Emilia Korczynska

What if the highest offer isn't always the best one for your SaaS exit? "As a bootstrapper, you're pretty much in love with your company and product. And so, why would I want to destroy them just to have a few million in my bank account? It doesn't make any sense." I interviewed dozens of founders who sold their companies and pretty much everyone who sold to saas.group: And here are a few points they said were more important than that sweet sweet multiple: 1️⃣ The cultural fit Selling your company isn’t just about numbers. Aligning with a buyer who understands your culture can make or break the transition. Talk to the team at the acquiring company, chat with founders who sold to them already, and get to know the people behind Zoom calls and LI profiles before you agree to sail into the sunset with them. 2️⃣ Operational support matters A buyer who offers operational support can help you focus on what you do best – growing the business. If you still want to see your company climb the highest mountains but don't want to risk it all on this path, taking some chips off the table and selling to someone who knows what they're doing might just be the right step. I feel like this is the secret sauce to having a few founders stay with saas.group after an acquisition 😉 3️⃣ Trust and transparency Would you rather take a higher bid or work with a partner you trust? Trust is priceless and can lead to smoother, more successful outcomes. That's one of the reasons we always recommend getting ready for a potential exit earlier. And it doesn't just mean organizing your financial data. It's also about human communication and updating buyers on your journey. 4️⃣ Long-term vision Choose a buyer who shares your long-term vision. It's about the future of your company, not just the present payday. One of the comments I got on this: "We want to know, are we selling it, and then somebody will just come with a bulldozer and change everything? Because in this case, it'd be a big no" When selling your SaaS company, don't just look at the highest offer. Consider culture, support, trust, vision, and experience. These factors can provide value far beyond the initial multiple. What do you think? What factors do you consider in your exit strategy? Drop your thoughts below! 🚀

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Most SaaS brands are doing LinkedIn wrong. (Here’s how to do it right) Teach your ICP how to fish. This means educational content like, - Trends about your niche industry  - “How to” content about challenging tasks - Thought leadership on professional development  - Role-specific advice to improve the performance of ICP - Feedback from customers about their experience The information your organization has is useful to businesses. You can turn this into posts that are, - Digestible  - Actionable  - Valuable So consider implementing educational content into your LinkedIn strategy. It will pay dividends. #B2BSaaS #SaaSmarketing #LinkedInTips #Marketing 

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We are starting to collect customer NPS scores on every post. 1 - 5 star scale. A simple measure of the client's satisfaction with each piece of writing. Goals: ◼️ Give writers bonuses for 4+ star work ◼️ Get writers fairly real time feedback to improve ◼️ Be able to predict churn One piece of advice I got from someone I respect: "Some people grade harsher than others. It's going to suck for the writers who get the hard graders." My response: "Well, they're probably not going to renew if they're giving us bad reviews every time.  The client's opinion of quality is paramount to our success. The customer obsessed writers will want that feedback."

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Every missed connection now means a potential client lost, creating serious challenges for lead generation agencies. Maintaining client volumes remotely has become harder, often leading to client churn 😓 Where LinkedIn’s connection request limit used to be 100 per day, it’s now capped at 100 per week. This makes lead generation significantly tougher 🚧 But I know a few ways to work around these limitations. First, we focus on quality: we carefully select highly relevant target profiles, tailor each message to the individual account, and adjust the frequency of follow-ups to keep interest alive and avoid missed connections. We also organize our work through a CRM to ensure full access to each lead's interaction history. This way, no lead gets lost, and you see firsthand that every connection truly matters🙌🏻

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Ask your marketing / growth agency this asap. If they don't have a good answer, you're in trouble.   I call it The Table Test -   "If your agency sat at a table with 10 other agencies, what could you say no one else can?"   In an era of AI, copycats, and few leaders, marketing is becoming commoditized.   Marketing's become a sea of sameness.   Most brands are blending in vs. standing out.   A total blow for growth.   But your marketing / growth partner is a huge opportunity to change this.   But most don't have what it takes.   To find out, run The Table Test.

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The biggest problem with relying on advertising platforms to drive revenue for your business isn’t what you think it is… It isn’t because you can’t understand customer journey It isn’t because multi touch attribution doesn’t work It isn’t because CAC has skyrocketed IT IS BECAUSE: Meta and Google optimise to the product or creative that it’s AI can scale without taking into account your inventory or unit economics. What’s the problem? You have 500 x product A 25% contribution profit You have 1000 x product B 30% contribution profit Suddenly product A is out of stock and performance declines… You panic and have cash tied up in product B and can’t go and buy more product A which is what the algorithm has optimised to. What now? You discount, kill the contribution profit and generate cash ASAP. A trap we have all fallen into time and time again.

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There’s a big myth. It’s this myth of the perfect ICP. Every marketing team is told to define the perfect ICP—your Ideal Customer Profile. But there’s no such thing as a perfect ICP. And chasing it? That can do more harm than good.

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One Tell-tale sign you don’t need an overseas talent agency: You’re building out a one-time project. I see this one pop up for agencies thinking about getting into the software game.  They understand that overseas talent, particularly the talent in Eastern Europe, is both cheaper than US talent and the same if not better talent-wise. What they don’t understand is that managing a “simple” software project is significantly more complex than outsiders understand.

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We've spent multiple six figures on LinkedIn ads. This is your friendly reminder that exclusions can be as powerful, if not more when doing LinkedIn Ad campaigns. For example: Inclusions might be: Director of Engineering / 10M - 500M Company / 10% Growth Rate / Software Industry / Developer Software Interests But your audience size nets to 500K+ Not great. You check the audience demographic breakdown, and you see Business Development / Operations & Information Technology in there (10%, 7%, & 5%) Go ahead & exclude those functions. Your audience size will come to a more reasonable level & make your audience more tightly defined.

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🎁 PPC Advent Calendar!! - Day 4 - Broad Match for Brand?!!? The sharpest dressed man in all of PPC (or at least he was until I super-imposed that Santa Hat on him) - Matt Koroshko is an absolute wizard when it comes to strategic planning and forecasting for clients. So much so I think he might be able to see into the future. While he's worn many hats over the past year (both physically and metaphorically), he's found his home in our PPC Strategy team where he's been instrumental in onboarding and restructuring new client accounts, managing some big shifts in account bid strategies (value based bidding anyone?) and generally laying down some amazing strategy plans for clients. Behind this door of our advent calendar, Matt dared to tread where others would normally be scared to go - using Broad match for Brand. Broad match has been a massive point of contention for the PPC community for the past 18 months, and we know how much PPC-ers don't like people messing with their Brand campaigns, but using Brand Restrictions for Broad Match has pulled in some phenomenal results. It might not be for every Brand, but this could be one to add to your testing roadmap for 2025 if you're looking for Brand volume gains! #google #googleads #ppc #ppcchat #PPCAdvent

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All I want for (B2B) Christmas is... - A transition from inbox-first to social-first GTM - More companies to properly defining their ICP - Standardization of 'pipeline' definition - More critical & first principles thinking - Marketers saying NO to more things - More distribution-first founders - Much higher brand investments - Fewer sales pitches disguised as 'virtual coffees' - Fewer sponsored posts, more true partnerships - Fewer influencers, more subject matter experts - Fewer engagement pods and AI comments - Fewer course sellers & advisors, more practitioners - Less 'we've always done it this way', more big bets - Fewer 'spicy' (lukewarm at best?) takes - Less corporate jargon, more messaging clarity - Less 'efficient' growth talk, more 'effective' growth - The retirement of 'the predictable revenue playbook' - More folks to read the works of John Dawes, Byron Sharp, Peter Field & Les Binet Am I asking too much, Santa?

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🔥Hot off the press: The latest industry report reveals a significant shift in B2B marketing dynamics. The key to success? ICP alignment and lead generation. 🎯 But what does that mean? 🤔 ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) alignment is about understanding who your perfect customer is and aligning your marketing efforts to attract them. It's like fishing with the right bait.🎣 Lead generation, on the other hand, is about attracting and converting strangers into someone who has indicated interest in your company's product or service. It's like turning a stranger into a friend. 🤝 But how do you do that? 🧐 1️⃣ Identify website visitors using IP identification and business intelligence tools. It's like having a digital doorman who knows everyone who visits. 🚪 2️⃣ Engage with identified visitors using email marketing campaigns. It's like having a personal conversation with each visitor. 3️⃣ Use data-driven decision making to refine your strategies. It's like having a GPS for your business. 🛰️ 4️⃣ Build your brand and engage customers with content marketing strategies, SEO, and social media tactics. It's like being the life of the party. 🎉 5️⃣ Stay on top of e-commerce trends, remote work dynamics, and innovation in tech. It's like having a crystal ball. 🔮 Remember, in the world of B2B, knowledge is power. So, keep learning, keep growing, and keep hacking your growth. 💪 #ICP #LeadGeneration #BusinessIntelligence #EmailMarketing #DataDriven #BrandBuilding #ContentMarketing #SEO #SocialMedia #Ecommerce #RemoteWork #TechInnovation

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🔥Hot off the press: The latest industry report reveals a significant shift in B2B marketing dynamics. The key to success? ICP alignment and lead generation. 🎯 But what does that mean? 🤔 ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) alignment is about understanding who your perfect customer is and aligning your marketing efforts to attract them. It's like fishing with the right bait.🎣 Lead generation, on the other hand, is about attracting and converting strangers into someone who has indicated interest in your company's product or service. It's like turning a stranger into a friend. 🤝 But how do you do that? 🧐 1️⃣ Identify website visitors using IP identification and business intelligence tools. It's like having a digital doorman who knows everyone who visits. 🚪 2️⃣ Engage with identified visitors using email marketing campaigns. It's like having a personal conversation with each visitor. 3️⃣ Use data-driven decision making to refine your strategies. It's like having a GPS for your business. 🛰️ 4️⃣ Build your brand and engage customers with content marketing strategies, SEO, and social media tactics. It's like being the life of the party. 🎉 5️⃣ Stay on top of e-commerce trends, remote work dynamics, and innovation in tech. It's like having a crystal ball. 🔮 Remember, in the world of B2B, knowledge is power. So, keep learning, keep growing, and keep hacking your growth. 💪 #ICP #LeadGeneration #BusinessIntelligence #EmailMarketing #DataDriven #BrandBuilding #ContentMarketing #SEO #SocialMedia #Ecommerce #RemoteWork #TechInnovation

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Hey! Let's talk sales - the struggle is real, right?   Been banging my head against the wall with this sales game for a while now. It's exhausting as f*ck and those conversion rates? Below 5% most of the time. Talk about a gut punch.   But check it, I've been digging into this sales stuff lately, and I had this lightbulb moment. It's all about the client's benefit, baby! Lead with what's in it for them, then slide into your pitch. Just. Simple.   Here's the deal, treat your clients like the smart cookies they are. They're not throwing cash around for fun. Every penny they spend, especially on non-tangible stuff, is a big decision. So from that first message or convo, you gotta show them the value they're getting for their hard-earned cash.   It's like, "Hey, here's how we're gonna make your life awesome" instead of "Look how cool we are!" Trust me, it makes the whole convincing game way easier.   1. Lead with client benefits, not your ego 2. Respect the client's wallet and brain 3. Value first, pitch second     #SalesHustle #ClientFirst #StartupGrind #SalesStrategy #ClientFirst #ValueSelling #CustomerCentric #SalesSuccess #ClientRelationships #SalesTips #CustomerValue #SalesMindset #SalesLeadership

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*Let's talk SaaS marketing* How to collect feedback without annoying your users 🌝 I recently shared a case study on how involve.me uses NPS® surveys in the product. Check the link in the comments to learn: - How we trigger pop-up surveys in the product - How we integrated surveys with our CRM - Easy ways to analyze lots of open feedback - How NPS® survey helps us reduce customer churn

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4 step campaigns are back - but with a twist: Focus on lead nurturing. Why? Because it's proven: 📊 Lead nurturing emails get 4-10 times the response rate compared to standalone email blasts. (SilverPop/DemandGen Report) 📊 Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales at 33% lower cost. (Forrester Research) 📊 50% of leads are qualified but not ready to buy. (Gleanster Research) 📊 65% of B2B marketers have not established lead nurturing. (MarketingSherpa) 📊 Nurtured leads produce, on average, a 20% increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads. (DemandGen Report) How do you apply this? 1️⃣ Change your offer to give the recipient something - super easy & no risk or commitment. This is a 2 step campaign. E.g CTA "Can I share a list of tailored discovery questions that helps keep your pipeline flowing?" or "Can I share a list of 50 target companies similar to the ones in your website testimonials" 2️⃣ When replies like "sure", "yes pls send it" come in, then add them to 2 step sub sequence, focused on converting to meeting. Here you can add html, add a video, send a deck etc - they've already replied before so you can do this. Pro-tip: email the colleagues of the person (mention by name) that responded positively to your initial campaign to increase your impact.

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