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The growth playbook we used to grow @teachable to $1M in ARR
Even though we started the company in May 2014, it wasn't until June 2015 that we found something that was "working" repeatably
From that point on, we 5x'd in 5 months.
Here's what we learnt
Even though we started the company in May 2014, it wasn't until June 2015 that we found something that was "working" repeatably
From that point on, we 5x'd in 5 months.
Here's what we learnt
The Product:
Our software helped people create and sell beautiful online courses on their own website.
Like any software biz, we started out by selling our software
Rather depressingly, we found that not enough people cared to upgrade from their current course hosting platform
Our software helped people create and sell beautiful online courses on their own website.
Like any software biz, we started out by selling our software
Rather depressingly, we found that not enough people cared to upgrade from their current course hosting platform
But!
There were a ton of people intrigued by the idea of ~starting an online course~ who didn't know how to, and frankly were not ready to buy the software.
Aha
We pivoted our positioning away from just software to software AND training on launching a course business.
There were a ton of people intrigued by the idea of ~starting an online course~ who didn't know how to, and frankly were not ready to buy the software.
Aha
We pivoted our positioning away from just software to software AND training on launching a course business.
Now, when you bought Teachable, you also received training on finding a course idea, building an audience, creating your course and launching
Software + training... we now had a complete solution instead of merely software
People start buying T for the training
Software + training... we now had a complete solution instead of merely software
People start buying T for the training
The Funnel:
At the time, we were a freemium product.
The problem was just about 2-3% of people were upgrading to a paid tier.
Frankly, our free plan was way too good and we were not driving any urgency to move to a paid plan.
At the time, we were a freemium product.
The problem was just about 2-3% of people were upgrading to a paid tier.
Frankly, our free plan was way too good and we were not driving any urgency to move to a paid plan.
Enter live webinars.
We started hosting a free, live workshop 1-2x a week for our free users giving them a demo of all the dope features they get on a paid plan
We would then end with a gimmicky "offer" to get something special if they moved to a paid plan LIVE on the call
We started hosting a free, live workshop 1-2x a week for our free users giving them a demo of all the dope features they get on a paid plan
We would then end with a gimmicky "offer" to get something special if they moved to a paid plan LIVE on the call
Something special could be bonus courses, a community, additional coaching etc. etc.
Importantly, we never discounted T vs tried to find ways of adding additional value at the same price
This combination of workshop + live offer started working insanely well
Importantly, we never discounted T vs tried to find ways of adding additional value at the same price
This combination of workshop + live offer started working insanely well
At one point, we could reliably convert almost 1 out of every 3 people that attended a call live to becoming a paying customer!
This simplified our marketing a TON - all we now needed to do was get more webinar registrants.
Our free to paid conversion rates more than 2x'd
This simplified our marketing a TON - all we now needed to do was get more webinar registrants.
Our free to paid conversion rates more than 2x'd
The Traffic:
Every startup needs to find their unique competitive advantage in where they get traffic from.
Whether it's SEO, content, paid FB or Google ads or whatever, you gotta find your unique edge.
Our competitive advantage was our customer's audiences.
Every startup needs to find their unique competitive advantage in where they get traffic from.
Whether it's SEO, content, paid FB or Google ads or whatever, you gotta find your unique edge.
Our competitive advantage was our customer's audiences.
Something unique to Teachable was some of our most successful (and doting) customers had an audience of thousands of other people that were prospective Teachable customers.
This meant someone like @PatFlynn who was an early T customer could send us hundreds of new customers!
This meant someone like @PatFlynn who was an early T customer could send us hundreds of new customers!
And they did.
We rolled out a standard affiliate program paying out 30% of the monthly commissions we'd earn to anyone who would send us customers.. indefinitely.
This worked well, but it wasn't enough. How could we take it to the next level?
We rolled out a standard affiliate program paying out 30% of the monthly commissions we'd earn to anyone who would send us customers.. indefinitely.
This worked well, but it wasn't enough. How could we take it to the next level?
We started partnering with our top customers to do the same live workshops we did to our audience... to their audience.
A single workshop with a partner could drive 25+ customers.
Start doing a few of these a month... and it's a super interesting channel driven by pure hustle
A single workshop with a partner could drive 25+ customers.
Start doing a few of these a month... and it's a super interesting channel driven by pure hustle
And the final convergence of this strategy was our live conferences.
Instead of a workshop with one partner, why not do many workshops with 20+ partners?
Have them invite ALL their audiences and you have a kick ass free online event.
Instead of a workshop with one partner, why not do many workshops with 20+ partners?
Have them invite ALL their audiences and you have a kick ass free online event.
Based on our learnings, we made event attendees an offer to buy Teachable at the end of the event with free training bundled in from all our partners
And now these events were capable of driving hundreds of customers at once!
We eventually scaled it to 2k customers / event.
And now these events were capable of driving hundreds of customers at once!
We eventually scaled it to 2k customers / event.
We're at $50M+ in ARR today.
But we wouldn't have gotten here without these tactics getting us to our first $1M in ARR.
They eventually start losing effectiveness at ~$10M or so... but that story is for another thread.
But we wouldn't have gotten here without these tactics getting us to our first $1M in ARR.
They eventually start losing effectiveness at ~$10M or so... but that story is for another thread.
I do want to emphasize that while I am sharing this story, these actions are the result of the efforts of the entire Teachable team at the time
with a special shoutout to @AGuttormsen & @conradwa on the growth side
with a special shoutout to @AGuttormsen & @conradwa on the growth side
I'll be sharing more in the coming weeks about our journey building Teachable to this point and where we're going after.
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