How do you build GTM efficiency in SMB sales? The CRO at Owner, Kyle Norton, shares his learnings and strategies for building better efficiency into your GTM motion.
While this title is SMB-oriented, the advice applies to Mid-Market and Enterprise, too. The three topics we’ll focus on are:
The importance of staying focused and how to say no.
Ways to scale that don’t include rampant inefficiency and burn.
How to build operational excellence into your organization at different stages of the growth curve.
Assume you can’t kick out investors. And plan accordingly. There are some limited exceptions, especially if you do nonstandard types of convertible debt or only raise a very small amount of capital. But for the most part, you are stuck with your investors forever. In...
Dear SaaStr: What Are Some Common Mistakes Made by Less Successful Entrepreneurs? Mistakes less successful (but not total failure) entrepreneurs make: They can’t control the burn rate. You can slow down time if you raise a bunch of VC money, but you can’t stop it....
Dear SaaStr: How Much Should I Talk About the Competition in a Pitch Deck? The best startup pitch decks almost all have great competition slides. Why? Because the best CEOs: Respect the competition. Even if they plan to destroy them. Know the space cold. Even in the...
So last month, two companies I’ve invested in: both crossed $5m in ARR both also grew at the exact same rate last month MoM both also basically have the same ACV (~$50k) both have about the same number of folks on the sales and marketing teams, respectively both...
Why do founders leave after their companies are acquired? There are many nuanced answers, but in the short and medium term, it’s incentives. Acquirers use 3 incentives to get founders to stay: Sticks. If you leave, you lose X% of the consideration. Acquirers try to...
So you raised your first real VC round? Congrats! Mostly. It’s all Feel Goods right after a round closes. It can seem like nothing has changed but the bank account. But in reality, a lot has changed. Expectations have changed. So a few thoughts if you...
What’s the toughest part of running a startup? A partial list: Recruiting. This is always hard, forever. Co-founder Conflict. Hopefully, you don’t have this. If you do, boy it’s hard. Almost running out of money. Happens to almost all of us....