Dear SaaStr: What Will Venture Capitalists Do if Our Startup is a Loss?
Dear SaaStr: What Will Venture Capitalists Do if Our Startup is a Loss? Move on. Especially, if you’ve only raise one VC round or so. This is telling article re: Bill Gurley, one of the best VC investors of all time: “I give Bill a lot of credit because Bill...
Discounts, Expiring Deals, and Urgency: Understanding Human Behavior in Sales
I’m not that great at sales myself (not really), but I am a student of it. A few things I’ve observed about human behavior, negotiation, and good and bad sales processes in SaaS: Customers that expect a discount really expect a discount. It’s generally easier to mark...
CRO Confidential: How to Sell in a Hyper-Competitive Space with Apollo CRO Leandra Fishman
SaaStr’s CRO Confidential podcast host Sam Blond chats with the CRO of Apollo, Leandra Fishman, about Apollo’s success in a competitive market, emphasizing product differentiation, value-based selling, and the importance of customer relationships in driving sales success.
Dear SaaStr: Is It Normal to Feel Like a Pest When Prospecting for Customers For a Startup?
Dear SaaStr: Is It Normal to Feel Like a Pest When Prospecting for Customers For a Startup? Yes. Get better at it, get over it, and hire folks who know how to do it. Boy sales is hard. It’s being told No a lot. It’s having literal, or virtual, doors shut on your...The 21 Top Excuses for Not Closing A Deal (Updated)
Things mediocre sales reps say: 🤷"So it turns out they don't have budget after all" ❓"I had a great call with a customer! Not sure about next steps, though." 💸"Can I discount even more?" 🤣 "Where do I find the collateral...
I’m Thinking of Joining an Early Stage Startup as the First Sales Exec. How Do I Pick Right?
Dear SaaStr: I’m Being Recruited by a Startup That Just Raised $5m. How Do I Vet Them? First, there’s probably something there if they raised $5m. That’s never as easy at it sounds. It means the early traction looks good, or the team looks strong, or...
5 Interesting Learnings from Klaviyo at $800,000,000 in ARR
So we’ve covered Klaviyo several times at SaaStr, and we’re super excited CEO Andrew Bialecki is coming to 2024 SaaStr Annual Sep 10-12 in SF Bay to share his learnings!! (We also have a great deep dive we did a little ways back with Andrew below)....
How to Navigate the Shift to Generative AI with PagerDuty’s CEO Jennifer Tejada
Jennifer Tejada, CEO of PagerDuty, discusses the influence of AI on business workflows, focusing on automating operations, maintaining customer trust, and navigating generative AI challenges. Together with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin, they addresses the role of AI in managing incidents, improving efficiency, and changing decision-making in enterprises. Lastly, we delve into how AI and human roles can coexist, foreseeing a shift towards high-value work as automation increases, with a call for leaders to embrace AI’s potential while adapting to technological advancements.
Dear SaaStr: How Hard Is It To Get to $1m ARR Without Investors?
Dear SaaStr: How Hard Is It To Get to $1m ARR Without Investors? My learnings are three-fold. First, it depends on the team. Most of the SaaS unicorns have been built on at least some venture capital … but a number haven’t. Atlassian ($30b market cap), Qualtrics...
Do Sales Execs Need to Be Micromanaged? It’s Complicated
So a few stories from the past few weeks reminded me of a meta-challenge in managing a sales team in the founder-led sales: so many sales execs need to be micromanaged, at least up to a point. It’s not just me. Sam Blond, CRO of Brex made a similar point at our...
Dear SaaStr: What Do Founders Need to Know to Navigate a Merger/Acquisition?
Dear SaaStr: What Do Founders Need to Know to Navigate a Merger/Acquisition? My #1 tip: Get Zen. Once you sell it, it is not yours anymore. And both your upside and your downside are now capped. You can no longer fail or run out of money, but really, you can no longer...
The Most Important SaaS Metric of All: Net New Customer Growth
HubSpot is at $2.3 Billion in ARR (!) There's a lot to be impressed with, but #1 is that it is >still< growing its new customer count 23% a year Even at 200,000+ customers Even at $2,300,000,000 in ARR This is the #1 KPI for me in SaaS. Net new customer...
Dear SaaStr: Funding Aside, What Are The Top 3 Things That Stop SaaS Companies From Growing From ~$25k MRR to ~$250k MRR?
Dear SaaStr: Funding Aside, What Are The Top 3 Things That Stop SaaS Companies From Growing From ~$25k MRR to ~$250k MRR? Let’s step back. If you have gotten to $25k in MRR ($300k in ARR) … you have something. Real. It’s not big enough yet. But it’s real. So … You...
Champion Change: You Gotta Jump On It
You think your Big Co Customers are old & established,And you are new & tiny Yes it's true But as the years go by, you'll still be thereAnd your champions at the BigCos will move on You have to re-sell Big Customers every 2 years or so — Jason...
Founder SaaStr
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