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15 Comments

Roast my idea: Partnerships (and cross-promotions) for SaaS Founders

Let's talk partnerships, baby!

I'm currently working on a SaaS and have been recruiting partners to promote my product to their audience.

Problem:

The process is time consuming (and frustrating) AF.

(Doing this the hard way because I know partnerships work. In fact, partnerships have been the #1 growth accelerator for all the companies I've worked with before)

Hypothesis:

My hypothesis is that I'm not alone.

And that there are other founders who see 'partnerships' as a channel for growth but have a hard time finding partners.

Potential Solution:

A gated directory of SaaS founders who are open to cross-promotions...

...where you can find potential partners based on:

  • Industry
  • Email-list Size
  • Number of social media followers, and
  • Referral Incentive

Fill this form up if you're interested in getting your SaaS listed for free: https://rebrand.ly/SaaSpartnerships

👉 Do you see this helping you grow your SaaS?

  1. 2

    I understand it’s difficult to find time for building partnership for growth.

    Would you mind sharing more why you don’t have the time and what’s your current solution?

    1. 1

      Hey @felix12777 - Been following you & VentureList since a couple of months. Any time someone asks me about a good example of the #buildinpublicverse on Twitter, I send them your way :)

      Why I don't have the time: I run an email marketing agency so that takes most of my day.

      Possible solution I have in mind: Just DM'd you on Twitter :)

  2. 2

    You are essentially trying to build a closed circle of SAAS founders who can cross-promote each other's products or services to their existing customers for a % of Profit from each sale they generate....

    We do this right now for products with LTDs

    1. 1

      @wildfyre - There's no dearth of LTD groups & networks.

      I'm curious- How are you guys different from Appsumo / Pitchground / Digital Think - and other network-led LTD groups?

      1. 1

        Im not affiliated with any of the above networks.

        You are looking to build a founder-led affiliate group (where founders can promote each other's complementary product) and not a network-led LTD platform.

        1. 1

          Yeah - I get that. I'm trying to understand how you do things differently from what Appsumo does.

          Oh! and thanks for explaining to me what I'm trying to build :P

          1. 1

            Hahaha…I think that’s what you should ideally be trying.

            Also, appsumo takes a huge chunk of profit and has other legal things involved which you can avoid when doing it the other way round

  3. 2

    This is interesting 💪

  4. 2

    Sounds promising! Hope it turns into something.

    1. 1

      Thank you, Paul. It's great to see some positive signals re: this idea.

  5. 2

    I remember listening to a podcast with steli efti saying very often there are startups who don't even have a product yet and are forming partnerships with other startups etc and that's not a good thing. I'm sure you've researched into this topic but I think that's one thing to keep in mind

    1. 2

      I agree. Never helpful to put the cart in front of the horse.

      But I've always found it useful to build the cart (an audience) before having it pulled by the horse (startup).

  6. 2

    I think that's a great idea. The question is whether SaaS founders who are willing to x-promote is a big enough market?

    I can see how it's more appealing for newsletters for example

    1. 1

      Thanks for your feedback :)

      You make a good point. # of newsletters is def. > # of SaaS

      Plus, newsletter owners are more open to x-promoting. That's worth exploring. I guess I'll take one idea at a time!

  7. 2

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

    1. 2

      Awesome :D

      Loved your story about Postspace on Medium. The strategy of launching 50 times is something I'll STEAL from your playbook haha.

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