SaaStr

JANUARY 26, 2025

The learning: When you solve a genuinely hard problem, you get three moats for free: Technical advantage through innovation Legal protection through patents Thought leadership in the space 2. Solve Hard Technical Problems Create multiple moats Patent protection Technical innovation Market leadership 2. Black Friday playbook) 3.

Technical Review 258

Technical Review Payment Solutions Scale Payment Services 258

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 3, 2025

They came to SaaStr Annual to share what theyve learned about making the move to go more enterprise actually work. You Need Real Signals – Not Just Board Pressure Most founders get the timing wrong on moving upmarket. Just because your board member wants a bigger TAM doesn’t mean you’re ready. You have to go all in.”

Scale 266

Scale SMB Enterprise Enterprise readiness 266

SaaStr

APRIL 26, 2022

However, this push-and-pull doesn’t have to be part of your organization as long as you hire and empower the right leadership. Your market model will guide your leadership model. The CRO and CMO deserve a seat at the leadership table. It’s the never-ending stereotype –– marketing and sales are eternal “frenemies.” Key Takeaways.

Leadership 244

Leadership Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale 244

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 8, 2025

This wasn’t just a nice-to-have strategy – it was a fundamental shift in how CS operated. Their unique contract structure, where additional seats came at no extra cost during the contract term, meant CS could focus entirely on driving valuable adoption that would translate into massive expansion revenue at renewal time.

Customer Success 263

Customer Success Scale Government Systems Review 263

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 2, 2025

Under his leadership, the company has developed innovative AI-powered solutions for restaurant websites, online ordering, CRM, and marketing automation. Under her leadership, Alloy Automation has pioneered the use of AI to streamline API integration and documentation processes.

AI 217

AI Technical Review Artificial Intelligence Systems Review 217

SaaStr

MARCH 1, 2025

Your people plan enables your product roadmap, which informs your go-to-market strategy, ultimately producing your financial results. The ideal leadership hire is someone who has seen both startups and scale. Think of it as an orchestra where each section has its part, but together they create something cohesive.

Scale 179

Scale Systems Review Scaling Leadership 179

SaaStr

JANUARY 17, 2025

At SaaStr Annual’s AI Summit, we asked product leaders from some of the fastest-growing SaaS companies to share their insights on navigating the AI revolution while scaling multi-product strategies. ” This focus on quality over quick implementation has helped Zoom successfully integrate AI across 12 different products.

AI 258

AI Cybersecurity User Experience Scaling 258

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 14, 2025

A 23-Year SaaS Marathon Tooey has been the founder and the helm of Procore for over two decades, a rare feat in an industry where leadership transitions are common. From surviving economic downturns to scaling into a multi-product enterprise serving millions, Procores story is a masterclass in vertical SaaS excellence. Whats kept him going?

Scale 278

Scale Construction SaaS AI 278

SaaStr

MAY 26, 2023

Strategy Should Be “Obvious” SaaS Is Checkers, Not Chess “Strategy for a SaaS company, I argue, should look kind of obvious. Specifically, if you have a clear understanding of the business and the market and what customers are trying to do, the right strategy should seem kind of obvious and simple.”

CTO Coach 242

CTO Coach CTO Hire CTO Leadership 242

SaaStr

MARCH 9, 2025

His background combines deep product strategy with practical AI implementation experience. Meeting intensity KPI challenge : Sometimes AI efficiencies can reduce a company’s core metrics (like Calendly’s “meeting intensity”), requiring leadership to make conscientious decisions about value tradeoffs.

AI 195

AI Scale Education User Experience 195

Buffer Resources

AUGUST 6, 2024

Early in my career, the idea of “thought leadership” wasn’t on my radar. At that time, my focus was primarily on traditional PR strategies tailored to the restaurant and hospitality industry.   Thought leadership works because, these days, customers want to hear directly from the source.

Social Media 114

Social Media Business Leadership Sales Hiring 114

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

The company’s pricing structure, centered around $10,000 average contract values (ACVs), created a problematic middle ground – too expensive for small and medium-sized businesses but not substantial enough to support a partner channel strategy effectively.

Scale 159

Scale Scaling Outsourced Development Sales 159

SaaStr

APRIL 13, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How Do You Build a Real Exit Strategy? The post Dear SaaStr: How Do You Build a Real Exit Strategy? First, bear in mind acquisitions are relatively rare. The vast majority of startups will never get one acquisition offer, let alone a good one. Still, it’s not random. So you don’t have to over-engineer it.

Strategy 278

Strategy Acquisition Startup Engineering 278

SaaStr

JUNE 2, 2024

Dear SaaStr: From An Investor’s Perspective, What is a “Good” Exit Strategy/Plan for a SaaS Company That’s Raising a Seed Round? Ok, people are going to tell you not to have a slide or discussion on an “exit strategy” and they are right. So don’t have an “exit strategy” slide.

Strategy 287

Strategy SaaS Investment Software 287

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

Sessions typically focus on real metrics, strategies, and lessons learned, not theoretical concepts. Speakers share their playbooks on everything from achieving product-market fit to optimizing CAC:LTV ratios and scaling go-to-market strategies.

Sales Recruiting 195

Sales Recruiting Scale CTO Hire Sales Hiring 195

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

During SaaStr Annual , Eric Huff, VP of Sales Strategy and Programs, and Theresa Stevens, Regional VP of the SMB sales team, shared an “under the hood” look at how Salesforce does its internal forecasting using Salesforce. At the same time, AE’s are expected to go in and update opportunities. Don’t just drive a weekly cadence.

Forecasting 278

Forecasting SMB Sales Technical Review 278

SaaStr

MARCH 6, 2023

SaaS companies must implement flexible and innovative sales strategies that can weather the future. The state of B2B sales in 2023 Before creating a dynamic strategy, it is essential to understand the current state of B2B sales. You can see all of Mary’s slides for this session HERE.

Innovation 246

Innovation Sales Hiring B2B Strategy 246

TechEmpower SaaS

AUGUST 21, 2023

The explanation from software leadership is often unsatisfying or unclear. A technical review can help your development team adopt new processes and strategies to maximize their speed and efficiency. But is that the right strategy for your business? What does a business leader do in this situation?

Technical Review 390

Technical Review Software Review Development Team Review Systems Review 390

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 5, 2025

What’s Next The next 12-18 months will be critical for SaaS companies looking to establish leadership in vertical AI. IBM’s Instruct Lab approach, delivering 98.5% cost savings and 35% time savings, shows that smaller, more focused models can often outperform larger, general-purpose ones in specific vertical applications.

AI 179

AI Scale SaaS Government 179

SaaStr

JULY 23, 2024

Step 2: Define Your Vision, Strategy, Execution Plan, and Measurements Step two is a framework for getting to where you want to go. Strategy How are you going to get there? Folks often think of strategy as adding more to the bucket. Step 3: Realign with Leadership When coming into a new organization, you’re new.

Leadership 286

Leadership Scale Benchmarks Communication 286

SaaStr

MARCH 12, 2025

About Dave Kellogg Dave Kellogg brings a rare combination of marketing and executive leadership experience to his analysis of SaaS businesses. And see everyone at 2025 SaaStr Annual, May 13-15 in SF Bay for 300+ more sessions, workshops, and braindates like this!

Sales Hiring 195

Sales Hiring Marketing Technical Review Underperforming Technical Team 195

SaaStr

DECEMBER 16, 2021

Intercom CEO Karen Peacock reveals the top strategies that accelerate revenue growth and the steps to take your business to the next level. . As a result, they were able to adjust and move forward with a strategy more primed to drive revenue growth. But it is possible to figure out the perfect pricing structure with the right strategy.

Strategy 266

Strategy B2C Scale Payment Features 266

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2024

So the combination pricing strategy of a base platform fee plus a usage-based component plus value is what’s driving the market today. The idea with a three-part tariff is that you’re able to charge for value. You generate 10 million worth of marginal ROI, and you’re able to capture 15, maybe 20, maybe 25 percent of it.

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Marketing AI SaaS 328

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

SaaS pricing isn’t static – it’s a living strategy that grows with your company. During this stage, SaaS businesses often expand their teams, invest in marketing, and refine their go-to-market strategies. The focus shifts from experimentation to execution, as companies must scale operations to meet increasing demand.

Pricing 111

Pricing Scale SaaS Technical Review 111

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 23, 2022

It’s up to the CRO to keep a company’s marketing and product strategy in the kind of lockstep that drives it to produce the revenue it needs. For example, over the years, Angolia’s go-to-market strategy has tied together every part of its company, from finance to legal. . The life of a CRO is all about results. Key takeaways.

Underperforming Technical Team 306

Underperforming Technical Team Leadership Outsourced Development Finance 306

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

The four stages of growth are: Early stage Early growth Growth Pre-IPO Each of those stages has key GTM milestones, benchmarks, and team-building strategies that allow you to grow effectively. But to develop a GTM strategy, you must have Product Market Fit. That’s why getting the right leadership in place is so important.

Scale 269

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Outsourced Development 269

SaaStr

OCTOBER 31, 2024

Many first-time founders have a decent understand of how to charge for their product, but haven’t really rolled it up into a strategy to get to $10m, $20m, $100m in ARR. Here’s what I see most often, the Top 6 Mistakes First Time SaaS Founders Make: Incomplete understanding of business model, and how it will scale.

Scale 300

Scale SaaS Social Media Business Model 300

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 14, 2022

Bill & I exchanged emails about Deliberately Underselling as Sales Strategy. The company’s leadership should calculate sales efficiency on the combined OTE (on-target earnings) to quota ratio of these teams. Top startups will record 200-300% NDR as PLG becomes a dominant go-to-market strategy. But we covered much more.

Startup 341

Startup Construction Sales Compensation 341

SaaStr

OCTOBER 12, 2022

Every company moves through different growth phases, and eventually, the focus, strategy, and motions for growth must change alongside the business. Build the System : Create your execution strategy with repeatable processes designed to scale your business. . Leadership Team: 18-month horizon. CEO: 36-month horizon.

Scaling 246

Scaling Leadership Startup Product Marketing 246

SaaStr

JULY 18, 2023

In this session, CEO and Founder Christina Cacioppo, and GM of EMEA Andrew Foley, reveal the strategies that have propelled Vanta’s remarkable scaling success despite the constraints of the capital-restricted environment. With a multi-billion dollar valuation and a trajectory to double growth annually, Vanta is seizing the spotlight.

Strategy 246

Strategy Scale Sales Hiring Startup 246

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2022

FastSpring’s VP Product, Strategy, and General Manager of IQ, Kurt Smith, explores evidence-based principles to help SaaS companies avoid common pricing mistakes without getting lost in analysis and data. There are a variety of pricing strategies that can help you drive growth in your company, one being the tier pricing model.

Pricing 269

Pricing Strategy SaaS Forecasting 269

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 1, 2021

Goal frameworks ensure that the priorities of the leadership team coalesce the priorities of the rest of the organization. When the leadership team shifted to set goals, they asked managers to track input metrics ( leading indicators ), operational metrics, and strategic metrics. The particular framework isn’t important.

Scale 263

Scale Scaling Payment Services Leadership 263

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin sat down with Samsara CEO and Co-Founder, Sanjit Biswas to delve into the inner workings of a company that’s not only transforming its industry but is also a case study in brilliant strategy and execution. Is there a downturn?

Scale 269

Scale CTO Coach New CTO Technical Review 269

SaaStr

JANUARY 4, 2023

It may seem counterintuitive to seek out a sales leadership hire during this time of slowed hiring, but it’s the number one topic that many founders talk about and many SDRs, AEs, and sales managers ask about. . Founders may ask, “how do I find the right sales leadership hire?” To succeed, you have to learn from your mistakes.

Sales Hiring 245

Sales Hiring Scale Leadership Sales 245