Karen Peacock, COO of Intercom, one of the fastest growing SaaS businesses of all time, has led businesses of all sizes through massive growth. At SaaStr Annual 2019, she shared her top 5 lessons learned in building and scaling SaaS businesses from $1M to $500M in ARR including expanding to serve upmarket customers, moving from product to platform, and how to hire well to drive breakthrough customer experiences and business growth.

1. SCALING FROM
$1M TO $500M ARR
5 Strategies to Drive Your Next Wave of Growth
Karen Peacock, COO

2. Chief Operating Officer
Board Member
Senior Vice President
Small Business
Advisor
Advisor

3. What happens after your
first phase of growth?

4. What you thought was the finish line was actually
JUST THE STARTING LINE

5. BUILD YOUR
NEXT BIG
PRODUCT
FIND PRODUCT
MARKET FIT
AGAIN
DECIDE YOUR
PLATFORM
PLAY
BUILD
YOUR
TEAM
EXPAND
YOUR
MARKET
5 STRATEGIES TO DRIVE YOUR
NEXT WAVE OF GROWTH
@karenpeacock

6. EXPAND
YOUR MARKET
1

7. In order to keep growing,
you need your product to
appeal to more customers.
Figure out how your product
can solve the problem you
originally solved, but for a
broader set of customers.

8. HOW
COMPANIES
EXPAND
• By vertical
• Upmarket companies
expand downmarket
• Downmarket companies
expand upmarket*
classic disruption

9. !
BUILDING FOR ONE BIG CUSTOMER
The risk here is using your company’s time on something that isn’t scalable
It might be great for one company but isn’t what is most important for others

10. YOUR STRATEGY IS AS
MUCH WHAT YOU DON’T DO
AS WHAT YOU DO

11. –Mike Tyson
“Everybody has a plan
until they get punched in the mouth.”
“Everybody has
until they get

12. –Karen Peacock
Everybody has a strategy
until they get handed a big check”
“Everybody has
until they get

13. Don’t get blinded by that big check
Invest in what will scale

14. EXPAND UPMARKET ONE STEP AT A TIME
• Find customers who have
outgrown you
• Assess needs vs. wants
• What do you need to
build vs what could you
partner on

15. CHANGE
YOUR
BLUEPRINT
MARKETING
SALES
SUPPORT
Hire at least one person
who has served larger
customers in the past and
can lay out the blueprint
for you

16. Customer #1
Product #1
Customer #2
Product #2
Solve
problems for
new customers
Solve new
problems for
existing
customers

17. BUILD YOUR
NEXT BIG PRODUCT
2

18. PROBABLY RIGHT
IN FRONT OF YOU
Your next big product is

19. WE ORIGINALLY BUILT INTERCOM TO
HELP PEOPLE SUPPORT THEIR CUSTOMERS
Businesses started using the Intercom Messenger to talk to prospects
on their website, even though it wasn’t yet purpose built for a Sales job

20. 82%
HIGHER CONVERSION WHEN
YOU ENGAGE CUSTOMERS
ON YOUR WEBSITE USING
THE INTERCOM MESSENGER

21. NOT WHAT
CUSTOMERS DO
THEY SAY
WATCH WHAT

22. WHAT OTHER IMPORTANT PROBLEMS
DO YOUR CUSTOMERS HAVE?
Which could you solve well?

23. • IMPORTANT PROBLEMS: If you want to build a big
business, solve a big problem
• YOUR CUSTOMERS: The person who already
buys from you
• SOLVE WELL: What jobs can you solve uniquely well

24. SUCCESSFUL ADJACENT PRODUCTS
CAN DOUBLE YOUR REVENUE

25. of add-on purchases happen upfront
Add on products are not added on later, they are sold upfront
NAIL YOUR UPFRONT PURCHASE EXPERIENCE
50%

26. THE BEST WAY TO DRIVE GROWTH IS TO
HAVE YOUR PRODUCT DO THE SELLING

27. SHOW IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN TELL
Especially when you sell to your existing customers

28. FIND PRODUCT MARKET FIT
AGAIN AND AGAIN
3

29. Here is the myth: you get a stroke of
inspiration, work hard, do the right things and
have a little luck on your side, so you enter the
beautiful world of PRODUCT MARKET FIT

30. • For every set of new
target customers
• For every new product
you want to create
• For everything, every
year or two
PRODUCT
MARKET FIT
IS SOMETHING
YOU NEED TO FIND
AGAIN AND AGAIN

31. FALL IN LOVE WITH THE PROBLEM,
NOT WITH THE SOLUTION
Find product market fit

32. DECIDE YOUR
PLATFORM PLAY
4

33. WE LIVE IN A DEEPLY
INTERCONNECTED WORLD

34. YOU WILL NEVER WIN
IF YOU CHOOSE TO GO IT ALONE
Your customers don’t want you to go it alone. They want you
to work with all of the other things they already use.
As you get bigger, the reverse is also true:
they want all of the other things they use to work with you.

35. Moving from product to platform at Intercom
WE STARTED BY WATCHING
WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS
WERE DOING

36. WITHIN 3 MONTHS OF APP STORE LAUNCH
100 apps live

37. OF ACTIVE CUSTOMERS
USE OUR PLATFORM
AND ONE OR MORE
3RD PARTY APPS
65%

38. Deliver value to
Customers
Partners
You
Killer apps
Developer tools
PRINCIPLE
OF
SUCCESSFUL
PLATFORMS
Access to customers
1
2
3

39. DON’T GET FOOLED BY VANITY METRICS

40. • App store visits
• # of apps
PLATFORM
METRICS
THAT MATTER ★ Active use

41. BUILD
YOUR TEAM
5

42. YOU CAN’T DO IT ALL YOURSELF
Invest time to build the team to take you to the next level
Think about now and the next 12-18 months, not 3-4 years out

43. WHEN HIRING FOR A ROLE THAT IS NEW TO YOU
Meet with 3 best-in-class leaders in
that field to learn and pattern match

44. APPLY LEAN STARTUP PRINCIPLES TO HIRING
Put people in the job before you hire

45. BUILD YOUR
NEXT BIG
PRODUCT
FIND PRODUCT
MARKET FIT
AGAIN
DECIDE YOUR
PLATFORM
PLAY
BUILD
YOUR
TEAM
EXPAND
YOUR
MARKET
5 STRATEGIES TO DRIVE YOUR
NEXT WAVE OF GROWTH
@karenpeacock

46. THANK YOU
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