10 Best Books on Growing your SaaS Company (for Eventual Sale)
With the continued boom in the Software as a service (SaaS) industry, there’s a lot of interest from investors. SaaS companies and products have proven popular with most businesses now leveraging the power of SaaS for the management of their operations. Almost 73% of companies plan to make their systems SaaS by 2020.
Some of the most inspiring SaaS Companies & SaaS Products include Google, Slack, Microsoft, Zoom, Shopify, Wix, Adobe and Salesforce. These offer solutions ranging from data management, Enterprise resource planning (ERP), Customer resource management (CRM) to Project management, and many others.
The global SaaS market will reach $113.1 billion by 2021, with an annual growth rate of 18%. This impressive growth and emerging opportunities have seen increased M&A SaaS transactions and new businesses. Whether you are an entrepreneur, marketer, or business analyst, the SaaS industry should interest you.
There are many online resources on how to grow your SaaS business, but nothing beats a good book. Books provide more detailed quality information on diverse topics. You can always bookmark a topic and come back to it. With growing interest in SaaS, there are valuable books on key industry issues from metrics, improving onboarding, increasing MRR to creating the best SaaS exit strategy, and more.
Here are some of the books you should look out for to grow your SaaS Company for eventual sale.
1. Product-Led Growth
“Product-Led Growth is a book by Bush Wes classified as an absolute must-read for SaaS business owners. The approach of product-led growth helps your customers experience the ongoing value your product provides. This book helps you do this effectively.
It takes you through crucial topics such as product design, marketing, and other customer-related topics. You also learn different kinds of PLG approaches for your business. Most readers recommend it for any Software as a Service company.
2. The Complete Guide to SaaS Metrics
This is a free eBook, but the quality and relevance of the content make it a compelling read for SaaS business owners and managers. Metrics are a critical component of any business but more son in the SaaS industry.
In this book, you learn to identify, measure and understand the key SaaS metrics to grow your business. These metrics include MRR, active users, retention rates and customer lifetime value. These SaaS metrics can also come handy in your business exit strategy.
3. Behind the Cloud
It’s hard to talk about the Software as a service (SaaS) industry without a mention of the cloud. This book by Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, takes you behind the scenes to discover the untold story of the $50 billion cloud software company.
Salesforce is one of the leaders in the SaaS industry, and this is an interesting read that showcases the strategies Benioff and his team used to inspire employees and turn customers into brand evangelists.
4. The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Well, the title is a bit awkward, but this shouldn’t discourage you from reading this gem by Ben Horowitz. It is everything you need to lead your SaaS startup from the early stages to scale. The book forces you to face the real problems; however unpleasant they might be.
5. SaaS Sales for Startup Founders
Steli Eftiis one of the best writers in SaaS sales and he doesn’t complicate his topics. One of his popular works is SaaS Sales for Startup Founders – How to sell SaaS products when you’re not a sales pro.
This guide covers SaaS sales basics, self-service vs. sales-supported SaaS, increasing customer lifetime value, Selling like a SaaS sales pro, and other crucial topics.
6. Retention Point
Robert Skrob reveals the single biggest secret to membership and subscription growth in his new book. Every SaaS business owner ought to remember that membership growth comes from retention, not from getting new members. This membership marketing expert takes you through a discovery journey where you learn the futility of gaining new members when the older ones quit at the same rate.
This is an invaluable book for SaaS businesses, publishers, subscription boxes and all membership, digital access companies and other subscription-based businesses. Learn about the fallacies of membership retention, Retention Point Accelerators, how to achieve 90% to 98% annual renewal percentages, and more. It’sretailing at only $9.97.
7. Hacking Sales
The complete title is Hacking Sales: The Playbook for Building a High-Velocity Sales Machine. The book written by Max Altschuler (CEO and founder of Sales Hacker Inc) is a transformative book targeting SaaS investors.
It guides you to rejuvenate your SaaS sales process using the next generation of tools, tactics, and strategies. Learn how to build a business that generates more revenue with fewer resources.
8. Customer Success
Another interesting read for everyone in the SaaS industry is Customer Success: Customer Success: How Innovative Companies Are Reducing Churn and Growing Recurring Revenue. This book by Nick Mehta, Dan Steinman, and Lincoln Murphy details customer success.
This is the hottest trend in the B2B movement. This is a guide to help you leverage customer success for your SaaS Company. Learn how to kick start your customer-centric revolution in your subscription-based business. It also helps your investment in customer success become long term.
9. Blueprints for a SaaS Sales Organization
This is a SaaS-centric book on how to how to design, build and scale a customer-centric sales organization. It is an update of one of the must-have books for SaaS sales teams.
In this book, learn how to get your sales team and process in place to scale once the service is ready. There are detailed instructions for the SaaS sales team on building a sales structure that works together across the entire customer relationship.
10. End to End SaaS Serviceability, Metrics, Monitoring, and Alerting
Eamon Maguire delivers a concise collection of experiential and technical information that every SaaS entrepreneur or sales professional will find critical. It touches on the quality of service, SaaS availability, and correctness of results as key features of your SaaS Company. Read about essential features such as metrics, monitors, serviceability framework, and alerts in your SaaS Company.
Eamon’s sense of humor and witty style makes this an interesting read. The fact that the material is from real-world experience makes it a must-read for SaaS professionals.
Thinking of an Exit?
Many entrepreneurs continue growing their SaaS businesses with an exit strategy in mind. Whatever the reason for selling your company, we help you draw a detailed exit plan. From the business valuation, marketing, negotiations, documentation, NDAs to closing the deal, our team helps at every stage. Schedule your free consult below for a custom exit plan that suits your SaaS business.
Let’s hop on a quick call to discuss the timing and prospects of an exit based on your goals and the current state of your business. Schedule your free exit consultation today.
You're guaranteed to come away from the call with:
Clarity about your business
Knowledge of the landscape
A high-level exit plan
A rough valuation
Actionable insights
Specific next steps
Testimonials
What our clients say
In my career you get to deal with a lot of service providers. There are the below average, the average the the above average. Then there is one category that no one talks about which is the exception. We engaged Hello Exit to source acquisition targets for us. The communication, personal service, attention to details, availability, interaction with the team has been nothing short of exceptional. If ANYONE wants further in-depth conversation about the exceptional experience please reach out.
I worked with Hello Exit for the sale of a business and everything went smoothly. The team was very hands-on and provided a lot of guidance throughout every part of the process. They took the time to get to know my business well and were able to communicate our operation effectively to potential buyers. The sale was a success and I couldn’t have done it without them.
Hello Exit was great working with me to help sell my software company. They made everything clear, were patient, never over pressured me, but kept a strong sense of urgency. I would recommend Hello Exit to anyone looking to sell their business and plan on working with them again in any capacity that I can.
The team Hello Exit is simply incredible! Their expertise and support throughout the entire process of selling my company were a game changer. Their expertise and guidance throughout the entire process was invaluable. They took the time to truly understand my needs and goals, and helped me navigate every step of the way with ease. Hello Exit is exceptional, and they truly go above and beyond to ensure their clients are not only satisfied, but actually excited about their exit!! I cannot recommend Hello Exit enough! Their professionalism, knowledge, and dedication to their clients are unmatched. If you’re looking for a top-notch company to help you sell your business, look no further than Hello Exit. Thank you guys, for all that you do!
It was a pleasure working with Hello Exit and they have my most sincere recommendation. They bring a sophistication and etiquette that is very hard to find in the lower, lower middle market – outstanding preparation, excellent sell-side coaching, a rationale / unbiased disposition, and so on. In addition, they bring a powerful network to the conversation and can add value well beyond the transaction. I hope to work with Hello Exit on many more deals to come!
Hello Exit added tremendous value for our portfolio of companies. They made a complex sale process easier and significantly more efficient. We received 5 offers (two above ask) and were extremely happy with the outcome. As a serial trouble maker that has acquired 7 companies and sold 4 we will be using Hello Exit for future exits.
Hello Exit has built one of the best online business brokerages out there. As a buyer, the company has continuously provided us with acquisition targets that have been very well qualified. Every opportunity has fit directly into the criteria we’ve been looking for which has saved a ton of time on due diligence. If you want to get a jump start on your acquisition pipeline, it’s easy to recommend Hello Exit.
Hello Exit is one of the most knowledgeable business brokerages out there for tech & web businesses. We used they to buy a significant business operated by 15+ employees. Our work in diligence was substantially reduced given the strong & accurate information package he provided. All questions were proactively answered, all supporting data was there and presented in the right format, and everything was accurately represented. This saved us weeks of work! In discussions & negotiations, they played a fair role & helped resolve issues by understanding the issue from the perspective of both buyer & seller. With their knowledge and experience, they were able to make smart suggestions and helped everyone reach a common ground quickly. I would surely work with Hello Exit again. They are super!
What can I say other than Hello Exit delivered on everything they promised… and then some. At first, I didn’t believe it when they said he would sell my agency in a few months. But they were so passionate about working together, a part of me believed they would deliver. And they did. We had 3 offers in 30 days and went under contract with the highest offer. 3 months later we closed on the sale at the price they evaluated us on. During the entire process, their knowledge and experience helped immensely. Any time there was confusion or a hurdle that myself or the buyer had, the team stepped in and smoothed every over. Selling a business is one of the most invigorating yet stressful experience I’ve ever went through and I’m so grateful that I picked the right broker to help me through it. I’d use Hello Exit again in a heartbeat.
The Hello Exit team was great to work with. They helped increase our deal flow with strategic deals. If someone is looking to increase their targeted deal flow I would definitely recommend working with Hello Exit.
Hello Exit was awesome to work with on the deal. They provided great support and advice all through – from initial interest discussions, negotiations, contract closure to execution. They’re very prompt and proactive which sails the deal making through. They also provided great support and mediation help post transition on some key contract payout clauses, which is highly appreciated. I recommend Hello Exit highly to SaaS business owners and entrepreneurs.
I’ve known Dustin (Hello Exit’s Founder) for over 10 years, and actually acquired a SaaS company he founded. I’ve always found Dustin to be extremely sharp, fair and honest, reasonable to deal with, and the kind of person you would want to do business with again in the future (which is rare these days). I’m currently mentoring and incubating over 150 international startup companies, and have already talked with Dustin about bringing Hello Exit into these businesses to broker the exit once they are profitable and solidly into their momentum phase.
Hello Exit is one of the best and most trustworthy SaaS advisories and brokerages in the industry! If you run a SaaS business, and Hello Exit contacts you, you should definitely talk to them! Even if you decide not to sell, it will be a very worthwhile and fruitful conversation.
