AI Apps The SaaStr Team Loves — and Uses Every Day
These are the AI tools that help our tiny SaaStr team just hum. We’re not a massive organization with unlimited resources. We’re a tiny team that needs to punch above our weight every single day. These tools make that possible. 50% of SaaStr already runs...
The Confounding Logic of Discounting
There can be nothing more frustrating in the middle-early days than when sales closes some great deal for, say, $125,000 a year … but you “knew” they could have gotten $200,000 if they just held the line on discounting. You’d talked to that...
Yes, Open AI Has Raised an Insane Amount of Money. But It Tracks Insane Growth Almost 1:1
When Sam Altman talks about OpenAI’s path to $125B in revenue by 2029, most folks focus on the AI magic. But the real story is simpler and more profound: OpenAI cracked the code on parallel scaling of funding and revenue in a way no other company in history has...
Dear SaaStr: How Should Startup Founders Approach Early-Stage Hiring?
Dear SaaStr: How Should Startup Founders Approach Early-Stage Hiring? Early-stage hiring is one of the most critical things a founder will do—it sets the foundation for everything else. Here’s how you should approach it: Be relentless about recruiting. Relentless. To...
The Early Days: How Deel Went From $1m to $100m ARR in Just 20 Months
👉 10 Things Deel Did to Get from $1M to $100M ARR in 20 Months Deel recently announced it had crossed $1 billion in ARR, joining the exclusive club of B2B companies that have reached true unicorn revenue status. But how did they actually get there? The foundation was...
How AI Led Palantir From Slow Growth (13%) to Hypergrowth (49%!)
How a 20-year-old company found its second wind in the AI era TL;DR: Palantir just posted 39% YoY growth in Q1 2025, marking a stunning turnaround from the 13% growth trough of 2023. An unprecedented one in B2B. This isn’t just a comeback story—it’s a...
10 Marketing Tactics That Always Work for Early-Stage SaaS StartUps
Dear SaaStr: What are the best marketing techniques for an early-stage SaaS startup? My list of things that almost always work in B2B marketing: Try everything — and Double Down on anything that works. If your price point is very low, this sometimes doesn’t work. But...
Dear SaaStr: How Should Founders Build Their First Customer Success Team?
Dear SaaStr: How Should Founders Build Their First Customer Success Team? Building a Customer Success (CS) team early is critical for SaaS startups. Here’s how early-stage founders should approach it: Hire Early, Even Before It Feels Necessary Don’t wait until churn...
7 Of The Biggest Mistakes First-Time Founders Make. And How They Can Be Avoided.
Dear SaaStr: What Are The Biggest Mistakes First-Time Founders Make, and How Can They Be Avoided? Here’s my list in SaaS: #1.  Being reluctant to go up-market. Not everyone should go up-market. But if you have a bunch of $5 a month customers, and then a few offer to...
IPO Offerings Are Already Up 62.5% This Year. With Much More to Come. We’re Back
TL;DR: The IPO market isn’t just recovering—it’s thriving. Strong aftermarket performance, growing deal volume, and investor appetite signal the renaissance is here. Remember when everyone was waiting for the IPO market to “come back”? Stop...
Dear SaaStr: What Are The Rough Benchmarks for Raising a Series A?
Dear SaaStr: What Are The Rough Benchmarks for Raising a Series A? When it comes to raising a Series A, the benchmarks can vary depending on your market, growth trajectory, and the type of B2B business you’re building. But here are some general guidelines: ARR (Annual...
Sink or Swim: Every Enterprise Conversation is AI Today. And Every Enterprise AI is Different.
I spent this past week at the MaestrQA user conference with 200+ contact center and quality managers, where I’m on the board with SaaStr Fund. The attendee list read like a who’s who of both arguably more cutting-edge tech leaders—Brex, Oura Ring,...
10 Brutal Truths From Coatue About AI and Who Gets Left Behind: The Great Separation
Leading crossover VC firm Coatue recently put together its highly detailed East Meets West Conference overview of AI, Growth and Tech here. A lot we know, but it’s a very good collection of data and optimism on AI + B2B going forward The Great Separation: 10...
6 Key Signs a VP of Sales Can’t Scale Beyond $5m-$10m ARR
The best VPs can recruit in ways I barely understand You need someone for a key role? They somehow have 2-3 strong candidates in a week or two This is so, so hard But the very best VPs make it somehow look almost effortless It's also the only way to scale —...
Founder SaaStr
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