Dear SaaStr: What’s The #1 Mistake Founders Make When They Start to Do Marketing?
In B2B / SaaS, the biggest mistake most businesses make in marketing is underestimating how hard it is to get ROI—and then doing nothing.
Or almost nothing.
Too many founders look at the cost of customer acquisition (CAC) and think, “This is too expensive, it’s not worth it,” and they just stop marketing altogether. That’s often a death sentence. Marketing is expensive, yes, but it’s also essential. The key is to think long-term. If your CAC is $10,000 to acquire a $5,000 customer, that might seem like a loss upfront. But if that customer stays for five years, refers others, or helps you hit your growth targets to raise another round, you’re ahead.
The other top mistake is hiring a too junior marketer as your first marketing hire.
Junior hires often lack the ownership and experience to drive results. Marketing isn’t a soft science—it needs to be measured and tied to clear goals like lead generation and ROI. Without that, you’re just spinning your wheels. If you want to grow 150% in revenue, marketing needs to drive 200% lead growth, and that requires someone who knows how to own those numbers and deliver.
You don’t need someone doing a few reels and IG posts. You need someone that has at least some real experience holding a commit and getting you leads and pipeline. More here.
So, don’t avoid marketing because it’s hard / seems too expensive / takes too long. And don’t underhire for it.
Build a system, measure everything, and invest in the right talent to make it work. That’s how you avoid the most common pitfalls.
A deeper dive here:
