Chart Mogul

AUGUST 30, 2019

The real-life examples of 3 companies that use online courses (that they charge a premium for) to educate customer, lower churn, and grow their revenue. The problem with SaaS is getting people to see the value in your product. This is difficult, especially if your product is complex. Source: HBR.

SaaS Payments 55

SaaS Payments Payment Methods Scale Payments 55

SaaStr

APRIL 1, 2024

Dear SaaStr: Funding Aside, What Are The Top 3 Things That Stop SaaS Companies From Growing From ~$25k MRR to ~$250k MRR? It will happen much faster, of course, if you are growing 15% MoM vs. 7.5% Meet as many of your customers in person as you can, not just on Zoom Talk to as many as you can, and Make them Happy.

SaaS 239

SaaS Churn Metrics Growth Marketing 239

SaaStr

APRIL 8, 2024

So as growth decelerated rapidly for many in SaaS in 2022-2023, one of the first things cut was marketing. If you cut your marketing budget too far, and now pipeline looks, well … light … that’s on you. How does it magically get you new users and leads? It’s not always ideal, but I get it. So be it.

Marketing 250

Marketing Social Media Advertising Content Marketing 250

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

Billion in ARR, it’s still growing 48% year-over-year. How is SMB SaaS doing today? jasonlk) October 26, 2023 Pick your jaw off the floor while we dive in with 5+ Interesting Learnings: #1. Transaction Fees Growing Far Faster (38%) Than Software / SaaS License (21%). Yes, 48% at $1.2 Billion in ARR.

Payment Services 279

Payment Services Payments SaaS Payments Payment Solutions 279

SaaStr

APRIL 19, 2024

How do you reverse-engineer your first million as a SaaS startup founder? EchoSign, which Adobe bought, had $12M in ARR, growing 100%, with 120% revenue retention and cash flow positive. Now, every public SaaS company is at $300k to $400k of revenue per employee. So, what does it take to get to a $100M outcome?

Engineering 229

Engineering Business Model Pricing Scaling 229

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Underrated: How great of a business model SaaS is. You can literally do almost nothing but make your customers happy and usually you will still grow. Underestimated: Just how expensive the incremental customer gets beyond your core, highest velocity ICP. 1,000+ Unicorns bloomed, hundreds of them in SaaS. .

Acquisition 289

Acquisition Startup Business Model SaaS 289

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2024

Is it the end of an era for customer success in SaaS? We just wrote up how some of the biggest changes of SaaS are now coming, specifically in Customer Success and Sales. Back in 2015, when didn’t have the data or NRR or GRR of 115 public SaaS companies. But there is debate happening about how to achieve that.

Sales Hiring 239

Sales Hiring Customer Success Scale AI 239

SaaStr

JANUARY 23, 2024

Dear SaaStr: Does it get easier or harder to scale SaaS as your company grows? Generally, it gets easier to grow at a “good”/modest rate at you scale, but harder to grow at an outsize rate. At least, you have a mini-brand in your niche. Your infrastructure usually is stronger. You have redundancy.

Scale 191

Scale Sales Recruiting Scaling Branding 191

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. That’s how hard it can be to get funded.

Sales Hiring 245

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Headcount 245

FastSpring

APRIL 17, 2024

Ready to join the leading conference for B2B SaaS founders, operators and investors from pre-seed to series C? Join us at the Palmer Events Center, in Austin, TX, from May 13th to 15th, for an extraordinary event dedicated to all things SaaS. If your business is SaaS, then you need to be at SaaStock USA.

Payment Services 133

Payment Services Merchant Services SaaS Payments Payment Solutions 133

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

Many of the fundamental business models that were once engraved in the SaaS playbook are now changing thanks to a tougher macro environment and a maturing market. PST, Stephanie Opdam, Partner at Notion Capital, shares four business model changes that will allow SaaS companies to build resilience and staying power over time.

Business Model 238

Business Model SaaS Payments Payments Headcount 238

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 26, 2022

So we’re in the 5th or so “SaaS crash” since I’ve been doing SaaS. This one is the worst, not because SaaS companies aren’t’ doing well. Everyone was a genius in SaaS for a while. It was OK to be a bit sloppy around your burn rate. And the top SaaS companies are growing faster than ever.

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Cloud Startup SaaS 361

SaaStr

DECEMBER 29, 2023

In part one of this week’s Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) with SaaStr founder and CEO Jason Lemkin, he answered the community’s questions about whether all anyone cares about is AI anymore, investor appetites going into 2024, vertical SaaS, and thriving as a solo founder. If you’re behind in your segment, fix it in Q1, or you won’t pass in 2024.

Scale 221

Scale Sales Hiring Customer Success AI 221

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 3, 2023

SaaStr Founder and CEO Jason Lemkin and Partner at QED Investors Amias Gerety chat on the Fintech Beat podstream about all things SaaS, money, and what makes a great founder. What Makes SaaS So Great If you’re here on SaaStr reading this, you don’t need to be told why SaaS is so great. Let’s dive right in. It took a while.

Sales Hiring 219

Sales Hiring Headcount Finance Technical Review 219

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

So the last time we checked in on Crowdstrike, they were growing a stunning 65% at $1.7B The company is still growing a jaw-dropping 37% at almost $3B ARR — and it’s generating incredible free cash flow. jasonlk) November 13, 2023 Not every area of SaaS and Cloud is seeing big “macro” impacts. ” #7.

Cybersecurity 249

Cybersecurity AWS Benchmarks Cloud 249

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

If you haven’t read it yet, head on over to Part 1 of Ask Me Anything with SaaStr founder and CEO Jason Lemkin to learn about sales in SaaS, how to create great SDRs and AEs, developing an impactful content strategy, and potential SaaS trends for the next 12-18 months. How do you fix GTM?

Sales Hiring 222

Sales Hiring SaaS Banking AI 222

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

So times aren’t tougher for everyone in B2B and SaaS, but they’re tougher for many. Marketing is a variable cost with generally medium-term benefits in SaaS and B2B. Because the reality in SaaS, most things won’t “perform” at all. Growing 60% this year, but way down from 100%+ last year.

Marketing 214

Marketing Scale B2C B2B 214

Payrix

APRIL 10, 2024

User experience has become a cornerstone in shaping the world of SaaS. Your product is your bread and butter, and as a verticalized software company, you know just how important a tailored, industry-specific application is to your end user.

Merchant Services 130

Merchant Services Payment Services SaaS Payments Payments 130

Payrix

APRIL 17, 2024

You’ve decided to offer Embedded Payments to your customers. Adding Embedded Payments gives you an exciting opportunity to grow your business and solve real pain points for your customers. However, to capture success you’ll need to promote your new payments offering with customers and prospects.

Payments 130

Payments Embedded Payments Merchant Services SaaS Payments 130

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

You know what’s back in fashion today in SaaS? And that’s a lot rarer in SaaS. But so many SaaS leaders aren’t really profitable at $1B ARR even, Why not? And it’s not just public SaaS companies that are often struggling to get profitable. I’m an investor in maybe 30 SaaS startups. So is SaaS cursed?

Scale 279

Scale SaaS Banking AWS 279

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 11, 2024

My hope is that this analysis can provide startup entrepreneurs with a framework for how to manage their businesses around SaaS metrics (e.g., If we break this down and look at Azure and AWS independently (graphs below), you’ll see how the AWS “swings” were a lot more volatile. net retention and CAC payback).

Cloud 177

Cloud Software Azure AWS 177

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

How is AI going to impact the software and SaaS landscape of the next couple of years and also the next 5-10 years? She watched the SaaS and Cloud wave ride and thought there’d be a huge pullback in markets this year. It’s how decision-makers make informed decisions. There’s never been a better time to build a company.

AI 245

AI Generative AI Venture Capital SaaS 245

SaaStr

DECEMBER 13, 2023

Dave Kellogg, EIR at Balderton Capital and 25-year C-level veteran, shares the top 14 signs that you have a SaaS metrics problem, the five reasons those symptoms exist, and a SaaS metrics maturity model with five layers to help you move the needle at every stage. The 15 Types of Misuse and Abuse of SaaS Metrics #1: Bludgeoning.

Metrics 287

Metrics Sales Hiring Benchmarks SaaS 287

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

But is Duolingo SaaS? Well, it’s SaaS-ish. While common in B2C, it’s interesting how big a deal this is for Duolingo. But it makes up for it by only spending 17% of its revenue on sales and marketing, less than half of many SaaS leaders. Paid subs are growing 71%. 5 Interesting Learnings: #1.

Scale 293

Scale B2C SMB B2B 293

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

In SaaS, we talk a lot about hyper-growth, uber-successful companies, but many founders, including hyper-growth founders, make mistakes over and over. Maybe you feel SaaS is crushing it this year, but it’s not easy for a lot of folks. But you have to hold yourself to the highest standards because your team relies on it.

Scale 227

Scale Sales Hiring SaaS Scaling 227

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

In the latest SaaStr Workshop Wednesday (sign up for FREE here ), Jessica Bartos of Salesforce Ventures did a great deep dive on the state of SaaS and venture in 2013. One metric stood out to me I hadn’t seen presented before: just how many private SaaS companies (i.e., startups) have crossed $100,000,000.

SaaS 287

SaaS Startup Metrics Investment 287

SaaStr

JULY 23, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: The Cold Hard Truths About SaaS in 2023 with Jason Lemkin The Cold Hard Truths About SaaS in 2023 with Jason Lemkin Part 2 Want To Steal a Customer from the Competition? How to Grow Revenue Faster in the Second Half of 2023 with Founders Fund 4.

Retention 201

Retention Revenue SaaS Customer Success 201

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Welcome to the latest installment of our “ What’s New ” series where SaaStr founder and CEO Jason Lemkin sits down with some of the top leaders and founders in SaaS and Cloud to discuss What’s New and what should be top of mind for fellow founders. How Do You Decide Who to Partner with? AWS can’t support 20 partners equally.

AWS 199

AWS Scale Sales Hiring Marketing 199

SaaStr

OCTOBER 30, 2023

And more importantly, we’ve seen how so many of the very biggest, very best in tech in general and SaaS in particular are still run by founders. In SaaS, if we look at 60+ of the top SaaS companies that have IPO’d, the vast majority still seem to have the founder CEO as CEO at IPO. Ubers and WeWorks aside.

Technical Review 247

Technical Review CTO SaaS Scaling 247

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

The four stages of growth are: Early stage Early growth Growth Pre-IPO Each of those stages has key GTM milestones, benchmarks, and team-building strategies that allow you to grow effectively. A great product, while necessary, isn’t sufficient to build a market leader and eventually a public company. Without it, you don’t have a business.

Scale 224

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Outsourced Development 224

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

So we’ve had a ton of great conversations over the years on SaaStr on when and how to go multi-product. Answers from the CEOs of Twilio, Veeva, Amplitude, HubSpot, Gainsight and More I wanted though to do a deep dive on just one piece — a few thoughts how to sell that second product. The same is often true in SaaS.

Scale 206

Scale New CTO CTO AI 206

SaaStr

JUNE 28, 2023

So there was a quiet SaaS IPO you may have missed in the craziness of 2021 — SEMRush, a tool your marketing department quite likely uses to keep track of the performance of your SEO and marketing site. But $10k+ customers growing fastest. But $10k+ customers are growing 45% , so that’s where the biggest growth is. #2.

Scale 187

Scale AWS Scaling Revenue 187

SaaStr

DECEMBER 8, 2023

How can this be tackled? Your VC investors are looking for 10x returns. A way to either get your company off the ground, or to grow faster. You cannot expect your VCs to write you a second and third check. Do so at your folly. A related post here: At the Top SaaS Companies, Founder-CEOs Own ~15% at IPO.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital SaaS Leadership 240

SaaStr

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Only about half of you are actually adding to your sales team next year: Times certainly are strange these days. Salesforce has suspended forward guidance for 2023, saying it just doesn’t know how much it will grow. Salesforce has suspended forward guidance for 2023, saying it just doesn’t know how much it will grow.

Sales 209

Sales Cloud Startup SaaS 209

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

Believe It Or Not, It’s Time for Your First User Conference One thing that always works in marketing is bringing your customers and prospects together IRL. A SaaS Founder’s Guide to PR Why PR works, when it doesn’t, and what to expect. Your Customer Success Team. And you can start very small. Or they fail.

Sales Hiring 219

Sales Hiring Technical Advisors Compensation Outsourced Development 219

SaaStr

JANUARY 5, 2024

Getting Outbound off the Ground in the Early Days Whatever stage your company is in, you can map wherever you are to outbound and use this article to either create, scale up or improve your outbound SaaS sales. Start with who you are targeting in your own network. Asked for intros to portfolio companies.

Sales Hiring 239

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Outbound Sales Team 239

SaaStr

DECEMBER 17, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: Knowing — and Sharing — Your Zero Cash Date (Updated) Salesforce: Your Job’s at Risk If You Sell Less Than $400k a Year The Top 3 Things CROs Are Quietly Talking About These Days 2023 Was The Year of Hiding Inside the Base.

Sales Hiring 164

Sales Hiring Scale AI Startup 164