SaaStr

MAY 28, 2022

Gartner, spending on SaaS: 2020: $120B 2021: $152B 2022: $177B 2023: $208B. They also importantly predict SaaS spend to grow to $200 Billion next year, also up almost 20%. It means another , additional $20+ Billion spent on SaaS apps next year alone. But overall — things are still growing like crazy in SaaS and Cloud.

Cloud 358

Cloud B2C SaaS Enterprise 358

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 13, 2021

So just how many SaaS, Cloud, B2B/B2D pre-IPO unicorns are there really? I took out the B2C, hardware, and non-SaaS healthcare ones, etc. So how many of them are like us — SaaS, Cloud software, or fintech that is SaaS-y? I probably missed a few and included some I shouldn’t have. and more.

Cloud 328

Cloud B2C Healthcare SaaS 328

SaaStr

JULY 11, 2021

Q: I’m starting a job at a SaaS company after years in consumer apps. B2C folks are focused on users. B2C folks often never even talk to their users at all, other than a small subset of folks that work at the company. B2C folks can ignore feature gaps and feature requests unless everyone really needs them.

B2C 280

B2C SaaS Revenue Metrics 280

SaaStr

JULY 22, 2022

However, SaaS can actually help businesses meet these challenges. Franklin stated, “The good thing about SaaS businesses is that technology is the solution our customers are seeing as the way that they’re going to automate themselves, get more productivity, more efficiency, and just help businesses run better.”

B2C 290

B2C Scale Marketing Sales Hiring 290

SaaStr

JUNE 27, 2020

A little while back we put together some of the top sales & marketing mistakes SaaS companies and founders make, especially in the early days. Yes, Box is SaaS. If your head of marketing’s first actions are to hire a bunch of agencies, that’s the wrong person in SaaS. Hiring a B2C marketer for SaaS.

Sales Hiring 363

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Marketing 363

SaaStr

OCTOBER 22, 2021

Our friends over in B2C talk a lot about viral coefficients. Today the best SaaS companies are scaling faster, so you may see material results faster. I’d say typically, SaaS apps don’t have enough customers to see the material, economic benefits of viral revenue until they cross $1m-$2m in ARR at the earlies t.

Scale 300

Scale B2C SaaS Scaling 300

USIO

APRIL 15, 2025

B2B & B2C friendly: Ideal for consumer-to-business, business-to-business, and government disbursements. SaaS Platforms: Enable Instant Payouts Use Case: SaaS platforms in gig economy, marketplaces, or fintech. Backed by the Fed: Operated by the Federal Reserve, so its secure, reliable, and widely trusted.

Payments 130

Payments Payment Services Merchant Services SaaS Payments 130

SaaStr

JANUARY 23, 2021

A little while back, I gave a great SaaS Founder CEO a Gift. In B2C, it may make sense to have a lot of “Heads of This” and “Heads of That” If you have matrix-type teams, and a lot of individual contributors who are hyper-productive. But in SaaS, I say it’s generally a mistake. A real gift.

VP of Engineering 348

VP of Engineering Sales Hiring Scale Engineering 348

SaaStr

JUNE 29, 2023

That 50% of the top YC companies of all time by revenue are B2B/SaaS: Yes, B2C companies still often get more attention. link] — Aarjav Trivedi (@aarjav) June 27, 2023 The post 50% of YCombinator’s Largest Companies are B2B/SaaS appeared first on SaaStr. So when sliced by revenue, what can we learn? But revenues?

B2B 265

B2B B2C SaaS Revenue 265

SaaStr

JULY 21, 2019

The best SaaS apps we love that sell to all sized customers, not just Enterprise, are just easy. Based on your experience and B2C SaaS history, what would be the best strategy for an online app to grow? Who cares what your conversion rate is, in the end — at least in absolute terms. Yes, it bad if it goes down.

B2C 206

B2C Strategy SaaS Metrics 206

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 28, 2022

Dear SaaStr: What do you look for when hiring a VP of Product for a B2B SaaS? In particular, the dilemma I’m facing is hiring between a SaaS expert or a target market expert. First, I’d go for a SaaS expert over a domain/target market expert in just about any senior hire — VP Product, VP Sales, VP Marketing.

Sales Hiring 324

Sales Hiring B2C B2B Engineering 324

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. But — they are broken if you aren’t really a traditional, 100%+ NRR SaaS company. In particular: Hybrid SaaS with payments and fintech usually has far, far lower gross margins than pure software. It depends.

SaaS Payments 285

SaaS Payments Metrics SMB Payments 285

SaaStr

JUNE 22, 2023

More here: If You’re Going to Do a SaaS Start-Up … You Have to Give it 24 Months – SaaStr Picking cofounders that aren’t as committed. More here: Planning to Do a SaaS Startup? B2B folks want to do B2C. And even those need something to get that viral loop going, A related post here: My Top 10 Year One SaaS Mistakes.

SMB 279

SMB SaaS B2C Interviewing 279

SaaStr

JUNE 11, 2020

CLTV is critical (of course), but it has become less useful as a planning tool over time in SaaS. In the early days of SaaS, we all focused on Customer Lifetime Value. In B2C and high-churn environments, it’s indeed a critical metric. These terms do matter in B2B SaaS, too.

Metrics 291

Metrics Customer Lifetime Value B2C B2B 291

FastSpring

OCTOBER 16, 2024

How FastSpring drastically simplifies the entire cross border payments process for SaaS, software, mobile game, and other digital product businesses. FastSpring handles the entire payment process from checkout to remitting end-of-year taxes for SaaS companies. Elimination of need to monitor changing tax laws and requirements worldwide.

Merchant Services 158

Merchant Services Payment Services Payment Methods Outsourcing Services 158

SaaStr

MAY 25, 2024

B2C customers are their bigger base, since that’s bigger on mobile than B2B. But many of the largest SaaS and B2B vendors, from Notion to other leaders, use RevenueCat as well to manage mobile subscriptions. We all know this happens in SaaS and B2B. It may be years later in SaaS. Over 30% of U.S. The answer: 12%.

B2C 311

B2C Mobile B2B Subscription 311

SaaStr

JANUARY 11, 2024

So somehow, “Product Led Growth” became a seemingly magic savior for many struggling SaaS companies. Our products in SaaS just don’t tend to automatically retain themselves. But our B2C friends obsess about Product-Led Retention. But our B2C friends obsess about Product-Led Retention. But in SaaS?

Retention 322

Retention B2C B2B Churn 322

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

But is Duolingo SaaS? Well, it’s SaaS-ish. The core product is very B2C, but the upgrade to paid has very SMB B2B metrics, and 80% of the revenue is subscription based. While common in B2C, it’s interesting how big a deal this is for Duolingo. So it’s doing what Wall Street wants today.

Scale 322

Scale B2C SMB B2B 322

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 28, 2022

Q: Where do you draw the line when companies ask for customization for a SaaS product? Especially from VCs, B2C folks, and folks that have never sold bigger deals and into the enterprise. This is SaaS, not a services business. Apologies for the caps, but be careful taking advice from B2C and SMB folks.

B2C 291

B2C SMB Enterprise Startup 291

Totango

MARCH 16, 2021

The B2B customer journey resembles the B2C experience in many ways, but there are also some important differences. In this article, we’ll look at the B2B vs. B2C customer journey to see what’s the same and what’s different. How journeys differ for B2B and B2C customers. B2B vs. B2C Customer Journeys: Comparisons and Contrasts.

B2C 118

B2C B2B Acquisition Retention 118

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 335

Churn B2C B2B Metrics 335

SaaStr

JULY 20, 2019

Once you hit Initial Traction in SaaS, say that first $1m-$1.5m There is only so much you can spend on Adwords in SaaS. Perhaps this isn’t true as much in B2C. If TikTok really spent ~$1 billion in ads (per Wall Street Journal ) to become a dominant social network, then clearly the limits are high in B2C.

Sales Hiring 279

Sales Hiring B2C Marketing Investment 279

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2021

Because SaaS and Cloud are. A bit of a B2C metric I guess (members), but still a visceral example of making more money from your base. SaaS and B2B wasn’t as hot, and 2016 in particular had a “SaaS Crash” when multiple fell into free fall. B2B market is on fire. Now, 2016 was a different type.

B2C 334

B2C B2B Acquisition Cloud 334

SaaStr

AUGUST 26, 2022

Even though things are down, SaaS overall and valuations are still much, much stronger than anytime before 2019. A lot of press and PR around downrounds and layoffs is about B2C and less SaaS-y companies. Fenwick’s data on valuation increases going all the way back to 2005 illustrates that: #4.

Pricing 329

Pricing Social Media B2C Startup 329

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 6, 2022

A while back I was having a discussion, not quite a debate, but a discourse with an extremely smart VC — far smarter than me — who was relatively new to SaaS, having spent more time in B2C. Like a lot of folks tip-toeing from B2C to SaaS, his first stop was in freemium. Most SMB SaaS apps are really ERP 2.0

Business 291

Business B2C SMB Customer Success 291

SaaStr

DECEMBER 20, 2023

So we don’t know quite as much about Canva as we do SaaS companies that have IPO’d. Canva hasn’t seen any “macro impacts” to revenue growth, nor have a number of other SaaS leaders that sell in large part outside of tech. #2. But the very, very best in SaaS? But Canva is doing it right.

AWS 312

AWS B2C Scaling AI 312

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

“Mastermind Masterclass: The SaaS Org Chart by Series with David Sacks” David Sacks, founder of Craft Ventures and Yammer, and ex-COO, leads us on a new Mastermind class on opening day. #2. “Mastermind Masterclass: The Most Common SaaS Sales Potholes and How to Avoid Them with Mark Roberge” Masterminds seem popular!

Scale 306

Scale New CTO CTO B2C 306

SaaStr

JULY 6, 2022

Workday is one of the iconic enterprise SaaS leaders. in SaaS revenue), it’s growing an impressive 22% with fairly epic operating cash flows of 30% (more on that below). #1. It’s again nice to see a SaaS leader break out GRR, not just NRR. Workday has become a cash engine at scale, as all top SaaS companies should.

B2C 312

B2C Scaling Finance Enterprise 312

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Freshworks is a successful public SaaS company that has a humble beginning in the small town of Chennai, India. Big Bet #2: Find Tomorrow’s Great Anglers — Hire Talent With A Learning Mindset In 2010 and 2011, San Francisco was the place for SaaS talent. It helped them get funding in the first round. Why is this important?

Sales Hiring 290

Sales Hiring Scale SMB SaaS 290

SaaStr

DECEMBER 20, 2021

This may sound obvious to more enterprise folks, but many Very Small Business and SMB focused SaaS companies still focus more on churn than NRR. It’s part of the legacy of B2C and SMB having a lot of similarities in SaaS. Moving from Churn to NRR as the Core Retention Metric.

Metrics 62

Metrics SMB Scale B2C 62

SaaStr

JUNE 21, 2021

Those of us who came from B2C have Free in our DNA is a core part of an acquisition and onboarding process. But then Free fell out of fashion in SaaS. But fast forward to now, and the Cloud is exploding and SaaS leaders want to take advantage of that. Every SaaS customer already has used 100+ apps. Not entirely.

SaaS 214

SaaS B2C Acquisition Cloud 214

SaaStr

OCTOBER 1, 2022

A few B2B/SaaS specific thoughts. Don’t join a B2B/SaaS start-up that won’t share its revenue and current growth rate with you — and its Zero Cash Date. But SaaS and B2B is about scaling revenue. Don’t join a B2B/SaaS start-up where you don’t believe in the CEO. That’s OK in SaaS.

B2C 291

B2C B2B Startup Revenue 291

SaaStr

APRIL 7, 2022

And it’s more than 90% of sales reps in SaaS do well. B2C companies at $150 price point: “We answer every call and chat in 60 seconds or less”: — Jason BeKind Lemkin #???????????? I am just shocked on how many reps wait a day to respond to a lead, and then set up a meeting the following week in one of just a few time slots.

B2C 291

B2C B2B Pricing SaaS 291

SaaStr

DECEMBER 13, 2021

Open Source products, the millions of customers, and the communities around them make the industry almost feel B2C. Open Source is here to stay—and Open Source + SaaS is the future. Databricks started out in the Cloud; we never provided an on-prem offering, only a SaaS Cloud offering. It was difficult, but it was worth it.

Enterprise 246

Enterprise AI SaaS AWS 246

SaaStr

AUGUST 5, 2021

In B2C, there are. There are lots of high-volume programs in B2C. In SaaS and B2B … less so. E.g., SEM doesn’t scale in SaaS. It’s often hard for these to scale too big in SaaS, but whatever you get, is still pretty cheap. There are no B2B marketing programs that predictably cost you $.43923492

Scale 334

Scale Marketing B2C B2B 334

SaaStr

JULY 27, 2022

If a SaaS business hopes to win over the SMB market successfully, it will need a precise GTM approach. As Zocchetto said, “It’s very important –– sales hiring planning –– because in a self-driven SaaS business model, it’s what drives growth.”. Secret 5: Build a B2C Rather Than a B2B Marketing Engine.

SMB 244

SMB Sales Hiring Scale B2C 244

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

So times aren’t tougher for everyone in B2B and SaaS, but they’re tougher for many. Marketing is a variable cost with generally medium-term benefits in SaaS and B2B. Because the reality in SaaS, most things won’t “perform” at all. But in 110% NRR, 80% gross margin SaaS? That works at all.

Marketing 297

Marketing Scale B2C B2B 297