SaaStr

JANUARY 30, 2024

In some ways, NRR Zombies are outputs of the actions of 2023, especially for venture-backed startups. They did layoffs and froze headcount. Here’s my core point: everyone sort of got a pass for this state in 2023. Everyone had to cut, cut, cut — and was told to cut, cut, cut. They cut marketing spend to $0.

Headcount 301

Headcount Finance Startup Trends 301

SaaStr

JULY 11, 2023

What’s Actually Working For SaaS PR In 2023 … And What Isn’t Back when Jason wrote his SaaS founders’ guide to PR , he put out one of the most tangible and pragmatic guides to what makes hiring a PR firm truly worth it. I asked him to put together a primer on just what PR really is. Jason – ed.

Social Media 203

Social Media SaaS Underperforming Technical Team Headcount 203

SaaStr

AUGUST 10, 2022

Cloud revenue growing 55% — and Atlassian reaffirms 50% Cloud growth for 2023 and 2024 also! It fuels Atlassian’s confidence in predicting a strong 2023 and 2024 as well. #3. Atlassian plans to double its headcount over the coming few years. No slow down from Atlassian. #2.

Scale 289

Scale Headcount Cloud Forecasting 289

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

You Mon Tsang, CEO and co-founder of ChurnZero, Colleen O’Sullivan, VP of Integrated Customer Experience at Hubspot, and Jason Lemkin, SaaStr founder and CEO, give their take on where the customer success industry is headed and shares data from the Customer Success Leadership Study done by ChurnZero at the close of 2023.

Customer Success 304

Customer Success Sales Hiring Scale Headcount 304

SaaStr

AUGUST 1, 2023

But this time, instead of headcount, it was apps. Yes, some bigger companies went through layoffs too, but in many cases, they hired more folks back, and really just kept headcount flat or slowed its growth. So that’s what we saw in 2022 and into 2023 — App Layoffs. Of the 10% to cut. Apps though they truly cut. Not all of them.

Headcount 246

Headcount Finance Cloud Startup 246

SaaStr

JUNE 7, 2023

So Twilio is perhaps the top “hero” SaaS company that has taken the biggest hit from the crunch of 2023. Headcount Down 25% Since September 2022, But Revenue Still Up. But the headwinds of 2023 have been a bigger challenge than anticipated. Twilio dominates many of its spaces and segments. Go Global! #5.

Headcount 237

Headcount Cloud Communication Acquisition 237

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 31, 2023

US VC investment falls from $275b in 2022 to $200b in 2023 & sustains at about $200-220b in 2024 as LP interest in venture attenuates after the euphoria in 2020 & 2021. The hangover from web3’s raucous 2022 extends into 2023. PE Public Take-Private in 2023 Value, $b 1 Coupa 8 2 New Relic 6.5 Score : 0.5. 3 KnowBe4 4.6

AI Search 240

AI Search Headcount Scale AI 240

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2023

This had the net effect that almost everyone in tech ended up with 50% more headcount than they needed going into 2023, often paid 20%-30% more than before … and importantly, in sales, it often got “worse”, with lower attainment. The hiring bar was often lowered. Compensation went way up.

Sales Hiring 44

Sales Hiring Headcount Compensation Sales 44

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

I’m watching public company earnings to identify early trends in the software market to inform startups’ plans for 2023. The surge in pipeline is notable given the uncertainty in the market but the close rates are low & sales cycles slow : another confirmatory data point for startups to plan cautiously in 2023.

Cloud 243

Cloud Azure Headcount Software Review 243

SaaStr

OCTOBER 4, 2023

All the way down, and Q1 of 2023 was tough. This is a CIO purchase, and Okta bookings didn’t go to zero but hit the biggest impact in Q1 of 2023 and boomed in Q2 of last quarter. They grew headcount fairly aggressively from ‘21 to ‘22, and then Q4 of last year dipped and held flat before starting to regrow. But it bounced back.

Sales Hiring 289

Sales Hiring SaaS Headcount Compensation 289

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 31, 2023

AI Efficiency Gains +2% Headcount Reduction ? Headcount reductions in the last year, which impacted every company, should increase the pipeline coverage ratios for the remaining team members. Software purchasing activity seems to be trending up, which should instill more confidence in their pipelines.

Headcount 216

Headcount Sales Hiring AI Cloud 216

SaaStr

JANUARY 30, 2023

20X year 1⃣ 12X year 2⃣ 5X year 3⃣ #deelspeed @deel [link] — Shuooo (@shuoshuooshuooo) January 23, 2023 When we look at SaaS companies’ success stories, everything looks great on their growth maps. However, the truth is that every company has tried, failed, and restarted before getting to success.

Sales Hiring 278

Sales Hiring Payment Services SaaS Payments Scale 278

SaaStr

MARCH 7, 2023

It was a tough growth environment, but it feels like it’s changing in 2023. Many of them said headcount management and spend were common levers they pulled, given the immediate and significant impact they have on spend. As we look to 2023, median topline growth is expected to be roughly in line with 2022 growth. Sign up HERE!

Outsourcing Services 182

Outsourcing Services Scaling Venture Capital Forecasting 182

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2024

SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin also wrote how Customer Success has now morphed into part of the sales team and that the 2024 trends in CS include everyone wanting to eliminate humans from support to replace that headcount with AI and bots. So e ven if you had a hard 2023, there’s magic in this chart. From 2022 to 2023, it grew 0%.

Sales Hiring 323

Sales Hiring Customer Success Scale AI 323

SaaStr

MARCH 6, 2023

The marketplace in 2023 prioritizes emerging technology and instantaneous communication. The state of B2B sales in 2023 Before creating a dynamic strategy, it is essential to understand the current state of B2B sales. Redeploy funds from headcount to sales technology. You can see all of Mary’s slides for this session HERE.

Innovation 246

Innovation Sales Hiring B2B Strategy 246

Neil Patel

DECEMBER 13, 2022

11% said they would maintain their SEO budget going into 2023. A staggering 98% said they would invest in AI tools in 2023. The main reason why revolved around these 3 main points: Save money by automating content creation Reduce the amount of time spent on creating content Ability to reduce headcount in the content department.

Marketing 144

Marketing AI Search Software Review Social Media 144

SaaStr

JULY 24, 2023

Instead of looking at those who are struggling, let’s take a look at the epic growth story of MongoDB, a company crushing it in 2023. 1 — 2022 Saw A Slowdown In Usage Growth, But 2023 Saw A Potential Bounce Back. They kept the headcount kind of flat. MongoDB is one of those that has never stopped. MongoDB is at a stunning $1.5B

Revenue 245

Revenue Scale Sales Hiring Cloud 245

ChurnZero

JANUARY 13, 2023

However, it’s tough to predict the future alone — so we asked Customer Success leaders across the industry to share their top trends for 2023. First, digital CS will become a way of life due to flat or reduced headcount. 2023 will be a big year gaining market traction in new customer intelligence platforms.

Trends 98

Trends Customer Success Sales Hiring Artificial Intelligence 98

ChurnZero

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

Related: Which Customer Success best practices should you keep or let go in 2023? of Customer Success teams have fewer than 50 team members, and most teams surveyed fall well below industry benchmarks on CS team headcount. Which Customer Success best practices should you keep or let go in 2023? However, 76.5% of companies.

Leadership 98

Leadership Trends Customer Success Investment 98

Andreessen Horowitz

MARCH 21, 2024

Generative AI took the consumer landscape by storm in 2023, reaching over a billion dollars of consumer spend 1 in record time. In 2023, the average spend across foundation model APIs, self-hosting, and fine-tuning models was $7M across the dozens of companies we spoke to. Budgets for generative AI are skyrocketing.

Generative AI 145

Generative AI Enterprise AI Artificial Intelligence 145

ChurnZero

JANUARY 10, 2023

Whether you’re an experienced Customer Success professional looking for a new role, or you’re a newcomer hunting for your first Customer Success position, these are the hiring trends to anticipate and leverage in 2023. With limited headcount, companies are focused on filling their most critical roles. Last year, 63.3%

Trends 52

Trends Customer Success Headcount Scale 52

Sales Hacker

JULY 31, 2023

Related: Answering The Top 5 Questions On How to Use LinkedIn (5 min read) How to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for prospecting in 2023 1. Related: 50 Best Lead Generation Tools in 2023 (Ranked & Rated) The “Years in Current Position” filter An alternative is the ‘Years in current position’ filter.

Scale 52

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Headcount 52

BetterCloud

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

How is IT responding to these pressures and challenges in 2023? In our 2023 State of SaaSOps survey, we interviewed 700 IT practitioners of all levels about their challenges, how they measured their work, and their plans for the coming year. Read on to find out.

Headcount 52

Headcount Metrics Interviewing SaaS 52

FastSpring

MARCH 3, 2023

If your company sells physical products and/or services, you’ll need additional software and headcount to manage sales tax and transaction liability. The post 6 Best Zuora Competitors and Alternatives: In-Depth 2023 Guide appeared first on FastSpring. Again, Zuora leaves you on your own to figure out and follow these tax laws.

Payment Services 78

Payment Services Payment Methods Payments Merchant Services 78

ChurnZero

JANUARY 11, 2024

Most company budgets that earmark dollars for customer success intend for it to go towards headcount. ChurnZero refers to that portion of the budget as the “non-headcount budget.” 2023 customer success budgets Economic context: U.S. ChurnZero recommends a non-headcount customer success budget of at least 0.5% of revenue.

Headcount 52

Headcount SaaS Leadership Benchmarks 52

ChurnZero

JANUARY 8, 2024

At most SaaS companies, the line item for customer success budgets is dedicated to headcount. This is why on our annual survey of customer success leaders , we ask about “non-headcount budgets.” This non-headcount approach is a technique for understanding how SaaS companies are investing in the needs of their customer success teams.

Customer Success 52

Customer Success Headcount Benchmarks Leadership 52

Totango

APRIL 6, 2023

It’s no secret that businesses have been hit hard in 2023. Our latest platform enhancements and solutions help you scale without needing to add headcount, and make CS a company-wide initiative that drives predictable revenue growth.

Innovation 92

Innovation Scale Revenue Technical Review 92

Sales Hacker

SEPTEMBER 2, 2023

Share Alright, AI continues to be the biggest talking point of 2023 ( are we sick of talking about it yet? ) – with every SaaS company on the face of the earth looking to experiment with some kind of AI integration into their software; It’s become quite apparent that less is more in today’s world.

AI 96

AI Revenue Scale ChatGPT 96

Buffer Resources

APRIL 22, 2024

Unlike traditional startup founders who seek to grow headcount and scale a product, solopreneurs often are the product. 💡 Pro tip: In 2023, Twitter took a page out of TikTok’s book, launching its “For You” feed, where content is shown to a wider audience than just one’s followers.

Social Media 125

Social Media Scale Growth Hacking Headcount 125

Stax

AUGUST 16, 2024

From $412 billion in 2021 to $591 billion in 2023, the industry has expanded by more than 140%. We’ve seen trimming of headcount. The SaaS market has witnessed rapid growth in recent times. However, it now stands at a pivotal juncture. The industry is looking towards building resilience to changes and disruptions.

Payments 88

Payments Embedded Payments SaaS Payments Payment Solutions 88

BetterCloud

MARCH 24, 2022

Gartner recently reported that by 2023, 75% of organizations that embrace remote work will recognize revenue growth 25% faster than competitors. Organizations don’t need to immediately increase IT headcount or focus solely on repetitive onboarding, offboarding and mid-lifecycle tasks to deliver an unparalleled employee experience.

Headcount 59

Headcount Onboarding SaaS Revenue 59

Chart Mogul

MARCH 10, 2023

Slack’s magic in their use of PLG was that they were landing with software engineers in tech companies that were probably 40 to 50% of the overall company headcounts and very influential. In other sectors, that’s not always the case.

VP of Engineering 52

VP of Engineering Sales Hiring Sales Compensation 52

BetterCloud

JANUARY 5, 2023

One of the key takeaways mirrored the insights we found in our 2023 State of SaaSOps report. With many organizations facing a growing SaaS portfolio and little to no addition in IT headcount, being able to automate a large number of SaaS management tasks with an easy-to-use workflow builder is essential to improving operational efficiency.

Government 69

Government Management Marketplace as a Service SaaS 69

Sales Hacker

MARCH 1, 2024

Fast-forward to the end of 2023, and GTMfund acquired Sales Hacker, the company Max once started. Their revenue, demand, and headcount planning helps GTM teams drive exceptional growth in any market condition. In 2018, he successfully sold the company to Outreach.

VP of Engineering 92

VP of Engineering Scale SaaS AI Search 92

BetterCloud

JUNE 22, 2023

According to early 2023 CFO magazine research , 84% said they expect to be more involved in developing technology strategy than they were in 2022. Even though Gartner revised their 2023 projection downward, they still expect the average company IT budget to grow in the 4.5% Now, those days are gone.

Business 52

Business Operational efficiency. Finance Technical Review 52

OPEXEngine

OCTOBER 6, 2022

OPEXEngine, a worldwide leader in SaaS benchmarking, celebrates 1 year anniversary as part of Bain & Company with the release of its “BenchmarkEngine 2023” platform . As part of that celebration, it is excited to announce the release of its BenchmarkEngine 2023 platform, featuring significant new capabilities and service offerings.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Development Team Review Benchmarks Headcount 40

ChurnZero

JANUARY 25, 2024

According to Customer Success Collective’s State of Customer success 2023 report , over two-thirds of customer success professionals don’t use AI in their role—presenting an advantage for those already using AI, and an opportunity for those prepared to learn. We don’t see that changing in 2024, even as headcount starts to normalize.

Customer Success 52

Customer Success Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 52