How Fred Shilmover grew InsightSquared by not going global

Fred Shilmover, CEO of InsightSquared, shares how he has grown
the company the past 7 years by staying laser-focused and not
expanding globally.


It has been there since day -1, back when Fred applied for an MBA
to figure out what SaaS company he wanted to create.


Fred did a proper research what would be of most value to people.
Eventually, he figured that to deliver the best value to
customers and not have a bloated product, the focus should be
only on revenue.


A lucky early sale to a cohort of similar companies showed a
pattern that what they were onto made sense. Fred created a
prototype putting together loads of spreadsheets and gave that to
his co-founders to build a product. In the first year, he made
all the sales. Somewhere there Fred made the decision that sales
efforts would be focused solely on The North American market.


With that geographical focus, InsightSquared now has close to
1000 customers, has banked $27 million in funding and employs 130
people.


In that, he is a prime example that to grow, SaaS founders have
to do less.


Listen to learn how he has kept his focus on:


Why a CEO should do a tour of duty for all main functions

How to avoid building the wrong product at the start

What is the cost of defocusing

How to manage your appetite when you are hungry for many
things

How the strategy of a company should change through its
different stages



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