[SaaS Club] How a SaaS API Startup Raised $75 Million

Hey Reader

I hope you're doing well.

Here's a quick round up of what's been going on at SaaS Club:

🎧 Podcast

How a SaaS API Startup Raised $75 Million

Gil Feig is the co-founder of Merge, a unified API platform that allows you to add hundreds of integrations to your app.

After experiencing firsthand the pains of managing integrations at previous companies, Gil and his co-founder, Shensi, decided to build a solution.

Before starting their business, they talked to around a hundred companies to research and get feedback.

Most conversations were pretty positive, but some feedback was harsh...

There were three companies where people told them they'd never use the product and that they should probably give up on the idea!

The two founders spent 6 months building the first version of the product. And thanks to all those interviews, they landed their first 10 customers.

But as they tried selling their product to more companies, they quickly realized that they still had big obstacles to overcome.

Most companies were building their own integrations, and many of them weren't convinced they needed help or a product to make it easier.

And other companies weren't willing to trust their integrations to an early-stage startup that might not be around tomorrow.

Despite those challenges, Gil and Shensi have grown their business to multiple 7-figures in ARR, with a team of around 65 people, and they've raised almost $75 million in funding.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• The successful strategy they used to set up those hundred or so meetings when many founders struggle even to get an email reply.

• The techniques they used to overcome objections from prospective customers who didn't see the value in the product.

• How they were able to win over big customers who initially weren't willing to use a startup to run their mission-critical infrastructure.

• How starting early with SEO and content marketing and doing that consistently over the last few years is now helping drive revenue.

I hope you enjoy it.

Listen to the full podcast episode

📗 Book of the Week

This week's book recommendation is from Gil:

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries

🌐 Around the Web

Community

We're now posting full-length video interviews in the community.

So if you want to watch the full interview with Gil, check it out here.

If you're not a community member, join here for free.

YouTube Channel

We've started  posting daily highlight clips from interviews.

So if you don't have time to listen or watch the full episode, you can get 'bite-size' insights in a few minutes every day.

Check out our YouTube channel here. 

😍 Let's Get Social
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Have a great week!

- Omer

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P.S. whenever you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:

1. Group Coaching: Do you need coaching for an affordable price? Join me for live coaching calls every 2 weeks, access the archive of recordings, and more.

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