SaaStr

OCTOBER 31, 2024

What are the most common mistakes I see first time SaaS founders make? Second-time SaaS founders make other mistakes. 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. They think they know more than they do.

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Scale SaaS Social Media Business Model 312

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How Much Should a SaaS Company Invest in Professional Services? A rough yardstick is that most enterprise-focused SaaS companies tend to get about 8%-10% of their revenues from professional services. A few data points: At $800m ARR, Qualtrics was still getting 25% of revenue from professional services. I say overinvest.

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Investment SaaS SMB Enterprise 304

SaaStr

DECEMBER 23, 2024

So for a while, it did feel like SaaS was dead in VC. The, the SaaS leaders started to re-accelerate growth, and their market caps in many cases went up 40%+ or more. And it’s clear now, at least for now, SaaS is back. The bar in SaaS has gone up, and VCs really want to see AI-fueled growth. But SaaS is back.

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SaaS AI Data Marketing 279

SaaStr

DECEMBER 9, 2024

Holy cow are some top SaaS stocks on a run. That SaaS was Dead. It’s not 2021 again, but so much has changed as the year ends: Many top SaaS and Cloud stocks are up +40%-60% or more in the back half of the yea r. Many top SaaS and Cloud leaders have seen growth re-accelerate. What a difference 8 months makes.

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SaaS AI Cloud B2B 305

SaaStr

JANUARY 15, 2025

While some might dismiss sector-specific vertical SaaS software as ‘too small’ or ‘too niche’, companies like Veeva ($40B), Clio ($3B), Toast ($1.3B), and Slice ($1B) have proven there’s massive value in going deep rather than broad. 10 Ways Sales is Different in Vertical SaaS 1.

Scale 278

Scale Sales Hiring SaaS Payments Sales 278

SaaStr

OCTOBER 14, 2024

A few bits of advice you hear a lot in SaaS that I think often don’t really work in practice: Move to annual contracts to generate more cash. The post 5 Common Pieces of SaaS Advice … That Are Often Wrong appeared first on SaaStr. Sure, if customers want to pay annually for a discount — do it. You’ll see.

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Scale Social Media SaaS Acquisition 302

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 14, 2025

What does it take to build and scale a vertical SaaS giant over two decades? In a recent conversation with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin, Tooey shared insights into his 23-year journey as CEO of Procore , the leading SaaS platform for construction management. Whats kept him going? In the U.S.,

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Scale Construction SaaS AI 290

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 29, 2024

And most bigger SaaS and Cloud companies are still hiring, but not at the same pace. The post 5 Tips to Getting a Job in SaaS in a Tougher Market appeared first on SaaStr. However, it is true that it’s different today. In general, public companies are hiring at a slower pace than they are growing. And better.

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Sales Hiring Scale Marketing SaaS 289

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2024

Many SaaS companies have copied this for a long time as a two-part tariff: a base platform fee upfront then the incremental cost of additional users as you go. The post The State of SaaS Go-to-Market with Theory Ventures General Partner Tomasz Tunguz appeared first on SaaStr. You get a base number of minutes for a particular price.

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Venture Capital Marketing AI SaaS 333

SaaStr

DECEMBER 28, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How Much Does a Typical B2B SaaS Company Spend on Digital Marketing per Year? SMB-focused SaaS companies often have better performance with Facebook in particular, and can often deploy more there. But paid social for SaaS is generally poor and limited. To a point. appeared first on SaaStr.

B2B 264

B2B B2C Marketing SaaS 264

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

Meet Wyatt Jenkins: From Construction Sites to Chief Product Officer If you want to understand how vertical SaaS companies scale to $1B+ in revenue while staying true to their customers, there’s no better person to learn from than Wyatt Jenkins, Chief Product Officer at Procore Technologies.

Construction 254

Construction Scale SaaS Travel 254

SaaStr

JANUARY 9, 2025

Dear SaaStr: What Are Some Successful SaaS Leaders Without Sales Teams? The post Dear SaaStr: What Are Some Successful SaaS Leaders Without Sales Teams? Many that are self-serve and SMB-focused can start off without a sales team … for a while. But almost none stay without a sales team … forever. Maybe on Day 0.

Scale 279

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Headcount 279

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 17, 2024

Private Equity Gets Very Interested in SaaS Once You Cross $20m ARR, growing 30% — if you are burning almost nothing. Private Equity has different goals, and Andy did a great deep dive on the process. We’ll do more here on SaaStr but my Top 5 Learnings below. #1. That’s my view and Andy confirmed.

Sales Hiring 299

Sales Hiring Banking Sales SaaS 299

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 21, 2025

Per OpenAI: The #1 event in SaaS is widely considered to be SaaStr Annual. Its the largest community-driven SaaS event, bringing together 12,500+ founders, executives, and VCs. Features 300+ speakers from top SaaS companies like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Snowflake. Why SaaStr Annual?

Software 246

Software Scale Venture Capital SaaS 246

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What Are the Most Important SaaS Metrics in the Early Days? The post Dear SaaStr: What Are the Most Important SaaS Metrics in the Early Days? In the early days, there are probably only 5 metrics that really matter : ARR ARR Growth Rate Burn Rate True Customer Happiness. Probably, measured as NPS (more here: I Was Wrong.

Metrics 289

Metrics Venture Capital SaaS Churn 289

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 27, 2024

SaaStr CEO and founder Jason Lemkin chats with Mangomint CEO Daniel Lang about why vertical SaaS is booming and how Mangomint got to 110% NRR. What was once considered too small or too niche, vertical SaaS has recently emerged as a hotbed of innovation and profitability. Full-Stack SaaS for SMBs Toast today is worth $14B at $1.5B

SaaS Payments 260

SaaS Payments Payments Payment Solutions Payment Services 260

SaaStr

DECEMBER 25, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How far in the SaaS can a 10 or 20 person team go? But maybe not so much in SaaS. Today, the most efficient public SaaS company is probably Doximity, at about $700,000 in revenue per employee. It takes a team of 50 to maintain most scaling SaaS apps, and it takes 100 to get you past $10m ARR and beyond.

Sales Hiring 264

Sales Hiring Scale SaaS AI 264

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 6, 2024

On the last installment of Workshop Wednesday , where we bring you some of the best SaaStr speakers live with new content and to answer your questions live on Wednesdays— SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin and Dave Kellogg, Executive in Residence at Balderton Capital share what really matters in SaaS for 2025.

Headcount 274

Headcount SaaS AI Pricing 274

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 28, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How Big Should The Addressable Market Be to Go into Vertical SaaS? I try to look at two things in Vertical SaaS startups, at least when investing : Will everyone in the vertical / industry use it? It’s just hard to get most vertical SaaS start-ups to scale if they can’t get to a $10k ACV. So be honest.

Payment Solutions 264

Payment Solutions Inbound Sales Team Marketing Scale 264

SaaStr

DECEMBER 11, 2024

Ironclad CEO and co-founder Jason Boehmig joined Seema Amble, Partner at Andreessen Horowitz at SaaStr Annual to share their observations on what’s currently working and what’s not quite there yet for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in SaaS. What’s Currently Working in AI for SaaS 1.

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AI Search AI Artificial Intelligence B2B 290

SaaStr

OCTOBER 18, 2024

Along with co-host Ben Salzman, Jason and Henry discuss the transformative power of AI within SaaS and the evolving dynamics that are reshaping the landscape of software as a service. ” The post The Future of AI in SaaS Sales with Henry Schuck, CEO of ZoomInfo and SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin appeared first on SaaStr.

Sales Recruiting 310

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale AI 310

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

Dear SaaStr: When Should a SaaS Company Allow Month-to-Month Contracts vs. Requiring Annual? More here: Annual Contracts: Maybe Not All They Are Cracked Up To Be And a related session here: The post Dear SaaStr: When Should a SaaS Company Allow Month-to-Month Contracts vs. Requiring Annual? appeared first on SaaStr.

Payment Features 264

Payment Features SaaS Churn Pricing 264

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 14, 2024

Dear SaaStr: I Just Got My First SaaS Job 6 Months Ago and Now I Want to Quit. A related post here: Before You Quit, Imagine Your Goodbye Lunch or Email The post Dear SaaStr: I Just Got My First SaaS Job 6 Months Ago and Now I Want to Quit. How Do I Tell My Boss? Instead, give 30 days if you can. No help finding a replacement.

SaaS 290

SaaS Management 290

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

So who’s doing well in SaaS today? ” Samsara’s Rise to Vertical SaaS Leader Samsara is now hailed as a vertical SaaS leader, growing at a remarkable pace—36% at an astounding $1.26 Key Takeaways Samsara stands as a testament to the potential of SaaS to transform and modernize traditional industries.

Scale 279

Scale CTO Coach New CTO AI 279

SaaStr

DECEMBER 17, 2024

So SaaS is back. Top SaaS stocks are on fire the past few months, and the SaaS downturn in B2B2B appears to be behind us. It’s 2021 but all over again, and different But in SaaS overall, the growth playbook hasn’t totally worked out on the last 4 SaaS IPOs. A related post here: Is SaaS Back? (TL;DR:

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SaaS AI Pricing Metrics 264

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 8, 2025

The next evolution of AI in SaaS isn’t about better models – it’s about context and action. The post 5 Key Learnings from How Top SaaS Companies are Actually Productizing AI with Paragon appeared first on SaaStr. That’s what will take us from demos to real products that deliver value.

AI 244

AI Artificial Intelligence SaaS User Experience 244

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 5, 2025

Dear SaaStr: Do SaaS Companies Typically Pay Their Sales Reps a Bonus on Renewals? Simple answer: almost no SaaS companies pay sales reps on standard renewals. Weve all learned this over the past years in SaaS: You want qualifiers qualifying BDRs. If So, How Much is Typica l? You want openers opening SDRs.

Scale 274

Scale Sales SaaS Cloud 274

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

Dear SaaStr: Should SaaS Startups Really Have CROs or COOs? Theres no way a SaaS startup needs a CRO or COO or other C-level Officers Without a Clear, Single Functional Area to Own Until $40m-50m+ in ARR. As weve all gotten more experienced in SaaS, weve specialized more. Is That Too Many Management Layers? Specialization.

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Sales Hiring Startup Management SaaS 208

SaaStr

JANUARY 17, 2025

But there have only been 4 B2B / SaaS IPOs since 2021, and M&A is way down. The post SaaS Is Back, But Different: Insight Partners Raises $12.5 But it wasnt all 100% smooth sailing and also showed the latent stress in the VC and LP ecosystem. Funding is back, fast and furious, fueled by AI. That leads to stress.

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B2B Investment SaaS AI 246

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 5, 2025

IBM’s $7B Bet on Vertical AI and What It Means for SaaS Founders. For SaaS founders, the opportunity lies in building specialized solutions that leverage foundation models while adding unique domain expertise and data advantages. With IBM’s WatsonX platform and the emerging vertical AI ecosystem, the tools are there.

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AI Scale SaaS Government 188