SaaStr 167: The Biggest Challenges In Scaling From $1-10m in ARR, How To Navigate Enterprise Sales Negotiations Successfully & Why You Must Reiterate Value At Every Touchpoint with PJ Bouten, Founder & CEO @ Showpad

Pieterjan (PJ) Bouten is the Founder & CEO @ Showpad, the world’s leading sales enablement platform that allows for the creation of amazing buyer experiences. To date they have raised over $89m in VC funding from the likes of Insight Venture Partners, Dawn Capital and Hummingbird. As for PJ, Showpad is the second company he has founded. In 2010 he co-founded the mobile development agency, In The Pocket and still serves on its board. Prior to In The Pocket, Pieterjan held senior roles at Netlog and Accenture.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How PJ made his way from the world of Accenture to founding the world’s leading sales enablement platform in Showpad?
• What was the most challenging element for PJ and Showpad in scaling from $1m-10m in ARR? How does the go-to-market change with this scaling? How does the team structure and composition alter? How does the branding and positioning change?
• PJ has said before that you must “reiterate value at every touchpoint”, what does he mean by this? How can one look to build a structure and framework to ensure one is effective with this? How  does one scale this when serving thousands of SMBs?
• What were PJs biggest lessons from their experiences of discounting? What advice would PJ give to founders on when and how much to discount? How does PJ think about the use of pilots and trials? How can one ensure optimal efficiency of conversion with both methods?

60 Second SaaStr

1. Does the role of CEO ever get easier?
2. What does PJ know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning?
3. What keeps PJ up at night?

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Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Pieterjan Bouten