Expert insights. Personalized for you.
This has been an incredible roller-coaster for us in SaaS and Cloud since March 15, for some even more than others, but an incredible amount of change for all of us. MORE
Being a CEO changes you. Not at first. The first year or two are a lot like “before”, just more intense. Now it’s all on your back, and your shoulders. But over time, your brain does get rewired. You get focused. MORE
"Secondary liquidity", where you can sell some of your shares in a round, is more and more common now. Should you sell if you can? The answer to me is simple: Are you OK if it turns out you never get another chance to sell? If the answer is Yes, don't sell. Otherwise, sell. MORE
Q: What are some of the most costly mistakes done by novice investors? My biggest mistakes in SaaS investing actually in the end haven’t been truly costly because, in the end, power laws mean your winners overwhelm your losers if you do it right. A few winners more than make up for the mistakes. MORE
There’s a common thinking that sales teams should be relatively high churn. That the bottom 15-20% of the sales team almost has to churn each year, because it’s survival of the fittest. MORE
I’m not ashamed to admit that when I set up our first SaaS sales comp plan, I had no idea what I was doing. In my first start-up, yes I sold to the enterprise. I sold $6m our first year (man, that sounds good looking back on it). MORE
If someone is looking for another job in Year 1, Even if they don’t take it … You’ve already basically lost them. Do more 1-on-1s Get more 360 feedback Talk more. I know you don’t have time. Make it. — Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) October 11, 2020. MORE
A little while back, we did a great digital event, The New New in Venture. We explored how venture has changed since Covid with many of the best, and many I look up to, from Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures to Satya Patel of Homebrew to Keith Rabois of Founders Fund and so much more. MORE
Q: Why are sales jobs the worst? Here’s why sales is tough: Can’t hide — not for long. At some point, you have to put real points on the board. Everyone will know. But in many other roles, you can sort of skate by if you aren’t too senior. Get a lot of No’s. A lot of them. Most of us can’t take it. MORE
Q: What are the challenges that a SaaS business owner must overcome to be successful? My list: Finding a truly great co-founder. Yes, some can do it on their own. Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom did. But he also did it before as SVP of Engineering at WebEx. MORE
So we did a quick informal Twitter poll with 830+ votes, and 25% of you said you’re going back to the office now that San Francisco is allowing non-essential employees to return. If in SF, will you go back to the office now? — Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) October 22, 2020. MORE
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Almost Screwed: Bootstrapping From $0 to $20M ARR in 2 Years with ClickUp [link]. — Jason ?BeKind? BeKind? Lemkin ?? jasonlk) September 2, 2020. MORE
Stewart Butterfield threw out an interesting statistic in a recent interview with Fast Company … over 20% of Slack employees have been hired since Covid-19 hit and the shelter order in SF went into place. 20%+ of Slack's employees have been hired since Covid-19 hit. MORE
Recently, a good friend of mine running a Hot SaaS Start-up asked me if he should hire a particular VP of Product candidate I knew well. The team he’d be managing was a big thumbs up on him. The board was in favor. And I knew this VP. This VP is a 10/10. MORE
How do you compete in a tough marketplace with thousands of other competitors? MORE
If your competition doesn't offer phone support, But you do … Watch your NPS eclipse theirs, all things being equal. Isn't that worth a few bucks? — Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) October 16, 2020. MORE
388: Ryan Carlson is the CMO @ Okta, the leading independent provider of identity for the enterprise. Prior to their incredibly successful IPO in April of 2017, they raised funding from some of the best in the business including Sequoia, a16z, Greylock, Khosla and Floodgate to name a few. MORE
So it’s Q4. And the run up to the holidays and the end of the year is sometimes a time we quietly ask ourselves, after a few (or more) years in … Could Someone Do a Better Job as CEO? I did. I still do sometimes. MORE
Love him or hate him, Nick Saban is the most successful college football coach of the current generation. Winner of 3 out of 4 straight national championships. And how often is he recruiting? Every. Single. Day. MORE
Microsoft, Google, Apple and Amazon have made the headlines for a while for crossing $1 trillion in market cap each. That’s crazy growth — almost all fueled by the crazy growth of the Cloud. No SaaS company is yet worth $1 trillion, through perhaps that is coming. MORE
It’s no secret there’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into balancing your business and customers. Having a functioning product team will make that balance just a tad easier. . MORE
It’s Q4 now … how are you doing on year-end stuff? Did you do all the performance reviews, I mean for real? I know you didn’t. At least, not for real. Did you get your routine salary adjustments done? I hope so. But I doubt you did this yet. MORE
SImple tips to Do Better in Q4 With What You Already Have: – Drive Down Churn – Drive Up NPS – Be More Grateful – Zoom with 10 Customers a Week – Promote Your Star(s) – Less Spam, more ABM – Weekly Webinar – Improve Lead Routing – Improve Lead Scoring – Talk to Every Prospect. MORE
A few years back, we did an extra “Day 0” AMA session at SaaStr Annual with Christoph Janz of Point 9 Capital and several hundred founders came. One asked what were top moats are in SaaS. At the time, I didn’t have a great answer. MORE
A bit of Mary Poppins, when her work is done the wind will shift and she'll be off to the next place that needs her ??. Appreciate the moments you have with folks; especially if they or the combination of them together are truly special. It's never forever. link]. MORE
Perhaps the single most important thing you can ever do in SaaS, at least after $1m in ARR or so, is hire the best VPs you can. We’ve talked a lot over the years about how not to hire a wrong VP of Sales — 70%+ of the first VPs of Sales don’t make it even 10 months. MORE
So we are how many months into this? I’m not even sure anymore. And the fires in California now are almost just too much. And of the CEOs I’ve invested in who aren’t originally in the Bay Area, I’d say 50% have, for now, moved somewhere else. Sweden. San Diego. France. MORE
As you scale up in SaaS, one thing I can almost guarantee is that you are going to hire some VPs who were either fired or quit their last role. Especially in Bay Area-centric startups. MORE
90% of my evaluation of any leader that works for me is the quality of people they can get to work for them. This could be wrong… Maybe it should be 95%. — Todd McKinnon (@toddmckinnon) September 13, 2020. Recruiting is tough. I certainly don’t do it well enough. MORE
One of our top sessions from our recent Annual at Home event was from GitHub’s COO, Erica Brescia. For those unfamiliar with her background, Brescia started off as the founder and COO of Bitnami, a 75 person startup. MORE
Who should you hire, with limited budget? A VP of Sales? A Director of Demand Gen? Or A Head of Product? The answer is Yes. A truly great hire is >always< accretive. At least within just a few months. Hire anyone truly great you can find. Find a way. MORE
A mistake many founders make is hiring a VP of Sales who has many strengths — but not at sales per se. A VP of Sales who is smart, polished, and worked at the right place, in a management-level position. That can talk about quota attainment and sales operations and scaling and number. MORE
OK so this I think the first negative or at least “bummer” post I think I’ve ever written on SaaStr in 8 years. We’ve been through ups-and-downs in SaaS since 2012 (the start of SaaStr), flash crashes, multiple contractions, as well as the crazy bull run of 2020. MORE
Here’s my list of the best golden advice I was given as a first-time — and second-time — CEO: Manage People — In General, and Earlier. The earlier in your career you can learn how to manage people, the faster you can excel in learning to scale. Managing people isn’t always fun. MORE
SaaStr
OCTOBER 11, 2020
If someone is looking for another job in Year 1, Even if they don’t take it … You’ve already basically lost them. Do more 1-on-1s Get more 360 feedback Talk more. I know you don’t have time. Make it. — Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) October 11, 2020.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 20, 2020
Who should you hire, with limited budget? A VP of Sales? A Director of Demand Gen? Or A Head of Product? The answer is Yes. A truly great hire is >always< accretive. At least within just a few months. Hire anyone truly great you can find. Find a way.
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SaaStr
OCTOBER 7, 2020
As you scale up in SaaS, one thing I can almost guarantee is that you are going to hire some VPs who were either fired or quit their last role. Especially in Bay Area-centric startups.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 23, 2020
"Secondary liquidity", where you can sell some of your shares in a round, is more and more common now. Should you sell if you can? The answer to me is simple: Are you OK if it turns out you never get another chance to sell? If the answer is Yes, don't sell. Otherwise, sell.
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SaaS financial models require that you build an income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. In this e-book, we’ll focus on the most complicated SaaS input to model: revenue. Specifically, we’ll dive into two distinct methods for forecasting ARR, explain the relationship between ARR and Revenue, and also highlight how to model cash flow associated with revenue.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 2, 2020
So it’s Q4. And the run up to the holidays and the end of the year is sometimes a time we quietly ask ourselves, after a few (or more) years in … Could Someone Do a Better Job as CEO? I did. I still do sometimes.
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SaaStr
OCTOBER 11, 2020
Q: What are some of the most costly mistakes done by novice investors? My biggest mistakes in SaaS investing actually in the end haven’t been truly costly because, in the end, power laws mean your winners overwhelm your losers if you do it right. A few winners more than make up for the mistakes.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 16, 2020
If your competition doesn't offer phone support, But you do … Watch your NPS eclipse theirs, all things being equal. Isn't that worth a few bucks? — Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) October 16, 2020.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 10, 2020
Stewart Butterfield threw out an interesting statistic in a recent interview with Fast Company … over 20% of Slack employees have been hired since Covid-19 hit and the shelter order in SF went into place. 20%+ of Slack's employees have been hired since Covid-19 hit.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 22, 2020
Recently, a good friend of mine running a Hot SaaS Start-up asked me if he should hire a particular VP of Product candidate I knew well. The team he’d be managing was a big thumbs up on him. The board was in favor. And I knew this VP. This VP is a 10/10.
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SaaStr
OCTOBER 12, 2020
SImple tips to Do Better in Q4 With What You Already Have: – Drive Down Churn – Drive Up NPS – Be More Grateful – Zoom with 10 Customers a Week – Promote Your Star(s) – Less Spam, more ABM – Weekly Webinar – Improve Lead Routing – Improve Lead Scoring – Talk to Every Prospect.
SaaStr
SEPTEMBER 13, 2020
90% of my evaluation of any leader that works for me is the quality of people they can get to work for them. This could be wrong… Maybe it should be 95%. — Todd McKinnon (@toddmckinnon) September 13, 2020. Recruiting is tough. I certainly don’t do it well enough.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 13, 2020
Q: Why are sales jobs the worst? Here’s why sales is tough: Can’t hide — not for long. At some point, you have to put real points on the board. Everyone will know. But in many other roles, you can sort of skate by if you aren’t too senior. Get a lot of No’s. A lot of them. Most of us can’t take it.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 16, 2020
How do you compete in a tough marketplace with thousands of other competitors?
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As a group who provides the software tools necessary to manage the contracts to cash process, Aysling onboards users and projects daily, and has learned some important tips if you want to be successful when onboarding new clients and/or projects.
SaaStr
SEPTEMBER 28, 2020
Love him or hate him, Nick Saban is the most successful college football coach of the current generation. Winner of 3 out of 4 straight national championships. And how often is he recruiting? Every. Single. Day.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 22, 2020
So we did a quick informal Twitter poll with 830+ votes, and 25% of you said you’re going back to the office now that San Francisco is allowing non-essential employees to return. If in SF, will you go back to the office now? — Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) October 22, 2020.
SaaStr
SEPTEMBER 30, 2020
A bit of Mary Poppins, when her work is done the wind will shift and she'll be off to the next place that needs her ??. Appreciate the moments you have with folks; especially if they or the combination of them together are truly special. It's never forever. link].
SaaStr
OCTOBER 16, 2020
A few years back, we did an extra “Day 0” AMA session at SaaStr Annual with Christoph Janz of Point 9 Capital and several hundred founders came. One asked what were top moats are in SaaS. At the time, I didn’t have a great answer.
Advertiser: Amplitude
As part of our goal to continue helping our community during these times, we wanted to share with you this critical data on the state of digital products across industries and provide context on how businesses are responding to the changing winds.
SaaStr
AUGUST 17, 2020
Here’s my list of the best golden advice I was given as a first-time — and second-time — CEO: Manage People — In General, and Earlier. The earlier in your career you can learn how to manage people, the faster you can excel in learning to scale. Managing people isn’t always fun.
SaaStr
AUGUST 14, 2020
A mistake many founders make is hiring a VP of Sales who has many strengths — but not at sales per se. A VP of Sales who is smart, polished, and worked at the right place, in a management-level position. That can talk about quota attainment and sales operations and scaling and number.
SaaStr
SEPTEMBER 17, 2020
One of our top sessions from our recent Annual at Home event was from GitHub’s COO, Erica Brescia. For those unfamiliar with her background, Brescia started off as the founder and COO of Bitnami, a 75 person startup.
SaaStr
AUGUST 5, 2020
OK so this I think the first negative or at least “bummer” post I think I’ve ever written on SaaStr in 8 years. We’ve been through ups-and-downs in SaaS since 2012 (the start of SaaStr), flash crashes, multiple contractions, as well as the crazy bull run of 2020.
Advertiser: Data Robot
DataRobot together with Snowflake – a leading cloud data platform provider — is helping data scientists stay current with the latest technology and data science best practices so that they can excel in an increasingly AI-driven workplace. Five Things a Data Scientist Can Do to Stay Current offers data scientists guidance for thriving in AI-driven enterprises.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 5, 2020
There’s a common thinking that sales teams should be relatively high churn. That the bottom 15-20% of the sales team almost has to churn each year, because it’s survival of the fittest.
SaaStr
AUGUST 1, 2020
This has been an incredible roller-coaster for us in SaaS and Cloud since March 15, for some even more than others, but an incredible amount of change for all of us.
SaaStr
AUGUST 25, 2020
So we are how many months into this? I’m not even sure anymore. And the fires in California now are almost just too much. And of the CEOs I’ve invested in who aren’t originally in the Bay Area, I’d say 50% have, for now, moved somewhere else. Sweden. San Diego. France.
SaaStr
JULY 28, 2020
Microsoft, Google, Apple and Amazon have made the headlines for a while for crossing $1 trillion in market cap each. That’s crazy growth — almost all fueled by the crazy growth of the Cloud. No SaaS company is yet worth $1 trillion, through perhaps that is coming.
Advertiser: UserTesting
Up to 80% of new products fail. The reality is harsh and the reasons why are endless. Perhaps the new product couldn’t oust a customer favorite. Maybe it looked great but was too hard to use. Or, despite being a superior product, the go-to-market strategy failed. There’s always a risk when building a new product, but you can hedge your bets by understanding exactly what your customers' expectations truly are at every step of the development process.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 22, 2020
388: Ryan Carlson is the CMO @ Okta, the leading independent provider of identity for the enterprise. Prior to their incredibly successful IPO in April of 2017, they raised funding from some of the best in the business including Sequoia, a16z, Greylock, Khosla and Floodgate to name a few.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 23, 2020
Q: What are the challenges that a SaaS business owner must overcome to be successful? My list: Finding a truly great co-founder. Yes, some can do it on their own. Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom did. But he also did it before as SVP of Engineering at WebEx.
SaaStr
SEPTEMBER 10, 2020
Perhaps the single most important thing you can ever do in SaaS, at least after $1m in ARR or so, is hire the best VPs you can. We’ve talked a lot over the years about how not to hire a wrong VP of Sales — 70%+ of the first VPs of Sales don’t make it even 10 months.
SaaStr
JULY 31, 2020
Being a CEO changes you. Not at first. The first year or two are a lot like “before”, just more intense. Now it’s all on your back, and your shoulders. But over time, your brain does get rewired. You get focused.
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Embedding dashboards and reports aren’t enough. Futureproof your application by offering instant, actionable insights that will give you and your customers a competitive advantage.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 1, 2020
It’s Q4 now … how are you doing on year-end stuff? Did you do all the performance reviews, I mean for real? I know you didn’t. At least, not for real. Did you get your routine salary adjustments done? I hope so. But I doubt you did this yet.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 21, 2020
It’s no secret there’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into balancing your business and customers. Having a functioning product team will make that balance just a tad easier. .
SaaStr
SEPTEMBER 2, 2020
Almost Screwed: Bootstrapping From $0 to $20M ARR in 2 Years with ClickUp [link]. — Jason ?BeKind? BeKind? Lemkin ?? jasonlk) September 2, 2020.
SaaStr
JULY 22, 2020
I’m not ashamed to admit that when I set up our first SaaS sales comp plan, I had no idea what I was doing. In my first start-up, yes I sold to the enterprise. I sold $6m our first year (man, that sounds good looking back on it).
Speaker: Daniel "spoons" Spoonhower, CTO and Co-Founder at Lightstep
Many engineering organizations have now adopted microservices or other loosely coupled architectures, often alongside DevOps practices. Together these have enabled individual service teams to become more independent and, as a result, have boosted developer velocity. However, this increased velocity often comes at the cost of overall application performance or reliability. Worse, teams often don’t understand what’s affecting performance or reliability – or even who to ask to learn more. Distributed tracing was developed at organizations like Google and Twitter to address these problems and has also come a long way in the decade since then. By the end of this presentation, you’ll understand why distributed tracing is necessary and how it can bring performance and reliability back under control.
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