“You’re three times more likely to make an NFL roster than to go from zero to a billion in value,” Chris Elmore, AvidXchange & startup evangelist, noted at Dog Eat Hog: Unleashed, the first virtual event in CLM’s speaker series from challenger brands who crush it. “And about 50% of these zero-to-a-billions are located in Silicon Valley.”
Statistical anomalies like AvidXchange—based out of Charlotte, NC, and now with offices in seven cities—define a challenger brand. Being a challenger brand isn’t just about standing out among market leaders and niche boutiques. It’s about a mindset of ambition that looks beyond the conventional to bring real change to the playing field in an industry.
Today, AvidXchange is transforming the business payment market as one of the fastest growing tech companies in the US, processing over 250 million invoices per month. On the way, it acquired Piracle Payment Management, and that’s where our story began at Dog Eat Hog.
John Hanousek took our virtual stage to lay the groundwork of Piracle, then a dimming player in the accounts payable market. Taking a leadership role in the company after a sustained period of decline, Hanousek, with CLM Marketing & Advertising’s support, developed and executed strategies that turned the company around.
TIP #1: The 5x Rule
Once a company is stable and a strong, aligned culture is in place, make a business decision that will strategically grow the company by five times or don’t do it. Now a part of AvidXchange, the Piracle office has grown its staff by 10x.
Chris Elmore, a founding employee at AvidXchange, took the virtual stage next.
TIP #2: Put the “M” in MVP
How do you rocket launch a minimal viable product? Develop the basic product. Deploy into the market. Put a team in place to listen to “harsh” customer feedback. Implement new features based on customer feedback. Do it again and again. AvidXchange continually upgraded incrementally by listening to the key concerns of customers. What are the “this must happen now to make my life better” type desires? By focusing in and continually upgrading, AvidXchange became a must-have in the business life of its customers.
TIP #3: Define Innovation
Innovation is simply doing it better than what it was today. It focuses on what’s possible. Do small incremental innovations, then look back in 20 years and be shocked at the hill you’re sitting on. Teach everyone in your company to be an innovator, and the potential is unlimited.
TIP #4: Charge Your Value
Value-based pricing takes what you can save the customer and make the customer, then charges 10% of that. Cheap is never the goal. Value is the sweet spot. The business must charge enough to get “harsh” customer feedback.
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