A really, really rough rule in SaaS is you need a second product firmly in place by 10,000 customers, or $100m ARR, whichever comes first That probably means launching it by the time you have 5,000 customers If your ACV is low, that could be as early as $10m ARR...
Dear SaaStr: How Should I Design a Sales Reps Compensation Plan at Just $10k MRR? Figuring out your very first sales comp plan when you don’t have a repeatable process or much revenue is confusing. I was exactly in the place you were (first rep at $10k MRR) and...
Scaling a tech startup doesn’t come easy, and when you’ve tried all the conventional SaaS advice, it might be tempting to give up. But sometimes, the road less traveled is the path to success. In an eye-opening workshop, WorkRamp CEO Ted Blosser shares how to...
Dear SaaStr: What’s the #1 Way I Can Accelerate My Career Growth? My uber-learnings: Find the best boss you can; and Take on every initiative, project, task, and endeavor you possibly can from her. And work for them for a while. Long enough to get promoted once,...
Q: I’m a startup founder weighing multiple VC term sheets at similar valuations. How should I choose? My force-ranked list of criteria: #1. Who do I truly trust the most? This doesn’t mean who is the “best guy”, or smiley-est, or nicest. In fact,...
Dear SaaStr: How Much Vacation is Normal for an Early Stage Startup CEO? I’ve gotten worse at this. I think many of us have. I can tell you I never skimped on my own vacations as CEO — except in the first year of my second start-up, when for a while I...
A life poorly lived is a trap Go for it at least once — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin (@jasonlk) May 5, 2023 BusinessInsider had a great story a ways back on Datto’s $1b exit to Vista Private Equity (more on the role of PE in SaaS here). So much of it...
So this post isn’t meant to be a sub-tweet, or a sub-post — it’s just a general learning over the years. So please, no one take this personally. It’s not about you. But I’m still going to make one simple suggestion when you go to hire...
If someone is looking for another job in Year 1, Even if they don’t take it … You’ve already basically lost them. Do more 1-on-1sGet more 360 feedbackTalk more I know you don’t have time Make it — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin (@jasonlk) October 11, 2020 So...
In 2020-2021, many SaaS startups faced a unique challenge. With teams spread across the globe, they had to find new working patterns to scale their businesses in a distributed environment. Wiz, one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies focused on security solutions,...
Dear SaaStr: How Difficult is It To Fundraise Over the Summer? There’s still seasonality to venture fundraising, even now with so much being done over Zoom. Yes, deals get done every day in venture. But especially in bigger partnerships, it’s just harder...
Building a company for $0-$1M in revenue differs wildly from $1-10M ARR. And scaling from $10M to $100M is wildly different still. Sameer Dholakia, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners with decades of operational experience, shares what you need to change as you...
The best CMOs are very good at promotions That's part of the job, after all Just make sure at least 50% of their energy goes into promoting the company, and not just their personal brand — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin (@jasonlk) April 15, 2021 CMO is a tough...
Dear SaaStr: How Many Board Seats Do VCs Typically Get? Let me try to simplify, generally speaking: 1. Generally, “proportionate” boards are usually seen as fair, and easy to agree to. I.e., if the investors own 20%, and founders 80%, then investors get 1 board seat,...
"Bootstrapping wasn’t a magical choice for Mailchimp. No one would fund them."https://t.co/I0X6sJVY5t — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin (@jasonlk) May 22, 2023 Dear SaaStr: If you started a new company today how long would you be bootstrapped for...