Trending Articles

article thumbnail

SaaStr on 20VC This Week: Why 40% Cloud Adoption Marks the End of Easy Growth. And Why the AI Budget War is Just Getting Started

SaaStr

Why 40% Cloud Adoption Marks the End of Easy Growth. And why the AI budget war is just getting started Top 5 Takeaways 1. The 40% Tipping Point : With 40% of workloads now in the cloud, SaaS has hit market maturity. The easy growth is over—companies like Zoom exemplify this with saturated markets and nowhere left to expand rapidly. 2. AI is Eating SaaS Budgets : Companies like Cursor are generating massive revenue by replacing traditional SaaS workflows entirely.

Cloud 241
article thumbnail

The Coming Wave of Acquihires

Tom Tunguz

The Seed Surge of 2021 will lead to a raft of acquihires. In 2021 the total number of US software & AI seeds jumped from 2900 to 4300 - a 49% jump. Seeds fell to about 3000 creating a seed tabletop. Series As moved in lockstep both on the way up and the way down - creating a squeeze. These data form part of a longer term trend of a greater number of seeds but a relatively fixed number of Series As.

AI 274
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Dear SaaStr: How Does a Founder Mindset Change As You Go From Startup to Scaleup?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: How Does a Founder Mindset Change As You Go From Startup to Scaleup? The big changes I see: Moving (Over Time) From Hustler to Strategist. Though Stay a Hustler, Too 😉 In the early days, you’re in the trenches—selling, building, and doing whatever it takes to survive. But as you scale, you have to step back and focus on strategy. You move from being the doer to the leader, managing teams and making high-level decisions.

Startup 264
article thumbnail

Clouded Judgement 6.13.25 - The Battle for Data Ownership

Clouded Judgement

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Follow along to stay up to date! Subscribe now You Own Your Data…Or Do you? Something I’ve written a fair bit about, and something I deeply believe, is this: you don’t have an AI strategy without a data strategy. But what if the data you think you have… you actually don’t?

Cloud 146
article thumbnail

Struggling to Scale Test Coverage Under Pressure?

When test coverage falls behind release velocity, quality suffers, and your team feels the consequences. This guide outlines when it makes sense to outsource quality assurance (QA), the risks to watch for, and how to scale testing without increasing headcount or slowing down engineering. You will learn how leading teams are leveraging external QA partners to expand coverage, enhance defect detection, and remain aligned with CI/CD timelines.

article thumbnail

Usio CEO Joins PayPod to Talk Embedded Payments and the Future of Fintech

USIO

Embedded payments are becoming the backbone of modern commerce, and no one explains it better than our CEO, Louis Hoch. In a recent episode of the PayPod podcast, Louis joined host Kevin Rosenquist to unpack what’s driving the evolution of payments – from invisible infrastructure to intelligent automation. Whether it’s a fintech startup, a government agency, or a national subscription platform, Louis emphasized one key idea: the future of payments is flexible, seamless, and built to adapt.

Payments 130

More Trending

article thumbnail

The Data Decacorn Derby

Tom Tunguz

Databricks seems to be closing the gap on Snowflake faster than expected. Last week Databricks shared some important updates on their business which allows us to compare the progress of the two companies. Quarterly revenue between the two company shows nearly identical slope, two parallel lines. Snowflake recently exceeded $1b in quarterly revenue mark while Databricks just touched $750m and is targeting $925m for the next quarter.

Data 147
article thumbnail

White label merchant processing: Definition, examples, and FAQ

Payrix

What is white label merchant processing? White label merchant processing enables third parties like integrated software vendors (ISVs) or independent sales organizations (ISOs) to customize and sell the payment processing technology and services of a payments provider under their own brands. For a software company, integrating white label merchant processing can be a growth strategy that adds value to their platform and provides their subscribers with a more complete user experience that’s consi

article thumbnail

Escheatment Solutions in 2025: Streamlining Return of Funds

USIO

Let’s dive into why escheatment is still a challenge in 2025—and how Usio makes the process smooth, compliant, and user-friendly. What Is Escheatment? Escheatment is the legal process where unclaimed property—like money, gift cards, or refunds—is turned over to the state when the rightful owner can’t be found after a set dormancy period. That window is typically 3–5 years in the U.S., depending on the account type.

article thumbnail

The 5 Best OptinMonster Alternatives that We Recommend

The Daily Egg

Looking for the best alternative to OptinMonster? We recommend OptiMonk, Poptin, or Wisepops for most people. Thrive Leads and Privy are solid options for specific. The post The 5 Best OptinMonster Alternatives that We Recommend appeared first on The Daily Egg.

147
147
article thumbnail

What’s New in Apache Airflow® 3.0—And How Will It Reshape Your Data Workflows?

Speaker: Tamara Fingerlin, Developer Advocate

Apache Airflow® 3.0, the most anticipated Airflow release yet, officially launched this April. As the de facto standard for data orchestration, Airflow is trusted by over 77,000 organizations to power everything from advanced analytics to production AI and MLOps. With the 3.0 release, the top-requested features from the community were delivered, including a revamped UI for easier navigation, stronger security, and greater flexibility to run tasks anywhere at any time.

article thumbnail

The VP of AI Trap: Why Hiring One Exec Won’t Transform Your Company. In Fact, It May Make It Worse.

SaaStr

I see it happening everywhere. Board meetings where someone inevitably asks, “Don’t we need a VP of AI?” I saw a term sheet the other day where a leading VC firm reserved $1m of the round … for hiring a “VP of AI” Leadership teams scrambling to post job descriptions for “Head of Artificial Intelligence.” Recruiters cold-calling anyone with “machine learning” on their LinkedIn.

article thumbnail

Response Time: Vol. 46

Intercom, Inc.

You satisfy your customers, but can you satisfy our curiosity? With Emily Bach, Customer Support Team Lead at Mangomint. Please tell us a little bit about your company and what you do there. I’m a Customer Support Team Lead at Mangomint – a SaaS company that supports businesses in the health and wellness industry. What word or phrase in customer service jargon should be retired?

article thumbnail

In a Zero-Click World, Traffic is a Terrible Goal

Sparktoro

60% of marketers say their top goal for the next 12 months is “increasing traffic.” And 59% say their primary KPI is… also traffic. To all those folks, I say: you’re about to have a terrible, horrible, no-good year. The Internet is sending less traffic. Period.

Marketing 135
article thumbnail

How ACH Payments Power Smarter Business Transactions

USIO

Writing checks or relying on clunky bank wires isn’t just slowing your business down—it’s leaving money on the table. ACH payments offer a secure, scalable, and cost-effective alternative that gives businesses better control over their cash flow. But the question is, how does ACH work, why does it matter, and how can it transform the way you manage payments?

Payments 130
article thumbnail

Agent Tooling: Connecting AI to Your Tools, Systems & Data

Speaker: Alex Salazar, CEO & Co-Founder @ Arcade | Nate Barbettini, Founding Engineer @ Arcade | Tony Karrer, Founder & CTO @ Aggregage

There’s a lot of noise surrounding the ability of AI agents to connect to your tools, systems and data. But building an AI application into a reliable, secure workflow agent isn’t as simple as plugging in an API. As an engineering leader, it can be challenging to make sense of this evolving landscape, but agent tooling provides such high value that it’s critical we figure out how to move forward.

article thumbnail

Prompts to Pop Culture: Using AI to Help Coca-Cola Reclaim Cultural Relevance

Sales Enablement, SaaS and Growth

Like many people I want to learn more about artificial intelligence (AI). This post is part of a series where I experiment with AI tools, share what I build and learn. My hope is that these posts will create discussion around this transformational technology, its use cases and maybe even help others on their journey of AI discovery. The focus of this experiment is to use AI tools to create a summer marketing campaign brief for Coca-Cola, and then respond to the brief with three creative ideas -

AI 130
article thumbnail

5 Interesting Learnings from Circle at $2.3 Billion in “ARR”

SaaStr

So Circle is the latest tech IPO and it’s not really B2B or SaaS per se — it’s a fintech that issues and manages “stablecoins” Cypto that converts 1:1 to U.S. dollars. But there are still lessons to learn, and it’s great to see the IPO markets truly re-opened: $2.3 Billion Revenue Run Rate Growing a stunning 60% $16 Billion valuation, so about 8x revenue We're back to IPOs seeming normal again That's quietly a big deal And a good thing [link] —

article thumbnail

FastSpring Brings Global Growth Tools to TNW Conference 2025

FastSpring

FastSpring is heading to The Next Web (TNW) Conference 2025 — and we’re bringing clarity to complexity for SaaS companies and digital product creators everywhere. This June 19-20, Amsterdam transforms into the global epicenter of innovation as TNW Conference takes over the industrial-chic NDSM Wharf. Join 10,000+ founders, tech leaders, and growth experts for two days of groundbreaking insights, bold visions, and transformative connections.

article thumbnail

Stax Payments Appoints Kevin Wall as Chief Financial Officer

Stax

Finance executive brings 35+ years of financial expertise to spearhead Stax Payments’ next chapter of strategic expansion, building on the company’s solid foundation and customer-first approach. ORLANDO – June 11, 2025 – Stax Payments , Inc. a leading payment technology provider, has appointed Kevin Wall as Chief Financial Officer. Wall’s impressive track record includes over 15 years of successfully leading finance organizations at top payments companies while navigating complex financial

article thumbnail

State of AI in Sales & Marketing 2025

AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.

article thumbnail

Why Paper Checks Still Matter

USIO

“ Checks? In 2025? ” Yep—and here’s why industries like healthcare , insurance , government , utilities , manufacturing , non-profits , real estate , and legal still rely on paper checks: Easily Acceptance Built-In Audit Trail Branding & Messaging But it’s not enough to just print and mail—it’s about doing it flawlessly, day in and day out, at volumes of 10,000 checks per day (and far beyond).

article thumbnail

5 AI-Powered Workflows Every SEO Should Be Using Today

The Moz Blog

It’s the dawn of a new era in the marketing industry. With LLMs becoming savvier and faster, more marketing teams are looking for ways to implement AI solutions to unlock creativity and untapped potential. Here are five AI-powered workflows that combine the Moz API and Relevance AI to take your marketing efforts to new heights.

AI 96
article thumbnail

Dear SaaStr: How Do I Make Sure My First 1-2 Sales Reps Are Strong?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: How Do I Hire a Great First 1-2 Sales Reps? Hiring your first AE (Account Executive) is a pivotal moment for your startup. It’s not just about finding someone who can sell—it’s about finding someone who can sell your product in the messy, unstructured environment of an early-stage company. "Never, ever hire a VP of Sales until you have 2 individual sales reps really closing.

article thumbnail

Considering Building Adobe Add-Ons? Join Us at Adobe Developers Live!

FastSpring

On June 24th, FastSpring CMO David Vogelpohl will be presenting at Adobe Developers Live , a free two-day virtual conference for Adobe Express and Creative Cloud developers. The event is designed “from code to solution” so that developers of many experience levels can “extend the power of Adobe applications to create meaningful innovation and build successful businesses.

article thumbnail

5 Ways to Improve Revenue from Integrated Payments

Speaker: Pete Uselman, Director of Partner Experience at Wind River Payments

Most integrated payments providers share a percent of the payment revenue with their software partners. But, oftentimes, that revenue share is only a fraction of the true income potential software providers can realize. If you want to maximize income opportunities from your payments program, check out Wind River Payments’ webinar-on-demand.

article thumbnail

Chat with your revenue data: ChartMogul’s experimental MCP server

Chart Mogul

AI is quickly becoming the new interface of the internet, not just for finding information, but for getting things done. So what if you could also chat with your SaaS metrics? Today, we’re releasing an experimental ChartMogul MCP server that makes this possible. It lets you connect your ChartMogul account to AI tools that support … AI is quickly becoming the new interface of the internet, not just for finding information, but for getting things done.

Revenue 59
article thumbnail

You Don’t Need More Features, You Need Perspective with Jacob Bank

Predictable Revenue

Jacob’s post caught fire on LinkedIn: customer love, sharp metrics, and momentum. It was clear that we had to bring him back on the podcast. The post You Don’t Need More Features, You Need Perspective with Jacob Bank appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

Banking 147
article thumbnail

How To Build AI Tools To Automate Your SEO Workflows [MozCon 2025 Speaker Series]

The Moz Blog

Are you stuck doing repetitive SEO tasks manually? Learn how to automate workflows and build no-code AI tools to scale smarter—no coding skills needed.

AI 94
article thumbnail

Dear SaaStr: How Do You Balance Optimism with Realism When Pitching VCs?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: How Do You Balance Optimism with Realism When Pitching VCs? Successful startups balance optimism with realism by presenting a compelling vision while grounding their projections in credible, data-backed assumptions. Bear in mind, most VCs — not all, but most — have pretty good B.S. detectors. They will cut you some slack, but if you start saying things that just don’t tie to the numbers or reality, they won’t fund you.

Scale 210
article thumbnail

SaaS Essentials: Failed Payment Solution Guide

For SaaS businesses, improving retention is one of the easiest and most effective ways to drive revenue and profits. With a clear link between failed payments and customer churn, having a robust failed payment recovery solution isn’t optional—it’s essential. Achieving your retention goals starts with the right solution.

article thumbnail

The 2025 guide to zero-touch automation

BetterCloud

We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog discussing all the ways you can automate IT tasks with a SaaS management platform (SMP). We have also deep-dived into how automation can make IT a lot more efficient, as well as keep employees productive and improve your SaaS security posture. As SMPs have grown in functionality and extensibility, so too has the power of the automated workflows you can orchestrate.

article thumbnail

AI ARR vs. SaaS ARR: How to Define and Calculate

The SaaS CFO

How do leading SaaS companies define ARR? Especially as AI and usage-based pricing models reshape recurring revenue in SaaS? In this post, I break down how Verint, a CX automation leader, defines both Subscription ARR and AI ARR, and how they model these metrics internally for cash flow, investor reporting, and product strategy. I did […] The post AI ARR vs.

AI 52
article thumbnail

Usage-based billing breaks down fast—when product, sales, and finance don’t speak the same language.

Blulogix

By BluLogix Team Usage-based billing breaks down fast—when product, sales, and finance don’t speak the same language. We see it all the time: Product wants to price dynamically, by usage tier or consumption thresholds. Sales wants to quote that model—but their CPQ isn’t usage-aware. Finance wants to recognize revenue accurately—but the data pipeline is broken.

Finance 52