My SaaS For Consultants Makes $3.4M Per Year
Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?
Hi, I’m Stefan Debois, and I’m the founder of a SaaS company called Pointerpro. I’m an engineer by education and I’ve worked as a consultant for 15 years before I founded Pointerpro. I have three children, and I love outdoor sports like mountainbiking and kitesurfing.
I have developed a software platform for consultants to automate their advice process.
Our tool is unique in the sense that it combines a questionnaire tool with automated, personalized report generation. Ten years ago, we started by selling a survey/quiz tool with an entertaining purpose.
I soon realized there was a huge demand for assessment software in a completely different setting: the consultancy world. And if I say world, I mean globally. We currently have users from over 65 countries, mainly located in the US and Europe.
Our two most important solutions are called ReportR and DistributR. The first one allows you to build a questionnaire with personalized PDF reports, and the second one helps you to, as the name suggests, distribute questionnaires with personalized reports among clients, and stakeholders, … This allows users to monetize their assessment services and build an entire business model around it.
Today, I’m at a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) of $287.000, with an annual growth of over 30%.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
I founded Pointerpro in 2012. At that time, I was working as a consultant and I felt it was time for something new.
It all started with a creative idea I had for the birthday of my daughter.
For fun, I created an iPad Quiz for her birthday. After completing the quiz, contestants didn’t just receive their results but also got pictures, videos, and fun trivia about my daughter.
With my background as an engineer by education and as a consultant by profession, I saw more possibilities with this tool. I put the app online for free and it gained popularity very quickly. I started interviewing the users to see what they were using the software for and noticed that I could build an entire business model around this app. I just needed to find the right angle to go to market.
Eventually, I had a significant breakthrough. I noticed many users wanted to generate personalized reports based on the results of the completed assessment. So, I doubled down on that and changed the app's focus to help professional services firms. If they digitize their services they have one essential advantage over those who don’t: Time.
Attracting new clients, organizing intake interviews, evaluating business processes, and writing consulting reports, … What if these lengthy processes were reduced to, say, only a moment of your time… each time?
Our tool could disrupt the consultancy industry, so I focused all my energy on optimizing our marketing and sales strategy to reach consultants and other professional service providers to make them aware of our solution.
You could say that the product has evolved substantially. I turned a quiz tool for entertainment purposes into an assessment and reporting platform to digitize the advice process of experts and consultants. The tool is now used in more than 65 countries, by customers such as Deloitte, Adobe, AstraZeneca, Meta, and more.
Today, Pointerpro has surpassed $3 million in annual recurring revenue and has grown to a team of 28 people. The company is still entirely bootstrapped.
My tip for all entrepreneurs: listen to your customers. Don’t take it personally, don’t feel criticized. Questions and remarks are like a goldmine. They boost the growth of your product or service.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
The first version of the product was called “Tablet Quiz”. It was intended for people to make quizzes primarily on mobile devices, without technical knowledge. They could enter the questions and multiple choice options, but also upload a video or pictures to make it pretty. Tablet Quiz was built just as a hobby project when I was still working as a consultant.
Most of the features were completely free. In 2012 we rebranded to “Survey Anyplace” because we wanted to expand our offerings. Next to quizzes, I also wanted to offer survey software.
In October 2012 we launched our first paid version. We still offered a free plan, but also a plan with more extensive functionalities. We first had a couple of hundred users on the free version and the goal was to convert a number of them to the paying version. That's how it went from a free to a paying product.
In the beginning, it was an MVP or “minimum viable product”. I made use of as many rebuilt components as possible. For example, for the website, I took a template that I adapted for the design. For the development of the product, I made use of their frameworks. It already had a lot of functionalities and I was able to pretty quickly get the first version on the market.
I still had to launch it. So then I reached out to bloggers who wrote about iPad apps or new software innovations and I asked them if they could include the launch of my product in a special dedicated blog post or on their social media. I think in those days it was easier than now, but a lot of them responded positively!
We were included in some pretty interesting publications, and I remember even being on mashable.com, which was a big internet news site at that time. We had a lot of traction from that publication. Maybe it was beginner's luck but it gave us a traffic boost in the beginning.
What also helped to further develop our software was the interesting feedback from our users early on. Here you can see an example of an interesting reaction from the early days:
Describe the process of launching the business.
The really big customers came to the surface around the time we launched the personalized PDF report feature. The number and size of deals increased substantially starting at that moment. That allowed us to attract new team members working in marketing, sales, and development and lifted us in a positive spiral.
At a certain point, we felt that the name Survey Anyplace wasn’t covering the load anymore. We rebranded to “Pointerpro”, which is, of course, our current brand name. The rebranding exercise allowed us to move away from the surveys and focus on assessments with personalized reports, instead. Our software allows “professionals” to “point” their clients in the right direction. Hence “Pointerpro”.
Our revenue increased each year, allowing us to invest in the development of the tool. By listening to our users we identified pain points and came up with new solutions. For example, some clients wanted to share their assessment with other stakeholders, so that they could in turn adjust and share the assessment with their respective stakeholders. That’s how DistributR was born. A solution was launched purely because multiple users were asking about the possibility of monetizing their assessments. And as such, their whole business model is built around our software.
So my tip for all entrepreneurs: listen to your customers. Don’t take it personally, don’t feel criticized. Questions and remarks are like a goldmine. They boost the growth of your product or service.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
I have always been very interested and invested in smart and original growth marketing tactics.
We have a strong focus on marketing strategies to boost our online presence and attract qualified leads. We engage actively in SEO, link building, networking with relevant communities, and other “free” strategies to get Pointerpro on the SaaS map.
But we also make use of paid solutions such as Google Ads and software review sites like Capterra or G2. A good marketing mix is essential for the growth of your business.
Customer retention is perhaps even more important than acquisition. That’s why I believe in a strong, human support team. The friendliness and accessibility of your support team make the difference for users between staying or leaving.
Think about it: If you’re stuck using a certain tool, and you don’t get immediate assistance, what do you do? The jump to an alternative tool is easily made, especially online. On the other hand, if you’re stuck and you get personal assistance right away, you’ll feel satisfied and are more inclined to stay, also if you have a new hiccup in the future.
That’s also what I wanted to focus on in terms of branding. I think it’s important that website visitors see that they can talk to a real human. In a SaaS business, this human approach is a great differentiator. For example, we don’t use stock pictures but real photos from our team members and customers on our website. When people want to chat with us, it’s with a real person from our team, not a chatbot.
If you have a good idea, and it’s feasible, you just have to take the steps to realize your plan.
I’ve also invested in hiring a customer success representative and a customer retention specialist to reduce churn. The first representative follows up on getting the client started with the tool. The second person makes sure customers can use the tool to the fullest potential.
Hiring the right people in your support team is essential for customer success and retention.
Video marketing also helps to use the tool to its fullest potential. Free tutorials, webinars, and blog articles help users with their design, response rate, online visibility, copywriting, and so on. Moreover, if you open these videos up to the world, it allows you to reach new potential customers. It also helps you establish yourself as an expert or thought leader in your industry. We want to be seen as an expert in the digitization of professional services.
I want Pointerpro to be at the top of our target audience's mind. That’s why we focus on PR activities, as well. If we have news, we share it with the world to be picked up by the right media. If you make long-term connections with specialized media, your communication about your new solution has a greater chance of getting published.
For example, when we were nominated three times in a row for Deloitte’s Tech Fast 50 in Belgium, it was immediately picked up by the media:
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
We are on a continuous journey upward! Last year, we had an annual revenue increase of 33%. In absolute numbers, this meant a revenue of $3,940,000. At the moment, we’re at a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) of $287,000.
We’ve been growing steadily, I would even dare say exponentially, since 2019, as you can see here:
The launch of ReportR has pushed our revenue significantly since 2019. We also decided to charge for our professional services, because a lot of customers were asking for extensive support to set up their assessments and reports.
We keep on developing our app to keep up with the demands in the market. Last year, we created DistributR as I mentioned before, and we also recently launched a new functionality called “Aggregate Reports” for customers who want to compare individual assessment data to group data (aggregated results from multiple completed assessments). It allows customers to set benchmarks and conduct thorough research. So basically, the tool allows you to generate different reports from the same data, on different levels.
As you can see here, again, we listen to the market and continuously develop the app according to the needs of our target audience and customers. We see pain points and turn them into opportunities for our business. Our customers are our engine to keep on innovating and finding new ways for revenue growth.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
I realized that you don’t have to take too much time when you want to make a decision. If you have a good idea, and it’s feasible, you just have to take the steps to realize your plan. Of course, you need to do a thorough analysis beforehand but don’t overthink it.
For example, before we launched our reporting functionality, we tried some things around training and gamification. We tried being on trade shows and scanning QR codes with a small survey behind it that is sent to the CRM system. We tried different use cases, but none of these worked very well.
Some of them didn’t work at all, some a little bit, but each time, we spent a lot of time developing new features, or we had to develop separate features for a certain use case. You have to test it, analyze it, and collect feedback. That was certainly a struggle before we finally found our killer use case. And we found that killer use case simply by listening to the customers.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
Our sales team has used a lot of CRM tools before, but now we landed with Hubspot, which is working quite well. Our sales team also uses a tool called Gong to follow up on client conversations. LinkedIn Sales Navigator has proved its worth, too. I also let my team members use my LinkedIn profile to connect with leads.
The marketing team uses Ahrefs to follow up on our content marketing and SEO efforts. It shows you how high you rank in terms of SERP, and it helps our copywriter to decide which target keywords to use in his next articles. The tool also shows you how many websites refer to your domain. This is important for your website ranking. If we want to be found, Ahrefs is the go-to tool.
What other tools do we use? Topicranker to look for the best topics to write about, Wondershare to brand our videos, and Livestorm for our webinars. We use many more tools and platforms, too many to sum up in short.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
I like the inspirational visions of Luk Smeyers: The Visible Authority. He’s a consultancy influencer who shares my passion for innovative and out-of-the-box thinking. He serves as an example for our top-of-funnel communication and how we want to be an expert voice for consultants, just like him.
And as I mentioned before, I think a smart content marketing strategy is essential for your growth. “Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less” by Joe Pulizzi is my recommendation to stand out from the crowd.
Another marketing thought leader I follow is Chris Walker. I listen to his podcast on B2B go-to-market strategies. It keeps me sharp.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
You already know what I’m going to say… Let your customers inspire you! A typical pitfall is when you don’t see any future for your product. But a product or service is not a static thing. It is something dynamic, something that should constantly evolve.
Let your customers help you innovate. See opportunities where your product falls short. If you maintain a personal relationship with your customers, they will feel more open to providing feedback.
Also, be smart about your pricing system. Can it be optimized? Are you charging by the hour or by the result? Are customers systematically in need of extra support? Charge for it. And always communicate about it clearly and openly: why do you charge for this extra service?
And last but not least: differentiate. Stand out from the crowd. Maybe you have several competitors offering the same product. Think about how you can outweigh them. What can make your product (slightly) different? And once you know that, focus on that differentiator in your marketing campaigns. It will help you build a trusted brand that people think of when they think of your offering.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
We’re always looking for new talent to join our international team. To be more precise, we’re currently looking for the following professionals:
Where can we go to learn more?
We also created a digital maturity assessment for our audience.
This is a very typical customer use case and shows you what the assessment and personalized report look like from the respondent’s point of view. Feel free to take it. You’ll receive a personal feedback report and you don’t even have to share your email address.
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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