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\n\n Sneak Peak Inside Helply\nWe just launched our latest feature: Knowledge Bridge. \nKnowledge Bridge captures insights from support tickets, continuously monitors your knowledge base for changes, and automatically fills content gaps for accurate and reliable support. \n\n\"Zendesk’s AI required so much manual training. It just wasn’t worth the time. Helply is a completely different experience.\" - Helply VIP Customer\n Book your private, 1-on-1 demo today. 👇 \n \n
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\n | \n Helply's Vitals\n↓\nEvery week, I'm laying out the do-or-die numbers for Helply–these are what I consider the make-or-break metrics for a B2B SaaS company. \nAs we evolve through the stages of a B2B SaaS lifecycle, so will the metrics. These are the numbers I obsess over as we push Helply to the next level. \nWhere we are: \n🎯Development and MVP Stage\nGoal: Build and validate the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). For this stage, our goal is to book 100 Helply demos and generate 35 pre-sales of Helply. \nFocus: Testing the MVP with early adopters, gathering feedback, and iterating using a sales-led motion via live demos. \nCurrent Stats:\n💡Insights: \n\n \nStrong December performance across all metrics. \n \nOur demo pipeline exceeded targets with 50 booked and 41 completed (166% and 136% of goals), converting to 13 closed deals. \n \nOn the MVP front, we've onboarded 40 customers (114% of Q4 target) and pre-launch economics are exceeding projections, with MRR at $6,760 and ARR at $81,120–both 28% above goals. \n \nThese results indicate strong market validation and efficient conversion rates. \n\n
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\n | \n Weekly Beats\n↓\nHere's the recap of Helply's most important \"A Ha\" moments and \"Oh Sh*t\" challenges from the last week. In the spirit of full transparency, every week we pull back the curtain on everything we do and leave no stone unturned. \n👉 Follow along as we grow from $0 to $10M ARR in real-time via our Journey Page. \n | \n\n |
\n | December 29th, 2024 | \n\n |
\n | Holiday Surge: 2K New LinkedIn Followers in Seven Days | \n\n |
\n | \n I was expecting a holiday lull, but I’m not complaining. \n \nOur content is resonating with exactly who we need to reach–SaaS founders and leaders who get what we’re building. \n \nUGC growth comes in waves.You get your spikes, you get your valleys. \n \nBut if you keep at it consistently, everything compounds. \n \nThe momentum’s building as we head into 2025. \n \nIf this is what we can do during the holiday slowdown, just wait until January kicks in. \n \nThe flywheel’s spinning faster. \n \n | \n\n |
\n | \n Deep Dive\n↓\nDoes Less Humans = More Value? If you're asking Klarna, here's the answer...\n | \n\n |
\n | \n Let's explore something that's been keeping me up at night recently: What if the path to a higher valuation isn't hiring more people, but replacing them with AI? \nIt sounds like the nightmare scenario of FAANG workers and deccelerationists, but Klarna's making moves that can't be ignored. \nThe numbers that got me thinking: \n
Is this a coincidence? A market fluke? A PR stunt? Or are they onto something? \nLet's break it down. \nThe Old Way: \"Just Throw People At It\"\nWe all know this playbook. Heck, many of us have lived it: \n\"We need to hire faster!\" \"Scale the team!\" \"Get that VP from Goldman!\" \"More people = more growth!\" \nThe traditional recipe looks something like this: \n
Those monthly hiring reviews? Finance chasing down team requests while Tech and AI teams are nowhere to be seen. Because that's just how it's done, right? \nResult: 4,500+ people, massive salaries everywhere, and efficiency metrics that make you want to hide under your desk. \nThe New Way? \"What If AI Did This Instead?\"\nHere's where Klarna's taking a wild bet - and I mean WILD. They're basically asking: \"Do we actually need all these people?\" \nWhat they're trying: \nThe Weekly \"AI Opportunity\" Meeting\n
The Numbers So Far\n
They're even planning an IPO from this position. \nWhat if we've been thinking about tech companies all wrong?\nThe traditional way is like trying to win a race by adding more drivers. But maybe - and I'm just thinking out loud here - it's about building a better car? \nKlarna seems to be betting that: \n
If you're running or working in a tech company right now, maybe we should be asking: \n
The Big Unknown\nWe're possibly entering a world where more humans doesn't automatically equal more value. Klarna's testing this theory–hard. \nIs this good for society? That's a whole other newsletter (and honestly, I'm not sure). Is this the future of business? Way too early to tell. \nThe math right now: \n
But is it sustainable? That's the trillion-dollar question. \nThe Bottom Line\nMaybe (and this is a big maybe)–the next unicorn will be measured differently. Not by how many people it hired, but by how efficiently it operates, with or without AI. \nThat's the future Klarna's betting on. Will it work? The honest answer is: nobody knows. But it's fascinating to watch. \nWhat do you all think? \nIs this crazy talk or the future of business? \nAre we missing something obvious? \nI especially want to hear from folks building companies right now–how are you thinking about AI vs human scaling? \n | \n\n |
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\n | \n Alright, that does it for issue #27 of the Zero to $10M ARR Newsletter!\nI hope you enjoyed today's newsletter. \nAnd don't forget: \n
See you next week! \n \nAlex Turnbull \n \n | \n\n |
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$0 to $5M ARR bootstrapped, solo founder. My new challenge: bootstrapping a new SaaS in public from $0 to $10M ARR in 3 years w/ 50%+ profit margins. Founder & CEO @ GrooveHQ.com & Helply.com 👋 I'm Alex, and here's my story in a nutshell: - Founded 3 businesses: one sold for 8-figures, the other valued at $40M+, and my latest is just starting up - Early #buildinpublic founder with Groove’s Journey to 100K blog - Featured in 100+ media outlets 📈 $0-$5M ARR without funding with Groove 🎯My new challenge: Bootstrapping a new SaaS in public from Zero to $10M ARR in 3 years w/ 50%+ EBITDA 💸 Sharing my learnings on building highly profitable, capital efficient, lean, bootstrapped SaaS business What you'll get by subscribing to my newsletter: 🚀 Actionable tips to grow a profitable SaaS business 📚 Education around the future of AI in customer service 🔥 Transparent & actionable advice, no fluff 💼 Exclusive updates on growth Ready to build the highly profitable, capital-efficient, bootstrapped SaaS of your dreams? I’ll be sending a weekly newsletter documenting my journey from Zero to $10M ARR with Helply and business growth tips + tricks - so hit that “Subscribe” button!
Hey Reader, Most AI agents fall short because the data behind them is weak. You don’t know what to train them on. Or you add what you have, but aren’t sure if it’s sufficient. And that’s where it breaks. It’s a data source problem. When we set out to build Helply, that was one of our biggest findings; lack of optimized data was killing AI agents. We went out and solved that problem with Knowledge Bridge™. Knowledge Bridge™ runs your support tickets against your knowledge base, finds the gaps,...
The Zero to $10M ARR Newsletter The Zero to $10M ARR Newsletter is powered by Helply. Helply answers customer questions 24/7 so you can focus on more important work. Join the VIP program and we'll guarantee 50% resolution rate in less than 60 days. $180K VP of Sales. Zero sales. $200K dev. No product shipped. My $2M lesson in hiring backwards. I burned millions trying to ‘look like a real company’: Here are some of the expensive hires that killed my runway: VP Sales ($180K base) when we had...
Today, I walked the founder of a Y Combinator unicorn company through a fascinating a-ha moment. I was setting his company up in Helply and he discovered something most companies never find: A way to autonomously identify and fill knowledge gaps. Instead of the usual generic AI setup where you “crawl your website and call it a day,” something different happened. Helply’s AI: analyzed their support history identified 50 specific knowledge gaps and filled them systematically. For the first...