Crushing Billion-Dollar Companies

Hello my friend,

Today, I’m sharing some lessons learns taking on billion-dollar companies as we are at beehiiv. What’s hard about it, what’s working from my seat, and how it relates to my side-hustle (and maybe yours).

For nearly a year, I’ve been scoping out features at beehiiv specifically for our enterprise customers (the larger, massive accounts). They’re currently working with billion-dollar companies, who have tens-of-millions to spend on marketing, support, and their product (while we’re still one of the smaller players in the space).

So, how do we take them on when we’re smaller, have less money, and haven’t been around as long?

It’s about a lot more than just new features. We’re not trying to do the same thing as our competitors. It’s about meeting customers where they are going, not just where they are now. One game-changing feature can be worth millions. Done wrong, and it’s a total setback. So far, it’s working for us.

Before getting into the details, let’s go through the context.

Context:

Mailchimp (a competitor) sold for $12B (billions) a few years ago. CM group acquired Sailthru a year later (the amount was undisclosed, but they were making $60M/year at the time). The email industry is worth billions and billions, and the customers who have been in the game for 3, 5, 10 years have worked with them for years.

But building for enterprise customers is very different. The majority of customers are solo founders, who may have small teams. But at this level, we’re talking about companies with hundreds of employees. They have workflows they won’t change, that have been in place for ages, and they can often demand complexity.

So, we can’t necessarily just “build a great feature,” because it may not work with how they do business. The challenge now is building something that fits our philosophy, but also works for them. The two priorities don’t always match up.

What’s the move here? Here’s what a few newer companies are doing that’s working:

Linear, one of the newest leaders in tech, tells customers “this is the way,” and educates their customers on the new way. They’re not just building software. They are leaders in their industry, for the same customers they serve.

Notion, one of the top productivity tools for managing information (beating Microsoft, SalesForce, and Atlassian), takes a different approach. They built the product from the ground up focused on the individual, and win with design that scales for massive users. They’ve flipped the script with their product.

beehiiv. The all-in one tool to publish content, build an audience, and monetize with a newsletter, website, and more. Our solutions offer a more intuitive approach, to deliver the same outcomes with fewer steps, less money, and for a better price (instead of forcing companies to hire massive teams). Our approach, even as the smallest player in the space, is the reason why we’re winning new customers while going against billion dollar businesses.

The list goes on.

It’s not about building more, it’s about building less, but better.

Why Less, But Better?

To give you an example of why businesses don’t want “more,” I’ll use SalesForce.

A massive company hires a new VP of sales. Their first order of business? Build a new SalesForce integration. They spend 3 years doing this, hire an entire team, spend a fortune, and make the entire company’s life miserable. Then, they get another job. A new VP comes in. First order of business? Completely re-do the SalesForce integration.

What company that’s trying to make money actually wants this? People who lead companies are waking up to what a joke it really is. It’s not just SalesForce. It’s the way the software has grown for a long time. .

Not because it had to. Businesses often become needlessly complex as they grow. When the teams thinking through solutions complicate things, software gets complicated because software companies want their money. This is where companies like Notion, Linear, and us at beehiiv, change the game.

Why do they use SalesForce and other bloated software? Sometimes, they’re just too complex for too long, and the pain of changing is too great, so they’re stuck.

Now, enter the simple solutions. Less expensive, don’t have to hire teams, faster, smoother, all while delivering the same powerful outcome.

Meeting Customers Where They’re Going

Knowing that enterprise companies are trying to cut costs, use AI instead of hiring, and do more with less, we can see the direction. But, like I mentioned before, they sometimes just can’t work any other way.

Are we going to get 100% of the customers. No. But by focusing on the core outcomes in a way that’s easier, faster, less expensive, and more intuitive, the idea is to get the customers that have adopted the new way of working (and will eventually win).

Side-hustles and small businesses work the same way.

• The family-owned restaurant is an authentic experience a massive chain can’t recreate.

• The little candle company wins beats massive conglomerates using shit ingredients with higher quality ingredients, and better storytelling in fragrances.

• The small newsletter speaks to a younger generation of business people, and eventually, sells their business for $75M.

Wrapping Up

Building for enterprise customers, I don’t think the solution is to try and do what they’re doing. It’s to do less, but better, and find one specific angle that’s meeting the customers where they’re going.

Whether you’re building software, or running any business, the principles are the same.

Thanks again for reading. Now, a word from this week’s sponsor.