SaaStr

DECEMBER 27, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How Much Money Have VCs Lost on Startups In the Past 5 Years? Dealroom data from here The post Dear SaaStr: How Much Money Have VCs Lost on Startups In the Past 5 Years? Im going to estimate about $200-$300 Billion of losses. Not all realized yet, but about that much. Why $300 Billion? appeared first on SaaStr.

Startup 246

Startup Investment Data 246

SaaStr

APRIL 13, 2025

Dear SaaStr: How Much of a Threat is AI to Traditional B2B Startups Today? link] — Marc Benioff (@Benioff) March 29, 2025 In most cases, AI wont outright kill SaaS B2B startups now or even soon. Explosion of Competition : AI has lowered the barriers to entry for new startups. In fact, they are embracing it.

AI 165

AI B2B Startup Innovation 165

SaaStr

DECEMBER 1, 2024

The post Dear SaaStr: What Is The Shortest Time It Took for a Startup to Go From Launch to IPO? But a useful metric to understand nevertheless. More on that data here: It’s Taking Longer and Longer to IPO. Years Or More For The Next Batch. appeared first on SaaStr.

Startup 264

Startup Finance Software Metrics 264

SaaStr

JANUARY 14, 2025

The post Lightspeed VC: 100% of Startups See $250k+ Deals Take Longer Than 6 Months to Close appeared first on SaaStr. It was also helpful to see that respondents said 53% of $100k deals close in less than 3 months. A related post here: Dear SaaStr: How You Deal With Long Sales Cycles, E.g. 7-8+ Months?

Startup 278

Startup Cloud Sales Data 278

SaaStr

APRIL 13, 2025

Don’t try to evolve into a compound startup later – Unlike conventional wisdom about starting focused and expanding, Conrad believes it’s “really hard” to transition from a point solution to a compound startup: “You kind of have to almost refound the company.” The advantages are substantial: 1.

Startup 162

Startup Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Cloud 162

SaaStr

DECEMBER 30, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What is it like to be pitched by startups as an investor? There is no point IMHO in meeting any startup you dont think you would potentially invest in. The post Dear SaaStr: What Is It Like to be Pitched by Startups as an Investor? This is 80%+ of the investments Ive done. These are also a great use of your time.

Startup 264

Startup CTO Investment Marketing 264

SaaStr

OCTOBER 13, 2024

Lemkin Change his Point of View on The Value of a COO for Earlier Stage Startups? Lemkin Change his Point of View on The Value of a COO for Earlier Stage Startups? Dear SaaStr: Why did Jason M. I try to work with (and invest in) CEOs that are better than me. they all failed or came up way short. appeared first on SaaStr.

Sales Hiring 263

Sales Hiring CTO Hire Scale Startup 263

TechEmpower SaaS

JULY 31, 2023

When talking to startup founders or other innovators, we always ask questions to better understand their business as a core. Conclusion Startup metrics are an invaluable tool for founders and innovators. Focus on building an MVP to gather startup metrics. What does the business do? How does it meet customers’ needs?

Metrics 390

Metrics Startup Scale New CTO 390

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

Dear SaaStr: Should SaaS Startups Really Have CROs or COOs? Theres no way a SaaS startup needs a CRO or COO or other C-level Officers Without a Clear, Single Functional Area to Own Until $40m-50m+ in ARR. image from here ) The post Dear SaaStr: Should SaaS Startups Really Have CROs or COOs? Is That Too Many Management Layers?

Sales Hiring 213

Sales Hiring Startup Management SaaS 213

TechEmpower SaaS

AUGUST 7, 2023

What does it mean to be a CTO for a startup? Should a startup CTO spend their time programming? Here’s a graphic from Socal CTO that illustrates the roles as they change over time: In its earliest days, a startup’s top need is often to produce a product. What does the role demand? Exploring new technologies? It might be.

CTO Hire 390

CTO Hire New CTO CTO Fractional VPE 390

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

Dear SaaStr: What Factors Do Investors Consider When Deciding to Exit a Startup? A deep dive in this convo with Dave Kellogg: The post Dear SaaStr: What Factors Do Investors Consider When Deciding to Exit a Startup? Investors rarely get to choose. Founders and the CEO make the decision to exit. appeared first on SaaStr.

Startup 226

Startup 226

TechEmpower SaaS

JULY 12, 2023

This helps your startup stay agile and competitive in a fast-paced marketplace. A Fractional CTO bridges the gap between founders and developers to help keep your tech strategy aligned with your business goals.

CTO Hire 975

CTO Hire CTO Startup Development 975

SaaStr

APRIL 4, 2025

Promptless is used by fast-growing startups and Fortune 500 enterprises alike to automatically update docs based on feature releases, support tickets, internal Slack conversations, and more. These startups demonstrate deep technical expertise, clear ROI cases, and impressive early traction.

AI Search 179

AI Search AI Startup Scale 179

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

Most startups play defense when discussing pricing with customers. Startups operate in newer markets where pricing standards haven’t been set. But throughout this turmoil, startups must adopt a process to craft a good pricing strategy, and re-evaluate prices periodically, at least once per year. AWS, Twilio, Heroku, etc.

SaaS Payments 283

SaaS Payments Pricing Strategy Scale 283

SaaStr

MAY 23, 2024

So Emergence Capital put together a great report here on B2B startups, “Beyond Benchmarks 2024” , with a ton of great data across 664 software startups. One piece I loved is how 2023 growth rates compared to 2022 for Top Quartile Software Startups. From $5m-$20m ARR, top quartile startups are growing 58%.

Startup 342

Startup Benchmarks B2B Pricing 342

SaaStr

DECEMBER 2, 2023

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. So, so many SaaS startups got funded in the Boom, and they just can’t all make it. And the latest Carta data here supports that. Now it sort of has to be that way.

Startup 321

Startup Cloud Pricing Data 321

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 28, 2024

What drives the acquisition market of startups? It’s the big deals. In the last decade, the total number of venture backed software M&A by count has remained relatively constant. The black line shows the linear trend across US venture backed companies with disclosed values of $50m or more.

Acquisition 314

Acquisition Startup Venture Capital Software 314

SaaStr

JUNE 2, 2024

The post Maybe Only 10%-15% of VC Backed Startups Can Raise Another Round Right Now appeared first on SaaStr. And at the growth stage, top decile may not even be enough to raise another round. Ask your existing investors. They will know. More on that here: Are You Fundable in 2024? Just Ask Your Existing Investors. Just Ask Them.

Startup 353

Startup Metrics Data Software 353

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 22, 2024

Suppose you’re a startup in a competitive market with a large incumbent who owns the system of record - the software that runs the sales team or the support team or the marketing team. In the last decade, startups have chosen to identify a feature or workflow to improve & leverage that wedge into an advantage. How do you win?

AI 312

AI Startup Software Metrics 312

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. Carpe Diem.

Startup 357

Startup Venture Capital Azure AWS 357

SaaStr

DECEMBER 27, 2024

AI in B2B SaaS: The Incumbent Advantage On the AI revolution in B2B software, it’s the age-old ‘startups are innovating and racing to get distribution, and the bigger companies have distribution and are racing to innovate.’ ’ The twist this time is the data is very hard for startups to acquire or accumulate.

AI 290

AI Marketing SaaS Interviewing 290

SaaStr

JULY 24, 2024

In a recent Workshop Wednesday, SaaStr Founder and CEO, Jason Lemkin sat down to discuss 9 signs a startup isn’t going to make it. So, let’s look at the nine signs a startup will likely not be a real success. Sign #2: You’re Too Slow to Hire VPs If you want to gauge momentum in a startup, see how quickly they hire VPs.

Sales Hiring 306

Sales Hiring Startup Scale SMB 306

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 11, 2024

Dear SaaStr: In B2B Startups, How Useful is Cold Calling? The post Dear SaaStr: In B2B Startups, How Useful is Cold Calling? Look, I hate getting those calls. Especially the really pushy, dumb ones from SDRs that barely know their own products. Do those work? I don’t know. But we aren’t always our buyers.

B2B 310

B2B Startup Outbound Sales Team Branding 310

SaaStr

MAY 30, 2024

So I firmly you believe you can build an incredible SaaS startup from anywhere now, or at least, any major-ish tech center. Of Pre-Seed Rounds Are to California Startups per Carta appeared first on SaaStr. See, e.g., Atlassian, Canva, Cloudflare (CEO now in Park City), Adyen, etc. Heck, Oracle apparently is moving to Nashville!

Startup 312

Startup Investment SaaS Data 312

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

Parker Conrad, founder CEO at Rippling, has done a great job including at SaaStr Europa talking about building compound startups. Answers from the CEOs of Twilio, Veeva, Amplitude, HubSpot, Gainsight and More The post The #1 Biggest Issue for SaaS Startups In The End appeared first on SaaStr. We can’t all be Rippling.

Startup 305

Startup SaaS Investment Enterprise 305

SaaStr

JULY 22, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What Should One Do After a Failed Startup? The post Dear SaaStr: What Should One Do After a Failed Startup? If it “failed” after < 12-24 months or so, and you didn’t raise any or too much money — it doesn’t matter too much. No one will care. Dust yourself off, and decide if you want to do another one.

Startup 298

Startup Business Leadership 298

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 306

Startup Sales SaaS Enterprise 306

SaaStr

AUGUST 16, 2024

Dear SaaStr: When Should You Sell Your Startup? The post Is Selling Your Startup “Good” or “Bad” For The Employees? But if the time has come to sell … if your experience and guy says it’s time … fight for them again. But don’t assume it’s not the journey for them. It might not be.

Startup 316

Startup CTO Leadership Acquisition 316

SaaStr

OCTOBER 19, 2024

Note I did take out a few that would have made the list but were a bit dated etc: #1, 279,000 Views: “How To Perfectly Pitch Your Seed Stage Startup With Y Combinator’s Michael Seibel: Ycombinator is pretty popular #2. So if you want to catch up, here are The Top 10 Most Popular SaaStr YouTube Sessions of All Time.

Acquisition 289

Acquisition Innovation Startup Engineering 289

SaaStr

AUGUST 16, 2024

Dear SaaStr: When Should a CEO Tell Startup Employees That The Company Is Going Under? It’s more common these days than in the past, given all the explosion of capital in 2020-2021 … into startups that aren’t going to make it. Everyone knows in a startup, even a big one. But they know when things are … off.

Startup 312

Startup Interviewing 312