Hey Reader,

Welcome to The Middle, your midweek rundown of the most interesting things we've read this week.

We're here to help SaaS VPs, directors, and managers level up to become better business leaders.

It's Wednesday, so let's jump into The Middle...

THE MARKET

How much of your growth "should" come from expanding customers?

Kyle Poyar delivers the goods with benchmarks from over 700 SaaS companies. He says it so well, I'm going to hand it over to him.

Take it away Kyle:

So, how much of your growth should come from expanding customers?

It depends on (a) the size of your install base & (b) how fast you want to grow.

As you hit $50M+ ARR and growth slows, expect ~50% of net-new ARR to come from expansion.

This means:

1. More products for x-sell/upsell

2. More usage/seat adoption

3. Annual price increases (often with price escalators baked into contracts)

If you knew that half of your future growth would come from existing customers, how would that change your strategy?

Growth from expanding customers vs. new acquisition

BUSINESS OPERATIONS

C-Flex (^) Framework

I read an article from Aarti Bhatnagar that emphasized routines for management teams.

C-Flex is based on the “^” symbol name, Circumflex, and is a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches for retros (QBRs) and goal setting (OKRs).

C-Flex Framework for Strategy

One thing you start to admire is ideas that are simple to execute; simplicity breeds momentum.

Go see how QBRs and OKRs can be executed efficiently, with staff voice in mind, and in a manner that is repeatable each quarter.

LEADERSHIP

What do we really do around here?

I recently came across a post from Dave Kellogg from 2015 (this post still holds weight).

Here's the headline:
– VPs are paid to make the plan.
– Directors are paid to drive results with little to no supervision.
– Managers are paid to drive results with some support.

This is one of the best descriptions of different levels that I've seen.

Every person reading this will probably say "It depends" - but once you get passed that, it resonates in its simplicity.

Here's a few things I think about when moving up in Title:

1. Managers get stuck thinking like ICs. Directors get stuck thinking like Managers. VPs get stuck thinking like Directors. Every level goes through the same maturation - try to lessen that thinking curve.

2. The plan is only as good as your ability to adjust in real time - VPs have to have a pulse on the frontlines in order to adjust the plan or else they get caught flat-footed

3. Great managers know the skillsets of their team to put them in a position to be successful even if it isn’t their exact job description

4. Reporting up and often is the best way to keep someone off your back

Every situation is different, but at its core, the business hires you into a role because they need you to operate a certain way to make it all work.

Thanks for reading the recent edition of The Middle, from GrowthCurve.io.

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Cheers!

Jay & Jeff