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. But there are multiple ways to build a leader, and startup don’t always start off with high NRR even if they end up there.

Startup 260

Startup SaaS SMB Banking 260

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What Is The Best Indicators of Product Market Fit at an Early Stage SaaS B2B Startup? This is a rough metric, but I’d say from experience working closely with 25+ SaaS companies … if you aren’t growing > 10% a month after $10k in MRR or so … then you don’t yet have product-market fit. Not yet at least.

Product Marketing 271

Product Marketing B2B Startup Marketing 271

SaaStr

DECEMBER 26, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What Is A Good Demo Conversion Rate for a SaaS Startup? This is why SaaS start-ups often are so proud of their “amazing” conversion rates before they hire a real VP of Demand Gen. If fewer than 8%-10% or so of your demos convert to paid customers, you’ll start to burn out your sales team. Even that’s a lot.

Scale 243

Scale Startup Sales Hiring SaaS 243

SaaStr

DECEMBER 2, 2023

So things aren’t all “bad” in SaaS. But for many startups, the hangover from the Excesses of 2021 is a real and tough one. Startups shutting down are up 238% this year — already. Startups shutting down are up 238% this year — already. And the latest Carta data here supports that. But Be Kind.

Startup 285

Startup Cloud Pricing Data 285

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Can A SaaS Startup Really Scale With 2 Co-CEOs? But here’s the thing: the best startups are all outliers. Two of the biggest successes in SaaS that have co-CEOs! The post Dear SaaStr: Can A SaaS Startup Really Scale With 2 Co-CEOs? I sort of tried this myself, and it didn’t quite work.

Scaling 229

Scaling Startup SaaS 229

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2022

The Day in SaaS, 07.28.22: Public SaaS companies are worth exactly 50% of What They Were 12 Months Ago: [link] pic.twitter.com/pbK4BmoNwo. The best of the best in SaaS and Cloud, truly the fastest growing and most iconic SaaS companies, from Snowflake to Datadog and more are way, way down. But what about startups?

Startup 300

Startup Venture Capital SaaS Cloud 300

SaaStr

MARCH 27, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How Can an Early Stage SaaS Startup Get its First 1-3 Pilot Fortune 500 Paying Customers? The post Dear SaaStr: How Can an Early Stage SaaS Startup Get its First 1-3 Pilot Fortune 500 Paying Customers? It’s not magic. And it’s not a mystery. appeared first on SaaStr.

Startup 222

Startup SaaS Enterprise Business 222

SaaStr

OCTOBER 3, 2022

Dear SaaStr: Why Do Most SaaS Startups Fail? SaaS), it’s usually going to take you 24 months to get to any truly meaningful revenues , and probably 36 months to get to enough repeating/repeatable revenues to have a really stable business. (note: an updated SaaStr Classic answer). You should worry. But here’s the thing.

Startup 249

Startup SaaS Mobile Revenue 249

SaaStr

JANUARY 4, 2024

It was mixed actually, even if startups didn’t seem to get a breather, it wasn’t so bad for most public SaaS leaders. And yet … it wasn’t all bad, for the bigger guys: The median SaaS and Cloud stock was up 41% in 2023! Most SaaS leaders flipped to cash-flow positive, for many, for the first time.

Startup 174

Startup SaaS AI Pricing 174

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How often will a sales engineer also wear a customer success hat in an early stage of an SaaS startup? Pretty darn common. The “traditional” role of a sales engineer is to support the sales team through the close of a deal. And as you scale, the role should likely end there. appeared first on SaaStr.

Scale 241

Scale Engineering Customer Success Startup 241

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 18, 2023

SaaS products and services like Pilot track the finances of 1,000s of SaaS and other startup so they’re an interesting source of hard data. Something that’s both not surprising but also pretty impactful: 57% of venture-backed startups will have to go “back to market” in 2024 to raise more capital.

Startup 323

Startup Venture Capital Azure AWS 323

SaaStr

JANUARY 27, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What are some common reasons for the failure of startups? My experience across leading 30+ seed investments, including 4 billion+ exits so far, on why startups fail: Not 200% committed to winning no matter what. That might be OK for a few months, but beyond that, startups fall into a decay curve they don’t recover from.

Startup 226

Startup Scale CTO Pricing 226

SaaStr

AUGUST 24, 2021

Q: What are the best marketing techniques for an early stage SaaS startup? But in general, most startups find that at best 1–2 channels really work for them. In the end, 30%-80% of new leads for most SaaS companies come from word-of-mouth and similar referrals. Too many startups waste their list and email campaigns.

Scale 337

Scale Startup Marketing SaaS 337

SaaStr

AUGUST 8, 2022

Dear SaaStr: How Long Does It Take the Average SaaS Startup to “Exit”? I took a look a little while back at how long it took the average SaaS company that was sold for $1B+ to get that acquisition. It just takes time to create true value in B2B and SaaS. The answer? years on average, with a median of 10.0

Startup 285

Startup SaaS Acquisition B2B 285

SaaStr

JULY 24, 2023

Dear SaaStr: How does a SaaS company find its initial price point? Good Price image from here ) The post Dear SaaStr: How does a SaaS Startup Find Its Initial Price Point? It’s pretty simple. The comp could be a direct competitor, an indirect competitor, or merely something in another market that provides somewhat similar value.

Pricing 214

Pricing Startup SaaS Marketing 214

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

Dear SaaStr: How Does a SaaS Startup Break Out in a Crowded Market? Most SaaS markets are crowded today. But the thing is: As Bigger SaaS companies cross $100m in ARR, and then $1B in ARR, they stop focusing on smaller niches. The post Dear SaaStr: How Does a SaaS Startup Break Out in a Crowded Market?

Startup 238

Startup Healthcare Marketing SaaS 238

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 4, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Do CEOs of Successful SaaS Startups Ever Have Any Free/Down Time? A related post here : Branson image from here The post Dear SaaStr: Do CEOs of Successful SaaS Startups Ever Have Any Free/Down Time? But how many other hours have I thought about work, come up with new ideas, spot issues, etc.?

Startup 262

Startup SaaS 262

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 10, 2022

I’m going to tell you a bit about two startups and I’d like you to guess the name of each company. Both startups provide database software to developers to build applications. The fastest growing public SaaS company last year charted 1.1x Both of these businesses are publicly traded. Both have grown very fast.

Startup 329

Startup Pricing Revenue Software 329

SaaStr

OCTOBER 11, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Cold Emails Are Not Working for My B2B SaaS Startup. s The post Dear SaaStr: Cold Emails Are Not Working for My B2B SaaS Startup. What Am I Doing Wrong? We’ve all been there. But if both are true — at least once, to start. a little more here: [link] Outbound Always Works. If You Do It Right.

B2B 238

B2B Startup SaaS Marketing 238

SaaStr

JUNE 27, 2020

A little while back we put together some of the top sales & marketing mistakes SaaS companies and founders make, especially in the early days. Hire stretch reps if you want, but someone without any closing experience likely can’t close at your startup no one has ever heard of. Yes, Box is SaaS. A bit more here.

Sales Hiring 363

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Marketing 363

SaaStr

AUGUST 10, 2023

Dear SaaStr: How Can You Grow a SaaS Startup Without Spending a Ton on Sales and Marketing? 9 views 1 share The post Dear SaaStr: How Can You Grow a SaaS Startup Without Spending a Ton on Sales and Marketing? It’s hard but it can be done. appeared first on SaaStr.

Scale 232

Scale Venture Capital Startup Marketing 232

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 3, 2022

Dear SaaStr: What Are The Top Things to Know Before Starting a SaaS Startup? Venture capital is a niche type of funding and 99% of startups will never be able to raise venture capital. If you want to, understand what it takes to be in that 1% of fundable startups. You can’t settle here. You need to know your 10x feature.

Venture Capital 273

Venture Capital Startup CTO SaaS 273

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. Ask about comp.

ChatGPT 154

ChatGPT SaaS Interviewing AI 154

SaaStr

APRIL 20, 2024

In the SaaS industry, 80% of buyers choose companies they’ve heard of, making brand recognition a critical factor in revenue growth. Product Marketing and Early-Stage Priorities Product marketing is not a priority for most startups. Brand marketing helps sustain word-of-mouth growth, which is a key driver of customer acquisition.

Sales Hiring 265

Sales Hiring Startup Marketing Technical Review 265

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. Most stuff won’t work.

Metrics 220

Metrics Scale Sales Hiring SaaS 220

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2022

Q: Where is the best place to launch a B2B-startup in 2022? If you could choose any country or place to launch a B2B-startup which one would you choose? Where is the best place to launch a B2B startup — when almost all of us are now running distributed teams? And the benefits of “second cities” in SaaS are real.

Startup 210

Startup SaaS B2B Investment 210

SaaStr

MARCH 16, 2023

The post Dear SaaStr: What Is a Typical Organizational Structure for a SaaS Startup With Sales Reps? Likely, someone that is either too late stage for you, or someone that hasn’t really done it before. appeared first on SaaStr.

Sales Hiring 298

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Compensation 298

SaaStr

JULY 28, 2023

So Capchase surveyed 900 SaaS businesses between $1m and $15m ARR, and their data showed what I’ve seen as well: it’s tougher out there,and media growth is down. You can download the full report here : The post Capchase: The Best SaaS Startups Are Still Growing 100%-200% To $10m ARR and Beyond appeared first on SaaStr.

Venture Capital 208

Venture Capital Startup SaaS Data 208

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

I believed it then, I believe it now, and as a SaaS founder, I wish I’d taken some of the founder secondary offered to me. If you build something truly great and important in SaaS, you should make $100m+, or more. I don’t see it at the truly most successful startups. The post Tech and Startups Have Changed.

Startup 238

Startup Venture Capital Investment Scaling 238

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

And for many in SaaS, especially those that sell mainly to startups and tech, it’s often been a rough 2 years. Well, the best in SaaS and venture and Cloud are not just still growing at epic rates, but they’re acquiring so much funding … they can still run the 2021 playbook. So can you pay less these days?

Startup 252

Startup Social Media AI Cloud 252

SaaStr

MARCH 12, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What Successful Startups Were Launched While The Founders Worked 9 to 5? I’m not aware of any huge successes in SaaS that were active side projects while the founders worked at different companies. link] The post Dear SaaStr: What Successful Startups Were Launched While The Founders Worked 9 to 5?

Startup 229

Startup Consulting SaaS Business 229

SaaStr

MARCH 6, 2021

Recently I spent some time with two seemingly similar SaaS start-ups. And at least in this case, in this case study, the difference to me is clear: the Better Positioned $1m ARR SaaS Start-Up Knew Its Customers From Day 1. But this is SaaS. The post Planning to Do a SaaS Startup? Both have great founder CEOs.

Interviewing 353

Interviewing Startup SaaS Enterprise 353

SaaStr

APRIL 10, 2023

B2B SaaS companies often aim to land large enterprise clients that can bring with them long relationships and large deals. However, what many businesses may overlook is the startup segment. Often, startups are lumped in with small businesses, yet this approach fails to recognize what motivates and attracts these early-stage companies.

Startup 216

Startup Scale SMB Venture Capital 216

SaaStr

MARCH 8, 2024

They weren’t a 3H startup. SaaS + hardware, SaaS + payments, etc. So be extra careful here — you have to be even more efficient than pure SaaS. Yes, HubSpot didn’t get to 100% NRR until well past $30m ARR. But we aren’t all HubSpot. Be even more careful if your gross margins are <70% or so.

Churn 235

Churn Startup SaaS Payments Venture Capital 235