/review/how-superhuman-built-an-engine-to-find-product-market-fit/) and finding that at least 40% of your customers are every invested in your product shows that you have found product-market fit. To quickly recap the survey, ask “How would feel if you could no longer use the product?” With three options: Very Disappointed Somewhat disappointed Not disappointed at all When one new customer generates two or more customers When a customer generates two new customer without you having to do anything, you have a great indicator of product-market fit. Having this viral growth from word of mouth dramatically decreases your cost of acquisition and is a sign that you have a great segment and fit. Cost to acquire a customer is under a third of the lifetime value of a customer If the lifetime value of a customer

Some lessons in marketing are easy to learn. You pick them up from a book, take a class, or hear a talk and get it immediately. Other lessons are harder to come by. They are the ones learned over time and through experience. The ones that we look back on and think about the head start we could have got from applying them earlier. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio of DemandMaven shares the four biggest lessons that she learned the hard way. From customer journey’s to funnels and go to market strategy, you’ll learn growth lessons you can implement today to avoid learning them the hard way yourself in the future.

Understanding your acquisition channels is key to growing your business, but convoluted terminology, different strategies, and numerous channels it can be hard to know where to focus your efforts. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio of DemandMaven breaks down the basics of acquisition channels, from overviewing different types of channels to general and specific strategy for maximizing your use of acquisition channels to grow your business!

Customer research can be an absolute game changer. It gives you insight into not only what your current customers think of your product, but also who they are, what they want, and how you can better serve them and others in the future. But not every type of customer research is right. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio of DemandMaven breaks down 8 ways that you might be doing your customer research wrong and how you can update your research to upgrade your results. TLDR; [1:20] - #1 You’re not doing customer research at all If you’re not doing research, you can be sure what you’re customers think about your product and business. You’re not only missing out on improving your product now, but you’re liking missing the big picture on where you should go in the future. [4:42] - #2 - You’re asking the wrong questions There are lots of resources outlining customer research questions to ask, but asking general questions won’t get you the information you need to solve your specific challenges. [7:26] - #3 You’re not digging deep enough In a research interview, you will often get vague answers like “It made my life easier”, as a founder you need to know the specifics of what you’re customers are thinking, so don’t be afraid to follow up and don’t just accept the first response you get if you don’t fully understand. [10:18] - #4 You’re answering questions for your customers When you’re doing a customer interview, it’s natural that some awkward moments come up. And it’s human nature to fill awkward moments with words. But when we do that in a customer interview we influence the responses we get back. [14:21] - #5 You’re not taking the feedback objectively If you built the product yourself, it’s easy to critical feedback personally. Instead, once you have the feedback you need to take a step back and put it into context. What are the patterns? Who are the outliers? Don’t let your prior viewpoint influence the answers you get back from customers. [ 21:14] - #6 - You’re the only one doing the interviewing At the end of the day a customer interview is a conversation, and the interviewer is one half of the conversation. So if you have one person doing all of the interviewers they will likely be missing information because they have the same blinds spots. A strong customer research process allows for this by having more than one person interviewing. [24:31] - #7 - You’re not recording or sharing your interviews When we recount an interview we filter out information. And when you do that you miss crucial details. If you have a tea

Funnels are a great thinking tool for founders. They help us clarify the journey our customers take and help us plan the steps needed to scale. But thinking in funnels can narrow our vision if we don’t truly understand the reality behind the tool. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio of DemandMaven breaks down the basics of funnels. From the different types of funnels to common misconceptions and how marketers and founders can use them to maximize them to grow their business. TLDR; [1min] What actually is a funnel? It’s a simple way to visualize how a prospect becomes a customer. From the top were prospects/leads learn about a product, down to where they consider it, and finally become a customer. [2:50] The two funnels Sometimes talking about funnels can get confusing because there is an overall business funnel and then there is the marketing funnel. [6:00] The marketing funnel At the top of the marketing funnel are activities that help build awareness of your brand and product. As you move down the funnel, marketing focuses in on consideration -- teaching about the problem and your potential solution. Finally, at the bottom of the funnel, you get very specific about your product as the solution to the problem to help prospects make the decision to buy. [16:20] How to think about funnels in your business (and common misconceptions) The funnel isn’t a linear experience for your prospects and it isn’t the only experience. While you think of a customer moving from step to step and stage to stage they are often hopping around or doing things you can’t measure (like exploring competitors or chatting with friends). It is important to remember that a real customer journey is much more detailed and harder to track. [29:50] When you change the customer, you change the journey, and you change the funnel As your business grows and you start to focus on new segments, you always have to come back to your campaigns and think about if your funnel still matches your customer journey. Sometimes it will, but often it won’t and you will need to adjust, adapt, and expand your marketing. -------------------------- Times and Unedited draft notes for reference What actually is a funnel A simple way to visualize how a prospect becomes a customer A the top of the funnel we have people who are just aware of your product Lower down people who are considering it Lower yet is people who are considering it, maybe

In our personal lives we’ve learned that assumptions will often lead us astray. When it comes to an early stage SAAS startup, they can be the difference between success and failure. In this episode of In Demand, Asia Orangio of DemandMaven shares the six worst assumptions that you can make as a SAAS founder and how to reframe them for success. Extra Resources: Check out the Baremetrics blog post on SAAS milestones: https://baremetrics.com/blog/how-fast-saas-companies-hit-arr-milestones TLDR; The Worst Assumptions You Can Makes as a SAAS Founder 1. [1:29] “If you build it they will pay” It’s not “If you build it they will pay” it is much more like “If you build it, test it out, validate it, then they are much more likely to pay.” Most founders don’t believe the old idea “if you build it they will come.” They know they need to market their product, but today more than ever, many assume that when the time comes the paying customers will be there. If you expect to charge for the product in the future, it is crucial that you don’t just assume that customers will be willing to pay when you ask. “The best way to know if someone will pay for your product is to actually try and charge them for it.” If you’re early on and don’t have paying customers yet there are two directions you can go: You can create a group of beta users who get free access You can focus on finding your first ten paying customers 2. [16:00] “If it worked for them, it’s gonna work for me” It’s not really “if it worked for them, it will work for me”. It’s much more like “if it worked for them, in this market, in this industry, for these kinds of people, for this kind of software category, then it will probably work for me." It is great to listen to the stories of other founders, to learn from what they did, but the context for your business will always be different. If you find yourself doing research on others companies journeys, always remember that there is a specific context in which this strategy worked and compare it to the context you are operating in. 3. [24:00] “The first 100 customers is fast” It’s not “the first 100 customers is fast” or that it should be fast, if anything it is exactly correlated to you, your market, and your product. No matter the milestone, never assume that it will be fast or easy. As the saying goes, your first $100k will be much harder than the second $100K

Growth suddenly going stagnant? Here's the top 3 strategic questions you need to answer in order to unpack and troubleshoot your stagnant growth.

When it comes to early-stage SaaS founders trying to grow their businesses, there's a perfect time for marketing and there's less ideal times for marketing. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to time your marketing efforts for maximum impact and efficient investment. Asia Orangio of DemandMaven digs deep into what scenarios make sense for founders to invest in marketing, and what scenarios would warrant more customer discovery instead.

We haven't even hit peak COVID-19 yet, but many SaaS companies are wondering: what in the heck do I do with go-to-market and marketing functions now that we're in an economic downturn? Here's how Asia Orangio of DemandMaven thinks we'll shift. Extra Reading Marketing and Growth for Uncertain Times on CXL.com