Ok, the Best But Craziest Year Ever for SaaS isn’t quite over, but as it drives to a conclusion, we thought it would be worth looking back at top posts you may have missed in 2020.
Let’s take a look at the Top 20 of 2020:
1. “The Era of the SaaS Decacorn is Here”. That’s for sure. Many Cloud leaders grew 500% or more this year. Slack was acquired for $28b. Zoom and Shopify zoomed past $100b in valuation. Wow.
2. “How Would a Person Start a Venture Capital Fund?” The grass isn’t always greener, folks. More details on why and how here:
3. “Atlassian and AWS Say: Maybe Worry a Little Bit.” When will this incredible run for Cloud and SaaS end? Atlassian and AWS, two of the greats, may hold a clue:
4. “A Framework For Your First SaaS Sales Comp Plan”. A SaaStr Classic, still going strong in 2020.
5. “Additional Health & Safety Rules for 2020 SaaStr Annual”. Alas, SaaStr Annual was forced to go digital this year. We were the first major tech conference to not be able to proceed. We were way, way early with rules on social distancing and more, but it wasn’t enough. But we went on to host 5 incredible digital events that reached 100,000+ … and we’ll be back IRL in 2021. More on that soon!
6. “What Makes a Great VP of Sales and How to Hire One”. Another SaaStr Classic that is just as relevent today.
7. “VC or Founders: Who Makes More?” We answer the debate with real data:
8. “2 Cold Emails I Funded for Millions”. Yes, cold email does work with VCs, especially seed-stage. Here are a few updated examples I funded for millions. That are now, literally, worth billions. With the actual cold emails.
9. “What Are Typical Price Increases in SaaS?” A bit surprised this made the Top 10, but it did!
10. “Public SaaS Companies Are Now Worth $1 Trillion”. Another fun one that the media picked up a bit. What a crazy year for Cloud.
Want more? Here’s the next batch:
11. “About 70% of SaaS Unicorns Are New Versions of Existing Categories of Software”. A personal favorite.
12. “At the Top SaaS Companies, Founder-CEOs Own ~15% at IPO. And Most Co-Founders Are Not Equal (And That’s OK).” Some great data in here.
13. “The “Covid Boost” for SaaS Will Last Years”. The boost builds on itself.
14. “How Bridge Rounds Work in Venture Capital: Messy, Full of Drama, and Not Without High Risk.” When in doubt, keep it simple.
15. “Should Google Acquire Salesforce?” Maybe.
16. “9 Questions To Ask Candidates for Your First Head of Customer Success.” No one asks many of these key questions.
17. “Is This The Beginning of the End of the Bay Area as The Global HQ of SaaS?”. No, but it has all changed.
18. “Grow Something That Matters. Even If It Isn’t Revenue.” Even in the toughest times, you can grow something that matters. Even if you don’t know how to grow sales per se.
19. “Don’t Leave the Bay Area Just Yet”. There are still important reasons to stay.
20. “Hire the Right Type of VP Marketing — Or You’ll Just End Up With a Bunch of Blue Pens with Your Logo On Them.” A SaaStr classic.
And have some fun looking back at some of our top sessions from 2020 as well!
