SaaStr

AUGUST 3, 2021

If you raise money from top or even top-ish brand VCs at a reasonable valuation, you usually get at least 3 benefits: Top Partners at Top VC Firms are Usually Good for a Second Check if you are doing OK / decent but not great yet. Note this really only holds for seed funds with a strong brand. Social proof overall. It just makes sense.

Branding 293

Branding Pricing Investment Startup 293

SaaStr

JULY 4, 2025

per share — a whopping 65% premium over Olo’s closing price on April 30th (the last trading day before acquisition rumors started swirling). Yesterday, Thoma Bravo announced they’re acquiring restaurant tech platform Olo (NYSE: OLO) for $2 billion in an all-cash deal. That’s $10.25 billion.

SaaS Payments 196

SaaS Payments Payments Payment Solutions SaaS 196

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 19, 2024

Your Blueprint for Winning Some recommended focus areas Drata used to scale to 5,000 customers were: Service Customer loyalty Brand perception Focus on ICP The first three bullets go hand-in-hand. Walker Research found in 2024 that the customer experience is now equal to price and product regarding key brand differentiators.

Customer Success 284

Customer Success Scaling Social Media Enterprise readiness 284

SaaStr

MARCH 13, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How Do I Increase Pricing Again Without Angering Customers? First, plan to increase pricing in general once a year, each year for new customers. Well, that will depend on how much additional value you’ve added over last year, how strong you stack up vs the competition, and how strong your brand is. But earn it.

Pricing 284

Pricing Branding Sales 284

SaaStr

DECEMBER 27, 2019

You could spend days reading about pricing and pricing strategies in software on the web, but a lot of this content doesn’t really hit one, basic fundamental point — there is no real reason any particular piece of software should cost anything in particular. Pricing in software is really in large part relative to what.

Pricing 337

Pricing Enterprise Software Sales 337

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

SaaS pricing isn’t static – it’s a living strategy that grows with your company. In this article we dive into a playbook for pricing across different stages of company growth, inspired by Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm. Tiered pricing models emerge to address these differences.

Pricing 107

Pricing Scale SaaS Technical Review 107

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2021

Q: What billing or pricing tactic have you found in the end just wasn’t worth it? You should stand behind your product and sign up for those until you have a real brand in the space. “Regular price increases for SaaS” — Benjamin Irvine. to grow deal size vs. blanket price increases. Jason, ed. :

Pricing 322

Pricing Scale Enterprise Onboarding 322

SaaStr

MAY 1, 2025

Have They Sold at Your Price Point? Make sure theyve sold at a similar price point before. Do They Know How to Sell Without a Big Brand? Avoid reps whove only sold with the backing of a strong brand like Datadog or HubSpot or Adobe. Selling a $100/month product is very different from selling a $100,000/year solution.

Sales Hiring 259

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Interviewing 259

FastSpring

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

Larger technology companies can pay more, offer more benefits, and provide a more marketable brand on a candidate’s resume. So how are smaller companies supposed to compete with large brands for the best talent? to working for smaller brands. And some people really value brand names. Lizzie, welcome to Growth Stage.

SMB 107

SMB Sales Recruiting Branding Sales Hiring 107

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

Dear SaaStr: Is It Worth It To Try to Get 2-3 Name Brand VCs Into My Round? For as long as I’ve been in start-ups, having a name-brand VC on your cap table has mattered. Brands do matter. But … brands are a proxy for value. Brands are in flux. This isn’t to say 2-3 name-branded VCs are bad.

Branding 283

Branding Benchmarks Cloud Investment 283

SaaStr

DECEMBER 11, 2024

No brand manager would think of approving an AI-generated image. Pricing and Monetization The industry hasn’t yet settled on a dominant pricing model for AI capabilities, making this an area of ongoing experimentation.

AI Search 284

AI Search AI Artificial Intelligence B2B 284

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 16, 2022

Is charging by consumption (usage-based pricing) a superior model for a business? Often, the effort probably isn’t worth it, unless the company’s stated strategy is to differentiate on price structure. What should my unit of pricing be? The unit of pricing is the crux to unlocking that puzzle. AppDynamics.

Pricing 269

Pricing Scale Banking Startup 269

SaaStr

MAY 20, 2025

Pricing Model Evolution : HubSpot’s multi-tiered pricing approachfrom free tools to enterprise solutionscreates natural upgrade paths as companies grow, maximizing lifetime value while maintaining strong operating margins (14% non-GAAP operating margin in Q1 2025). Their ecosystem extends their reach globally.

SMB 272

SMB Scale Education AI 272

SaaStr

JANUARY 5, 2022

The more established your brand, the more complex your pricing page can be. What makes for a good pricing page? A few thoughts at least — mainly about what to copy from the big leaders, and what to maybe not copy from them: The stronger the brand, the more complex the pricing page can be.

Pricing 261

Pricing Enterprise Branding Innovation 261

Neil Patel

JUNE 17, 2025

Why do some customers keep buying from the same brands despite having plenty of alternative options? It’s not about offering the lowest price or running the flashiest marketing campaigns. What Is Brand Loyalty? Brand loyalty is when consumers consistently choose to purchase products or services from a specific company.

Branding 90

Branding New CTO CTO Technical Review 90

SaaStr

AUGUST 23, 2023

Dear SaaStr: How Do You Price a SaaS Product in a New B2B Market? The simplest answer is usually to copy the pricing from the closest public company or other break-out leader you can find that is vaguely similar. I guessed the pricing almost immediately. That everyone knows, and knows the price points of. I’ve lived it.

Pricing 245

Pricing B2B Scale SaaS 245

SaaStr

JUNE 9, 2025

The Numbers Don’t Lie: We’re in a Different Market Let’s start with the headline grabber: Circle’s 247% gain from IPO price to current trading levels. The company that filed at $24-26 per share and priced at $31 is now trading at levels that would make even the most seasoned growth investor do a double-take.

B2B 184

B2B Marketing Scale Benchmarks 184

SaaStr

JUNE 7, 2025

Their steady climb to 9% market share suggests that enterprise buyers are becoming more sophisticated, choosing AI providers based on specific capabilities rather than brand recognition alone. Price pressure is coming. Future AI adoption will require solving harder problems for more conservative buyers.

AI 280

AI Payment Services Payments Scale 280

FastSpring

APRIL 3, 2025

Your personal brand is more than a polished LinkedIn profile its how you stand out, connect with customers, and build long-term credibility as a founder or executive. But how do you create an authentic personal brand that actually works? Rachel shares: What makes up a strong personal brand (and why every founder already has one).

Branding 99

Branding Social Media AI Search Outsourcing Services 99

SaaStr

JANUARY 28, 2025

Brand Building and Human-Centric Approach The company’s vision is to empower people and transform work, making it utterly unrecognizable, and its brand is based on The Human Experience at work. The focus on the customer is critical when creating new categories, and educating and positioning these categories can be challenging.

AI Search 244

AI Search AI Artificial Intelligence Technical Review 244

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 28, 2025

If you, as a software company, got to a certain scale and brand awareness, it was really hard for others to catch you. It simply took too much time to start a competitor, build a product, build a brand, and compete. .” This used to be how companies scaled! So what was the implication? The inertia was significant.

Cloud 299

Cloud AI Scale Scaling 299

SaaStr

JUNE 1, 2025

You need to close the first 10, 20, or even 30 deals yourself to prove the product is sellable and to understand the objections, pricing dynamics, and customer needs. These folks are used to having brand recognition, warm leads, and established processes. As the founder, you know the product and the customer better than anyone.

Outsourcing Services 187

Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring Scale Enterprise 187

TrackStreet

MARCH 28, 2025

The global trade landscape is shifting, and brands that rely on eCommerce and omnichannel distribution are feeling the pressure. For brand executives and eCommerce leaders, this is a moment of strategic decision-making. For brand executives and eCommerce leaders, this is a moment of strategic decision-making. The good news?

Branding 52

Branding Pricing Technical Review Investment 52

SaaStr

MARCH 18, 2025

Trust Was Built Through Admitting Pricing Mistakes Wiz took the counterintuitive approach of quickly acknowledging errors in their pricing models. This radical honesty approach recognized that in security specifically, trust is the foundation of all customer relationships.

Scale 178

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Sales Recruiting 178

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 14, 2024

brand, once you have the prospect in your funnel. Pricing “cheap” won’t get prospects to come find you, not usually. Brands matter. And raise pricing further. Brand and Trust will, 9 times out of 10. Brand and Trust will, 9 times out of 10. So lower pricing can work.

Scale 312

Scale Pricing Branding B2B 312

SaaStr

MARCH 5, 2021

The Four More Important Questions to Ask an Early Stage VC are: what price is it OK to sell at? First, like almost all of us, founders are attracted to brands. 90%+ of founders want a top brand investor. First, like almost all of us, founders are attracted to brands. 90%+ of founders want a top brand investor.

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital Branding Pricing Investment 360

SaaStr

MAY 28, 2025

Their Customer Base Has Grown 22% CAGR Since 2019 Despite Higher Prices Monday.com has grown from 90K customers in FY-19 to 245K customers in FY-24, representing a 22% CAGR over five years. This suggests their brand recognition, product-led growth motion, and sales execution have all matured. And a Few More Interesting Learnings: 6.

Scale 187

Scale SMB Acquisition Enterprise 187

Buffer Resources

JULY 23, 2024

When my sister and I started Vinat to make buying wine online more accessible, I thought that any kind of PR was going to be prohibitively expensive for our small brand.   This cost us a third of the price of influencer marketing tests we had done and drove far more sales and visibility.

Marketing 109

Marketing Branding ChatGPT AI 109

SaaStr

APRIL 13, 2025

Pricing advantages : Compound products can optimize pricing across their entire bundle, allowing them to “run circles around competitors” in specific product categories. Seek pricing advantages : Structure offerings so customers save money by buying multiple products from you.

Startup 157

Startup Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Cloud 157

SaaStr

JANUARY 2, 2021

Second-order revenue and a mini-brand start to become huge accelerators around Year 3. But Your Mini-Brand Will Come to Your Rescue. Raise prices, one way or another for new customers — as you add more value and build your brand. You can raise prices $1 a month. Get your NPS up to 60 or higher.

Sales Hiring 307

Sales Hiring Headcount Pricing Market Segmentation 307

Buffer Resources

OCTOBER 2, 2024

TL;DR: The 7 best competitor analysis tools (and their alternatives) Best competitor analysis tools Best for Free plan/trial Pricing Key features Alternatives vidIQ YouTube competitive analysis Free plan available for up to 3 competitors. Price : Plans start at €16.58/month. Pricing starts at $4.50/month. Starts at $139.95/month

Social Media 118

Social Media AI Search Benchmarks Software Review 118

FastSpring

OCTOBER 16, 2024

But PSPs stop shy of becoming the entity that worries about risk considerations, regulatory rules in many geographies, card brand rules, and even tax calculation, collection, and remittance — responsibilities that a merchant of record does take on for you. Predictable flat rate pricing model with no cross border fees.

Merchant Services 159

Merchant Services Payment Services Payment Methods Outsourcing Services 159

Buffer Resources

AUGUST 21, 2024

1: Meta’s social media marketing course Best course for beginners seeking to receive professional training Price : Free. 2: Impactful social writing Best course for becoming a thought leader in your niche Price : $127. It’s a similar A+ course to help you build your personal brand. You can learn at your own pace.

Social Media 117

Social Media Marketing AI Search Systems Review 117

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2021

Pick a price point you know how to sell a t. I’ve seen sales reps great at $20k deals join a start-up with tons of leads but at a $2k price point and fail. Can you sell without a brand backing you? Selling a product without an established brand, at least a mini-brand in its niche, is different. Most of us do.

Sales Hiring 345

Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Branding Pricing 345

Stax

JUNE 18, 2025

With clearer value props, tailored pricing, and purpose-built features, your sales and marketing spend goes further. And because your customers are running more efficiently with your tool, they’re more likely to stick around, expand, and advocate for your brand. Product teams prioritize with confidence. Onboarding becomes repeatable.

Merchant Services 167

Merchant Services SaaS Payments Payment Services Payments 167

SaaStr

MAY 7, 2024

What I mean what you want is a pricing structure that anticipates discounts so the net effect is revenue positive. Later, when you implement a CPQ and other more sophisticated systems to manage pricing for a large sales team, these processes and systems will be designed to help you do just that, at least in part.

Pricing 284

Pricing Churn Enterprise Branding 284

TrackStreet

APRIL 3, 2025

You’ve spent a lot of time and energy building your brand. You’ve cultivated seller and customer trust, set competitive prices, and worked hard to ensure your business is viable now and into the future. But how are you protecting that brand? Thats why you need a brand protection partner like TrackStreet.

Branding 52

Branding compliance Marketplace as a Service Advertising 52