When Saravana Kumar decided to join the SaaStock Startup Program in 2018, his first SaaS experiment (Document360) was merely an idea in its embryonic stage. The vision was to build a standalone Knowledge Base solution specially designed for SaaS companies. But first, he needed to see if SaaS companies would be interested. He was in the stage of a product-market fit search. Being a bootstrapped company it was crucial to implement a realistic, scalable marketing strategy.
Saravana figured asking 3000 SaaS leaders in Dublin whether they would use his product wouldn’t be a bad idea. A Startup Program booth at SaaStock18 would do the trick, and he could determine whether SaaS professionals would be interested in creating help centers for customers and end-users with Document360.
All through his school and college days, Sarvana had a box full of ideas. Ideas of all sizes – small, big, very big, thinkable and the unthinkable. But when it came to fruition, these ideas always seemed like a big jigsaw puzzle to him, as he struggled to understand where to begin. He had learned how important it was to ask people if they wanted what he was building.
Saravana decided to join the Startup Program and did his homework on how to make the most of it. He even sent us The Document360 Complete SaaStock Attendee Guide a few days before the conference. He then plunged into a customer research on steroids experience.
By the time he was relaxing in the company of fellow founders at SaaSociety a week later (a retreat where founders discuss challenges of growing a SaaS company) he soon realized that getting product-market fit wouldn’t be one of those challenges. He had had around 60 quality conversations with people who were either already using a competitor product or were interested enough to want to know more.
In other words, Document360 was in demand. Since then the startup has grown into a profitable business and has a great team in place. Their next milestone is to become an authority in the industry.
Which is why this year Saravana and the Document360 team are joining SaaStock as a Gold Partner. In the last 10 or so months, they have been on a stellar growth trajectory and are ready to increase the benefits they got from last year.
It made us think, what else had Startup Program participants benefited by taking part in it? We asked three of them and here is what they had to say:
Blendr.io
What brought you to the startup program last year?
SaaStock is an amazing place for us to exchange knowledge with SaaSers and find new partners, as Blendr.io is an integration platform for SaaS companies. The speaker lineup is just too good to miss.
What was the highlight for you?
Besides being a great conference, SaaStock creates a community with a very pleasant vibe that lives even outside the conference. When we flew back to Belgium, the majority of the plane was represented by Belgian SaaS companies, so we could enjoy the gathering even further!
What concrete successes did you have?
We partnered up with 5 SaaS companies to help them with the integration challenges.
What was the first thing you implemented after taking part in the Startup Program?
We’ve implemented a monthly newsletter for SaaS companies after taking part in SaaStock.
Where is your startup now in terms of numbers?
2 years active
20 team members
50 + SaaS Partners
2000+ integrations built
A seed round investment
Trengo
What brought you to the startup program last year?
We were tipped by a good contact from a big tech startup in the Netherlands, that we definitely have to go to SaaStock in Dublin. A week later we received an invitation from SaaStock that Trengo is selected for the startup-program. What a coincidence and meant to be, right?
What was the highlight for you?
Definitely the Investor matchmaking part, secretly the pub crawl and the presentation from David Darmanin of Hotjar.
What concrete successes did you have?
At SaaStock we have met a lot of potential investors, even investors from our own country, which really surprised us! Until today we’re bootstrapping and kept in touch with many of them who would like to invest. This year we will extend and expand our network for potential investors to be ready in the future to accelerate the business and to conquer the customer service world with our amazing team inbox.
What was the first thing you implemented after taking part in the Startup Program?
Changed our revenue model and implemented some optimization tools. We are now ready to expand and grow fast internationally and to compete with big companies.
Where is your startup now in terms of numbers?
Almost reaching the $1M in ARR with only 8 people working at the company right now.
Hundreds of companies are using our inbox from countries all over the world and still growing.
OneUp Sales
What brought you to the startup program last year?
I attended SaaStock as an attendee the first time I came and really enjoyed it. I figured 1 day of access to the startup bootcamp & 1 day showing off what we did was worth the extra cost; networking with/pitching to investors was also invaluable!
What was the highlight for you?
Dan Martell’s session on the day before the main conference began. Very educational and insightful!
What concrete successes did you have?
We got a lot of good feedback from the 20-odd VCs we spoke to. And naturally, we learnt a ton about the way larger SaaS businesses operate. Always good to learn from those who have walked the path you’re now embarking on.
What was the first thing you implemented after taking part in the Startup Program?
We created “departments” within the team based on Dan Martell’s advice and introduced weekly syncs. Both are still present in the business today!
Where is your startup now in terms of numbers?
We’ve tripled our revenue from last year and the team has gone from 3 people to 8. It’s been a very positive year and I’m looking forward to coming back and taking learnings relevant to the next phase of our business from SaaStock whilst once again networking with investors.
All these startups will be joining us again alongside many others. Just like Document360 did, discover the benefits of SaaStock that could completely change your startup or idea for the better. Sign up for the Startup Program now.
