DecisionDesk provides SaaS solutions for streamlining digital admissions processes for higher education institutions. After initial success with online portfolios, they pivoted to focus on larger deals, but struggled with a massive implementation that required rewriting their product. They learned that discovery is cheaper than late discovery, experience is better than being scrappy, and to focus on either SMB or enterprise markets, not both. They now have a process of specialized roles to properly execute large deals and target the right decision makers to avoid getting bogged down in price negotiations.
2. DecisionDesk is a team of EdTech veterans and former admissions
professionals who excel at collaborative SaaS solutions by streamlining any
digital admissions process through intuitive submission, review, and
decisioning technology. This enables institutions to efficiently yield the best
applicants and retain that data for student retention, unlike static, legacy
systems that can’t adjust to a shifting technology landscape.
What is DecisionDesk (today)?
4. Founded by three college friends
Our journey began with a fairly common college startup combination…no experience, lots of
passion. While the company is run by a different team now, with many pivots and learnings
along the way, having a ‘hacker, hustler, hipster’ foundation was ESSENTIAL to execution
5. Social networks were all the rage
The initial ‘spark’ was not based on solving any practical pain points. We were trying to build a social network for creative
professionals. But the necessity to survive put us in front of universities, in an attempt to target college students. Now we
understand the term customer development, but then, we were just trying to ‘sell something’. It turned out the universities
we approached saw something we didn’t. They needed help managing the review of portfolios from applying students.
6. 2010
Online Portfolios
First business model
Avg. $7,500 ARR
We had great success during our first two years as an online portfolio provider, scaling to $500k+ in
recurring revenue. This was a SMB SaaS play, with short setup times, and a fairly ‘out of the box’
application and review process for our customers.
7. The first pivot
One problem… we were becoming kings of a molehill. Higher Ed is a great market, ripe for disruption, but
the market dynamics require you to drive lots of value per customer. There are simply not enough schools
to build a venture-backed company at SMB average deal sizes.
8. The first pivot
So we pivoted. It was a bad year. I had to take a machete to the organization. With weeks of cash left, we
cut half the staff, assembled a bridge round, and were faced with some tough decisions.
9. Lev Gonick
Former CIO at Case
Western Reserve
University, EdTech
thought leader
Jason Palmer
Deputy Director, Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation,
formerly Microsoft,
SchoolNet, Kaplan
James Werner, EVP Sales
10+ Yrs Education Sales
Blackboard, SunGard HE
Kate Volzer, VP BD
Director Admission, U
Chicago
MBA, Chicago Booth
Talent 2.0 - Industry Focus
Jon Boyle, (former) VP Products
2x Entrepreneur/
Product Lead
Tim Downs, VP Technology
HubSpot, Mongoose
Metrics
Then came something great. Focus. We recruited a series of high caliber executives and board members
with a much better understanding of the Higher Ed market place, and experience with larger SaaS deal
sizes. That year, we held OpEx stable, and doubled revenue.
10. 2013
Online Admissions
Avg. $35,000 ARR
Second business model
We targeted universities with a solution to manage the end-to-end application and review process for all
admissions, not just portfolios. Things were looking up.
11. Then a new problem surfaced. We may have had a better business model and focused execution, but
there was increasing competition in the EdTech marketplace. An important strategic question emerged…
how do we drive 6-figures of value per customer and avoid becoming a commoditized product?
12. 2015
Enterprise
Decision Management
Our Story
$Xm | 5-Year Contract
Through a combination of timing, having the right people, and luck, we were short listed for a massive
state system RFP. Then the impossible, we won, beating massive enterprise names in the market.
DecisionDesk had it’s first 7-figure enterprise-wide contract.
14. In the course of 6 months we attempted to…
• Implement a customer 6x larger than our next largest
• Rewrite our product from scratch
• Still grow revenue by 100%
• Not lose any customers
…then we took inventory of action items
15. Uh oh
Suffice to say, the heat was turned up and we felt like the ones in the explosion
16. What are the (hard) lessons we
have learned pivoting into
Enterprise SaaS?
17. Don’t rewrite your product from scratch
…and pray at the alter of incrementalism
Pivot lesson #1
Ok, this statement is a bit extreme. But rarely has a company said “well that went well” after initiating a
re-write. There are years worth of incremental decisions to keep customers delighted in a product.
These are often not factored into the decisioning process. Most times, the decisions to re-write can be
accomplished with less drastic measured, and can be phased.
19. Module Based Approach
ADMINAPPLICATION REVIEW Portfolio
API, Data Warehouse
Configuration, Users, Global Preferences
Connector ConnectorConnector Connector
After some trial and error, we landed on an approach that decoupled the various web applications we
were offering, and our data/integration/analytics IP, which has become fundamental to driving enterprise
value (and positioning us to do some very interesting things in the market)
21. Month
Week 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b
b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b
b b b b b b
d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d
d d d d d d
d d d d d d d
s s s s s s s s
s s s s s s
s s s s
N2N Implementation
Review Handoff
UIS UAT
Test Connection
Review Handoff
UIS UAT
Configuration
Review Handoff
UIS UAT
Review Specs
Approve Approach Document
Implementation
Review Handoff
UIS UAT
Security Touchpoints
2
1
2 b b
5 b b b b b b
July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb
DecisionDesk Onsite (If Required)
Project Deliverables
BOULDER
Grad
Undergrad
Continuing Education
DENVER
Grad
Undergrad
Continuing Education
COLORADO SPRINGS
Grad
Undergrad
Continuing Education
INTEGRATIONS AND SECURITY
Campus Solutions
SSO Admin
Scope SSO Undergrad If required in scoping
Nelnet
Singularity
Security Audit and Final UIS UAT
Production Switch Over
CONTRACT DEADLINES
11/1/2015
Feature complete stage environment.
Feature UAT completed by select
campuses, approving Core Product portion
of Scope. Remaining functional team work
limited to Configuraiton UAT
3/1/2016
Latest deadline for full go live of remaining
schools, contingent on UIS final testing,
and one month window for production
switch over
Implementation Deliverables
Boulder
Grad
Review 1 General Grad Program Spec
1 Completed Program Handoff
Feature Focused UAT
Document remaining program specs
Far too much of our initial discovery was post contract, and that puts everyone at risk; you, the customer, and your team.
This is a screen shot of our project deliverables. While we can’t share the details, it’s clear the scope became far more
complex than originally anticipated. This was a very important lesson to be successful in the enterprise market, and create
repeatability in our approach.
22. Field Sales
Solu=on Engineer
The Deal Trio
Account Manager
SME
• Primary client contact
• Manages relationship
• Understands decision making unit
Or
• Interprets client requests into DD
terminology (“Ah, that would be a
Bin, and this is how it works”)
• Answers approaches to integration
and implementation
• Describes case studies and the
benefits of a solution
• Injects thought leadership into the
conversation
Super
Demos
Identify
Pain
Points
Verify
Solution
Draft
Solution
Proposal
Deal Trio
We crafted a much stronger sales and solutions process as a result
24. SMB Enterprise
84 Customers
~$10,000 ARR + 1 Yr
13 Customers
~$90,000 ARR + 3 Yrs
•30-day implementation
•3-month sales cycle
•Inside Sales
•120-day implementation
•6-9 month sales cycle
•BDR + Field Sales + SE
Our new focus required fundamental change throughout the organization, including marketing, sales,
and customer success. This was managed well, but has been no small undertaking.
26. I’ve heard the term ‘Navy Seal Team’ used when describing the select group of people who will navigate,
win, and execute really massive contracts. As a startup, still feeling its way into the market, an Ocean’s
Eleven operation was a more apt analogy.
27. Create role ownership
Subject Matter
Expert
Solutions
Manager
Product
Manager
Engineering
Manager
Enterprise Sales
Lead
Customer
Success
Platform
Manager
Understanding the balance of skills needed for enterprise contracts was a critical moment for the
organization. Startups usually have a mix of talents with strengths and weaknesses, all adapting to the
needs of their customers. While that won’t go away, you need to have ownership of key areas to
properly execute an enterprise contract. Missing one of these components will hurt, causing you to either
lose the deal, or worse, win a deal that will sink you because it’s not the right fit.
28. Create role ownership
Subject Matter
Expert
Solutions
Manager
Product
Manager
Engineering
Manager
Enterprise Sales
Lead
Customer
Success
Manager
Platform
Manager
Relationship/
Owns DMU
Interpret Needs/
Implementation
Integrations/
Security/
Relationship Post
Sale/ Growth
Here are a breakdown of the skills needed in each of these roles
29. The reinforcing products process, with a Subject Matter Expert (SME), Engineering Manager (Scrum
Master), and Product Manager (Product Owner) is what creates visibility and predictability. Enterprise
contracts are never done being implemented. They grow, change shape, and require constant
nurturing. Lacking a good product process can be very demoralizing to your team, as they will get lost in
the trees (field mapping, custom code, etc) and lose track of the forest (your vision and the customer
outcomes)
30. It’s ok to be picky (with deal flow)
Pivot lesson #5
31. You can waste tremendous time with leads at the wrong decision-making level. It ties up your resources, and
results in fewer sales qualified leads (SQLs) that will convert into material opportunities. Remember the note
about understanding your decisioning making unit (DMU)? Focusing on a smaller batch of targets with the
right decision makers is a game changer. A VP-level prospect, for example, will focus on long term outcomes
and be less price sensitive. Director-level will be more tactical, tending to nickel and dime over features.
Enterprise software requires discipline to avoid price feature trench ware fare. After taking the time to hone our
messaging and be more discerning over pipe, we saw a massive uptick in pipeline.
32. In Summary
• Be careful before executing a product re-write, there are generally more wrong
reasons than right ones
• Be vigilant about the customer/solution discovery process, and understand your
customer’s decision making unit
• Elevate your scrappy team with the right experience, an enterprise deal
requires you to build a navy seal (or Ocean’s Eleven) team
• Be picky over deal flow, never stop honing your targeting
Our customers are now much happier, we are better positioned to scale, and have a better view of the
‘forest’.
