Sonu Goswami Lessons from Scaling SaaS to $2M ARR

Behind the scenes of SaaS growth: 8 hard lessons from $100K to $2M ARR — retention, sales, CAC, loops, and what we’d never do again.

How SaaS Companies Scale from $100K to $2M ARR Without Dying

The unglamorous truth about what scaling actually looks like — lessons from the SaaS trenches.

TL;DR: The 8 Scaling Lessons That Actually Matter

Most SaaS companies don’t fail because the product is bad. They die between $100K and $2M ARR because they try to scale too fast, in the wrong direction, or without real foundations.

Here’s what we learned (the hard way):

• Retention ≫ Acquisition — Fix churn before chasing traffic.

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Retention ≫ Acquisition — Fix churn before chasing traffic

• One ICP, One Funnel — Split focus = slow death. Pick one and double down.
• Your First Sales Hire Will Likely Fail — Do founder-led sales until repeatable.
• Pricing Isn’t Set-and-Forget — Price testing unlocked more growth than any feature.
• Tech Debt Is Inevitable — Just Don’t Let It Dictate Roadmaps
• Paid Ads Before Product-Channel Fit = Burnout
• Customer Support Becomes a Growth Lever — Especially post $100K MRR.
• You’ll Want to Quit at $500K ARR — That’s normal. Rest, don’t exit.

1. Product-Market Fit ≠ First Revenue

(Product-Market Fit → Go-to-Market Fit → Growth & Moat)

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Just because someone pays doesn’t mean you’ve nailed PMF.

We had early users. We even had MRR. But churn was quietly killing us. Only when retention crossed 85%, and usage grew without us nudging, did we realize we were actually solving a painful problem.

Tip: Watch user behavior more than revenue. Retention is a louder signal than early sales.

2. Your CAC Will Lie to You (Then Kill You)

Our early CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) looked great — because of warm intros and niche communities.

But when we scaled ads or hired sales reps, CAC ballooned.

Takeaway: Validate scalable channels early. Organic traction ≠ scalable acquisition.

3. Hiring Sales Too Early Will Break You

We hired two sales reps at ~$300K ARR. Both failed.

Why? We didn’t have a repeatable pitch. No clear ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). Sales wasn’t broken — the system was.

Fix: Founder-led sales until $1M ARR isn’t a curse. It forces you to learn what actually works.

4. Positioning Isn’t Marketing — It’s Survival

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Awareness → Success Buyer Journey

At $100K ARR, we were trying to be “flexible” for everyone. Big mistake.

After reading Obviously Awesome by April Dunford, we repositioned ourselves around our strongest use case and lost some customers — but gained way more of the right ones.

Truth: Clear positioning is how you attract customers who don’t churn.

5. Growth Loops > Growth Hacks

One of our biggest shifts came when we moved from chasing short-term hacks (like AppSumo launches or giveaways) to building loops.

Think Calendly: every invite creates another user. That’s a loop.

Ask yourself: “Does every new user bring another one?” If not, find your loop.

6. Don’t Scale What’s Working — Scale What’s Working Sustainably

Early on, our top-performing cold email script booked 30 calls/week. We scaled it to a full SDR team.

Churn spiked. Why?

The script attracted the wrong segment. It worked, but for leads who weren’t ideal users.

Lesson: Don’t just scale what converts — scale what retains.

7. Use Data to Say No (A Lot More Often)

We used to chase every feature request and enterprise deal.

Once we defined our north star metric (active workspaces per team), it became easier to say no to shiny distractions that didn’t move that metric.

Tactic: Define 1–2 metrics that matter. Filter all decisions through them.

8. Build the Team You’ll Need 6 Months From Now

We waited too long to hire our first support lead. Then got overwhelmed with technical debt and onboarding chaos.

SaaS growth is step-functioned: Flat → Spike → Plateau → Spike.

Plan ahead: Hire just before the spike, not during.

In Summary

• Retention matters more than early revenue.
• Validate scalable acquisition early.
• Don’t outsource sales until it’s repeatable.
• Positioning filters bad-fit users.
• Growth loops beat growth hacks.
• Don’t just scale what works — scale what sticks.
• Your metrics should drive all decisions.
• Hire a bit ahead of the curve, not behind it.

Final Thought

Scaling from $100K to $2M ARR is where most SaaS companies stall or die. It’s messy. Unsexy. Often invisible from the outside.

But if you avoid the traps above and focus on retention, positioning, and sustainable growth — you’ll not only survive, you’ll unlock serious momentum.