Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 15, 2021

Post-PMF, the organization must evolve: it has to grow headcount and then manage that headcount well. As a business scales, the company benefits from a layer of managers to distribute the recruiting burden. It’s easy to miss that detail when building a headcount plan. On the left, there’s one.

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Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Headcount 363

SaaStr

JANUARY 29, 2021

Let’s say you are at $10m ARR and decently funded, you’ll probably have 100 headcount by this point, or at least, by $15m ARR. You’ll probably want to add field sales (for Big Deals) by $10m ARR or so, another 2-3 headcount here, minimum. Let’s assume that takes 5 headcount, minimum, ideally 6. >>

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Sales Hiring Headcount Scale Engineering 349

Tom Tunguz

MAY 16, 2023

I analyzed the headcount patterns within these companies to shed light on three questions : How are these top companies changing their headcount through the downturn? What percent of headcount is in product & engineering? What percent of headcount is in sales & marketing? The typical company grew headcount by 57%.

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Headcount Startup Scale Engineering 312

SaaStr

MAY 29, 2024

NRR Holding Up at an Impressive 119% 100%+ NRR really can scale well past $1B ARR. Growing Headcount and Expenses, Just More Slowly Than Revenue The story for most SaaS and Cloud leaders. Grow headcount and expenses, but more slowly than bookings. #5. Most startups model about 5%-6% a year, and see that come down at scale.

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Scale Headcount Sales Hiring AI 299

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 25, 2020

Marketing teams spend 5-10% of ARR on programs (non-headcount expenses), and this is pretty consistent across ARR. Engineering:Account Executive headcount ratios scale from about 3:1 down to 1:1 as a company scales revenue. Most sales teams ramp AEs (both inside and outside) on six month time periods.

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Headcount Scale Benchmarks Retention 364

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

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. You can’t scale a high-growth SLG-led model without more and more sales reps. The latest examples?

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Sales Hiring Headcount Scale Cloud 326

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

Marketing engine getting more efficient at scale. SaaS leaders at scale often find their cost per acquisition goes up at scale, at they saturate the market, but Monday has gotten better and better here: #8. Like many tech companies, Monday added a ton of headcount in 2021. This slide below I found interesting.

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Headcount SMB Engineering Scaling 318

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2023

At least in the short term, it is turning most of us can do more with about the same headcount in SaaS. #4. Headcount Growing, But Slowly. Staying basically flat in headcount for 3 quarters while growing a stunning 50% (!) Staying basically flat in headcount for 3 quarters while growing a stunning 50% (!)

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Headcount Sales Hiring Scale Enterprise 326

SaaStr

MAY 12, 2021

And they will take at least a tiny amount to scale. I know your first 3 reps are scaled and are crushing it, all hitting 100%. But in theory, higher quotas should “pay” for specialization so in theory, this won’t impact headcount too much. But in practice it often adds 20% or so to the headcount in the model. 22 heads /.75

Scale 313

Scale Sales Hiring Headcount Sales 313

SaaStr

MAY 10, 2023

HubSpot’s operating margins have scaled into the double-digits the past two quarters for the first time. At the end of the day, in SaaS, efficiency really comes from growing revenue faster than headcount. Almost everyone is doing more with … yes, more headcount, but only a smidge more. Including HubSpot. #4.

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Scale SMB Headcount New CTO 322

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. The headcount growth rate for all other companies? No statistically significant difference in headcount. Why look at headcount growth? About double at 12%.

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Headcount Startup AI Scaling 244

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2023

Some define it by headcount, typically around 200-2000 employees, and others by revenue, generally $10M to $1B annual recurring revenue. In rapidly growing companies, the headcount can go from 500-3000 in a matter of months. Why The Mid-Market Is So Messy The mid-market is hard to define. They’ll think it’s them.

Scale 243

Scale Enterprise Scaling SMB 243

SaaStr

JANUARY 4, 2023

A reminder scaling SaaS takes real capital. #9. Slowing headcount growth — like lots of others. Okta headcount grew 32% year-over-year, fairly consistent with revenue growth, but then Okta like others slowed down hiring. Aiming for Profitability in CY’24. It only grew 4.5% quarter-over-quarter. #11.

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Scale Headcount Sales Hiring SMB 313

SaaStr

OCTOBER 8, 2024

Most businesses fall under a power law, where a small number of people run them, yet the company continues to add headcount and spread it out. The post The Secrets to Selling and Scaling in Vertical SaaS with Slice’s CRO Loren Padelford appeared first on SaaStr. Stop doing that—over-index on people who over-perform regularly.

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Scale Scaling Point of Sale SaaS 277

SaaStr

AUGUST 18, 2023

Yes many public SaaS companies have done some sort of layoffs the past 12 months, they were often more really reorgs, though, without any net decrease in headcount. The key was “simply” keeping headcount flat. #3. Everyone is basically doing more with not much more headcount. Without really sacrificing growth.

Scale 245

Scale Headcount Point of Sale SaaS 245

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

As companies scale, they evolve, so how should marketing evolve accordingly to add maximum value? PST, Kady shares the ten things that change in marketing as you scale. PST, Kady shares the ten things that change in marketing as you scale. The reality is that a lot of things change as we scale. The answer isn’t simple.

Scale 274

Scale Scaling Sales Hiring Marketing 274

SaaStr

APRIL 7, 2024

So just a little while back, Lenny Rachintsky had me on his hyper-popular podcast to talk about scaling sales, from the perspective of a founder who hasn’t really done sales. They really are a great checklist when you are starting to scale sales in SaaS: #1. Hire a VP of Sales to help you scale from three sales reps to 300 reps.

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Sales Hiring Scale Headcount Sales 311

SaaStr

MAY 31, 2023

But it’s the $1M+ ones that are fueling the big numbers at this scale. Everyone is basically doing more with not much more headcount (see next point). #4. Growing Headcount, But Much More Slowly That Revenue. Headcount is up 29% year-over-year, but revenue is up 50%. Billion in ARR. They are growing 80%. #3.

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Headcount Scale Sales Hiring AWS 246

SaaStr

MARCH 1, 2022

Never let it be said that SaaS can’t generate a lot of cash at scale. #3. I’d argue No until you are at scale. But once you are at scale, they can have a massive impact. #4. Transition to Cloud takes time at scale. Transition to Cloud takes time at scale. Headcount up 7%, while revenue is up 37%.

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Scale Marketplace as a Service Headcount Cloud 262

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2021

And they will take at least a tiny amount to scale. But in theory, higher quotas should “pay” for specialization so in theory, this won’t impact headcount too much. Just scaling here alone will drop your sales efficiency 30%+ even if everything else stays constant. If you do small deals, reps may struggle to close $400k a year.

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Scale Sales Hiring Sales Headcount 301

Intercom, Inc.

MAY 20, 2020

Over the last few months, I’ve worked with customers who have seen an explosion in demand for their services and, as a result, have needed help onboarding new team members and scaling their customer experience. On the flipside, I’ve also had customers who are investing more in automation as they’ve reduced their headcount.

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Scale Customer Success Scaling Technical Review 223

Intercom, Inc.

DECEMBER 2, 2019

How do you ensure a great customer experience globally without adding a ton of headcount? However, that means there is a huge opportunity for businesses who are able to scale personal, effective support. The post Found in translation: How multilingual support helps you scale customer experiences appeared first on Inside Intercom.

Scale 209

Scale Outsourcing Services Scaling Technical Review 209

SaaStr

JUNE 4, 2022

You start making up for it in volume — with headcount. A related post here: 6 Things in SaaS That Are Only Obvious At Scale. Your life becomes all about recruiting, even more than it was. It’s harder to find that Magical VP that can make a huge difference. At $100m+ in ARR, the hardest part is you have to add a Unicorn each year.

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SaaS Headcount AWS Churn 350

SaaStr

JULY 31, 2020

Last year, the company doubled its headcount, tripled revenue and landed on G2’s Top 100 Global Software list. . No doubt, Chorus provides this at scale. And some of the marquee customers include MongoDB, Gitlab and Qualtrics. . The funding comes at a point when Chorus is in the hypergrowth mode.

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Scale Artificial Intelligence Payments Payment Services 359

SaaStr

JANUARY 21, 2022

You might feel confused about where to begin, how to scale up, which mistakes you should avoid, and things you should consider before expanding. Now, let’s look at ten learnings that Dorian gathered while scaling Grammarly from a Consumer to an Enterprise brand with B2B offerings. Enter your email below for the latest SaaStr updates.

Scale 246

Scale SMB Enterprise Sales Hiring 246

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 1, 2023

AI’s contribution to engineering productivity is 5x+ greater than other teams because of the scale of the gain & the company’s team composition. 1 BDRs are often mapped to AEs at 1:1 ratio & if we assume BDRs account for 25% of sales headcount (the remainder includes AE, sales operations, post-sales, & management).

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AI Startup Scale Headcount 321

Intercom, Inc.

OCTOBER 24, 2018

How do you scale a support organization without breaking the budget or killing the quality of the customer experience? Our belief in a modern support model will never change, but we’ve spent a lot of time iterating on how best to scale our support. Three options when scaling customer support. Automation. Self-Service.

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Scale Customer Support Scaling Strategy 178

SaaStr

JUNE 16, 2023

And they will take at least some time to scale. That may actually be high, especially if you are scaling quickly and make a few hiring errors. In theory, higher quotas should “pay” for specialization so in theory, and this wouldn’t impact headcount too much. Third, multiply a yield factor. Not all reps will work out.

Scale 319

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Headcount 319

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

But to scale it quickly added a very effective sales team : Yes, Atlassian for a long time had almost no “direct” sales team, well after the IPO. Hence, Twilio has a very high level of sales efficiency (and relatively small headcount). Maybe even forever, if you don’t want to build something really big.

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Scale Sales Hiring Sales Headcount 341

Intercom, Inc.

JULY 28, 2022

And for Intercom’s VP of Sales EMEA, Sanj Bhayro , scaling is just what you need to invest in to ensure growth becomes as constant and linear as it can be. Sanj has plenty of experience scaling sales teams at growing businesses, and that’s precisely why, as of November of last year, he‘s overseeing EMEA sales at Intercom.

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Scale Scaling Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting 210

SaaStr

AUGUST 21, 2024

Grew Restaurant Locations 29% Year-Over-Year to 120,000 Perhaps the most important metric at scale. Only Grew Sales & Marketing Expense 12%, and Cut R&D (Product + Engineering) and G&A Expenses Toast has gotten to profitability by truly holding the line on headcount and revenue expenses. 5 Interesting Learnings: #1.

Scale 301

Scale Payment Methods SaaS Payments Payment Solutions 301

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

Keeping headcount flat got everyone to be more efficient. Samsara is scaling up sales faster now again. This is a theme we’ll see accelerate the coming months and year. Salesforce also just announced its accelerating hiring again. But you can be too efficient in sales.

Sales Hiring 299

Sales Hiring Scale Headcount Engineering 299

SaaStr

JUNE 27, 2022

And they will take at least some time to scale. That may actually be high, especially if you are scaling quickly and make a few hiring errors. In theory, higher quotas should “pay” for specialization so in theory, and this wouldn’t impact headcount too much. Third, multiply a yield factor. Not all reps will work out.

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Scale Sales Hiring Sales Headcount 272

SaaStr

MAY 26, 2022

Net headcount rarely declines. It’s harsh, but you usually don’t need them once you scale. This may sound harsh, But any "layoff" of a single digit % of employees is usually just a reshuffling. The bottom 5%-7% are moved out, to replace them with better performers. — Jason BeKind Lemkin #????????????

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Headcount Scaling SaaS Management 301

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 29, 2019

In this week’s episode we’ve dug down into the podcast vaults to bring you some of the best insights shared by our guests about scaling sales. It’s no surprise that one of the key levers for growth as you go from startup to scale-up is your sales team. Tara Bryant: It’s funny you ask me that.

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Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Payment Services 172

SaaStr

JANUARY 30, 2023

Deel scaled the sales team from two to 250 account executives, but issues with productivity and enablement of the account executives cropped up. Deel solved this by scaling the revenue operations team in conjunction to support sales, design quotas, and go-to-market strategies, and leverage data to identify the best strategies.

Sales Hiring 274

Sales Hiring Payment Services SaaS Payments Scale 274

SaaStr

APRIL 20, 2022

We’ve seen a variety of approaches here to Cloud companies at scale, and most (although not all) try to keep services under 10% of their revenues or so, including Confluent. As your customer count growth falls below half your revenue growth — that’s a sign of rely more on your existing customer base than new ones to scale.

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Scale Cloud Headcount Scaling 61