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From Impossible to Inevitable

By Aaron Ross and Jason Lemkin • Watered over 2 years ago September 17, 2022 at 4:56 AM
From Impossible to Inevitable cover
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Highlights

  • Where can you be a big fish in a small pond? Get momentum winning in that small pond, then expand into the next bigger pond, and so on. If you learn how to win at One Thing, you’ll know how to win at the Next Thing.
  • It’s easier to make the pond smaller than make the fish bigger:
    • Tags: product-management
  • You want to specialize in a specific pain you solve, but not get so narrow that you can’t find anyone that has it.
  • You know that a pain is common when you see that people are willing to pay money to solve it, repeatedly.
  • What are the identifiable outcomes that customers get? What can you measure, track, or gauge?
  • How can you demonstrate financial benefits? (Make money, save money, reduce risk of losing money.)
  • To charge based on value, or to market and sell to Mainstream Buyers, your lead generation and sales teams need proof.
  • The 20-Interview Rule is simple: Before you write a line of code, finalize your niche, or take some other kind of leap, interview 20 real potential customers.
    • Tags: product-management
  • People like to buy “things.” Their minds are asking, “What do I get for my investment?” Whether it’s a $10 or a $10,000 purchase, they’ll want to know exactly what they get. Spell it out as much as you can as “things,” with concrete details.
  • The best-run SaaS companies can see up to –2% churn per month
  • All great companies’ customers come from one main source—word-of-mouth, whether the leads come via referrals directly, or whether new customers are closed using case studies, references, or testimonials.
  • SaaS companies typically want (a) 15% or less churn per year on their total number of customers, and (b) 0% or negative revenue churn.
  • Demandgen folks can figure out corporate marketing. Corporate marketing cannot figure out demandgen. Ever.
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