Hey - Marc here.

Happy Saturday morning, motivated B2B SaaS Founders!

Here's at least one tip to keep in mind as you grow your B2B SaaS company:

Today's issue takes about 5 minutes to read.

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In today's issue, I share some key takeaways from Surfer’s CPO and co-founder Michal Suski’s presentation at Nathan Latka's conference “SaaS Open 2023” in New York. He discussed how partnerships helped them scale to more than $10m.

Michal Suski is an SEO specialist, on-page enthusiast and co-founder of Surfer who has a wealth of experience in SEO and digital marketing. His vision and leadership have enabled Surfer to scale and thrive, securing a strong market presence in the SEO industry.

About Surfer

Five friends — a mix of marketers, engineers, and developers, bound by an entrepreneurial drive — embarked on a journey to make SEO accessible to all. This led to the birth of Surfer, a comprehensive suite for keyword exploration, content production, optimization, and SEO growth management.

Surfer, nurtured since 2017, is the shared innovation of Michal Suski, Stawek Czajkowski, Lujan Suski, Tomasz Niezgoda, and Kazik Pietka. They've invested relentless efforts and tireless hours into its creation and development.

What started as an internal tool designed to streamline the operations of KS, an agency that transformed SEO across Poland and beyond, evolved into an entity of its own. Today, Surfer is a globally recognized brand in the marketing domain, entrusted by multinational corporations and solo entrepreneurs alike.

A significant milestone that Michal highlights is Surfer's growth through their affiliate marketing program. They manage over 3,000 affiliates through the efficient coordination of a single part-time employee. This is a testament to their effective management systems.

Challenges

Complex setups has led to confusion and decreased efficiency.

One challenge here is the potential lack of understanding or miscommunication about the partnership process and responsibilities, which could lead to conflict. However, maintaining clear communication and defining responsibilities from the beginning can help prevent these issues.

Advice to Other Founders

Acquire more customers through partnership.

Their partnership with Jasper worked phenomenally because customers from both companies were requesting integration. This partnership was a successful venture thanks to aligned goals, simple setup, competitive offer, and an interested audience.

Base your partnerships on mutual benefits.

When negotiations are imbalanced, one side may feel undervalued. Also, when negotiating the terms of partnership, some companies may potentially demand more than they offer. By ensuring that your offers are competitive and fair and by standing firm in negotiations, these challenges can be managed.

Maintain simple setups for seamless collaboration.

Partnerships work best when the partnering companies share the same goals and maintain simple setups. Michal learned this from his experience with different partnerships, illustrating both successful collaborations like the one with Jasper, and unsuccessful attempts like those with WriterAccess and SEMRush.

TL;DR

At the SaaSOpen 2023 conference, Michal Suski spoke about how partnerships, particularly with affiliates and through integrations, helped Surfer SEO scale to over $10 million. He shared his experiences with different partnerships, illustrating both successful collaborations like the one with Jasper, and unsuccessful attempts like those with WriterAccess and SEMRush. Michal's presentation underscored the importance of strategic partnerships for scaling SaaS businesses, providing attendees with a wealth of actionable insights and advice based on Surfer SEO's journey and his personal experience.

PS Here is a link to the full interview if you are interested in listening to the full episode: Partnerships helped them scale to $10m+; Here's what they learned

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See you again next week.

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