How We Helped a Pre-Revenue Data SaaS Achieve 200x User Growth & FIRST Revenue in 90 Days
From zero customers to 1,100+ users and validated product-market fit through
CLIENT PROFILE
Industry: Financial SaaS / Data Infrastructure
Stage: Seed, Pre-Revenue
Model: Self-Service SaaS
Team: 5 employees
THE PROBLEM
Pain #1: 18 months of product development with zero paying customers
Pain #2: 100% founder-dependent outreach, zero systematic demand generation
Pain #3: Zero conversion benchmarks, untested pricing, no validated ICP
THE OUTCOME
Result #1: 200x user growth in first month (0→1,100 users)
Result #2: First revenue within 2 months; validated willingness to pay
Result #3: 85x website traffic growth to 11,320 monthly visitors in 7 months
Timeframe: 9 months
THE
CHALLENGE
SheetRocks had built a powerful cloud-based spreadsheet with 400+ Excel commands designed to process massive datasets without the lag and crashes that plague Excel and Google Sheets.
They’d invested 18 months in product development before validating whether anyone would pay for it.
There were three core problems.
1. No Validated Demand (18 months, zero revenue)
They’d conducted voice-of-customer interviews, but the needs were scattered. Only 2 out of 18 interviewees had a qualified need for the solution at its current stage. They were building in a vacuum.
2. Founder-Dependent Acquisition (100% manual outreach)
Every customer conversation required the founder’s direct involvement. There was no repeatable system, no funnel, no way to scale beyond Tony’s personal network. Revenue growth meant Tony working harder, not smarter.
3. Unclear Product-Market Fit (Zero benchmarks, untested pricing)
With no validation funnel and no pricing experiments, they had no idea whether their target market would pay, or what price point would work. They were competing against free tools (Excel, Google Sheets) with an unproven value proposition.
The Core Problem: A product-first approach… built for 18 months before testing demand, pricing, or acquisition
They’d invested 18 months in product development before validating whether anyone would pay for it.
There were three core problems.
1. No Validated Demand (18 months, zero revenue)
They’d conducted voice-of-customer interviews, but the needs were scattered. Only 2 out of 18 interviewees had a qualified need for the solution at its current stage. They were building in a vacuum.
2. Founder-Dependent Acquisition (100% manual outreach)
Every customer conversation required the founder’s direct involvement. There was no repeatable system, no funnel, no way to scale beyond Tony’s personal network. Revenue growth meant Tony working harder, not smarter.
3. Unclear Product-Market Fit (Zero benchmarks, untested pricing)
With no validation funnel and no pricing experiments, they had no idea whether their target market would pay, or what price point would work. They were competing against free tools (Excel, Google Sheets) with an unproven value proposition.
The Core Problem: A product-first approach… built for 18 months before testing demand, pricing, or acquisition
REV YOUR ENGINES BECAUSE IT’S TIME FOR
THE TRANSFORMATION
BASELINE
0 users
–
$0 revenue
–
18 months of development with no validated demand
–
$0 revenue
–
18 months of development with no validated demand
INTERVENTION
Built demand validation funnel with $1K paid test
–
Launched to warm list of 800 early signups
–
Built full-funnel marketing system
–
Launched to warm list of 800 early signups
–
Built full-funnel marketing system
OUTCOME
200x user growth
–
1,100 users in 90 days
–
First revenue in 60 days
–
1,100 users in 90 days
–
First revenue in 60 days
IMPACT
Validated market-fit
–
Extended runway through data-driven decisions
–
Positioned for strategic pivot with confidence
–
Extended runway through data-driven decisions
–
Positioned for strategic pivot with confidence
THE
SOLUTION
We implemented a two-phase engagement focused on validating demand before aggressive scaling.
Phase 1: Foundation & Validation (Weeks 1-8)
- Product-Market Fit Hypothesis Framework: Evaluated 3 alternative product-market-fit hypotheses across 10+ mission-critical GTM criteria using a multi-criteria decision matrix. Selected the lowest-risk, highest-reward path forward.
- Three-Campaign Launch Strategy: Executed live launch to 800 warm leads, simulated launch with 50% discount to test price sensitivity, and evergreen funnel with paid ads. Each campaign generated learnings that informed the next iteration.
- Self-Liquidating Offer Validation Funnel + $1K Paid Test: Designed and executed a low-cost validation funnel with targeted Google Ads to test willingness to pay across multiple buyer segments. This $1,000 test gave us conversion benchmarks before committing to full launch.
- Full-Funnel Marketing System: Built and executed a complete demand generation engine including blog content, weekly newsletters (37% open rate, 2% CTR), social media strategy, and email activation sequences using the Jobs-To-Be-Done framework.
- 55-Page Website with Conversion Assets: Led a small team to develop a comprehensive website including conversion-optimized sales pages, quiz funnel for ICP validation, user surveys, and SEO-optimized blog. Drove traffic from near-zero to 11,320 monthly visitors (85x growth) in 7 months.
THE
SOLUTION
We implemented a two-phase engagement focused on validating demand before aggressive scaling.
Phase 1: Foundation & Validation (Weeks 1-8)
- Product-Market Fit Hypothesis Framework: Evaluated 3 alternative product-market-fit hypotheses across 10+ mission-critical GTM criteria using a multi-criteria decision matrix. Selected the lowest-risk, highest-reward path forward.
- Three-Campaign Launch Strategy: Executed live launch to 800 warm leads, simulated launch with 50% discount to test price sensitivity, and evergreen funnel with paid ads. Each campaign generated learnings that informed the next iteration.
Phase 2: Execution & Scale (Weeks 8-35)
- Self-Liquidating Offer Validation Funnel + $1K Paid Test: Designed and executed a low-cost validation funnel with targeted Google Ads to test willingness to pay across multiple buyer segments. This $1,000 test gave us conversion benchmarks before committing to full launch.
- Full-Funnel Marketing System: Built and executed a complete demand generation engine including blog content, weekly newsletters (37% open rate, 2% CTR), social media strategy, and email activation sequences using the Jobs-To-Be-Done framework.
- 55-Page Website with Conversion Assets: Led a small team to develop a comprehensive website including conversion-optimized sales pages, quiz funnel for ICP validation, user surveys, and SEO-optimized blog. Drove traffic from near-zero to 11,320 monthly visitors (85x growth) in 7 months.
THE rESULTS
Generated 1,100+ users and first revenue within 90 days through systematic demand validation, proving market-fit while building a repeatable acquisition engine that freed the founder from 100% manual outreach.
ADDITIONAL QUANTIFIED OUTCOMES
Revenue Validation: Generated first $250 revenue (5 sales at $59.95/month) within 2 months. Validated that the target market would pay a premium price for the solution
Email Growth: Tripled email list in 4 months (800→2,400 subscribers) with 37% open rate and 2% click rate through community-focused content strategy
Website Traffic: 85x increase to 11,320 monthly visitors in 7 months through SEO-optimized blog content, organic social, and targeted paid ads
User Acquisition: 1,100 new users in first month through optimized free trial funnel… A/B testing showed free trial outperformed $1 trial for cost-per-acquisition
Revenue Validation: Generated first $250 revenue (5 sales at $59.95/month) within 2 months. Validated that the target market would pay a premium price for the solution
Email Growth: Tripled email list in 4 months (800→2,400 subscribers) with 37% open rate and 2% click rate through community-focused content strategy
Website Traffic: 85x increase to 11,320 monthly visitors in 7 months through SEO-optimized blog content, organic social, and targeted paid ads
User Acquisition: 1,100 new users in first month through optimized free trial funnel… A/B testing showed free trial outperformed $1 trial for cost-per-acquisition
WHAT THE CLIENT SAYS
“ We are building a very powerful spreadsheet product and we partnered with Lillian to get that product to market. As a technical founder, I was pretty naive around what it really would take to get a big product to market. Working with Lillian was really, really, a critical part of us getting to the next level in our business. I would definitely recommend working with her. ”
Tony Garvan, Founder & CEO, SheetRocks
ENTERPRISE-SCALE MARKETING EXPERTISE
FOCUSED ON EARLY-STAGE STARTUP GROWTH CHALLENGES
I built the demand gen systems that got me to 10% of Fortune 100 brands, 2M+ paid subscribers (Read our wall of ♥), $7+ MIL IN DIRECT REVENUE GENERATED, and 700K+ channel growth… Now I’m helping early-stage startups who need predictable pipeline without burning cash on paid ads.
$750k Revenue Generated
(First Year)
ENTERPRISE CONSULTING
CASE STUDY
10,000+ MQLs Organically
(Zero Paid)
SERIES F DATABASE CO.
CASE STUDY
200x User Growth
(in 90 Days)
VC-BACKED DATA SAAS
CASE STUDY
