Let me tell you a story… Many decades ago, I worked as a computer programmer. Our team was chronically understaffed – we had 7 people, but needed 10 – so the company ran an ad to attract programmers. The ad listed the qualifications we were …
Read MoreDo you make this “Emily in Paris” mistake with your on-boarding?
I have a confession. I watched the first episode of Emily in Paris. I’m not proud of it, but was in quarantine at the time and had a lot of time to kill. For me, the highlight of the episode was what I call “the …
Read MoreAmazon can get away with this, but can you?
Yesterday, I wanted to buy something from Amazon. It was my first time using amazon.de, but I used amazon.fr and amazon.it when I was living in France and Italy earlier this year, so I didn’t expect any problems. But, this time, I got stumped. You …
Read MoreHow SaaS Traffic Really Works
Today I was watching a presentation by email copywriting expert, Ian Stanley. He was talking about leverage and said, “Let’s say that your salesletter is currently making $100,000 a month. Well, it just so happens that a 20% little lift in that salesletter allows you …
Read MoreAre you making this mistake with your signup form?
It’s not the “cool” way to do things, but I don’t care. The truth is, if you have a free trial sign up form, and someone completes it, they should be taken to a different url. Why? Three reasons: #1: It’s easier to track. Yes, …
Read MoreThe Stringer Bell secret to SaaS success
Recently, I’ve been re-watching clips of The Wire on youtube. My favourite is where Stringer is explaining the new business model to his foot soldiers. You can watch it here: They’re focused on how many street corners they can control, how to protect …
Read MoreA simple way to halve your SaaS payback period
Have you seen the movie Payback, starring Mel Gibson? (Or, as I call him, “Cousin Mel.”) In it, Cousin Mel plays a criminal who goes to war with a crime syndicate because one of their guys cheated him out of his half of a $140,000 …
Read MoreHow to make your SaaS landing pages glow
I’m currently living in Berlin, so I’ve been learning German. And, I have to say, I love the way so many German words are combinations of other words. Sometimes it’s very logical. Like “Unterhosenbügler” – someone who irons their underpants. But other times it’s quite …
Read MoreSo sad when VC love goes bad
“Number 2. Turn left. Turn left.” I pulled on my left parachute cord and started turning left. “Too far.” And that was the last I heard from him. His job was to guide us down – via earpieces in our helmets – so we landed …
Read MoreIs Your SaaS business a Star?
There are four kinds of business: stars, cash cows, dogs and question marks. That’s according to Richard Koch – who’s made $300m from investing in what he calls “Star” businesses. So, what are star businesses? Why are they so successful? And what happens if your …
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