Todd Jackson: prediction

Transcript context

…Before we get to level three, what are signs that you're maybe stuck at level two, and what should one do about that? Yeah. So the whole idea of level two is this thing that the marginal customer is getting easier. And so you've got to be focusing on demand and the repeatability of demand while you maintain satisfaction. So the yellow flags are things that are the opposite of that. Your current customers are pretty happy, but you're just having trouble opening the floodgates. As you're getting to the top end of level two, you should start to hear some startups know who you are like, "Oh, you need a SOC 2, you're a startup. Oh, Vanta." "Oh, you need AI-powered contract management software. Oh, Ironclad. " You start to get known for a thing. And so if you're having trouble opening those floodgates, and you're sitting there for, I don't know, 12 months, 18 months, that's a problem. Or you have things like your regretted churn is greater than 20%. That's a satisfaction warning sign. And again, you have to maintain the satisfaction as you work on these other things. Every level just gets more things you have to do. Or you could be finding that the sales cycle's taking too long, you're losing deals late in the funnel, you're losing the competitors. You're just not feeling the urgency from customers or you're struggling to hit the price point that you want. And the way that customers will say this to you because customers are nice, right? They'll say, "Oh, we don't have the budget." Or, "Oh, it's just not the right time for us. We'd love to talk again next year." That means no, when you're hearing that from customers. You want customers who are like, "Oh, of course. Yeah, this is expensive, but I'm going to make this work because I need this." And so if you're seeing any of those signs, those are the signs that you maybe are stuck or plateauing at this level. And I really think it's important to think about the four Ps and think about: how am I going to pivot my way out of this? Jack Altman, who I mentioned earlier from Lattice, he's got a great quote on this. It's up in a video on the website. What did he say? He said, "Most founders do a 10% pivot, and what they need to be doing is a 200% pivot." Jack didn't say this, but I think part of my interpretation of this is it's psychologically hard as a founder. You've gotten to this many customers, you're starting to plateau, but you're like, "I don't want to throw this whole thing away." But you have to be willing to let go and really focus on nailing the four Ps at this point. And in your experience, do you find, essentially, pivoting is the answer if you're stuck?…

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