In this episode of the SaaS Fuel Podcast, Jeff is joined by the remarkable Asia Orangio, an expert in go-to-market strategy and growth in the SaaS world. Together, they delve into the crucial aspects of customer and audience research, pricing strategies, and key performance indicators (KPIs) that significantly impact growth and MRR goals in SaaS businesses. 

Asia shares her invaluable insights on strategic decision-making, sustainable growth, and the shift in mindset toward long-term success in the SaaS industry. As they explore the nuances of product-led growth, activation rates, and the challenges of determining product-market fit, together they provide practical, data-driven advice for SaaS founders and leaders. 

Join us as we uncover the hidden gems of SaaS growth and learn from the expertise of Asia Orangio in this dynamic and illuminating episode.

Key Takeaways

00:00 The transition from employee to marketing entrepreneur was serendipitous.

06:42 Use customer research to inform market strategy.

07:55 Understanding buyer behavior through extensive research interviews.

11:07 Spreadsheets are practically free. Consider opportunity cost.

15:43 The challenge of selling a product online.

21:02 SaaS benchmarks provide valuable market insights.

24:29 Behavioral science, product experience, ideal customer profile.

26:47 Identify qualified users for SaaS marketing success.

30:16 ConvertKit filled a niche for bloggers' needs.

35:38 Quarterly targets, collaboration, shared information, KPIs, growth.

36:33 Identify core KPI, divide and conquer projects.

40:47 Analyze MRR growth by focusing on expansion revenue.

45:32 Sustainability and strategic growth are essential.

46:54 Shift in SaaS mindset for sustainable growth.

50:18 Expresses gratitude and hope for audience takeaway.

Tweetable Quotes

“When it comes to really understanding the market, understanding the product, and understanding potential channels, we, always start with customer and audience research. Both of these two things combined help, formulate and inform the ultimate go-to-market strategy." — Asia Orangio 00:06:57

“And what we find is that it's usually rarely ever just one thing that creates the scenario for someone to buy. Usually, it's several things that happen that stack up that, create the circumstances upon which someone buys." — Asia Orangio 00:08:15 

"What I don't recommend it, is you're gonna get to a point at least in the early stage journey where just increasing your prices can actually be kind of a dangerous pitfall if you don't have the data to back it up." — Asia Orangio 00:12:30 

"The real testament is selling it, actually putting it out there for people to buy and seeing, for better or for worse, what happens." — Asia Orangio 00:15:53 

"I think product-led growth is most successful when you're able to combine, this really solid understanding of who is the ideal customer profile. Are they ultimately product-qualified? Meaning, like, as they are signing up for this process, we are now understanding, like, is this person actually gonna be a good fit for this product or not?" — Asia Orangio 00:25:15 

"And I think that strategic growth ultimately is a sustainable practice. What I mean by being strategic is, all being strategic means is we are doing our absolute best to make good decisions with the information that we either have or can get." — Asia Orangio 00:45:48

"Product-led growth is one of the things I see done wrong a lot of times." — Jeff Mains 00:23:21 

"I think it's kind of that counterintuitive, you know, really focused and going after a market that's completely...