5 Interesting Learnings from Workday at 6 Billion ARR; Plus Weekly SaaS News and Updates

Hey SaaStr Community,

This year we’ve been leveling up a lot of our systems at SaaStr, and as part of that, moving from a lot of self-service and simple products to more robust ones. 

One thing we’ve been shocked about is how few sales processes have kept up. Pressure tactics, exploding discounts, 48-hour trials that end on you, us-vs-them pricing, are all still alive and well. 

At this point, everyone is a SaaS buying veteran. It’s time to overhaul how we sell it as well.

Your Product Has to Be Easier to Buy Than to Use

Workday is one of the iconic enterprise SaaS leaders.

It’s scaling efficiently and impressively.  At a $6 Billion revenue run ($4.5B in SaaS revenue), it’s growing an impressive 22% with fairly epic operating cash flows of 30% (more on that below).

This edition of the SaaStr weekly is sponsored in part by WorkOS

So many sales leaders get frustrated with free editions, very low-cost editions … and the Long Tail in general. The Long Tail distracts sales, with leads that never closes and overwhelms support, asking the vast majority of questions. 

These objections from Sales to a Free edition, and a real Long Tail are valid. It’s just, the Long Tail has so much power.  Super power, over many years.

This edition of the SaaStr weekly is sponsored in part by Laika

While the answer may sound obvious, I’m not sure it always is in early-ish stage start-ups.

The real challenge becomes, can a “stretch” VP do these 5 things?If so, it’s a stretch well made. If not, you aren’t hiring a real VP. You’ll end up needing to hire someone else, probably much sooner than you planned.

In this video, ZoomInfo founder and CEO Henry Schuck shares how he built a business from scratch and grew it into one of the most successful IPOs of the 21st century. Join this session with Henry and SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin to learn where he went wrong, what he would do differently, and how to avoid making the same mistakes he did.

We are getting CLOSE!!  We’re back for the 8th SaaStr Annual, Sep 13-15, at the outdoor / open air San Mateo country fairgrounds between SF and Palo Alto.  This worked so well last year, we’re staying at the 40 acre campus, just going even bigger and better!

• Deel is seeking a Head of Sales Development to scale their sales development organization globally while establishing and sustaining our global presence

• Qwilr is looking for a talented Content Marketer who can deliver content programs that showcase thought leadership and help fuel the growth of their global business. 

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Classic Episode: Succeeding As a Young Enterprise Founder with Front Co-Founder and CEO Mathilde Collin

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5 Mistakes the CEO/Founder of ZoomInfo Made on His Journey to IPO (and Beyond) Part 1

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5 More Mistakes the CEO/Founder of ZoomInfo Made on His Journey to IPO (and Beyond) Part 1

Listen on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts or Spotify

When you have a rough quarter,

Watch how your VPs present at the next board meeting.

The ones that own it are keepers.

The ones that blame others, won't make it.

Brand Marketing:

$1m ARR: Makes Little Sense

$10m ARR: Ok Let’s Do Some

$100m ARR: Most of Marketing

$1B ARR: All of Marketing

There may be a downturn in your business

It's not clear there is a downturn in SaaS

Don't confuse the two, be intellectually honest

Leads should always be growing, at least after $1m-$2m ARR

Your brand is growing

Your market is growing

Your content is expanding

Your base is growing

If leads aren't growing, something is off

It may well be that you don't have a real head of marketing

© SaaStr 2022

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