SaaStr

FEBRUARY 11, 2025

This is epic opportunity to showcase your AI Startup. If you’re building the next AI breakthrough in SaaS, pitch your startup at the MayfieldAI AI Demo Stage at SaaStr. Selected founders will demo their innovation to leading SaaS CEOs, founders, and investors at SaaStr Annual (May 13-15, SF Bay Area ).

AI 300

AI Startup Innovation Investment 300

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 6, 2022

As I’ve explored web3 I’ve been forming a mental model of the major innovations powering this enormous wave of innovation. What’s a startup to do? Because this technique is so new, startups have the upper hand: Innovator’s Dilemma redux. Twenty years ago, startups IPOed after 4 years.

Innovation 266

Innovation Banking Government Advertising 266

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 21, 2025

Offers workshops, networking, and investor matchmaking for startups and enterprises. Other major SaaS events include: SaaStock (Europe-focused) Gartner Tech Growth & Innovation Conference Dreamforce (Salesforces massive event) Would you like recommendations based on your specific SaaS goals?

Software 243

Software Scale Venture Capital SaaS 243

SaaStr

AUGUST 4, 2021

Innovation holds the key to brilliant products and successful business outcomes. Yet, it’s critical to understand what product innovation looks like across various company stages. Typically startups have a small team grinding out product improvements based on early customer feedback. Startup Phase: Survival.

Innovation 261

Innovation Startup Leadership Investment 261

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 10, 2019

And then, right then, product innovation decelerates to zero. Every innovation requires a Herculean effort to achieve. Without someone driving the product roadmap, product innovation decelerates. You’ve raised a meaningful round of capital. Suddenly, the product and engineering teams are bogged down. Third, inertia.

Innovation 252

Innovation Engineering Acquisition Product Marketing 252

Intercom, Inc.

NOVEMBER 9, 2022

Few books have chronicled how innovation takes place – and how market leaders fail to seize it – as well as Clayton Christensen ’s seminal book The Innovator’s Dilemma. First published in 1997, the bestseller has influenced several generations of entrepreneurs, startup founders, and tech enthusiasts.

Innovation 226

Innovation Scale Startup Government 226

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

Startups are innovation machines. Others want to innovate in every dimension and re-invent every discipline from pricing to marketing to support to customer success. Others want to innovate in every dimension and re-invent every discipline from pricing to marketing to support to customer success.

Pricing 277

Pricing Startup Sales Hiring Innovation 277

USIO

AUGUST 12, 2024

Innovative SaaS Payment Gateways for Startups In the highly competitive world of startups, managing payment processing can indeed be a significant challenge. However, innovative SaaS payment gateways for startups offer a comprehensive solution, effectively simplifying the payment experience through advanced technology.

SaaS Payments 130

SaaS Payments Payment Services Payment Solutions Payments 130

SaaStr

JANUARY 28, 2025

Their innovative approach involves a wearable device that captures and contextualizes user interactions, creating a personalized AI assistant that promises to enhance individual productivity in unprecedented ways. Dan Siroker of Limitless AI is pioneering a personal AI platform centered on augmenting human capabilities.

AI Search 244

AI Search AI Artificial Intelligence Technical Review 244

SaaStr

MARCH 5, 2022

The life of a startup is not a smooth ride. Despite their founders’ ambition and good intentions, any innovative idea that results in millions of dollars in revenue and funding is bound to come with growing pains. Start-ups can be chaotic places.

Startup 312

Startup Leadership Innovation Scaling 312

SaaStr

OCTOBER 13, 2022

Dear SaaStr: What Are The Benefits of Having Your Own Startup? This is a subtle but huge benefit of having your own startup. Your mind will always be working, processesing, and innovating. Yes, startups take their toll on you. The post Dear SaaStr: What Are The Benefits of Having Your Own Startup?

Startup 293

Startup Education Innovation Engagement 293

SaaStr

APRIL 20, 2024

Product Marketing and Early-Stage Priorities Product marketing is not a priority for most startups. In the early stages of a startup, skills in distribution and acquisition are more important than product marketing or communications. Consistency is key in marketing. Do things every week, not just when you have time.

Sales Hiring 301

Sales Hiring Startup Marketing Technical Review 301

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 291

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Startup 291

Intercom, Inc.

NOVEMBER 9, 2021

You used to obsess about innovation and being at the front of the market, and now you’re feeling bogged down shipping table-stakes features. “You grow into the big, bloated company once you stop being a startup” This talk I gave at Web Summit 2021 is about pushing back against that. . The key takeaway?

Startup 257

Startup Scaling Innovation Company Culture 257

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Is It Ridiculous To Call Yourself the CEO When Your Startup is Tiny? I used to look at tiny little startups and wince when a founder went around talking about himself as “CEO”. They expect innovation and a personal touch back as quid-pro-quo for taking that risk. I used to feel that way, at least a bit.

Startup 284

Startup Innovation Customer Success Retention 284

SaaStr

MARCH 14, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How Can You Land Big Customers If You’re a New Startup No One Has Heard Of? So they have budgets and often even innovation departments to work with emerging vendors. View original question on quora The post Dear SaaStr: How Can You Land Big Customers If You’re a New Startup No One Has Heard Of?

Startup 273

Startup Innovation Enterprise Software 273

SaaStr

MARCH 8, 2025

From Parabus to Ramp: The Power of Asymmetric Bets When Karim Atiyah, CTO and co-founder of Ramp, first arrived in the United States from Lebanon in 2007, he couldn’t have predicted he’d build not one but two successful startups in the fintech space. But this challenge also presents opportunity.

CTO Hire 210

CTO Hire CTO Coach Scale CTO 210

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 19, 2024

Most startup companies in earlier stages don’t have the most mature product. Customers you have a bond with will give you positive reviews on G2, become your reference customers, share their success stories, and work together with you on product innovation. This is where customer success comes in.

Customer Success 284

Customer Success Scaling Social Media Enterprise readiness 284

SaaStr

APRIL 27, 2023

Startups are solving the world’s important challenges with agility, innovative technology, and determination. So whether you’re starting out, building your startup, or scaling up to meet the needs of consumers, business, and society, we connect you with the right people, products, and best practices to help you thrive and grow.

Cloud 260

Cloud Scale Startup Sales Hiring 260

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 272

Generative AI AI Cloud Startup 272

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

Darren Mowrey (Google Cloud) Darren leads strategic partnerships at Google Cloud, focusing on helping startups scale their AI implementations. He’s particularly passionate about developer-first approaches and helping startups navigate the complexities of enterprise AI implementation.

AI 189

AI Cloud Enterprise Technical Review 189

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

Dear SaaStr: How Do Startups Really Sell to Big Enterprises Before They’re Proven? But they are looking for two things, which allows start-ups to break though into big companies before they have brands: True innovation in their core processes. You solve their problems. If it’s not budgeted, you can still win the deal.

Enterprise 239

Enterprise Startup Scale Innovation 239

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

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? Once it is, they will enter your space. Fortunately, by then, you’ll have years of experience and learnings. appeared first on SaaStr.

Startup 261

Startup Engineering Innovation Trends 261

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 8, 2021

A common topic today in software startup board rooms is: should the company price by seat or by usage? He is the co-author of Monetizing Innovation , which I wrote about in this blog post. Pricing is one of the questions that persist through the evolution of a company. It’s the canonical book on modern pricing.

Pricing 238

Pricing Startup Strategy Innovation 238

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 29, 2022

Combined with a market whose cost of capital has surged with the Fed Funds rate, these trends will demand teams innovate to create more efficient customer acquisition channels. Others who may see declining sales efficiency should trade at lower multiples than before. Sales efficiency correlates to multiples at 55%.

Sales Hiring 309

Sales Hiring Sales Startup Acquisition 309

SaaStr

JUNE 14, 2023

At SaaStr Europa, UiPath’s Dines shared five insights from growing a company from nothing, so other founders can learn what it takes to scale a SaaS startup to $1B+ ARR. Robotics: The use of robotic technology evokes images of futuristic innovations that can revolutionize how work gets done. I hired nice crazy people.

Scale 246

Scale Artificial Intelligence Technical Review Software Review 246

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 28, 2021

In chapter 4 of Monetizing Innovation, Madhavan prescribes the questions to ask, the kinds of customers to solicit, and the analyses to be done to drive to the right conclusion.

Pricing 279

Pricing Strategy Startup Scale 279

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 30, 2023

As generative AI captivates Startupland, startups will do what they have always done: integrate new technology to build transformative businesses. In response, startups must develop moats to stake out their market. In generative AI, innovation & distribution are inextricably linked, feeding each other.

Artificial Intelligence 329

Artificial Intelligence AI Machine Learning Generative AI 329

SaaStr

JANUARY 19, 2023

For startups, a successful business partnership could mean access to new products, the opportunity to reach new markets, or increase customer loyalty. Can your startup fit into an existing programmatic commercial construct, or is there something the company has to work with you to build? In this session, Kange Kaneene, VP at SAP.iO

Technical Review 261

Technical Review Startup Scale Sales Hiring 261

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 1, 2020

The key open question is whether the affiliation rule will admit venture-backed startups. Historically, startups haven’t been able to access SBA programs because of this affiliation rule. For startups, this means every employee of every startup for every investor.

Headcount 329

Headcount Payment Services Government Innovation 329

SaaStr

DECEMBER 30, 2021

But They Do Expect Continual Innovation. The Social Contract is that you will be highly innovative — and the CIO gets input on the roadmap. The post Can an 8-Person StartUp Sell to a CIO? Trust is so key here. And you (probably) will need to get on a plane. Don’t fear the plane, either. . Not someone on the team.

Startup 261

Startup SMB Enterprise Innovation 261

Scytale

MARCH 12, 2025

As the UKs tech startup ecosystem continues to thrive, visionary founders are driving innovation across various industries, shaping the future of technology , finance , healthcare , and beyond. In this article, we highlight the top 10 tech startup founders in the UK for 2025 (who you should be following if you arent already!),

Startup 59

Startup Scale Cybersecurity AI Search 59

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 21, 2021

Startups used to raise once every 18 months. Today, we joke in Startupland that a startup is never raising and always raising. Now every 6 months or every 3 months some startups receive termsheets valuing their business. Access is the scarcest resource in Startupland , the access to buy shares of hypergrowth startups.

Venture Capital 278

Venture Capital Innovation Startup Acquisition 278

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

Innovating - craft enough slack in the system to enable the team to transition to this phase, invest in good quality code. Recently, many startups have tried to measure engineering throughput. If you manage engineering teams or are a startup leadership member, I highly recommend reading Will Larson’s book.

Engineering 363

Engineering Software Review Systems Review Technical Review 363

TechEmpower SaaS

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

This isn’t just our opinion - our startup metrics prove it! Share an anecdote that showcases your innovative teaching methods. cto , infotech , innovation , product , project , saas And if you’re like most people, you’ve also probably struggled to fill those boxes in. Everyone struggles with empty text boxes.

Generative AI 443

Generative AI Artificial Intelligence AI New CTO 443

TechEmpower SaaS

AUGUST 21, 2023

Most innovators don’t have a technical background, so it’s hard to evaluate the truth of the situation. Outgrowing your stack: Your tech stack was just right for your startup. Process and Team Review It’s easy for development teams, especially startup teams, to cut process corners in the name of shipping features.

Technical Review 390

Technical Review Software Review Development Team Review Systems Review 390