Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

Many mid-market software companies price with the goal of revenue maximization, negotiating for the highest possible price in each sale. There are exceptions: Oracle’s database, Tanium’s security product, Workday’s human capital management software. Application software companies typically sell seats.

SaaS Payments 276

SaaS Payments Pricing Strategy Scale 276

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2024

A rough yardstick is that most enterprise-focused SaaS companies tend to get about 8%-10% of their revenues from professional services. Salesforce similarly on the enterprise side has built a huge ecosystem to do the services work for them. Dear SaaStr: How Much Should a SaaS Company Invest in Professional Services? I say overinvest.

Investment 298

Investment SaaS SMB Enterprise 298

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

Dear SaaStr: How Do Enterprises Decide Which Software Vendor to Sign a Deal With? Going in low alone is unlikely to win a deal in the enterprise. The post Dear SaaStr: How Do Enterprises Decide Which Software Vendor to Sign a Deal With? appeared first on SaaStr.

Enterprise 284

Enterprise Software Pricing Branding 284

SaaStr

JULY 30, 2024

Okta’s VP of Engineering, Monica Bajaj, and Senior Director of Platform Product Marketing, Priya Ramamurthi, share Okta’s playbook to PLG, developer experience, and Enterprise ARR. What does scaling Enterprise ARR mean? The Enterprise Funnel Finally, it’s time to scale as your experts become advocates and champions.

Underperforming Technical Team 282

Underperforming Technical Team Enterprise Scale Payments 282

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2024

For the subsequent ten years in software, we’ve optimized every little bit of how we sell it. But today, it’s different because the kinds of software we sell aren’t the same. Six months ago, security was the number one prohibition preventing businesses and software companies from buying AI. It isn’t predictable.

Venture Capital 331

Venture Capital Marketing AI SaaS 331

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

The new software GTM playbook has yet to be written. Figuring out how to consistently produce wow moments with non-deterministic software is essential. Ultimately, pricing captures 15-30% of the value the software/AI creates. But the companies who figure it out will become the next wave of massive businesses.

Software 296

Software Sales Hiring Customer Lifetime Value Scale 296

SaaStr

DECEMBER 19, 2024

But we all know enterprise software. Per The Information , Benioff has also instructed his sales team to go all-in and put AI and Agentforce into every deal possible. It’s a bit counterintuitive at first — isn’t AI replacing people? It doesn’t sell itself. Not really.

Sales Hiring 307

Sales Hiring AI Headcount Sales 307

SaaStr

JANUARY 30, 2023

I know things can be tough out there but Gartner last week still predicted enterprise software would grow 9.3% But — the cuts aren’t really coming in enterprise software budgets. Gartner is predicting enterprise software spend will grow a stunning 9.3% But Software? in 2023 to $4.5

Software 326

Software Enterprise Cloud Trends 326

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 14, 2025

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Will the macro turn in favor of software buyers? We’ll see how the rest of software earnings shake out - but so far I’d categorize the guides / outlooks for the year as “meh” at best. Follow along to stay up to date!

Cloud 144

Cloud Software Subscription Payment Features 144

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 28, 2024

The fastest growing software category in the public markets is security. Security & data top the charts at on average 10x enterprise-value-to-forward-revenue, compared to 5x for the others. These two software categories lead buyers’ priorities & are expected to grow at twice the pace of the overall software market.

Software Review 319

Software Review Software Finance Acquisition 319

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 27, 2024

Its product provides software to spas and salons but it’s not new (the first salon software came out in the 80s), and neither is a lot of the vertical software getting hot today. 10-15 years ago, salon and spa software was essentially a calendar with bells and whistles. readily available that didn’t exist before.

SaaS Payments 257

SaaS Payments Payments Payment Solutions Payment Services 257

SaaStr

DECEMBER 10, 2024

The days of pure top-down enterprise sales are over when it comes to technical products. As software continues to “eat the world” (as Marc Andreessen famously predicted), developers have gained significant influence in purchasing decisions. Bottom-Up Buy-In is Critical : You need developer support to win enterprise deals.

Engineering 284

Engineering Development CTO Leadership 284

SaaStr

JANUARY 17, 2024

At Saastr Annual, we hosted an Enterprise panel of AI leaders to share their experience and knowledge to help others understand how big companies think about and leverage AI. While the first generation of Generative AI is great, it’s not quite ready to solve Enterprise problems. What Are Enterprises Most Excited About Using AI For?

AI 292

AI Enterprise Artificial Intelligence compliance 292

SaaStr

DECEMBER 28, 2024

It’s tough to spend even $1m a year effectively on most digital spend for most categories of B2B software: Putting aside Unicorns and folks that have raised monster rounds, in my experience, most enterprise SaaS companies struggle to deploy more than $40k-$50k a month on Adwords effectively.

B2B 261

B2B B2C Marketing SaaS 261

SaaStr

JULY 18, 2022

Gartner: businesses will spend $100,000,000,000 more on software in 2023 than 2022. As of July 2022, Gartner predicts: Overall business software spend will still grow a stunning 11.8% That means $100 Billion more software spend in 2023 than 2022. The post Gartner: Software Spend Will Still Grow by $100 Billion in 2023.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Software Cloud Forecasting 347

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 12, 2023

Recently, I was on the HR Heretics podcast and we talked about the increasing efficiency of software companies (in addition to other topics including the implications of AI for executives, how to diligence a candidate, & what board members expect of their people leaders). Compare that to the benchmarks in 2013!

Software Review 330

Software Review Trends Revenue Software 330

User Pilot

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

Best customer success software for startups and small companies. Top customer success management platforms for mid-market and enterprise companies. Best customer success software shortlist ClientSuccess – starting from $15,000/year. Zapscale – from $500/month to $2000/month and customizable enterprise packages.

Customer Success 105

Customer Success Enterprise Software Review Startup 105

SaaStr

JANUARY 17, 2025

” Rethinking Product Interaction Models Anneka Gupta from Rubrik offered a compelling vision for the future of enterprise SaaS: “AI for us is not a separate product. Key Takeaways The discussion highlighted how AI is not just another feature but a fundamental shift in how software products are built and consumed.

AI 261

AI Cybersecurity User Experience Scaling 261

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 16, 2025

Engineering teams within AI application startups are much smaller than a classic software company - maybe half the size or less. Let’s run an experiment : let’s assume every public software company benefits immediately to the same extent & cuts R&D spending by half. 465b of increased enterprise value from $14.9t

AI 173

AI Venture Capital Enterprise Engineering 173

SaaStr

JULY 3, 2024

Accel Partner Philipe Botteri and Synthesia’s co-founder and CEO Victor Riparbelli deep dive into the lessons learned about building an Enterprise-focused Generative AI company and scaling it. How AI Companies Differ From Traditional SaaS In software, two things matter. AI Adoption in the Enterprise How do you make it happen?

Enterprise 293

Enterprise AI Search AI Artificial Intelligence 293

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

The Evolution of Vertical SaaS The shift from horizontal to vertical SaaS solutions represents a fundamental change in how enterprises buy and implement software. They don’t just build software they become construction industry experts.

Construction 251

Construction Scale SaaS Travel 251

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 5, 2025

Enterprise data is the differentiator: While public data dominates foundation models, enterprise-specific data represents less than 1% but delivers exponentially more value when properly leveraged. IBM’s $7B Bet on Vertical AI and What It Means for SaaS Founders.

AI 185

AI Scale SaaS Government 185

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 14, 2024

So Salesforce is hiring 1,000 more salespeople to sell AI software … that is supposed to reduce the need for humans and replace them with agents pic.twitter.com/hsjlrz3mqS — Jason ✨????SaaStr Do enterprises want to buy from an agent? If it’s the latter, maybe AI will just create even more enterprise sales jobs.

Sales Hiring 284

Sales Hiring Sales AI Enterprise 284

SaaStr

OCTOBER 20, 2022

And they say 2023 will be a banner year for enterprise software spend at least — growing a stunning 11% to $880 Billion. Note this doesn’t include SMB spend, it’s enterprise focused): In a slightly more dated survey, Gartner found in July 69% of CFOs plan to increase their digital spending in 2023.

Forecasting 300

Forecasting Artificial Intelligence Software Business 300

User Pilot

OCTOBER 19, 2024

Think of Net Promoter Score (NPS) software as a tool to measure your customers’ feelings about your product, and categorize them based on their level of loyalty (promoters, neutrals, and detractors). Why it’s worth considering : Qualtrics is perfect for omnichannel B2B enterprises looking for measuring user sentiment in B2B markets.

Software Review 105

Software Review Technical Review Software B2C 105

SaaStr

AUGUST 21, 2023

So SaaStr itself is a little funky — we only have 9 team members but a fair amount of scale in terms of reach, revenue, and in some cases, software utilization. So it was interesting when we tried to migrate off an existing enterprise-focused marketing tool we use. 15k a year today for The Enterprise Vendor.

SMB 246

SMB Enterprise Scale Pricing 246

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

Greenhouse CMO, Carin Van Vuuren, and VP of Enterprise Revenue, Ankur Passi, share their approach to bridging the communication gap to bring the traditional frenemies together. Sales and marketing will perform better when you can clearly define who will buy your software and pinpoint what drives them to purchase. But there is hope.

Enterprise 284

Enterprise Marketing Sales SaaS 284

SaaStr

DECEMBER 11, 2024

AI can help discover preferences in contracts, understand how legal teams like to negotiate and implement that automatically in the software. Relying on Self-Serve Sales Structure for Enterprise Not everything needs to be a PLG product. The self-serve enterprise can be tough versus humans leaning into the bigger deals.”

AI Search 284

AI Search AI Artificial Intelligence B2B 284

SaaStr

JANUARY 31, 2024

Splunk is a 20-year-old Enterprise software giant that has accomplished many things — a 2012 IPO, a $28B+ Cisco acquisition in 2023, and $3.7 As Christian’s been the CRO of Splunk for over seven years now, he’s a wealth of knowledge on what it really takes to be successful in Enterprise SaaS Sales. Why is that?

Enterprise 306

Enterprise Scale Sales SaaS 306

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 16, 2024

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Subscribe now The Great Services-To-Software Rotation There's a lot of debate right now about the economic impact of GenAI. They contend that AI agents, capable of handling infinite workloads, will ultimately reduce the need for software spend.

Outsourcing Services 274

Outsourcing Services Cloud Software Outsourced Development 274

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 2, 2025

Activant Capital brought together at SaaStr Annua l a group of break-out next-generation AI enhanced vertical software leaders: the CEOs from Owner.com, Alloy Automation, and DoNotPay. At SaaStr Annual they shared their experiences and insights on implementing AI in vertical software companies.

AI 222

AI Technical Review Artificial Intelligence Systems Review 222

USIO

AUGUST 19, 2024

SaaS Payment Integration for Software Companies In the ever-evolving landscape of software companies, effective payment integration is crucial for success. Cutting-Edge Technology and Robust APIs Utilizing cutting-edge technology and robust APIs ensures that your software can handle a variety of payment methods effortlessly.

Payment Solutions 211

Payment Solutions Payments SaaS Payments Payment Services 211

SaaStr

OCTOBER 23, 2024

Selling to Multiple Stakeholders If you sell into the Enterprise, you understand there are different stakeholders. This gets more challenging when you have stakeholders who aren’t the ones buying the software. There was no software yet. When you’re “cheap,” you’re more immune to some of these effects. This is true for BILL.

SMB 307

SMB Payment Services Payments Payment Methods 307

SaaStr

MARCH 12, 2025

For high-consideration purchases, “long copy sells” – Despite our short attention span world, buyers of enterprise software will read your 12-page white paper and attend hour-long demos if they provide valuable information. The “five-five” CMO who excels at everything is a unicorn. It’s messy.

Sales Hiring 202

Sales Hiring Marketing Technical Review Underperforming Technical Team 202