1.
"THE “DOS & DON’TS” OF BUILDING
WINNING SAAS COMPANIES
WITH G2 CROWD
GODARD ABEL
CEO & Co-Founder
G2 Crowd
@godardabel

2.
Godard Abel
CEO & Co-Founder
G2 Crowd
@godardabel
"The “Dos & Don’ts” of Building Winning
SaaS Companies with G2 Crowd

3.
3
Born in
Germany
Grew up in
Pittsburg
h

4.
Education
Studied @ MIT
Worked @ McKinsey
Studied @ Stanford GSB
4

5.
Building
4 winning
companies…
5

6.
6
BIGMACHINES
Founded in 2000
CPQ cloud software
Grew from scratch to $50M+ ARR
acquired $400M+
in 2013

7.
7
STEELBRICK
Re-launched in 2014
Next generation CPQ software
Grew from $1M to 10OM+ ARR
acquired for $390M+ in 2016

8.
8
G2.com
FORMERLY G2 CROWD
Founded in July 2012
#1 B2B Tech Reviews Marketplace
3 Million buyers visiting each month
$100M invested by
Approaching $500M valuation

9.
9
THREEKIT
Re-launched in January 2019
3D configuration and AR platform
$11M invested and 40 employees
From $0.1 to 1M revenue in one quarter

10.
10
... this is what
we learned.

11.
Confidential
KEYS TO REACHING ENTREPRENEURIAL
SUMMITS
11
COMMIT
TO THE
SUMMIT
BUILD A
WINNING
TEAM
SELL
WITH
PASSIO
N
TAKE
CARE OF
YOURSE
LF

12.
COMMIT TO THE
SUMMIT

13.
Solve a
problem
you
uniquely
know and
care about...
13

14.
14
Don’t climb
alone…
build your
entrepreneurial
family
BigMachines Team 2000 G2 Founders 2012
SteelBrick 2014 ThreeKit Launch 2019

15.
PERSEVEREEMPLOYEES
65
20
2000 2003 2007 2010 2013
15
Matt Gorniak
300

16.
16
Ride a bigger
WAVE

17.
17
Welcome To The Age Of Digital Transformation
….The 4th Industrial Revolution!
$15
Trillion
in Wages
Automated
via AI, NLP
and Robotics
$1,003
Billion
IT Services
(7% p.a.
growth)
$3.7
Trillion
In Global IT
Spend
“40% of today’s
businesses will fail
in next ten years”
John Chambers, of Cisco Systems
$389
Billion
Enterprise
Software
(10% p.a.
growth)

18.
Don’t set your vision
TOO BROAD
18

19.
Create a
WINNING
STORY
19

20.
“It’s amazing that no matter
what size customer we were
pitching, or where in the world
we were selling, a singular idea
drove all our accomplishments:
we never sold features…
We sold the model and the
customer’s success.”
20
Marc Benioff
Salesforce

21.
SELL IT WITH
PASSION

22.
SELL
as a founder
22

23.
No
BORING
DEMOS 23

24.
Sell as a
TEAM
24

25.
Amplify
Customer Voice
encourage
sharing of
authentic
reviews
25

26.
Don’t
GIVE IT AWAY
26

27.
BUILD A
WINNING
TEAM

28.
28
“He believed in his story
so much that he couldn’t
understand why anyone
wouldn’t want to join
him. And that energy
was contagious.”
John Sculley
on Steve Jobs @Apple

29.
Don’t
USE
RECRUITERS 29

30.
BRING THE BEST WITH YOU…
HELP YOUR PEOPLE GROW
30

31.
31
BUILD
YOUR
PLAYBOOK
S
build your own
systems and
processes that
can scale

32.
EMBRACE THE
AUDIBLE
“His success stemmed
from his ability to
audible, to read the
defence and change his
plays on the go.”
32
Tony Dungy on Peyton
Manning

33.
33
BUILD YOUR
PARTNERSHIP
S
with leading
platforms... and
like-minded
entrepreneurs
Marc Benioff
Salesforce Founder/CEO
Ryan Westwood
Simplus Founder/CEO

34.
34
ACQUIRE TO
ACCELERATE
KEEP THE
ENTREPRENEUR
S
IN THE FAMILY
Name and Surname
Position
InvoiceIT
Joins
SteelBrick!
Siftery
Joins
G2 Crowd!

35.
3535
ALIGN
YOUR
VECTOR
S
FOR
MAXIMU
M
IMPACT
What Elon Musk
taught me about growth

36.
Peak Pyramid Source: Chip Conley, Joie de Vivre / Air BnB
36
CULTURE:
STRIVE FOR
THE PEAK
WITH HEART
Customer Evangelism
Investor PrideEmployee Inspiration
MEETS
UNRECOGNIZED
NEEDS
MEETS DESIRES
MEETS EXPECTATIONS
LEGACY
RELATIONSHIP
ALIGNMENT
TRANSITION ALIGNMENT
MEANING
RECOGNITION
MONEY
CARE

37.
TAKE CARE OF
YOURSEL
F

38.
38
Take care of
yourself

39.
39
Be authentic

40.
BREATHE
40

41.
FOLLOW YOUR DIVINE
PATH TO THE SUMMIT
41

42.
THANK YOU