Uhubs Enablement as a Service (EaaS)

Below is a summary of the full Uhubs case study available now for download.

Founded by Ash Ali and Matt Mulligan in January 2019, Uhubs has grown exponentially in less than 3 years of its existence.

In January 2020, Uhubs raised £150,000 in SEIS funding; £600,000 was raised for Pre-seed in June 2021; £1.5m for the Seed round in November 2021.

In this article, Ash Ali discusses Uhubs business model, and explains the ways in which Uhubs aims to help make sales teams perform better and gives practical advice to companies looking to scale their sales growth.

What is Uhubs?

The online platform helps make salespeople perform better. 

Targeting fast-growing B2B tech companies, Uhubs provides Enablement as a Service (EaaS) intended to drive rapid upskilling to boost sales performance. Services include ‘Uhubs Pulse’ and ‘Uhubs Training Sprints.’  

Uhubs hopes to become the “go-to development platform in B2B SaaS.” Its mission? To “enable 1 billion people to realise their potential by 2030.”

In fact, since its launch, Uhubs has upskilled over 5,000 salespeople and sales managers, and delivered over 300 live sprints by global sales experts. Current Uhubs clients include Yulife SEON, Salesloft, Infinity, and more.

Business model

The Uhubs business model is a subscription-based B2B SaaS platform - targeting companies trying to scale i.e. those likely to be at the Series A to E funding stage.

Built on the established SaaS set-up, an annual subscription is required for Uhubs; with many clients choosing two to three-year options based on the number of ‘seats’ required.

Market size

Uhubs estimates the current market for sales enablement to be worth £3.2bn, growing at 18% yearly.

What is Enablement as a Service (EaaS)

Enablement as a Service (EaaS) ensures companies move away from buying their sales teams ‘empty'' software platforms which they could then tailor for specific use.

Although companies bought these platforms to save time, teams would then need to invest significant time and effort in populating it with content before they could use it - often costing more than it saved.

EaaS solves the problem by providing high-quality training content alongside the software platform. It empowers sales teams to function effectively by enabling each individual in the team to reach their full sales potential.

With EaaS, startups can get quality onboarding and training material and start the process of upskilling their teams straightaway.

Unique sales proposition

Uhubs is about salespeople development that integrates with the full sales tech stack, combining qualitative and quantitative data points to help sales teams excel. 

Sales managers can save time by pinpointing the exact area of coaching that an individual salesperson needs, then track the effectiveness of the interventions with sales performance metrics.

Sellers can also hit more targets, ramp up faster, and offer growth potential to sales employees thanks to Uhubs’s assistance in developing sales competencies and creating personalised learning within the organisation.

Pivoting from B2C to B2B 

Initially Uhubs was a B2C, membership-based service for individuals to sign up and then receive live training content from Uhubs. 

Although horizontal and generic in terms of target customers at the start, Ali says they found out very early that sales and marketing were the areas people wanted to learn the most about.

But a lesson here, Ali says, is just how important it is for startup founders to remain very agile - and know what the market wants and where it’s moving.

Evidently, the reason why Uhubs pivoted from B2C to B2B was to support more people to become the B2B subscription-based business we know today.

How EaaS delivers results

The ways in which EaaS delivers results are:

1. Speed
2. Knowledge
3. Retention

3 things to do before fundraising

Before you jump into trying to raise funds, these are the three things you should do:

1. Build a network
2. No talk without traction 
3. Consider revenue before raising

11 tips for sales growth

Uhubs top tips for sales growth are as follows:

1. Dispense wisdom, not information
2. Align sales and marketing
3. Build your sales playbook first
4. Nail your niche
5. Learn to say ‘no’ at the right time
6. Target organic growth 
7. Make your customer look good
8. Don’t fear failure
9. Listen to the right voices
10. Keep on unlearning
11. Build trust internally and externally

Download the full Uhubs case study now.