The Angel VC

DECEMBER 16, 2014

When we start to work with a new portfolio company, one of the things we always suggest is that in addition to (sometimes lots of ) ad hoc communication via eMail, Skype, Basecamp, etc. we set up a standing meeting or call, at least during the first 9-12 months following our investment. Typically it's a one-hour monthly call, and the purpose of these calls is to get us updated and to talk through current issues.

Sales Hiring 154

Sales Hiring Metrics Communication SaaS 154

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 18, 2014

Each year, I do a retrospective analysis of this blog. This year, I found something unexpected. Like many other content sites, just a handful of posts on this blog generate the majority of the traffic. I’ve plotted the distribution of traffic by post above; it’s clearly governed by a power law. The top 2% of posts generated 19% of traffic, the top 10% account for 48% and the top 20% attracted 69% ( Pareto would be vindicated ).

Content Marketing 100

Content Marketing Government Marketing Data 100

CloseSaaS

DECEMBER 18, 2014

Want to witness true sales mastery in action? Just watch a kid that craves a snack. They'll relentlessly try a series of different approaches and tactics. Resolute rejection won't deter them, they'll unwaveringly keep their eyes on the target.

Sales 52

Sales 52

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 17, 2014

Thanks to Bill Macaitis , current CMO at Slack and former CMO of Zendesk, who inspired and co-authored this post. When discussing customer success for SaaS startups, the conversation focuses mostly on retaining customers and reducing churn. These are two fantastic benefits with meaningful return-on-investment. But great customer success organizations can meaningfully impact another critical part of the customer lifecycle, customer acquisition, by catalyzing evangelists to refer new customers.

Acquisition 100

Acquisition Customer Success B2B Churn 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

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 15, 2014

Are startups growing much faster than they have in the past? The chart above plots the time required for startups to raise rounds at $1B or greater valuation, over the past ten years. The blue line is a logarithmic regression demonstrating the decrease from about 7.5 years to less than 2.5 years. The answer seems to be an unequivocal yes. Let’s break this chart down by type of company: B2B and B2C.

Startup 100

Startup B2C Scale B2B 100

CloseSaaS

DECEMBER 15, 2014

Managing a sales team has its own set of challenges, one of them being sales reps who don’t believe in your sales strategy anymore.

Management 52

Management Sales Strategy 52