Expert insights. Personalized for you.
So, despite SaaS multiple and the public markets being at near record highs, we’ve seen things start to … wobble a bit overall in tech: The WeWork IPO simply failed , and the Peloton and Direct Smile IPOs were broken. No one really expected this. MORE
Source: [link]. This is the third in my series on SaaS Metrics for Enterprise-Driven B2B Networks. I spend very little time on issues of compensation on this blog. But it turns out, this is a really important issue for Enterprise-Driven B2B Networks. MORE
A couple of posts ago , I started a series on SaaS metrics unique to enterprise-driven B2B Networks. In that first post, I covered the Buyer-Supplier revenue mix. This time, let’s consider modifying the concept of LTV/CAC to include an enterprise’s ecosystem. Modified LTV/CAC. MORE
Change Healthcare is going public (again). The IPO provides another opportunity to examine a massive B2B inter-enterprise network, Change Healthcare’s Intelligent Healthcare Network. I previously wrote about this network when it was called Emdeon ( see here ). MORE
Welcome to the last, and most important, in my series of posts on metrics unique to Enterprise-Driven B2B Networks. The last metric, buyers per supplier, is easy to calculate if your platform is architected as a network. (If MORE
Fleetcor (FLT) closed on its acquisition of privately-held nvoicepay on April 1, 2019. Fleetcor’s first quarterly earnings report since the acquisition provides insight into the economics of the B2B payments space. Nvoicepay. MORE
There are many great articles about SaaS metrics on the web (e.g., see here , here and here.) There are also great resources for metrics specific to marketplaces (see here ). MORE
SaaStr just crossed 300 (!) podcasts led by our good friend and family Harry Stebbings. The first one launched on March 1, 2016 with Tiago Paiva, CEO of unicorn Talkdesk: SaaStr Podcast #001: Tiago Paiva, Founder On How Talkdesk Reached $3m in Sales Without Spending $1 on Marketing. MORE
Fiverr, a marketplace for freelancers just joined the parade of software companies going public. The Fiverr filing sets up a comparison of Fiverr versus Upwork, the grand-daddy of freelancer marketplaces. Upwork went public last year.) (See See here and here ). MORE
Last week I wrote a post about Fleetcor’s acquisition of Nvoicepay. The acquisition represented an opportunity to learn more about the economics of B2B payments. The acquisition also prompted me to review Bottomline’s financial reports. MORE
As taxpayers, we should want to know how well our dollars are spent. At the Federal level, most of these dollars are spent on social security, healthcare, and defense (see below). MORE
My last post was partly about healthcare payments in the form of Change Healthcare’s Intelligent Healthcare Network. I did not set out to write another post about healthcare payments, but reading Phreesia’s S-1 compels me to. MORE
Gartner recently published its 2019 Magic Quadrant for Procure-to-Pay Suites. Once again , I have superimposed valuation information onto the Magic Quadrant. (I I still don’t understand why Gartner has not varied the size of the “dots” to add more information to the charts. MORE
Say you want to know how videos can help you increase the impact of your social media ads. You searched it on Google, found an article on a video software provider’s blog, and clicked on the headline. At the end of the post, you saw a freebie on a similar topic. MORE
So you had a great December, added a great VP or two last year, won some bigger deals, and in general — you’re feeling good. You’ve even got a decent financial plan for this year in place. Even better. MORE
Q: As a venture capitalist, what are some red flags that would make you reject a startup immediately? First, there is a lot of marginal behavior that doesn’t lead to an immediate rejection, but does lead to immediate skepticism: Metrics that don’t quite make sense. MORE
The vast majority of tech press is about B2C software companies or software for IT department (e.g., databases, security, performance monitoring and other stuff) that does not excite me. But, there are a few good b2b blogs and newsletters those of you interested in enterprise cloud business applications should follow for inspiration. My nominations, in no particular order, are as follows: Price intelligently. MORE
As the Managing Director of Techstars NYC and investor in 120+ companies , I’ve helped dozens of early stage companies connect with investors. But all too often I’ve watched founders struggle with fundraising —- pitching the wrong deal, to the wrong investor, at the wrong time. MORE
Today, there is 1 $100B+ SaaS Company, Salesforce. Just one. We could add older companies like Adobe, Microsoft, etc. but they aren’t pure SaaS plays. Salesforce is the “only” $100b+ pure-play SaaS company. But it won’t be the last. MORE
Established in 1995, Angie’s List was the pioneer in the home services marketplace. Home Advisor (IAC) announced last week it is acquiring Angie’s List (ANGI) for more than $500 million. MORE
Early (and Fuzzy) Saas Metrics From B2B Networks. Until a B2B Network catches on, the metrics can be gloomy. (The The first few years of the Ariba Network were pretty dismal, for instance.) MORE
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of American Express (Amex) in an antitrust case 11 states had brought against Amex (see here ). MORE
I love the word “oligoply” It’s a fancy word for a market structure in which a few companies have the large majority of market share. The recent news reminds me just how many markets are becoming oligopolistic–especially those dominated by platform software. MORE
For those of us who follow pricing strategy in two-sided markets, last week was a milestone. MORE
The two questions I’m most often asked are: 1. How do you keep your hair looking so lush and luxurious? How much can a B2B Marketplace or Multi-Sided Platform charge for its services? Some folks call this the platform’s “take rate” ). MORE
Sunday’s Business Insider had a great article on, Cargomatic, a company promising (as do many others) to be the “Uber for Truckers” By that, Cargomatic means it will match shippers with goods to ship with truckers with excess capacity. MORE
Three separate events last week reminded me that every spend category has its “dirty little secrets” Suppliers can exploit these “dirty little secrets” to squeeze a little more from buyers than buyers bargained for. MORE
SaaStr Annual 2020 is almost here and we’ve got: 200+ speakers. 3 days of packed content. Small group mentoring with Braindates. One on one networking with Brella. Workshops for hands on learning. MORE
I haven’t always been a big reader, but I’ve got more into it over the past few years of working with startups. In a past article, Five Pillars of Success: Curated Content for Early-Stage Entrepreneurs , I mentioned that last year I read 12 books. MORE
Salesforce likes to talk about “Customers for Life”, and while that’s sort of catchy, it’s a little hard to grok what it really means. It finally sunk in for me a bit the other day. MORE
Gartner has its latest Cloud report out , and while one can always pick at any report, it’s at least a well-resourced and reasoned source on the size of SaaS and the Cloud. The big learnings for SaaS founders and execs: Cloud overall will grow 17% next year to $266 Billion. MORE
Software Platform Consulting
OCTOBER 9, 2019
As taxpayers, we should want to know how well our dollars are spent. At the Federal level, most of these dollars are spent on social security, healthcare, and defense (see below).
Software Platform Consulting
JUNE 25, 2019
Change Healthcare is going public (again). The IPO provides another opportunity to examine a massive B2B inter-enterprise network, Change Healthcare’s Intelligent Healthcare Network. I previously wrote about this network when it was called Emdeon ( see here ).
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Software Platform Consulting
MAY 6, 2019
There are many great articles about SaaS metrics on the web (e.g., see here , here and here.) There are also great resources for metrics specific to marketplaces (see here ).
Software Platform Consulting
MAY 28, 2019
Source: [link]. This is the third in my series on SaaS Metrics for Enterprise-Driven B2B Networks. I spend very little time on issues of compensation on this blog. But it turns out, this is a really important issue for Enterprise-Driven B2B Networks.
Speaker: Teresa Torres, Product Discovery Coach, Product Talk, David Bland, Founder and CEO, Precoil, and Hope Gurion, Product Coach and Advisor, Fearless Product LLC
If you want to build what matters, you can't move forward blindly. But to make progress, you can't let things slow to a crawl while you focus resources on gathering data. This is where continuous discovery and experimentation come in. Join Teresa Torres (Product Discovery Coach, Product Talk), David Bland (Founder, Precoil), and Hope Gurion (Product Coach and Advisor, Fearless Product) in a panel discussion as they cover how - and why - to build a culture of discovery and experimentation in your organization.
Software Platform Consulting
MAY 8, 2019
Fleetcor (FLT) closed on its acquisition of privately-held nvoicepay on April 1, 2019. Fleetcor’s first quarterly earnings report since the acquisition provides insight into the economics of the B2B payments space. Nvoicepay.
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Software Platform Consulting
AUGUST 5, 2019
Gartner recently published its 2019 Magic Quadrant for Procure-to-Pay Suites. Once again , I have superimposed valuation information onto the Magic Quadrant. (I I still don’t understand why Gartner has not varied the size of the “dots” to add more information to the charts.
Software Platform Consulting
JULY 1, 2019
My last post was partly about healthcare payments in the form of Change Healthcare’s Intelligent Healthcare Network. I did not set out to write another post about healthcare payments, but reading Phreesia’s S-1 compels me to.
Software Platform Consulting
JUNE 3, 2019
Welcome to the last, and most important, in my series of posts on metrics unique to Enterprise-Driven B2B Networks. The last metric, buyers per supplier, is easy to calculate if your platform is architected as a network. (If
Software Platform Consulting
MAY 20, 2019
Fiverr, a marketplace for freelancers just joined the parade of software companies going public. The Fiverr filing sets up a comparison of Fiverr versus Upwork, the grand-daddy of freelancer marketplaces. Upwork went public last year.) (See See here and here ).
Speaker: Terhi Hanninen, Senior Product Manager, Zalando, and Dr. Franziska Roth, Senior User Researcher, Zalando
It's important to know your users - what are their preferences, pain points, ultimate goals? With user research and usage data, you can get a great idea of how your users act. The tricky part is, very few users reliably act the same way every time they use your product. Join Terhi Hanninen, Senior Product Manager, and Dr. Franziska Roth, Senior User Researcher at Zalando, as they explain how they were able to reach a new level of user understanding - by taking their user research and segmenting their users by point-in-time intent. You'll leave with a strategy to change how your product team, and organization at large, understands your users.
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Software Platform Consulting
MAY 14, 2019
Last week I wrote a post about Fleetcor’s acquisition of Nvoicepay. The acquisition represented an opportunity to learn more about the economics of B2B payments. The acquisition also prompted me to review Bottomline’s financial reports.
Software Platform Consulting
JUNE 26, 2018
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of American Express (Amex) in an antitrust case 11 states had brought against Amex (see here ).
Software Platform Consulting
MAY 9, 2017
Established in 1995, Angie’s List was the pioneer in the home services marketplace. Home Advisor (IAC) announced last week it is acquiring Angie’s List (ANGI) for more than $500 million.
Software Platform Consulting
MAY 16, 2017
I love the word “oligoply” It’s a fancy word for a market structure in which a few companies have the large majority of market share. The recent news reminds me just how many markets are becoming oligopolistic–especially those dominated by platform software.
Speaker: Richard Cardran, Chief Creative Officer and VP Strategy, HIA Technologies
Innovation is both a process and an outcome. The best way to begin innovating your products is by innovating your internal process. We'll explore the challenges, solutions, and hands-on techniques for becoming a successful "agent of change" within a well-established product culture. We'll examine the importance of UX and user-centric feature analysis, the adaptation of Agile Methodologies to the creative process, as well as a way to drive successful culture change for setting expectations and winning approvals with cross-functional stakeholders. Innovation and Leadership go hand in hand. Join Richard Cardran, Chief Creative Officer and VP Strategy, HIA Technologies, as we assess some case studies to see how to lead with a clear strategy well-defined tactics, and an unbiased understanding of the fundamental question: "why are you innovating?"
Software Platform Consulting
SEPTEMBER 27, 2016
Early (and Fuzzy) Saas Metrics From B2B Networks. Until a B2B Network catches on, the metrics can be gloomy. (The The first few years of the Ariba Network were pretty dismal, for instance.)
Software Platform Consulting
SEPTEMBER 6, 2016
Sunday’s Business Insider had a great article on, Cargomatic, a company promising (as do many others) to be the “Uber for Truckers” By that, Cargomatic means it will match shippers with goods to ship with truckers with excess capacity.
Software Platform Consulting
MARCH 23, 2016
Three separate events last week reminded me that every spend category has its “dirty little secrets” Suppliers can exploit these “dirty little secrets” to squeeze a little more from buyers than buyers bargained for.
Software Platform Consulting
MARCH 7, 2016
For those of us who follow pricing strategy in two-sided markets, last week was a milestone.
Speaker: Dean Yao, Sr. Director of Product Marketing, Logi Analytics
Businesses are run with analytics - but companies continue to struggle with interpreting, analyzing, and distributing data. Operational reports help get information to the people who need it most, in formats they understand, and in a timeframe that matters. Join the webinar to learn how embedding operational reports can give your users a precisely formatted, ready-to-analyze view of their operational activities. World-class software teams are embedding operational reports to empower end users with interactive data visualizations, detailed information, and highly precise formats that can be shared via email, PDF, print, or online.
Software Platform Consulting
AUGUST 6, 2015
The two questions I’m most often asked are: 1. How do you keep your hair looking so lush and luxurious? How much can a B2B Marketplace or Multi-Sided Platform charge for its services? Some folks call this the platform’s “take rate” ).
Software Platform Consulting
NOVEMBER 25, 2014
The vast majority of tech press is about B2C software companies or software for IT department (e.g., databases, security, performance monitoring and other stuff) that does not excite me. But, there are a few good b2b blogs and newsletters those of you interested in enterprise cloud business applications should follow for inspiration. My nominations, in no particular order, are as follows: Price intelligently.
SaaStr
DECEMBER 29, 2019
Salesforce likes to talk about “Customers for Life”, and while that’s sort of catchy, it’s a little hard to grok what it really means. It finally sunk in for me a bit the other day.
SaaStr
JANUARY 18, 2020
SaaStr just crossed 300 (!) podcasts led by our good friend and family Harry Stebbings. The first one launched on March 1, 2016 with Tiago Paiva, CEO of unicorn Talkdesk: SaaStr Podcast #001: Tiago Paiva, Founder On How Talkdesk Reached $3m in Sales Without Spending $1 on Marketing.
Speaker: Sam McAfee, Product Development Consultant, Startup Patterns
You know what they say: what's measured improves. As product managers we're in a golden age of being able to get all sorts of metrics and run all sorts of experiments. But what are your measurements and analytics focused on? Are they really truly objective? Do they contribute to the ultimate vision of your product? And is everybody clear on that vision? Join Sam McAfee, Product Development Consultant, as he takes you through a two-part measurement audit. First, you'll learn how to make sure your measurements actually align with your product strategy. And second, you'll learn how to evaluate your culture of using measurements, so future experiments will more consistently provide high-value results.
TechStars
NOVEMBER 26, 2019
I haven’t always been a big reader, but I’ve got more into it over the past few years of working with startups. In a past article, Five Pillars of Success: Curated Content for Early-Stage Entrepreneurs , I mentioned that last year I read 12 books.
SaaStr
NOVEMBER 22, 2019
Gartner has its latest Cloud report out , and while one can always pick at any report, it’s at least a well-resourced and reasoned source on the size of SaaS and the Cloud. The big learnings for SaaS founders and execs: Cloud overall will grow 17% next year to $266 Billion.
TechStars
NOVEMBER 14, 2019
As the Managing Director of Techstars NYC and investor in 120+ companies , I’ve helped dozens of early stage companies connect with investors. But all too often I’ve watched founders struggle with fundraising —- pitching the wrong deal, to the wrong investor, at the wrong time.
SaaStr
JANUARY 10, 2020
Q: As a venture capitalist, what are some red flags that would make you reject a startup immediately? First, there is a lot of marginal behavior that doesn’t lead to an immediate rejection, but does lead to immediate skepticism: Metrics that don’t quite make sense.
Speaker: Sari Harrison, Product Management Instructor, Product School
As a product manager, it's your job to realize your product’s vision by executing your chosen strategy. It’s also your job to deliver value to the business. Ultimately, these two outcomes are aligned so the temptation is to focus primarily on business metrics. Doing this can cause you to lose focus on the real value you are trying to achieve, in favor of moving the vanity metrics such as launches and time spent. Join Sari Harrison, Product Management Instructor at Product School, as she explains how to use immeasurable success criteria along with your more standard KPIs to deliver products that don't just get used a lot, but deliver real value.
Incredo
JANUARY 14, 2020
Say you want to know how videos can help you increase the impact of your social media ads. You searched it on Google, found an article on a video software provider’s blog, and clicked on the headline. At the end of the post, you saw a freebie on a similar topic.
SaaStr
NOVEMBER 3, 2019
Today, there is 1 $100B+ SaaS Company, Salesforce. Just one. We could add older companies like Adobe, Microsoft, etc. but they aren’t pure SaaS plays. Salesforce is the “only” $100b+ pure-play SaaS company. But it won’t be the last.
SaaStr
JANUARY 20, 2020
SaaStr Annual 2020 is almost here and we’ve got: 200+ speakers. 3 days of packed content. Small group mentoring with Braindates. One on one networking with Brella. Workshops for hands on learning.
SaaStr
SEPTEMBER 26, 2019
So, despite SaaS multiple and the public markets being at near record highs, we’ve seen things start to … wobble a bit overall in tech: The WeWork IPO simply failed , and the Peloton and Direct Smile IPOs were broken. No one really expected this.
Speaker: John Little, Head of Product Marketing, Centercode
When it comes to delivering a solid product/market fit, customer validation is key. After all, you want to provide customers with a product that not only fills the need, but is delightful -- right? To get there, you need to commit to a vital blend of market research, strategy, and user testing. Join John Little, Head of Product Marketing at Centercode, as he explains a two-part approach to customer validation. First, how do you strategically identify your top product areas that need attention prior to release. And second, how do you turn user data into strategic priorities that help the right teams make the right decisions.
SaaStr
DECEMBER 28, 2019
So you had a great December, added a great VP or two last year, won some bigger deals, and in general — you’re feeling good. You’ve even got a decent financial plan for this year in place. Even better.
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