Kyle Porter

Why are Referrals becoming the forgotten growth channel? Too many SaaS execs build 2025 pipeline plans without even mentioning them. 😬 Why? ❌ “They’re not scalable.” ❌ “They’re not repeatable.” ❌ “They take too long.” But here’s the thing: ✅ Referrals work. ✅ They close faster. ✅ They convert better. ✅ They cost less. 💸 According to Aaron Ross, inbound and outbound strategies have led for decades. Yet in today’s competitive landscape, word-of-mouth has become equally essential." 👂 🔥 2025 growth leaders will systematize referrals — not sideline them. Full Episode: https://lnkd.in/dEBuSBb9 #SaaS #B2B #SalesStrategy #DemandGen #PipelineGrowth #Referrals #GrowthHacking #affliatemarketing #MarketingStrategy #LeadGeneration #CustomerAcquisition #BusinessGrowth #WordOfMouth #SalesFunnel #Networking #ClientRetention

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A lot of SaaS companies once looked unstoppable. Funding secured. User numbers climbing. Growth charts going up and to the right. From the outside, everything looked perfect. Then suddenly...they disappeared. What happened? But they didn't run out of money. They might not have run out of money, but they disappeared because the growth they were celebrating wasn't real. Here's something Web3 founders should pay attention to. Most SaaS companies didn't fail because they lacked ambition. They did because they tried to scale too early. They celebrated sign-ups but ignored whether people actually stayed. They spent heavily on ads but never fixed the experience for new users. They kept launching new features nobody really asked for. On the surface, it looked like progress. But on the inside, it was nothing but noise. Now look at Web3. Tokens launching before there's real use for them. Communities growing mostly because of rewards. Long roadmaps but very little actually shipped. Different industry. Same pattern. The uncomfortable truth is: If people don't stay, you don't have growth. If rewards disappear and everyone leaves, it was never loyalty. Getting people in the door feels exciting. But keeping them there is the real work. It's slower. Less flashy. Sometimes almost invisible. But that's where real companies are built. Web3 doesn't need louder launches. It needs stronger foundations. Because when you scale something that isn't solid yet, the cracks only get bigger. At ToriaX, we help Founders build growth that actually lasts, not just numbers that look good on a dashboard.

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The hottest prospects aren’t on cold call lists. They’re responding to solar ads. The mistake most sales teams make? Spending hours chasing cold leads with no intent. Scout Data’s Ad Respondents Layer gives you access to homeowners actively shopping for solar with highly accurate contact information, plus filters by location, roof age, and more.

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Most founders expect pipeline in 60 days. Math says 120. The problem isn't your SDR. It's that the sales process doesn't exist yet. Define it. Document it. Test it. Then hire someone to execute it. https://lnkd.in/g5-wQ88k

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For the GTM-obsessed: here’s a tool that can give you a bucket load of insights. If there’s a data point, there are at least ten ways to interpret it. One way: inform how you deploy strategies in similar cities. Say a GTM strategy worked in Birmingham, AL. By identifying the most crucial indicators (GDP per capita? industry clusters? population density?)you can adjust these visualizations to find similar cities where that strategy is likely to succeed again. Birmingham mirrors Shreveport, Des Moines, and Worcester across key economic metrics: familiar customer profiles, likely similar pain points. Use it as a gut check for where your business goes next. How would you slice this data to uncover new GTM opportunities? Tool: Metroverse by Harvard (link in comments)

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Episode 405 of The ‪VentureFizz‬ Podcast features Ed Jennings, CEO of Quickbase: https://lnkd.in/e2rX7weh. The terms ‘narrow’ and ‘growth’ seem to contradict each other, yet in Ed’s mind, the two concepts go hand-in-hand. Based on his experience, true scaling doesn’t always mean adding new products or wildly expanding into new industries. It can be a huge challenge to say “no” to new opportunities when the goal is increased revenue. But as Ed explains, the key to sustainable success is to look deeply at your core customer and double down on your core value. This focus is what helps you win and retain customers—a factor often overlooked, but insanely important for long-term growth. Quickbase is the AI operations platform used by more than 12,000 organizations worldwide to transform ordinary work into extraordinary impact. Combining powerful AI capabilities and the flexibility and ease of low code/no code technology, Quickbase boosts productivity, improves efficiency, and enhances employee safety for organizations managing large-scale projects and operations in industries like construction and manufacturing. In this interview, we discuss: * Ed’s Background Story & Post College in Japan * His growth into leadership roles in the tech industry at PTC, Copanion, Inc., ADP, Veracode, & Mimecast. * Details About Quickbase & their platform. * Culture and hiring at Quickbase. * Quickbase's customer community. * Advice for building a career path to CEO * His thoughts on hiring executives * And more! #podcast

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🔆 Robert Cabral 🔆 is in the Spotlight today! Robert leads Support & Enterprise Education at Runway. Over the past 10 years, he's built post-sales teams from the ground up at multiple startups, including scaling companies from $5M to $100M+ ARR. He shares insights on support leadership, operations, AI, and more in his newsletter, "Beyond the Queue." 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿? When I started, support was seen mostly as a reactive function. While I worked with many talented individuals, there wasn't much room for strategic work. It was about fixing the issue, closing the ticket, and moving on. Today, it has evolved into a key part of the customer journey. The best teams act as partners. They surface insights that influence product, marketing, and revenue. That shift from helping customers to helping the business understand customers is where I've focused most of my career growth. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁-𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗜? We’re living this evolution right now. The real question isn't whether to use AI, but where the handoff between automation and human judgment should happen. Get that wrong, and you create a faster path to frustrated customers. Get it right, and your team can focus on the complex problems that actually require human insight: account health analysis, strategic implementation planning, and turning at-risk customers into advocates. AI is already changing how we work, but the real opportunity is in what it frees us to do. The more we automate repetitive tasks, the more space we create for deep customer conversations, proactive retention work, and relationship building. There's a concern that AI will make customer interactions distant and cold. But I see the opposite happening. Teams will be able to focus on uncovering opportunities that build customer trust and expand revenue. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀? Many still view support or success as a necessary cost center. But great support is a growth channel. Every customer conversation is a data point, a retention lever, and an early signal of churn or expansion. When your success team notices a customer's usage dropping off or support spots repeated friction with a specific workflow, those aren't just service issues, they're retention and revenue signals. Address them proactively, and you prevent churn. Ignore them, and you're leaving money on the table. When teams are set up right, aligned with operations, product, and revenue, support can be one of the most strategically valuable parts of a business. That mindset shift is what transforms post-sales from a service function into a competitive advantage. (continued in comments!)

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You can turn $100,000 into a $50 million business through acquisitions. This is closer to capital allocation than traditional entrepreneurship. Here's the deal structure. First, the capital stack. You buy a business the same way you buy a house. Equity in, bank covers the rest. With SBA loans: 90% loan, 10% equity. A million dollar business might require $100K to $200K down. Target companies with $1 to $3 million in earnings. Go to sellers that are NOT at market. Brokered deals are competitive and sellers want cash at close. This only works off-market. Here's what you propose: Seller keeps 20% equity in a new entity. Asset sale, their company moves into newco, they keep running it at fair market salary. You write them a check for 60% via bank loan. Remaining 20% is a seller's note: 10% straight note, 10% performance earnout. From the bank's perspective, you created 40% equity. The truth? It's really only 20%, and it's the seller's. Your money in? Approaching zero. But you own 80% of Enterprise Value. Why would a seller agree? Tell them: my goal is to make your 20% as valuable as the 80% we're giving you today. What are the odds you double the value on your own in 3 to 5 years? Now stack earnings. $2 million average per company. Buy 10 just like this. $20 million combined earnings under one entity. Centralize marketing, accounting, HR, governance at HQ. You bought each at 4 to 4.5x. A $20 million earnings business sells for 7 to 7.5x or more. That's multiple expansion, just by combining them. Close the first one. Negotiate the next $100K for the next business. Then newco sells to PE for 7, 8, 9x your $20 million in earnings. That's the path from $100K to $50 million. If you're considering buying a business in the next 12 to 24 months, we built Acquisition Lab for exactly this. walkerdeibel.com

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SRS segments sellers into 48+ personas because “one drip campaign” is how good leads turn cold. Different readiness requires different messaging. #SellerReadinessSystem #SalesAutomation #LeadQualification #BusinessBrokerage #PipelineManagement https://lnkd.in/eQxFheNQ

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Walk through a no-code Lovable workflow on a video call so churches can launch a real app MVP, validate with people, and protect the budget. The build now includes a form builder, built-in follow-up, and a backend with auth for faster shipping and better stewardship. #NoCode #ChurchTech #ChurchComms #MinistryTech #SaaS #Leadership #CoreyAlderin #SermonShots

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GTM Engineer? AI Architect? I dont care what you call it, you'll need something. Sydney Sloan give the rundown on The Transaction. Another great take from her episode.

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𝗙𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵, 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗠𝗕 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 Here's what most SMB leaders don't realize: You don't need a $300K full-time CTO to align your technology with your mission. A Fractional CTO brings executive-level technology leadership on demand—without the overhead. Think of it as having a seasoned guide who helps you navigate data governance, cybersecurity, and vendor relationships while keeping your business values front and center. 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀? Faith-driven SMBs ($5M-$50M) in healthcare, retail, finance, and manufacturing who refuse to compromise their principles for profit—but still need enterprise-grade protection. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗙𝗶𝘁𝘇 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀: • Cost-effective leadership clarity (60-80% less than full-time) • Protection from vendor lock-in and ideological deplatforming • Compliance roadmaps that honor your mission, not just regulations • Technology decisions rooted in stewardship, not hype As your servant-leader CTO partner, I help you build systems that serve your people, protect your data, and advance Kingdom-minded business. "𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥." - 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘴 16:3 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗠𝗕 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀: What would change in your business if your technology partner shared your values and understood your mission? #FaithInTech #ServantLeadership #CyberFitzConsulting #FractionalCTO #SMBLeadership

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The rules of B2B go-to-market are being rewritten in real time - and STACK’D Connect is where the new playbook gets revealed. From shifting buyer behavior and ecosystem-led growth to AI’s impact on execution, STACK'D is the place to learn from and connect with the best in the industry.

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🚀 Rocket Pro's new Vendor Marketplace is live = efficiency unlocked. Shape Software is proud to be one of the inaugural partners, bringing: • AI‑enhanced CRM with marketing automation • Seamless LOS integrations • Compliance peace‑of‑mind If you’re a broker, lender, or industry partner aiming to close more loans with less manual work, you've found the solution. #MortgageTech #ShapeCRM #RocketPro #Fintech #CRM

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Speed is a growth strategy. In SMB + SaaS, the winners aren’t the teams with the most tools. They’re the teams that remove friction—so campaigns launch faster, leads get followed up sooner, and reporting doesn’t turn into a monthly fire drill. Here are 7 “speed fixes” that usually pay back fast (often in weeks, not quarters): 1) One source of truth for lifecycle stages 2) Remove duplicate/low-signal form fields 3) Standardize UTM rules 4) Automate routing + notifications 5) Build a default weekly dashboard 6) Dedupe conversions across platforms 7) Reuse landing page blocks to ship pages quickly If you want, we can share the internal checklist we use to find these quick wins. Comment “SPEED” and we’ll send it over. #STREMELINE #B2BMarketing #MarketingOps #RevOps #SaaSMarketing #GrowthMarketing #Automation #DemandGen

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Powerful work here. The 18-month CRO tenure stat is eye-opening and is surely a strategic misalignment problem. The shift from "which AI tool" to "what should be human-led vs. AI-led" is the exact reframe revenue leaders need right now. That's a strategy question that separates operators from order-takers. Excited to dig into the Six Traits framework. If GTM Operating Partners across top-tier funds are converging on common patterns, that's a signal worth heeding.

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SDRs are under pressure to move fast and stay personalized—but how do you balance both? AI might be the answer. In this quick video, we break down how AI is helping SDRs save time, do better research, and make every call more effective—without burning out. What’s one way you’d love to use AI in your sales process? Drop it in the comments!

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