Finnish #SaaS companies have great solutions and potential, yet many take ages to reach 1 M ARR and another age to find a scalable growth model to reach the success they deserve. Here is why.
Having helped dozens of them in various roles, interviewed 60+ SaaS entrepreneurs in my Menestystä Etsimässä #podcast, and hosted 100+ events for SaaS Finland, a club of Software Finland ry, over the years, there seems to be a clear pattern that leads to slow success.
When it takes 8 to 15 years or more to reach 1-3 M ARR, the size required for the next major push towards 10 M and beyond, the founders are often tired of grinding, ending up selling the company too early, never reaching its full potential.
This is a huge problem for Finland and founders alike.
The IT industry is Finland's fourth-largest export sector and fastest growing, while SaaS is the strongest grower within the sector. We are now building great SaaS products for foreign buyers to cash in on.
The long shaft in our hockey sticks means it takes ages to reach the blade, the high growth phase. This is bad for all parties, from investors and founders to employees and society. The quicker we/you could grow our/your SaaS company, the bigger and more successful it would become, allowing it to grow by acquiring, bringing bigger payoffs earlier (exits/IPOs/dividends), enabling investors and founders to invest in new starts, and freeing up experienced growth specialists to take another company from one level to another.
#1. Starting from Finland. The small home market means no niche is big enough, so one has to broaden the targeting, which leads to losing focus. So most are targeting too many segments, in too many price points, through various channels without properly making it in any. Finding the focus again when going abroad takes ages.
Yet, starting from Finland is easy; thus, everybody is doing it.