Sat.Sep 23, 2023 - Fri.Sep 29, 2023

article thumbnail

The Top 20 Symptoms of a Weak Development Team

TechEmpower SaaS

When speaking with founders and CEOs, we often hear concerns like this: My project manager is losing confidence in the development team. The PMs are seeing late deliveries and bugs that suggest the devs just aren’t capable enough. I think that poor communication and differing team cultures might be part of the problem, but how can I know for sure? It’s a good question.

article thumbnail

Avoiding the PLG Trap : Office Hours with Oliver Jay

Tom Tunguz

On October 5th at 9:30am Pacific time, Office Hours will host Oliver Jay , former CRO at Asana & executive at Dropbox. Having worked at two of the most successful bottoms-up SaaS companies, Oliver understands the product-led growth motion better than most. Recently, he’s written about the PLG trap. “Although the PLG approach yields rapid initial adoption and growth, scaling a PLG company is a different story.

Scale 162
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Dear SaaStr: What Are The Biggest Problems You Face as a Startup Founder?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: What Are The Biggest Problems You Face as a Startup Founder? The list of problems is endless (this is one of the hardest parts of the job), but let me try to order a few of the biggest challenges roughly based on stage: Pre-Revenue: Finding a Truly Great Co-Founder That is Just as Committed as You. Some of us can go the distance as solo founders, and others of us can find a great co-founder, or perhaps a COO … later.

article thumbnail

Selling Smarter, Not Harder: Rethinking the Sales Cycle with L’areal Lipkins

Predictable Revenue

Collin Stewart of the Predictable Revenue Podcast sought answers to pressing questions in an engaging conversation with L’areal Lipkins. The post Selling Smarter, Not Harder: Rethinking the Sales Cycle with L’areal Lipkins appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

Sales 130
article thumbnail

Going Beyond Chatbots: Connecting AI to Your Tools, Systems, & Data

Speaker: Alex Salazar, CEO & Co-Founder @ Arcade | Nate Barbettini, Founding Engineer @ Arcade | Tony Karrer, Founder & CTO @ Aggregage

If AI agents are going to deliver ROI, they need to move beyond chat and actually do things. But, turning a model into a reliable, secure workflow agent isn’t as simple as plugging in an API. In this new webinar, Alex Salazar and Nate Barbettini will break down the emerging AI architecture that makes action possible, and how it differs from traditional integration approaches.

article thumbnail

What Builders Talk About When They Talk About AI

Andreessen Horowitz

The foundation models we use today aren’t just beating humans at Jeopardy, or playing Go at a supernatural level, or powering better recommendation engines—they’re changing and creating new user behavior across art, design, games, medicine, coding, and even human relationships. And the broad impact of this wave of AI is already creating the sort of massive value we’ve seen with other platform shifts, like the internet, mobile, cloud.

More Trending

article thumbnail

5 Types of Tools That Can Help Improve Your Customer onboarding process

Inturact

Acquiring new customers can sometimes be a real nightmare, so it’s no surprise that the sales team has a huge sigh of relief once a client has registered. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that the job is done. After registration, you want to ensure that the client will stay and to do so you need to pay attention to the customer onboarding process.

article thumbnail

How to Use Marketing Experimentation to Boost Your Marketing ROI

User Pilot

Product marketing is a nuanced, fast-paced, and multi-faceted endeavor. In a competitive environment with no guarantees, marketing experimentation serves as a surefire way to maximize reach, optimize conversions, and improve the user experience. In this guide, we’ll walk you through what marketing experiments are, why you should run them, how to conduct experiments successfully, and seven experiments to try for yourself!

Marketing 105
article thumbnail

Personal Branding for Introverts: How I’m Managing my Anxiety While Growing on Social Media

Buffer Resources

Some things you need to know about me: I’m an introvert and I’m shy. And, to build up my business, I’ve been actively building my personal brand on social media for three years. These things seem rather at odds with each other, don’t they? Before you ask, introversion and shyness are not one and the same. For example, I prefer my own company — preferably curled up with a novel — to socializing because of my low social battery (introvert).

article thumbnail

How Nimble CRM Slashed Data Entry Time by 95% for DLA Ignite

Nimble - Sales

About DLA Ignite Meet DLA Ignite, where innovation meets sales strategy. With Tim Hughes leading the organization as CEO and Co-Founder, this dynamic business consulting company has been shaking up the business world for seven years. They’re all about transforming organizations by showing them the power of social media in their sales strategy – a […] The post How Nimble CRM Slashed Data Entry Time by 95% for DLA Ignite appeared first on Nimble Blog.

Data 64
article thumbnail

State of AI in Sales & Marketing 2025

AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.

article thumbnail

How Is AI Going To Impact The SaaS Landscape Over The Coming Years with a16z GP Kristina Shen

SaaStr

How is AI going to impact the software and SaaS landscape of the next couple of years and also the next 5-10 years? Kristina Shen, General Partner at a16z, shares some insights into the present and future of generative AI at this week’s Workshop Wednesday, held every Wednesday at 10 a.m. PST. The Most Surprising Thing About VC This Year Shen has been in venture capital for 12 years now, and it’s been a crazy ride to watch the whole bull market back in ‘10 and ‘11 when 10x revenue was insanely ex

AI 317
article thumbnail

AccessAlly Review

The Daily Egg

For this software, you’re going to need two things: one, be an online coach, trainer, or course creator, and two, know how. The post AccessAlly Review appeared first on The Daily Egg.

article thumbnail

Clouded Judgement 9.29.23 - Rates Keep Going Up

Clouded Judgement

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Follow along to stay up to date! Subscribe now Rates Keep Going Up Rates continue to push higher, as the aftershock of the Fed’s “Higher for Longer!!” messaging reverberates through the markets. Yesterday the 10Y hit 4.7% which was up from it’s high of ~4.5% last week.

Cloud 190
article thumbnail

Release Notes | September 2023: FastSpring Improves ACH Authorization Rates and Updates Trial UI

FastSpring

Release notes is our monthly highlight of our great features coming out on the FastSpring platform so you’ll be able to pick up and go with the latest features for your store. If you want to know more about FastSpring, reach out to our sales team for a demo , or try it yourself. Improved User Experience in Free Trial UI We’re always looking for ways to improve user experience in our application.

article thumbnail

5 Ways to Improve Revenue from Integrated Payments

Speaker: Pete Uselman, Director of Partner Experience at Wind River Payments

Most integrated payments providers share a percent of the payment revenue with their software partners. But, oftentimes, that revenue share is only a fraction of the true income potential software providers can realize. If you want to maximize income opportunities from your payments program, check out Wind River Payments’ webinar-on-demand.

article thumbnail

Making Less, But Working Less. Is It Part of the New World of SaaS?

SaaStr

So a lot of folks on social media talk about more work-life balance in SaaS, and I totally get it. Every month, every quarter, the number needs to go up in sales. Layoffs in some cases have been brutal. The pressure can be intense, and even if it’s not intense, it’s just … there. Especially in venture-backed startups with high growth expectations. “Unicorn” sounded like a rite of passage in 2021.

Scale 315
article thumbnail

Internxt Review

The Daily Egg

If you’re worried that massive tech conglomerates are spying on your data and using your information for world domination, then this software. The post Internxt Review appeared first on The Daily Egg.

article thumbnail

Artisanal Emails

Tom Tunguz

Artisanal chocolate, artisanal candles, artisanal silk scarves. What about an artisanal email? LLM’s powerful content generation abilities will soon automate many emails we send. Sales teams have started using software that identifies leads, researches them, identifies commonalities (a shared university affiliation or a passion for a sports team), drafts the email, & sends it.

article thumbnail

Announcing: Comprehensive Reporting for Free and Paid Trials

FastSpring

Looking to leverage FastSpring’s subscription capabilities and want to try out reports for yourself? Sign up for a demo or check out our free trial. Trials are the gateway to growth for many SaaS and software companies. Understanding the dynamics of those trials is at the heart of optimized trial conversion rates — which helps you achieve product-led growth.

article thumbnail

SaaS Essentials: Failed Payment Solution Guide

For SaaS businesses, improving retention is one of the easiest and most effective ways to drive revenue and profits. With a clear link between failed payments and customer churn, having a robust failed payment recovery solution isn’t optional—it’s essential. Achieving your retention goals starts with the right solution.

article thumbnail

Dear SaaStr: What is The Biggest Difference Between Running a 10 Person Startup and a 100 Person Startup?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: What is The Biggest Difference Between Running a 10 Person Startup and a 100 Person Startup? The biggest structural difference is you have to hire all the VPs by employee 50–100. You won’t be able to scale this far without a full management team — VPs of Sales, Marketing, Product, Engineering, Customer Success at least. But the toughest personal challenge for many CEOs is letting go.

article thumbnail

How to Save Time with AI Social Media Content Creation

Buffer Resources

Ogilvy's Creative Director, David Raichman, called AI “ a force multiplier for creative expression,” and I couldn’t agree more. I remember the countless times I’d be staring at the blinking cursor, waiting for inspiration to strike, only to be met by a nagging voice of doubt. That’s probably because the brain filters out many ideas before they can reach our conscious thoughts.

article thumbnail

Where to Allocate Marketing Budgets in 2023/2024

Sales Hacker

Over the past year, we’ve had tons of founders ask where they should be prioritizing their marketing dollars and resources considering the wild economic year that 2023 has unfolded as. Based on an annual Gartner report on CMO spend for 2023, 71% said that they lack the budget to fully execute their strategies in 2023, predicting that it will remain as restrictive in 2024.

Scale 129
article thumbnail

Introducing the a16z Global Payments Hub

Andreessen Horowitz

a16z’s Fintech partners analyze Intuit’s new AI assistant, JPM’s partnership with Gusto, and mark a recent embedded fintech development.

Payments 125
article thumbnail

How to Achieve High-Accuracy Results When Using LLMs

Speaker: Ben Epstein, Stealth Founder & CTO | Tony Karrer, Founder & CTO, Aggregage

When tasked with building a fundamentally new product line with deeper insights than previously achievable for a high-value client, Ben Epstein and his team faced a significant challenge: how to harness LLMs to produce consistent, high-accuracy outputs at scale. In this new session, Ben will share how he and his team engineered a system (based on proven software engineering approaches) that employs reproducible test variations (via temperature 0 and fixed seeds), and enables non-LLM evaluation m

article thumbnail

My App Stack: Jessica Gilmartin, Chief Marketing Officer of Calendly

SaaStr

“My App Stack” is a new series where we dig in with top CMOs, CROs, CTOs and CEOs on just what apps they’re really using to run their business. I always learn a lot from these — they are in essence a best practices list from each leader. Last week we had a great one with Sarah Scharf, VP of Marketing of Vanta, check it out here. This week we have Jessica Gilmartin, Chief Marketing Officer of Calendly!

Marketing 307
article thumbnail

My First 30 Days at Buffer: What It’s Like To Join the Company in 2023

Buffer Resources

I still get a jolt every time my phone lights up with a notification about an email from my now manager, Hailley Griffis. After weeks on tenterhooks while I went through the application and interview process for my dream job — checking my phone at every available moment for a ‘You’re through to the next round’ email — it’s a tough habit to break.

article thumbnail

What does it take to raise capital, in SaaS, in 2023?

Point Nine Land

Unveiling the 2023 SaaS Funding Napkin At the annual SaaStr conference in San Mateo three weeks ago, I delved into fundraising trends in 2023, discussing the implications of investors’ new-found love for efficiency vs. growth at all costs for founders, and why you should expect AI to come up in (almost) every pitch meeting. Here’s a recording of the talk for those interested.

SaaS 119
article thumbnail

AI Food Fights in the Enterprise

Andreessen Horowitz

This conversation is part of our AI Revolution series, which features some of the most impactful builders in the field of AI discussing and debating where we are, where we’re going, and the big open questions in AI. Find more content from our AI Revolution series on www.a16z.com/AIRevolution. Ali Ghodsi, CEO and cofounder of Databricks, and Ben Horowitz, cofounder of a16z, explain the data wars happening inside and outside enterprises and how they could impact the evolution of LLMs. [00:38] Why

article thumbnail

The GTM Intelligence Era: ZoomInfo 2025 Customer Impact Report

ZoomInfo customers aren’t just selling — they’re winning. Revenue teams using our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform grew pipeline by 32%, increased deal sizes by 40%, and booked 55% more meetings. Download this report to see what 11,000+ customers say about our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform and how it impacts their bottom line. The data speaks for itself!

article thumbnail

Dear SaaStr: Is It Ridiculous To Call Yourself the CEO When Your Startup is Tiny?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: Is It Ridiculous To Call Yourself the CEO When Your Startup is Tiny? I used to feel that way, at least a bit. I used to look at tiny little startups and wince when a founder went around talking about himself as “CEO”. But then I had to learn how to Sell to Big Customers, and Sell to Power. And what I learned is customers care. Customers and prospects want to talk to the CEO.

Startup 291
article thumbnail

How to Send Better Email: 7 Ways To Level Up Your Email Skills Today

Buffer Resources

Like many others, I read and reply to hundreds of emails every week and I have for years. And as with anything — some emails are so much better than others. Some emails truly stand out because the person took time to research, or they shared their request quickly. There are a lot of things that can take an email from good to great, and in this post, we’re going to get into them.

ChatGPT 123
article thumbnail

Product Development Process: The Seven Stages Explained

User Pilot

The product development process is part art, part science, and all important to the success of your SaaS. In this article, we've got a comprehensive review of the entire product development process. We'll take you through idea generation, market research, defining a minimum viable product, building new features, managing the launch, and beyond.