Welcome to Episode 73! Part 2 with David Skok. David is a serial entrepreneur turned VC at Matrix Partners. He founded four companies: Skok Systems, Corporate Software Europe, Watermark Software, and SilverStream Software and did one turnaround with Xionics. Three of the companies he founded went public and one was acquired. In 2001 David joined Matrix Partners, who had backed his last two startups, as a General Partner. David’s successful exits as an investor at Matrix include: HubSpot, JBoss, AppIQ, Tabblo, Netezza, Diligent Technologies, CloudSwitch, TribeHR, GrabCAD, OpenSpan and Enservio. David currently serves on the boards of Atomist, CloudBees, Digium, Meteor, Namely HR, Salsify, and Zaius. You can also find David’s amazing blog here! Huge thanks to Hardi Meybaum and Jason Lemkin for the intro to David today.
In today’s episode you will learn:
What is negative churn? Why is it fundamental for SaaS startups to have a strong grasp of their negative churn?
How does negative churn affect the pricing axis? What can startups do if they have no alternative product to upsell to?
To what extent should founders be willing to engage in customization in order to upsell a product? What are the dangers? What should founders be mindful of?
To what extent is upsell the responsibility of customer success? Should they have a hand in the sales process? What are the dangers and concerns?
How important is it for a startup to track their champion with the customer company? Does it matter if your champion leaves? What should you do if so?
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