Problem
Company Context
CloudSpend is a B2B SaaS company that helps mid-market companies monitor and reduce cloud infrastructure costs across AWS, Azure, and GCP. The company has reached $8.4M ARR, serves 420 customers, and is strongest in the US mid-market segment with companies spending $250K-$5M annually on cloud. Growth has slowed from 78% YoY last year to 31% YoY this year, and the CEO wants a clear strategy for the next 12-18 months.
Strategic Situation
You are the incoming Head of Strategy. CloudSpend faces an ambiguous problem: there are several plausible growth paths, but resources are limited and the company cannot pursue all of them at once. Leadership is debating three options: (A) expand upmarket into enterprise accounts, (B) launch a self-serve product for smaller companies, or (C) deepen its position in the current mid-market through partnerships and product expansion. The board wants a recommendation in six weeks because the FY planning cycle starts next month.
Data Points
| Metric | Current State |
|---|---|
| ARR | $8.4M |
| Customers | 420 |
| Average ARR per customer | $20K |
| Gross margin | 82% |
| Net revenue retention | 108% |
| Logo churn | 11% annually |
| Sales cycle (mid-market) | 75 days |
| CAC payback | 14 months |
| Growth Option | Market / Economics Snapshot |
|---|---|
| Enterprise | ~6,000 target companies in US/EU with $5M+ annual cloud spend; expected ACV $120K; sales cycle 9-12 months; requires SOC 2 upgrades, procurement support, and 6 new enterprise sellers |
| SMB Self-Serve | ~70,000 companies with $50K-$250K annual cloud spend; expected ACV $3K; self-serve conversion estimated at 2.5%-4%; higher expected annual logo churn of 20%-25% |
| Core Mid-Market Expansion | Existing ICP estimated at 25,000 companies; attach-rate opportunity from new optimization module could raise ARPC by 25%; channel partnerships could reduce CAC by 20% |
Deliverables
- Structure the problem and define how you would evaluate the three growth paths.
- Size the opportunity for each option using reasonable assumptions and identify the most attractive near-term path.
- Assess competitive dynamics and likely sources of advantage or disadvantage for CloudSpend.
- Recommend a go-to-market strategy for the next 12-18 months, including what not to do.
- Identify the key risks, milestones, and metrics leadership should track.
Constraints
- Incremental investment budget is capped at $4M over the next 12 months.
- The product team can support only one major roadmap bet this year.
- The board expects a credible path to $15M ARR within 18 months.
- Management wants to avoid a strategy that materially worsens burn or requires a full reorganization.
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