OK I’ll admit, I get a little fidgety sitting thru a 2-hour…anything, even maybe Godfather 1 or 2, let alone a keynote.

But Zuora CEO Tien Tzuo kept it fast-paced & interesting, plus I sat next to a fun buddy so we could chit chat & trade gossip during the down times! If ya don’t know about Zuora they are powering the ‘subscription economy’, meaning they are a leading payment solution for anyone doing billing the new way - freemium to monthly paid, usage-based pricing, revenue-share pricing, recurring revenue, anything NOT the old-school ‘pay me a lump sum scad of $ for a perpetual software license’.

It was a pretty enterprise-focused first day, with large companies presenting including Deloitte, Axciom, Telecom New Zealand, you get it. So for a small start-up like Dasheroo, we had to draw from their inspiration to GET BIG! There were also some great local success stories as well, including Zendesk, and a current fave of ours we will consider for Dasheroo - Totango. I chatted with their CMO Kaiser Mulla-Feroze about their awesome ‘customer success management’ platform.

Anyhoo, the ‘takeaways’, as promised earlier from sessions and chatting with some smart folks. Here’s 3 top things to keep top of mind with your new or growing biz:

1) Go global! Unless you are a pure local brick & mortar, if you’re online (especially services & SaaS) you can appeal to the world. Any why shouldn’t you? So plan to use a billing solution that can accept all forms of payment (cc, ACH, paypal, etc) and all reasonable currencies too. Also prepare for major languages localization.

2) Build ongoing and growing value over time. Just because someone is buying from you today, that doesn’t ensure the future. So really think about how you can keep users engaged, happy & paying over time. What features or services can you add?

3) Tailor pricing for your customers. This means it’s not a one-size-fits-all economy anymore. Maybe it’s usage based, or revenue-share like cloud-based commerce optimization company Avangate. If your product takes a while for customers to see the full value of, consider freemium to paid options.

These may all sound obvious, but it’s easy to get trapped in the ‘Groundhog’s Day’ routine and just keep doing things as you have always done them. Even if you think that strategy is working, you could be leaving customers and money on the table by not taking stock of how to best connect with current and potential customers! Rock the boat!