SaaStr

JUNE 24, 2025

The Compounding Effect: Each individual improvement might seem modest, but when you’re closing deals 5 weeks faster, at higher rates, with better quota attainment, the cumulative business impact is enormous. Companies under $25M ARR with high AI adoption are running GTM organizations that are 38% leaner.

Scale 189

Scale AI B2B SaaS 189

BetterCloud

MAY 13, 2025

The traditional response advocating for increased headcount while sometimes necessary, is often met with budgetary constraints and a desire for greater operational efficiency. Cultivating business agility For every successful IT team, responsiveness is paramount. So, how do we reconcile this growing disparity?

Headcount 52

Headcount Scale Underperforming Technical Team Scaling 52

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 5, 2020

But starting that week, startups began reducing headcount by about 700 per day. ClassPass, one of the fitness startups to reduce headcount, reported a 95% drop in sales in 10 days. Programs like the PPP should help minimize layoffs and keep small to medium businesses running. First, let’s look at layoffs by day.

Sales Recruiting 357

Sales Recruiting Startup Headcount Sales Hiring 357

SaaStr

JULY 1, 2025

“Thank you for your time” translates literally but may sound rushed in cultures where gratitude requires more elaborate expression.

Scale 210

Scale Software Review Sales Hiring AI 210

SaaStr

MAY 2, 2025

“The Last Generation of Human-Only CEOs: Marc Benioff’s Bold Vision for the AI-Augmented Enterprise” Marc Benioff was kind enough to join SaaStr for the first time to do a truly deep dive on what AI means in business software today. It’s a good one. Top 5 Unexpected Learnings: 1.

AI 239

AI Enterprise Scale Airlines 239

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 13, 2022

So, did headcount at the Series A. In 11 years, the median headcount at Series A swelled from 15 to 28. [1]. Series A dollars provided the business 17 months’ of runway at constant burn assuming no revenue. 1] Thank you to the Pitchbook team for running the headcount analysis data. [2] Round sizes ballooned.

Headcount 325

Headcount Venture Capital Finance Startup 325

SaaStr

JUNE 12, 2025

They’re: Eliminating unproductive agency relationships Streamlining agency rosters Renegotiating contracts and scopes of work Simplifying overlapping roles Reducing total headcount strategically Twenty-two percent say GenAI has already enabled them to reduce reliance on external agencies for creativity and strategy.

AI 191

AI Technical Review Scale Headcount 191

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 27, 2023

Mid-market & SMB distributions skew left with up to 10% of businesses reporting a decrease in sales cycle during the period. The antidote: greater pipeline-to-quota coverage ratios by either increasing the top of the funnel or reducing the account executive headcount. The data analysis uses the results from the 2023 GTM Survey.

Startup 350

Startup SMB Headcount Sales 350

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 2, 2023

If a startup raised a top quartile Seed round, Series A, B, & C, they typically would have grown headcount by about 6% in the last twelve months. The headcount growth rate for all other companies? No statistically significant difference in headcount. Why look at headcount growth? About double at 12%.

Headcount 244

Headcount Startup AI Scaling 244

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 22, 2023

B2B companies have reduced headcount to a greater extent than at any time since 2020. The average layoff cut 50% or more of staff & more than a quarter of these businesses folded. The current wave of layoffs, a difficult component of the innovation boom/bust cycle, differs from the previous years’ dynamics.

B2C 321

B2C B2B Headcount Innovation 321

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 6, 2022

Surprisingly, PLG companies’ profitability has suffered more than sales-led businesses. PLG companies R&D spend hasn’t produced new business at the same rate as a dollar invested in sales & marketing post-Covid. PLG motions tend to focus on smaller businesses which may be more susceptible to the economic downturn.

Headcount 344

Headcount Market Research Acquisition Education 344

SaaStr

JULY 31, 2020

Last year, the company doubled its headcount, tripled revenue and landed on G2’s Top 100 Global Software list. . There is an increased urgency in business – more risk, more potential, more importance on onboarding and customer success,” said Benton. . It’s all about the right numbers and finding real business value. .

Scale 359

Scale Artificial Intelligence Payments Payment Services 359

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

While minor for Monday’s business, this is interesting for us all to see. Like many tech companies, Monday added a ton of headcount in 2021. It then added only 63 employees last quarter, and plans to continue with very slow headcount for a while. But, high NRR in bigger customers is masking a modest NRR decline overall.

Headcount 318

Headcount SMB Engineering Scaling 318

SaaStr

JUNE 29, 2025

” The Business Impact : Response times increased. ” The Infrastructure Play : “When we truly find product-market fit and we’re really able to grow our business, it is really good foundation and infrastructure that we can use to grow exponentially later on.” Customer satisfaction scores dropped from 4.9

Payment Services 181

Payment Services Sales Hiring Payment Solutions SaaS Payments 181

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 1, 2020

Founders share the growth story of the business before the onset of the virus, and few of them have the visibility to project end of year performance. The rule says that all employees of affiliated companies must be considered headcount. Valuations are coming down a bit, but they are all over the map.

Headcount 329

Headcount Payment Services Government Innovation 329

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 1, 2023

If we assume some basic productivity gains in a typical SaaS company from AI in the next 12-24 months, how much more profitable will the business be? Workstreams within SaaS companies are specialized : content marketing, a valuable GTM strategy for many businesses, represents a low-single digit percentage of the employee population.

AI 321

AI Startup Scale Headcount 321

Intercom, Inc.

OCTOBER 29, 2019

As Intercom’s business grew rapidly in 2017, we found ourselves at this exact crossroads. Indeed, among our customers were B2C companies, small businesses, and large enterprises along with customers in places and industries well beyond Silicon Valley. Authoritative, actionable strategies on how to grow your business.

Business 184

Business B2C Scale Headcount 184

SaaStr

APRIL 7, 2024

Therefore, don’t be discouraged if your sales team members are making significant earnings, as it correlates with the overall success and growth of the business. Unlike building a product team, there is no efficiency when building a sales org: half of your headcount will be in sales at $10m, $50m, or $100m in revenue.

Sales Hiring 311

Sales Hiring Scale Headcount Sales 311

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 20, 2025

There are many CEOs, some of very large public companies, who have commented on what AI means for their headcount plans. Top 10 EV / NTM Revenue Multiples Top 10 Weekly Share Price Movement Update on Multiples SaaS businesses are generally valued on a multiple of their revenue - in most cases the projected revenue for the next 12 months.

Cloud 157

Cloud AI Headcount Pricing 157

SaaStr

MARCH 8, 2023

There’s no wrong answer here, but it will inform the path you take for your business. But in general, urgency is always helpful, balanced with thoughtfulness for what you want your business to look like over the next 30 years. So instead of focusing on scaling headcount quickly, work toward growing revenue quickly.

Sales Hiring 261

Sales Hiring Enterprise Headcount Scale 261

Tom Tunguz

JULY 10, 2024

Google Workspace Business Plus 18 20 1.11 Loom Business 12.50 If buyers act rationally & reduce headcount by 50% 1 which we know is probably not true, then to maintain the same revenue per customer, price would need to double. Company Product Base Price AI Price Ratio Github Github Enterprise 21 10 0.67 Zapier Team 69 100 1.44

AI 276

AI Pricing Sales Hiring Strategy 276

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

But it’s already starting in the contact center, where leaders from Zendesk to Gorgias to Intercom to Talkdesk are automating away 30%-50% of contact center headcount. Complex enterprise business process change still takes time. Maybe, maybe not. All unstructured data to be instantly structured and searchable.

AI Search 300

AI Search SaaS Headcount AI 300

SaaStr

APRIL 13, 2025

Parker Conrad, founder and CEO of Rippling (and previously Zenefits), makes a compelling case that the “focus above all” mentality is not just limitingit might be fundamentally wrong for many businesses. Payroll in the UK, like many business processes, is complex and interconnected. ” The compound startup alternative?

Startup 157

Startup Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Cloud 157

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 26, 2022

Just how comparable are these businesses? Their business models differ meaningfully. The difference is starkest in headcount: Coinbase employs more than 5,000 people while Uniswap counts fewer than 100. They move in synchrony with an R^2 of 0.79. Coinbase and Uniswap generate billions in revenue. Uniswap recorded $1.7b

Benchmarks 309

Benchmarks Headcount Government Business Model 309

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 11, 2020

E.g., run an even bigger business unit. If the business is merged into another business? What if the business does worse than planned after the acquisition? How will the business be staffed if it does really well? Because headcount is often fixed in BigCos. Where will that leave the acquired business?

Acquisition 239

Acquisition Headcount Business 239

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 16, 2024

Today, IT budgets are roughly broken down into: ~50% headcount / personnel, ~25% software, ~15% hardware, and ~10% outsourcing / consultants. As software grows as a percentage, I think we see headcount / outsourcing shrinking. Today, services businesses typically trade at lower multiples than software companies.

Outsourcing Services 274

Outsourcing Services Cloud Software Outsourced Development 274

SaaStr

AUGUST 9, 2024

Headcount isn’t the right story for them, though. That team became the home of business intelligence and the data team. Eventually, this team moved out of growth, so their success wasn’t dependent on budget or headcount. Just like hiring, you don’t want to be lazy here. It’s not about marketing or user acquisition.

Scale 291

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Startup 291

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 11, 2022

What’s bad for customers is bad for business: 58% of consumers will stop purchasing from a brand that does not provide personal experiences they value. With all of these competing challenges, how can support teams drive business value and keep customers happy in the modern age? Declan Ivory, VP of Customer Support at Intercom.

Headcount 237

Headcount Customer Support Strategy Branding 237

SaaStr

JANUARY 30, 2023

Overcoming challenges by optimizing for success In the early stages of setting up your SaaS business, it’s always a good idea to invest time thinking about the direction you want to take. Delivering the best customer experience With the surge in inbound leads, the business was growing exponentially. Use your data to inform.

Sales Hiring 274

Sales Hiring Payment Services SaaS Payments Scale 274

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2024

Higher than he imagined in terms of the founder quality bar and, the stage of the business, and growth and efficiency metrics. People need to be scrappy, creative, and accountable to numbers that make sense for the business. Do you have to double your headcount to make it from $10M to $20M or even $2M to $5M?

Sales Hiring 300

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Headcount 300

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 23, 2020

Massive headcount growth presages large software purchases and expansion. The earlier the business can determine them, the more focused and productive demand generation efforts will be. To scale, a company must find customers in ever larger numbers. A prospect experiences hypergrowth is perfect example.

Scale 267

Scale Headcount Sales Startup 267

SaaStr

JUNE 16, 2023

In theory, higher quotas should “pay” for specialization so in theory, and this wouldn’t impact headcount too much. It’s a tough business, with sharp elbows, and half promises. Move on and focus on your business. Fifth, the more specialized the sales process is, the more folks you’ll need. SDRs, BDRs, SEs, etc. Not really.

Scale 319

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Headcount 319

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 18, 2019

Over the last decade or so, I’ve compiled a metrics sheet to summarise a SaaS business. While no living document like this is ever perfect, this is currently the best board-level summary of the overall health of a business I have found. This section covers employee satisfaction, headcount, and recruiting metrics.

Metrics 250

Metrics Sales Recruiting Startup SaaS 250

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 18, 2018

Startups are business machines engineered to grow quickly. Imagine you work at a startup that is growing headcount 125% year over year. Your startup is going to grow and change in so many different ways that it requires leaders who can learn and grow faster than the business needs them to. You hire a head of engineering.

Sales Recruiting 270

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Startup Headcount 270

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 17, 2023

Like the Devops movement, the Dataops movement aims to scale the use of data within companies without increasing the headcount of the data team. Business logic : the data engineering team build the ETL pipelines while the data science team researches & implements machine learning algorithms for MLDS driven data products.

Data 266

Data Government Scale Headcount 266

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 17, 2022

Build a lead generation calculator for your business using those conversion rates to understand how much lead volume the GTM engine requires to attain plan. Customer segment: industry or business size. Sales cycle delays shift pipeline the business may face headwinds closing this quarter’s number. Pipeline is prologue.

Headcount 253

Headcount Engineering Onboarding Trends 253

SaaStr

DECEMBER 18, 2023

Facing Challenges Scaling AI 86% of CXOs say they will adopt AI and need it to move forward because it’s critical to their business. Organizations want to embrace AI, but they don’t have the right skill sets to get there, with 34% of businesses lacking the knowledge for it. How to scale AI across your business.

AI 299

AI Technology Scale Startup 299