GE 166: Jared Fuller On How He Skyrocketed PandaDoc from $1M ARR to $5M ARR in a Year (5X Growth!) (podcast)

Hey everyone, today we have Jared Fuller, VP of Business Development at PandaDoc, the future of documents – where you can automate contracts, proposals, quotes, and electronic signatures.

In today’s show we’ll be talking about how they get 1,500 people to sign up each day (and became one of the fastest growing SaaS companies), what they do to get a more than 10% conversion rate from trial to paid customers, how Jared helped grow the company from $1M ARR to $5M ARR (a growth rate of almost 5x!), and why leaving JobHive was the hardest thing that Jared ever had to do.

Download podcast transcript [PDF] here: Jared Fuller on How He Skyrocketed PandaDoc from $1M to $5M ARR in a Year (5X Growth!) TRANSCRIPT

Episode highlights:

• [02:32] – PandaDoc turns files into web apps and takes the pain out of documents, they also integrate with a CRM and customize the data and deliver it for an esignature
• [3:19] – 6,000 companies are using PandaDoc and 1,500 people sign up a day
• [04:23] – Custom templates that match your company, you create the document, it’s drag and drop, then attach a quote, send it for esign, and the client signs
• [5:28] – They have grown about 5X in a year
• [06:59] PandaDoc was an opportunity for Jared to grow a company that already had market fit
• [10:10] – Being part of an established business gives Jared new opportunities with the growth of the business
• [12:23] – Focus on the services your partners will be able to sell. Sales enablement – helping teams perform at a higher level.
• [13:07] – Evaluate client needs and send them a proposal, provide more value than what is already out there. With PandaDoc the experience can be customized
• [14:12] – Customer acquisition – SEO – rank for keywords that people use the tools for, template library – the documents people search for. Outbound marketing. Integration partnerships and co-marketing with joint webinars and blogs etc.
• [18:06] – 40,000 sign ups a month and a more than 10% conversion rate to paid from trial customers
• [18:45] – Leaving JobHive was the hardest thing that ever happened to Jared. Founder depression is real.
• [20:26] – The Wait But Why Elon Musk article about how he would zoom in and zoom out took Jared out of this Founder depression
• [22:27] – Invest more in yourself – personal development and education – mentorship – find someone who has done what you want to do better than you
• [23:44] – Newsapps and curators to follow posts in the morning, Jared reads in the morning and listens to podcasts when he walks to work, content comes to him, and he has advisor calls

Resources from this interview:

• PandaDoc
• Twitter @FullerFreedom
• Wait But Why blog: Elon Musk
• Must-read book: Leadership and Self-Deception

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