The Angel VC

MARCH 29, 2016

Since I published v2 of my SaaS Financial Plan a few days ago, two alert readers have kindly pointed out two formula errors in the Excel sheet. Sorry about that. Here's a corrected version. The Excel sheet that was linked from the original post has been corrected as well. In case you've started to modify the template already and want to keep working with the previous version, here are the two bugs that you need to correct: 1) Cell U124 on the Costs tab, i.e. the costs for external recruiters in

SaaS 101

SaaS Software Revenue 101

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 31, 2016

Q1 venture capital investment remains steady relative to Q4 2015 at about $15 billion, but down from the near records attained in 2015. Over the last five years, seven of the twenty-nine quarters have reached or exceeded the $15 billion mark, all of them within the last two years. So, on a historical basis, venture capitalists are still investing at rates substantially above average. 2016 is off to a slower start than 2015.

Trends 100

Trends Investment Startup Venture Capital 100

CloseSaaS

MARCH 30, 2016

Cold calling is a powerful tool to grow your business. Done correctly, cold calling will allow you to build rapport and trust, to display authority, and to increase the desire for your product or service.

B2B 52

B2B Business 52

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 30, 2016

There’s a new class of company that wield data to create long-term competitive advantage. TheRealReal uses this morning’s sales data to inform this afternoon’s marketing campaigns. Hubspot motivates its sales teams not just with a target quota, but a blend of key sales metrics that reflect the strategic priorities of the company. Zendesk’s data team educates and trains its employees to use data in meetings to prioritize key product management and marketing efforts.

Data 100

Data Data Analysis Interviewing Benchmarks 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

CloseSaaS

MARCH 29, 2016

Wonder how you can make 300+ calls per day per sales rep without a power dialer? It's not rocket science, it’s all about having the right CRM and workflow. One of our customers wanted to increase his calls per day from 30 to 60—but we helped him increase it to 152, a 406% increase in calls!

Sales 52

Sales 52

CloseSaaS

MARCH 26, 2016

Join Steli Efti and Hiten Shah for a live-recording session of The Startup Chat podcast next week in Palo Alto.

Startup 40

Startup 40

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 26, 2016

Sales velocity is the equation that governs the effectiveness of your SaaS startup’s sales team. Often, sales teams use the word sales velocity to refer to the number of signed contracts in a given month or quarter. But sales velocity classically defined is a different concept. Sales velocity originates from operations research , field of study pioneered by Charles Babbage , one of the fathers of computing, and Georges Doriot , the patriarch of the venture capital industry.

Government 109

Government Scale Outsourced Development Venture Capital 109

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 28, 2016

A senior executive described her management philosophy as heavily influenced by Daniel Pink’s book Drive. In his 20 minute TED talk , Pink argues traditional incentive structures like bonuses and raises don’t work for knowledge workers. Instead, autonomy, mastery and purpose motivate them best. Autonomy grants employees the flexibility to achieve their goals as they see fit.

Management 100

Management Development Marketing 100