Almost Bankrupt: The Company That Survived by Fixing the One Thing Everyone Ignored

In the competitive world of B2B software, growth is often a rollercoaster ride.

For one of our customers, it felt more like a freefall.

After a promising start, the company hit a wall in their scaling efforts, struggling to break through the $1M revenue range.

Cash reserves were drying up, customers were churning faster than they could acquire new ones, and the internal blame game had begun.

The situation came to a head during an emergency meeting, one that would determine their fate.

The Last-Ditch Meeting

The company was in crisis.

They had only five months of runway left before their cash reserves ran dry. Growth had flatlined, and customer churn was creeping upwards.

Every department had a theory about what was going wrong, and the finger-pointing was in full swing.

Marketing pushed to invest more in customer onboarding, believing that a smoother, more effective experience post-purchase would stop customers from leaving. They argued that if users could just understand the value sooner, they wouldn’t churn.

The sales team, however, disagreed.

Sales was adamant that the real issue was the software’s integration — without a seamless connection to the tools customers already used, they were losing deals.

But product had its own perspective. They defended the quality of the software, claiming that the product was strong, but sales was over-promising features that didn’t exist, setting customers up for disappointment.

The debate was intense, but nothing was getting solved.

Everyone seemed convinced that their view was the right one, yet no one had a clear solution.

That’s when someone threw out an idea that changed everything:

“Why don’t we start by actually listening to what the customers are saying?”

The Breakthrough: Listening to Customer Calls

Desperate to get to the root of the problem, the leadership team decided to dive deep into their customer conversations.

Instead of guessing what the issues were, they would let the customers tell them directly.

They pored over hours of recorded calls, from initial sales pitches to onboarding and customer support interactions.

It didn’t take long for a pattern to emerge. The customers weren’t frustrated because the product was bad or the onboarding was lacking....

at least not entirely.

The real issue was far simpler: misalignment.

The sales team, eager to close deals, had been making promises that the product couldn’t deliver on. This led to frustrated customers who churned after realizing the software didn’t meet their expectations.

But it wasn’t just the fault of the sales team. The entire organization wasn’t clear on what their true value proposition was.

Sales, marketing, and product were all slightly misaligned on what the core benefits of the software were, and that disconnection trickled down to the customers.

The Shift That Changed Everything

Armed with this new insight, the company sprang into action.

The first step was to get every department on the same page. Sales, marketing, and product held workshops to clearly define the product’s capabilities, value proposition, and ideal customer.

They stripped out the over-promises and focused on selling the product for what it really was—a strong, reliable software solution that could integrate with key platforms, but only under certain conditions.

Next, they revamped their onboarding process to align with these new promises. Customers were no longer expecting features that didn’t exist, and the support team worked closely with them to ensure integrations went as smoothly as possible.

Finally, they made sure customer feedback was part of their ongoing process.

Listening to customer calls became a routine, helping them continuously improve both their product and their sales process.

The Result: A New Trajectory

Within just a few months, the changes began to pay off.

Churn rates dropped as customers became more satisfied with a product that delivered exactly what was promised.

Sales cycles shortened because the sales team was no longer overcomplicating deals with unnecessary features. Most importantly, the company stopped burning cash on inefficient growth tactics.

By the end of the year, the startup didn’t just survive—they thrived. With renewed focus and alignment across teams, they broke through the revenue plateau that had held them back for so long.

The lesson?

Growth doesn’t always come from throwing money at the problem. Sometimes, the most important thing you can do is simply listen to your customers.

Conclusion: The Power of Listening

This startup’s story is a powerful reminder that even in the face of a cash crunch and internal conflict, the answers are often right in front of us. By taking a step back, listening to customer feedback, and ensuring alignment across teams, they were able to turn their business around. In a world of rapid growth and fast decisions, listening is sometimes the most strategic move you can make.

Try it yourself. Simply go to www.kickscale.com, create your own account and identify what your customers really want.