Runtastic Shortens Renegotiation Cycles from Three Months to Three Weeks

Runtastic is an Austria-based company that offers activity-training applications and similar services that help users boost their fitness levels. Acquired by Adidas in 2015 for €220 million, Runtastic continues to grow — creating the needs for fast SaaS negotiations and favorable contract terms that create value.

Those needs inspired Runtastic to start working with Sastrify for price benchmarking and procurement. Here’s a look at how Sastrify helped Runtastic accelerate the negotiation process with different SaaS tools, plus how Sastrify assisted Runtastic with securing the favorable SaaS contract terms it was seeking.

Miro: Direct Communication Accelerates Negotiations

During the COVID-19 pandemic, companies around the world sought out collaboration tools that could bring whiteboard-style sessions into virtual settings. Miro is a SaaS tool that helps users do just that. Miro gives teams the ability to facilitate workshops, brainstorm sessions, planning meetings, plus more.

When Runtastic began exploring Miro as a virtual collaboration tool, the company’s CTO searched for price benchmarking information. Runtastic’s CTO connected with Sastrify for assistance. Using Sastrify’s price benchmarking database, Runtastic discovered that Miro was not offering a discount because of the relatively low number of licenses that Runtastic needed. The quote Miro had provided Runtastic was essentially list pricing.

In its role as a Miro reseller, Sastrify was able to make available a larger discount to Runtastic, generating a meaningful amount of savings for the company each year over the length of the contract.

Runtastic had also found that its SaaS negotiations in general dragged on longer than the team wanted. Sastrify has established Slack Connect channels with various SaaS vendors, creating direct lines of communication with some of its clients’ most popular platforms. Direct lines of communication help accelerate negotiation cycles, in many cases shortening negotiations from months to weeks or even days.

That was the case when negotiating a Miro contract for Runtastic — the negotiation accelerated thanks to Sastrify’s streamlined communication, and both Runtastic and Miro were able to close a deal that provided mutual benefits.

Slack: Upgrade to Business+ at a Budget-Friendly Price

After the success of the Miro negotiation, Runtastic asked Sastrify to lead negotiations with Slack. The Runtastic team had grown to a point where it needed additional features. Unfortunately, these features were only available through Slack’s Business+ plan — requiring a costly upgrade.

Slack is one of the companies with which Sastrify has established a Slack Connect channel for direct communication. Using this direct line of communication, Sastrify engaged with the Slack team and was able to negotiate a Business+ price that met Runtastic’s budget requirements.

Again, Sastrify’s existing relationship with Slack and its existing line of communication shortened the amount of time required to negotiate a price and close the deal on behalf of Runtastic. This efficient and ultimately effective negotiation process helped Runtastic realize the value of Slack’s Business+ features much faster than if Runtastic had handled negotiations alone.

Contentful: Additional Users Plus a Significant Discount

Runtastic had long used Contentful as a platform to build digital experiences for its users. Due to Runtastic’s growth, the team quickly reached its limit of 25 Contentful users. To add more team members to the platform, Runtastic would have to upgrade to the next level of service — at a much higher price.

Sastrify entered the negotiations to help Runtastic upgrade without significantly increasing its investment in Contentful. Sastrify had already created a Slack Connect channel to communicate with Contentful, and this channel helped negotiations move quickly. Ultimately, Sastrify secured Runtastic the next level of service at a significant discount, plus the ability to add new users free of charge. Runtastic agreed to serve as a Contentful reference as part of the deal.

Thanks to existing channels of communication, Sastrify accelerated the negotiation process for both companies. Runtastic secured the level of service and number of users needed to fuel its ongoing growth, and Contentful upgraded an existing user while also gaining a new reference to use with prospects.

"As our user growth forced us into the risk of doubling our spent and we needed a quick solution, we were very thankful that Sastrify speeded up the process of coming to a good agreement.” (Armin Deliomini, Head of Infrastructure at Runtastic)

Existing Relationships Matter in SaaS Negotiations

Runtastic was facing the same challenges as all fast-growing companies: How can the company secure the tools needed to keep up with its scaling business?

Sastrify’s existing relationships and channels of communication with leading vendors provided an answer to that question. Relationships matter in SaaS negotiations, helping to shorten negotiation cycles and deliver the prices and levels of service that companies need.

In Runtastic’s case, negotiations that might have taken three months ended up taking only three weeks with Sastrify’s support. At Sastrify, we know the best price available to our clients, and we know how to negotiate the best prices in the shortest amount of time possible.

Do you need the right tools to fuel your company’s growth? Contact us to get pricing benchmarks for the SaaS products your team relies on most.