BUS 144 — Building and Scaling SaaS Startups for Full-Time or Fractional Founders
Quarter: Spring
Instructor(s): Sandy Diao, Shuo Chen
Date(s): Apr 19
Class Recording Available: No
Class Meeting Day: Saturday
Grade Restriction: NGR only; no credit/letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 10:00 am—4:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $355
Refund Deadline: Apr 12
Unit(s): 0
Enrollment Limit: 50
Status: Registration opens Feb 24, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Spring
Day: Saturday
Duration: 1 day
Time: 10:00 am—4:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Apr 19
Unit(s): 0
Tuition: $355
Refund Deadline: Apr 12
Instructor(s): Sandy Diao, Shuo Chen
Grade Restriction: NGR only; no credit/letter grade
Enrollment Limit: 50
Recording Available: No
Status: Registration opens Feb 24, 8:30 am (PT)
Building a venture-backed SaaS startup today requires more than just a great product. With global SaaS revenue projected to reach $900 billion by 2030, competition is fierce. This course is designed for both full-time and fractional founders who want to create profitable SaaS products that succeed in today’s landscape. You’ll learn how to validate your market through customer insights, craft compelling investor pitches, and implement early traction strategies to acquire your first paying customers.
We’ll explore key SaaS growth metrics such as customer acquisition cost (CAC), lifetime value (LTV), and retention rates. We’ll also cover revenue growth strategies, from generating new monthly recurring revenue (MRR) to managing expansion, contraction, and churn. Whether you are preparing for fundraising or focusing on customer acquisition, you will leave this course with a clear, actionable plan to drive your SaaS company forward.
We’ll explore key SaaS growth metrics such as customer acquisition cost (CAC), lifetime value (LTV), and retention rates. We’ll also cover revenue growth strategies, from generating new monthly recurring revenue (MRR) to managing expansion, contraction, and churn. Whether you are preparing for fundraising or focusing on customer acquisition, you will leave this course with a clear, actionable plan to drive your SaaS company forward.
SANDY DIAO
Growth Executive and Advisor
Sandy Diao is a growth executive with a track record of scaling user bases from zero to hundreds of millions. She has built and led growth teams for over 12 years at industry-leading companies such as Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Pinterest, and Descript. Diao is the founder of Drift International, an investor at IOVC, and a keynote speaker at conferences on growth strategy and entrepreneurship. SHUO CHEN
General Partner, IOVC
Shuo Chen is a general partner at IOVC, where she invests in early-stage startups in Silicon Valley with a focus on future of work and enterprise/SaaS. In her venture role, she has invested in companies acquired by Goldman Sachs, Ford, Caterpillar, Binance, and Dialpad, as well as unicorns including Boom, Checkr, GrubMarket, Instacart, and Rescale. Earlier, she worked at Goldman Sachs in investment banking and at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she was involved with Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola and LinkedIn’s $119 million acquisition of SlideShare. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.