Intercom, Inc.

MAY 1, 2018

Convincing potential users to sign up for your product isn’t easy. But what happens next is far more important. The latest batch of billion-dollar companies are built on high customer retention. They help their users be successful, and that means providing great onboarding. At Traction Conference, an event all about how to keep and grow customers and revenue at scale, I explained how to build onboarding based on your customers’ goals, and why when your product improves, your onboardi

Retention 223

Retention Payment Methods Onboarding Payment Solutions 223

Tom Tunguz

MAY 19, 2018

Technology innovations swing to a pendulum’s cadence. Sometimes innovations begin with infrastructure changes and reverberate up the stack. Other times, front-end engineers innovate at the application layer, which demand downstream changes in the infrastructure to scale. The last major epoch of front end evolution has celebrated its ten year anniversary.

DevOps as a Service 202

DevOps as a Service Blockchain Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence 202

The Angel VC

MAY 12, 2018

In last week's post I shared some thoughts about Dropbox and why, although Dropbox is unquestionably one of the most amazing SaaS companies ever built, I am a tad less confident in the company's long-term future than I am in other SaaS leaders such as Salesforce.com, Zendesk, or Shopify. As mentioned in the first part of the post, I took a closer look at Dropbox’s recent IPO filing and would like to share some tidbits, along with a few observations. #1 – Dropbox on consumerization "Individual us

AWS 187

AWS Scale Subscription Payment Features 187

Think Strategies

MAY 21, 2018

Over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of becoming affiliated with the rapidly growing Catalant expert network which has enabled me to extend my consulting services to a wider assortment of enterprises seeking help with their Cloud strategies. Catalant recently gave me an opportunity to provide my perspectives regarding the state of the Cloud and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) marketplace, as well as the new business opportunities and challenges which these unprecedented technological de

Cloud 100

Cloud Marketplace as a Service SaaS Consulting 100

Speaker: Timothy Chan, PhD., Head of Data Science

Are you ready to move beyond the basics and take a deep dive into the cutting-edge techniques that are reshaping the landscape of experimentation? From Sequential Testing to Multi-Armed Bandits, Switchback Experiments to Stratified Sampling, Timothy Chan, Data Science Lead, is here to unravel the mysteries of these powerful methodologies that are revolutionizing how we approach testing.

Innovation

Neil Patel

MAY 30, 2018

When you hear the words “site architecture,” the first thing that comes to mind is probably SEO. It doesn’t take much digging into SEO best practice to learn that Google loves a site with clearly defined architecture that’s easy to crawl and index. But if you stopped your site architecture planning with just your SEO, then you’ve missed out on the greater picture.

User Experience 121

User Experience Branding Mobile PayPal 121

Intercom, Inc.

MAY 22, 2018

In today’s data-driven world, the idea of using research to build great tech companies has gone from being buzzworthy to expected. User testing is now a must-do, thanks to the lean build-measure-learn mantra that has inspired modern product development. It’s also been great to see exploratory research gaining ground as a strategy for identifying product opportunities.

Innovation 223

Innovation Development Interviewing Data 223

Tom Tunguz

MAY 28, 2018

Imagine you came across this ad. Scientists have discovered a revolutionary new treatment that makes you live longer. It enhances your memory and makes you more creative. It makes you look more attractive. It keeps you slim and lowers food cravings. It protects you from cancer and dementia. It wards off colds and the flu. It lowers your risk of heart attacks and stroke, not to mention diabetes.

Sales Hiring 197

Sales Hiring Software Engineering Investment Engineering 197

Sales Hacker

MAY 17, 2018

Let’s take a minute to ensure the most important factors that affect the bottom line have a spotlight on them. Specifically, we’re focusing on the sales development process and how to build a sales pipeline—all from a high level. We’re charging forward with 6 simple steps to ensure that the focus is not lost along the path to accurate sales forecasting and predictive revenue.

Sales 86

Sales Forecasting Engineering Mobile 86

Baremetrics

MAY 9, 2018

As founders, a lot of our identities get wrapped up in our companies. Certainly within our industries, but even to family and friends it’s how people know us. And over time, we sort of become our companies. Most founders or CEOs are the “face” of their businesses and eventually they’re inseparable. Maybe that’s fine in the short run if you’re trying to go hard for 2-3 years then bank on some big exit, but if you’re in the business of businessing (i.e. an entrepreneur), you just can’t do that lon

Artificial Intelligence 81

Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Travel Banking 81

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Explore how integrated payment strategies impact investor and buyer evaluations. Payments are more than a feature — they’re a key to long-term success and market differentiation. They help SaaS companies offer seamless user experiences and efficient operations. Investors and strategic buyers assess these integrated payment strategies as a measure of a company's growth potential and sustainability.

Payments

Neil Patel

MAY 29, 2018

You can attribute a lot of great relationships to perfect timing. When you connect with the right person at the right time, everything seems to just fit. This is especially true for sales. Connecting with your lead too early means they won’t be ready to buy. But if you wait too long, they may have moved on to a competitor. Unfortunately, finding the perfect time to connect with a customer is complicated.

Scale 101

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Pricing 101

Chargebee

MAY 3, 2018

The tiny details in user onboarding make the difference between good and great. It’s important we think about them and take time to get them right. Here’s something that can help.

Onboarding 89

Onboarding 89

Intercom, Inc.

MAY 4, 2018

Imagine walking into the office one morning and having your star team member ask if you have a few minutes to talk. In person. Your instincts tell you nothing good is going to come out of this conversation. And unfortunately, your suspicions are confirmed when they hand you their resignation and explain they’ve been offered “a new and exciting opportunity” that aligns with their career aspirations.

Underperforming Technical Team 223

Underperforming Technical Team compliance Development Customer Support 223

Tom Tunguz

MAY 1, 2018

“Don’t be so hard on yourself when things go badly and don’t be so proud of yourself when they go well.” I think this is one of the hardest pieces of advice to follow. Chance is an important contributor to any outcome. sometimes we just get lucky. That recent crypto trade in which you made 25% in an hour. The time you met your significant other for the first time.

Interviewing 165

Interviewing Startup Metrics Business 165

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Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business. That’s what drove the five companies in this e-book to change their approach to analytics. Download this e-book to learn about the unique problems each company faced and how they achieved huge returns beyond expectation by embedding analytics into applications.

Revenue

Sixteen Ventures

MAY 15, 2018

Customer Success is when your customers achieve their Desired Outcome through their interactions with your company. If you focus on Customer Success , churn will not be an issue. At least in theory. To take that from a simple theory to your Operating Model , you need to put systems in place, be able to monitor their effectiveness, and routinely perform root cause analysis when things go wrong (and also when things go well so you can replicate, right?).

Churn 81

Churn Customer Success Management Systems Review 81

Chart Mogul

MAY 17, 2018

I spoke to Max about his experience with complete transparency at Buffer and how he managed to get his first paying customers for his side project PixelMe. A lesson in early-stage B2B growth. “You just have to think about what you really want to achieve with a side project…I really wanted to have a sort of laboratory to be able to experiment with ideas…” Today really excited to share this conversation with Maxime Berthelot ( @Maxberthelot ).

Software Review 74

Software Review Social Media B2B Scaling 74

The SaaS CFO

MAY 10, 2018

What is Monthly Recurring Revenue in SaaS? There is no shortage of terms and acronyms in SaaS, and monthly recurring revenue (MRR) is one of them. SaaS revenue terms can be quite confusing, especially around revenue. Is it MRR, ARR, ARPA, or bookings? In this post, I’ll define monthly recurring revenue and how you calculate […]. The post What is Monthly Recurring Revenue?

Revenue 72

Revenue SaaS 72

FastSpring

MAY 7, 2018

The impending General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) deadline is a hot topic on everyone’s mind these days. However, these regulations are a small step forward in the data privacy movement.

Data 61

Data 61

As companies strive to boost revenue, deliver customer value, and stay competitive, they are increasingly embracing the potential of usage-based pricing.

Pricing

Intercom, Inc.

MAY 18, 2018

There’s a key turning point for your hiring strategy in a rapidly scaling team or organization. The inflection point is when you go from only being comfortable hiring star candidates who pose very little risk to taking chances on candidates who don’t tick all the boxes but who have promise and potential. Making that transition smoothly is crucial for your longer-term growth.

Strategy 222

Strategy Construction Customer Support Scaling 222

Tom Tunguz

MAY 3, 2018

There’s the challenge of dealing with uncertainty, where you’re operating in the weird zone that you’re making decisions that have significant long term impact or that are difficult to reverse or course-correct in the face of great uncertainty. Uncertainty is often unnecessary in the sense that you could, in principle, reduce the uncertainty. You could go research the question more.

Interviewing 163

Interviewing Startup Leadership Management 163

Casey Accidental

MAY 29, 2018

Many people are familiar with Dan Pink’s work in Drive that to be the most productive, happy at work, etc., you need to have autonomy, mastery, and purpose. While a lot has been written about how to create purpose inside companies and crafting compelling missions, I would like to spend some time to dig into the details on autonomy. As founders and senior leaders of companies, it can be tough to understand how to give autonomy to employees and also drive toward a singular vision and commit to thi

Leadership 70

Leadership Scale Communication Startup 70

Sales Hacker

MAY 15, 2018

On this episode of the Sales Hacker podcast, we talk with Andrea Kayal , Chief Marketing Officer at Upserve and most recently Chief Marketing Officer at Signpost. We talk about how to align marketing and sales with demand generation to drive scale. Author’s note: When this interview was recorded, Andrea served as the CMO of Signpost. As of May 2018, she serves as the CMO of Upserve.

Scale 65

Scale Sales Hiring Marketing Sales 65

Advertiser: Data Robot

The buzz around generative AI shows no sign of abating in the foreseeable future. Enterprise interest in the technology is high, and the market is expected to gain momentum as organizations move from prototypes to actual project deployments. Ultimately, the market will demand an extensive ecosystem, and tools will need to streamline data and model utilization and management across multiple environments.

Generative AI

Chart Mogul

MAY 8, 2018

Putting customer feedback to work in your business means having well-defined frameworks for capturing, cataloging and analyzing input from your users. Effectively handling customer feedback is a vital ingredient in reducing churn for subscription businesses. For a growing startup, customer feedback exists in so many different forms, it can often be hard to nail down: A passing comment from a customer at a conference.

Scale 65

Scale Technical Review Subscription Payment Features 65

FastSpring

MAY 2, 2018

The impending General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) deadline is a hot topic on everyone’s mind these days. However, these regulations are a small step forward in the data privacy movement.

Data 60

Data Trends 60

Intercom, Inc.

MAY 11, 2018

Adding live chat to your funnel is a great way of generating more sales and targeting specific leads in a more effective way, ensuring the best experience possible for all involved. When it comes to conversing with leads over live chat, it is a very different experience compared to talking in person or even on the phone. No wonder many reps are daunted by the thought of putting live chat on their website.

Sales 196

Sales Communication Development Business 196

Tom Tunguz

MAY 5, 2018

At Redpoint’s annual investor meeting earlier this year, I quipped, “The day-trading taxi drivers of the dotcom era have been replaced by crypto-trading Uber drivers.” But over the weekend, a grizzled Uber driver with a mane of grey hair and wind-and-sunburnt cheeks asked me about crypto. “Can you explain to me why public key/private key technology is important on the Blockchain?

Blockchain 117

Blockchain Strategy Innovation Investment 117

Speaker: John Mansour - President, Product Management University

You know that sinking feeling. You’ve come up with a winning product strategy, everyone’s on board and energized, and you’re halfway down the path to execution only to have it submarined by something someone convinced your leadership was more strategic! It’s a scenario that’s all too familiar, and it exemplifies one of the biggest struggles with individual product strategies.

Strategy

The SaaS Garage

MAY 16, 2018

A nice article about two experienced founders, who I met first time in 2012, just when they started to kick of riskmethods. Indeed, like mentioned in the article, “ klassische Start-upler sind Schwarz, 41 Jahre, und Zimmer, 46 Jahre, laengst nicht mehr “, but that made the whole story particulaly interesting to me as a mentor and business angel, used to take risk on all fronts but not on lack of domain market know-how!

Government 60

Government Finance Enterprise Development 60

Sales Hacker

MAY 11, 2018

The post How to Beat Elon Musk & Bill Gates: 3 Steps to Master LinkedIn, Video, and Email for Cold Outreach appeared first on Sales Hacker.

Sales 70

Sales 70

Audacix

MAY 23, 2018

So you're on the hunt for test automation services for your web or mobile app, right? But what is it that you need, exactly? Have you defined your requirements or are you willing to be persuaded by the glossiest marketing brochure? There are thousands of test automation service providers willing to grab every last dollar off you. But there are a few things that you need to be sure about, before signing long term (or even short term) agreements with these service providers that put your professio

Outsourcing Services 52

Outsourcing Services Underperforming Technical Team DevOps as a Service Outsourced Development 52