How SaaS and Other Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue
Authors: Aaron Ross and Jason Lemkin
The opening in the preface says “There’s never even an easier time to grow a business. Ironically, tough, wile everyone else around you seems to be crushing their goals, does it feel like a struggle for you?”
My first thought after reading that was “bingo”. That sentence feels true about most facets of life. Thoughts that have loomed in my head: “I’m not doing enough”, “I’m not going hard enough”, “you can sleep when you’re dead”. All in the name of success. It’s unrealistic, but perception is reality.
It is perceived that in order to be successful, you have to do the right thing, but what is the right thing?
One reason I believe that we have the feeling of struggle while others seem to be yielding success is that it is really easy to overly focus on the things around you instead of focusing on your own goals (and small wins!). Most people also tend to struggle through certain ventures because they are prideful – not interested in asking for help or guidance because it will make them appear that they are not capable of gaining success on their own.
This book is extremely important to any entrepreneur that desires success or to jump above their current plateau because it is written by two entrepreneurs that used a specific formula to build success. We get to learn from their experience. Experience that would take us years to gain.
As you continue to read my reflection on this book, I am writing with the following in mind – regarding hyper-growth:
- “Why aren’t you growing faster?”
- “What does it take to get to hyper-growth?”
- “How do you sustain it?”
The second set of things that I will be addressing are Ross and Lemkin’s Seven Ingredients to Hyper-Growth.
- Nail the Niche
- Create Predictable Pipeline
- Make Sales Scalable
- Double Your Deal Size
- Do the Time
- Embrace Employee Ownership
- Define Your Destiny
Elaina, I really enjoy your type of writing and I love how reflective you are as well.
It is such a real feeling to feel like you’ve not done enough and not knowing how to measure it…something that abstract can be difficult to measure on a whim without a planned definition of what “enough” is. For some small companies their enough is breaking even, while another small company may want to have at least a 50% profit every month in order to feel like they’re “enough.” It is such an individual type of definition and I think I need to be more intentional of deciphering what is enough for me. Maybe it waxes and wanes over time.
I find it interesting that the first step mentioned for the 7 steps to hyper growth is to nail the niche. Again, I am questioning if I ever defined that for myself and I don’t think I have. Thanks for the introspective inspiration you’ve given me.
This is a very interesting blog. Growth is very desirable but how to do it often escapes us. I agree that we must stay focused on our own goals instead of looking at what everyone else is doing. We must remember that every business is unique and there is no one size fit all when it comes to business growth. Continual analysis of business practices and day to day operations as well as implementing necessary changes are key factors in producing growth. I enjoyed reading your post and look forward to future blogs.
Best,
Shannon
I feel that this is a more common affliction than most people would admit. We all have a tendency to get caught up in comparing our own progress to that of the people around us. But I also think that you are correct. We should put more time into working towards our own goals, and not worry so much about how others are doing. Every person’s situation is different than anyone else’s. And that is very easy to forget. Sometimes, opportunity is all about being in the right place at the right time, with the right set of skills to take advantage of that opportunity. Other times, opportunity is about making the best of whatever situation you find yourself in. The premise of your book looks very intriguing, and I am very interested in finding out more about this hyper-growth concept.
Elaina,
I think a lot of entrepreneur face rejection and lack of support, it might not necessary be out of pride but rather out of fear of rejection. But all the same an entrepreneur need to be bold to face what ever comes their way and tackle it to survive. Looking forward to read your other reflections.
Regards,
Bolanle Akinyemi