SaaStr

MARCH 23, 2025

Create Compelling Economic Incentives For sales talent, compensation is critical. Be explicit about success metrics Define what success looks like beyond revenue targets to align expectations. When you bring in excellent operators early, it creates a snowball effect that attracts additional talent.

Sales Recruiting 233

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale AI 233

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 14, 2022

Last, the plan compensates those responsible for growing accounts with a quota - in line with Frank Slootman’s philosophy. Third, Bill revealed his Mojo Metric , his north-star metric. Third, Bill revealed his Mojo Metric , his north-star metric. The Mojo Metric reports the net change in pipeline daily.

Startup 342

Startup Construction Sales Compensation 342

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

As consumer tech growth teams move through this adoption funnel, they evolve their north star metric. This evolution can be described in four stages—each stage with a goal measured by a specific metric. Cost per quality user is the north star metric here. Mistake #3: Not designing a sales compensation plan for PLG. “We

Technical Review 284

Technical Review Technical Advisors Scale Compensation 284

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. using 20 out of 25 features).

Scale 144

Scale Compensation Retention Churn 144

SaaStr

DECEMBER 19, 2022

Lots of SaaS founders are preoccupied with employee headcount as an important growth metric, but this indicator is not always true. Compensate Democratically: Managing up culture brings us all down. At Expensify, every single employee gets a say in the compensation of every other employee.

Compensation 261

Compensation Leadership Company Culture Headcount 261

Chaotic Flow

MAY 13, 2014

Becoming a Metrics-driven SaaS Business is no easy task. However, the financial rewards of moving beyond standard SaaS financial metrics to SaaS customer success metrics and ultimately to sophisticated predictive analytics are significant. Each step toward SaaS metrics greatness builds upon the last.

Metrics 135

Metrics SaaS Compensation Benchmarks 135

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 8, 2022

Knowing which metrics matter and how to analyze them to increase your revenue and hit organizational sales goals is essential. . Are you compensating your teams to sell recurring revenue? Compensation is a great motivator to make your team care and think about different clients and which verticals are likely to get higher revenue. .

Scale 292

Scale Sales Hiring Compensation Sales 292

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

Tie compensation to these metrics to incentivize performance. A classic on founder compensation, always one of the most searched topics. The company will need a Sales Ops/Enablement professional for every 30-50 salespeople to manage training, onboarding, territories, and compensation plans. NPS is A Great Core Metric.

Sales Hiring 284

Sales Hiring Technical Advisors Compensation Outsourced Development 284

Tom Tunguz

JULY 11, 2024

Annual prepaid contracts are free loans to software companies ; seat-based pricing is a tangible metric for pricing ; as a client grows so does this account, producing good net dollar retention. It will require changing sales compensation plans & customer contracts, which database companies have navigated successfully.

AI 240

AI Pricing Software Compensation 240

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 111

Social Media Compensation Technical Review Branding 111

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 13, 2022

SaaStr 603: SaaStr CRO Confidential Presents the Ultimate Guide to Sales Compensation, Quotas and Recruiting with SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin. Live: SaaStr Workshop Wednesday with Battery Ventures on SaaS Metrics. Hosted by Sam Blond, Partner at Founders Fund. ?. Top Videos This Week: 1.

Sales Recruiting 291

Sales Recruiting AWS Compensation Enterprise 291

Sales Hacker

MAY 9, 2019

A great sales compensation plan needs to accomplish quite a lot. It needs to provide fair compensation to employees in customer-facing roles. The Process for Creating a Sales Compensation Plan. Plan Compensation for Onboarding and Training. Example Compensation Plans. Establish Role Levels. Keep it Simple.

Compensation 110

Compensation Sales Hiring Development Team Review Sales Recruiting 110

ChurnZero

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

There are several different models of compensation plans , but not all can be guaranteed to produce the same results for your organization. We’ve found that, when looking to build a strong team of Customer Success Managers (CSMs), an incentive compensation plan , otherwise called a variable compensation plan , produces the best results.

Compensation 97

Compensation Customer Success Churn Retention 97

Sales Hacker

DECEMBER 12, 2017

With increasing focus on grit and many claims of meritocracies in organizations across the country, why does variable pay compensation even exist? On top of that, why are sales people some of the few employees subject to variable compensation structures? What is Variable Pay Compensation Anyway? Set Metrics.

Compensation 97

Compensation Sales Hiring Sales Payment Services 97

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2023

The ‘Rule of 40’ is a valuable metric that can illustrate the degree of shift and what it means for companies fundraising and operating. Instead of focusing on low-interest rate regimes, companies can use the following four tangible actions and metrics to thrive in a downturn: 1. Strategy to win. Product efficiency.

Consulting 49

Consulting Underperforming Technical Team Management Marketing 49

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Churn, upsells, renewals, and all that, and compensating against it. You won’t see it in the metrics. What it all means is that if you do it right, you’ll make 6x or more the revenue from your customers after the sale itself. The details on that math here. And I passionately believe in measuring things. If you visit.

Customer Success 326

Customer Success Compensation Churn Enterprise 326

SaaStr

OCTOBER 3, 2022

Know your metrics, and develop a robust qualification method to identify the best opportunities. On top of all this, build a compensation structure to drive desired behavior. Put a heavy focus on your adoption and advocacy metrics while continuously absorbing feedback from your customers and your internal team.

Scale 273

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scaling 273

SaaStr

JANUARY 21, 2020

We’re going to move into things like learning and development, L&D, building on great career pathing and getting that compensation right and I’ll give you a preview. To be candid, it’s a great compensation plan for top performers and it’s a great compensation plan for managers who have bottom performers.

Sales Recruiting 331

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Sales 331

Buffer Resources

AUGUST 13, 2024

Standout feature for brands : HypeAuditor's campaign performance monitoring allows users to assess the impact of their campaigns by measuring key metrics like engagement, reach, ROI, and audience sentiment. This detailed level of analysis helps marketers refine their strategies for better outcomes.

Payments 112

Payments Branding Merchant Services Payment Methods 112

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 27, 2025

Analyze conversion metrics : Track conversion rates at each funnel stage to identify bottlenecks. Compensation Design Structure effective comp plans : Balance base salary, commission, and accelerators to drive desired behaviors. Master lead qualification : Develop clear criteria for MQLs, SQLs, and PQLs to maintain quality.

Scale 182

Scale Sales Hiring Startup Compensation 182

SaaStr

JANUARY 3, 2023

Each channel, function, and team has different goals, metrics, and KPIs. Core ops: The workhorses of a revenue operations team; they own processes and workflows, strategy execution, and compensation. . Measure value, volume, and velocity and check that each metric improves over time. Not anymore.

Enterprise 261

Enterprise Sales Sales Funnel Compensation 261

Practical Advice on SaaS marketing

AUGUST 1, 2018

A revised compensation scheme can also work as a cure for over-selling. Salespeople tout capabilities required to win a large customer, but the solution’s actual features come up short. Remedies for over-selling could involve clarifying the messages to more clearly describe what the solution does and who it is designed for.

Churn 122

Churn Metrics Compensation Software Review 122

Tom Tunguz

JULY 28, 2018

80%+ of startup operating expense flows to compensation. Seven people’s compensation might total an annual budget of $1.5M These are important metrics. “Management is an art, and one that is overwhelmingly undervalued in Silicon Valley.” ” I wondered, are we investing enough in our managers?

Investment 183

Investment Management Compensation Market Research 183

SaaStr

JULY 8, 2024

So, net of churn, net of retention, net of expansion over long periods, coupled with an AE progression plan with highly quantifiable metrics and a scope that expands in terms of tenure. It might be a battle in the boardroom, but it drives long-term incentives outside traditional compensation and equity plans.

Sales Hiring 287

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Education 287

InsightSquared

MAY 7, 2019

For these reasons, accurately tracking key sales metrics and benchmarking your performance against peers and market leaders is critical to getting the most out of your sales resources. Typical SaaS Sales Metrics. Underlying those metrics are processes which can improve or reduce performance in each of the above metrics.

Scale 102

Scale Sales Hiring Metrics Sales 102

SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2023

This involves highlighting the impact of each department’s duty as a monetary value, and not just as a metric they’ll be measured against, or a regular checklist they have to tick. Principle 2: Make sure everyone carries a quota Every department should have a number or KPI they are accountable for.

Customer Success 246

Customer Success Revenue Marketing Sales 246

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

There are five metrics ICONIQ feels are indicative of fundamental health regardless of stage, and so, while each one may not be directly tied to GTM health, they are all indirectly tied to it. That’s a big change, and they can do it by building the first incentive compensation plan that includes variable compensation for specific goals.

Scale 274

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Outsourced Development 274

CloseSaaS

JANUARY 20, 2023

Sales operations help your sales team close deals faster by streamlining sales processes, building compensation plans, analyzing data & more.

Metrics 98

Metrics Compensation Sales Data 98

SaaStr

MAY 12, 2022

Instead of viewing uptime as operational metrics, CircleCI tries to look at it from the lens of what the customer is looking to achieve. Companies should also build SLAs around the availability of those critical metrics. . Compensation has to be directly attached to actual usage rather than an intention to use.

Scale 261

Scale Payments SaaS Payments Payment Services 261

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 3, 2017

Sales compensation is communicated in OTE, On Target Earnings. The downside to paying much higher commissions is the cost to the business both in cash but also in efficiency metrics. Again, this is the most basic form of a sales commission plan, but it serves to explain the theory and the impact on other metrics.

Sales Recruiting 160

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Data Sales 160

Chaotic Flow

NOVEMBER 11, 2014

As many of you may know, Trish Bertuzzi and the folks over at the Bridge Group publish a lot of great stuff on Inside Sales strategy and operations, including inside sales compensation benchmarks, lead development rep best practices, outbound selling strategies, and on an on. If you don’t do it, your competitors will ;).

Benchmarks 125

Benchmarks Compensation Sales SaaS 125

ChurnZero

JULY 8, 2022

Cut to 2022, and the idea that a SaaS company could secure venture funding without investors digging deep into retention metrics seems comical, if not reckless. Net revenue retention (NRR) is taking center stage as the qualifying metric for determining the health of a SaaS business. Customer success owns a large portion of that metric.

Technical Review 98

Technical Review Software Review Retention Metrics 98

User Pilot

AUGUST 31, 2023

Don’t forget about customer retention Acquisition shouldn’t be used to compensate for loss generated by churn. No single metric can 100% tell you how your acquisition efforts are coming along. You’ll need to look at multiple metrics to understand the big picture and measure customer acquisition properly.

Acquisition 110

Acquisition SaaS Payments Payment Methods Metrics 110

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

If you have metrics like that, leverage like that … you can pay well if you want to. So today — competition is why tech compensation is always. Typically, you’d see classic software companies able to deliver $2m+ of revenue for each employee. Companies like Microsoft and Google were insanely profitable when they IPO’d for this reason.

Compensation 150

Compensation Engineering Software Investment 150

Clouded Judgement

JANUARY 19, 2024

It starts with understanding what type of profile is attractive to public market investors, and I hope the weekly data I share helps give folks an understanding for what these types of metrics are. One thing I do want to call out that I don’t see tracked enough is stock compensation.

Cloud 184

Cloud Scale Compensation Metrics 184

ChurnZero

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

There are several different models of compensation plans , but not all can be guaranteed to produce the same results for your organization. We’ve found that, when looking to build a strong team of Customer Success Managers (CSMs), an incentive compensation plan, otherwise called a variable compensation plan, produces the best results.

Compensation 52

Compensation Customer Success Churn Retention 52

ChurnZero

NOVEMBER 26, 2024

Leverage analytics and customer success metrics to track product usage, adoption rates, and customer engagement. Familiarity with customer success frameworks, metrics, and best practices. While compensation is important, many job seekers also prioritize the non-monetary rewards that enhance their overall wellbeing and job satisfaction.

Technical Review 52

Technical Review Sales Recruiting Customer Success Sales Hiring 52