OpenView Labs

APRIL 13, 2020

Proliferation of iterative, experiment-driven, nimble approaches to product development (also known as Agile). The convergence of these changes has led many to realize that “growth” is a team sport. It is no longer the job of Marketing or Sales to solely own revenue, nor Product the core user experience.

Systems Review 98

Systems Review Technical Advisors Scale Technical Review 98

Neil Patel

OCTOBER 24, 2020

Unfortunately, your in-house team doesn’t have the required expertise to push through change. Our team at Neil Patel Digital has compiled the ultimate guide below to help you understand the nuances of working with a consultant for the best results. Spot knowledge gaps and weak points in strategy, and ask for alternatives.

Consulting 132

Consulting Sales Hiring Technical Review Sales Recruiting 132

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2020

317: Rachel Hepworth is VP of Marketing @ Pilot, the startup that offers the best bookkeeping, tax and CFO services for growing businesses. Before Slack, Rachel spent 4 years at LinkedIn where she led the product marketing team for content experiences. It’s just the type of work I was doing.

SMB 189

SMB Scale Startup Marketplace as a Service 189

FastSpring

APRIL 13, 2023

When Justin and his initial team started looking for a way to capitalize on VR/AR technology, they focused their attention on the “made-to-order” industrial market. But they quickly realized the market was too small and that there was a bigger opportunity elsewhere — in wider B2B and B2C commerce. It starts with self service.

Payment Methods 136

Payment Methods Marketing Payments SaaS Payments 136

Intercom, Inc.

APRIL 4, 2019

The fastest growing software companies in recent years all have something in common – they started with little to no sales team. They relied on a great product, with a passionate userbase that helped kickstart an organic growth engine which sold the product for them. Yes, Slack started off with no sales team.

Scale 162

Scale Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Payment Services 162

SaaStr

APRIL 30, 2022

It wasn’t the case 20 or even 10 years ago, where the business models of the internet were more focused on eCommerce, marketplaces, or even advertising. If you kind of that question, thinking about the stakeholders and the decisions and companies of using SaaS products, there’s kind of three types. They love SaaS products.

SaaS Payments 233

SaaS Payments Metrics Payment Methods Scale 233

Chart Mogul

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

5 Reasons I Hate the Rule of 40 by Mikael Johnsson, SaaS Nordic While not necessarily completely useless, I would strongly argue that R40 is a metric applicable to the world of PE and public markets investing and is not a good metric for assessing the quality of venture-stage companies. Keep an eye out as we will be making regular updates.

Scale 52

Scale Underperforming Technical Team Sales Hiring SaaS 52

Intercom, Inc.

SEPTEMBER 26, 2019

And it’s not without good reason: nearly all software products with dominant market share started as apps but grew to the point where third-party developers began building valuable integrations on top of what these companies had already created. So those are developer tools for sure. Those are big amazing companies.

Underperforming Technical Team 170

Underperforming Technical Team Marketplace as a Service Outsourced Development Development 170

SaaStr

MAY 15, 2020

Where do most teams go wrong in implementing the role out of their CS strategy? Does Bridget believe CS teams should be involved in the upsell process? I went into product marketing for the commercial arm of Xerox Park, which is a big computer research company here. When should one hire their first CS rep? What works?

Sales Hiring 204

Sales Hiring Scale Technical Review Outsourcing Services 204

Casey Accidental

OCTOBER 24, 2022

This isn’t a bad idea, and why companies like Facebook continued to grow despite adding more and more complexity over time. Eventbrite was historically a 50% sales and 50% self-service business. Eventbrite now caters toward more modern music creators that share the need for intuitive and self-service experiences.

Scale 139

Scale User Experience Underperforming Technical Team Marketplace as a Service 139

User Pilot

SEPTEMBER 4, 2023

Blue Ocean’s strategy sees market boundaries and structures as flexible and shaped by companies’ actions. The focus is on developing new demand and reconstructing market landscapes to make rivals obsolete. With globalization and advancing technology, products and services are becoming commoditized faster than ever.

Strategy 90

Strategy Technical Review Business Innovation 90

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 21, 2020

Rob Gonzalez: Operationally, I look at, in particular, my experience at Endeca, but also another startup that sold to pharmaceutical companies and other life sciences businesses and financial services companies called Cambridge Semantics. And there’s a lot of benefit to running a software as a service, in general.

SaaS Payments 264

SaaS Payments Scale Payment Services Payment Solutions 264

OpenView Labs

JUNE 16, 2020

Experimenting with product/market fit. Experiment with product/market fit. As the marketplace shifts, new constraints are giving rise to new opportunities. The best companies are refining their product to meet customers where they are today. Pivoting sales to meet buyers. Putting the customer first.

Sales Hiring 54

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting SaaS Payments Underperforming Technical Team 54

User Pilot

SEPTEMBER 4, 2023

Blue Ocean's strategy sees market boundaries and structures as flexible and shaped by companies' actions. The focus is on developing new demand and reconstructing market landscapes to make rivals obsolete. With globalization and advancing technology, products and services are becoming commoditized faster than ever.

Strategy 52

Strategy Technical Review Business Innovation 52

OPEXEngine

MARCH 9, 2021

“I’ve talked to countless entrepreneurs who are anxious about the next step—first seed round, hiring a team, landing a board member, etc.,” That’s exactly what got the former Zenefits leadership team into trouble. As you start to develop a go-to-market strategy, “make sure to think through the process holistically,” says Jay.

Scale 52

Scale Sales Hiring Marketplace as a Service Underperforming Technical Team 52

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

Lauren Bailey’s award-winning sales firm Factor 8 has been instrumental in helping sales teams with their sales and management development programs. She also understands that even the most well-intentioned sales leaders may need guidance to include more women in their sales teams. Bill Binch – CRO at Pendo.

VP of Engineering 12

VP of Engineering Sales Hiring Sales Underperforming Technical Team 12

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 7, 2020

Prior to joining the world of venture, Karen was a Senior Director at Apple and before Apple, Karen spent an incredible 9 years at Box as a founding member of the executive team, where she was responsible for defining and leading Box’s Industry GTM strategy. What is the ability of the company to continue to build an incredible team?

Scale 182

Scale Underperforming Technical Team Investment Sales Hiring 182

User Pilot

OCTOBER 31, 2022

You might also want to set up a comprehensive in-app resource center to help users solve their own problems – and reduce the burden on your support team. You can’t stand still in the competitive SaaS market. Better user data is key to making more effective product decisions and delivering an incredibly personal service.

Onboarding 98

Onboarding Software Review Marketplace as a Service Engagement 98

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 7, 2018

Historically, growth of a sales team was based on the revenue starting with $0M on day 1 of the year. However, in a SaaS model , the customer acquisition team can grow revenue to $1M in year 1. If the same team keeps performing at the same growth it will achieve $2M in year 2 – whilst the renewals come in at 100%.

Scale 88

Scale Growth Hacking Scaling Sales Hiring 88

SaaStr

AUGUST 6, 2019

” So we wanted to create essentially … Well, you can probably describe it the easiest way as an anti-SAP of supply chains, something that was easy, simple, free to use, open, and easy to develop for. Third parties are developing apps for our platform. Tradeshift Buy, which is essentially what we call private marketplaces.

Payment Solutions 154

Payment Solutions Payments Outsourcing Services SaaS Payments 154

Chargify

AUGUST 17, 2017

Note: For the purposes of this specific post, the tactics presented are targeted to established SaaS companies that have already verified product/market fit and experienced initial traction. If your SaaS startup isn’t there yet, you should read Finding Product/Market Fit: When To Stand Firm & When To Pivot first.

Scale 53

Scale Sales Hiring Artificial Intelligence SaaS 53

Unbounce

JUNE 23, 2023

Louis is the Head of Marketing at Dealtale, an organization that dives into the science behind revenue generation and how marketers can use cutting-edge technology to, y’know, market better. Will AI ever be able to replace marketers—or even an entire marketing team (gulp)? You know what I mean?

AI Search 95

AI Search AI ChatGPT Marketing 95

Intercom, Inc.

JANUARY 23, 2020

The situations that portend failure are varied and unfortunately common – no product-market fit, no cash, bad product, burnout, to name just a few of the most obvious. Poor marketing. A better strategy is to prioritize building your audience alongside developing the product.

Underperforming Technical Team 183

Underperforming Technical Team Scale Payments Payment Services 183