Hello to Canada’s SaaS Community,

Bootstrapping to a global scale is an incredible feat—and is precisely what Kaaveh Shoamanesh did for community-based ad marketplace Plaiced. Speaking with SAAS NORTH, Kaaveh explained a few of the tactics he used that enabled lean scale.

Key takeaways:

• Look at multiple go-to-market approaches such as resellers or other types of partners that can help you scale without a massive in-house team.
• Prioritize win-win partnerships with partners and talent
• Ground every decision in the core problem you’re solving (and the person you’re solving it for).

When you’re bootstrapped, cash flow is always top of mind.

At the same time, founders can’t let money-focus hamstring creativity—instead, it should foster creative solutions that both help you reach your vision and bring revenue in the door.

This is the balance Kaaveh Shoamanesh has struck in his role as CEO of community-based ad marketplace Plaiced.

Speaking with SAAS NORTH, Kaaveh explained more about bringing vision and community together to scale globally in a lightweight, cost effective way.

Global scaling tips for bootstrapped startups

Plaiced operates globally, claiming network reach of over 150 million—here are few of the ways Kaaveh and the team achieved this scale while keeping a lean, bootstrapped team.

1. Find the win-win wedge

Online communities are often ignored by major advertisers as difficult to penetrate with limited analytics—Plaiced’s platform helps solve that problem.

But to convince advertisers to move their dollars over, you need more than a good platform; you need a win-win opportunity.

Kaaveh shared the example of an ad reseller that works with cable TV broadcast stations. The “cord cutting” phenomenon has been going on for years, and that organization was losing revenue as brands spent less on cable ads.

This became a wedge for Kaaveh to pitch the idea of moderated online communities, showcasing Plaiced’s platform as a way to help that reseller earn more money and deliver value to its customers.

2. Work with partners

Plaiced has a sales team, but it’s rather lean for how big their sales operation is.

The secret? Reseller partners.

Managed well, Kaaveh said partners offer scale that more than makes up for the percentage they take in commission. The secret is to keep the win-win element present in deals, so selling your platform delivers more than just incremental revenue.

“The key is to build a network where you can move faster, whether venture backed or not, at that earlier stage is that to find an entity, these strategic partnerships that are obviously win win,” said Kaaveh.

3. Build flexible talent relationships

Kaaveh approaches his talent relationships similarly to reseller partners in two key ways.

First, he doesn’t expect someone to work solely for him (most of the time). This enables him to access high-quality fractional, contract, and freelance talent who have other clients—just like resellers work with a variety of products and services.

Second, he prioritizes the win-win. In talent relationships, this often looks like providing autonomy, room for creativity, and flexibility rather than just offering more money or equity.

“Lead with their value first,” said Kaaveh. “Think about how you can add value to people.”

4. Don’t lose sight of the problem you’re solving

Whatever tactic he uses, Kaaveh grounds himself in the core problem of his two-sided marketplace: helping brands engage authentically with their target audience and helping community moderators make a living just from posting.

Right now, that looks like adding even more advertiser volume on the platform with go-to-market creativity and feature building. Once that system is sustainable, he can look to the next phase, for example resources to help moderators grow their communities and thus unlock further earning potential.

“If we can get consistent deals for these communities on a regular basis where we have a limited shortfall of certain communities never getting a penny, for example, we’re doing our job right,” said Kaaveh.

Vision to lead, but not to sell

Kaaveh said his mission with Plaiced is to eradicate loneliness, but he no longer mentions that grander plan in sales meetings.

In the early days, he felt a mission-led approach would draw more people in and encourage them to take a chance on the fledgling startup pitching a novel idea: advertise inside of online communities rather than on traditional ad networks or blogs.

The reality was a little less rosy as he’d scan faces in the room, noticing that the big vision pitch simply didn’t land.

Kaaveh realized that while “every human has their own fulfilling purpose,” context mattered. And when it came to him pitching Plaiced, a boss or other executive was on the call and naturally, focused on how the platform will help them grow.

“We don't have to convince people to be on the same mission as us in order to sell [to] them,” said Kaaveh. “Instead, we tell them what we can do for them, how we can make it better for them. And then by virtue of them jumping into that, we'll use that money to do the different actions we want to elevate others.”