Daniël Salimian 🌲🌵

𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴. Working with tech scaleups, I analyze what works and what doesn’t. 🚫 Not: blindly following popular opinion ✅ Instead: be pragmatic and investigate Usually, not gating content is best. BUT: I've found 3 cases where gated content outperforms ungated content. 1️⃣ 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗕𝗠 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗜𝗖𝗣. How do you identify CPG companies wanting to launch a D2C subscription? No data provider has a list of these accounts, let alone decision influencers. The answer? Gated industry best-practice templates and playbooks. Whoever downloads them is likely your ICP. 2️⃣ 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗻𝘂𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴. Yes, it does exist. Is your lead nurturing effective? If so, nurtured leads convert to pipeline more than un-nurtured leads How to measure? Hold out a portion of leads from nurturing. 3️⃣ 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗲-𝘀𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀. A mini-course works best as a series of emails, not one PDF file. In this case, email is the best format to deliver the content. Going against popular opinion can be a great GTM approach. What other popular opinions should be challenged?

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"No one wants to build a 'nice-to-have' product." I interviewed Matthijs Metzemaekers, a seasoned tech entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in the industry. In this episode of SaaS:Unscripted, Matthijs shares his key wins and learnings, including: 🚀 Early Days: The valuable lessons learned before his ventures achieved success. 🚀 Exit Strategy: How he successfully sold his previous company, Harver 🚀 Future of Recruitment: How he is building Carv and how it's set to revolutionize the recruitment industry. Don't miss out on these lessons from someone who has been at the forefront of tech entrepreneurship. And don’t forget to try out Carv! Link to comments. #SaaS #TechLeadership #Entrepreneurship #Recruitment

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hey. so a year ago, i got laid off. and just a few weeks ago, i raised a $220k pre-seed for my startup. crazy, right? here's the story. at 18, i got the chance to run e-commerce at four amsterdam kids. the brand was just taking off with insane organic growth. felt like a dream. almost a year in, i felt like i deserved more—more opportunities, more money. so i started freelancing on the side. i was making about $1,300 a month at four, working 4-5 days a week. not enough to move out of my parents' house and get a place in amsterdam. as a freelancer, i pulled in an extra $2-3k a month. but i didn’t want to go full-time because the opportunities at four were too good to pass up. but things didn’t work out with my boss, so i quit. i had just signed a lease for my first apartment in amsterdam, bought a new setup (macbook, display, the works). then covid hit. and multiple clients laid me off. total chaos, financially and emotionally. since then... i started working with creators, built a small creator community, helped them grow and monetize their audience. then my partner and i founded creator mate. and now, i’m super excited to announce... we just raised $220k to help creators build, grow, and monetize their communities at creatormate.com. we’re making it easier for creators to build a community by optimizing their profiles & content with ai. we help creators find their "content market fit." in our first week, over 100 creators joined our waitlist. all organic. zero marketing. i truly believe the power is shifting from institutions to individuals. the global creator economy is worth around $156b now and is expected to hit $528b by 2030 with a 22.5% cagr. in the us alone, it’s going from $17.7b to $142.9b (an 8x increase). huge opportunity to become the best in helping creators. creators. not influencers 😂. if you’re a creator, join our waitlist and benefit from all the free resources we’re launching. www.creatormate.com ⚡️ this wasn’t the journey i expected, but man, i’m stoked about how far we’ve come.

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The easiest way to sell more? Loving the product you sell. Might sound stupid. But so true. Beginning of the year, things were BAD. We had to fight heavy bugs in BetterContact. I relied on it for my own outbound. And became pretty frustrated myself. Asking: would I even buy it as a user? 4 months ago, we heavily invested in infrastructure. Now it works like a charm. Not only are our users happier. But also myself with the product. Allowing me to be more energetic about it. And sell more. Result: 88% Q1 MRR growth Do you love the product you’re selling? 👇

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Even though I do evangelize CRO for DTC brands. 🙌 But it is not the only tool in your brand's arsenal. 🛠️ There are other tools you can use for better conversion rates, AOV and LTV (stickiness). Some of these are: 1. brand identity - much more than logo & font 2. brand story - much more than "about us" 3. tone of voice - much more than copy 4. style of language used in the messaging 5. aesthetics - much more than design ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, even aesthetics are important. Why? Because a Gen-Z girl won't drop 20% of her salary on a jewellery. Unless the jewellery brand's store & social aesthetics are on point. And, the messaging is in-line with her personal values. Now you can do CRO & tweak elements of your store such as CTAs, photos, pricing, product titles etc & call it a day's hard work. Or you can go the extra mile and work on other 5 points as well. I will any day recommend going above and beyond. That's where magic happens 🌈 #CRO #ecommerce #OptimizeYourBrand #OptimizeYourLife

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Before investors ask the question, ask yourself first. Your solution is the best solution that will save customers. Thats great. But why now? What makes the timing right for your startup to exist? Incorporating the 'why now' in your startup story is not about proving that your idea is good; it’s about showing that your idea is good, right now. The Case for 'Why Now': 1. Market Readiness: Market readiness is paramount. A solution introduced too early may flounder due to lack of customer awareness or readiness to adopt, while one launched too late risks irrelevance in a saturated market. Your 'why now' should address the unique convergence of needs, technology, and customer readiness that makes this the opportune moment for your solution. According to a Bill Gross study, timing accounts for 42% of the difference between success and failure in startups. If the market isn’t ready for your solution, it won’t matter how groundbreaking it is. A Harvard Business School report highlighted that products launched during a period where market demand is peaking experience initial sales volumes up to 3x higher than those launched in a lukewarm market scenario. 2. Technological Feasibility & Innovation Cycles: Technology evolves in waves, and your startup's timing may align with the rising tide of an emerging technology, enabling solutions that were previously impossible or impractical. The 'why now' should illuminate how current technological advancements or shifts in user behavior uniquely position your startup to address previously unmet needs or create new market opportunities. Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies shows that the window for achieving a competitive advantage can be narrow before a technology matures and becomes widely adopted or deprecated. 3. Socio-economic Shifts: Socio-economic shifts can rapidly transform market landscapes, catalyzing new needs and opportunities. Demonstrating an understanding of these dynamics and articulating why your startup is especially relevant in the context of recent shifts can strongly validate the 'why now'. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a 500% surge in demand for remote collaboration tools, according to a report from Zoom Video Communications. A McKinsey Global Survey found that companies have accelerated the digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions by three to four years due to the pandemic. Beyond Meat tapped into a confluence of consumer readiness, with a growing concern for health, sustainability, and ethical eating, and technological advancements in food science. By addressing these factors, Beyond Meat answered the 'why now' perfectly - introducing plant-based meats that closely mimic the taste, texture, and experience of animal meat at a time when consumers were actively seeking alternatives. #shahriarsuncommonsense

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𝙐𝙣𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝘼𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮'𝙨 𝙎𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙋𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡: 𝘾𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢 𝙎𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙩𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙃𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙚 Yesterday, Marieke and I, sent a 36-page Objections-Killer guide to an agency client looking to level up their sales game. This isn’t just any guide; it's custom-built for different types of clients and specific sales scenarios, thanks to some serious field testing. We’ve pinpointed what really works and what doesn’t, equipping our clients with the ultimate sales-enhancing toolkit. Our deep dive with agency owners into the nuts and bolts of building a powerful sales process shows that effective selling isn’t just about winging it—it's about having a solid structure. With these processes neatly documented, you’re all set to delegate and turn your business into a lean, mean, sales machine. It's a giant leap towards the freedom every agency owner dreams of. Interested in your personal sales script that's tailor-made for your agency’s unique challenges? Drop us a line!

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Q for founder: Are you working with a research or designer at this early stage? A: It is too soon to hire for UX/UI. Once we are ready to build the solution, we will hire designers. The TNW conference had a couple of talks (Marc Wesselink's lessons from startup failures) and (Eliott Wertheimer's reviving vanmoof) that reiterated the obvious-but-still-ignored necessity of human centered problem solving. From my chats with founders from diverse backgrounds, it was very obvious that design is still thought of as ⭐ tool to deliver a solution⭐. Not a ⭐tool to find the critical problem⭐ and build the right solution. For the love of sustainable, cost effective practices, please: 1. Do not use UX and UI interchangeably (ask chatgpt if AI is your thing). 2. Accurate and prioritised user insights early on will save you from building the wrong thing. And save you money. 3. Design is not just how something looks and feels. It is also how things mitigate, impact, calm, save, reframe, and so much more.

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Our total revenue collection nearly doubled in the last three months. And we expect it to further double in the next three months. That’s 4X growth in six months. Without any changes to the product. Without any disruptions to the cost structure. How did we do it? Let me give you a walkthrough. Our customers fall into three tiers based on their revenues. Through experiments, we figured the top tier was willing to pay much more (than what we were billing them) for the right offering. For example, large enterprises focus a lot on business intelligence, security and robust admin controls — areas Powerplay naturally excels at. It was all about repackaging and rebundling our existing offerings to align with their distinct needs. We were able to spark a psychological trigger – suddenly, those clients saw much higher value in the bundle vs considering each item separately. We were able to unleash untapped revenue potential. Without reinventing the wheel. Without spending an extra penny. In a world where differentiation is key, the way you present your product can be the difference between stagnation and exponential growth. #SaaS #PricingStrategy #Startups

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Updates last week I made some big updates again to my Google Ads Setting template: - Added a new tip B184 - Added a new tip B185 - Alternative way to Install Cookiebot (without GTM) - Added a new video on How to debug your server-side container & check your conversions - How to install Ads conversions server-side - Added a demand gen implementation guide - How to implement a script - Added a new tip B186 - Added a new tip B187 - Added a new how-to-install a timer video - Added a new How to measure visibility elements For more information check my template. #PPC #SEA #Ads #GoogleAds

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To bid on brand or not to bid on brand. Here’s my take: We’ve all seen Google agencies with extremely promising results: 10X or even 20X ROAS. I literally saw a Dutch agency last week promoting their 32X ROAS through an Instagram Ad - calling the prospects to action “if they’d like those results as well”. 🤮 Some brand owners might be very eager to work with those agencies. But here’s what’s wrong with that: Google Ads already targets the bottom of funnel traffic. Even with extreme high intent, a 20X ROAS is NOT realistic, definitely not at scale. So, what these brands are doing is unnecessary spending on your brand name. Unnecessary. The people that the branded campaigns convert, were already looking for your brand. You should spend as little as possible on your brand because with a little bit of SEO, the people will find you. So look, if you use a tool like iSearchFrom, and see that your competitors are bidding on your brand (in either shopping on search), you should probably counter that with a little branded campaign (try like 10% of your budget). And ALWAYS exclude your brand name from PMAX. And ALWAYS A/B test your strategy while looking at profits. The thing is, your Google Ads results won’t be inflated this way, and you’ll probably hit a more realistic ROAS like 4X or 5X. But…! If you’d look at your MER or at your bottom line profit, these metrics will be way better, and you will ACTUALLY enable your brand to grow. – So… If you want to have inflated Google Ads results and leak profits over a longer period of time, go for that agency promising the 10-15X on your campaigns. If you want to actually grow your business, go for an agency looking at more than ROAS, honestly trying to help you grow your brand. – Now, I’m curious: what’s your take on this?

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1 month ago, we made a breakthrough. Our AI Elsie, sold itself. With no human interaction from our side. ❌ No SDR ❌ No sales reps ❌ No marketeer The yearly value of the deal is €8340. Our cost (CAC)? €30. Now, we're still beta testing the full AI sales with no human touch inhouse. So this is not viable on a commercial scale (yet). Currently Elsie handles about 10% of our total sales, without human touch. The rest is sent to our amazing sales team. Curious about the costs of a sales rep? Let's break it down. 👉 Monthly cost of a human sales rep in Sweden: – Salary + other cost: Let's say €5000 – Cost per meeting booked: €150 – Monthly cost 20 meetings: €3000 – Total monthly cost per rep: €8000 But you can do the math yourself. The future looks promising, doesn't it? #AISales #AIAssistant #LinkedClient

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We have been advising B2B SaaS companies on how to leverage community-led growth for over a year now. Those companies are tapping into the power of community to drive serious growth. They're winning trust, loyalty and priceless user insights. Five examples of companies who are killing it: 1. Notion - This workspace app has over 100K members in their buzzing online community. They get users involved in product development, creating a real sense of ownership. 2. Figma - The design platform brings its community together through virtual events, workshops and hackathons. Designers get to connect, upskill and directly shape the tool. 3. Personio - The HR tech firm takes community offline with regular meetups for HR pros to network and share know-how on the future of the industry. 4. Miro - Over 35 million whiteboard wizards make up this online community. Forums, user groups and events help members collaborate and innovate together. 5. Airtable - This spreadsheet-database hybrid harnesses its community's knowledge through forums, templates and integrations created by users themselves. Want to dive deeper into this community-led growth movement? Don't miss "The Power of Community in B2B SaaS" at the Personio office in Amsterdam on May 22nd. We'll have Julia Pilkes (HubSpot), Koen Stam (Personio) and Lorenzo Tiberi (Crono) breaking it down while you network with other community builders from the best sales and marketing teams in tech. Spots are limited: https://lnkd.in/eP8D3ymM

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I stole these 3 frameworks from Nike... And used them to build my own succesful businesses. (feel free to steal and use in your own business) 1. The Initiative In chess there are a few ways to determine who is winning. The most obvious way is to count pieces. Often the person with the bigger army has the advantage. But not always... See, a smaller army occupying better terrain can hold off a far superior force. Just think of the story of the 300 Spartans holding back the Persian Empire at The Battle of Thermopylae. This is called Positional Advantage. But there is a third way to evaluate a position that 95% of people are completely unaware of... And in my experience... Whoever has this advantage, typically wins. It's called The Initiative. The Initiative is determined by which player is dictating the action. Which player is Acting and which is Reacting? Answer that question, and you can predict with a high degree of certainty who will ultimately arise victorious. Napoleon always had the Initiative. HE dictated where, when, and how the action would unfold and, as a result, despite often having vastly inferior forces, managed to win. In business (and in life), a lack of skill or experience can almost always be overcome with the appropriate amount of gusto. So move towards your goals with momentum, inertia, and ENERGY. 2. Simple Systems Beat Beautiful (complex) Systems. Often we create beautifully complex systems with fancy softwares and nifty dashboards thinking that OF COURSE this'll boost productivity by 10,000%. How can it not? Well, it's because: "Complexity often obscures actual effectiveness." Elegant systems are typically over-engineered and under-applied. The best systems tend to be the simplest (and sometimes the ugliest). That's okay... It's not about how the system looks... it's about what it produces. (P.S. The same can be said about people.)

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One thing I'm proud of is our client retention rate at Enflux. Once we get our foot in the door, almost no clients leave us. Here's why: Jelle Buth and I founded Enflux a year ago. The first few months were awkward: we were both cold pitching via email and LinkedIn. We mostly didn't know what to do exactly, but we pushed through it. At some point, we had enough clients to understand: Enflux is a vital business that will last. So we started preparations for the LOOONG journey. Over the next 9 months, we've put our full attention into a strong infrastructure setup and the team. We called our former tradeops colleagues we can trust: Evgeni Hristov, Dmitry Belaventsev, Justin Sid Montañez, and counting; trained and helped them feel confident enough to act independently. Not to mention our other partners: from BD Valentine Zlenko, Alex Lut, and Valerie Zlenko to marketing Farhad F., and others. This foundation now plays a vital role in our communication with clients: The infrastructure we've built nurtures our "as a service" market making model, which combined with our value-driven approach ensures the performance clients seek. So they naturally work with us long-term. On the acquisition side, we provide value upfront and display our commitment first. This comes in different forms: from a casual 2-week trial to more creative solutions like Hackathon rewards for winners to our 12-week Odyssey Grants program (selected startups get up to 3mo of covered market making, among other perks) All in all, we feel very confident offering 'service samples' The conversion is GREAT and there's no need for us to hold back on commitment. The whole process, step-by-step: - Identify potential clients and their needs. - Analyze their token stats (spread, depth, real volume estimate, etc.). Pitch if relevant, bounce if their markets are strong and healthy. - Establish contact and schedule a call. Offer a trial if relevant. - Develop a customized listing/trading strategy, including setups for both centralized and decentralized exchanges. - After signing the agreement, we assign a dedicated tradeops professional – a trader who ensures healthy markets and handles force majeures. - Conduct thorough technical preparations, such as API integrations, building connectors, other setups, etc. - Confirm and finalize the listing/trading strategies. Set up and share access to a live dashboard, where the client can track all trading metrics 24/7. Afterward, We jump on weekly calls to share updates and reports detailing the progress. Whenever we see interesting/unusual activity on their markets, we take a screenshot and provide context directly in the Telegram chat. We also support their marketing initiatives if they ask. That's only a brief summary. Choose transparency. Choose Enflux.

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Most founders will claim they're data-driven (cause you kinda have to say that, right?) But are you actually? Or are you running your SaaS on gut feeling? Use analytics tools like: → Amplitude → PostHog → Smartlook Make sure you to experiment: → Using A/B testing → Using feature flags → Using localization Run experiments constantly and test things like copy, pricing, onboarding, placements of features, and so on. Don't just say you're data-driven... Actually strive to be data-driven.

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"Don't build your core product with no-code tools." ❌ Many founders believe no-code can't handle core products and if this is 2021 then i would agree. fortunately i've seen the progress made with no code tools and i can guarantee you that if you know how, you will be blown away by how leveraging no code tools will make you win in a very competitive market. Instead, the best founders know how to leverage no-code. 💡 Here are 7 steps that will help you build with no-code: 1. Identify the core functionality of your product. 2. Research no-code tools that can handle it. 3. Prototype and test your core product. 4. Iterate based on user feedback and testing. 5. Optimize for performance, scalability, and user experience. 6. Launch your no-code core product to users. 7. Continue improving and expanding your no-code product. Time is crucial especially in saas , its a winner takes all market. For example : if you use hootsuite for your post scheduling, are you going to use another content scheduling ? probably not. You'll know you're doing it right when users love your product. Remember — the idea is not to focus on the tools but finding method to build faster and smarter i will be posting my go to no code tools that will reduce your IT team size by up to 60% if you can master it. Good luck 🍀 , #linkedin #nocodetools #aimastery

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