The Latest from SaaStr: 5 Interesting Learnings from Shopify at $5 Billion in ARR

THE LATEST FROM SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin  · Wednesday, August 2, 2022 | 5 Interesting Things, Scale

Few SaaS leaders have gone through more post-pandemic change than Shopify and Zoom. Zoom came out of 2020-2021 with SMBs no longer growing, but a huge boost in the enterprise.  

And Shopify came out of all this still growing, but not nearly as much as any of us expected at peak Covid. Not due to lack of execution, but due to a rapid return to on-site and IRL shopping.

And with that, some of the most torrid growth we’ve ever seen … when Shopify went from $1.6B ARR to $3.2B ARR in just one (!) year … returned to a bumpy normal at $5B in ARR.

DEAR SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin · Wednesday, August 3, 2022 | Fundraising, Growth

If you’ve truly decided to leave, then it’s time. It’s now time to move on.  First, though, make sure you aren’t being too emotional.  And that you don’t just need a 2-week vacation.

But if it’s time —  likely, your other founders already know, at least on some level. Everyone always knows these things in a small company.

What isn’t clear often is whether an abrupt change, a gradual change, or something in the middle is the best.

We're getting close now!

Only 40 days til we take over the Bay Area for SaaStr Annual 2022, Sept. 13-15 at the San Mateo County Events Center.

We'll be facilitating 1,000+ one-on-one and small group networking meetings to take place on-site. They're launching this Friday (!!) 

So be sure to sign up now so that you can start networking the second it goes live!

NEW VIDEO + PODCAST

By Amanda Beaty · Wednesday, August 3, 2022 | Fundraising, Metrics

Businesses can use many methods to improve their profitability—all of which require tracking operational performance rigorously. The fact is that increasing profit does not happen without paying attention to business metrics.

The right business metrics not only help you accomplish your business objectives but will also help you know what areas are exceeding expectations and the areas that are falling short.

A LOOK BACK

By Jason Lemkin · Tuesday, August 2, 2022 | Blog Posts

We’re getting close to 2022 SaaStr Annual, Sep 13-15 in San Mateo, CA (just south of downtown SF, just north of Palo Alto). 

In the run up, we’re looking at a bunch of classic sessions from the past.

Aaron Levie, founder CEO of Box, has been part of SaaStr since the beginning, both our first real SaaStr post as well as our first SaaStr Annual speaker ever.  Predicting that Box would hit $1B in ARR on TechCrunch way back in 2014 was also a key part of early SaaStr lore.

CUSTOMER SUCCESS

By Jason Lemkin · Tuesday, August 2, 2022 | Blog Posts

So recently, I’ve had a few somewhat frustrating experiences with a few apps we use, or at least, have tried to use.  I used them as a case study to learn from.

This edition of the SaaStr Daily is sponsored in part by Avoma

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This edition of the SaaStr Daily is sponsored in part by Brex

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