SaaStr

OCTOBER 6, 2023

If you’re a seed-stage startup, Michael shares the best ways for you to present your company to startup investors. This is the same advice they give YC companies to become much more successful at fundraising when they’re pre-product market fit. If this is week two of your startup, you probably don’t have any traction.

Payment Methods 213

Payment Methods Startup Payment Solutions Sales Hiring 213

OpenView Labs

JUNE 3, 2021

If you aren’t clear on what product marketing is, how it’s different from product management, and what the responsibilities of a product marketer are, you’re not alone. Specifically, I’m talking about product management and product marketing. Engineering manages IT.

Product Marketing 93

Product Marketing Sales Hiring Startup Scale 93

Sales Hacker

JANUARY 30, 2023

The first goal of sales at a startup isn’t to bring in revenue — it’s to get customer feedback. I’ve spent the last year working to find product-market fit for my startup, Dock. I’ve used our sales process to iterate our way to product market-fit and wanted to share what I’ve learned along the way.

Sales Recruiting 88

Sales Recruiting Product Marketing Scale Sales Hiring 88

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 16, 2018

Last week, I shared a presentation with an executive team at a large public SaaS company on everything I’ve learned about pricing. Here’s a summary of the frameworks and theory that I’ve aggregated over a decade of investing in startups. Why do we set prices? There are four components to pricing: 1.

Pricing 240

Pricing Market Research Interviewing Product Marketing 240

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 7, 2015

Also, I’m determining whether the company is successfully matching their branding with their price point with a relative pricing question. A premium product should be priced that way and be marketed as such. How quickly is the product evolving? To whom would you recommend this product?

Product Marketing 125

Product Marketing Development Team Review Software Review Startup 125

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 9, 2020

Linda’s professional journey has taken her across businesses of all sizes — from startups in hypergrowth mode to mature, multi-hundred million-dollar businesses. She started off in product marketing at Google, helping launch Google Chrome and Android. A company is only as good as the sum of its parts. Yo-Jud Cheng.

Startup 258

Startup Management Systems Review Leadership 258

SaaStr

JANUARY 30, 2024

It’s a SaaS startup that basically fell out of product-market fit after the 2021 boom … but has enough revenue and high enough NRR to keep going. In some ways, NRR Zombies are outputs of the actions of 2023, especially for venture-backed startups. They cut marketing spend to $0. They raised prices.

Headcount 214

Headcount Finance Startup Trends 214

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

Why does Mike Maples believe no company with true product-market-fit has ever failed? Why does Eric Paley believe “go faster” is the worst startup advice? Why does Mike Maples believe there is a direct relationship between price and risk? Why does Mike Maples believe that outliers by their very nature are lower priced?

Venture Capital 227

Venture Capital Investment Pricing Startup 227

Kellblog

JULY 8, 2020

I was talking with my old friend, Mark Tice , the other day and he referred to a startup mistake as, “on his top ten list.” ” Mark’s been a startup CEO twice, selling two companies in strategic acquisitions, and he’s run worldwide sales and channels a few times. Ignoring churn greater than 15%.

Sales Hiring 140

Sales Hiring Startup Software Review Enterprise 140

SaaStr

APRIL 17, 2024

The Journey of Selling Your Startup Harry was the co-founder and CEO of Periscope Data, which raised a seed round before finding customers, yet didn’t run out of money before becoming an overnight success 3-4 years later. They grew like crazy when they found product-market-fit and raised a big Series A and B. It can feel lonely.

Underperforming Technical Team 164

Underperforming Technical Team Data Development Team Review Technical Review 164

Clouded Judgement

JANUARY 12, 2024

Setting the stage for our convo was the increase in startups either shutting down or being acquired / acquihired recently. Many companies raised rounds in 2021 who thought they had product market fit. Or who thought their market was 10x bigger than it actually was. The environment got tougher for EVERYONE.

Cloud 284

Cloud Venture Capital Acquisition Metrics 284

Tom Tunguz

JULY 19, 2023

For many startups today feel like they are operating under dark skies. Reflecting on the last three quarters : Startups have parted with colleagues to extend runway in a difficult fundraising market. Muted valuation multiples have replaced the neon pink sticker price valuations of the early 2020s.

Forecasting 168

Forecasting Startup Pricing Investment 168

Tom Tunguz

MAY 23, 2021

While not as hyperbolic an inflation rate as copper or lumber, the price trajectory of early stage cloud startups does result from a similar supply demand/imbalance. 3 of the years saw declining prices. Perhaps these prices are tied to blockbuster IPO markets. Vibrant secondary markets. 2012: Facebook.

Software Review 364

Software Review Venture Capital Cloud Pricing 364

FastSpring

APRIL 30, 2021

Localized pricing helps software and SaaS companies expand their customer base and increase conversions. When price localization isn’t a part of your growth strategy, it limits long-term growth and prevents your business from reaching customers that want your products and services. What is Price Localization.

Payment Methods 79

Payment Methods SaaS Payments Payments Pricing 79

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 17, 2022

The fundraising market thaws, but at materially lower prices than the first half of 2022. The early stage market prices seeds at $10-15m post & Series As at $50-60m post (with about $500k in ARR). The mid-stage market for Bs, Cs, & Ds rebounds but chaos reigns. 3 of 5 isn’t terrible.

Software Review 261

Software Review Technical Review Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence 261

Tom Tunguz

MAY 10, 2017

When building a SaaS product for salespeople, a startup’s price will inevitably be compared to Salesforce CRM’s cost of about $150 per seat. How expensive is this new product compared to Salesforce? This is the price anchoring effect in the real world. The average app price for iOS is $1.02

Pricing 113

Pricing Software Review Systems Review Mobile 113

Tom Tunguz

MAY 1, 2023

When a startup is born, founders lead sales. Design partners, pilots, or founder-led sales - they have many names - these customers work with a startup to solve a problem. Conversations about contracts & pricing are kicked down the road until the customer sees value & the path to capture it.

Scale 180

Scale Engineering Outsourced Development Sales 180

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 23, 2016

Startups fail when they run out of money. Startups run out of money when they lack focus. Without a maniacal focus on serving customer needs in a unique way, startups can flounder amidst competition. Without product market fit, the business is challenged to generate strong metrics and faces fundraising challenges.

Startup 113

Startup Data Analysis Banking Innovation 113

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Take a look at just some of the topics and mentors hosting Braindates: Core metrics to track for SAAS with Tarush Aggarwal, Founder & Ceo at 5X Pricing as a growth lever – How, what, why? with Yamini Jain, Co-founder at Global roots inc How to manage a SAAS startup effectively?

VP of Engineering 231

VP of Engineering Technical Cofounder Outsourcing Services CTO Coach 231

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Sydney pulled someone from Salesloft with a product marketing background who understands operations, running programs, and being strategic. This person has built out a partnership marketing team within the product marketing team. Prospects don’t just want to know the price, especially in security.

AWS 199

AWS Scale Sales Hiring Marketing 199

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

You have to think about where your product maturity is before making the hire. In a startup, you might have a strong hypothesis, but it might not work out. The Highest ROI Activities from Each GTM Function To wrap up, we asked GC what he’s seen work best in each of the Go-to-Market functions. Experimental vs. Scale.

Scale 252

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Marketing 252

OpenView Labs

FEBRUARY 6, 2020

Editor’s Note: This article is part three of a four-part series that covers the most crucial product marketing activities for an early-stage startup. Ok, we tested the product out with a few potential customers. At what stage in your startup do you need to start to hire a sales team? Sales and Product Marketing.

Scale 52

Scale Product Marketing Sales Hiring Scaling 52

ProfitWell

JANUARY 6, 2020

Imagine a world in which your customers sell your product for you. You just have to achieve stellar product-market fit. Marc Andreessen, cofounder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, put it this way, “product-market fit is when people sell for you.” What is product-market fit? Ideal, right?

Product Marketing 52

Product Marketing Underperforming Technical Team Marketing Advertising 52

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 19, 2016

What is the optimal contract length with for your SaaS startup? It’s common to see SaaS startups initially price their products on a monthly basis, then add an enterprise “Call Me” plan which hides behind it an annual contract. This pricing pattern has a certain rationale to it.

Outsourced Development 100

Outsourced Development SaaS Payments Startup Sales Hiring 100

OpenView Labs

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

Any changes to either of these should cause you to reconsider your pricing strategy. Related read: The Ultimate SaaS Pricing Resources Guide. This is generally a bad thing, as commoditization means lower willingness to pay and less opportunity to make strategic pricing decisions. Has the segmentation itself changed?

Pricing 73

Pricing Marketing Market Segmentation Communication 73

SaaStr

DECEMBER 30, 2022

Not all products are made for enterprise customers. Instead, focus on understanding your target market. . The best way to achieve product-market fit is to study your audience as early as possible and comprehensively overview customer segments in your niche. It’s a waste of time to try to get everyone interested.

Scale 189

Scale Scaling Revenue Enterprise 189

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 29, 2013

How do you validate an idea for a software startup before the product is built? Suppose this founder wasn’t the founder, but the first inside sales hire for the startup. Suppose this founder wasn’t the founder, but the first inside sales hire for the startup. It’s a question without a universal answer.

Product Marketing 100

Product Marketing Sales Hiring Sales Funnel Marketing 100

OpenView Labs

SEPTEMBER 8, 2021

2021 has proven to be the year of usage-based pricing. . 45% of expansion stage SaaS companies now say they have a usage-based or consumption-based pricing model, according to data from OpenView’s forthcoming 2021 Finance and Operations benchmarks report. . Product: Treat product investments as a revenue-generating expense.

Pricing 64

Pricing Customer Success Scale Compensation 64

The Angel VC

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

The last post in my series on DOs and DON'Ts for early-stage startups was about lead generation. If you need a field sales force to sell your product, assume that your ARPA needs to be at least $3000 per customer per month if not higher (enterprise sales).

Scale 153

Scale Sales Hiring Startup Sales 153

Sales Hacker

MARCH 17, 2021

While every entrepreneur dreams of scaling their startup into a multi-million dollar company, many do not understand all that goes into that dream. Combatting missed revenue growth for second-stage startups. What is a second-stage startup? However, at some point, almost every second-stage startup hits a revenue plateau.

Scale 93

Scale Revenue Startup Sales Recruiting 93

User Pilot

APRIL 17, 2024

Mixpanel provides insights into customer journeys to help businesses refine product-market fit and drive growth through data-driven strategies. Hotjar enhances user experience and product development with features like heatmaps and custom integrations, delving deep into user behavior. Enterprise : Contact for custom pricing.

AI Search 102

AI Search Social Media Cross-platform App Design (Application) Systems Review 102

The Angel VC

NOVEMBER 29, 2013

At the bottom I noted what these phases usually mean in terms of the stage of your product and company and which funding level it typically corresponds with. Post product/market fit, pre scale As you’re slowly but surely getting to product/market fit and starting to get the first paying customers (yay!),

Scale 190

Scale Startup SaaS Customer Lifetime Value 190

Tom Tunguz

MAY 13, 2019

My answer was: it’s become incredibly sophisticated along three dimensions: diversity of product offering, pricing sophistication, and efficiency of investment processes. Last year, startups raised the most capital in history, even adjusting for inflation. Startup valuation have become much more quantitative.

Pricing 216

Pricing Startup Investment Trends 216

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 14, 2019

Since writing The AI Agency: A Novel GTM for Machine Learning Startups , I’ve been meeting many companies who operate this way. These startups use machine learning to disrupt an industry traditionally dominated by agencies: law, accounting, recruiting, translation, debt collection, marketing…the list is long.

AI 191

AI Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team Machine Learning 191

The Angel VC

JUNE 28, 2017

I’ve been fascinated by the concept of Product/Market Fit for quite some time. The reason why it’s such an interesting and important concept is that getting to Product/Market Fit (PMF) marks a critical juncture in a company’s lifecycle. What is Product/Market Fit? How can Product/Market Fit be measured?

Sales Hiring 237

Sales Hiring Scale Product Marketing Startup 237

SaaStr

APRIL 2, 2023

Mistake: On the other hand… not betting on the team that got me there “Everything will be fine once we get a new head of [X]” -every startup CEO ever (also me, frequently) When you launch a company, the initial team is usually whoever you can get. To run a startup, you have to make bets. For this one deal, we just need to do X.

Sales Hiring 255

Sales Hiring Scale Scaling Customer Success 255

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

The game on the field has shifted dramatically over the past 12 months, and what matters to a startup today is much different from a couple of years ago. . Choose Your Market And Attack. Blond shares that the key to beating the competition is identifying a segment where you have a strong product-market fit early on.

Marketing 212

Marketing Startup Branding Pricing 212