How trust impacts SaaS company performance

In the early years of building Software Finder, we lost a $100,000 deal. It was a painful moment. On paper, we had the right offering. Our platform was competitive, even more affordable, and seemed perfectly aligned with their needs. We should have won. But we didn't. The feedback was stark: "You're saying the right things, but we don't see third-party validation. Working with a newer company like yours feels too risky." That was the moment I realised: we lost on trust. We were focused on what we said about ourselves. We forgot what the market truly needs to see to believe. They liked our price, even our website, but our glaring absence on social media - no human faces, no one else talking about us - made us a silent risk. Here’s what I learned (and what every B2B SaaS founder should know): 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮. Social proof, case studies, testimonials, certifications, these aren't just "nice-to-haves." For enterprise deals, they are deal-breakers. 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 We were active, but we never showed the people behind the work. No faces. No voices. And buyers notice that void. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 It’s built in your content, your customers' words, your consistent visibility in the market and yes, even in how active your team is online. This was an epiphany for Software Finder. It forced us to rebuild our "trust layer" not just for our brand and our offering, but to understand deeply how we could help the vendors on our platform build theirs. Because no matter what you're offering: software, services, or a connection between the two - if trust isn’t visible, it simply doesn’t exist. If you’re early-stage and chasing big deals: - Get testimonials early. - Put your team front and center. - Make trust part of your strategy from day one. Build trust before you pitch. Build it where your buyers already are. And build it in a way they don't need to ask for it.

Building trust with B2B buyers is crucial for SaaS companies. Why? Because 43% of B2B buyers make defensive purchase decisions more than 70% of the time, according to Forrester. These buyers aren't cowardly; they're rational. They're accountable to their company and colleagues for spending decisions. Often, their purchase directly impacts their daily work. So how can SaaS companies bridge the gap between risk-averse buyers and purchase decisions? The answer is trust. One powerful lever for building trust is website optimization. Let's explore how to identify trust gaps and implement specific tactics to build trust through UX design and content. The Trust & Authority Heuristic, part of The Good's Heuristics for Digital Experience Optimization™, focuses on establishing perceived trust throughout the digital experience. Violations of this heuristic can lead to user disengagement. To identify trust gaps, look for signs in user research like bugs, attentive reading, or halted scrolling. Speak with customer support teams and conduct data analysis to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. Once you've identified trust issues, implement tactics like: 1. Adding social media handles to customer reviews 2. Including "customer since" dates with testimonials 3. Integrating social proof into user journeys, like registration forms 4. Featuring logos of integration partners 5. Displaying privacy certifications and data policy badges 6. Offering and highlighting guarantees 7. Adding "how it works" models for complex products After implementing these tactics, measure their effectiveness using a theme-based roadmap. This will help to plan, communicate, and track initiatives and associated metrics. By aligning your website with the Trust & Authority Heuristic, you'll build confidence and position your SaaS business for sustained growth, transforming both registrations and retention. Go get 'em!

92% of people trust recommendations from individuals over brand messaging. (Even if that individual is a stranger.) That stat says everything about how SaaS decisions are made now. Not from cold ads. Not from your homepage copy. From someone saying: “I love this SaaS, it solved X for me”” For founders, that changes the whole growth playbook. Social proof isn’t decoration. It is "the" conversion strategy. Here’s what most teams miss: → Your customers are your real sales team. → Your credibility is your best ad spend. When someone researches your product (and they will), they need to hear: “This works. We recommend it.” So instead of scaling noise, Scale trust. - Turn wins into micro-case studies. - Build detailed testimonials, not fluffy ones. - Get active in the spaces where your customers already talk. Pipeline doesn’t just come from CTAs. It comes from people repeating your name. Curious to hear: What’s one trust asset that helped you close deals faster?

In the last 2 weeks, Amit Vasudev and I spoke with 50+ B2B executives about how they buy software. They cumulatively signed ~$10M in SaaS purchases in 2024 and there was one common complaint—buying tech is a HUGE pain. Here are 7 things about buyers that every salesperson needs to know. 1. The SaaS surge has made buying harder, not easier With over 25% YoY growth in SaaS vendors in the last decade; the search cost for buyers is skyrocketing. AI is only amplifying the noise further. Choosing the right tech isn’t their main job, yet the effort required is growing exponentially. 2. Buyers aren’t rewarded for Buying While the sales team prioritizes closing deals, most buyers don’t have OKRs tied to purchases. This urgency gap often leads to misaligned expectations. Focus on identifying urgent buyers - but practice empathy and patience with the rest. 3. Trust > Efficiency B2B purchases are emotional. Buyers told us repeatedly that trust and consistency far outweighed gaps in product fit. If you’re not building trust, you’re losing deals. 4. Stop asking for 30 min calls A live call gives AEs a positive signal on the deal, but buyers expressed frustration with the sheer volume of calls needed to close a deal. They felt many calls were unnecessary and could have been handled over email. Deliver value asynchronously to earn their trust. 5. Review sites are losing credibility Buyers found the review sites great for product discovery and social proof. But the general feeling was that the reviews were rigged in favor of the sellers and nobody had time to read 100’s of reviews anyways. 6. Buyers trust their network not your pitch From LinkedIn conversations to peer recommendations, buyers are leaning more on social proof and recommendations from people they trust (Slack forums, Linkedin conversations, B2B Influencers, Trusted Referrals, Peers). Are you part of those conversations? 7. Lack of personalized content is a deal breaker Buyers need content tailored to their unique use cases - quickly and in multiple formats. Generic decks and pitches don’t work anymore. Personalized content built trust and yet most sellers are not delivering on this. TAKEAWAY Minimize friction for the buyers. Complex sales cycles are a tax on the buyer. Be present where buyers do research (social networks and communities). Deliver tailored content that speaks directly to buyer use cases. And build trust through empathy and consistency. P.S. Which of these insights resonate most with you—whether as a seller or a buyer? Have you noticed any of these patterns in your own sales process?

"Everybody thinks it gets easier when you’re at $100M+ ARR, cash-flow positive, and growing. But I just had the worst two months of my entire life.” That’s what Marcelo Lombardo, founder of Omie, told me on Friday. Omie is the Brazilian SaaS giant founded in 2013. They just announced a $160M Series D. With 180K SMB clients and 30-40% annual growth, they’re the #1 cloud ERP and fintech for small businesses in Brazil. They are real OGs in the BR ecosystem. I picked Marcelo's brain on his learnings going from $0 to $100M ARR. "It doesn't get easier as you grow, it just gets different". I burst into nervous laugh but also in relief. The conversation was so fun and full of golden nuggets that deserve to be shared.. so here are some of the lessons and stories he shared: 1. Borrow credibility to open doors In the early days, he picked up the phone relentlessly to speak with his first customers and ask a simple question: “Do you remember where you found us?” Many said “Google", until he pressed. The real answer: “My accountant told me to use Omie.” That’s when they realized accountants, not ads, were the real channel. They flipped strategy into partnerships with them. Today they drive 80% of Omie’s sales. 2. Commissions can erode trust “If my client finds out I’m making money from this, it hurts my credibility. Give them the discount instead.” the accountants would tell him. The best accountants valued trust over margin. Incentives that work in SaaS backfire when partners are fiduciaries. 3. Trust lowers walls faster than incentives When Marcelo asked accountants if he could sell to their clients directly, they handed him their entire client list. Why? “Because they trusted me.” he said. Alignment matters more than commissions. 4. Trust scales through presence “The job to be done is not to scale software sales, but to scale trust.” Omie’s AEs visit 3-4 accountants a day, every 15 days. Not to pitch, but to listen: “What’s your problem today? What’s your client’s pain?” That cadence compounds relationships and yields warm intros. 5. Trust is long-term leverage Instead of outspending competitors on ads, Omie built a distribution moat by being the most trusted partner to accountants. Other nuggets from our call: - Trust > commissions - Give partners the product for free so they become power users - Keep partnerships alive with cadence: 3–4 visits/day - Great partners protect client trust; weak ones chase margin - At every stage, the problems change, but trust is always the multiplier If you're building a compay, or operating, I encourage you to share what you learn, you never know who you help. Shoot me a comment or a dm. Now, back to building 💪. #startups