OpenView Labs

AUGUST 7, 2019

The other day, I was discussing the inception of Loomly on a podcast, when the host asked me, “Wasn’t it a bit scary to launch a new product in a mature market with substantial competition?” In the same vein, during initial investor calls, the concept of “crowded verticals” almost always comes up. And when we have casual conversations with outsiders, we are sometimes pinged on whether similar tools pre-existed Loomly.

Payment Methods 41

Payment Methods Payment Solutions Marketing Payments 41

The SaaS CFO

AUGUST 7, 2019

Measuring Organizational Efficiency There are a ton of SaaS metrics measuring sales efficiency, margins, revenue, and more. These are all important metrics (depending on the stage of your business) that you should be constantly monitoring in your SaaS organization. But I have a gut feel that we are missing an important metric around organizational efficiency. […].

Metrics 94

Metrics SaaS Revenue Sales 94

SaaStr

AUGUST 7, 2019

There was a very curious thing in Zoom’s financials leading up to its IPO that I am surprised no one commented on. But as a founder, it jumped out at me. In 2017, Zoom’s cash burn was exactly equal to its Gross Proft. In other words, it burned exactly $0. It didn’t make a profit that year (although it does now), but nor did it even lose a nickel: .

Sales Hiring 196

Sales Hiring Finance Engineering Revenue 196

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 8, 2019

Which sectors see more startup company formation than others? The answer has changed quite a bit over the last 8 years. Some sectors have hit their apogee and are declining. Others have grown by more than 3x. Yet others are growing geometrically. Let’s take a look. Hot Spaces. Artificial Intelligence - yes, it’s a buzzword but it’s more than that.

Artificial Intelligence 279

Artificial Intelligence Startup Blockchain Social Media 279

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

OpenView Labs

AUGUST 9, 2019

I have spent much of my career in product marketing roles at fast-growing companies. At Glassdoor and Lever, we doubled in size each year; and Reflektive —where I am now Head of Marketing—was recently recognized by Deloitte as the 13th fastest-growing technology company in North America. Over the last five years, I’ve had a lot of experience tackling pricing challenges at companies that were rapidly pole vaulting their way through growth stages.

Pricing 40

Pricing Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team SaaS 40

SaaStr

AUGUST 3, 2019

Cold emails to investors have their detractors. There are so, so many start-ups these days. Everyone with a checkbook is looking for signals which of the 1000s to invest in. Because these days in SaaS, there are just too many. 5 years ago, you could meet many of them. 10 years ago, you could meet all of them. Now there are just too many. So you are looking for signals.

Investment 191

Investment Metrics Strategy SaaS 191

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 8, 2019

? ? ?. Today, we’re dissecting the customer experience at one of the hottest companies around: Slack. As someone who’s immersed in customer-experience questions and concerns day-in and day-out here at Intercom, I was fascinated to hear how Slack’s entire team dedicated itself to thinking about the end-to-end customer experience. And I was excited to sit down behind the mic with Lane Collins.

Scale 168

Scale Scaling Engineering Branding 168

ProfitWell

AUGUST 6, 2019

There’s no more vital metric for a SaaS company to keep track of than churn : the rate at which customers are leaving your business and taking their subscription dollars elsewhere. Churn can be powered by a number of factors, and even small month-on-month increases in churn percentage can be ruinous to planning, so understanding what churn is and how to analyze it is paramount.

Churn 85

Churn Payment Services SaaS Payments Payment Methods 85

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 5, 2019

Earlier this year, I read Algorithms to Live By, a book that explains how to use insights from computer science in daily life. One of the rules is the 37% rule. It’s an important rule because it’s broadly applicable. But I had forgotten about it until I listened to the author on the Software Engineering Daily podcast. The 37% rule says that if you have a decision to make, you should spend 37% of the amount of time you have.

Sales Hiring 251

Sales Hiring Scale Software Engineering Startup 251

Advertisement

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

SaaStr

AUGUST 5, 2019

Be a bit wary about raw conversion of free-to-paid as an absolute metric. Driving it up will certain increase revenues in the short term. But perhaps not in the long term. In companies I’ve worked with or invested in, I’ve seen the numbers range from 2% to 30%+. That’s a huge range. And …. 30% sounds better. But is it? Not if you want to maximize the number of folks exposed to your product.

Subscription 164

Subscription Payment Features Branding Investment 164

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 7, 2019

A great onboarding experience is one that proves to new users that your product will help them do the job that they want. To put it another way, the ideal onboarding experience is a short, easy and frictionless path to finding value. Of course, many products have unavoidable complexity. If getting started with your product requires new users to install software, invite colleagues or message customers, then the path to value may not seem as short or straightforward.

Onboarding 223

Onboarding Software Review Compensation Sales 223

Neil Patel

AUGUST 6, 2019

In case you missed it, Google just published advice for SEOs on how to continually do well throughout their algorithm changes. Now, what most people don’t know is Google doesn’t just push out a handful of algorithm changes per year. They publish substantially more. Just to give you an idea of how often Google changes, they had 3,200 algorithm changes in just 1 year.

Outsourcing Services 111

Outsourcing Services Mobile User Experience Engineering 111

Nimble - Sales

AUGUST 8, 2019

Chatbots have become an integral part of digital communication across web, social media, and mobile app interfaces. Marketers are increasingly growing fond of chatbots because of effortless, fast-paced, and customer-centric communication in different contexts. With the increasing popularity of chatbots, more and more brands are embracing them. In 2019 and beyond, we can expect chatbots […].

Social Media 111

Social Media Marketing Mobile Communication 111

Advertisement

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

SaaStr

AUGUST 6, 2019

Just meet. Meet all your competitors. You never know where it will go. It may help you head off a stupid conflict later. You might combine the companies. Who knows. Keep the super confidential stuff secret. But anything anyone could find with a Google search, just share it. There’s not as much to hide as you think, and often something to learn. View original question on quora.

Sales 141

Sales 141

Andreessen Horowitz

AUGUST 6, 2019

As online video platforms seek a business model beyond advertising , and short videos start to look more and more like commercials, it turns out that commerce may be video’s killer app.

Advertising 109

Advertising Business Model Business AI 109

Agile Payments

AUGUST 8, 2019

The 2019 payments landscape has inherent risks for any SaaS applications. For example, imagine you are a business owner with 500 customers that you bill $100 per month on a recurring basis. Your business runs and plans based on $50,000 per month coming in the door on a regular basis. It took a long time and a lot of work to get to the point where your business generates that amount of reliable predictable income.

Payments 77

Payments Revenue Management Subscription 77

Nimble - Sales

AUGUST 7, 2019

B2B, known as business to business, is a creative and diverse marketing model. It’s quite tricky to leverage your brand in this highly competitive market. So, looking out for strategies which will boost your business and hence revenue is a must. Without following a proper business marketing plan, your business might suffer and would not […]. The post 6 Best Digital Marketing Strategies for B2B Businesses appeared first on Nimble Blog.

B2B 105

B2B Strategy Marketing Business 105

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

Pricing

SaaStr

AUGUST 7, 2019

Creating urgency is an art. Most founders are great “middlers”. They are great at explaining not just what the product does, but what it can do to solve your problems. No one is better than a founder at this. And then … the deal often never quite closes. The prospect got interested, took the call and the meeting, but … didn’t ask for a contract. Or sign up herself.

Sales 137

Sales Revenue SaaS Business 137

Cobloom

AUGUST 5, 2019

Whether you're trying to retain more customers or accelerate new customer acquisition, your customer success strategy needs to start with the right performance metrics. Today, I'm taking a look at 5 of the most revealing SaaS customer success metrics - from the ever-present customer churn rate, through to your SaaS product's viral coefficient.

Customer Success 90

Customer Success Metrics SaaS Acquisition 90

Andreessen Horowitz

AUGUST 9, 2019

Traditionally, consumer companies have had viral growth and network effects, while enterprise companies have been built brick by brick and sale by sale.

B2B 93

B2B Sales Enterprise SaaS 93

Nimble - Sales

AUGUST 6, 2019

We hear a lot about marketing automation in passing, but the details of how automation will benefit marketers now and in the future are often left unspecified. Here are six marketing automation trends you can expect to see in the near future: Chatbots Will Become Essential in Marketing Automation — Not Just Optional Chatbots are […]. The post What Does the Future of Marketing Automation Hold?

Marketing 95

Marketing Trends 95

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

SaaStr

AUGUST 3, 2019

Probably at least indirectly. Digital Ocean most likely can IPO any time it wants. I assume its revenues are well in excess of $250m+ today ( While Amazon and Microsoft battle in the cloud wars, this startup quietly built a $175 million business by picking up their slack ) and the space is obviously hot overall. Digital Ocean is likely picking the right team, with the right team, for the optimal IPO.

Cloud 132

Cloud Startup Revenue Business 132

Sales Hacker

AUGUST 9, 2019

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with the head of business development for a French logistics company. He was over the moon because in only 5 months he reached his goal of getting 10 qualified opportunities. And, even better, he managed to go beyond the target by closing a €350K deal. The results were shocking. And even more impressive, he got those results in a brand new industry. .

Development 86

Development Sales Business Social Media 86

SaaS Metrics

AUGUST 7, 2019

Introduction Failing to offer great customer services directly impacts customer satisfaction and retention rates. Superior products/services alone are not good enough in today’s competitive market. Excellent customer services and knowing who wants what is equally important in achieving success. Modern technologies have enabled enterprises as well as SMBs to acquire and process customer data like never before.

Software Review 76

Software Review Software Technical Review SaaS 76

Nimble - Sales

AUGUST 5, 2019

Two weeks before my visit to Social Media Day: San Diego, I became a summer intern for Nimble. I began to learn the ins and outs of social media networking and believed this event would prove beneficial in furthering my knowledge on the subject. Social Media Day: San Diego, or SMdaySD, is an event in […]. The post Why Social Media Day is a Must-Go Event for Growing Marketers appeared first on Nimble Blog.

Social Media 82

Social Media Marketing 82

Advertisement

If you're in the software industry grappling with integrating payments into your business model, understanding where others have stumbled can be a game-changer for your revenue goals. Discover 6 key reasons behind the struggles many face. The challenge goes beyond the technicalities of integrating a payment system; it delves into the strategic oversight of revenue shares, negotiations with payment providers, and the full exploitation of potential revenue streams.

Payments

SaaStr

AUGUST 9, 2019

Ep 255: Vikas Bhambri is SVP Sales and Customer Experience @ Kustomer, the startup providing Real-time, actionable views of customers with continuous omnichannel conversations and intelligence that automates repetitive, manual tasks. To date they have raised over $113m in financing from some of the best in the business including Tiger Global, Battery Ventures, Boldstart, Canaan, Cisco, and Redpoint, just to name a few.

SaaS Payments 128

SaaS Payments Cloud Technical Review Scale 128

IT World

AUGUST 7, 2019

As enterprises pile more cloud activities onto the platforms of more cloud providers, many IT and network managers are feeling overwhelmed because each cloud provider comes with its own toolset, rules and user demands. In a multicloud environment, this convoluted mixture quickly leads enterprises into a pit of complexity, confusion and cost. Coming to the rescue are more than a dozen vendors, ranging from IT stalwarts to startups, offering multicloud management tools designed to bring order, con

Management 75

Management Cloud Enterprise Technology 75

FastSpring

AUGUST 8, 2019

To no one’s surprise, social media can influence many different aspects of our lives—from where we eat to what we wear to who styles our hair. You can use the influence of social media platforms to increase the exposure of your ecommerce store. In order for your posts to have an impact on converting sales, you’ll need to have consistent branding across all your social media profiles in everything from imagery to messaging.

Social Media 64

Social Media Branding Scale Software Review 64