SaaStr

APRIL 12, 2024

Dear SaaStr: When You Sold Your Startup, What Were the Downsides? With the business being shut down in 2–5 years, if it isn’t strategic anymore — no matter how successful? The post Dear SaaStr: When You Sold Your Startup, What Were the Downsides? When you sell: it’s not yours anymore; and your upside is capped.

Startup 224

Startup Acquisition Business Strategy 224

The Daily Egg

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

For many up-and-coming businesses, every decision, every resource, and every minute can count–especially with phone plans. As startups look to the latest, The post Why Startups Opt for SIP Servers They Never Touch appeared first on The Daily Egg.

Startup 269

Startup Business 269

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 8, 2022

Startups create products. When a business is ready to scale, a startup ought to develop an organizational roadmap. When a business is ready to scale, a startup ought to develop an organizational roadmap. These roadmaps chart the growth of each organization within the business. A CMO manages the organization.

Startup 353

Startup Acquisition Product Marketing Scaling 353

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 10, 2022

I’m going to tell you a bit about two startups and I’d like you to guess the name of each company. Both of these businesses are publicly traded. Both startups provide database software to developers to build applications. Both of these businesses trade at similar valuations as of this writing. Red Company.

Startup 314

Startup Pricing Revenue Software 314

SaaStr

JANUARY 2, 2024

ARR, Zendesk today gets 14% of new business from startups. On top of that, if you look at their top accounts globally, 33 of the top 50 customers by ARR are startups. This is where they started, but startups weren’t adopting the product as much with a discount, and there was a lot of conflict with the sales team.

Startup 173

Startup Scale Underperforming Technical Team AWS 173

Tom Tunguz

MAY 15, 2022

As the fiscal quarters of many startups draw to a close, board members and management teams are having one of four conversations: The World is Your Oyster, Time to Strategize, Chewing Gravel, or Go Big/Go Profitable. The x-axis is the Zero Cash Date: when the startup runs out of money. The north star should be efficiency.

Startup 323

Startup Outsourced Development Scale Banking 323

Tom Tunguz

MAY 16, 2023

The mid-stage businesses grew fastest at 88%, next early companies at 62%, & the later companies by 43%. The larger the business, the lower the growth rate, but the correlation is weak at -0.27. From that point forward, these businesses typically operate with 30% headcount in R&D.

Headcount 238

Headcount Startup Scale Engineering 238

SaaStr

MARCH 12, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What Successful Startups Were Launched While The Founders Worked 9 to 5? And there’s often some tough choices about leaving an agency or other prior business or project behind. link] The post Dear SaaStr: What Successful Startups Were Launched While The Founders Worked 9 to 5? But you have to, to go big.

Startup 200

Startup Consulting SaaS Business 200

SaaStr

APRIL 10, 2023

However, what many businesses may overlook is the startup segment. Often, startups are lumped in with small businesses, yet this approach fails to recognize what motivates and attracts these early-stage companies. Why Seek Out Startups? Serve : Avoid startup customers getting lumped into the overall base.

Startup 190

Startup Scale SMB Venture Capital 190

SaaStr

JANUARY 6, 2020

Q: How can anyone start a big business by small startup? Why would any big business take a risk on a start-up? Put that 10x feature on your T-shirt and business card. A Fortune 100 company doesn’t want to risk everything with a raw startup. The post How can anyone start a big business by small startup?

Startup 252

Startup Business Technical Review Enterprise 252

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 27, 2023

Slower sales cycles create pipeline shocks & startups are feeling the impacts. The average startup saw a 24% increase in sales cycle from early 2022 to 2023. Startups selling to enterprises have increased 36%, twice those of Mid-Market & SMB focused companies. Sales cycles shifted dramatically in 2023.

Startup 299

Startup SMB Headcount Sales 299

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

If founders have been at it for 5+ years, and the business is truly at scale, and past the risk stage, then helping them sell some shares can be just the right thing to help them go long. I don’t see it at the truly most successful startups. But investing in startups requires a tremendous amount of trust.

Startup 213

Startup Venture Capital Investment Scaling 213

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 13, 2022

Thanks to the many readers who wrote in to Guess the Startup on Friday. I had three goals for the Guess the Startup Post. their business predictability diverges wildly: Mongo reports bookings, net dollar retention, customers worth more than 100k in contract value. Here’s the early revenue chart again.

Startup 252

Startup Scale Retention Enterprise 252

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

Given the explosion in domain suffix permutations I wondered if startups' behavior had changed over the last decade. Down from 89% in 2007, the.com designation adorns the addresses of 64% of startups founded in 2020. ai means a startup is all about the future.AI Zoom is likely the most well recognized startup with a.us

Startup 255

Startup Business AI Trends 255

SaaStr

MARCH 14, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How Can You Land Big Customers If You’re a New Startup No One Has Heard Of? In fact, almost all the best run large enterprises know they have to seek out new gems in software to help their businesses run faster and better. Each new vendor means a lot of business process change, even for a small deployment.

Startup 209

Startup Innovation Enterprise Software 209

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 2, 2023

Burn multiple measures the capital efficiency of a startup. Startup burn multiples have changed markedly in 2023. In contrast, startups with higher operating expenses will reduce their burn multiple by 34-70%. In contrast, startups with higher operating expenses will reduce their burn multiple by 34-70%.

Startup 234

Startup Marketing Business 234

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Is It Ridiculous To Call Yourself the CEO When Your Startup is Tiny? I used to look at tiny little startups and wince when a founder went around talking about himself as “CEO”. The more business process change is involved, the more they want to know who the CEO is. I used to feel that way, at least a bit.

Startup 270

Startup Innovation Customer Success Retention 270

Kellblog

APRIL 19, 2024

I’ve realized that one of things I do for (or should I say, to) early-stage startups is detect whether they have a real or a faux focus (pronounced fo-focus) — the latter being a focus that appears to be real at first, but is in fact fake. Look, I’ve run startups. Planning is an additive process at most startups.

Startup 98

Startup SMB Airlines Banking 98

SaaStr

JANUARY 8, 2024

But it isn’t, so I’m going to try to help by being brutally direct: No VC on Planet Earth Wants to Invest in a Startup with Mediocre Growth None. It’s a business of outliers and unicorns. Snail image from here ) The post Look, No VC Wants to Fund a Startup With So-So Growth. VC is what it is.

Startup 303

Startup Investment Business 303

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Because Databricks doesn’t incur infrastructure costs when running on-prem, the business enjoys higher gross margins. For now, Databricks’ growth, despite the environment, fueled by the demand for AI is a promising sign for startups. If more Databricks customers move to the cloud, these figures may converge.

Business 265

Business Cloud Finance AI 265

SaaStr

AUGUST 12, 2023

As time goes on with your startup, then your scale-up, then maybe even your public company … you will have to deal with disputes. Second, any business dispute — even if you are “right”, it doesn’t really matter. The party in the “wrong” often even enjoys a business dispute and even litigation on some level. Then more common.

Technical Cofounder 245

Technical Cofounder Business Scale Scaling 245

SaaStr

MARCH 27, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How Can an Early Stage SaaS Startup Get its First 1-3 Pilot Fortune 500 Paying Customers? One addition to a business product. The post Dear SaaStr: How Can an Early Stage SaaS Startup Get its First 1-3 Pilot Fortune 500 Paying Customers? It’s not magic. And it’s not a mystery. To one small group.

Startup 194

Startup SaaS Enterprise Business 194

Buffer Resources

APRIL 11, 2024

Think nonprofits and Silicon Valley startups have nothing in common?   As a tech writer and editor, I’ve also steeped in the “rocket fuel” of the startup world.   As a tech writer and editor, I’ve also steeped in the “rocket fuel” of the startup world. Think again. Crankiness.

Technical Review 102

Technical Review Startup Social Media Marketing 102

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

At this year’s SaaStr Annual, Mark Roberge, co-founder and Managing Director of Stage 2 Capital, takes the stage to have a bake-off between startups and incumbents when it comes to who will win the AI Go-to-Market race. The Innovator’s Dilemma is the long-time work of Clayton Christensen, a Professor at Harvard Business School.

AI 237

AI Technical Review Startup Management 237

SaaStr

OCTOBER 28, 2023

Dear SaaStr: My Startup Doesn’t Have a Free Trial or Freemium Option. Freemium is a business model. easy image from here ) The post My Startup Doesn’t Have a Free Trial or Freemium Option. We require payment right away. Should we change this? Free trials and freemium options work well — if you can support them well.

Startup 237

Startup Payment Solutions Business Model Enterprise 237

The Daily Egg

JULY 9, 2020

Need cash for your business? Startups and established companies alike can benefit from a small business loan. There are hundreds of different lenders out there that provide funding to small business owners for a wide range of purposes. The post Best Small Business Loans appeared first on The Daily Egg.

Business 359

Business Startup 359

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 27, 2022

Reflecting on this question a founder posed this week, I remembered how we came to be here, the three eras of startup pricing: cash-flow, multiples, and discount-to-future-value. The art of startup pricing in a recipe. $5m Startups were priced first on forward-revenue multiple. Web3/crypto startups are often priced this way.

Startup 239

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Investment 239

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 31, 2023

Open source software has evolved from a movement into a big business. Fast forward to today : open source has become a go-to market strategy for many software startups because it presents a powerful antidote to monotonically increasing acquisition costs. But from a business perspective, this progression is logical.

Business Model 160

Business Model Business Scale Sales Funnel 160

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What Are The Biggest Problems You Face as a Startup Founder? Later, once you have a brand, you’ll be competing with Hot Startups nipping at your heals for top VPs. With only say 30–40 employees to service $4m-$6m in revenue, even the loss of one key hire can seem almost fatal to the business. It never ends.

Sales Recruiting 238

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Startup Scale 238

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 25, 2023

I’m watching public company earnings to identify early trends in the software market to inform startups’ plans for 2023. All of that usage is creating a massive business. Yesterday, Microsoft & Google announced earnings. Amazon, Cloudflare, & Mongo announce later this week. 1 percentage point of growth on a $28.5b

AI Search 187

AI Search AI Azure GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 187

Predictable Revenue

DECEMBER 17, 2020

The post How to Scale Your Business So It Sells Like a Fortune 500, With The Culture And Agility of a Startup appeared first on Predictable Revenue. As a solution, she created a revolutionary way to align your leaders and teams around a unifying vision that attracts, retains, and motivates the right talent to achieve your mission.

Scaling 279

Scaling Startup Business Revenue 279

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. Startups with more business than they can handle should be scaling their teams to satisfy market demand. The headcount growth rate for all other companies? About double at 12%.

Headcount 201

Headcount Startup AI Scaling 201

Tom Tunguz

MAY 24, 2022

Today, I’m kicking off the 2022 Startup Market Conditions Survey to assess how startups are feeling about the market given all the volatility. I’m looking to understand how startups are feeling about their financial outlook, fundraising, new employee hiring, and strategic options (sale, inside rounds, venture debt).

Startup 187

Startup Sales Hiring Marketing Sales 187