Sat.Apr 16, 2022 - Fri.Apr 22, 2022

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Dear SaaStr: Is it Bad to Leave a Failing Startup?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: Is it Bad to Leave a Failing Startup? It can be a tough situation. If you’re a critical resource and leave a struggling startup — would that increase the odds it fails? If so, do you have an obligation of some form to stay? I’ve never failed as a CEO but I sure have come close. And most of the best folks stayed, but not all. All I can share is from that perspective: Talk to the founders first.

Startup 200
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9 Harmful Sales Myths (And Why They Make No Sense)

Sales Hacker

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”. – Neil Gaiman. Oh don’t worry, you are at the right place. This is still an article about sales. But just because it’s about sales, doesn’t mean the dragons are not real. I’m talking, of course, about sales myths – giant, all-consuming ideas that seem to loom over the sales mindscape and impact our every action.

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Revenue, Revenue Everywhere. Not a Dollar to Count

Tom Tunguz

Revenue, Revenue_USD, Revenue_new, rev2, customer_revenue. Do you recognize these? They might be the column names you might find in your BI or analytics tool. Which is the one to use? You pick Revenue_new (it’s new, after all!) and proceed with your analysis. A few minutes into the meeting with the sales team, the group startles: the data doesn’t match their expectations.

Revenue 299
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Generating Inbound Leads With Outbound Sales Messaging

Predictable Revenue

Eric Nowoslawski joins the Predictable Revenue podcast to discuss his top three strategies for how to create inbound leads using outbound sales messaging. The post Generating Inbound Leads With Outbound Sales Messaging appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

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Beyond the Basics of A/B Tests: Innovative Experimentation Tactics You Need to Know as a Data or Product Professional

Speaker: Timothy Chan, PhD., Head of Data Science

Are you ready to move beyond the basics and take a deep dive into the cutting-edge techniques that are reshaping the landscape of experimentation? From Sequential Testing to Multi-Armed Bandits, Switchback Experiments to Stratified Sampling, Timothy Chan, Data Science Lead, is here to unravel the mysteries of these powerful methodologies that are revolutionizing how we approach testing.

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Don’t Hire a VP of Sales Everybody Loves

SaaStr

So this is a seemingly simple post, and one with a title that is purposefully a bit binary. Yes, sometimes it’s OK to hire a VP of Sales that everyone loves. But not usually. At least 9 times out of 10, if everyone on the team loves a VP of Sales, it’s the wrong hire. And this especially matters because I often see CEOs picking between 2 final VP of Sales candidates.

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The Rhyming Protocol Wars of 2022

Tom Tunguz

Defi lending protocols, distributed exchange protocols, cross-chain messaging protocols, communication protocols. All of them are in the process of being invented, debated, and adopted. In a roundabout way, this post is about the emergence of web3 protocols. But it’s about how we got here. For 20 years, from 1970 to 1990s, the first Protocol Wars raged over clacking IBM Model M mechanical keyboards.

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Sales Development Hiring: Job Description Templates for SDRs and Sales Managers

Predictable Revenue

Successful sales development hiring begins with attracting the right candidates. These templates will help you write compelling job descriptions for common sales roles. The post Sales Development Hiring: Job Description Templates for SDRs and Sales Managers appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

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ForgeRock: Top Startup Valuations Fell 19.95% in February and March

SaaStr

FT summarized the latest data from 2 platforms trading private shares. These platforms are used to trade shares in the largest, late-stage startups: Forge Global, which just SPAC’d / went public itself, found the clearing price for trades for top startups fell 10% in February and another 10% or so in March , after just starting to go down in January.

Startup 281
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A Guide to Decentralized Biotech

Andreessen Horowitz

American biotech has traditionally been a highly centralized industry, with most companies clustered in a handful of cities and operating with teams of in-house scientists. Biotech companies are typically small startups focused on developing biologic drugs (or therapeutic platforms). When the industry first gained its footing in the 1980s, there were good reasons for its.

Startup 145
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How Investors & Strategic Buyers Evaluate Integrated Payment Strategies

Explore how integrated payment strategies impact investor and buyer evaluations. Payments are more than a feature — they’re a key to long-term success and market differentiation. They help SaaS companies offer seamless user experiences and efficient operations. Investors and strategic buyers assess these integrated payment strategies as a measure of a company's growth potential and sustainability.

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6 Ways Small Businesses Are Celebrating Earth Day

Buffer Resources

Earth Day is one of the (many) days when businesses can create or reaffirm a commitment to practicing sustainability. Business owners must take time out to create awareness, especially when climate action is more important than ever. Along with the environmental implications, sustainability is growing in awareness among consumers. A 2021 study by Deloitte found that 34 percent of consumers choose brands that have environmentally sustainable practices.

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Sales Development Hiring: Job Description Templates for SDRs and Sales Managers

Predictable Revenue

Successful sales development hiring begins with attracting the right candidates. These templates will help you write compelling job descriptions for common sales roles. The post Sales Development Hiring: Job Description Templates for SDRs and Sales Managers appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

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BowtiedCocoon: Top SaaS SMB AEs have $125k OTEs. But The Best Ones Make $261k.

SaaStr

Ok I have to admit, I don’t know BowtiedCocoon on Twitter but the research from LinkedIn put together looks really solid and consistent with all my data. And it’s super helpful. Per LinkedIn data, SMB AEs at some of the top SaaS and B2B companies have: an average base salary of $70k, an average OTE of $125k, and. the best, top reps make $260k.

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Announcing a16z crypto research

Andreessen Horowitz

The best industrial research labs throughout history have played a critical role in pioneering much of modern technology. Two modern examples of successful research labs — both founded in the wake of radical advances in the field of artificial intelligence … The post Announcing a16z crypto research appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

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The Big Payoff of Application Analytics

Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business. That’s what drove the five companies in this e-book to change their approach to analytics. Download this e-book to learn about the unique problems each company faced and how they achieved huge returns beyond expectation by embedding analytics into applications.

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Customers Hate These 3 Things (and How to Avoid Them)

Sixteen Ventures

Disclaimer: The following assumes your customers are humans. Don’t get me wrong, customers dislike A LOT of things. But there are three things that elicit such a deep, visceral response that the only applicable word is hate. Strong word, but strong emotions. In my many years of helping companies grow through Customer Success, the thing I’ve always tried to do is understand why humans behave the way they do.

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How the Pixel 6a could completely reshape Android

IT World

Talk to most Android enthusiasts about their current causes of excitement, and odds are, the Pixel 6a won't be high on the list. It's no wonder, really: The Pixel 6a — Google's upcoming midrange phone model, which signs increasingly suggest should be landing around the time of the company's I/O developers' conference in May — will almost certainly just be a lower-end equivalent of the more premium Pixel 6 flagship that came out last fall.

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Are You Fundable in 2022? Just Ask Your Existing Investors. Ask Them.

SaaStr

So everything changed in SaaS in February and March. The public markets were under stress before then, as we emerged into this new post-Covid restrictions, higher interest rate world. But it didn’t fully hit startups and even many public companies until February. It hit hard, with Nasdaq falling another 15%, and private valuations perhaps 20%. More importantly, many Cloud leaders are down 50% from their all-time highs.

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Managing Your Mental Health While Running a Startup

Andreessen Horowitz

This is an excerpt from Zero to IPO: Over $1 Trillion of Actionable Advice from the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs by Frederic Kerrest, pp. 164-171, (McGraw Hill, April 2022). Kerrest co-founded Okta – an enterprise identity management company – in 2009 and currently serves as its executive vice chairperson and chief operating officer. I’ve heard a lot.

Startup 138
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People, Passion & Perfection: The Key Ingredients for an Awesome Product

Need help launching innovative software quickly? Dive into "People, Passion, and Perfection" and unlock the secrets to building excellent products in the digital age. Fast-track your journey with Tech Accelerator: Agile and Cloud-Native for flexibility & scalability AI-powered innovation for faster results Quality at every step for a flawless user experience See real impact across industries: Healthcare: Empower patients and medical professionals with intuitive solutions Education: Transform cla

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What makes ChurnZero a 2022 CODiE award Customer Success finalist?

ChurnZero

Did you hear that ChurnZero’s Customer Success team are finalists for a 2022 CODiE Award, the software industry’s only peer-recognized awards program? We’re in the running for Client Success Team of the Year. As a Customer Success company, this award couldn’t be closer to our hearts. CS is everything we do, and it’s what we’re here to help you do.

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12 Android settings that'll strengthen your security

IT World

You might not know it from all the panic-inducing headlines out there, but Android is actually packed with practical and powerful security options. Some are activated by default and protecting you whether you realize it or not, while others are more out of the way but equally deserving of your attention. So stop wasting your time worrying about the Android malware monster du jour and which security company is using it to scare you into an unnecessary subscription , and take a moment instead to l

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Dear SaaStr: What is the Best Way to Deal with Long Sales Cycles?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: What is the Best Way to Deal with Long Sales Cycles? First, shorten them up a bit. Don’t fear paid pilots, opt-outs after 60-90 days, and/or smaller deployments. Prove yourself for now and put a few nickels in the bank. And then — just get used to it. The best way to shorten them a bit is to hire a head of sales with experience at your price point: $100k+ deals often take more than a quarter to close. $1m+ deals often take more than a year.

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Introducing a16z START

Andreessen Horowitz

Today, we officially launched the a16z START program , which fuels founders at the earliest stages of company-building with 1:1 support, network introductions, and up to $1M in funding. Powered by the a16z seed fund in collaboration with partners investing … The post Introducing a16z START appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

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How to Build an Experimentation Culture for Data-Driven Product Development

Speaker: Margaret-Ann Seger, Head of Product, Statsig

Experimentation is often seen as an aspirational practice, especially at smaller, fast-moving companies who are strapped for time and resources. So, how can you get your team making decisions in a more data-driven way while continuing to remain lean and maintaining ship velocity? In this webinar, Margaret-Ann Seger, Head of Product at Statsig, will teach you how to build an experimentation culture from the ground-up, graduating from just getting started with data-driven development to operating

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5 tech-touch Customer Success tactics that ChurnZero makes easy

ChurnZero

You can’t build or scale a high-performing team if process gets in the way of productivity. Is your Customer Success (CS) team stuck in a copy-paste-repeat cycle ? While the human aspect of CS will never fully disappear, automation can free your team of repetitive processes and customer engagements. When thoughtfully applied, automation makes digitized touchpoints and human touchpoints indistinguishable.

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Apple explains Google Workspace integration for Apple IDs

IT World

Apple's plans to integrate Google Workspace identity services with Managed Apple IDs should simplify cloud identity management for businesses that use services from the search advertising giant. Bringing the work and school teams together. The recently-announced integration is particularly focused on the needs of small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) using Apple Business Essentials (ABE) and educators using Apple School Manager , but, like the Microsoft Azure Active Directory integration that

Azure 103
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From 0 to $500 Million ARR in 6 years: Learnings from Innovating in Underserved Markets with Samsara CPO Kiren Sekar (Pod 549 + Video)

SaaStr

What are the key product and organizational learnings from taking a company to $500 million in annual recurring revenue in just six years? . Kiren Sekar joined Samsara’s founding team as CPO after working with the co-founders at their previous company, Meraki. Applying the lessons from Meraki, Kiren will share how Samsara broke into the under-served world of physical operations, the importance of customer feedback, a multi-product strategy, and why culture matters.

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Will It Scale? Applying Data, Science, and Economics to the Art of Ideas

Andreessen Horowitz

John List is chief economist at Walmart (a title he previously held at both Lyft and Uber) and a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. He recently published a book titled The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale. In this interview, List discusses some of the book’s. Read More. The post Will It Scale? Applying Data, Science, and Economics to the Art of Ideas appeared first on Future.

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6 Reasons Why Your Integrated Payments Strategy Could Fail

If you're in the software industry grappling with integrating payments into your business model, understanding where others have stumbled can be a game-changer for your revenue goals. Discover 6 key reasons behind the struggles many face. The challenge goes beyond the technicalities of integrating a payment system; it delves into the strategic oversight of revenue shares, negotiations with payment providers, and the full exploitation of potential revenue streams.

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Mistakes to Avoid When Selecting a CS Platform: Not Putting Customer Success into the Hands of Your Whole Team

Totango

Selecting the right customer success platform for your organization can be challenging. To help you navigate the process, we’ve developed a four-part blog series about the mistakes you should avoid when choosing a CS platform. In this article, we’ll look at the mistake of not putting customer success into the hands of your whole team. . We’ve all been there.

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California eyes four-day workweek for larger firms

IT World

A four-day workweek could be mandated for some California employees should a proposed bill be passed by the state’s legislature. The bill, introduced by two Assembly members, Cristina Garcia (D-Dist.58) and Evan Low (D-Dist. 28), would amend existing legislation in the state and reduce the typical workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours. [ Related: Why not a four-day workweek?

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New SaaStr Annual Speakers!! CMO Sprig, CROs Pendo & Calendly, CEOs Finmark & CloudTrucks

SaaStr

We’re continuing to gear up for the 2022 SaaStr Annual in the SF Bay Area, Sept 13-15! Each week we’ll be adding more incredible speakers. This week, new speakers include: Elizabeth Walton Egan | CMO | Sprig. Jennifer Brannigan | CRO | Pendo. Kate Ahlering | CRO | Calendly. Rami Essaid | Co-Founder & CEO | Finmark/Distil Networks. Tobenna Arodiogbu | Co-Founder & CEO | CloudTrucks.

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