Imagine you want to bankrupt Slack.
Because even though they’re the clear leader in the team communication app industry, that confidence has made them neglect certain aspects of what makes a great company.
You see gaps in the market that you can take advantage of and want to go head-to-head with them.
But let’s face it, you would get crushed if you tried to beat them in their own game. They have millions in funding and a network of clients that wouldn’t even respond to your email.
You need to be more tactical and use what may seem as unconventional business methods to these bigger companies, but are the key moves to get any startup off the ground.
The goal is to take away market share one client at a time.
And this is how Missive, the underdog in team communication led by the trio of @plehoux, @rafbm, and @EtienneLem, is growing 100% year-over-year doing just that.
Product-led growth
With a track record of successful projects, including Lean Ticket, Heliom, and Conference Badge, they had the audacious goal of going against Slack and Microsoft Teams.
By 2021, Missive had achieved $1.1M ARR in revenue, and CEO Phil confidently predicted 100% growth with the same small team of four.
Fast forward to 2022, and they hit $2.1M.
They've built a platform integrating email, text, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Twitter collaboration.
Investing 66% of their time in product development, driven by customer feedback, and letting the product speak for itself.
Smaller, scrappier teams have the leverage here, as bigger companies have to ask for approval for every little move the business makes.
It could take months before even a small bug is fixed or feature is updated.
Their main benefit over Slack?
Email collaboration.
No more back and forth to collaborate with co-workers on an email and then pinging them on Slack to check their email.
Everything happens inside Missive.
Customer obsession
Missive's founders personally handle customer support, putting deep value into in the relationship.
A message from a CEO means a lot more than a customer support rep.
It gives customers a sense of relief knowing they’ll have full knowledge of the app, quick decision making since they have all the authority, and a deeper trust being built that makes customers feel valued.
Customer comments like this are worth more than case studies:
Only way you’ll be able to speak to Slack’s CEO is if you have a customer complaint that goes viral.
And even though the founders take on this responsibility, there’s more that needs to be done to help the company grow.
So to limit the support tickets, they focus on the market they know and can cater best to:
Small to mid-sized business teams.
This level of focus lets them focus on building their product and reducing their churn rate.
Full transparency
Since they focus on small and mid-sized teams, they know the features they need to build and which ones to ignore.
They’re even honest about the features they’re missing, as highlighted on their website.
When you’re honest about your flaws, people will also believe you when you compliment yourself.
So don’t be boring, look for the gaps in the market to take down the giants in your industry.