Mihir Deo

Too many vertical SaaS founders are burning down their markets before they even realize it. You hit $2M-$3M in revenue and think the next move is to scale like a horizontal company. Cold email programs. Spray and pray demand gen. All the tactics that worked for companies you read about on LinkedIn. It works for a quarter or two, then it stops. And by the time you realize it, you've burned through 2/3 of the companies in your vertical. I've worked with dozens of vertical SaaS and AI companies over the last couple years. The same mistakes keep showing up. Vertical markets have their own physics. Three laws in particular: Law 1: Brand velocity compounds fast Early at Levelset, we got into a public legal dispute with a competitor who ran the industry association for one of our core buyer personas. They banned us from their events. Made their position on Levelset very clear. We lost deals we didn't even know existed. Buyers disqualified us before we had a chance to earn their business. We spent 8 years working to overcome negative brand velocity with that segment. Your brand in a vertical is never neutral. It's either building momentum or losing it. And it compounds faster than you think. Law 2: Everyone on your team has to be an expert The founder knows the problem cold. But when you start hiring sales reps, marketers, and CS people, they don't have that foundation. At Levelset, we spent weeks onboarding new hires on how construction payments worked. The lien laws. The payment challenges. The GC and sub dynamics. Without that knowledge, they couldn't have real conversations or build trust. Your customers expect you to understand their world better than they do. Law 3: Vertical markets are local markets We struggled for years to build a repeatable mid-market sales motion at Levelset. Right ICP. Strong product. But we couldn't close consistently. Then we realized our best customers came through local referrals. A contractor in Dallas didn't care who we worked with in New York. They cared about the competitor across town using our software to gain an advantage. Everyone knows everyone in their city. They see each other at association meetings, industry events, job sites. They talk to each other often. You want your company to be part of those conversations. Show up to the conferences. Get active in the communities. Even better if you can own the community. Most industry associations haven't evolved in decades. Shift the center of gravity over to your brand. _______ The tactics change every year. The laws of nature don't. Build a great product. Know your customer. Educate the market. Show up in their world. When the vertical adopts your brand as the one they identify with, you'll have more demand than you can imagine.

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Executives won't open cold emails, but they will open a package. This is my best advice for breaking into Tier 1 accounts... When we were trying to break into big enterprise accounts at Levelset, there was one approach that consistently worked. We sent our top prospects a gift in the mail. Most teams never try this. They send another cold email, another LinkedIn message, or another voicemail. Then they sit around wondering why nothing converts. When you’re going after companies that can change your trajectory, you have to operate differently. Start with the person you are trying to connect with. Before you buy anything, spend time learning about the prospect. Look at what they post. Notice what they care about. Listen for the problems they’re trying to solve. You’d be surprised how often people leave clues out in the open. AI is really helpful at pulling this together for you. It's important to understand what would actually matter to them. Pick a gift that shows you pay attention. It takes more effort to pick something thoughtful than it does to spray a thousand people with the same sequence. But you’re not going after a thousand people. You’re going after the handful who can meaningfully move your business forward. It doesn’t need to be expensive. It needs to be personal. Somewhere in the $25–75 range is enough to show you cared without feeling transactional. Include a handwritten card. Keep it simple. Three or four sentences. Tell them why you chose the gift. Tell them what it made you think about in their business. Then make a clear, easy ask. When everything else in their stack is automated, a handwritten note stands out. Send it in a bubble mailer. Nothing fancy. USPS works fine. A bubble mailer gets opened. People are curious. Just make sure the address is right. We double checked every single one. Full up after it arrives. Don’t assume they saw it. Don’t assume they connected the dots. Send a short email. “Just shipped you something. Should arrive this week.” Then follow up again after it lands. The follow up is where the meetings get booked. Did this work? At Levelset, this was our most reliable way to break into large accounts. The response rates were dramatically higher than anything we did through email or phone alone. And it wasn’t because we were clever. It was because we were willing to put in more effort than everyone else. Most reps won’t spend thirty minutes researching a prospect or writing a card. That’s fine. The ones who do will win the meetings with the best prospects. The Reality This work doesn’t scale. It’s not supposed to. You don’t run this play for your entire TAM. You run it for the hundred companies that would meaningfully impact your business if you earned their trust. For those accounts, a thoughtful gift is a small investment compared to the upside. And if you’re willing to do the work, you’ll end up in conversations your competitors never even get close to.

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outbound tip: identify specific, observable problems your prospect faces right now. not theoretical pain points from a buyer persona doc. actual problems you can see from the outside. property managers in october need gutter work. SaaS companies hiring 10+ salespeople need pipeline infrastructure. companies with broken DMARC settings can't reach inboxes. these aren't assumptions. they're facts you can verify before sending a single email. when you can point to something real and urgent, your outreach stops feeling like spam and starts feeling like help.

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There are a ton of GTM efficiency metrics, but to me, the north stars are: $/total GTM spend $/GTM headcount Everything else is just a slice or deeper dive into these 2.

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Your inbox is leaking revenue. The average SMB loses $200K+ annually in deals that get buried in email. Leads are missed. Follow-ups are delayed. Opportunities slip through unnoticed. It’s difficult to stay on top of your inbox. And manual tracking isn’t sustainable. Every unanswered thread is a potential deal that might have been closed. This problem builds up slowly. But over time, it turns into real revenue loss. That’s where EVE comes in. ↳ It’s an AI Operator that connects directly to your inbox. → Finds potential leads hidden in your emails → Flags missed deals automatically → Helps you follow up at the right time with the right message EVE helps you turn forgotten conversations into active revenue. ↳ Most businesses recover $50K to $500K+ in their first 90 days. ↳ Without hiring more people or changing how they work. ⚡ Here’s what makes EVE stand out: 24/7 Lead Tracking → Constantly scans your inbox for new or stalled deals Smart Opportunity Detection → Spots signals like “Need demo,” “Budget approved,” or “Send pricing” Revenue-Based Prioritization → Scores each lead by potential value so you know where to focus AI Response Drafts → Prepares personalized replies based on your writing tone Unified Team View → Connects multiple inboxes for a clear company-wide picture 🎯 Here’s how to get started with EVE: Step 1: Schedule a demo at joineve .ai Step 2: Connect your Gmail or Outlook account in minutes Step 3: EVE scans your inbox and identifies hidden opportunities Step 4: Review and respond with one click If your inbox is full but your pipeline isn’t, it’s time to fix that. 📩 Try EVE today → joineve.ai 🔄 Repost to help others find deals in their inbox — #AI #Email #Inbox #Sales #EVEPartnership #SponsoredByEVE

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RevOps isn’t a tool. It’s a commitment to reality. Most teams buy software to avoid discipline. Then nothing changes. If you want revenue to scale, install RevOps like an operator: 1// Define pipeline stages Clear entry/exit criteria. No vibes. 2// Assign next actions Every deal has a next step or it’s dead. 3// Track conversion rates Lead → call → proposal → close. 4// Run a weekly revenue meeting Scoreboard, pipeline, offer friction, commitments. 5// Clean the CRM every week If your data is fake, your decisions are fake. You don’t need another tool. You need a system that tells the truth. Follow Gerald Duran — in-the-trenches mentor to founders who are done guessing. Founders who want mentorship through CanaGlobal: start at 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹.𝗼𝗿𝗴 (click Start Here).

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You ran the heatmaps and session recordings, and BOOM: Zero clicks on “Talk to Sales.” Instead, they hovered over your product screenshots—looking for something you didn’t have. Health tech buyers aren’t waiting around for your SDR. They’re scanning your homepage, looking for a way to use your platform. If they don’t find it in 8 seconds… they’re gone. Decision-makers don’t want promises. They want proof. And they want it now, not after filling a form. That’s why interactive product experiences aren’t just “nice to have” anymore. They’re the filter buyers use to decide if you’re worth their time. Here’s how you can fix it: Interactive tools are the new first impression. Why it works: • Buyers want to self-qualify before speaking to sales. • They want control, not a guided tour. • They trust their hands more than your words. You can swap out a video demo for a self-guided product tour — and see your bounce rate drop by 30%. No one wants to feel “sold to.” Why it works: • Interactive demos remove pressure. • They feel like discovery, not a pitch. • Buyers stay longer, click deeper, and return more often. It reframes the product from pitch deck to playground. Time-to-value matters before the sale. Why it works: • Buyers are scoring your ease-of-use within seconds. • If they can't get it, they think their team won’t either. • Clarity wins over complexity, every time. Your homepage should show usability, not talk about it. Demo pages are triage zones. Why it works: • Buyers scan for proof that you “get it.” • They check if there’s a free trial, a playground, or a hands-on tool. • If they don’t see one, they assume the worst. If there’s no interactive element, you’re losing deals before discovery calls. Product-led isn’t just for PLG. Why it works: • Even demo-driven sales benefit from interactive layers. • It increases demo show-up rates and shortens deal cycles. • It turns curiosity into commitment. Product-first trust builds pipeline. Big takeaway: Buyers don’t need more convincing. They need more control. And if they don’t get it on your homepage, they’ll find it on someone else’s.

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Two of my fav questions I like to ask ask founders of VC backed companies to determine values alignment? 1️⃣ What was the biggest commission check you signed last quarter? 2️⃣ How many reps got to 90% of quota? *What* and *how* they answer typically give me all the information I need around their understanding and respect for sales 🔑 Things I don’t want to hear: “well last quarter was unique in why not a big % of reps hit quota…” 👎 “we are spending too much on commissions and need to raise goals” 👎 “It’s odd that a rep that went to a state school will make more than a PHD data scientist from Stanford” 👎 Even if some of these may be valid things if they are the first and only things you share with me, I know we are not going to see the world through the same lens 🤷🏽‍♀️ Best b2b founders that manage ent sales teams celebrate big commissions and respect sales just as much as they do engineering 🔑 #founders #sales #cro #revenue #commissions #startup #technicalfounder

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Remember generic SaaS demos? Those days are DEAD. 👀 Your B2B buyer doesn't want a feature walkthrough. They want PROOF more than just features - they need to know that your solution fits their specific business reality. The harsh truth about today's B2B buying landscape: - Multiple stakeholders now involved in every decision - Generic demos fail to create conviction - Internal champions need self-serve environments they can share - Decision-makers want to see THEIR data, THEIR workflows, THEIR brand This creates a massive revenue bottleneck for most SaaS companies. What we've learned: The faster prospects can envision themselves using your product, the shorter your sales cycle. But maintaining custom demo environments is a silent profitability drain that most companies overlook. The Strategic Shift Winners Are Making: ✅ SaaS companies are moving from feature pitches to proof-based demonstrations ✅ They're building standardized-yet-customizable demo experiences letting buyers explore at their own pace ✅ Transforming demos from technical exhibitions to strategic weapons Here's the bottom line: Your demo strategy isn't just about showcasing product capabilities - it's about helping buyers see themselves in your solution's story. What's your approach to making demos more buyer-centric? Share below. 🚀

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In the SDR army era, more dials = more deals. But volume doesn’t equal velocity. Turnover kills your momentum. And every new hire is trial-and-error. That’s where the GTM Engineer comes in. They’re able to scale results with automation and tools. But GTM engineers are expensive hires that need to understand: Orchestration, automation, data enrichment, sequence logic, deliverability, lead scoring, attribution modeling, webhook management, API rate limits, troubleshooting 15+ tool integrations, and all the complexity involved. You shouldn’t need a PhD just to grow your business. A GTM lead equipped with GTM-1 Omni solves this complexity. AI handles all the orchestration, automation, tools, etc. And the human focuses on: - Nurturing relationships - Talking to prospects - Building trust That’s how I see the next era of GTM. A world where relationships and trust come first. Powered by machines that handle the repetitive work.

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A CMO’s weekly/monthly insights cadence part 2. Next up: Pipeline Progression Call: Weekly. This is a Sales X Marketing X Ops call. Each pipeline generating team: marketing, partner, outbound SDR, outbound BDR, fills out a memo style overview of pipeline week on week progress as well as highlighting any challenges. Initially it felt like a weekly call to track pipeline may not yield much because it would be a little too frequent to uncover impact from initiatives the week prior, but actually this intense discipline and focus on weekly pipeline generation by team has been a big unlock. Cross functional issues get surfaced much earlier and get unblocked much faster. Ownership and accountability has improved tenfold. It got everyone focused on discussing the same data vs relying on different views on separate dashboards that made threading the needle of the problem more difficult to diagnose. Importantly this is not a call for marketing to defend their pipeline position and lay blame on coverage gaps with other teams. I see this call as the time to work out how Sales, Marketing & Operations can pick the next best set of actions that will improve our chances of hitting that weeks budget pipeline target & close any gaps that may have built up. Pipeline Monthly Review: Monthly. The set-up for this call is similar to the weekly cadence, but the focus is on looking and uncovering monthly trends that require correction in order to remain on track for that quarters budget number. Are we generating in month pipeline at the same rate as we previously were? Is there a pipeline generation team that has built up a gap? If so what’s the gap, what are the 1-2 biggest causes of that gap and importantly what is our plan for correcting it? For issues identified in the previous monthly pipeline review are we seeing corrective trends in the data as a result of the actions we prioritised in month? Budget Committee: Monthly. This is a marketing leadership call where we build our monthly budget deployment plan. We'll reconcile the previous months spend and performance and use this alongside trending historical data and required deeper investigations to provide the detailed rationale for how we allocate spend for the month ahead. I like these calls to be lively debated. I want my leaders to bring forward strong business cases for how the $ are best allocated in order to hit our goals and how the data shows this is the best approach. It should take us a few iterations before we land on a plan that everyone is aligned on and happy to proceed with. If there is no discussion or debate then I question if my leaders are challenging the data and the approach enough. LinkedIn limits mean I can't fit a review of our final meeting cadence, which is: Quarterly full business review. This call is a deep dive into all of our create and capture demand activities by region and segment. More on that another time. #demandgeneration #b2bmarketing 

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This CS Agent just replaced a $200,000 SaaS tool 🤯 And it’s a sign of what’s coming. GTM was built in the image of SaaS. →One tool for every function. → Dashboards everywhere. → Disconnected workflows patched together by process. But the SaaS-Native GTM model is breaking: → Too many tools. → Too many gaps. → Too much headcount. → Too many teams stuck reacting - instead of moving with intelligence. And now AI is exposing the real issue. Because it can understand, reason, act and learn. But SaaS-Native GTM misses the context, intelligence and memory. Recently, we worked with a $250M ARR SaaS business - where Customer Success was struggling to scale: → NRR was falling → Retention weak → CSAT in decline → Just 20% of customers actively engaged → No visibility into product usage → Sales handovers were non-existent → No insights flowing to Product or Marketing → Playbooks untouched since 2023 → Support inbox chaos → CSMs firefighting and burning out They were preparing to hire 8 more CSMs. And they were already spending $200,000 on a well-known CS platform. But that platform couldn’t help. → It was disconnected. → Outdated. → Siloed from CRM, product, support, and the rest of GTM. So we replaced it. Not with another tool. With GTM Intelligence Infrastructure and an AI-native CS Agent. Here’s what changed: ✅ Context was unified - CRM, usage, support, and calls all connected ✅ Signals were identified - risk and expansion surfaced in real-time ✅ Agents orchestrated action - plans, workflows, follow-ups ✅ Memory was built - learning from every customer touchpoint ✅ Slack became the interface - insights and recommendations delivered where work happens The CS Agent didn’t just alert. It acted: → Detected risk or opportunity → Explained context and surfaced reasoning → Set objectives based on account maturity and goals → Referenced ICP, persona, and past plays → Generated a dynamic plan → Guided the CSM with meeting prep, follow-up, and next best action → Reported and escalated when needed → Monitored resolution and learned continuously → Shared insights with Product, Marketing, and Sales - automatically This is what a system that thinks looks like. And the results? → 45% increase in CSM capacity (more active customer conversations, zero added headcount) → 250% increase in expansion pipeline → $200K platform fully replaced → CS team re-energised, focused, and aligned with GTM And this is just the beginning. GTM teams don’t want another disconnected tool. They need infrastructure that adapts. Agents that guide. Systems that learn. We’re now replacing legacy platforms across sequencing, forecasting, ABM, and CS - with one GTM system powered by context, intelligence and memory. If you build the infrastructure now - You gain compounding insight, action, and advantage. 📩 Tired of legacy SaaS tools in GTM? DM me. ✉️ Building GTM with AI? Get in touch. 🔔 Follow for more insights as we we build AI-native GTM.

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The exit was always the point. Until now. Software was expensive. So you raised VC. VCs have LPs. LPs want returns in 10 years. So from day one, your company had an expiration date. You weren't building a business. You were building something to sell. AI broke that chain. What cost millions now costs thousands. What took a team of ten now takes two. Suddenly you don't need the money. And when you don't need the money, you don't inherit the timeline. For the first time in decades, founders can build to keep. I think we're about to see generational tech companies again. Not lifestyle businesses. Not lack of ambition. Just a different question: What if I built this to last? Made a quick video on it—curious if others are thinking about this too.

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As an SDR I went from SMB to MM to ENT in 11 months, averaging 137% across all 3. Each segment was like a completely new role. Want to progress as an SDR? Here’s exactly how I won at each level. 1. SMB It is all about relevancy at scale. Your TAM is huge. You often have thousands of accounts so you don't have the time to personalise for each account. Instead, you should think how can I hit as many accounts with good messaging as possible? This is the process I'd follow. - Define your true ICP which companies to sell to - Define your personas, who to reach out to - Define the trigger, why to reach out - Define messaging, why now This sounds super simple but it works, in theory it would be like: Sales ATL + SaaS companies + Closed Lost. SMB is mostly high-volume sequences with you ripping dials, it’s quite simple. 2. Mid Market Now more of a strategic approach comes into play. Naturally, your time gets smaller because the companies you're going to be going after are bigger. Therefore, tiering accounts is much more important at this stage. A tier 1 account should represent about 5% to 10% of your total book with the rest falling into tier 2 and tier 3. And those tier 1 accounts are the ones where I would give them personalised relevant messages. Things like CEO mentions, key initiatives from the organisation, anything that could only be tied to that company, and that's what you should be referencing in your messaging 3. Enterprise This is where the real fun begins of true personalised prospecting. You could have a book of business from anywhere from 10 to 200 accounts you want to break into, so each account needs deep research. This is where you have to make it specific about the company but more importantly you have to craft a perspective to show how what you solve directly ties into a key business initiative. Enterprise is mostly timing. There's so many things they could be fixing. You have to show why this one issue you solve is the one they should be focusing on. Why this fire out of all the ones they could put out? 4. Processes & SOPs Rep, you should really be building out your processes for each stage because how you approach SMB vs. mid-market vs. enterprise will be completely different. I used to do all of this in Notion. It took me hours but tools like Tango can now make this 10x easier for you to just document what to do so you can do it at scale. Do your outbound as you would normally and let it record everything you're doing. You have a detailed breakdown of your system. The easier it is for you to focus on outbound, the more meetings you’re going to book. I think there's a lot of advice saying that you have to be personal but the truth is that only applies to the segment you're selling into. If you do an SMB focus on trying to be relevant at scale to the bulk of your accounts. If you do an enterprise, make it personal, make it one-to-one. Advice isn't one size fits all.

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I’ve helped dozens of AEs and SDRs transition into SE/SC roles. There’s no doubt that you can earn a lot as an AE. AEs can make $1,000,000+ in a good year - a very lucrative career path. But the reality is most AEs don’t get there. It takes exceptional skill, timing, and a bit of luck to perform at that tier consistently. (I personally would be a terrible AE 😅) That’s why many folks choose to pivot into Sales Engineering - where the earning potential is still strong, but far more consistent. That’s what the data in the image shows: AEs: 36% SEs: 74% (Same company, similar OTEs) As an SE, you don’t always have the extreme upside that your AE counterpart will, but your income is more stable. (*there are some companies that pay SEs similar to AEs, with SEs able to clear $1M+ in a great year, though this is more of the exception than the rule) As an SE, there’s also less pressure to hit quota, quarter after quarter. The roles are different, with different responsibilities and varying degrees of risk (and upside). Both paths can provide tremendous opportunities, depending on your strengths and the type of work you enjoy. Hope this provides some perspective for those who are considering SE or AE career paths.

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Been awesome getting to know the SpendHound team and their excellent platform. Excited to have this partnership bring all that value to our client base! Watch this space: We'll be developing key thought leadership content around trends in spending and platform utilization, well timed for the market shift given AI and how that is changing with way finance people work.

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Almost all retention issues on sales teams come down to 1) Comp plans changing 2) Too much management churn 3) Product isn't competitive anymore Sellers want to sell! They don't want to change jobs just because

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In the last 8 years I've surveyed 4,000+ private SaaS companies to figure out what's going on in the industry. Never have I seen benchmarks go out of date so quickly. Back in 2022 the typical <$1M ARR startup had 13 people. "T2D3" was the name of the game. Hiring a big team was a flex & the highest quartile of <$1M ARR SaaS companies had 38 (!) people. As of last year that figure had dropped to 7 people on average. Expectations around ARR per employee are through the roof. AI agent workflows have become the 'thirst trap' of LinkedIn. The new flex is reaching the top of the Lean AI startup leaderboard. Let's separate hype from reality & find out what's *really* going on. Take the 9th annual SaaS benchmarks survey here: https://lnkd.in/ga9H2NZ2 This report is super special to me. I'm so excited to continue the journey with my friends at High Alpha (👋 Scott Dorsey, Kristian Andersen, Blake Koriath & Mollie Kuramoto). The full report will drop in the Fall & all participants will get early access to the data 👀 THANK YOU for your support 🙏 - Kyle #saas #benchmarks #finance

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Playbook: Ship a quick win for SMB founders Focus: 14‑Day challenge: quick ROI & momentum **5 steps** 1) Identify where signal is lost (inbox, missed calls, DMs). 2) Map the job-to-be-done (who, trigger, next step). 3) Automate the 80% (triage → personalized nudge → next action). 4) Add guardrails (opt-outs, throttles, low-confidence escalation). 5) Track outcomes (time-to-first-touch, meetings booked, cycle time). Download the AI Sales Playbook Comment **PLAYBOOK** and I’ll share the checklist + acceptance criteria page. #SMB #SmallBusiness #AIinBusiness #AIAgents #Operations #GoToMarket #RevenueSage #RainmakerOS

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