The Latest from SaaStr: Don't Call it a Downturn in SaaS

THE LATEST FROM SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin  · Thursday, August 4, 2022 | Scale

So are we in a downturn in SaaS?  Certainly, segments are.  eCommerce, video, and more are having post-crazy growth hangovers.  And inflation is awful.  And startups that had planned on a big up round this year are in many cases, really struggling.

But where is SaaS really today?  Plenty of folks are doing quite well.  Let’s take a look at a few great examples just from this week.

DEAR SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin · Friday, August 5, 2022 | Early, Fundraising

Yes.  At least, 95% of the time.

Telling me you need $750k tells me one thing. $2m another. $5m yet more. $10m tells me you are really ready to scale. Which is too late a stage for me, but not many others.

Especially as a “late seed” investor, I want to quickly find out if you’ve passed my sweet spot or not.

We're getting close now!

Only 38 days til we take over the Bay Area for SaaStr Annual 2022, Sept. 13-15 at the San Mateo County Events Center.

Don't miss the opportunity to network with 10,000 SaaS Founders, CEOs, and VCs this September.

SALES

By Jason Lemkin · Thursday, August 4, 2022 | Fundraising, Metrics

On the surface, the best tool likely varies based on the size of your company:

• Pipedrive is #1 for very small businesses
• HubSpot has broken out and is strong in SMBs, especially those using HubSpot for marketing automation as well
• Salesforce dominates the enterprise

I see more and more start-ups using Notion as a basic CRM, too.

And then are other vertically-specialized and niche vendors that do great things as well.

INVESTING

By Jason Lemkin · Friday, August 5, 2022 | Fundraising, Q&A

A few things that aren’t obvious when you raise venture capital:

Your VC partner may leave. There has been much more transition in VC firms in the past 5+ years. Partners leave to found their own firms in particular all the time now. Non-partners leave to join hot firms. You are stuck with the fund as an investor forever. But will the partner you are working with stay?

SAASTR ANNUAL 2022

By Amanda Beaty · Friday, August 5, 2022 | Blog Posts

We wanted to give a special shout-out to some of our newest sponsors for SaaStr Annual 2022. At the 8th ever SaaStr Annual, ~200 of the best and hottest companies on earth will go BIG as partners/sponsors. Join these incredible companies to experience all the value of SaaStr!

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

Spend more time on the conversations that matter, while AI-augmented notes and CRM updates happen automatically. Click to learn more.

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

Brex is reimagining corporate cards and spend management to help founders get fast access to 10-20 times higher credit limits, unlimited virtual cards, a no-fee business account, and built-in software. 

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