Oji Udezue discusses a framework for analyzing business-to-business software-as-a-service opportunities. He identifies four categories based on the intensity and nicheness of workflows: high-intensity/everyone, high-intensity/niche, low-intensity/everyone, and low-intensity/niche. Examples of companies and tools are provided for each category. The framework is intended to help shape product strategy and understand potential enterprise value based on the number of users and frequency of workflows.

1. Where to fish to
land a Unicorn
Identifying Your Best Bets to Win Big
Oji Udezue
Fmr Head of Product for Content, Creators and Conversation
@Twitter
@ojiudezue almost anywhere

2. @ojiudezue

3. @ojiudezue
Aw Gee Ou.day.zuwe
A good mother whose significance is enough. Yes!
Literally Oji is the name for the Iroko tree from
West Africa. Culturally significant to the Igbos.
Represents strength & wealth. Lives up to 500yrs
A product manager; occasional marketer, designer,
founder, investor
Oji Udezue
Used in a sentence
Oji Udezue is IT support for his demanding family while everyone was WFH.
noun

4. Entrepreneur
Oji Udezue
Startup Mentor
& Investor
Product & Design
Leader
with Mkting & Sales TOD
M&A
Ex: Twitter, Calendly, Atlassian,
Microsoft, Bridgewater
InterMingl TechStars, KernelFund
DivInc

5. 5

6. Intro to key ideas and concepts
6

7. 7

8. 8
Niche Everyone
Low Intensity High Intensity
Few Most
Medium
Workflows

9. Low
Intensity
Niche Everyone
HiEv
High
intensity
LiNi LiEv
HiNi
Workflows framework

10. HiEv Workflows / Opportunities
10
HiEv
• The most lucrative – most seats * $
• Example workflows: communications, calendaring, writing and
communicating ideas, calling and speaking to team members. Usually daily,
weekly on the outside.
• Example tools: email, team chat, calendar and scheduling software, note
taking and authoring tools (like word, Gdocs, Evernote, etc.), telephony and
video calling.
• Example companies: Microsoft, Google, Slack, UC incumbents like Cisco
and modern iterations like Zoom/Teams.
• Other: Relatively low per user prices (because of volume and competition),
product bundling, high barrier to entry. Incumbents from a pre-SAAS world
are well represented.
• Predictions: Lower subscription prices; Highest TAM, profits and EV;
Medium growth, Not as competitive (capital requirements).

11. HiEv Workflows / Opportunities
11
HiNi
• Next most lucrative – dept seats * $
• Example workflows: Engineering, Support, Customer Success,
Contract mg management. Usually daily, weekly on the outside.
• Example tools: Jira, Zendesk, Coupa, Figma, ActiveCampaign
• Example companies: Tools are synonymous with the companies, by
and large.
• Other: Expert tools. Relatively higher per user prices, Lower barriers to
entry because of unbundling effect and new technology.
• Predictions: Higher relative subscription prices; High TAM and EV, but
lower than HiEv; Medium growth, Highly competitive.

12. HiEv Workflows / Opportunities
12
LiEv
• Moderately lucrative – Seats * $$
• Example workflows: HR, Expenses, Recruiting, Travel and logistics.
Usually, 2-4 weeks intensity cycle
• Example tools: Expensify, Smart Recruiting, Workday
• Example companies: Tools are synonymous with the companies, by
and large.
• Other: Relatively higher per user prices > HiEv
• Predictions: Higher subscription $ relative to HiEv, Lower EV than
previous quadrants, Not as competitive as HiNi (incumbency); more
than HiEv.

13. HiEv Workflows / Opportunities
13
LiNi
• Not as lucrative – dept seats * $$
• Example workflows: Auditing, Backup & archival, Content updates,
Surveys
• Example tools: Survey Monkey, Auditboard, Astra, Bundled with LiEv as a
feature
• Example companies: Tools are synonymous with the companies, by and
large.
• Other: Expert tools. Relatively high per user prices, The best versions
drive big transformations in workflow efficiency (AI, other)
• Predictions: High subscription $, Lower growth rates, Not as competitive;
more than HiEv. Increasingly - analytics and AI (proof of work).

14. Infrastructure SaaS Vertical SaaS

15. Top 50 b2b SaaS

16. Low
Intensity
Niche Everyone
HiEv
High
intensity
LiNi LiEv
HiNi
Microsoft (20b)
Gsuite (3.83b)
Adobe (4b)
Salesforce
Shopify
Intuit
ServiceNow
Atlassian
Square Snowflake
Zoom
Workday
Cloudflare
Crowdstrike
Datadog
Twilio
Docusign
Paycom
Zscalar
Unity Software
Okta
HubSpot
MongoDB
Zoominfo
Bill.com
Splunk
Qualtrics
Dynatrace
RingCentral
Asana
Ceridian
Akamai
Coupa
Bentley Systems
Paylocity
Monday
Elastic
Avalara
F5 Networks
Procore System
Zendesk
Veeva Systems
Citrix
Wix
Digital Ocean
DropBox
Guidewire
Five9
Anaplan
Smartsheet
Workiva
Blackline
Vertical SaaS
Highest
combined
EV, Less
competitive
Next
highest, very
competitive
Only 1
company
Only 3
companies

17. 17

18. 18
1. Thinking about workflows of specific kinds of
workers is the key to unlock B2B SaaS strategy.
This is what undergirds the concept of ICPs.
2. How many people in the enterprise use a
workflow and how often they repeat the workflow
is a crucial tool to understand the ceiling of future
enterprise value.
3. You can use this information to shape your
feature and product bets and strategy, as you
find success.

19. 19

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