SaaStr

JANUARY 3, 2025

If you missed part 1 of this interview, you can catch up on their conversation about the current state of SaaS, evolving board meeting formats, and how AI is reshaping the industry. In sales, t he more SMB you are, the more you should lean on your bench. Lean into self-motivated talent.

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Sales Hiring Scale Systems Review Interviewing 291

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

There are a few alternatives for AI-driven products: Triple the per seat price : If the AI agent is 3x as productive as a human, the software company could charge 3x as much per seat. Move to usage-based pricing : AI software might be priced like databases, charging for compute. across major SaaS vendors.

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SaaS Payments Pricing Strategy Scale 283

SaaStr

APRIL 30, 2024

How do you build GTM efficiency in SMB sales? While this title is SMB-oriented, the advice applies to Mid-Market and Enterprise, too. With AI, this gets even easier. The post How to Build Go-to-Market Efficiency in SMB Sales with Owner.com CRO Kyle Norton appeared first on SaaStr.

Scale 307

Scale SMB Sales Hiring Sales 307

SaaStr

OCTOBER 26, 2023

In a year like this, SMB is doing worse, with a lot more churn and startups going out of business. But in other years, SMBs are jumping in the boat, so you get amazing growth long-term with a multi-segment strategy. But in other years, SMBs are jumping in the boat, so you get amazing growth long-term with a multi-segment strategy.

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Sales Hiring AI SMB Scale 287

FastSpring

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

In this episode, we’re going to be talking about how SMB digital brands can win the best talent Joining us for that conversation is someone who knows quite a bit about that. Yeah, I think especially now with AI, there so many garbage messages and people are so tired of being solicited to and sold to and advertised to all the time.

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SMB Sales Recruiting Branding Sales Hiring 107

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 27, 2024

But it’s not, and it’s being reinvented, so what’s changed in the space with the introduction of automation and AI? How Much Time Should a CEO Be Involved With Customers When you have a high-velocity SMB motion that’s still sales-driven, how much time should the CEO spend in sales and with customers?

SaaS Payments 261

SaaS Payments Payments Payment Solutions Payment Services 261

SaaStr

MARCH 8, 2024

With everything in AI moving so rapidly, what’s the best way to price Artificial Intelligence products or SaaS tools with custom AI features and integrations? So we asked the expert, Sandhya Hegde, General Partner at Unusual Ventures to share her best practices and trends for pricing and packaging AI products. Usage is volatile.

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AI Artificial Intelligence Pricing SaaS 274

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 7, 2024

Automation and AI are critical in SMB Vertical SaaS … due to a lack of labor Automation and AI are less about efficiency in SMB vertical SaaS than simply dealing with a lack of labor. Automation and AI solve this. #3. Onboarding has to be much slicker for SMBs. Today, the customers expect it all. #2.

SaaS Payments 317

SaaS Payments Payments Payment Methods SMB 317

SaaStr

AUGUST 16, 2024

Andrew Bialecki, CEO Klaviyo This will be an epic deep dive on just how you get an SMB+ app to almost $1B in ARR — all while having incredibly happy customers. And a deep, honest and data-driven look at what works, and what doesn’t today, in AI. This will be a special one. And an epic one. #2. Across 16,000+ customers.

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CTO SMB AI B2B 313

SaaStr

AUGUST 31, 2024

There are so many mixed signals: Unicorn product is up 2x over last year, but layoffs continue AI spend is fast and furious, with Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, etc. Overall, SaaS leaders tied to non-tech buyers or tied to AI are still growing at epic rates. 70% of Monday’s SMB customers are outside of tech. Billion in ARR.

Azure 329

Azure SMB Cloud AI 329

SaaStr

DECEMBER 27, 2023

For B2B Generative AI Apps, is Less More? with Andreessen Horowitz This one on AI was super popular! #5. 10 Learnings on High Velocity Sales to SMB with Gorgias’ CEO and VPS Gorgias has 13,000 SMB customers. 10 Learnings on High Velocity Sales to SMB with Gorgias’ CEO and VPS Gorgias has 13,000 SMB customers.

Scale 290

Scale SMB Generative AI AI 290

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2024

ARR: SMB leader HubSpot Enterprise vertical SaaS leader Veeva And collaboration leader DropBox All at the same ARR, but with very different growth profiles, and profitabilty. So the #2 topic in SaaS today is probably profitability and efficiency. #1 But profitability is a close second. And the message to founders is confusing.

SMB 313

SMB SaaS AI Scaling 313

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

They released many more products, with Freddy AI in 2018 and, as of last month, launched the Freshworks Customer Service Suite, which is an omni-channel for B2C to engage with customers on Instagram and other places. The average SMB customer would buy 4-5 seats of Freshdesk. Inbound isn’t just about SMB customers. The lesson?

Sales Hiring 290

Sales Hiring Scale SMB SaaS 290

SaaStr

MARCH 28, 2025

SMB customers. For SMB SaaS, aim for 6 quarters of LTV:CAC, not 4 Ren adjusted the traditional benchmark because SMB customers stay longer than typically measured. They expect products to be more elegant and integrated, with features like payments, workflow, and AI.”

SMB 130

SMB Payments Payment Services SaaS Payments 130

SaaStr

AUGUST 30, 2023

G2 CEO Godard Abel deep dives into his original vision for G2, going multi-product, selling with multiple sales teams, demand gen spend, and why AI is the most important thing right now. You can filter your search by industry, whether you’re SMB, mid-market, or Enterprise, etc. AI is just a better interface than forms-based searching.

AI Search 245

AI Search AI ChatGPT Scale 245

SaaStr

OCTOBER 29, 2023

10+ Actionable Things You Can Do To Scale Faster In The Early Days The Chat GPT Growth Story: How AI is Changing the Way We Work The Challenge with SMB SaaS: High Growth Can Only Mask High Churn For Just So Long (Updated) Dear SaaStr: My Top Sales Rep Made $600,000 a Year — And Just Quit! What Happened? What Happened?

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ChatGPT Scale SMB AI 279

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

One thing that has positively changed for customer success, especially for the SMB-focused, is far larger onboarding teams. This is great news because onboarding is one of the best ways to bring down churn for SMBs. And that’s where AI comes in. 43% of CS teams have adopted AI, which means that 57% have not.

Customer Success 305

Customer Success Sales Hiring Scale Headcount 305

SaaStr

MARCH 28, 2025

Make sure your product is API-friendly and AI-friendly and designed to work well with others. More here: 7 Thoughts on Building Your First Partner Program And how Gorgias got to 10,000+ SMB customers with partners here: Decide which of these is most critical to your business and focus there first.

Scale 147

Scale Sales Hiring SMB Enterprise 147

SaaStr

JANUARY 3, 2024

Shrav added that if you want to close bigger deals, not just Enterprise, but mid-market and SMB as well, that the moment you’re ready to Go-To-Market, you need to become compliant. Shrav sees security and AI as the two biggest faces in software for the next decade. “Gartner’s newest I.T. .”

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AI SMB Sales Hiring compliance 163

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2023

Leveling Up PLG to Accelerate SMB Customers, Including More Attention to Onboarding I love seeing this, it can seem hard to invest heavily in small customers, but if you don’t especially invest in onboarding, that’s a big shame. A big change from their roots with smaller SMBs. #4. Automation / AI is Already a Big Deal.

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SMB AI Onboarding Cloud 300

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 17, 2023

SaaStr 684: A Deep Dive Into G2, The Power Of AI, Going Multi-Product, And The 2023 Ecosystem  4. The Next Best in About 5 Years. 5 Interesting Learnings from Samsara At Almost $1 Billion in ARR Top Podcasts This Week: 1. SaaStr 685: Why Investors Love SaaS with SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin and QED Partner Amias Gerety on Fintech Beat     3.

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Scale SMB Management Acquisition 296

SaaStr

APRIL 9, 2023

SaaStr 647: Scaling The Top SMB SaaS Companies: What It Takes with GGV Capital Managing Director Jeff Richards and GGV Capital Partner Tiffany Luck   3. LIVE Workshop Wednesday with Theory Ventures: The Impact of Generative AI on Software 4. All Your VPs Really Need to Do is Tilt the Curve Top Podcasts This Week: 1.

Scale 246

Scale SMB Generative AI Management 246

SaaStr

OCTOBER 20, 2022

Note this doesn’t include SMB spend, it’s enterprise focused): In a slightly more dated survey, Gartner found in July 69% of CFOs plan to increase their digital spending in 2023. 32% are increasing investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and 24% in hyperautomation”, per Gartner. That’s not 100%.

Forecasting 306

Forecasting Artificial Intelligence Software Business 306

SaaStr

MARCH 22, 2024

After switching to SaaS, she started as an SMB sales leader with no prior management or SMB sales experience. Automation and AI could solve for that. Different Pathways to CRO For Jane Kim, former CRO of CircleCl,, she used to work in finance before transitioning to SaaS.

Scale 306

Scale Underperforming Technical Team SMB Finance 306

Payrix

JANUARY 28, 2025

AIs role in payments Artificial intelligence is reshaping the payments landscape. Companies are leveraging AI to enhance customer experiences, streamline operations, and combat fraud. Matt stressed that businesses not incorporating AI into their strategies risk falling behind. AI certainly made the list this year.

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Payments Payment Solutions Merchant Services Payment Methods 130

SaaStr

APRIL 16, 2023

SaaStr 650: The Impact of Generative AI on Software With Theory Ventures Founder & General Partner Tomasz Tunguz  2. LIVE Workshop Wednesday with Theory Ventures: The Impact of Generative AI on Software 4. SaaStr 649: Being a Rebel and Building a Movement: Non-Traditional Approaches to Scale with DoNotPay CEO Joshua Browder   3.

Generative AI 240

Generative AI SMB Education AI 240

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 22, 2024

For SaaS businesses that target smaller SMB customer segments, gross retention is typically in the mid to low 80’s with net expansion in the ~105% range. This brings me to AI (everything leads to AI these days…). A huge portion of AI revenue today is truly experimental!

AI 190

AI Cloud Revenue Technical Advisors 190

SaaStr

DECEMBER 20, 2023

So to serve both segments at the simultaneously, ZoomInfo has been rolling out a Product-led sales motion, that gives the ability for an SMB customer to sign up directly on their website for a free trial and grow into a paid customer, without ever having to talk to an sales rep or go through a demo process. What technologies do they use?

New CTO 316

New CTO Scale Sales Hiring CTO Hire 316

SaaStr

JANUARY 29, 2021

Sticking with SMBs, even as go more enterprise. Kyle noted this is a top board-level discussion, with enterprise customers worth 100x or more than SMBs. But Salesloft wants to keep to its roots as well and retain SMB customers. Instead, he argues that AI should enhance the human-to-human sales experience.

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Scale Social Media SMB AI 307

SaaStr

MAY 8, 2024

For sales, we lost a little of the picture in 2021, but for all eternity in software, we’ve had 3x, 4x, and 5x multiples for SMB, Mid-Market, and Enterprise, respectively. The only way to get a decent deal on AI is to make a commit. Q: Will AI change any of the above? Nothing is going to change with AI,” Jason says.

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Metrics Scale Sales Hiring SaaS 277

Andreessen Horowitz

MARCH 8, 2024

Ever since ChatGPT catapulted generative AI into public consciousness over a year ago, we’ve been introduced to thousands of new consumer products that incorporate the magic of AI — from video generators to workflow hacks , creativity tools to virtual companions. More on what’s behind the spike in AI companionship below.)

AI Search 145

AI Search AI ChatGPT Mobile 145

Unbounce

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021

As online competition intensifies and consumer expectations continue to evolve, Unbounce’s latest innovation is a crucial part of the company’s aggressive ambitions: To help small and midsize businesses (SMBs) optimize their marketing with AI marketing insights traditionally designed for large corporations. ”

AI 141

AI Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Marketing 141

SaaStr

JULY 22, 2022

Koehler emphasized the similarity in pain points across multiple customer segments: “It doesn’t matter if you’re an SMB…or a large enterprise: You’re trying to figure out, ‘How do I create a better customer experience? Box: Conversational AI technology. How do I engage my customers? Key Takeaways: What’s New in 2022?

B2C 290

B2C Scale Marketing Sales Hiring 290

Andreessen Horowitz

JUNE 3, 2024

Over the past year, generative AI’s capacity for content creation has drawn most of the noisiest headlines: how AI models can instantaneously create Pixar-like shorts starring your pet chihuahua, or drum up the Drake-Kendrick Lamar diss track you never knew you wanted. Concurrently, the way companies view marketing is changing.

AI Search 121

AI Search AI Outsourcing Services Payment Solutions 121

SaaStr

JULY 8, 2022

Half of Gorgias’ almost 10,000 SMB customers come from partners. The Future of AI, Open Source, and Enterprise SaaS with Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi. #12. A classic SaaStr Annual session here that has resonated 58,400 times. #4. How Leveraging Partnerships Can 2x Your Growth with Gorgias CEO Romain Lapeyre.

VP of Engineering 279

VP of Engineering Scale Outbound Sales Team SMB 279

SaaStr

JANUARY 18, 2022

Over the last decade, Dataiku has built a robust enterprise AI platform. In that time, they’ve managed to appeal not just to the big players of the industry, but to the SMB market as well. But how can you build a product that provides a superior experience across vastly different scales? .

Customer Success 279

Customer Success Scale SMB Enterprise 279

SaaStr

OCTOBER 31, 2023

The new app was extremely customer-focused and solved problems for people, like Doordash or Netflix might do, but within Enterprise and SMB. What Comes Next — AI It’s hard to look to the future without talking about AI. It was a Frankenstein for transient travelers. Navan is working on a chatbot, and she’s becoming really smart.

Payment Solutions 289

Payment Solutions Payments Travel Scale 289