How can a SaaS get traction and successfully grow in an already crowded marketplace? According to event marketing platform, Goldcast, the answer is to focus on the needs of a well-defined core audience.

The CEO and Co-founder Palash Soni returned to update the GetLatka team on their progress since his visit last year. The enthusiastic entrepreneur shared the secrets of who his ideal persona is (and isn’t), how B2B SaaS marketers can get more out of their virtual events, and why he’s confident he can repeat Goldcast’s 100% YoY growth again next year.

$500,000 MRR
200 customers
$28m Series A closed in September 2022 at $120m post-money valuation
Team of 110 with 50 engineers, 6 sales AEs, 10 BDRs

Digital events platform for B2B marketers Goldcast attracts 200 customers

Since his last interview with Latka, the Goldcast customer base nearly doubled from 110 to 200. CEO Soni attributes the growth of the digital events platform to being explicitly built for B2B marketers: “Fundamentally, it looks like Hopin and vFairs.

But our focus is more on the niche of B2B marketing teams. We are more agile in how we serve small 30-40 person webinars up to bigger multi-day multi-track conferences.” He added, “We don’t go after the big 50-to-100-thousand-person trade shows, which is what vFairs and Hopin specialize in; we do 30-5000 attendee events. That’s where the b2b marketing use cases lie, making a big difference in our UX, technology, and product ease of use.”

$30,000 ACV, with enviable client list

According to Soni, Goldcast customers pay approximately $30,000 annually for platform access. Their customer list reads like a Who’s Who among B2B SaaS brands with Drift, GitHub, Autodesk, 6Sense, Hootsuite, Zuora, and Sendoso, all using Goldcast.

The Co-founder explained that they changed their pricing model within the last year. They now charge based on the number of teams using their product, which promotes greater adoption.

How 2020 user GitHub grew to one of the largest customers

Soni explained how customers use Goldcast by using GitHub as an example. Goldcast acquired GitHub as a customer in May 2020. “They started by doing an event series in Europe for a new product launch.

Now they have 30 teams using us, mostly marketing teams doing different events like product launches, demand gen events, or enterprise customer events,” explained the CEO. He added, “We serve a variety of marketing use cases; GitHub represents the typical examples.”

Raised $28m at $120m post-valuation

In April 2022, Goldcast raised $28m at a $120m post-valuation, according to Soni. Latka asked if he was disappointed in the valuation.

“Not at all. I’m glad we raised at that number. We are not overvalued, so we are not as pressured. We can grow at a decent pace and put money in the right places,” explained the affable CEO.

$600,000-1m net burn per month

Soni admitted that their net burn of $600,000 to $1m per month is still high: “We are still trying to bring it down.” He confirmed that the company still has over 24 months of runway to work it out, adding that he expects to hit $10m ARR by the end of 2023 and hopes to double again in 2024.

The CEO sees the growth coming from large enterprise in tech, where they already have traction, as well as non-tech B2B like accounting and law firms. “Their GTM is the same, but the stack is a little different. The motion is outbound and event heavy, where we excel,” explained the CEO.

Team of 110, 6 AEs with $800,000 quota

Soni says they currently employ 110 team members to support the planned growth. Fifty-five are engineers, and a half-dozen are quota-carrying AEs.

When Latka asked if they still carry a million-dollar quota, which was the case at the last interview, the CEO shared that their current quota sits at $800,000. The team also includes 10 business development reps.

Expanding from 200 to 300 clients

Aside from outbound efforts to close large tech enterprise and non-tech B2B, Soni reiterated that “B2B midmarket tech is still our core, and they benefit from inbound leads that bring baseline growth. We win deals by focusing on the persona. We are the best option for the B2B marketer,” explained the Co-founder.

He continued, “We shine in 3 ways: we are the most brandable and are adaptable for webinars, multi-day events, or field events.

You can use the same product for your entire team, saving money and centralizing data. Plus, we offer 10 times better integrations for analytics and martech, which makes us appealing to marketing operations.”

Digital vs. In-Person

Latka asked Soni to describe what makes a successful digital event. “A digital event is not like a tentpole in-person conference. Instead, it needs to be part of a bigger campaign; it ties into what else you are doing in your marketing,” replied the Co-founder.

He added, “Digital events are like any other marketing tool: it’s how you use them. You can bundle up a digital event just like you bundle ads or any other medium. We suggest you do what’s right for your audience, and we provide multiple playbooks for best uses and strategy.”

5-hour 1 day session with 30 speakers is ideal

Latka and Soni envisioned an optimal digital event as a one-day session lasting 4 to 5 hours, with 20-minute sessions from 30 speakers.

“That would allow all of them to promote it, and you’d hold attention,” quipped Latka. Soni added that their data indicates, “Companies get out of an event what they put into it in advance.”

Most creative, effective event executions from Metadata

When Latka asked Soni whose work is most creative, the Co-founder quickly chose Metadata. “Gil Allouche (Metadata’s founder) does a bunch of planned gimmicks each week before the event, and it gets a ton of traction,” he answered.

Then he explained, “The first 1000 who register are entered to win one of 10 trips to Hawaii. The next week, 1000 registrants get a quality piece of swag.”

Preventing online from cannibalizing in-person events

Latka indicated that many who do live events, like himself, are reluctant to offer a hybrid as they fear losing sales of in-person seats. Soni believes such concerns are unfounded, “Some people prefer in-person and some virtual.”

One recommendation he offered Latka was recording the live in-person event, then providing a virtual event with the best-of live recordings, along with a LIVE Q&A with the featured speakers. He indicated that both LG and SalesLoft found success this way.

Finally, the CEO reiterated that you don’t make money doing virtual events: “They’re built for demand generation and lead gen.”