S2E18 - How to become profitable as a bootstrapped SaaS? With Melissa Kwan

Building a successful startup, especially in the competitive world of B2B SaaS, is a challenging task. It requires dedication, strategic decision-making, and a focus on achieving profitability. Achieving profitability in a startup requires careful planning, customer focus, revenue-driven decisions, and adaptability. In this podcast episode on the Grow Your B2B SaaS, host Joran Hofman interviews Melissa Kwan, a successful entrepreneur bootstrapping her third startup, E-Webinar. Melissa shares her expertise on how bootstrapped founders can achieve profitability and why they must do so. Melissa emphasizes that becoming profitable allows founders to have financial stability, pay their team, and have the freedom to focus on their own happiness and personal goals.  Melissa also discusses her anti-VC stance, explaining that she prioritizes a particular lifestyle over financial gain and prefers to build a company where life comes first. She advocates for founders to enjoy the journey and find fulfillment along the way rather than solely working towards a big exit or financial success in the future. Melissa advises founders to focus on revenue generation and make decisions based on what will increase revenue, rather than solely focusing on product features or improvements. By thinking about their product as a revenue-generating machine, founders can ensure the sustainability and profitability of their business. Melissa's insights shed light on the importance of profitability for bootstrap founders and the potential for a fulfilling and balanced lifestyle while building a startup. She encourages founders to prioritize their happiness and well-being while also considering revenue generation and making informed decisions for the growth of their businesses. We discuss strategies to increase revenue and profitability, such as focusing on add-ons and catering to power users. Melissa highlights the need to learn and implement marketing strategies, such as SEO and content generation, and emphasizes the challenges of transitioning from a sales-driven approach to a marketing-led one.  She also shares her approach to building an audience on LinkedIn by crafting thoughtful, longer-form content. She provides insights into pricing strategies, revenue-driven decision-making, cost consciousness, and the importance of community and work-life balance.  Key Timecodes Melissa Kwan (0:29) Show and guest intro (1:16) Why you should listen to Melissa Kwan (1:34) why is it so important for bootstrap founders to become profitable? (4:26)  Why didn't Melissa Kwan go for an investment with eWebinar? (8:31)  Why building a startup to sell shouldn't be your set end goal. (10:03) Common mistakes startups founders make while bootstrapping. (12:17) what are things which will increase revenue (13:54)  Melissa’s process and strategy towards profitability (18:06) The common challenges and obstacles companies face while bootstrapping  (22:08) Where and when to post content (25:35) Why Melissa doubled her prices and reduced support tickets by 70% (29:14) How to grow towards 10K MRR (30:58) How to grow towards 10 million ARR (33:31) Melissa’s crucial advice to SaaS founders