Every app / start-up will be different, but looking back, here’s the approximate mix we had:
- 15% from partners. No individual partner did 5%, but as a group, they drove ~15% of our revenue. Importantly, they closed at a higher rate than other leads because in general, the partner pre-qualified them.
- 20% from upsell. Not sure this counts, but we had about 120% net revenue retention from our non-self service accounts. So double-down on customer success and making your customers happy.
- 20% from viral. Not all apps have this. We were at about 20%. A lot, but not enough on its own.
- 10%+ from referrals from other customers. We should have counted this better, but at least 10% of new business came from referrals. That’s what we logged from the sales reps. But — it was likely much larger.
What we should have done more, at least after $5m of ARR or so, was field marketing. Events, steak dinners, etc. That would have performed well.
