Clouded Judgement

APRIL 5, 2024

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. As companies mature their valuation starts to transition from hype based to fundamental based, and this usually happens gradually over time. Said another way, Hype Rounds are lasting further and further out in a companies lifecycle.

Cloud 161

Cloud Scale Pricing Revenue 161

SaaStr

MAY 28, 2021

And it turns out, at least in my experience, the characteristics of Successful and Very Successful SaaS companies are actually quite different. To be a Successful SaaS Company — which is very hard today, because there are 10,000+ SaaS start-ups everywhere in every category — you need: A very, very committed CEO and co-founders.

SaaS 314

SaaS Market Segmentation Product Marketing Marketing 314

SaaStr

AUGUST 22, 2021

“Growing & Scaling SaaS Businesses from $1M to $500M in ARR with Intercom CEO Karen Peacock” Karen will be back at 2021 SaaStr Annual Sep 27-29 to update this classic talk! #5. Fresh off Talkdesk’s $10B round, you can take a look at how the company got here and even its original VC pitch when it had 6 employees. #7

Scale 269

Scale Cloud Enterprise Startup 269

SaaStr

APRIL 6, 2023

But I thought with so much change in the world, so many folks looking to stretch their runway, and with so many SaaS companies needing to fundraise in the next 9-12 month in a much changed and far more challenging fundraising environment … I thought I’d put together a quick Basic Guide to Building Trust With Your Investors.

Construction 214

Construction Investment Engagement Revenue 214

SaaStr

APRIL 25, 2021

But so often it leads to the situation where you get [product updates] out there and you feel like you’re giving a gift to the customer, when really…you’re going to learn at their expense.”. Missed Opportunities to Innovate: Simply making updates in response to a problem won’t cut it if you want to create a truly exceptional experience.

Development 166

Development Innovation Company Culture Consulting 166

SaaStr

JUNE 13, 2021

Businesses that write the playbook for their product category bring people to something different and somewhere important. #2 2 Category-defining products require new business models. B2B products frequently are adopted company-wide because an individual discovered it, experienced success, and shared it with their team and beyond.

Scale 169

Scale Scaling Business Model Company Culture 169

SaaStr

APRIL 1, 2022

Things that are a negative for me at least and are sort of in the “over-prepared” category: A written business plan. Cool you know the companies. note: an updated SaaStr Classic answer). Q: Dear SaaStr: What are the Signs of an Entrepreneur Who is Over-Prepared for Meetings with Investors? A deck is great.

Consulting 256

Consulting Engineering Investment Strategy 256

SaaStr

JANUARY 10, 2022

note: an updated SaaStr Classic answer). different enterprise products … each with different approaches to pricing! The learning for me? Segment your pricing (we know this). The customers today do expect different editions for more enterprise products. Use pricing similar to other players. Not on pricing. Not on Pricing.

Pricing 214

Pricing Cloud Enterprise Software 214

Stax

DECEMBER 20, 2023

Interchange is the fee that credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard charge businesses to accept their cards. Interchange is the fee credit card companies charge businesses to accept their cards. When you research payment solution providers , you’ll start hearing the term “interchange” used when talking about payments.

Payment Services 167

Payment Services Merchant Services Payment Methods Payment Solutions 167

SaaStr

MARCH 19, 2022

Q: Can one be considered a co-founder when they didn’t start a company? Someone that joins maybe at $1m ARR or even $10m ARR, but owns so much of what needs to get done, carries so much of the load , and earns so much respect in the company, that they essentially play a founder role. note: an updated SaaStr Classic answer).

213

213

SaaStr

JANUARY 31, 2021

. “What it takes to raise capital in 2021 with Christoph Janz of Point 9 Capital” The fresh 2021 update of the classic SaaStr Funding Napkin. #2. “The Current State of SaaS Companies, Subscriptions and Retention with ProfitWell” A great update from a version of this data just after Covid hit. #3.

Scale 253

Scale Technical Review AI Sales Enablement 253

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

I’ve had the privilege to invest one way or another in about 35 SaaS companies, both as a VC and as angel. Especially when some other crappy company just got funded last week with worse metrics. Or their friends got 7 term sheets with good-but-not- as -good companies. Most won't ever be discussed or end up public.

Scale 338

Scale Sales Recruiting Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence 338

SaaStr

APRIL 7, 2021

When you are defining your position, you are expressing your brand’s category in the market. . When you look at what the most admired brands in the world have in common, they all own their categories, they’re incredibly consistent with a brand experience and they have incredible customer loyalty,” Persson points out. .

Scale 173

Scale Marketing Scaling Branding 173

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 12, 2021

Want to start your own SaaS company? VCs do not fund very many companies — even today. The #1 thing most founders don’t get is most VCs don’t actually fund very many companies. Just because your product is free, or has a free category, does not mean anyone will find it. note: an updated SaaStr Classic post).

Sales Hiring 322

Sales Hiring Investment Acquisition Product Marketing 322

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

So last month, two companies I’ve invested in: both crossed $5m in ARR. One is in a large, existing, old, established category. Probably because of that, it’s “Lead Rich” The other is in a large, but less defined category. Then don’t hire someone from a Numbers Game Company to be your VP of Sales.

Sales Hiring 236

Sales Hiring Sales Revenue Enterprise 236

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 4, 2022

As the Head of Marketing at Klayvio , she discusses her experience growing a small, new marketing team to an organized, self-sufficient one all while the company was experiencing hyper-growth at every level. As the CMO, you need to understand the company’s founding story and principles to shape the story you put into the market.

Scaling 195

Scaling Marketing Management Branding 195

SaaStr

DECEMBER 11, 2021

Aaron Levie, CEO and Co-founder of Box, discusses the approaches he used for scaling his company in terms of hybrid work, adjusting to a dynamic economy during the pandemic, and the importance of the Cloud and digital technology for every business. But sticking to your ideal company model is the right move for the future of your company.

Scale 232

Scale Cloud Scaling Interviewing 232

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2023

SaaS North: SaaS North is Canada’s largest SaaS conference, featuring keynote speakers, workshops, and networking opportunities, aimed at promoting the growth and success of SaaS companies in North America. SaaStock : SaaStock is a global conference series dedicated to SaaS companies and entrepreneurs.

ChatGPT 213

ChatGPT AWS SaaS CTO 213

SaaStr

JANUARY 17, 2021

Part of my job when I invest in a start-up is to get folks excited about the company. If the growth is there, the company is solid, the market good, and the CEO credible and strong, then usually, there’s just one point of pushback I get. They actively recommend you to their colleagues, and their peers at other companies.

SaaS 363

SaaS Venture Capital Churn Branding 363

User Pilot

APRIL 10, 2024

Work on updating and improving your knowledge base structure. Group content into modules and categories. Work on updating and improving your knowledge base structure Building your knowledge base should not be a one-time venture. Track and analyze your knowledge base performance. Create granular content. Let’s dive in!

Software Review 94

Software Review AI Search SaaS Technical Review 94

SaaStr

JANUARY 2, 2021

The #1 biggest mistake I see from $1m to $10m ARR is chasing new market segments, new categories, new areas where you have 0 or almost no traction. Different things work for different companies. Without having to chase crazy new product segments, categories, or other shiny pennies. note: an updated SaaStr Classic post).

Sales Hiring 294

Sales Hiring Headcount Pricing Market Segmentation 294

Mucker Capital

APRIL 2, 2024

Four Main Categories Where Pain Can change to Value. Hard Cost This refers to money spent outside the company on materials, software, technology, etc. It's about ensuring that the company is acquiring and retaining customers efficiently and effectively. number of employees) to estimate spending within each category.

Sales Recruiting 52

Sales Recruiting Technical Review Enterprise Cybersecurity 52

SaaStr

JUNE 30, 2021

Your buyer, your champion leaves to another company in a similar role. Or they may at least down the road recommend you to someone else looking for a product in your category. Note: an updated SaaStr Classic answer). The post Dear SaaStr: Should Cancellations be Effective Immediately for a SaaS Company? Things change.

SaaS 160

SaaS Business Customer Success Marketing 160

Tom Tunguz

MAY 29, 2023

to get the cloudinary url, create a function to hit the cloudinary api to send the image there, then parse the response to retrieve the url for the markdown update. The script failed to update the files. An entire generation of web3 companies doesn’t yet exist in the minds of many LLMs. So, I query Google Bard instead.

ChatGPT 189

ChatGPT AI Search Artificial Intelligence Data Analysis 189

Mucker Capital

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

How can your company influence the future of the industry? This will help you understand their public persona and identify unique market gaps that your company can take advantage of. Core: Understanding a company's core identity is like deciphering its DNA, a unique blueprint that defines its true essence.

Branding 98

Branding Startup Development Strategy 98

SaaStr

JUNE 30, 2020

Both finally updated their marketing sites after a long time (24 months in both cases), with somewhat similar changes … and saw widely different outcomes. The first startup saw conversions double after they changed their site: Explained the product served more customer categories than the original narrower site said.

Scale 197

Scale Marketing Startup Enterprise 197

SaaStr

JANUARY 3, 2024

In the latest episode of our What’s New series, Founder and CEO at Secureframe, Shrav Mehta, sits down with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin to share what’s new at Secureframe, a rising SOC-2 and compliance software company breaking out in SaaS. ” So you need to become compliant (or update your security) … what now?

AI 148

AI SMB compliance Sales Hiring 148

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 24, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Home Depot’s CEO said last year the consumer was more resilient than they expected, but towards the end of the year they noted deceleration in certain product categories which was more pronounced in the fourth quarter.

Cloud 130

Cloud Subscription Payment Features Revenue 130

Baremetrics

DECEMBER 7, 2023

The main benefits of categorizing your SaaS company’s expenses are more accurate metrics and forecasts, and getting a better understanding of your company’s overall spending. of my original post published on Baremetrics , converted and updated to a series of articles. This is a v2.0 Let’s start with Payroll – Support.

Merchant Services 90

Merchant Services Startup DevOps as a Service SaaS 90

SaaStr

APRIL 5, 2021

A few years back, a very wise VC asked me what I thought about a small but scrappy competitor in the space of my last company, Adobe Sign / EchoSign. I told him I didn’t know the company that well, but from what I’d seen, some things might seem appealing. And the bigger the category, oftentimes, the more room.

Scale 238

Scale Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team Pricing 238

SaaStr

DECEMBER 7, 2020

Here are a few updated examples I funded for millions. 10. “Public SaaS Companies Are Now Worth $1 Trillion” Another fun one that the media picked up a bit. Public SaaS Companies Are Now Worth $1 Trillion. “At the Top SaaS Companies, Founder-CEOs Own ~15% at IPO. . With the actual cold emails.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Sales Hiring AWS Cloud 318

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 24, 2021

Enter your email below for the latest SaaStr updates. Email * The latest SaaStr updates straight to your inbox. It’s 2021, but surprisingly, a significant number of SaaS companies still use outdated sales compensation plans. Key Takeaways: Update sales comp plans to pay higher for expansion revenue wins over brand new wins.

Sales Hiring 182

Sales Hiring Scale Compensation Sales 182

SaaStr

MARCH 12, 2021

You have something that either breaks through a crowded market, or, that you can convince someone to take a look at in a market that is even a bit of a new category or at least new process to automate. But instead, if you haven’t done this, pick the exact Buyer Title, Stage, and Type of Company that’s already bought before.

Sales Hiring 280

Sales Hiring Scale Outbound Sales Team Sales 280

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

However, there are practical methods you can use to acquire new customers, drive higher retention, and grow your company. . Within each segment, they split up buckets of data in the following categories: Companies, Deal Creation, Close Rate, ACV, Market Share (which measures Gorias customer vs. competitor market share) and NRR.

SMB 228

SMB Scale Data Scaling 228

SaaStr

DECEMBER 1, 2021

As companies accelerate their digital transformations, the SaaS spend has exploded: In Q2 of 2021, G2 recorded the highest software spend per employee to date. Furthermore, 55% of companies plan to increase software spending in 2022. Enter your email below for the latest SaaStr updates.

Software Review 231

Software Review SMB Enterprise Software 231

SaaStr

MARCH 3, 2021

But Salesforce does what a CFO, CRO and bigger-company CEO want out of a CRM. A better mousetrap that businesses find sort of interesting but won’t pay for is perhaps the #1 mistake founders make getting SaaS companies off the ground. Customers tend to pay for the same categories over, and over, and over again. Carpe diem!

Marketing 351

Marketing Scale Branding Enterprise 351

User Pilot

APRIL 21, 2024

Look at profiles of all the customers and companies to get deep insights about the people who are using your product. Examine customer accounts to refine onboarding offers Looking at profiles of users and companies with visual data can give you deep insights into the people who are using your product. early-stage tech startups).

Onboarding 101

Onboarding SaaS Metrics Trends 101