Growing up enterprise for SaaS startups: 7 lessons on doing it right

Most software-as-a-service companies want to sell to enterprises and smaller customers. It can lead to bigger contracts, more growth, and the kind of scale required to become a well-known technology name.

It is not easy to get right despite how well-trodden it is.

In my current role as an operating partner, I field questions from companies with bottom-up sales motions who are interested in learning how to make the jump into enterprise. I tell them that moving up-market to the enterprise is more complex than they think.

A lot of entrepreneurs think that hiring a bunch of highly paid account executives is the same as going enterprise. The thing is not.

Every function in the company needs to be changed in order to move up into the enterprise. It involves hiring for roles that don't exist and using tools that match the new processes you will implement. There are new roles, tools, and processes.

Why would you do that? The benefits are more important than the cost and complexity. You can go after customers with better net revenue retention and stronger long-term value with an enterprise sales model.

Moving into the enterprise is tougher than it seems, and many companies aren’t ready to do it, especially in this market.

The stakes are getting higher if you are moving into the enterprise now. Fears of a recession and volatile tech markets may make enterprise technology buyers less likely to spend money on new tech in the future. If you are new to the market, you need to be prepared to do well.

Changes to your product, marketing, sales, legal, finance, HR, and customer success are part of growing up enterprise. I will give an overview of each area and give some considerations for companies to consider.

Let's assess your company's readiness.

There is an excerpt from Bill Binch's new book.

What does ‘enterprise readiness’ mean for your company?

Do any of your priorities matter more than your move to the enterprise? Do you want to expand globally? Do you have a new product in the works?

It is recommended that you wait on the enterprise motion until it is your company's highest priority.

This is important. Sales and marketing are not the only areas of enterprise readiness. If sales and marketing can't get a big fish customer, the deal will fall apart. We will run through a few scenarios to show how this can happen.