004: How to Create Killer SaaS Products with Neil Patel
The SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Podcast
Release Date: 10/04/2015
019: A Campaign Against Email Attachments with Dave Koslow
The SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Podcast
In this episode of the SaaS Business Podcast, Ron Gaver’s guest is Dave Koslow, co-founder of DocSend. Dave and Ron discuss how Dave and his co-founders discovered the problem that led to the creation of DocSend, a document sharing and monitoring tool. Dave details the various ways DocSend provides users with seamless, real-time feedback, listing its advantages over tools like email attachments and screen-sharing programs. This, in turn, opens a conversation about promoting asynchronous communication for business success and how businesses can use DocSend to bridge the communication divide...
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018: Learn About Content Marketing for Startups with Nick Raithel
The SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Podcast
In this episode of the SaaS Business Podcast, Ron Gaver’s guest is Nick Raithel of Content Corps. Nick and Ron discuss the unique requirements startups have for content marketing. Nick points out some of the “dos” and “don’ts” of content marketing stressing the need to begin by building relationships with clients before trying to market their products or services. He describes road-mapping, a tool used by Content Corps to plot a client’s marketing course, delve into competitors’ tactics, and define success in advance. He discusses how road-mapping can save you time and money....
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017: Ocean, The Tech Accelerator
The SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Podcast
I interviewed Tim Sinclair in Episode 015. During the interview, Tim mentioned that he had gone through the inaugural class of the Ocean Accelerator. He also mentioned that Ocean is a faith-based tech accelerator. I had never even considered the intersection of faith-based organizations and tech accelerators and was immediately intrigued. I asked Tim if he could put me in touch with Ocean, which he did. Scott Weiss is the CEO of Ocean and James Clair is the Marketing Manager. UPDATE: Ocean came out with important news for potential applicants just before the podcast release. They have...
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016: Customer Success with Lincoln Murphy
The SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Podcast
Lincoln Murphy’s focus is customer success. He’s currently the growth architect at , where he creates blueprints and playbooks for customer success managers and leaders. In the past, he founded and led customer success at . Using customer success to drive growth across the entire customer lifecycle, he has helped over four hundred SaaS and enterprise software companies accelerate growth and retain valuable customers. Contents On the website, click any timestamp to start listening to the episode at the noted location. Intro Pre-SaaS Career in Supply Chain Management Early...
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015: An Uncommon Startup Experience with Tim Sinclair
The SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Podcast
Tim Sinclair is founder and CEO of . Before founding RingR, Tim had an established career in broadcast radio. The idea for RingR grew out of Tim’s frustrations with trying to get high-quality recorded audio for interviews conducted electronically using the telephone or Skype. For such interviews, the host can produce a high-quality recording on one end, but if the guests do not have good recording equipment on their end, the audio quality for the guests’ recording is often low. If the host records the guests from the telephone, audio quality is generally low. If the host records the...
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014: The Mind of a Disruptor with Jay Samit
The SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Podcast
Jay Samit is a serial disruptor, a change agent, an innovator, an educator, and the author of the international best-seller . For over three decades, he has been at the forefront of global trends. He has pioneered breakthrough advancements in mobile video, Internet advertising, e-commerce, social networks, eBooks, and digital music used by billions of consumers every day. Combining innovation with commercial success, Jay is a dealmaker. He has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for startups. His list of partners and associates includes Apple, Bill Gates, Coca-Cola, Facebook,...
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013: Service More Than Software with Blair Williams
The SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Podcast
Blair Williams is a software engineer and entrepreneur. He is the owner and lead programmer for Caseproof. ...
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012: Bad Employee, Good Entrepreneur with Tom Tancredi
The SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Podcast
In 2009 Tom Tancredi and his twin brother, Dominic, founded Dom and Tom, a digital development shop. To date, they’ve launched over 250 projects across multiple platforms including Web, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Google Glass, Oculus, iBeacon, and Android Wear. Their customers include GE, Hearst Publications, Tyson Foods, Esquire Magazine, Priceline, Bloomberg, Cliff’s Notes, and the Emmys. In 2015, they made the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in America for the second year in a row. Before starting Dom and Tom, Tom worked as a film projectionist, gymnastics...
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011: Entrepreneurs and Money: Steps and Missteps with Dan Franks
The SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Podcast
Dan Franks calls himself a lifetime serial entrepreneur (not necessarily out of the womb). He started building websites for clients while in middle school, he started two podcasts, and together with three partners, he launched Podcast Movement, the largest conference in the world specifically for podcasting, and from there they branched out into single-day regional events, and even a six-day cruise dedicated to podcasting. ...
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010: Do Less and Live More with Ari Meisel
The SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Podcast
For years, Ari Meisel worked eighteen-hour days in the construction industry, but in 2006, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory disease of the digestive tract aggravated by stress and considered incurable. He was forced to find ways to get things done in less time because there were some days when he could only manage to work for an hour. He needed to simplify his life and somehow continue to be productive. Necessity drove Ari to optimize, automate, and outsource much of his life, and in the process, the system he calls Less Doing was born. ...
info_outlineWhat makes a killer SaaS product? How do you get customers and keep them?
Introduction
Neil Patel, together with his brother-in-law Hiten Shah, is currently operating three SaaS companies, Crazy Egg, HelloBar, and KISSmetrics. Some of Neil's clients include such well-known companies as Amazon, NBC, General Motors, HP, and Viacom. Entrepreneur Magazine says that they "created one of the 100 most brilliant companies in the world." The Wall Street Journal calls Neil a "top influencer on the web," and Forbes calls him "one of the top 10 online marketers." He has been recognized by the United States House of Representatives, President Obama named him one the Top 100 Entrepreneurs Under the Age of 30, and the United Nations has distinguished him as one of the Top 100 Entrepreneurs under the age of 35.
Neil talks about his first businesses and how trying to copy Monster.com led to him learning internet marketing. He talks about borrowing money to start a cloud hosting company before such things existed, losing all of the borrowed money, and paying it back. He discusses why he and Hiten Shah started CrazyEgg and KISSmetrics. He then discusses why SaaS companies need to solve customer problems and provide awesome customer support. He discusses the importance of support and why he keeps all of his in-house. Even today he spends some time fielding customer service calls to stay grounded and connected with his customers. Neil's advice for retaining your clients is to keep them happy and provide them with SaaS solutions they can't live without.
Key Segments
- [01:50] Ron introduces Neil Patel.
- [02:40] Entrepreneurship was in Neil's blood.
- [03:25] Neil started his first business as a freshman in high school.
- [04:35] Set his sights on becoming an Oracle consultant when he didn't even know what Oracle was.
- [05:10] Neil began to look for jobs as an Oracle consultant on Monster.com but ended up analyzing Monster.com's business model. What did he learn?
- [06:00] Neil learned that he needed to drive traffic to his website and how to do it.
- [06:45] Neil applied himself and learned Internet marketing.
- [06:55] Neil compares Internet marketing to the presidential election system.
- [07:20] People who provide a good product or service tend to win.
- [07:30] Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
- [08:05] Neil shares how he acquired a client for $3,500 a month from a talk about how search engines work in a college class.
- [08:50] Neil begins to partner with Hiten Shah. They start an Internet ad agency.
- [09:30] They began to invest in a cloud hosting company before there were such things and lost a lot of borrowed money that he had to pay back himself.
- [10:05] Neil and Hiten transition to CrazyEgg.
- [10:30] What was the painful problem CrazyEgg was designed to solve?
- [11:20] How did they make CrazyEgg profitable?
- [12:10] What's the best way to ensure that you venture into a good SaaS product?
- [12:15] SaaS is all about solving a problem.
- [12:40] They wanted to tackle a larger problem with KISSmetrics
- [13:50] What advice does Neil have for SaaS entrepreneurs considering taking on investors?
- [14:45] Neil wants to share what he has learned with others.
- [15:10] What is Quick Sprout?
- [15:35] Neil's long-term goal is to work with non-profits.
- [16:05] Neil believes awesome products and killer support are the key to a good SaaS product.
- [16:25] What is awesome support?
- [16:45] Support response should be fast, accurate, concise, clear, and actionable for the other party.
- [16:55] Solve as much as you can on your end before reaching out to the customer.
- [17:00] Neil keeps all of his support in-house because it is too important to outsource.
- [17:10] Neil personally deals with support on a weekly basis because it helps him understand pain points.
- [17:35] The best SaaS product is a subscription-based model.
- [18:15] Neil is a fan of the freemium model to get customers in and upsell a portion of them.
- [18:40] Always keep learning.
- [18:55] Neil recommends Moz blog, Search Engine Land, Quick Sprout blog, and the KISSmetrics blog as valuable resources.
Resources Mentioned
- CrazyEgg - heat maps to see what people are doing on your website
- KISSmetrics - "key insights and timely interactions to turn visitors into customers"
- KISSmetrics blog - "a blog about analytics, marketing, and testing"
- Moz blog - "The industry's top wizards, doctors, and other experts offer their best advice, research, how-tos, and insights—all in the name of helping you level-up your SEO and online marketing skills."
- Quick Sprout - Neil's personal website
- Quick Sprout blog - Neil's blog on Quick Sprout
- Quick Sprout University - Neil provides resources to learn about online market subjects like SEO, link building, content marketing, social media, paid advertising, email marketing, reputation management, and conversion optimization
- SaaS Business Podcast - this podcast's website
- Search Engine Land - all about search engines including current events