Enterprise Sales: Services to $1M/Yr Contracts
Neha Sampat bootstrapped a services agency side project for 11 years before spinning it out as a standalone enterprise SaaS company - then raised $169M and grew enterprise sales contracts from $250/month to over $1 million per year.
If you want to understand how to transition from services to enterprise sales and close Fortune 1000 deals, this episode walks you through the entire journey - from building an internal tool to winning enterprise sales with brands like Chase, Asics, and Mattel.
Contentstack started in 2011 as a mobile content form inside Raw Engineering. By 2014, Forrester named it one of three headless CMS pioneers. Neha spun it out in January 2018 with $1M+ ARR, then raised $169M through Series C while growing to 450 employees across 18 countries.
Key Lessons
🏢 Enterprise sales can start from a services tool: Contentstack began as an internal form for agency clients, then evolved into a full enterprise SaaS platform over three years of iteration.
💰 Grow enterprise sales pricing with value delivered: Starting at $250/month and triangulating cost, willingness to pay, and customer value led to $1M/year contracts with Fortune 1000 brands.
🎯 Define a category early for inbound enterprise sales: Being one of the first sites with "headless CMS" in the header meant enterprise buyers found Contentstack organically during the convergence of cloud, mobile, and SaaS.
📉 Bootstrapping too long costs market share: Neha's biggest regret is not raising capital sooner to fund a go-to-market team and capture early enterprise sales before competitors.
🤝 Enterprise sales require multi-threaded selling: Selling to both business and technical buyers at Fortune 1000 companies requires alignment between digital marketing leaders and CIOs.
Chapters
Introduction
Neha's favorite quote and what Contentstack does
What headless CMS means in plain terms
Bootstrapping for the first 11 years
From VMware to building a services agency
Building the first version as an internal tool
Timeline from side project to standalone enterprise SaaS
Pricing from $250/month to $1M/year
Target customer and Fortune 1000 enterprise sales
How inbound worked from day one
Figuring out enterprise pricing strategy
Onboarding enterprise customers and migration
Revenue and customers at the 11-year bootstrap mark
Why Neha didn't raise money sooner
Fundraising challenges as a female founder
Shifting from inbound to demand gen and outbound
Building the partner ecosystem for enterprise sales
Growth struggles and hiring for the next stage
Account-based marketing for enterprise SaaS
Biggest regret and lightning round
Resources
Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/352
Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email
SaaStr 412: The Secrets to Turbocharging Sales in 2021 with Keyfactor, Checkout.com, Contentstack, and Insight Partners
2020 has been a wild ride, but Sales teams are still expected to deliver. Hear from 3 companies on how they delivered in a year riddled with challenges, and what those battle scars have taught them as they plan to turbocharge their sales in 2021. Walk away from this episode with the tactics and tips you and your Sales team need for the upcoming year.
Pablo Dominguez, Operating Partner, Insight Partners Ellen Kindley, Chief Transformation Officer, Keyfactor Brooke Treseder, SVP, Revenue Operations, Checkout.com Gordana Vuckovic, EVP Global Sales & Partnerships, Contentstack
Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/the-secrets-to-turbo-charging-sales-in-2021/
SaaStr 350: Scaling SaaS To Well Over $1M ARR with No Funding, How Being A Sommelier Helped Neha Break The Glass Ceiling of Business & How to Successfully Scale Remote Teams Efficiently
Neha Sampat is the Founder and CEO @ Contentstack, a modern content management system bringing business and tech teams together to deliver personalised, omnichannel experiences. Atypical in our world, but Neha scaled the business to well over $1M in ARR before raising funding. Now Neha has raised over $31M from the likes of Insight Partners and Illuminate. Prior to Contentstack, Neha was the Founder and CEO @ Built.io and before that spent 10 years as the Founder and CEO @ Raw Engineering, building a leading digital transformation consultancy.
In Today's Episode We Discuss:
How did Neha make her way into the world of SaaS and content management systems having previously built a digital transformation agency?
How the heck did Neha scaled Contentstack to over $1M in ARR without raising capital, whilst being based in the Bay? What were the signals that made Neha realise she had a scalable software business? What did Neha look for in her first seed round investors? How did that profile change when she went out to raise the Series A?
How has being a sommelier helped Neha break the glass ceiling of business? What are some lessons Neha has learned in terms of build true and genuine relationships with customers beyond the transaction? What are the counter-intuitive strategies Neha has found works when it comes to motivating remote teams?
Why did Neha decide to build out so much of the tech team well outside of the Bay in a town outside of Mumbai? Does Neha believe the future of tech is in the valley or decentralised?
Neha's 60 Second SaaStr:
Neha's biggest strength and biggest weakness as a leader?
What does Neha believe that many around her do not?
The biggest obstacle to the success Neha has achieved?
Read the full transcript on our blog: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-350-with-contentstack-founder-ceo-neha-sampat/
If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:
Jason Lemkin
Harry Stebbings
SaaStr
Neha Sampat