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All I Ever Needed to Know in Life I Learned in B2B SaaS
It was my first day at the Software Company as a new intern. I had been instructed by my new boss, the CMO, to appear outside the front door of the office at nine o’clock in the morning.
I arrived precisely on time: after all, I wanted to make a good impression. My interview had gone very well and I couldn’t afford to screw up, certainly not on the first day. I hadn’t graduated but a few months before, and this internship could be a golden ticket to a new job, a new career, a new life.
So I waited at the door. No one appeared. The door was fitted with a large glass pane, and through it I could see the hallway stretching into the office interior. Crickets.
I didn’t have a choice. I rang the bell.
The response came quickly. “Yes?”
“Uh, hi?” Scheiße. I began stammering. “Uh, I’m the new intern in Marketing…the CMO told me to show up at nine but I haven’t seen him…”
“No worries, I’ll let you in.”
A moment passed, and a tall blond youth appeared wearing the baggy jeans so fashionable in 2024. “Hi, I’m H—,” he said. “Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Giorgio, likewise.”
I was ushered through the door, led down the hallway, and out into a broad room where a dozen people or so sat at computers doing computer things. My new boss, the CMO, had already risen to his feet. We shook hands.
“Sorry about that, I was just about to get you!” He was about ten years older than me but still had a boyish energy about him. “Do you want a coffee or anything?”
Half an hour later, I had been outfitted with a laptop, several passcodes to my online accounts, and had rather ceremoniously been led around the room to introduced to each of my new colleagues. Now I was seated in what was called the large conference room for the first debriefing of my onboarding.
The CMO stood at the front of the room, a PowerPoint pulled up on the double TV-screen system. It was an early spring morning, and a dreary grey sky could be seen through the windows. Potted plants dotted the floor; cars trawled the road outside.
“We have a problem.” The CMO began flipping through his slideshow with a remote. “Our company is at a crossroads and we don’t know which way to take it. Our KPIs –”
“Sorry,” I interjected, “but what’s a KPI?”
Thus began my foray into B2B SaaS marketing.
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In the year and a half since I’ve been at the Company, I’ve learned quite a few things. Some are big, some small, but all are worth mentioning (at least I think so).
Are these a commentary on contemporary capitalism, or the last extant manifestations of Silicon Valley startup culture in the 2020s, or the perils and rewards of being a foreigner in a European company, such as a I am?
I’ve decided to list three major points out below; make of them what you will.
1. SaaS is no longer a serious business.
First, what is “SaaS”?
For the uninitiated, it stands for “software as a service.” Often accompanied by the moniker B2B (“business-to-business”), it’s software that is designed for and marketed to companies to use in a commercial capacity—generating leads, closing deals, managing workflows, and so on.
The heyday of SaaS is long gone, yet the glory years still linger. My Company emerged in the stellar nursery of Silicon Valley culture—it’s old money, a grandparent. New SaaS startups seem to be created constantly (at least in Europe) and market trends reflect this reality (more on that momentarily). Basically, it’s an industry that recycles itself, each new iteration hearkening back to the original innovative spirit that characterized the Age of Apple.
Echoes of the early 2010s Silicon Valley culture continue on a daily basis. My office floor plan is open, collaborative. There’s a dedicated games room with a foosball table, table tennis, and a PS4. There are quarterly parties (they used to be monthly) and raucous annual “workcations” taken at various semi-seculded locales.
That said. The particular drive, dedication, hustle that also characterized the Age of Apple is long gone. Software startups in this mould have the reputation of being cults, and I have no doubt such a thing was true, if not normative, in the early years of the last decade.
But now? Those days are long gone. My Company is the last thing approaching a cult that could be imagined; indeed, business as usual is approached with a strong sense of irony. People have a strong enough work ethic and sense of personal pride to do their jobs well. But no one is actually dedicated to my Company in the sense that they want to “give it their all.” Perhaps this is the major difference between an American and European work ethic; but something tells me the culture of startups has shifted indelibly from sincerity to something approaching not-quite-cynicism.
2. Bright minds flock to tech innovation.
At first glance, this might appear as something of a truism, as of course tech innovators are brilliant! It’s part of the mythos, after all.
But this doesn’t merely apply to the guys at the top. No: in general, my colleagues tend to be highly intelligent and deeply knowledgable—especially in the humanities. An Irish colleague recounted to me how he would read James Joyce while on two-hour bus rides to Dublin. Another colleague enjoys engaging in medieval reenactments. Still another is in a Ukranian theatre troupe.
As for myself? I studied philosophy in my bachelor’s programme. And now I work in IT. In this topsy-turvy post-pandemic world, such a situation is entirely normal—and a direct rebuke to all who doubted the utility of my degree.
But this situation is a double-edged sword. Bright minds are attracted to the innovative side of things, it’s true; but the small scale of many of these companies leaves such minds unable to increase their rank or standing within them. They simply max out their current roles, unable to advance to new, more challenging ones. This is perhaps the greatest disadvantage faced by my Company at present—and one that management does not appear entirely aware of
3. The software market is oversaturated.
Through engaging in competitor research, blogging, and meetings and interactions with my team, I learned quickly that the market for software “solutions” is ridiculously, absurdly, clownishly oversaturated.
I’m old enough to remember Bernie Sanders going on about the twenty-three brands of deodorant consumers don’t need: well, fast-forward a decade, and now we have not only too much deodorant, but too much software, all doing basically the same thing, but each with a tweak or two that’s supposed to dethrone their competition and dominate the market.
With this in mind, I see trouble on the horizon in the software industry—not so much that it’s a bubble that’s about to burst (though this could be true); but more that the resources, energy, and venture capital that are being poured into these “solutions” are, essentially, misappropriated. The social consequences of significant brainpower being diverted into ever-more inane projects could be very serious.
Such resources, energy, and capital would be far better invested in more tangible societal improvements, especially here in Europe. We have housing crises in multiple cities, inefficient and neglected rail networks, lagging defense capabilites, and the ever-present threat of climate change hovering in the background.
I am not a rigorist when it comes to economic questions: I accept the necessity and value of market competition, but also the necessity and value of regulating the market for both the benefit of consumers and the State. Yet quite clearly in this situation, something has to give.
In short: I deeply appreciate that the innovative spirit is still alive and well in Europe long after it has died a death of despair in my native land. But it might be time to incentivize bright and innovative young people to engage with these more, shall we say, substantial fields, rather than hopping on the hamster wheel of software-based folly.
“A KPI,” the CMO answers cheerfully, “is a key performance indicator. You’ll be discussing more about this with your colleague M— soon. You actually have a project you’ll be starting on soon— to document all of the KPIs that can be displayed on our dashboards.”
I nod in appreciation.
“Alright then,” the CMO continues. “Recently we’ve been having a problem with churn—”
“I’m sorry,” I interject again, “but what’s churn?”
I have a long way to go.
Such was my welcome to the world of B2B SaaS marketing. And I must admit: as much as I’m looking for new paths, as much as I fully acknowledge the flaws and shortcomings and hiccups of the industry, it’s a welcome that hasn’t worn out for me yet.
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