Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

Most startups play defense when discussing pricing with customers. Startups operate in newer markets where pricing standards haven’t been set. But throughout this turmoil, startups must adopt a process to craft a good pricing strategy, and re-evaluate prices periodically, at least once per year. AWS, Twilio, Heroku, etc.

SaaS Payments 283

SaaS Payments Pricing Strategy Scale 283

SaaStr

APRIL 4, 2025

3) Generate high-quality training data that continuously improves AI performance. Atlog: A knowledge repository that intuitively organizes and versions your data packets, drives, and documents in one place Calltree: Enterprise-grade AI support reps for call centers Calltree makes enterprise-grade AI support reps for call centers.

AI Search 177

AI Search AI Startup Scale 177

SaaStr

MAY 23, 2024

So Emergence Capital put together a great report here on B2B startups, “Beyond Benchmarks 2024” , with a ton of great data across 664 software startups. One piece I loved is how 2023 growth rates compared to 2022 for Top Quartile Software Startups. From $5m-$20m ARR, top quartile startups are growing 58%.

Startup 342

Startup Benchmarks B2B Pricing 342

SaaStr

JUNE 2, 2024

The post Maybe Only 10%-15% of VC Backed Startups Can Raise Another Round Right Now appeared first on SaaStr. And at the growth stage, top decile may not even be enough to raise another round. Ask your existing investors. They will know. More on that here: Are You Fundable in 2024? Just Ask Your Existing Investors. Just Ask Them.

Startup 353

Startup Metrics Data Software 353

SaaStr

DECEMBER 2, 2023

But for many startups, the hangover from the Excesses of 2021 is a real and tough one. And the latest Carta data here supports that. Startups shutting down are up 238% this year — already. So, so many SaaS startups got funded in the Boom, and they just can’t all make it. Now it sort of has to be that way.

Startup 320

Startup Cloud Pricing Data 320

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2024

Tomasz Tunguz , General Partner at Theory Ventures, shares nine observations from a Go-To-Market survey Theory Ventures did with hundreds of startups, 68% of them early-stage, well-funded, mostly mid-market ACV, and 25% remote. Six months ago, security was the number one prohibition preventing businesses and software companies from buying AI.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Marketing AI SaaS 333

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 1, 2022

How much value does a successful software startup create per dollar of venture investment? Over the last 30 years, a venture dollar invested in a successful US software startup generated $10 of value. In addition to MOIC patterns, the data reveals three startup fundraising epochs. Notes on the data.

Startup 331

Startup Software Pricing Investment 331

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 18, 2023

SaaS products and services like Pilot track the finances of 1,000s of SaaS and other startup so they’re an interesting source of hard data. What does Pilot’s latest data say? VCs don’t give startups 10 years of capital. That’s what this Pilot data also reflects. That’s how it works.

Startup 357

Startup Venture Capital Azure AWS 357

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 27, 2023

Slower sales cycles create pipeline shocks & startups are feeling the impacts. The average startup saw a 24% increase in sales cycle from early 2022 to 2023. Startups selling to enterprises have increased 36%, twice those of Mid-Market & SMB focused companies. Sales cycles shifted dramatically in 2023.

Startup 350

Startup SMB Headcount Sales 350

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

When investing in a crypto startup that will issue a token, an investor considers two prices - the price of the equity and the price of the token. Where could we find analogous data? The best data I found is the economies of countries. The correlation between the growth rate of the economy (using 2019 data and the ETR) is 0.8.

Data 328

Data Pricing Revenue Startup 328

SaaStr

APRIL 18, 2022

FT summarized the latest data from 2 platforms trading private shares. These are the changes everyone that has IPO’d has seen this year … but that most startups don’t directly feel, see or experience. This data is biased toward the biggest names, and on exchanges that are not tiny but fairly niche.

Startup 315

Startup Pricing Investment Data 315

Tom Tunguz

MAY 16, 2023

Looking at the data in more granular detail, most companies have grown headcount at similar rates, with a few outliers doubling or more & some shrinking headcount. Startups operate with a broader variance with commercial teams : Canva & Databricks should paint the ends of the spectrum.

Headcount 312

Headcount Startup Scale Engineering 312

SaaStr

MAY 12, 2023

This data confirms that. More at the full report here : The post SaaS Capital: Across 1,500 SaaS Startups, Yearly Contracts Don’t Actually Increase NRR appeared first on SaaStr. We tend to intuitively think annual contracts help combat churn, but they really don’t — they just defer it.

Startup 362

Startup SaaS Retention Churn 362

SaaStr

MAY 30, 2024

So I firmly you believe you can build an incredible SaaS startup from anywhere now, or at least, any major-ish tech center. If not already in SF, we help you re-locate to San Francisco to raise your seed round — Alice Bentinck (@Alicebentinck) April 8, 2024 So this latest data from Carta is interesting. The post 38.4%

Startup 310

Startup Investment SaaS Data 310

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 18, 2023

Superior reporting arises from a shared data model on a vital customer data asset (customers & employee data are two examples). In the first two decades of cloud, Parker argues startups built superior point solutions to compete against the distribution might of on-prem incumbents.

Startup 314

Startup Strategy Scale Cloud 314

SaaStr

AUGUST 9, 2024

From startup to $500M CARR, Spencer Burke, SVP of Growth at Braze, shares how Braze scaled a growth and customer success team. As an early startup team, you’re doing every job under the sun. We get lazy writing job descriptions, and taking shortcuts is a luxury most startups don’t have. But that was it.

Scale 294

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Startup 294

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 21, 2025

Offers workshops, networking, and investor matchmaking for startups and enterprises. Large Audience: Considered the biggest SaaS conference with a large number of attendees from leading SaaS companies, startups, and venture capital firms. Features 300+ speakers from top SaaS companies like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Snowflake.

Software 245

Software Scale Venture Capital SaaS 245

SaaStr

OCTOBER 28, 2023

Dear SaaStr: My Startup Doesn’t Have a Free Trial or Freemium Option. Or does it need a ton of data in it to work well and show value? Or does it need a ton of data in it to work well and show value? If it needs a ton of data, can a “demo org” adequately convey that value? We require payment right away.

Startup 304

Startup Payment Solutions Business Model Enterprise 304

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 11, 2025

Two data are perhaps most helpful for founders. this year: Finally, and you knew this, the “average” AI-first B2B startups at $100m+ ARR are projecting 51% Growth Vs. 30% for “Traditional” SaaS This ties to what I’m seeing as well. At $25m ARR, the answer is: 100% growth 110% NRR 0.9x About 35% faster (!)

B2B 258

B2B AI Startup Revenue 258

SaaStr

APRIL 5, 2025

Kobe Conrad, Head of Growth at Rupa Health and Onleet, took the stage at SaaStr Annual to break down the five growth channels that transformed Rupa Health from a $20M seed-stage startup into a platform with hundreds of millions in equity and a 4,000% increase in user acquisition over three and a half years.

Scale 231

Scale AI Search Sales Hiring Acquisition 231

SaaStr

JANUARY 8, 2025

It was started in 2014 when founders Daniel and Jonathan were working together at a delivery startup and experienced firsthand how slow background checks were slowing down worker onboarding. Lindsey found a way to track this data, then brought it into every meeting. Better RevOps uncovered excessive discounting.

Revenue 296

Revenue Scale Sales Hiring Compensation 296

SaaStr

MARCH 18, 2025

Joselyn Goldfein , Managing Director at Zeta Venture Partners, which invests in AI and data infrastructure-focused startups from inception through seed stage And see everyone at 2025 SaaStr Annual, May 13-15 in SF Bay!! What VCs Are Funding in AI Today The AI funding landscape has evolved rapidly in 2023-2024.

Technical Review 191

Technical Review Artificial Intelligence AI Marketplace as a Service 191

SaaStr

JUNE 16, 2023

So Carta recently put together some dat a on a topic I’ve wondered about: just how many startups allow option exercises beyond the traditional 90 day window? The answer: the general trend is just over 10% of startups have extended windows beyond the traditional 90 days for departing employees to exercise stock options.

Startup 276

Startup Trends Data Compensation 276

SaaStr

MAY 27, 2023

Dear SaaStr: When is a Startup Ready to Raise Venture Capital These Days? Churn too high Burn too high Competitors growing faster Already raised “too much” capital The post Dear SaaStr: When is a Startup Ready to Raise Venture Capital These Days? A lot harder. appeared first on SaaStr.

Venture Capital 287

Venture Capital Startup CTO Churn 287

SaaStr

JANUARY 24, 2023

Dear SaaStr: How Do You Know If Your Startup Idea Already Exists? And more data here on how 70% of SaaS public companies are just new versions of old ideas: (note: an updated Classic answer) The post Dear SaaStr: How Do You Know If Your Startup Idea Already Exists? Well, of course it already exists. Of course they have.

Startup 276

Startup Scaling SaaS Data 276

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 2, 2023

But there are multiple ways to build a leader, and startup don’t always start off with high NRR even if they end up there. But the data is real. ” The post SaaS Capital Survey of 1,500 SaaS Companies: High NRR Startups Grow Twice as Fast appeared first on SaaStr. And what they learned is: Yes.

Startup 296

Startup SaaS SMB Banking 296

SaaStr

OCTOBER 21, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What is the average percentage of annual vs. monthly plan sold for a BtoB SaaS startup targeting the SMB market? A few data points: 50% of Zoom’s customers paid monthly until recently. Data from Zoom, Freshworks, Expensify, Squarespace, and More appeared first on SaaStr. 20%+- will pay annually to save money.

Data 285

Data SMB Payment Features Churn 285

SaaStr

MARCH 13, 2024

Is Generative AI going to be transformative or incremental for your startup? The beauty of startups is you’re agile, and with LLMs, it’s language-driven. So, as a startup, you need to think deeply about the customer experience and what GenAI can do for you. Many startups build a thin layer on top of OpenAI or whatever stack.

Generative AI 275

Generative AI AI Cloud Startup 275

User Pilot

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

Collect customer data to calculate complex formulas for tracking metrics, monitor customer health scores, and resolve support tickets while continuously trying to improve retention and expansion. Best customer success software for startups and small companies. Defining a customer success tool and other FAQs.

Customer Success 105

Customer Success Enterprise Software Review Startup 105

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

Dear SaaStr: What is the Process You Follow When Investing in an Up-and-Coming Startup? There are too many startups out there that want to meet, have coffee, do a Zoom, etc. The single most important thing you can do is protect your “slots” so that you meet with startups there is at least some chance you might invest in.

Investment 287

Investment Startup Metrics Software 287

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 2, 2023

If a startup raised a top quartile Seed round, Series A, B, & C, they typically would have grown headcount by about 6% in the last twelve months. But plotting the Series C size by headcount, the dispersed data underscores the point that great fundraises do not correlate to team size growth in this environment. About double at 12%.

Headcount 244

Headcount Startup AI Scaling 244

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

At the IMPACT Summit yesterday, I shared our Top 10 Trends for Data in 2024. LLMs Transform the Stack : Large language models transform data in many ways. First, they have driven an increased demand for data and are causing a complete architecture inside companies. Second, they change the way that we manipulate data.

Artificial Intelligence 228

Artificial Intelligence Trends Data Software Review 228

SaaStr

APRIL 14, 2025

150+ Sponsors Driving Innovation From the biggest names in cloud to the most exciting startups, our 150+ sponsors are showcasing the latest innovations in SaaS and AI. We’ve got an epic 40+ acre campus and it’s just full of fun. And networking.

VP of Engineering 204

VP of Engineering CTO Coach VPCs (Virtual Private Cloud) Scale 204

SaaStr

DECEMBER 18, 2023

At SaaStr Annual , IBM’s VP of Software and Technology Raj Datta and Director of Startups Kylie Rutherford shared how AI is changing the game for companies of all sizes. AI is a very competitive landscape, so startups have to ask themselves how they’re going to gain a competitive advantage with it.

AI 302

AI Technology Scale Startup 302

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

This showcases a narrow segment of a niche market, and it’s missing a lot of startups. Any startup in any reasonable category likely has dozens of competitors, and Altman believes the best strategy to compete in 2023 and beyond is multi-product. Startups are no longer fringe. How can a startup compete with a big company?

Scale 287

Scale Scaling Startup Sales Hiring 287

SaaStr

OCTOBER 18, 2024

It’s mission-critical to go multiproduct on time — too early is bad but too late is bad too We’ve written this up already a few times recently on SaaStr already as Jason did a deep dive on this just last week and Parker Conrad’s theory of the compound startup from SaaStr Europa is a masterclass on the matter.

Sales Recruiting 308

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale AI 308

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

After all, they have all the customer data. From the head of innovation at Global 100 leader BT: (note: an updated SaaStr Classic post) The post Dear SaaStr: How Can a New Startup Take on a Big, Established Leader? Big, established tech companies aren’t stupid, or ignorant. Not at all. appeared first on SaaStr.

Startup 263

Startup Engineering Innovation Trends 263