SaaStr

JUNE 4, 2022

Dear SaaStr: What’s the Harder Part About SaaS Companies, At Each Stage? Most SaaS products are inexpensive. You start making up for it in volume — with headcount. At $1B+ ARR, the hardest part is you have to be so Multi-Product that you are really running 2-5 SaaS companies. note: an updated SaaStr Classic post).

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SaaS Headcount AWS Churn 350

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

Will $1B SaaS companies be run by 1 person teams? What I do know is many of the billion+ SaaS companies I invested in a decade ago would not be remotely competitive today. It’s the era of Hyperfunctional SaaS. Welcome to The World of Hyperfunctional SaaS. So is AI taking over everything? I mean … maybe.

AI Search 296

AI Search SaaS Headcount AI 296

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 18, 2022

Sales-driven SaaS startups end up with about half their headcount in sales and marketing. One thing that sneaks up on you in SaaS is just how many sales, marketing and revenue professionals you are going to need: First it sneaks up on you in the early days because the initial tiny team become so efficient. Sales doesn't.

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Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Headcount 351

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 1, 2023

If we assume some basic productivity gains in a typical SaaS company from AI in the next 12-24 months, how much more profitable will the business be? Workstreams within SaaS companies are specialized : content marketing, a valuable GTM strategy for many businesses, represents a low-single digit percentage of the employee population.

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AI Startup Scale Headcount 321

SaaStr

AUGUST 18, 2023

So while the media is full of stories of unicorns doing layoffs and massive cutbacks, the story is a bit different with leading public SaaS companies. Yes many public SaaS companies have done some sort of layoffs the past 12 months, they were often more really reorgs, though, without any net decrease in headcount.

Scale 245

Scale Headcount Point of Sale SaaS 245

Tom Tunguz

JULY 10, 2024

We can observe the market trends today across some of the larger SaaS companies who offer AI pricing. If buyers act rationally & reduce headcount by 50% 1 which we know is probably not true, then to maintain the same revenue per customer, price would need to double. Gitlab GitLab Duo 19 20 1.05 Loom Business 12.50

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AI Pricing Sales Hiring Strategy 276

SaaStr

JANUARY 29, 2021

Because SaaS requires so many functions beyond engineering, especially if it’s sales-driven … outbound, SDRs, inbound, field sales, marketing, customer success, support, more complex product management, etc. You’ll probably want to add field sales (for Big Deals) by $10m ARR or so, another 2-3 headcount here, minimum.

Sales Hiring 349

Sales Hiring Headcount Scale Engineering 349

BetterCloud

MAY 13, 2025

The traditional response advocating for increased headcount while sometimes necessary, is often met with budgetary constraints and a desire for greater operational efficiency. Power your IT teams with granular automation from BetterCloud BetterCloud is purpose-built to meet all your SaaS management needs.

Headcount 52

Headcount Scale Underperforming Technical Team Scaling 52

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2023

So it’s tougher out there for many of us, but many Cloud and SaaS leaders are still growing at epic rates, even if not quite at the torrid rates of 2021. We’ve seen the same thing at most Cloud and SaaS leaders, especially those that sell to SME (Small, Medium, and Enterprise / Larger customers).

Headcount 323

Headcount Sales Hiring Scale Cloud 323

The Angel VC

MARCH 23, 2016

Almost exactly four years ago I published a financial plan template for SaaS startups based on a model that I had created for Zendesk a few years earlier. The original v1 model was a very simple plan for early-stage SaaS startups with a low-touch sales model. The "Revenues" line shows your end-of-month MRR for the respective month.

SaaS Payments 217

SaaS Payments Headcount SaaS Payment Methods 217

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

There is almost no software and non-headcount budget for CS. 64% of CS teams spend $200,000 or less a year on non-headcount, with growth stage companies spending the least, just 0.1% 58% of SaaS companies surveyed have a real Customer Marketing function. This data is interesting. of revenue. and finally: #6. I love it!

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Customer Success Headcount Churn Revenue 347

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 25, 2020

Yesterday, we shared the Top 10 Learnings from the 2020 Redpoint GTM Survey at SaaS Office Hours. Marketing teams spend 5-10% of ARR on programs (non-headcount expenses), and this is pretty consistent across ARR. Engineering:Account Executive headcount ratios scale from about 3:1 down to 1:1 as a company scales revenue.

Headcount 364

Headcount Scale Benchmarks Retention 364

SaaStr

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Founder and CEO of SaaStr Jason Lemkin deep dives into the current state of SaaS and the Cloud. Lemkin and David Sacks touched on whether SaaS is making a cautious recovery , and Lemkin shares a slightly different perspective here. Before March 2020, it was almost the only single-seat SaaS product with over 100% NRR.

Sales Hiring 281

Sales Hiring SaaS Headcount Compensation 281

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 18, 2019

Over the last decade or so, I’ve compiled a metrics sheet to summarise a SaaS business. Redpoint SaaS Metrics Template. This section covers employee satisfaction, headcount, and recruiting metrics. I’m sharing it so that others may benefit and improve it. If you have suggestions, please email me.

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Metrics Sales Recruiting Startup SaaS 250

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

So many Cloud and SaaS leaders kept hiring flat for the past 12-18 months, and yet still grew. That works for a while, but you end up with not enough headcount if you do freeze hiring but still want to grow. More on this in our deep dive with co-CEO Eran Zinman: You can’t grow forever with no growth in headcount.

Sales Hiring 323

Sales Hiring Headcount Scale Cloud 323

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2024

At SaaStr Miami, former Founder’s Fund Partner and CRO of Brex Sam Blond — host of the SaaStr CRO Confidential Podcast — sat down with SaaStr CEO and founder Jason Lemkin for a fireside chat about finding success as a SaaS company in 2024. Do you have to double your headcount to make it from $10M to $20M or even $2M to $5M?

Sales Hiring 297

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Headcount 297

SaaStr

MAY 29, 2024

Which is what a lot of SaaS and B2B AI is really about. Growing Headcount and Expenses, Just More Slowly Than Revenue The story for most SaaS and Cloud leaders. Grow headcount and expenses, but more slowly than bookings. #5. Automating away human-driven processes. 1M+ customers are up 26% year-over-year. #4.

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Scale Headcount Sales Hiring AI 296

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

So we’ve taken a look at Monday several times in this series , but with so much change in the world of SaaS and Cloud the past few months, it seemed like a great one to dig in on. A reminder of the conflict in perspectives we’re seeing today in SaaS. Another reminder to go global in SaaS as early as you can! #10.

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Headcount SMB Engineering Scaling 315

SaaStr

MAY 30, 2023

So one of the latest SaaStr surveys confirms what I’m seeing, and we’re seeing across many public SaaS companies. And very few of you are doubling headcount, vs everyone in 2021. This is what we are starting to see across public SaaS leaders as well. 56% of you aren’t hiring, or barely hiring.

Sales Hiring 271

Sales Hiring Headcount Engineering Revenue 271

SaaStr

MAY 10, 2023

So we’ve covered HubSpot on our 5 Interesting Learning series more than any other SaaS leader, but it’s for a reason. They’re a barometer of sub-enterprise B2B SaaS in many ways. Like almost everyone in SaaS, HubSpot is getting more profitable and more efficient — quickly. And what’s the latest?

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Scale SMB Headcount New CTO 320

SaaStr

JANUARY 4, 2023

So Okta is one of the leaders in SaaS that has always just kept growing. And interestingly, while some SaaS leaders are reporting the biggest softness in Europe and EMEA, Okta isn’t. #5. When everything sort of peaking in SaaS. A reminder scaling SaaS takes real capital. #9. 5 Interesting Learnings: #1.

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Scale Headcount Sales Hiring SMB 310

SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2022

Most SaaS products are inexpensive. You start making up for it in volume — with headcount. The post Dear SaaStr: What is the Hardest Part About Starting a SaaS Company? The hardest part changes every 12–24 months. You work so, so hard to close 100 customers … at $10/mo/customer … and that’s only $1,000 a month!

Headcount 246

Headcount AWS SaaS Churn 246

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

If you add $10m this year, maybe increase headcount $5m (worth of com)p. $20m, The post The Simple Reason Hiring is Slowing Way Down in SaaS, Just About Everywhere. Keep hiring. Always keep hiring. But — hire more slowly than you are adding ARR. Ideally, hire half as fast as you are growing ARR. appeared first on SaaStr.

Headcount 258

Headcount SaaS Startup Scaling 258

SaaStr

MAY 7, 2025

It’s a leaner, meaner Twilio, focused again on its core, with more AI but less headcount than before. But at $2 Billion ARR, in the Go Go Days of SaaS, Twilio’s NRR was a stunning 140% (!) And its bets on AI seem to be paying off. Voice agents are a large growth vector. Is it a better Twilio though?

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Headcount AI Scale compliance 169

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

So AppFolio is a big vertical SaaS+ success story I frankly don’t know as much about as I should. So AppFolio is a quiet member of the 10x ARR club – SaaS for property management – $660m run-rate, $7.2B Gotta Radically More Efficient in 2023 This is really the theme of the year in SaaS and Cloud.

Payment Services 281

Payment Services Payment Solutions SaaS Payments Payments 281

SaaStr

AUGUST 16, 2021

“In enterprise SaaS , set up a quantifiable joint success plan and track progress with exec sponsor every month” — Himanshu Jain, VP Product Management, CommerceIQ. “Adding headcount in customer success dept” — Hoala Greevy, CEO, PauBox. You just make the headcount more effective. . “1.)

Churn 324

Churn Sales Hiring Headcount Technical Review 324

SaaStr

MAY 31, 2023

It’s one of the few still commanding a premium multiple in today’s world, and still growing at tremendous rates: Snowflake is also a barometer of everything in SaaS and Cloud, because a significant amount of its revenue is consumption-based, at least in part. Growing Headcount, But Much More Slowly That Revenue.

Headcount 246

Headcount Scale Sales Hiring AWS 246

SaaStr

JUNE 7, 2021

While it can be frightening to think differently, doing so has helped him make Veeva the biggest vertical SaaS success story of all time. There’s no…” Jason : There’s two models that people come in SaaS. I actually drive revenue from headcount, but I make sure I have enough stocked away. Peter : Cheers.

Sales Hiring 338

Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team SaaS Headcount 338

SaaStr

JULY 31, 2020

Founded in 2015, Chorus operates a SaaS platform that provides valuable insights from conversations – say with calls, video conferences and emails — for revenue teams. Last year, the company doubled its headcount, tripled revenue and landed on G2’s Top 100 Global Software list. . This brings the total amount raised at $85.2

Scale 359

Scale Artificial Intelligence Payments Payment Services 359

SaaStr

OCTOBER 8, 2024

At the last Workshop Wednesday , Slice CRO Loren Padelford answered questions on how to build a vertical SaaS company for SMBs and create a massive TAM opportunity. At first glance, that might not seem like a viable SaaS business, but in the U.S. As an SMB vertical SaaS company, you need to solve all of your customers’ problems.

Scale 273

Scale Scaling Point of Sale SaaS 273

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

But to Go Big, almost everyone in SaaS at least eventually adds a sales team. Hence, Twilio has a very high level of sales efficiency (and relatively small headcount). Like magic. No salespeople. Well, that can work. For a while. Maybe even forever, if you don’t want to build something really big.

Scale 341

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Headcount 341

SaaStr

MARCH 1, 2022

Never let it be said that SaaS can’t generate a lot of cash at scale. #3. Should you have annual price increases in SaaS? Headcount up 7%, while revenue is up 37%. But that only increases total headcount 7% which revenues went up 37%. Go long here in SaaS. #7. 5%+ pricing increases help fuel growth.

Scale 262

Scale Marketplace as a Service Headcount Cloud 262

SaaStr

APRIL 7, 2024

They really are a great checklist when you are starting to scale sales in SaaS: #1. Unlike building a product team, there is no efficiency when building a sales org: half of your headcount will be in sales at $10m, $50m, or $100m in revenue. It’s tough for founders to grok 40%+ of their headcount forever may be in sales.

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Sales Hiring Scale Headcount Sales 308

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

So Samara is that vertical fleet-and-more-management-and-more SaaS company that has just roared out of the gate since its quiet IPO. 49% of Revenue From New Customers, 51% From Existing It’s great to see a public SaaS leader break this out so clearly. Keeping headcount flat got everyone to be more efficient.

Sales Hiring 296

Sales Hiring Scale Headcount Engineering 296

SaaStr

AUGUST 21, 2024

Only 18% of Revenue From SaaS. It’s probably not really a SaaS company, but close enough to include it in our series and our ecosystem. #3. Toast is predicting this growth rates continues, while many SaaS leaders are seeing growth decelerate these days, or stay low. HubSpot is, and Toast is as well. #2.

Scale 297

Scale Payment Methods Payment Solutions SaaS Payments 297

SaaStr

APRIL 13, 2025

In the world of SaaS, conventional wisdom has long dictated that focus is paramount. The narrow approach has been picked over fifteen years ago, you could start a SaaS company in any vertical and likely succeed by being first. For SaaS founders, Conrad’s message challenges the bedrock principle of focus.

Startup 154

Startup Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Cloud 154

The Angel VC

MARCH 22, 2012

It's a simple plan for an early-stage SaaS startup with a low-touch sales model – a company which markets a SaaS solution via its website, offers a 30 day free trial, gets most of its trial users organically and through online marketing and converts them into paying customer with very little human interaction.

Startup 189

Startup SaaS Payments Payment Methods Payment Solutions 189