Dear SaaStr: My Startup is Nearing The End of its Runway – and I Found Out My CEO Has Been Taking Money from the Company. What Should I Do?
Dear SaaStr: My startup is nearing the end of its runway – and I found out my CEO has been taking money from the company. What should I do? Unfortunately, this is a little more common than you think. Maybe even more common today than a few years back, as VC...
CEO Compensation Today: Is It Broken? A Deep Dive With Brian Halligan Chair of HubSpot on What’s Wrong and How to Fix It
The uncomfortable truth about how we’re paying CEOs at the best tech companies wrong— and why it’s creating the wrong incentives for growth. A Candid Conversation with Brian Halligan Chair and Co-Founder of HubSpot on CEO Comp Reality We sat down on 20VC +...
Dear SaaStr: How Many Deals Can a Sales Rep Close Per Month?
Dear SaaStr: How Many Deals Can a Sales Rep Close Per Month? A successful but not top 5% sales rep in SaaS typically can close: 20–50 deals a month if $0.5k-$2k ACV, i.e., very transactional 1–2 call close. Usually all inbound. 10–15 deals a month if $5k-$25k ACV...
Dear SaaStr: If a Startup at $1.5M ARR is Hiring a COO, How Much Equity Should They Get?
Dear SaaStr: If a startup is at $1.5M ARR and is looking to hire an experienced COO how much equity should they give him/her? 0%. I think $1.5m ARR is too early for an experienced COO in 95 cases out of 100 — unless it’s a total rocketship and you plan to...
Dear SaaStr: If a Startup Raises $40 Million and Fails to Sell The Company, Do Founders Typically Exit With a Severance Package?
Dear SaaStr: If a Startup Raises $40 Million and Fails to Sell The Company, Do Founders Typically Exit With a Severance Package? Very rarely in a failed start-up, irrespective of the amount raised, will the founders end up with anything. If the start-up has raised a...
Dear SaaStr: When My Startup Raises $10m, Would It Be Appropriate to Take a $170k Salary (no co founders)?
Dear SaaStr: When My Startup Raises $10m, Would It Be Appropriate to Take a $170k Salary (no co founders)? Yes, not a problem. You should take a “market correct” salary as soon as it’s economically immaterial to the company. I don’t write $10m...
Dear SaaStr: How Do You Compensate Reps on Multi-Year Deals?
Dear SaaStr: How Do You Compensate Reps on Multi-Year Deals? In the early days, when Cash is King, pay the sales reps a full commission on all cash paid up-front. It’s what I did. 95% of the time, this is what you want to do. As as a SaaS founder, I paid...
How Much Equity Should a CEO Ultimately Have? Answer: 8%-10% On Average At IPO
Dear SaaStr: How Much Equity Should a CEO Have in a Startup? There’s no magical answer, but for venture-backed start-ups, for years VCs have aligned on around 6%-8% equity for a non-founder / outside CEO. As you approach IPO and very late stage, that often goes down....
Dear SaaStr: How Do You Fairly Divide Up Founders’ Shares?
Dear SaaStr: How should shares in a startup be divided between 4 co-founders? If we have equal shares, what if one of us puts in a cash injection at a later date? You’ve got two good, different questions here. Question #1: How should you divide shares up between 4...
2024 State of SaaS: Trends and Predictions with SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin
At Pavilion’s CEO Summit, SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin, took the stage to share what’s most top of mind for him at the start of 2024.
Dear SaaStr: Should I Go Into SaaS Sales?
Dear SaaStr: Should I Go Into SaaS Sales? If you aren’t sure you want to go into sales — don’t do it. Maybe in 2021, when many SaaS leaders were growing at simply unprecedented rates, could succeed in sales if you weren’t sure you wanted to sell. Not today. A...
Four Sales Compensation Tactics for Consumption-Based GTM with MongoDB’s SVP of Sales
Learn four sales compensation tactics that work to drive behaviors for consumption-based businesses like MongoDB from its SVP Sales.
At the Top SaaS Companies, Founder-CEOs Own ~15% at IPO. And Most Co-Founders Are Not Equal (And That’s OK). — UPDATED
I was curious a ways back how many Cloud and SaaS IPOs had founders that were equal co-founders from an equity perspective. That was how I was brought up (the first start-up job I had, the founders were equal shareholders). And I generally thought that 50:50 was the...
What’s New at Greenhouse: $200M ARR, AI in the Real World, Going Big with PE, and More
Discover what’s new at Greenhouse, a $200M ARR recruiting software company. CEO and co-founder Daniel Chait and SaaStr founder and CEO Jason Lemkin discuss AI, trends in the market, getting bought by PE, and much more.
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