Dear SaaStr: For High Dollar Vertical SaaS, Does The First VP of Sales Need Domain Expertise?
Dear SaaStr: If you were hiring a head of sales for a high-priced, niche B2B SaaS product, would you focus on general B2B SaaS sales experience or on market/customer knowledge, assuming it will be very difficult to find a candidate with both? This is the scenario when...Median NRR is Still Over 110%. But it’s Fallen to Multi-Year Lows.
So Jamin Ball of Altimeter had a great summary of public company NRR here: The median net retention for the software universe has been steadily declining the last few quarters. More pressure on churn (as companies look to reduce point solutions in favor of platforms)...The Playbook to Hiring Your First VP of Sales and Not Screwing it Up with Brendon Cassidy (Video + Transcript)
So a ways back we did our first SaaStr Scale event in SF, a 1000 person event just on scaling revenue with top CROs, CMOs, and more. It’s since morphed into digital events and this year, the first SaaStr AI Day on March 27. Sign up for FREE here. Brendon...Top SaaStr Content for the Week: 2 New Podcasts, New Workshop Wednesday, Vimeo’s CEO and lots more!
The top SaaStr content you might have missed for the week of March 17th, 2023.
6 Reasons It’s So Hard to Sell Your Start-Up Stock as an Ex-Employee
Dear SaaStr: I Have Some Shares in a Successful Start-Up I Worked At, But the Company Won’t Let Me Sell Them. Why Not?? It’s a real issue that isn’t discussed enough. And while it mainly impacts ex-employees, it also impacts angel and seed investors who are...Should You Hire a Sales Rep First, Or a Sales Manager?
Dear SaaStr: Should I Hire a Sales Rep First, Or a Sales Manager First? The ideal flow is: You (founder-CEO) close the first batch of customers, say the first 10 or 20. If you don’t, you’ll never really know how it’s done. Or be able to help anyone else, really. Then,...What It’s Like Running a Profitable $400M Public SaaS Company with Vimeo CEO Adam Gross
Vimeo CEO and SaaS veteran Adam Gross and Jason Lemkin, SaaStr founder and CEO talking about running a profitable public company with $400M in revenue.
Try Micromilestones to Push Through Slower Growth: The 2024 Edition
Going though a slow patch is one thing We almost all go through one or two Settling for slow growth is another You never really come back from that one — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin 🇮🇱 (@jasonlk) December 31, 2022 When I was CEO at Adobe Sign / EchoSign, I made a...How To Take Care of Yourself As a Founder
Dear SaaStr: How Do You Take Care of Yourself As a Founder? Quiet quitting, feeling sorry for yourself, working 30 hours a week, etc. — that doesn’t really work for a founder. It may feel good in the short term, but it doesn’t work. It doesn’t get you to success. But...RevenueCat: Free Trials Are Way Up, Pricing is Stable in Mobile Subscriptions
So RevenueCat (where I was fortunate enough to be the first investor) now is the embedded mobile subscription API for 30,000 (!) mobile apps, across 290,000,000 subscribers and $6.7 Billion in tracked revenue. So they do have interesting data. Their 2024 State of...Doubling Down: Lucy Deland, Co-founder & General Partner at Inspired Capital
“Doubling Down” is a new series where we hear from top B2B SaaS investors on their most recent activities and takes on the current market. We had a great one last time with Peter Specht, Partner at Creandum. Check that out here. This week we’re...Dear SaaStr: How Can You Land Big Customers If You’re a New Startup No One Has Heard Of?
Dear SaaStr: How Can You Land Big Customers If You’re a New Startup No One Has Heard Of? Solve one of their top pain points, for real — that no other vendor is solving. If you haven’t sold to the F500 / Global 2000 before, you’ll be somewhat surprised to learn...5 Interesting Learnings from Snowflake at $3+ Billion in ARR
So at $3.1 Billion in ARR, Snowflake finally feels a bit … human. Like a truly epic, incredible, generational tech leader. But perhaps, no longer like it’s from another planet altogether 🙂 After years of metrics (170%+ NRR) and growth (110% at ~$1B ARR)...How to Solve Unsolvable Problems with Generative AI for Startups with Google Cloud
The Head of Generative AI at Google talks about the trends and opportunities of GenAI for SaaS Startups with Legal OS, Innovation Endeavors and Ultimate.