SaaStr

MAY 8, 2024

Let’s jump right into this set of community questions focused on SaaS metrics, growth, and efficiency. What metrics should we expect in this environment? These payback metrics are important for investing. Q: When it comes to GTM efficiency, what are the most important leading indicator metrics? Do zero-cost budgeting.

Metrics 272

Metrics Scale Sales Hiring SaaS 272

SaaStr

JUNE 8, 2022

When you work in B2B marketing, you don’t often get a great reason to show off your work to your friends and family. B2B marketing has a reputation for being more performance-oriented than brand-oriented. Check it out: This campaign proves that we B2B marketers can be just as creative as anyone when it comes to advertising.

B2B 300

B2B Branding Marketing B2C 300

Intercom, Inc.

OCTOBER 18, 2021

The SaaS industry is full of advice on the perfect product metrics to gauge your users’ activation, engagement, and interactions. If you don’t know exactly what questions you want answered, these product metrics leave you blinded by the very data you hoped would open your eyes. What are product metrics?

Metrics 269

Metrics Customer Lifetime Value User Experience Engagement 269

Chart Mogul

OCTOBER 30, 2024

Satisfaction > Adoption When determining success metrics, don’t lose sight of the difference between clues and facts. Satisfaction > Adoption when it comes to determining a good success metric. Good success planning is key. Customers don’t care about your title Account Executive? Account Manager? Customer Success Manager?

Management 105

Management B2B SaaS Scale 105

SaaStr

DECEMBER 3, 2023

So over the past decade-and-a-half we’ve come up with a lot of yardsticks, metrics and rules for SaaS companies. E.g.,: CAC of < 12 months is Good-to-Great Paying sales reps 25%-30% of what they close is Good A burn ratio of 1 or less is Good These metrics do sort of work, if you have some capital to spend (i.e., It depends.

SaaS Payments 278

SaaS Payments Metrics SMB Payments 278

SaaStr

OCTOBER 3, 2023

PST, Bo Borland, founder, and CEO of playbuilt, shares four steps for creating repeatable success at every stage of growth, specifically in B2B Enterprise. Let’s look at Borland’s approach to aligning and executing B2B team selling motions for a rinse-and-repeat process for growth. Mapping 9-box to the buyer’s journey and team roles.

Enterprise 291

Enterprise B2B Scale SMB 291

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2024

It’s to say many of us do not know how to use AI effectively enough yet to impact conversion metrics. #6: 8: 3x Net Dollar Retention Thanks to This Pricing Model Over time, the dominant pricing structure in B2C and B2B applications is like the cell phone plan. So how much business has it closed? You pay an additional 2.5

Venture Capital 331

Venture Capital Marketing AI SaaS 331

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What Is The Best Indicators of Product Market Fit at an Early Stage SaaS B2B Startup? This is a rough metric, but I’d say from experience working closely with 25+ SaaS companies … if you aren’t growing > 10% a month after $10k in MRR or so … then you don’t yet have product-market fit. Not yet at least.

Product Marketing 284

Product Marketing B2B Startup Marketing 284

SaaStr

MARCH 12, 2025

So at SaaStr Annual, Dave Kellogg did a great deep dive on “5 Things Every B2B CEO Needs to Know about Marketing” In the Age of AI it’s even more true today, so I wanted to update our SaaStr take-aways from the deep dive. Instead, focus on two key metrics: Pipeline coverage – Do we have a chance to hit our numbers?

Sales Hiring 202

Sales Hiring Marketing Technical Review Underperforming Technical Team 202

SaaStr

MARCH 23, 2025

Be explicit about success metrics Define what success looks like beyond revenue targets to align expectations. Founder-led sales provides invaluable dat a When founders sell the first $2-3M, they generate critical insights on customers, conversion rates, and retention that inform the GTM strategy.

Sales Recruiting 242

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale AI 242

FastSpring

JULY 11, 2024

The most common examples of successful CRO tactics provided at many conferences tend to focus on B2C ecommerce, but what are the proven winning tactics you can use in your B2B CRO strategy? In this episode of Growth Stage, we interview Sahil Patel of Spiralyze about his thoughts on: Special considerations for B2B CRO. Jump to video.

B2B 169

B2B Scale Underperforming Technical Team Sales 169

SaaStr

MAY 15, 2024

A lot of you reading SaaStr are probably more B2B SaaS oriented and may not be paying attention to the consumer market, but it’s already massive and is continuing to grow quickly. So, let’s look at the state of subscription apps and how B2B SaaS can learn from it. In B2B, the classic metric for this is 2% now and was 2% in 2006.

Subscription 301

Subscription Payment Features B2B Mobile 301

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2021

Now LinkedIn isn’t a stand-alone public company anymore, so we can’t get quite as many metrics and details from them as we used to. B2B market is on fire. A bit of a B2C metric I guess (members), but still a visceral example of making more money from your base. But we can get enough. 5 Interesting Learnings: #1.

B2C 332

B2C B2B Acquisition Cloud 332

SaaStr

AUGUST 21, 2020

This I’ve found to be a big flag in B2B/SaaS. In B2B/SaaS, the best CEOs are always close to the customers. Doesn’t share enough metrics, data, etc. But selling your company for $20m-$30m isn’t consistent with raising VC capital or going big. A lot of immature language from the CEO, especially on social media. Hiring is tough.

Social Media 335

Social Media B2B Investment Scaling 335

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

Product-led growth (PLG) is the consumerization of software—a strategy B2B software companies can learn from growth teams at successful consumer tech companies. . He advises bringing these features to a B2B growth team and then shares mistakes that B2B companies make while adding go-to-market (GTM) to PLG. Free user retention.

Technical Review 284

Technical Review Technical Advisors Scale Compensation 284

SaaStr

AUGUST 8, 2022

years (maybe the better metric): The fastest of the bunch was Divvy’s $2b+ acquisition by Bill 5 years after funding. It just takes time to create true value in B2B and SaaS. years on average, with a median of 10.0 But so many took decades. Even Mailchimp’s incredible $12B acquisition by Intuit took … 20 years.

Startup 328

Startup SaaS Acquisition B2B 328

SaaStr

MAY 21, 2020

It took me a little while to see activation rates as literally one of the 3-4 most important metrics in SaaS, but it probably is. I don’t have a perfect metric, but after working on this with a dozen+ SaaS companies recently, I have a simple heuristic: 90% or more of your customers need to activate in the shortest practical time.

Churn 334

Churn B2C B2B Metrics 334

SaaStr

APRIL 16, 2024

B2B virality” is usually slow. So when you are out of ideas to grow, move your primary focus to growing your CSAT (customer satisfaction) and NPS (Net Promoter Score) metrics up substantially. Third, focus on metrics besides revenue that matter, and that you can grow right now. Even if other metrics seem OK.

Startup 307

Startup B2B Metrics Product Marketing 307

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

The core product is very B2C, but the upgrade to paid has very SMB B2B metrics, and 80% of the revenue is subscription based. We wrote a classic SaaStr post long ago saying you needed about 50,000,000 Freemium users to make the model work, more or less, and Duolingo’s metrics tie to this. But is Duolingo SaaS?

Scale 318

Scale B2C SMB B2B 318

Neil Patel

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

B2B and B2C content marketing require entirely different strategies. Instead, you need a targeted B2B content marketing strategy to reach your marketing goals. Why Do You Need a B2B Content Marketing Strategy? As mentioned, B2B content marketing presents different challenges from B2C content marketing.

B2B 144

B2B Strategy B2C Content Marketing 144

Kellblog

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

Working in my capacity at as an EIR at Balderton Capital , I have recently written a new publication, The Balderton Founder’s Guide to B2B Sales , with the able support of Balderton Principal Michael Lavner and the entire Balderton Capital team. Planning: planning and the role of key metrics and benchmarks.

B2B 134

B2B Sales Benchmarks Startup 134

Valuize Consulting

NOVEMBER 19, 2024

Our world is hyper-connected and data-driven, leading B2B companies are turning to technology to gain deeper insights into client needs and to deliver more proactive, tailored experiences. This technology is elevating B2B relationships, enabling companies to build lasting, profitable partnerships with a focus on both retention and expansion.

B2B 52

B2B Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Outsourced Development 52

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Take a look at just some of the topics and mentors hosting Braindates: Core metrics to track for SAAS with Tarush Aggarwal, Founder & Ceo at 5X Pricing as a growth lever – How, what, why? The goal is to help each other learn something new, find mentorships, create partnerships, and exchange strategies.

VP of Engineering 293

VP of Engineering Technical Cofounder Outsourcing Services CTO Coach 293

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

B2B txns moving online ??APIs Report on employee engagement metrics. B2B transactions move online. . In case u missed @SaaStrAnnual State of the Cloud w @bdeeter @TheValuesVC. ??Future Future of work = remote ??Privacy Privacy debt = new technical debt ??Cloud Cloud proliferating globally ??B2B APIs driving innovation ??Automation

Technical Review 350

Technical Review Cloud Software Review Technology 350

SaaStr

MAY 28, 2021

But over time, it’s added a large enterprise and B2B component for marketers and others to track, manage and market videos that we’ll spend a bunch of time digging in on, as it’s the fastest-growing segment, growing from little-to-none in 2017 to 25% of revenue today. And a few other interesting learnings: 6.

Enterprise 322

Enterprise Scale B2B Metrics 322

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 30, 2020

A product leader at a B2B marketing mega-cap shared with me only 7% of marketing spend is targeted to sales prospects, which is why ABM has become so popular. Many demand generation marketers focus on SQLs rather than MQLs as their target metric to align themselves better with the sales team to mitigate this.

Marketing 357

Marketing Sales B2B Trends 357

SaaStr

MAY 29, 2024

Which is what a lot of SaaS and B2B AI is really about. Modeling 3% Stock-Based Dilution a Year A metric almost every leader is tracking more carefully now. So UiPath was early to what we now think of as “AI”, but blazed the path in automation. Automating away human-driven processes. That’s how you get more efficient.

Scale 299

Scale Headcount Sales Hiring AI 299

SaaStr

JUNE 30, 2022

June seems to show no signs of slowing down but we’re monitoring demand metrics like a hawk to see when or if we’ll experience a slow down. I have been working in B2B SaaS for almost 15 years (since we called it SaaS). Ended May $1.7M ahead of plan and growing ARR @ 53%. — Kyle Porter (@kyleporter) June 28, 2022. 10% of total.

B2B 354

B2B SaaS Branding Metrics 354

SaaStr

JANUARY 11, 2024

I mean, Canva’s metrics for example are just awesome. But with everyone discussing PLG, there just isn’t enough discussion in B2B of Product-Led Retention. I just don’t see the obsession here across B2B companies, founders and their entire management teams. It’s time to take it more seriously in B2B.

Retention 317

Retention B2C B2B Churn 317

SaaStr

JUNE 29, 2022

But this will be one of the last chances we get to see its financials and metrics as a public company. Once it goes private again later in 2022, Zendesk won’t publish many metrics anymore. While Zendesk still has thousands of SMBs, the tiny customers no longer even show up in the metrics. Zendesk has really grown up.

SMB 293

SMB Scale B2B Revenue 293

SaaStr

DECEMBER 27, 2023

5 Metrics Every SaaS Company Should Care About with Salesforce Ventures A hands-on, practical session on the top SaaS metrics #2. For B2B Generative AI Apps, is Less More? GGV Capital: Scaling The Top SMB SaaS Companies A deep dive on SMB metrics, a really good one. #10. A few great ones to catch up on: #1. Harness.io

Scale 284

Scale SMB Generative AI AI 284

SaaStr

APRIL 11, 2020

We don’t talk that much about “traffic” to our websites in B2B, but awareness matters. You can grow some metric in your pipeline or at least your pre-pipeline 2x right now. Grow your high-quality pipeline and opportunities even if sales cycles are crazy long now. Grow traffic. What can you do to 5x your traffic?

Revenue 358

Revenue Healthcare B2B Branding 358

SaaStr

JANUARY 26, 2024

One metric I wanted to highlight. A related post here: Dear SaaStr: What’s a Good Benchmark for B2B Sales Cycles? So Vendr has their latest SaaS Buyer Report out here. There’s plenty of good data in there and it’s worth a read. And look, average sales cycles are almost meaningless. Bigger deals take longer.

SaaS 301

SaaS Benchmarks B2B Metrics 301

User Pilot

OCTOBER 19, 2024

4 Qualtrics for collecting multichannel feedback and B2B market research data Qualtrics NPS surveys. It’s designed for B2B enterprises that require advanced capabilities to collect and analyze customer feedback from B2B markets, and from multiple channels. Qualtrics is a highly robust experience management platform.

Software Review 105

Software Review Technical Review Software B2C 105

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

Still impressive, but it’s come down to a more earthly metric. #3. Sales & Marketing expenses are as high as pure B2B companies without a PLG motion. #4. Sales & Marketing coming down over time, but still 68% of revenue. GitLab may have a PLG motion and a lot of self-serve customers, but it still doesn’t sell and market itself.

Scale 303

Scale Scaling Cloud B2B 303

SaaStr

DECEMBER 16, 2021

It’s likely that most SaaS leaders can immediately spout off their ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) –– after all, that’s the key growth metric. But examining these three metrics still isn’t enough to get maximum insights. Then, review revenue metrics for each segment. . Know Your Business. Is it contacts, storage, API calls?

Strategy 271

Strategy B2C Scale Payment Features 271