WTF is wedge marketing?

Link Roundups

• Did SaaS growth endurance endure? (Link)

• Tech benchmarks for operators: Revenue, efficiency and more metrics (Link)

• The role of the BDR in PLG/PLS (Link)

• Musical Chairs: A Shrinking SaaS TAM (Link)

News Roundups

• After raising $1.3B, Inflection is eaten alive by its biggest investor, Microsoft (Link)

• Tech job market remains in flux as layoffs continue and experienced workers struggle to get hired (Link)

• Jama Software to be acquired for $1.2B (Link)

• More funding goes to startups fighting disinformation (Link)

SaaS Weekly Reads

Are SaaS companies becoming media businesses?

In today's noisy content landscape, where it's harder to stand out and easier to be forgotten, SaaS companies are embedding media businesses inside them. Here’s why.

👉 Today, audiences seek more intimate ways to consume content – favoring creators, podcasts, and dedicated series over generic blogs.

👉 Traditional media excels at capturing attention for two reasons 1) content is the core product, and 2) they own their distribution.

👉 Media properties offer high-reach, low-cost marketing – seamlessly creating brand awareness where an audience consumes content.

Ian Ito @ SaaS Weekly [saas]

Growth Reads

A guide to the wedge marketing strategy

The riches are in the niches. Focus your marketing efforts on a narrow audience before you expand to other markets. Here's the rundown.

👉 Begin with the 10x value in mind – start with the niche where you add the most value and there’s a clear market pull for a specific use case.

👉 Create tailored content specific to that audience – become the subject matter expert through thought leadership pieces, how-to guides, and templates.

👉 Enrich your CRM with as many target accounts as possible, then run GTM plays with tailored messaging to get in front of them.

Emily Kramer @ MKT1 Newsletter [growth]

A New Framework: The Four W’s of Product-Led Sales

For a self-service growth motion, an early outreach by sales can spell a churned user or even a lost deal. To get the timing of your pitch right, nail these three things.

👉 Monitor product usage data like volume consumption, feature activation, or product errors to signal an outreach.

👉 Surface non-product activity like community interactions, marketing email engagement, or pricing page visits.

👉 Roll up these ‘trigger’ events into a score that will flag whether a user or an account is ready for sales outreach.

Elena Verna @ Elena's Growth Scoop [growth]

Marketing Reads

The Ultimate Guide to Homepages

Here are a few quick tips for building a high-performing homepage.

👉 Write to a specific audience – a niche slice of your ICP.

👉 Be specific with your messaging – your positioning should equal product differentiation + customer segmentation.

👉 Add features that address your audience’s pain points.

Anthony Pierri @ Product Growth [marketing]

How to Write Sales Emails People Want to Read

Need a guide on how to write better sales emails? Here are three quick tips.

👉 Personalize the opening statement – reference a recent social post, news update, or product launch to introduce relevancy.

👉 Get to the value quickly – lead with the problem, emphasize its impacts, and then end with how your solution helps.

👉 Lean in with social proof – boost your credibility with testimonials and success stories.

Highspot [sales]

Lessons From A Founder

GOAT’s Path to Product-Market Fit

Eddy Lu's journey with GOAT underscores a key lesson on the importance of resilience and the willingness to pivot.

👉 Embrace pivots as opportunities, guided by genuine market gaps and personal interests.

👉 Persistence is key – numerous ventures and setbacks can lead to breakthrough success.

👉 Authentic connection to the problem and solution drives innovation and market fit.

Todd Jackson @ First Round

Podcasts I'm listening to

• Madrona | How Writer CEO May Habib Is Making GenAI Work For the Enterprise (Link)

• Mostly Metrics | Rippling CFO Adam Swiecicki on Building a Compound Startup and Channeling Ambition (Link)

SaaS Weekly Resources

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SaaSy Social Posts

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Everything you need to know about partnerships in GTM