Tom Tunguz

JULY 1, 2025

The large stock-based compensation charge of nearly $900 million is related to an employee tender offer in May 2024. billion termination fee from Adobe was received in December 2023 and recorded as “Other income, net” in Fiscal Year 2024 (ending January 31, 2024). Both of these are removed in the non-GAAP data cited above.

Compensation 186

Compensation AI Retention Business Model 186

SaaStr

MARCH 15, 2025

” – Compensation plans for sales leaders are tricky, and this post provides a clear framework thats been widely adopted. .” – A short but impactful post that highlights the power law in SaaS and what it takes to scale to $1 billion in ARR. “ A Basic Structure for a VP, Sales Comp Plan: 50/50/25+.”

Sales Hiring 258

Sales Hiring AI Scale Compensation 258

SaaStr

MAY 31, 2025

Pre-Seed / Seed Stage (Pre-Revenue or <$1M ARR) At this stage, you’re compensating for high risk with high equity. Equity becomes less of a motivator, and cash compensation takes precedence. Youre competing with larger companies, so equity needs to be paired with strong cash compensation. Executives : 0.3%-1%

Part-Time VPE 210

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Compensation 210

SaaStr

JUNE 15, 2025

Don’t Overthink Compensation A good AE should pay for themselves within 3-4 months. If you’re selling to enterprise, hire someone who’s comfortable with long sales cycles and complex deals. Don’t expect someone to adapt to a completely different sales motion than what they’ve done before—it rarely works.

Sales Hiring 239

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Compensation 239

SaaStr

JULY 9, 2025

Secondary markets mean top talent won’t demand IPO timelines for liquidity anymore. This isn’t just about exit strategy—it’s about how you recruit, retain, and manage stakeholder expectations throughout your journey.

Venture Capital 272

Venture Capital compliance B2B Acquisition 272

SaaStr

JUNE 25, 2025

All-in, including base salary and bonuses, the total compensation for an AE usually ends up being about 20-25% of the revenue they close annually. This is pretty standard for inside sales reps working on mid-market or enterprise deals. For smaller deals, or in lower-margin businesses, it might be a bit less.

Venture Capital 185

Venture Capital Revenue Scale Compensation 185

SaaStr

JULY 22, 2025

The Data : Analysis of 14,000 executives across companies in Pave’s real-time compensation database, measuring annual turnover rates and implied median tenures. Thanks to new data from Pave analyzing 14,000 executives across their compensation database, we finally have the numbers. Yes — probably. And honestly?

Part-Time CTO 209

Part-Time CTO CTO Sales Hiring CTO Hire 209

SaaStr

JULY 18, 2025

10%-15% of ACV or even more) to attract good reps and compensate for the risk of working at a startup. This can start off higher in the very beginning, but at scale is generally around 7%-10% of the deal. Set the Right Commission Rate Early on, you might need to pay higher commissions (e.g., 7%-10%) but balance it with higher deal volumes.

Scale 175

Scale Sales SMB Compensation 175

SaaStr

JULY 22, 2025

Invest in Sales Ops Early : Once you have 8-10 salespeople, you’ll need a Sales Ops/Enablement professional to manage training, onboarding, territories, and compensation plans, unless your VP Sales happens to be great at this. Around $10M ARR, you’ll also need to bring in a VP of Sales to structure and scale the team effectively.

Sales Hiring 175

Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Scale Technical Review 175

Clouded Judgement

NOVEMBER 18, 2024

We go to market with our platform in three ways: Core, Pro and FinTech products.

Benchmarks 299

Benchmarks Payments Payment Services SaaS Payments 299

The SaaS CFO

JANUARY 7, 2025

Sales compensation plans play a critical role in the success and scaling of SaaS companies. A well-designed sales compensation plan motivates teams, aligns with corporate objectives, […] The post How to Create a Sales Compensation Plan for SaaS appeared first on The SaaS CFO. Higher ARR, higher valuation.

Compensation 65

Compensation Scale Sales SaaS 65

SaaStr

JUNE 9, 2025

More here: Sales Reps Really Do Have to Close 4x-5x What They Take Home, and More: Iconiq’s Sales Compensation Guide 4. You can also start introducing monthly or quarterly quotas to drive consistency and pace within the team. Late Stage ($50M+ ARR): At this point, you’re optimizing for efficiency and predictability.

Scale 175

Scale B2B Benchmarks Sales 175

Buffer Resources

AUGUST 7, 2024

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Radoslav Bali (@radoslavbali) Set a budget and compensation plan Kicking off with an example, we worked with influencers on our Threads launch. Remember that influencers are professionals who expect fair compensation for their work — as they should.​

Social Media 112

Social Media Compensation Technical Review Branding 112

SaaStr

MARCH 29, 2025

Compensate Relatively Generously. Use the early months to refine your process, adjust compensation plans, and learn what works. You can hire folks from all different backgrounds to work for you directly in sales. But they have to, have to be folks you’d honestly, truly buy your own product from. Otherwise they never work out.

Scale 199

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Compensation 199

SaaStr

MARCH 7, 2025

Source: Pave CFO Cash Comp by Capital Raised: Segmenting compensation by amount raised (like the chart below) will be less meaningful in the future as companies raise less money, but it demonstrates the right theme. As you might expect, the CRO is typically the highest paid person at the company on a cash basis, but the CFO is close behind.

Scale 315

Scale Finance Headcount Leadership 315

SaaStr

MAY 19, 2025

If you are going to do it anyway, it is big move, and structuring their compensation correctly is critical to aligning incentives and ensuring theyre motivated to drive growth. Alignment with Company Stage : If youre early-stage, cash compensation should be modest, with equity being the primary driver.

Scaling 175

Scaling Compensation Retention Startup 175

SaaStr

JUNE 4, 2025

You need to: Map your current sales processes to identify which tasks can be AI-enhanced or eliminated Pilot AI tools with your top performers first to build internal case studies Redesign territory assignments and quota structures to account for expanded coverage capacity Retrain your sales team on new workflows that blend human judgment with AI efficiency (..)

Scale 256

Scale AI Underperforming Technical Team Sales 256

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2025

Data-Driven Territory Planning The company uses data analysis to score and evaluate the potential of different territories, such as city blocks, and uses this information to inform decisions on resourcing, territory building, and compensation. This enables them to optimize their sales team deployment and maximize productivity.

Strategy 147

Strategy Payment Solutions Payment Methods SMB 147

SaaStr

MARCH 23, 2025

Create Compelling Economic Incentives For sales talent, compensation is critical. When you bring in excellent operators early, it creates a snowball effect that attracts additional talent. in just four months and became a leader As Graham noted: “Success in sales is defined by how much money you’re making.

Sales Recruiting 242

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale AI 242

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 15, 2025

In addition, Snowflake has heavy stock-based compensation expenses that creates sawtooth patterns in their profitability. Databricks achieved profitability for the first time in the most recent quarter. Meanwhile, Snowflake tends to operate between -30% to -40% net income margin.

Data 175

Data Compensation AI Cloud 175

Buffer Resources

AUGUST 13, 2024

This feature is particularly beneficial for creators who want to ensure their content is used appropriately and compensated fairly Pricing: Available on request 💡 Get our tips for making great media kits in How to Create Your Own Influencer Media Kit (+ Examples from Creators).

Branding 114

Branding Payments Merchant Services Payment Methods 114

SaaStr

MAY 27, 2025

This affects everything from GP compensation to LP allocation strategies. #5. Some funds are changing their Limited Partner Agreements to reflect this new reality. The Implication : The venture ecosystem’s liquidity timeline is much longer than anyone admits.

Outsourcing Services 175

Outsourcing Services Venture Capital Outsourced Development Data 175

ChurnZero

NOVEMBER 26, 2024

While compensation is important, many job seekers also prioritize the non-monetary rewards that enhance their overall wellbeing and job satisfaction. 401(k)) Paid time off (PTO) Workers’ compensation insurance Perks are additional, voluntary benefits that companies offer to attract and retain top talent. Is it a global company?

Technical Review 52

Technical Review Sales Recruiting Customer Success Sales Hiring 52

SaaStr

JULY 14, 2025

Methodology : Analysis of 3,000+ CMOs (or equivalent senior marketing leaders) at companies participating in Pave’s real-time compensation database, measuring reporting relationships to CEO, CRO, CPO, and other executives.

Scale 185

Scale Marketing Leadership Branding 185

SaaStr

APRIL 15, 2025

I’ll dig in, but a really great deep dive with MongoDB’s head of sales ops here: Four Sales Compensation Tactics for Consumption-Based GTM with MongoDB’s SVP of Sales MongoDB us a blended commission model for their consumption-based GTM.

Scale 144

Scale Compensation Retention Churn 144

Chart Mogul

JANUARY 9, 2025

This is in large part because as much as 100% (but more typically 40-50%) of sales team compensation is based on performance. Sales management Sales management is categorically different from managing other disciplines within the business. Sales is a volatile high-performance sport and requires quite a bit of mental fortitude.

Scale 52

Scale Sales Hiring Startup Sales Recruiting 52

SaaStr

OCTOBER 28, 2024

f you are starting from the ground floor, first, bear in mind your compensation will be just OK, you won’t really get any “carry” (i.e., Dear SaaStr: How Do I Become a VC? VC looks a lot more glamorous than it is.I share of the profits on the investments) for a long time, if ever — and your job likely will be to hunt.

Sales Hiring 301

Sales Hiring Compensation Branding Investment 301

SaaStr

OCTOBER 11, 2024

Dear SaaStr: If a startup is at $1.5M ARR and is looking to hire an experienced COO how much equity should they give him/her? I think $1.5m ARR is too early for an experienced COO in 95 cases out of 100 — unless it’s a total rocketship and you plan to be at $10m+ ARR within 12 months. ARR you should still be the COO.

Sales Hiring 299

Sales Hiring Startup Finance Engineering 299

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 3, 2025

You have to go all in.” The Enterprise Pricing Journey Is All About Unbundling Stripe learned this the hard way.

Scale 272

Scale SMB Enterprise Enterprise readiness 272

Valuize Consulting

FEBRUARY 8, 2025

Key considerations for a successful launch: Change Management and Internal Alignment Your Customer Success, Sales and Professional Services teams must be aligned on what the partner-led program entails, how it impacts customer relationships, and how compensation structures may shift.

Customer Success 52

Customer Success Scale Technical Review Government 52

Scytale

FEBRUARY 11, 2025

Challenge 2: Implementing PCI DSS Compensating Controls Sometimes, businesses cant meet specific PCI DSS requirements due to technical or business constraints. In these cases, its possible to use compensating controls. Solution : Use end-to-end encryption and tokenization to keep data secure without storing raw cardholder data.

Payment Services 52

Payment Services Merchant Services Payment Features Payment Solutions 52

SaaStr

JULY 9, 2025

The companies that figure this out will dominate those stuck in traditional commission structures.

Scale 185

Scale Sales Hiring AI Sales Recruiting 185

Blulogix

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

However, it’s essential to determine whether the revenue generated by discounted sales compensates for the reduction in margin. Discount and Bundles Analysis : Discounts and bundles can be a great way to attract new customers or encourage bulk purchases.

Customer Lifetime Value 59

Customer Lifetime Value Compensation Payment Features Subscription 59

Stax

MARCH 13, 2025

Apart from keeping complex payment structures running, interchange fees compensate issuing banks for taking on cardholder credit risk, and help card companies fund rewards programs. Payment processors usually tack on additional fees on top of interchange to compensate for their services (based on their pricing model ). per transaction.

Payment Services 88

Payment Services Merchant Services Payment Methods Technical Review 88

Blulogix

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

Without a proactive renewal strategy, businesses risk high churn, inconsistent revenue, and increased customer acquisition costs to compensate for lost contracts. To truly drive growth , companies need to shift their focus from simply retaining customers to strategically expanding their value over time.

Payment Features 59

Payment Features Subscription Payments Payment Services 59

SaaStr

MARCH 6, 2025

“But we quickly learned that no amount of innovation compensates for broken customer trust.” .” Forgetting Trust Is the Foundation : “In fintech, we’ve occasionally prioritized speed over reliability,” admits Taylor.

AI 219

AI Scale Sales Hiring Technical Review 219

Sales Hacker

DECEMBER 6, 2024

By having Sales Engineers (SEs) own both pre- and post-sale processes, and aligning their compensation and incentives accordingly, you address a long-standing challenge: the disconnect between a high-touch, high-value sales cycle and the subsequent handoff to implementation.

Customer Success 107

Customer Success Technical Advisors Sales Hiring Scale 107