Introducing new "must-haves" to the market with Klue’s Jason Smith
This week on How to Win: Jason Smith, co-founder and CEO of Klue, a competitive enablement software company. Since being founded in 2015, Klue has doubled or tripled every year and is now well into double digits in ARR with over 180 employees. In this episode, Jason shares how Klue designed their product with the value proposition of making their customers look good, and how they introduced a new "must-have" to the market, creating a subcategory. I share my thoughts on why observing consumer behavior to identify "jobs to be done" is key, why case studies and data are powerful marketing tools, and the pitfalls of focusing on what integrations and features ARE rather than what they allow you to DO.
Key Points:
- Jason explains Klue's backstory (01:03)
- My thoughts finding an opening in the market and and creating a new "job to be done" (03:47)
- The three areas Jason focused on to get Klue to its first million (06:20)
- I discuss the importance of customer research (09:10)
- Jason explains how Klue educated the market about competitive enablement (10:05)
- My thoughts on creating new "must-haves" to establish subcategories (11:23)
- Jason explains how Klue is differentiating through authenticity (16:09)
- Jason unpacks why market maturity is contributing to Klue's growth (16:56)
- I talk about why proof and case studies are such powerful marketing tools (19:04)
- Why Klue took their time expanding downmarket (20:44)
- Jason explains why the bulk of Klue's VC funding is going to product development (22:50)
- I explain why customer data should inform your integration choices (25:08)
- My thoughts on why authenticity is a strong angle to differentiate with (28:38)
- Jason explains why elevating the category is the ideal moat (29:23)
- Wrap up (31:04)
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