Every company wants to scale its business, but only some know precisely how to expand upmarket successfully. To do so requires mastery of your current market before taking that leap of faith into a completely different one, but once your product is ready to emerge in untapped markets, it can lead to the expansion you dreamed of. Recently, Thoropass attended SaaStr Annual 2023 and spoke on five tips for successful upmarket expansion with our CRO, Bryan Caplin, and Jenna Keegan, a Demand Generation expert.

For those unable to attend SaaStr Annual this year, we’re happy to share our presentation here. After viewing, we’ve recapped the discussion below.

First, when do you move upmarket?

When do you move upmarket? Often, this question’s answer relies on several key factors.

Factors to consider include:

• Upmarket opportunity validation: Ensure you have success now before expanding.
• Cross-functional alignment and consensus: You will need support from every department and function to go upmarket.
• Product readiness: Your product must be prepared for new users and complicated environments. Discuss readiness with your product team.
• Funding runway: Moving upmarket takes time, and you will need the funding to properly invest in the strategy to move upwards in the market (hiring new roles, investing in product development, etc.)
• Go-to-market team skills assessment: You want a strong sales and marketing team to get you started for the new market you are expanding into.
• Board support: Does your board support the expansion, offer advice for challenges you may face, and advocate for you when you meet those challenges? If so, it’s time to move upmarket.

Tip 1: Rebuilding your demand generation strategy

Planning is vital when rebuilding an entire strategy, as your strategy will look different. Going from small business customers to mid-market customers, lead opportunities will take longer to create and close.

To know how to engage these mid-market customers, you need to know them and talk to mid-market businesses to better understand what they value about your product. Figure out your messaging this way and then where to input that messaging through content.

Tip 2: Focus on your sales team

Moving upmarket requires understanding a more complex buyer profile. Find those in your sales team who understand your sales process will change to be longer with this new buyer profile. This group will be your core sales team to move upmarket.

Remember that once you align your core sales team, you must build your sales process for the new buyer profile. After you nail the sales process, you can then grow your core sales team.