SaaStr

JUNE 17, 2023

In this post, we’ll share the learnings from SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin’s frontline analysis of the current state of the market in 2023, and distill down into why we’re now in the era of efficient growth in SaaS. Innovation is often born out of necessity – this couldn’t be truer than in 2023.

Venture Capital 215

Venture Capital Scale Technical Review Software Review 215

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 18, 2023

And realistically, most won’t have the metrics to pull off another round. They typically give them just enough to see if it will work, and the startup grows and scales to the next stage. At a practical level though, the headlines in 2024 may actually look much worse than 2023 for startup failures.

Startup 312

Startup Venture Capital Azure AWS 312

Totango

JANUARY 3, 2024

With Totango, businesses can integrate data to get a 360° view of customer health, collaborate to manage their customer portfolio , engage with customers when and where it matters, monitor and improve the metrics that matter , and scale CS faster with the power of people + AI. Plus, industry experts agree.

Software Review 112

Software Review Scale Customer Success Innovation 112

SaaStr

AUGUST 13, 2023

SaaStr 680: The Most Important SaaS Metrics of 2023 with monday.com Co-Founders and SaaStr Founder Jason Lemkin  2. SaaStr 681: Scaling to $5B with Cockroach Labs’ CEO Spencer Kimball’s Formula for Sustained Growth and Resilience   3. SaaStr 677: MongoDB at $1.5 From 2 Weeks of Runway to a $1.5B

Scale 240

Scale Churn Scaling Metrics 240

SaaStr

DECEMBER 20, 2023

They were $1.7B+ ARR in October , so let’s call it close to $2B at the end of the year, growing 40%+ at that scale –and profitable! (or jasonlk) December 19, 2023 5 Interesting Learnings: #1. 300 Employees Working on AI Not a surprise, but interesting to see the scale of investment here. #5.

AWS 253

AWS B2C Scaling AI 253

SaaStr

DECEMBER 26, 2023

Almost Everyone’s Gotten Radically More Efficient in SaaS That’s a good metric to think about at scale now. In part, because unicorn rounds have evaporated in SaaS (outside of some AI outliers), everyone just has to be cash-flow positive at scale. 18-24 months ago, it was all over the place.

Venture Capital 276

Venture Capital Scaling AI Investment 276

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 12, 2023

I realized It has been a decade since I’ve updated revenue-per-employee metrics. Company RPE 2013, $k RPE 2023, $k CAGR CRM 325 375 1.4% In 2023, these companies added about $37k in revenue per employee, but the range spans $18-71k. Today, that number is $470k for the basket of companies above, a 135% improvement.

Software Review 289

Software Review Trends Revenue Software 289

Kellblog

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

Some believe that capital won’t flow again until after an extinction-level event for startups in 2023/2024. Kellblog Predictions for 2023 With that warm up, here are my predictions for 2023. In 2022, that great ( fka master ) pendulum started to reverse its course and that will continue in 2023.

Software Review 119

Software Review Development Team Review Underperforming Technical Team Scale 119

SaaStr

AUGUST 20, 2023

SaaStr 681: Scaling to $5B with Cockroach Labs’ CEO Spencer Kimball’s Formula for Sustained Growth and Resilience  2. SaaStr 680: The Most Important SaaS Metrics of 2023 with monday.com Co-Founders and SaaStr Founder Jason Lemkin    3. SaaStr 677: MongoDB at $1.5 From 2 Weeks of Runway to a $1.5B

Churn 176

Churn Scaling Metrics Startup 176

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. This is it.

Customer Success 232

Customer Success Sales Hiring Scale AI 232

SaaStr

JULY 13, 2023

Even today, most SaaS VCs would have trouble believing a $2k ACV product like Monday could truly scale. But scale it has. #4. NRR is the NorthStar metric in SaaS, but we all agreed it can be gamed, to some extent. Most important metric to them is the % of paid base actively using the product. See you there!

SMB 186

SMB Scaling Metrics B2B 186

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 19, 2024

Their GAAP revenue grew 5% in 2023, and 29% in Q4 ‘23 YoY. Rubrik’s subscription ARR was $784m at the end of 2023 and growing 47% YoY. For context, full year GAAP revenue in 2023 was $628m. NTM revenue multiple for a business growing >40% (at significant scale) that is operating at roughly breakeven.

Cloud 141

Cloud Scale Subscription Payment Features 141

Chart Mogul

MARCH 23, 2023

And, is your poor retention the reason for your slower growth in 2023? If you’re unsure, check your retention metrics. Gross revenue retention (GRR) and net revenue retention (NRR) are the key metrics to understand how well … How good is your business at retaining customers? What is net revenue retention (NRR)?

Retention 52

Retention Metrics Revenue Scale 52

SaaStr

JULY 5, 2023

2022 Saw a Slowdown in Usage Growth, But 2023 Saw a Potential Bounce Back. The start of 2023 (FY ‘4) may have seen a partial bounce back, however. I like this chart a lot showing both the awesome power of high NRR, and also how you have to invest in customers that scale with you over time. Let’s dig in: #1.

Scale 183

Scale cloud efficiency Cloud Business Model 183

Chart Mogul

DECEMBER 22, 2022

We spoke with SaaS leaders across different sectors to bring you insights on sustainable growth strategies for 2023. We spoke with SaaS leaders across different sectors to bring you insights on sustainable growth strategies for 2023. How to grow sustainably in 2023? Track how efficiently you’re bringing in new business.

Strategy 95

Strategy Scale Finance Acquisition 95

Kellblog

JUNE 17, 2023

Insight Partners recently published an excellent 2023 Sales KPI Report. the mind of someone who spends far too much time thinking about SaaS metrics), as I read this report. They’re cutting the data by size bucket (aka, “scale-up stage”). CAC payback period (CPP) is simply not a sales efficiency metric.

Scale 102

Scale Sales Benchmarks Metrics 102

SaaStr

JULY 26, 2023

Billion in ARR — growing a stunning 46% even at that scale. ARR ▶️ 46% Growth ▶️ 125% NRR ▶️ 400 $1m+ Customers ▶️ 15% Operating Margins ▶️ $22B Market Cap It doesn't get too much better — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin  (@jasonlk) July 25, 2023 Yes, times are a bit tougher out there. And with high NRR. Zscaler: ▶️ $1.5B

Scale 198

Scale Scaling Engineering Cloud 198

Totango

MARCH 21, 2023

At the Customer Success Festival in New York City, Katie Yagodnik, director of CS operations and digital programs at Totango, and Nick Chang, VP of global CS at Aryaka, explored how operations teams can be leveraged to drive revenue growth in a fireside chat about “Effectively scaling your CS operation.” Curious about where we’re going next?

Scale 81

Scale Scaling Customer Success Benchmarks 81

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2024

Customer Success Is Vulnerable to Cuts Jason shared that he didn’t realize how vulnerable customer success was to cuts until 2023. If there were one or two metrics or data points that Nick learned at Gainsight by sitting in on board meetings, what were they? So e ven if you had a hard 2023, there’s magic in this chart.

Sales Hiring 245

Sales Hiring Customer Success Scale AI 245

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. This chart shows the awesome power of high NRR and how you have to invest in customers that scale with you over time. #3

Revenue 197

Revenue Scale Sales Hiring Cloud 197

Blulogix

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Demystifying UBP: Models and Metrics – A Deep Dive into Your Pricing Playground By BluLogix Team Welcome, B2B pioneers, to the playground of UBP models and metrics!  Don’t get lost in a sea of metrics! It’s a balanced approach, catering to both basic needs and the desire for flexible scaling.

Pricing 52

Pricing Metrics Subscription Payment Features 52

SaaStr

JANUARY 11, 2023

Profitable and capital-efficient is back in fashion: (Still, I’d argue it should be worth much more with these metrics, especially given that it has $212m in cash on its balance sheet). Many do need help scaling up their learning systems. — Jason Be Kind Lemkin  (@jasonlk) January 11, 2023. Yes, you can.

Scale 335

Scale Pricing Scaling Enterprise 335

SaaStr

APRIL 26, 2023

Self-serve products can and should be quite profitable at scale. A tough metric. But it overpayed by the standards of 2023, and took a $200m markdown to reflect that. At just about a $4B market cap, it trades at only 4x ARR due to its mature growth at scale (10%), despite being fairly efficient. 68% From Ecommerce.

Scale 226

Scale SMB Churn Pricing 226

Neil Patel

JANUARY 18, 2023

With that in mind, here’s a look back at some big trends that made 2022 a wild year in search and the things that will make huge waves in 2023. The Search Engine Trends That Will Shape 2023. If algorithm updates and SERP elements influenced 2022 search, what does 2023 have in store? AI Writing Brings Content At Scale.

AI Search 113

AI Search VP of Engineering Engineering Social Media 113

SaaStr

MAY 15, 2024

That’s up from 60% in 2023. In B2B, the classic metric for this is 2% now and was 2% in 2006. Consumer SaaS has a lot of drawbacks, but it also has the benefits of scale. Lesson #2: Conversion to Paid Is Fairly Low While Free Trial Offerings Are Way Up 70% of mobile subscription apps now offer free trials, at least in part.

Subscription 261

Subscription Payment Features B2B Mobile 261

SaaStr

MAY 17, 2023

So what’s that worth in 2023? ARR folks pic.twitter.com/2UlOfY37KS — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin  (@jasonlk) May 11, 2023 5 Interesting Learnings: #1. That’s the theme of 2023 — efficiency. In 2023, everything, by contrast, has slowed down. Billion That's 1.3x

Scale 226

Scale Cloud Enterprise Trends 226

User Pilot

JULY 27, 2023

KPIs and success metrics to track Income statement (P&L) and Balance Sheet : CEOs don’t need to check these documents on a daily basis, but regular analyses keep them in the loop of the company’s financial position. The company needs a high percentage of this metric to stay competitive.

Sales Hiring 88

Sales Hiring SaaS Payments Sales Recruiting CTO Hire 88

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. Some naysayers doubted that genAI could scale into the enterprise at all. Implementing and scaling generative AI requires the right technical talent, which currently isn’t in-house for many enterprises.

Generative AI 145

Generative AI AI Enterprise Artificial Intelligence 145

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

One metric stood out to me I hadn’t seen presented before: just how many private SaaS companies (i.e., In the latest SaaStr Workshop Wednesday (sign up for FREE here ), Jessica Bartos of Salesforce Ventures did a great deep dive on the state of SaaS and venture in 2013. The full session is below and it’s a great watch.

SaaS 296

SaaS Startup Metrics Investment 296

Chart Mogul

JULY 28, 2023

Maturing your sales and revenue operations Mistakes to avoid when scaling your tech stack. Tech stack advice for early-stage businesses We’re often asked about the best tools or processes for scaling SaaS teams. They don’t lie, and when you look at the right metrics, you see exactly how effective your actions are.

Scale 52

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Sales 52

SaaStr

DECEMBER 17, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: Knowing — and Sharing — Your Zero Cash Date (Updated) Salesforce: Your Job’s at Risk If You Sell Less Than $400k a Year The Top 3 Things CROs Are Quietly Talking About These Days 2023 Was The Year of Hiding Inside the Base.

Sales Hiring 161

Sales Hiring Scale AI Startup 161

User Pilot

JUNE 25, 2023

Outcomes Over Output emphasizes customer behavior as the key metric for business success. Tips for scaling product organizations without sacrificing quality. How to avoid metrics overload and focus on the key metrics only. How to create a holistic view combining business and product metrics. Where to buy it?

Management 79

Management Technical Review Leadership Innovation 79

SaaStr

APRIL 19, 2024

Today that would be a dream, but in 2011, people didn’t understand the metrics around recurring revenue businesses, so investors weren’t sure it was a good business. You Need A Business Model with Economies of Scale As you’re trying to reverse engineer whether your business model makes sense, you have to look at your business model.

Engineering 245

Engineering Business Model Pricing Scaling 245

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

The Semantic Model Becomes a Must-Have: Semantic models unify a single definition across an organization for a particular metric. BI systems marry the centralized control of data teams with the ability to define and promote metrics at the edge of an organization (Omni). Looker did this within the context of a BI system.

Artificial Intelligence 181

Artificial Intelligence Trends Data Software Review 181

User Pilot

JUNE 2, 2023

Product adoption metrics tell you how well your platform is performing. In this article, we dived into 13 important adoption metrics to measure. 13 Key product adoption metrics and why they matter You regularly need to track several metrics to get a holistic understanding of how users are interacting with and adopting your platform.

Metrics 74

Metrics Customer Lifetime Value Churn Onboarding 74

SaaStr

APRIL 30, 2024

Ways to scale that don’t include rampant inefficiency and burn. 2023 saw the team grow from 6-10 reps, which is pretty modest, and they built an SDR function. Nail down one small niche of a market before you hit the gas to scale. They would not have scaled it in its original iteration. This is big takeaway #2.

Scale 254

Scale SMB Sales Hiring Sales 254

SaaStr

APRIL 10, 2023

Nurture : Provide startup-specific resources to help them scale. We really anchor on these metrics where we can drive conversion rates higher, where we can drive average deal size higher. So, whatever it might be for your business, find those key metrics to anchor on and build them into a part of the strategy.”

Startup 205

Startup Scale SMB Venture Capital 205