SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

So many Cloud and SaaS leaders kept hiring flat for the past 12-18 months, and yet still grew. That works for a while, but you end up with not enough headcount if you do freeze hiring but still want to grow. More on this in our deep dive with co-CEO Eran Zinman: You can’t grow forever with no growth in headcount.

Sales Hiring 321

Sales Hiring Headcount Scale Cloud 321

SaaStr

MAY 31, 2023

So Snowflake is the high flier in Cloud. It’s one of the few still commanding a premium multiple in today’s world, and still growing at tremendous rates: Snowflake is also a barometer of everything in SaaS and Cloud, because a significant amount of its revenue is consumption-based, at least in part.

Headcount 246

Headcount Scale Sales Hiring AWS 246

SaaStr

MARCH 1, 2022

Atlassian has gone almost 100% Cloud since then, and has held up nicely in the overall public markets even as others have taken bigger hits. Cloud product pricing went up 5% a year last year, and legacy server products went up much more. Transition to Cloud takes time at scale. Headcount up 7%, while revenue is up 37%.

Scale 261

Scale Marketplace as a Service Headcount Cloud 261

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

So we’ve taken a look at Monday several times in this series , but with so much change in the world of SaaS and Cloud the past few months, it seemed like a great one to dig in on. Like many tech companies, Monday added a ton of headcount in 2021. Because Monday remains on fire — growing a truly stunning 65% (!)

Headcount 312

Headcount SMB Engineering Scaling 312

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

Gotta Radically More Efficient in 2023 This is really the theme of the year in SaaS and Cloud. Freezing Headcount is How They Got So Much More Efficient Again, a common story. But for now, AppFolio is staying leaner, with less headcount this year than last — despite impressive +29% growth. #4.

Payment Services 278

Payment Services Payment Solutions SaaS Payments Payments 278

SaaStr

APRIL 20, 2022

Confluent has been one of the top Cloud IPOs of the past year or two, crossing a $10B market cap at a $500m run-rate and importantly, holding up well during the multiple compression we’ve seen in 2022. Put differently, Confluent is just the type of Cloud IPO the markets want right now. 5 Interesting Learnings: #1.

Scale 60

Scale Cloud Headcount Scaling 60

SaaStr

AUGUST 10, 2022

Cloud revenue growing 55% — and Atlassian reaffirms 50% Cloud growth for 2023 and 2024 also! 2000,000 Cloud Customers with an NRR of 130%, and 140% from “Large” Customers. Atlassian plans to double its headcount over the coming few years. 5 Interesting Learnings. #1. No slow down from Atlassian. #2.

Scale 277

Scale Headcount Cloud Forecasting 277

Clouded Judgement

DECEMBER 8, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Companies have reduced headcount, but new bookings aren’t getting any easier Quarterly net new ARR growth : Some green-shoots! Subscribe now Share Clouded Judgement Leave a comment Follow along to stay up to date!

Cloud 167

Cloud Software Review Headcount Trends 167

Tom Tunguz

JULY 10, 2024

Salesforce Einstein 1 Service & Sales Cloud 330 170 0.51 If buyers act rationally & reduce headcount by 50% 1 which we know is probably not true, then to maintain the same revenue per customer, price would need to double. Company Product Base Price AI Price Ratio Github Github Enterprise 21 10 0.67 Gitlab GitLab Duo 19 20 1.05

AI 264

AI Pricing Sales Hiring Strategy 264

Clouded Judgement

MAY 24, 2024

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Subscribe now Share Clouded Judgement Leave a comment Follow along to stay up to date! Subscribe now First Look at April Quarters Heading in to this week, software earnings have not been good.

Cloud 157

Cloud Software Headcount Scale 157

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 6, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. That’s a big difference, especially when you layer in the growth in headcount from 2021 to 2022. Essentially companies grew headcount significantly to add less ARR. Subscribe now Share Clouded Judgement Leave a comment

Cloud 130

Cloud Headcount Subscription Payment Features 130

SaaStr

AUGUST 1, 2023

The macro impacts for most in SaaS and Cloud are real. But this time, instead of headcount, it was apps. Yes, some bigger companies went through layoffs too, but in many cases, they hired more folks back, and really just kept headcount flat or slowed its growth. But still pretty strong growth at $1.5B The list goes on.

Headcount 246

Headcount Finance Cloud Startup 246

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 3, 2023

Almost all Cloud and SaaS leaders have become profitable. How SaaS Is Fairing in the Macro Economy It’s crazy how much more efficient the leaders in SaaS and Cloud have gotten in one year. By freezing headcount for a year. SaaS and Cloud leaders have become incredibly efficient over the last year. Lemkin asked him.

Sales Hiring 268

Sales Hiring Headcount Finance Technical Review 268

SaaStr

JUNE 7, 2023

Getting More Efficient — Like Almost Everyone in SaaS and Cloud. Headcount Down 25% Since September 2022, But Revenue Still Up. Headcount Down 25% Since September 2022, But Revenue Still Up. Never a fun exercise, but a reminder and example of just how much more efficient SaaS and Cloud companies are now vs. the Boom Times.

Headcount 237

Headcount Cloud Communication Acquisition 237

SaaStr

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Founder and CEO of SaaStr Jason Lemkin deep dives into the current state of SaaS and the Cloud. Okta is a market leader in identity and app management, and they’re a derivative of everything happening in Cloud and SaaS spend. Monday will probably add 25% headcount this year. A Cautious Recovery? Salesforce is back to hiring.

Sales Hiring 278

Sales Hiring SaaS Headcount Compensation 278

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 31, 2023

Public cloud companies have demonstrated strength in the last quarter. AI Efficiency Gains +2% Headcount Reduction ? Headcount reductions in the last year, which impacted every company, should increase the pipeline coverage ratios for the remaining team members. Gartner projects an 8% increase in overall spend.

Headcount 207

Headcount Sales Hiring AI Cloud 207

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 17, 2021

Vimeo just hired their first sales rep 3 years ago to spearhead $20k+ deals … and now they have 100 reps, and are on track to double that headcount. Even Now, It’s Still a Land Grab in So Many Segments in SaaS and Cloud. My Top 10 Learnings: #1. Lean In Early With a Strong Lead on International Expansion — Even Now.

Enterprise 292

Enterprise Scale Sales Hiring Headcount 292

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 22, 2024

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Headcount planning, budgeting, fundraising, etc can often be largely based on a top line plan. Subscribe now Share Clouded Judgement Leave a comment Follow along to stay up to date! Do you have ARR or ERR?

AI 190

AI Cloud Revenue Technical Advisors 190

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 31, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. If we believe that AI will ultimately allow us to do “more with less,” we may see headcount growth slow for traditional roles. Subscribe now Share Clouded Judgement Leave a comment Follow along to stay up to date!

Cloud 130

Cloud Sales Hiring AI Headcount 130

SaaStr

JULY 24, 2023

Some SaaS and Cloud leaders have seen big impacts from the post-2020 hangover, but others keep accelerating. That’s about as good as it gets in SaaS and Cloud! Are we near or past the lows in SaaS and Cloud buying patterns? 9 — Almost All Cloud Leaders Got Radically More Efficient In One Year. We’ll see. #2 And it worked!

Revenue 245

Revenue Scale Sales Hiring Cloud 245

SaaStr

JUNE 7, 2021

Today, Veeva is at $45B Cloud juggernaut dominating pharma and life science Cloud applications. We’re building the industry cloud for life sciences, so our customers are people like Pfizer and Novartis, etc., We provide a variety of cloud solutions for them. that are making medicine to help improve life.

Sales Hiring 337

Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team SaaS Headcount 337

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

Sequoia Capital’s India arm put together a terrific summary of all their learnings about SaaS and Cloud from SaaStr Annual this year. Often, founders are unsure about the headcount split between India and the US. Example 1: your retail customers may not want to be hosted on a certain cloud vendor.

Scale 286

Scale Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Cybersecurity 286

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 30, 2022

This is especially important for small teams, where you need to operate at a scale far beyond your headcount (without burning out your team by working around the clock). Using Brex also saves time for your finance team (or, depending on headcount, your finance person ??) AWS – Cloud computing.

Scale 163

Scale Payment Services Startup AWS 163

SaaStr

APRIL 3, 2024

Customers are being much more cautious, not buying ahead of their needs or being able to anticipate things like headcount growth or budget certainty as effectively as they had in the past. Contracts are going all the way up to the CEO for signature, which is almost unbelievable. Roles will evolve into higher-value work over time.

Generative AI 292

Generative AI AI Technical Review Software Review 292

Intercom, Inc.

JULY 27, 2022

As companies and their headcounts grow, so do their tech stacks. Wayne Stewart, Head of Customer Success and Support, Cloud Growth, Dev Ops & IT, Atlassian . The scale of enterprise businesses makes them inherently complex – they rely on a suite of tools tailored for specific workflows.

Enterprise 205

Enterprise Headcount Engineering Cloud 205

SaaStr

MARCH 15, 2024

Do you see massive disruption in workforces and marketing headcounts shrinking because of AI? “I’m His first company was Personify and he went on to be a VP of Developer Relations at Salesforce, then hire number 11 at Dropbox, CEO at Heroku, and an investor and on many boards before landing as the current CEO at Vimeo.

AI Search 268

AI Search SaaS Advertising Sales Hiring 268

Intercom, Inc.

NOVEMBER 30, 2021

Powered by a modern business messenger , it scales your ability to answer more questions from more customers without increasing headcount, budget, or hours logged. Cloud-based phone support: Aircall. Cloud-based phone support tool Aircall connects with Intercom to empower your agents to make a call right from the Intercom Messenger.

Technical Review 249

Technical Review Customer Support Payment Methods Payment Solutions 249

Stax

JULY 1, 2024

Yet it isn’t always cost-effective to hire an in-house team to manage payroll, especially for businesses with a small headcount. TL;DR Small businesses have specific payroll needs thanks to challenges such as growing headcount, limited resources, and a lack of internal payroll expertise.

Payment Solutions 88

Payment Solutions Payment Services Payment Methods Payments 88

OpenView Labs

MAY 24, 2021

” Bessemer called product-led growth one of “three GTM strategies top cloud companies employ in the New Normal” in their State of the Cloud report. According to the company’s most recent investor day presentation : Veeva’s Commercial Cloud customers have adopted an average of 3.72 Veeva makes a great case study.

Scale 98

Scale Headcount Sales Hiring Benchmarks 98

Intercom, Inc.

JULY 28, 2022

By the time he left to join Google Cloud as EMEA VP of Operations and Customer Growth, Salesforce had around 17 billion dollars in revenue and almost 50,000 employees. It was the start of the wave of the cloud. In 2005, I was very lucky to join a company called Salesforce, which had just IPO’d.

Scale 210

Scale Scaling Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting 210

Sales Hacker

JANUARY 7, 2025

And I think all this kind of knowledge we had changed when we came with cloud. Scott Barker: Do you think AI is going to reduce our overall headcounts on revenue teams? And that’s a completely different model because it’s a reseller model most of the time or an MSP. And I remember at AWS, suddenly there’s no margin.

Outsourcing Services 117

Outsourcing Services Scale Outsourced Development AWS 117

Andreessen Horowitz

MARCH 21, 2024

On a much smaller scale, we’ve also started to see some leaders deploying their genAI budget against headcount savings, particularly in customer service. While some leaders addressed this concern by hosting open source models themselves, others noted that they were prioritizing models with virtual private cloud (VPC) integrations.

Generative AI 145

Generative AI Enterprise AI Artificial Intelligence 145

Sales Hacker

SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

So, in larger teams, the ratio of high-output individuals doesn’t scale at the same pace as headcount, making it seem like fewer “rockstars” are emerging. 35 on the 2022 Forbes Cloud 100 List with over $200 million in annual revenue. In a 100-person company, 10 people will be doing half the work.

Sales Hiring 119

Sales Hiring Scale Development Team Review AI Search 119

BetterCloud

MARCH 17, 2025

Allocations can be manual or automatic, depending on the headcount of users. A well-thought-out SaaS budget should allow you to make the most of cloud-based solutions while being financially smart and adaptable. It’s time for SaaS-tainable savings Youre ready to take what youve learned and start making better business decisions.

Technical Review 52

Technical Review Strategy Marketplace as a Service SaaS 52

SaaStr

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Any great VP of Sales knows other VPs of Sales and up-and-comers because sales is usually half the headcount in a startup. This isn’t new, but it has accelerated because the number of SaaS and Cloud leaders has accelerated. The last thing a VP of Sales wants to do is start without a team. There are so many great logos to hire from.

Sales Hiring 152

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Interviewing 152

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

If you don’t want to manage all of the infrastructure around Iceberg (plus allocating headcount to do this!) Before diving into more specifics about what Tabular does, I’d like to start with a brief overview of how cloud-native data architectures have evolved over the last decade.

Data 130

Data Government Scale GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

Intercom, Inc.

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

And now we’re here in 2022 – rounds are down, prices are down, the entire cloud is down. Our NRR correlates perfectly with their PM headcount growth. Celebrating success without clearly understanding causation, generally speaking, is something you should be very paranoid about. Thankfully, hard times are where VCs shine.

Engineering 151

Engineering Scale Business Sales Hiring 151