At SaaStr Annual Zeni’s VP of Marketing Ben Ashworth and Director of FinOps Leena Swar shared their blueprint to help their customers fuel hypergrowth.

Zeni – the AI-first finance concierge for modern companies – shared their blueprint for hypergrowth. What makes this interesting? Zeni isn’t just preaching – they’re practicing. As a fintech company that processes over $3 billion in transactions annually, they’ve used these exact principles to scale their AI-powered finance platform. The results? One customer saw 110% revenue growth in just 15 months. Here’s the playbook broken down:

Why Listen to Zeni?

Before we dive in, some context: Zeni isn’t your typical finance platform. They’ve built an AI-powered system that combines bookkeeping, accounting, tax, and CFO services into a single platform. Their secret sauce? Using AI to automate the grunt work while maintaining human expertise for strategic decisions.

What makes their growth playbook particularly interesting is that they’re using it themselves to:

• Process $3B+ in transactions annually
• Serve hundreds of high-growth startups
• Deliver real-time financial insights 24/7
• Reduce finance team costs by up to 50%

Here’s the playbook broken down:

The Growth Metrics That Actually Matter

Let’s cut through the noise. There are 5 key metrics you need to obsess over:

1. Growth (new bookings + expansion)
2. Retention (both logo and revenue)
3. Sales efficiency (CAC ratios + payback periods)
4. Margins (gross and net)
5. Capital efficiency (burn multiples + runway)

The Real Growth Funnel: Beyond Vanity Metrics

Here’s what’s working in 2025:

Your funnel needs three core components:

• Raw counts (leads, opps, customers)
• Conversion metrics (lead-to-opp, opp-to-close)
• Cost metrics (CAC, LTV, payback periods)

The key? Stop looking at these in isolation. The magic happens when you combine them.

The 6-Step Blueprint

1. Measure Everything (But Focus on What Matters)

• Track both vanity and value metrics
• Build a holistic dashboard combining both
• Make it accessible to everyone

2. Analyze Relentlessly

• Weekly deep dives into conversion changes
• Monthly cohort analysis
• Quarterly strategic reviews

3. Design Your Testing Framework

• Implement A/B testing across the funnel
• Track your business lifecycle phase
• Set clear success metrics before each test

4. Build Your Strategy

Your strategy needs three components:

• Clear action steps
• Cross-functional ownership
• Progress tracking mechanisms

5. Rally The Team

• Translate metrics into OKRs
• Get buy-in at all levels
• Make data accessible to everyone

6. Share Learnings Aggressively

• Weekly wins and losses
• Monthly strategic pivots
• Quarterly deep dives

The Case Study: 110% Growth in 15 Months

Here’s how Company Z did it:

1. Split B2B and B2C data tracking
2. Revamped pricing based on usage patterns
3. Reallocated resources to highest-converting channels

Key Learnings

1. Measure everything, but focus on value metrics over vanity metrics
2. Testing without a framework is just guessing
3. Team alignment around metrics drives faster execution