Small guy has to prove he is useful right away and big guy has some time to prove it
I think there are alot of things hinging on TTV and alot of things affect it too
- people being able to understand
- ad ease
- position ease
- sign up persuasion
- onboard simplicity
- better activation
- etc etc
Time to value and effort to value are two things i wanna be all about and how you can plan the product around them
Time-to-value means how much time the user has to spend with the product before they get usefulness out of it.
Effort-to-value means how much effort they have to put in before they extract that value.
For the small guy immediate problems and immediate value is to be of concern
For anything long term longevity from provider is desired
That means a big player is desired
Thus short lived problems or short resolved needs are good if you are a small player
- data procurement
- data cleaning
- data translation
- client complaint mgmt
- lead enrichment
- creative plugins
- file convertors
- Etc, etc you get the point
Your competitive advantage in something as commoditized as software is your insane ETV and TTV
Value that your software is intending to create is what you manipulate your whole struture around
The structure of building, ops, marketing etc etc
For example, if you are making PDF tools, you can increase your ATV and LTV by having a web app which has the name PDF in it
So that anyone who is searching for it on ASU can find it quickly.
Then you organize your features such that they can get the thing done ASAP.
Thus LTV and ETV is something that permeates right to something as basic as the name of the product.
And there are a lot of levers you can pull to make your LTV and ETV better.
Pick problems where time-to-value can be measured in seconds or minutes, not days or weeks.
And think how you can do it in clicks and not many steps w alot of clicks
We have seen this w online shopping
They collapsed TTV and ETV
We went from teleshopping waiting for weeks to now quick commerce where we get shit in minutes and few clicks
They emerged by optimising TTV and ETV
When 50 tools do the same thing, the one that delivers value in 2 clicks instead of 10 wins.
The one that takes 15 seconds instead of 2 minutes wins.
that inherently means being opinionated af
that means fitted workflows and thus a tighter icp
its design aligns everything such that everything works in your favour
Identify the core value the software creates
Ruthlessly eliminate everything between the user and that value
Measure in clicks and seconds, not features and capabilities
You can’t be everything to everyone and deliver in 2 clicks.
Every click you remove is a choice you’re making for the user.
Every second you save means you’re prescribing a specific path.
This is why most SaaS companies have terrible TTV.
They’re trying to be flexible enough for everyone, which means they’re optimized for no one.
in quick conmerce they do this by being very opinionated about what products might people need.
They have tight icp, they dont have products for everyone or have pareto products.
Tight icp is prerequisite for low ttv and etv
Which is good if you are a small guy
You can always get generic post traction
Quick commerce proves this:
∙ Tight geography (2-3km radius)
∙ Tight product selection (Pareto products only)
∙ Tight use case (immediate needs, not weekly shopping)
∙ Once they own that, they expand radius, add SKUs, add use cases
Thus :
Pre-traction?
You need a tight ICP and opinionated workflows.
Post-traction?
Then you can afford to go generic.
Its all about people
you have icp
you find their workflow and tool
you study it
you try to optimise it
you form opinions and compress its time and clicks
now it fits them like glove and you manufactured convinience for them via ttv and etv
ofc we help winners win only
thats where money is
so icp is not random
Pick winners (people with money who are already doing the thing)
Study their current workflow (tools, steps, pain points)
Form opinions about what can be eliminated/automated/simplified
(this step IS unnecessary for them, this CAN be automated, this CAN be pre-filled)
Compress ruthlessly (fewer clicks, less time, less effort)
Manufactured convenience
(it fits them perfectly because it was designed for them specifically)
The opinions ARE the methodology.
Without strong opinions about what’s essential vs. what’s friction, you can’t compress anything.
biggest etv and ttv play recently has been clay.com
it was all scattered before
get leads, then filter, then enrich, then classify
now clay does it all in one go
they are unicorn now
Before Clay:
∙ Export from LinkedIn/Apollo
∙ Import to another tool for enrichment
∙ Export again
∙ Import to spreadsheet for filtering
∙ Export again
∙ Import to CRM
∙ Multiple tools, multiple steps, hours of work
After Clay:
∙ Do it all in one interface
∙ Immediate enrichment as you build
∙ Visual, connected workflow
∙ Minutes instead of hours
They formed STRONG opinions:
∙ “This should be visual/no-code, not CSV mess”
∙ “Enrichment should happen in-context, not after export”
∙ “Users shouldn’t need 5 tools for one workflow”
And they picked winners:
growth teams, SDRs, agencies – people doing this workflow constantly with budget.
Clay saw gtm people as winners.
Who are other winners?
Winners = people who:
∙ Do something frequently enough to pay for convenience
∙ Already have revenue/budget (not broke)
∙ Use multiple tools or manual workflows that can be compressed
∙ Have time-sensitive work where speed = money
you dont even have to go after whole workflow
a subset of it can be enough
You don’t need to be Clay and replace the entire workflow.
You can just own ONE painful step in an existing workflow and make it 10x faster.
winner > workflow and tools > niching down to a subset of it > forming opinions > optimise ttv etv
“Money is made helping winners win.
I help you apply this 5-step process to dominate a subset of a winner’s workflow.”