SaaStr

JULY 16, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What Does a Typical Day Look Like for a SaaS Sales Rep? But 90% of SaaS sales reps aren’t that. image from here ) The post What a Typical Day Looks Like for a SaaS Sales Rep appeared first on SaaStr. Here’s my experience directly and indirectly for inside sales AE, from about $1m to $50m in ARR or so.

Scale 220

Scale Sales SaaS Travel 220

SaaStr

JUNE 19, 2024

Dear SaaStr: Does a SaaS Startup CEO Need to Have Sales Skill? The post Dear SaaStr: Does a SaaS Startup CEO Need to Have Sales Skill? Yes, if you have customers that talk to humans. Possibly no, if you only have “users” and/or are a freemium + no-touch model. But if you build Snowflake or Datadog or Box, you have to get good at it.

Startup 270

Startup Sales SaaS Enterprise 270

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 2, 2023

So there’s a question I’ve had for some time in SaaS: does high NRR really equal higher growth? Yes, most of the best in SaaS have high NRR, at least once they are public. SaaS Capital asked this question among some other great ones of 1,500 private SaaS companies here. This wasn’t obvious to me.

Startup 266

Startup SaaS SMB Banking 266

SaaStr

MAY 28, 2024

Struggling to find a job in SaaS today? But on the other hand … literally almost every SaaS company I know doing even reasonably well is hiring. So finding a job may be 5x harder than 2021, but there are still a vast number of unfilled roles at just about every good or great SaaS company. Here’s the thing. Do it for real.

ChatGPT 215

ChatGPT SaaS Interviewing AI 215

SaaStr

MAY 8, 2024

As a SaaS veteran who built and sold a software company for nine figures, invested in startups since 2013, 10x-ing his fund, and continues to build a powerhouse community of SaaStr fans, he offers some hot takes on the communities’ burning questions. The average public SaaS company is twice as efficient. Let’s start with the meta. “I

Metrics 227

Metrics Scale Sales Hiring SaaS 227

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

And then in 2022, the markets crashed hard in SaaS. Since then, overall, SaaS multiples have stayed relatively low, at 6x ARR on average — for public SaaS companies. Almost every public SaaS leader has strong, positive operating margins now, often approaching 20% or more. But SaaS and Cloud keep growing.

SaaS 219

SaaS Cloud Scale Engineering 219

Tom Tunguz

JULY 10, 2024

We can observe the market trends today across some of the larger SaaS companies who offer AI pricing. But greater productivity may reduce the demand for seats over time, ultimately decreasing the size of software markets. Company Product Base Price AI Price Ratio Github Github Enterprise 21 10 0.67 Gitlab GitLab Duo 19 20 1.05

AI 191

AI Pricing Sales Hiring Strategy 191

SaaStr

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Lower interest rates lead to SaaS multiple reflation, likely during 2H’24 It’s not clear how truly tight the link is between interest rates and SaaS multiples, but the overall correlation is clear. Lower inflation and the fed lowering interest rates should lead to an expansion of SaaS multiples.

Scale 272

Scale SaaS AI Innovation 272

SaaStr

APRIL 30, 2024

The SaaS companies that actually IPO’d. And how old is the average SaaS CEO at … founding? And I suspect with so many SaaS and Cloud veterans now, we’ll see the average stay about the same, but more and more SaaS leaders started by folks at 40+. It takes 20+ years to go big in SaaS.

SaaS 257

SaaS Cloud Engineering Technology 257

SaaStr

JANUARY 3, 2024

Dear SaaStr: Should I Go Into SaaS Sales? Maybe in 2021, when many SaaS leaders were growing at simply unprecedented rates, could succeed in sales if you weren’t sure you wanted to sell. The post Dear SaaStr: Should I Go Into SaaS Sales? If you aren’t sure you want to go into sales — don’t do it. Not today.

Sales Recruiting 259

Sales Recruiting Sales SaaS Management 259

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 7, 2023

Why will web3 companies dress like SaaS mutton? Web3 startups will sell software to web2 buyers & in the process become web2 SaaS businesses with unique & defensible architectural advantages & a different capital structure. In the mid-2010s, every web1 company became a web2 company. This time it’s different.

Blockchain 245

Blockchain SaaS Scale Cloud 245

SaaStr

JULY 5, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What’s The Average Size at Which a SaaS company Will Typically Get Acquired? Those are the SaaS businesses BigCos and PE firms can add layers of management, marketing pushes, etc. And these days, for many PE firms (Thoma Bravo, Vista, etc.) the bar is more like $20m ARR and efficiency. appeared first on SaaStr.

SaaS 223

SaaS Acquisition Scaling Startup 223

SaaStr

JANUARY 26, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What Are Some of the Biggest Changes for SaaS Founders and Startups in 2024? Slower Growth in SaaS is Internalized. A few I’m watching: #1. The Rise of One-and-Done Fundraising as a Vibe Founders will get back to only planning to raise one round to truly get to product-market fit for real. A related post here. #2.

SaaS 248

SaaS Startup Scaling Product Marketing 248

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2024

Rebecca Lynn, Co-Founder and General Partner at Canvas Ventures, and Jake Heller, CEO and Co-Founder at Casetext, share the top 10 questions every SaaS founder needs to ask their customers to course correct when facing near-death experiences. Casetext was acquired for $650M in cash, but they, too, faced near-death experiences.

Scale 170

Scale SMB SaaS Sales Hiring 170

SaaStr

JUNE 30, 2024

Dear SaaStr: Do Referral Programs Work for SaaS? Some great learnings here from Gorgias on how, like Shopify and HubSpot, 40% of their almost 20,000 customers come from partners: (image from here ) The post Yes, Referral Programs Work for SaaS. Well, for sure. But You Gotta Put in the Work. And The Time. appeared first on SaaStr.

SaaS 275

SaaS Investment Revenue Startup 275

For Entrepreneurs with David Skok

OCTOBER 28, 2021

2021 SAAS SURVEY – Part 1 For the eighth year in a row, we’re proud to work with KBCM Technology Group (formerly Pacific Crest Securities) Thank you to the readers of forEntrepreneurs who participated in taking the survey! Thank you also to Adam Noily and the team at KBCM Technology Group for their work on.

SaaS 342

SaaS Technology Startup 342

SaaStr

MAY 22, 2023

Not easy, but easier and easier: There was a bump in 2016, a Flash Crash in SaaS, when budgets were slashed, but it didn’t last long enough to really impact renewal cycles. SaaS markets had fully recovered later that year. Even the 2008-2009 downturn, while truly brutal, didn’t hit SaaS as hard as the rest of the economy.

SaaS 261

SaaS Churn Sales Software 261

SaaStr

DECEMBER 21, 2023

So there were barely any SaaS IPOs in 2022 or 2023. The last big SaaS IPO of the Boom Era was Hashicorp in December 2021, and after that, multiples fell off a cliff. There were basically no significant SaaS IPOs for almost 2 years, until Klaviyo (+ Instacast + ARM) all tried to reopen the market in September 2023.

SaaS 298

SaaS Software Marketing Management 298

SaaStr

MAY 26, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What Are Some Early Red Flags That Your SaaS Solution Doesn’t Have Real Product-Market Fit? There are 10,000+ SaaS vendors today, maybe more. Sometimes the 1.0 is cool, oftentimes it is clever, but many times it just isn’t quite the innovation customers are willing to pay for. Sometimes the 1.0

Product Marketing 277

Product Marketing Marketing SaaS Market Research 277

SaaStr

JUNE 12, 2024

So there’s one clear source of unhappiness in SaaS hiring. 1000+ Unicorns were born, flooded with capital, sales efficiency didn’t matter, and buyers were buying SaaS products at a rate we hadn’t seen before. More are in AI or Vertical SaaS or Security than some traditional parts of B2B, but they are still there.

Sales Hiring 250

Sales Hiring SaaS Startup AI 250

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 4, 2021

The “Rule of 40” is one of the most commonly cited valuation benchmarks in SaaS for both public and private companies. The SaaS “Rule of 40” has gained popularity due to its simplicity, requiring only two common financial metrics to be added together. What Is The SaaS “Rule of 40”?

SaaS 282

SaaS Technical Review Benchmarks Azure 282

SaaStr

DECEMBER 25, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Should SaaS Pricing Be Adjusted for Different Geographical Markets? The post Dear SaaStr: Should SaaS Pricing Be Adjusted for Different Geographical Markets? Your public pricing? Usually the answer is — Not Today. First, it’s complex to manage. Third, it’s unlikely to move the needle. Usually — wait.

Pricing 264

Pricing Marketing SaaS Development 264

SaaStr

JULY 15, 2024

The post What is a Successful Pivot in SaaS with Skyflow’s CEO Anshu Sharma appeared first on SaaStr. Many try to keep and sell it to someone else, which is why most pivots fail. Most great companies have never pivoted. They evolved in strategy and added new S-curves.

Payment Services 191

Payment Services SaaS Payments Payment Methods PayPal 191

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

(And yes, I know we can argue Databricks is neither really Cloud nor really SaaS. I’d argue that doesn’t much matter — its comparables are the Cloud and SaaS leaders). Canva image from here ) The post Canva and Databricks: The Two Big Potential SaaS / Cloud IPOs of 2024 appeared first on SaaStr.

Cloud 294

Cloud SaaS Enterprise Branding 294

SaaStr

DECEMBER 13, 2023

So Jamin Ball at Altimeter Capital probably does the best job of tracking SaaS and Cloud metrics of public companies of anyone out there. And for many in SaaS, we’re merely bouncing off a bottom: We did deep dives with both Henry Shuck, CEO of ZoomInfo, and Aaron Levie, CEO of Box the past few weeks. Albeit Only a Little Bit.

SaaS 263

SaaS Cloud Scale Metrics 263

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Why Do So Many SaaS CEOs Get Fired? More here: SaaS CEOs That Go The Distance, To IPO … Tend To Be Founder-CEOs (see you soon image from here ) The post Dear SaaStr: Why Do So Many SaaS CEOs Get Fired? I think this is a bit of a misnomer. And both companies did quite well. appeared first on SaaStr.

SaaS 255

SaaS Investment 255

SaaStr

MARCH 18, 2024

Dear SaaStr: If you were hiring a head of sales for a high-priced, niche B2B SaaS product, would you focus on general B2B SaaS sales experience or on market/customer knowledge, assuming it will be very difficult to find a candidate with both? So be wary of hiring generic B2B reps into your early-stage, complex vertical B2B SaaS.

Sales Hiring 288

Sales Hiring Sales SaaS B2B 288

SaaStr

MARCH 5, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What’s the #1 Most Important Thing in Pricing A New SaaS Product? Most first-time SaaS CEOs price too low and don’t drive ACVs up quickly enough because they don’t quite yet understand the context of the product. The post What’s the #1 Most Important Thing in Pricing A New SaaS Product? And Anchor High.

Pricing 219

Pricing SaaS Software 219

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 280

Scale SaaS Banking AWS 280

SaaStr

JUNE 29, 2023

SaaS buying has changed. As buyers grapple with expanding technology, higher prices, and a need for efficiency, SaaS companies need to deliver what their audience is looking for to win in the market. SaaS Market Snapshot In Q1 of 2023, Vendr gathered data on SaaS Spending and yielded some pretty interesting results.

VP of Engineering 257

VP of Engineering Trends Cybersecurity Sales Hiring 257