How To Grow Your B2B Tech Business Past $1M ARR
Would you agree to say that not only the world has changed over the past few months but so have your business customers?
I had half a dozen meetings since last week where companies are now looking for new ways to create revenue.
I think it's the perfect time to gauge the market and spot trends before they happen.
Historically, this is where big opportunities are uncovered.
But for some business owners, this can be murky waters to explore the market for new opportunities, and it’s easy to lose sight of what you should focus on next - without the right process.
After having worked in incubators and accelerators for seven years and hundreds of tech projects, I find that the process of finding and seizing new market opportunities generally has four distinct stages to it.
The aim is to explore the opportunity, create predictable systems, optimise these then scale them for economies and profitability.
The Uncertain Stage - $0 to $10,000 monthly revenues.
The uncertain stage is where you should focus on becoming an expert in a specific market by exploring the need or problem and design a solution that solves this better or in a differentiated way to existing solutions.
The common pitfall here is that uncovering the real need in the market can be very unclear and therefore it’s easy to get lost. The sole mission here is to clearly define the market, the needs of the market and your value proposition to that market. The focus is on the market & your proposition.
The Unstable Stage - $10,000 to $40,000 monthly revenues.
You found your market and have started to generate some revenues. The focus should now change from exploring the market to creating a predictable sales system and refining your message to the market.
In the B2B space, it is highly competitive and just trying to sell doesn’t work as efficiently as it used to. To get past this unstable stage, you need to position your business as an authority for your vertical. Step away from volatile sales and build a steady flow of leads from both inbound and outbound initiatives. The focus is on attracting & converting ideal prospects.
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The Optimisation Stage - $40,000 to $80,000 monthly revenues
What has gotten you to this point so far is doing the hard work and you likely feel exhausted. It feels like you can’t grow your business without cloning yourself. To overcome this bottleneck, the focus at this stage needs to shift to the growth levers in your business.
A great start is to work on freeing up time through the automation of your value delivery chain/ Customer Delivery System (CDS) (as I mentioned in one of the earlier emails).
Your CDS will map out how you create awareness for your business right through to the delivery of your solution and fulfilment of happy clients. Find your most valuable customers, increase your reach and install automation. Maintain focus and work on automation to gain back some time.
The Amplify Stage - $80,000 to $200,000 monthly revenues
You have stable revenues, and your business seems to run, but you have hit a plateau of growth. It’s time to decide on whether you want to grow your business even further and reinvest your capital or reap the rewards and continue with your steady cash flow. To increase your business to the next stage, you can’t do it alone. At this point, it is all about leverage. Leverage from capital investment, data, your team, partners and continued systematisation of your processes. Focus on finding more advantage and leverage.
If you’re in a position where you want to find new opportunities and revenue streams for your business, start by exploring the opportunity, create predictable systems, optimise these then scale them for economies and profitability.
Get Building.
Flavio Hangarter
PS: Whenever you’re ready, I help clever founders to set up their sales and marketing systems, generate leads and close more sales.
There are numbers of ways I might be of help to you:
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Get guided through the market validation process to help you figure out your market, your product and your business model.
Sales Strategy and Systems.
Crystalise your sales systems to attract more customers and grow your revenue with stand-out marketing.
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