Siddharth Sridharan

CEO & Co-Founder

Bio

Siddharth Sridharan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Spendflo, with extensive experience in business operations and supply chain strategy. Before Spendflo, Siddharth held key roles at companies like Volta Charging and Zap Mobility. His expertise in SaaS spend management has been pivotal in empowering finance leaders to maximize the value of their software investments.

Siddharth Sridharan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Spendflo, with extensive experience in business operations…

Company:

Spendflo

Location:

San Francisco, California, United States

Description:

Spendflo is a SaaS spend management platform that helps businesses optimize their software procurement, management, and renewals. By centralizing SaaS contracts and providing real-time insights, Spendflo enables organizations to reduce costs, automate procurement processes, and drive better ROI from their software stack. Spendflo has raised $11 million in Series A funding and is growing rapidly in the SaaS management space.

Spendflo is a SaaS spend management platform that helps businesses optimize their software procurement, management,…

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Conversation
Highlights

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech’s most innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Siddharth Sridharan, CEO & Co-Founder of Spendflo, a SaaS spend management platform that has raised $15.4 Million in funding.

Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:

Spendflo’s Unique Offering: Spendflo not only provides SaaS procurement automation but also acts as a virtual procurement team that guarantees savings by negotiating and managing software renewals.
SaaS + Service Layer Model: Sid believes the future of SaaS will likely include a service layer for specific segments like mid-market customers, but it won’t be universal across all verticals.
Market Fit and Customer Profile: Sid emphasizes the importance of understanding your ideal customer profile (ICP) deeply and tailoring offerings to fit their specific needs and stages of their growth.
The Pandemic Opportunity: Spendflo’s founding during the pandemic was advantageous as SaaS spending surged, allowing the company to identify and capitalize on a widespread problem faced by CFOs.
Event Marketing Strategy: After initial cold outbound struggles, Sid highlights the importance of in-person event marketing combined with account-based marketing for mid-market engagement, including creative approaches like hosting pickleball events.
Fundraising Lessons: Sid attributes fundraising success to a combination of early traction, a strong team, and a clear vision, supported by participating in programs like Accel Atoms that structure the fundraising journey.

Actionable
Takeaways

Deeply Understand Your ICP:

Constantly refine and segment your ICP to maximize alignment between your solution and the customers who will benefit the most. Saying no to the wrong customers is as important as saying yes to the right ones.

Embrace Hybrid SaaS + Service Models:

For mid-market companies, offering a blend of software and services can be a powerful way to ensure adoption and outcomes, especially in repetitive tasks like procurement and vendor management.

Leverage Event Marketing:

In-person events, especially post-COVID, are an effective way to build long-term relationships with prospects. Creative event formats and partnering with communities can increase engagement and reduce costs.

Outcomes Matter:

Customers are increasingly focused on outcomes, not just software. Offering guaranteed results, like Spendflo does with cost savings, can differentiate your solution in competitive markets.

Avoid Cold Outbound:

For mid-market companies, cold outbound is becoming less effective due to changing spam rules and difficulties in lead collection. Consider pivoting to more sophisticated account-based strategies and intent-based marketing.