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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 (@jasonlk) September 22, 2023 The longer you do SaaS, the…
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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 grew. That works for a while, but you end…
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“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% (!), with investments in The Trade Desk, Okta,…
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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 up on the 7 Most Popular Sessions from 2023 Annual,…
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State of the Cloud 2023 with Bessemer Venture Partners (Video + Podcast)
Bessemer Venture Partners share their annual State of the Cloud report, including a look back at the past year, current trends and benchmarks, plus tactics to improve efficiency and innovation.

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 squeeze in U.S.-based SMB sales positions. SaaS…
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SaaS Is Growing Up: 4 Business Model Changes To Adopt with Notion Capital
Many of the fundamental business models that worked in the SaaS playbook are now changing. Discover four ways to stay relevant with Notion Capital.

How To Actually Succeed in SaaS: AMA Part 2 with SaaStr Founder And CEO Jason Lemkin
SaaStr Founder and CEO Jason Lemkin shares how to expand into the Enterprise as a new startup and the future of SaaS in this tell-all.

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 a few months. Hire anyone…
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Dear SaaStr: What Percentage of Shares Should Be Set Aside for Employee Equity?
Dear SaaStr: What Percentage of Shares Should Be Set Aside for Employee Equity? Nuanced answer: A lot. But, the precise number today doesn’t matter. At a practical level, if you are growing quickly, you’ll typically grant 6-8% a year in additional grants (and dilution) — and maybe get half back as folks leave. VC answer:…
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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 Scharf, VP…
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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. We’ve all gotten worse at getting back to prospects and customers…
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Top SaaStr Content for the Week: Craft Ventures’ Founder & General Partner, QED’s Partner, Y Combinator’s Managing Director and lots more!
The top SaaStr content you might have missed for the week of September 17th 2023.

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 learnings,…
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Building a Global SaaS Empire: 5 Bets That Paid Off with Freshworks Founder & CEO Girish Mathrubootham (Video + Pod)
Freshworks is a successful public SaaS company that has a humble beginning in the small town of Chennai, India. Founder and CEO Girish Mathrubootham shares five big bets that paid off as he scaled this multi-product company.
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Dear SaaStr: Can an Entrepreneur Back Out of a Signed Term Sheet Without Damaging Their Reputation?
Dear SaaStr: Can an entrepreneur back out of a signed term sheet without damaging their reputation? In my experience — Yes, probably. As a founder, you can back out of a term sheet if something is off, or even if you just get another offer you prefer. There is a lot...
Why You’re Unfundable in 2023: The Cold, Hard Truths About SaaS AMA Part 2 with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin
Jason Lemkin, CEO and Founder of SaaStr, recently answered our audience’s most pressing questions about the present and future of startups. Here is part 2 of the cold truth about SaaS in 2023.
The Cold, Hard Truths About SaaS In 2023: Part 1 AMA with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin
Jason Lemkin, CEO and Founder of SaaStr, recently answered our audience’s most pressing questions about the present and future of startups. Here is part 1 of the cold truth about SaaS in 2023.
7+ Tips On How To Build Your First Sales Team. When You Have Zero Experience Building One.
Q: How do you structure a sales team when you’ve got zero experience doing sales? Well, first go get some experience with sales. 🙂 At least, close the first 10 customers yourself. If you don’t, you’ll never have any idea how to do it. And the odds your first rep...
15+ Due Diligence Questions You Really Should Be Asking Every VC You Meet
https://twitter.com/jasonlk/status/1295136982658461697 Q: What is the proper way to do due diligence on a VC firm? Here are the things, IMHO and IME, that are most important. First, if you want to do it right, you should diligence both (1) the firm and (2) the...
The 3 Types of Day 1 Pricing: Low End of Normal. Identical. And Anchor High.
Q: As an entrepreneur starting out, is it better to overprice your product or underprice it? I remember years ago I was at an event with the CEO of a SaaS leader. And I asked him how he came up with their freemium pricing model. A data science team? A/B Testing? "No....
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