Climb the mountain
As Tzuo recently shared with a group of entrepreneurs at an Index Ventures event, his first-hand experiences not only taught him about building a SaaS company, but they also helped him crystalize his thoughts about scaling.
To explain his viewpoint, he created a framework centered on the idea of mountain climbing. Climbers, Tzuo points out, normally don’t ascend straight up a cliff. Rather, they need to take switchback turns, which force them to make an “about face” at every leg. The same idea applies for startups.
To further delineate his mountain metaphor, Tzuo said that he had specific areas of focus for each of his switchbacks:
- Prove the Idea ($0-$1 million)
- Prove the Product ($1-$3 million)
- Prove the Market ($3-$10 million)
- Prove the Business Model ($10-$30 million)
- Prove the Vision ($30-$100 million)
- Prove the Industry ($100-$300 million)
Most relevant during:
GTM Fit phase
Scale phase
PMF phase
Most relevant for:
ACVs < $15K
ACVs $15K-$50K
ACVs > $50K
