Ep. 62 - When staying independent isn’t viable–with Ted Hawksford, CEO of LiquidPlanner

SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success

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Despite building a great product and amassing close to 1000 customers, LiquidPlanner struggled to continue on the same growth trajectory.
Customers expected broader capabilities. Competitors had more money. And as access to capital tightened, the board decided to look for a partner.
They found Tempo, a complimentary business that will help deliver better portfolio management capabilities as well as its connectivity to Atlassian’s Jira–something their customers are looking forward to.
Even though the acquisition happened a few weeks ago, the focus is squarely on delivering better portfolio management capabilities and confidence to project teams than anyone else in the market.
In this episode, LiquidPlanner CEO Ted Hawksford talks about the salesmanship involved with internal stakeholders–and while it’s not the 10X valuation that most startups hope for, it’s the best outcome for everyone involved.
Key takeaways:

1. The challenges and concerns that arise when the two development teams are asked to work together before the deal is consummated.
2. Communications with customers about an impending acquisition and providing assurances about the future of product development.
3. The importance of having clean books before entering an acquisition and preparing for every detail to be scrutinized.

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.
The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.
And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

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