IPOs are Back! Really, Really Good Ones. It’s Just — The Market Is a Bit “Meh” For Now
So Klaviyo and Instacart reopened the IPO markets — from a 20 year low. We are back. At least, for the very best. Mostly. Two great leaders, worth almost $10B now and public, and both “priced” at the high end of the IPO ranges. Klaviyo is the more...
Dear SaaStr: What Are You Supposed To Say — And Not Say — During a VC Intro Call?
Dear SaaStr: What Are You Supposed To Say — And Not Say — During a VC Intro Call? Be wary of some of the advice you hear. The goal is not to get a “coffee”, or just to “learn”. A VC intro call is a sales call. Your job — if you want funding now, or later —...
Hiring Your VPs: When Can You Compromise? (UPDATED)
Sometimes, you just have to lower the bar to get a hire done You've just run out of time, and you can't find someone great Only thing is I've never seen a single one of those hires work out — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin (@jasonlk) September 19, 2023 I...
My App Stack: Jessica Gilmartin, Chief Marketing Officer of Calendly
“My App Stack” is a new series where we dig in with top CMOs, CROs, CTOs and CEOs on just what apps they’re really using to run their business. I always learn a lot from these — they are in essence a best practices list from each leader. Last week we had a great one...
Be Honest: How Easy Is It To Really Switch to Your App? (Updated)
When you ask customers to switch from an existing vendor to you … Do you offer to do ALL the work? The migration?The implementation?The integrations?The data mapping? If not, imagine all the friction you could remove if you did — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin ...
Salesforce, Samsara, Monday and More: “Layoffs are Over. We’re Back to Hiring. Thousands.”
So tougher times aren’t over for everyone that has had them. But we’re lapping tougher times for many, and for many others, it’s just plain time to hire again. So many Cloud and SaaS leaders kept hiring flat for the past 12-18 months, and yet still...
“Is the Seed VC Model Broken?” New!! 20VC With Floodgate, Founder Collective, Harry and Jason
So Harry Stebbings was kind enough to have us back in the new group format on 20VC with 2 of the legends in seed investing, Eric Paley of Founder Collective and Mike Maples of Floodgate: While both aren’t pure SaaS investors, they’re both in the top 1%...
Watch The Top 7 Sessions From 2023 SaaStr Annual!!
Missed our biggest, best SaaStr Annual ever? No problem! We’ll start transcribing, publishing, Youtube-ing, and podcast-ing all the top sessions. Some are already up, and you can watch at ton of them here on the Live tab on YouTube. But if you want to catch...
Can We Even Afford to Do SMB Sales in the U.S. Anymore?
So I’ve been doing SaaS for a while, and the costs of doing business have just gone up. Inflation is everywhere. Salaries have gone up. Marketing expenses have gone up. And expectations for OTE have gone way up. The net effect I see this happening today is a...
At About $2m in ARR, Every Great Hire Will Be Accretive.
The very best hires in SaaS cost you nothing. You can always afford them. Who should you hire, with limited budget? A VP of Sales? A Director of Demand Gen? Or A Head of Product? The answer is Yes. A truly great hire is >always< accretive. At least within just...
My App Stack: Sarah Scharf, VP of Marketing of Vanta
“My App Stack” is a new series where we dig in with top CMOs, CROs, CTOs and CEOs on just what apps they’re really using to run their business. I always learn a lot from these — they are in essence a best practices list from each leader. This week we have Sarah...
How to Be a Much Better Sales Executive in About 60 Seconds
So this post is, in some ways, a repeat. I’ve made this point before. But never in its own post. And I’m making it again because it’s something between all these Calendly invites, and side hustles, and more that everyone has gotten worse at....
Is It a Good Idea to Give the First Customers of a New SaaS Startup a Discount to Get Them On Board?
Dear SaaStr: Is it a good idea to give the first customers of a new SaaS startup a discount to get them on board? First, it is a good idea to give the first customers a fair price so that price isn’t an issue. So you close them, get the reference account, get the...
The Top 10 Mistakes First Time SaaS Founders Make (Updated)
When you’re about to hire someone with an amazing logo on their LinkedIn, That worked somewhere so amazing, so great, so similar to what you want to become Just ask yourself: -> Would we still hire them without that logo? If not, do not make hire And … you gotta be...
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