T2D3: How some software startups scale, where many fail

by Stijn Hendrikse, Mike Northfield

T2D3 is the playbook that B2B software companies use to get to $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR).Every investor wants to hit the next "unicorn", but reaching that coveted $1B valuation in 5 years is challenging—and rare. Tripling your annual revenue for two years in a row only to double it three more years after that to reach $100M ARR doesn't happen by chance. Companies that follow this growth pattern share similar journeys that form the basis for this book.T2D3 explains the critical steps software companies must take in their journeys from minimum-viable product to product-market fit, then T2D3 scale—along with methods and frameworks framed specifically for marketing leaders, founders, CEOs and investors of early-stage software companies.Many marketing books start and stop at the theory. T2D3 supports its readers with a growing digital library of templates and guides that make it easy to implement the frameworks explained in the book. Book owners can register their books at T2D3, you'll find best practices for building and scaling a SaaS business, hiring, measuring success & making big betsDesigning a complete go-to-marketChoosing your company's growth priorities at each maturity stageNailing your niche, defining your identity, understanding your differentiationUnderstanding, sizing, segmenting, and defining your ideal customer profile & audienceBuilding a modern marketing function and maintaining its focusMaking choices around content marketing, demand gen and your tech stackManaging marketing and sales talentPositioning and pricing your SaaS product using market indicatorsCreating relevant messaging for your entire customer journeyDesigning effective account-based marketing (ABM) programsReporting growth metrics to the board of directors and investors

Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship

354 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 19, 2021

Reviews

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

How I Came to Read This Book: I impulsively stumbled upon this and picked it up - I work in tech and have worked for companies at various growth stages, I was curious to see this playbook for going from startup to success story.

The Plot: This is a rather clinical breakdown of the 'science of scaling' if you will, largely focused on the role marketing plays in helping a company grow. It could be labeled a playbook as well, covering everything from identifying your ICP and building personas to building out a marketing function to the best approach to building a brand voice and messaging to specific tactics marketers may want to consider. Basically any topic you'd want to delve into related to SaaS marketing, particularly for startups, is tackled here.

The Good & The Bad: Overall this is a good read. I kind of picked it up as a way to reassure myself I wasn't missing some magical formula to marketing software, and I can generally say I'm not. There were few things in here that I wasn't already familiar with. That being said...I appreciated the tidiness of this book, and the thinking behind it. I dogeared 50 pages of things to circle back to and I have no doubt this will continue to be a valuable research for me for quite a long time.

If I had any critiques, I think the book could have used some recaps, to make things a little stickier. You'd just finish a chapter that had a million action items and tasks and strategies in it and apart from all the dogeared pages it was like "Okay so where do I have to go to do what thing again?" I also feel like it could have used more stories or examples to help with retention, even if they had created a fictional company to follow along their journey. In some cases there are lots of really detailed examples, but there were definitely a few spots I was like "Okay but how would you do this?"

Also, because I purchased the actual hard copy of the book instead of the digital copy, I'll mention that some of the visuals are hard to read; I imagine the PDF would be easier to zoom in and explore pieces.

As a bonus, this book does give you access to a membership on the T2D3 website, which includes a (currently limited) library of templates and such to help you along - a nice little surprise that I didn't anticipate at first. Overall this is a solid collection to help new marketers wrap their heads around the world of SaaS marketing, while adding some discipline to existing marketers...I can say I've worked for companies as big as $1B in revenue and they never cared about attribution to the level this book breaks it down (TBH, I don't know that ALL this math is necessary but I appreciated some new learnings). It can get a little clinical and technical and sterile, but I'd hope that a CFO or CRO could step in and co-tackle some of the more formulaic components of building an effective plan.

The Bottom Line: Well worth the $30 price tag.

Anything Memorable?: Definitely read this as some extra credit work while starting a new job...

2022 Book Challenge?: Book #17 in 2022

[José Andrés · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a simple book to follow, but just because it's simple doesn't mean it's not great. There are no extremely complicated terms. It has several examples based on the author's experience that assists in understanding even better what he explains.

This is a very valuable book whether you have basic, intermediate, or advanced knowledge about B2B SaaS marketing, since it gives you the basics of the subject and how to apply them in practice in the best possible way.

[Fadi George · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is FUNDAMENTAL to anyone looking to launch or scale a SaaS product.
I highly recommend this for any marketing leader or CEO of a software company.
We leverage the methodologies, frameworks, and strategies in our marketing firm. A+++

[Kan Bhalla · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you’ve read Crossing the chasm, don’t bother with this one. It borrows heavily from that iconic book.

In fact, the title is kinda misleading. This book is largely about teaching marketing to someone who is new to B2B marketing. And a little bit about marketing the author’s own firm.

[Maria Valecillos · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a young marketer reading has helped me so much to understand basic strategies and get familiar with definitions.