, the founder of the Silk Road wanted to build something big.
And he did, to the tune of $1.2bn in revenue: completely bootstrapped.
But only after he made one small tweak, or you could say: #saasmarketing...
In the bestselling book,
, the author explains how the growth of the Silk Road only really kicked off after a very specific change was made in 2011...
That change was a name change of its founder, Ross Ulbricht's username.
From: "admin" to the "Dread Pirate Roberts".
Why?
This is a SaaS branding move...
Wikipedia tells us that the Dread Pirate Roberts:
A pirate of near-mythical reputation, the Dread Pirate Roberts is feared across the seven seas for his ruthlessness and sword fighting prowess and is well known for taking no prisoners.
This new pseudonym galvanized Ross in his efforts, not necessarily towards revenue or profit... but towards the movement.
Here is a real forum post was written by DPR on the Silk Road forum:
There has been more than one occasion where I have wanted to quit as well. Without going into details, the stress of being DPR is sometimes overwhelming. What keeps me going is the understanding that what we are doing here is more important than my insignificant little life. I believe what we are doing will have rippling effects for generations to come and could be part of a monumental shift in how human beings organize and relate to one another.
I have gone through the mental exercise of spending a lifetime in prison and of dying for this cause. I have let the fear pass through me and with clarity commit myself fully to the mission and values outlined in the Silk Road charter. If you haven't read it yet, please do.
You can see, he truly cares:
What keeps me going is the understanding that what we are doing here is more important than my insignificant little life.
He AND the Silk Road have a reason for existing greater than just making cash.
This emotional driver no doubt increased conversion and loyalty to the Silk Road from its buyers, sellers, and employees.
If Ross was sprouting the normal corporate bullshit vision, mission and values he would have said something like this:
What keeps me going is the understanding that we are finding and cultivating the best people and doing the best work for our clients.
Which would have had zero emotional impact on the buyers, sellers, and employees of the Silk Road.
It was shortly after this name change that the frequency of these types of messages appeared and the volume of drugs flowing through the platform started to go parabolic (though this Gawker article also had an impact).
Now, of course, Ross is in prison for life, so I would maybe not adopt all his business practices... but there is definitely something us #saasmarketers can take away from his ability to start a movement.
Just as the Dread Pirate Roberts signed off an email to his Silk Road employees in the same fashion as Fidel Castro did during the Cuban Revolution:
I believe our future is bright and we will emerge victorious.