Eight DOs and DON'Ts for growing a SaaS startup

Executive overview

Most early SaaS founders add features, outsource sales, and chase multiple markets — then wonder why growth stalls. The fix is counterintuitive: simplify the product, own go-to-market personally, and focus on one customer profile until you earn the right to expand.

The framework uses inversion thinking — identify the eight ways to destroy a SaaS business, then do the exact opposite.

Founder-led go-to-market, a single ICP, and early customer success investment compound into durable growth; ignoring any one of them creates a leaky bucket.

Eight ways to destroy a SaaS business (and what to do instead)

1. Keep building one more feature → Find simplicity. Reduce clicks to the core result. Complexity kills messaging and compounds bugs.
2. Outsource GTM → Own founder-led sales and marketing. No fractional CMO or agency can substitute for a founder's market intuition in the early stages.
3. Chase multiple ICPs → Lock in one ideal customer profile. Diluted focus means diluted messaging, diluted differentiation, and not enough resources to win anywhere.
4. Ignore the competition → Embrace and learn. Understand what competitors stand for so you can articulate a real difference — not copy them, but differentiate against them.
5. Ignore customers → Listen first. Give customers what they want now to earn the right to give them what they need later.
6. Ignore recurring revenue → Invest in customer success early. A leaky bucket means every new deal just replaces one that churned.
7. Compete on price → Compete on value. Buyers don't want cheaper software; they want the right software for their stage and situation.
8. Focus on activities without strategy → Build strategy first. ICP, messaging, and a consistent activity rhythm must precede execution — otherwise you're testing the wrong things.

Simplicity over features

• Adding features raises complexity, increases bugs, and muddies positioning.
• The goal is fewer clicks to the customer's desired outcome, not more capabilities.
• Simplicity signals deep understanding of the problem, not a lack of ambition.

Founder-led go-to-market

• Founders must sell to customers, investors, employees, and themselves.
• Early-stage GTM requires constant feedback loops between market signals, product, and messaging — only a founder can close that loop fast enough.
• Agencies and fractional executives only work when handed a proven strategy to execute.

ICP focus

• One ICP allows clear messaging, focused positioning, and efficient use of limited resources.
• Counter-intuitive: a narrow focus accelerates growth to the next revenue milestone.
• Expand the ICP only after unlocking a new revenue level — not before.

Customer success and recurring revenue

• ARR only compounds if customers stay.
• Rough rule: one customer success hire per $1M ARR.
• Hiring CS before a second sales rep is often the right call in early stages.

Strategy before execution

• Strategy = ICP + messaging + consistent set of sales and marketing activities + metrics.
• If a channel "doesn't work," the strategy is usually broken, not the channel.
• Fix strategy first; then hand execution to a team or agency with clear metrics and expectations.