On Rogue Startups we share the journey of startup founders as they're growing their businesses. We feature experts in the fields of sales, marketing, and product development to hear how they're growth hacking their productized services and SaaS products. If you're on the journey of an entrepreneur then tune and hear how we're tackling some of the same obstacles you may be facing, and how we're winning in the game of business. Listeners of Startups for the Rest of Us, My First Million, Mixergy, and Bootstrapped Web will love checking out our show.
All content for Rogue Startups is the property of RogueStartups and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
On Rogue Startups we share the journey of startup founders as they're growing their businesses. We feature experts in the fields of sales, marketing, and product development to hear how they're growth hacking their productized services and SaaS products. If you're on the journey of an entrepreneur then tune and hear how we're tackling some of the same obstacles you may be facing, and how we're winning in the game of business. Listeners of Startups for the Rest of Us, My First Million, Mixergy, and Bootstrapped Web will love checking out our show.
In this New Year's Eve 2024 episode, we dive into a framework for evaluating SaaS businesses across eight crucial criteria. Instead of doing a typical year-in-review or making predictions, we explore how to assess the fundamental strength and potential of your business.
Episode Highlights
Craig grades Castos (podcast hosting platform) across eight key criteria for evaluating SaaS businesses:
1. Pricing (6/10)- Core product (podcast hosting) averages $28/month - below ideal $50+ threshold- Production services start at $1,500/month- Enterprise clients pay tens of thousands annually- Mixed pricing model affects overall score
2. Churn (9/10)- Extremely low churn rate- Attributes success to: - WordPress integration- Premium pricing (no free tier) - Strong technical reliability
3. Payment Processing Integration (4/10)- Offers multiple monetization options: - Castos Ads - Castos Commerce - Donations - Paid subscriptions - Private podcasting- Limited adoption of direct monetization features- Most customers monetize indirectly through business growth
4. Switching Costs (6/10)- Technically easy to switch providers- High retention due to ongoing necessity- Perceived switching cost higher than actual
5. Technical Advantages- WordPress integration provides unique value- Core functionality similar to competitors- Important lesson: Customer needs often simpler than assumed
6. Expansion Revenue (3/10)- Limited expansion opportunities- Most customers stay at $19/month- Working to add upgrade opportunities- Identified as major growth limitation
7. Established Market Need (10/10)- Clear market position- Well-understood service category- Strong product-market fit
8. Customer Acquisition (6/10)- Success with content marketing, SEO, partnerships- Struggling with paid acquisition- Limited by low price point- Working on improving paid channels
Key Takeaways
- Overall Business Grade: B (maybe 80/100)- Growth Ceiling: Business could potentially double but unlikely to become a $50M/year company- Main Limitations: - Low initial price point ($19/month for most customers) - Limited expansion revenue - Restricted marketing channels due to unit economics
Looking Forward
Future episodes will mix personal insights about founding and running a business with interviews featuring successful founders.
Rogue Startups
On Rogue Startups we share the journey of startup founders as they're growing their businesses. We feature experts in the fields of sales, marketing, and product development to hear how they're growth hacking their productized services and SaaS products. If you're on the journey of an entrepreneur then tune and hear how we're tackling some of the same obstacles you may be facing, and how we're winning in the game of business. Listeners of Startups for the Rest of Us, My First Million, Mixergy, and Bootstrapped Web will love checking out our show.
