The Latest from SaaStr: A Framework for Your Sales Comp Plan

THE LATEST FROM SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin  · Monday, September 5, 2022 | Compensation, Sales

I’m not ashamed to admit that when I set up our first SaaS sales comp plan, I had no idea what I was doing.  In my first start-up, yes, I sold to the enterprise.  I sold $6m our first year (man, that sounds good looking back on it).  But I did all the sales myself, and stupidly, had no sales comp plan at all. 

Then at Adobe Sign / EchoSign, I had some good — and painful — learnings.  

At first, I just made up a plan.  Then, as we first scaled up a sales team, we ended up literally copying Salesforce’s comp plan.

My uber-learnings from that are that BigCo sales comps plans are great tools — once you are reasonably post-Scale.  

FUNDRAISING

By Jason Lemkin  · Monday, September 5, 2022 | Fundraising, Growth

So there is a lot of triage going on in VC land these days.  VCs have to figure out where to put their money, and their time, when the public markets are still down 50% from their peaks and late stage, follow-on capital has almost evaporated.

So, even more than usual, VCs have to decide what to do with their struggling startups.  I don’t mean the ones 100% failing.  Those are just written off, both financially and mentally.

No, I mean the ones whose growth perhaps has radically slowed, or still hasn’t quite taken off.

NEW VIDEO

By Amanda Beaty · Monday, September 5, 2022 | Product, Sales

Product-led growth (PLG) companies have become a major trend in the world of SaaS over the last few years. These companies are characterized by being product-led; in other words, conversion, retention, and growth are led by the product itself.

Recent unicorns like Stripe and Canva have stolen the headlines, but a wide range of successful PLG businesses all over the globe have arisen. Partner at Notion Capital, Itxaso Del Palacio, shares the ingredients required to build these companies successfully.

We're super close now to SaaStr Annual 2022. 

Grab one of the last tickets now to experience:

• All 3 days of SaaStr Annual 2022, Sept 13th-15th 
• 200+ sessions, speakers, workshops + content. Full program here. 
• Networking, including 1,000+ Braindates (one-on-ones and small groups 1:4). Braindate networking is OPEN, so register now for immediate access to start networking. 
• Access to our Meet a VC Program for Founders and Investors. These double opt-in meetings are a chance to meet top tier investors on-site and pitch them during SaaStr Annual. Each year - companies get funded or term sheets at Annual through this super popular program. 
• Lunches & Happy Hours each day are included in your ticket 
• Access to the Big Party on Wednesday, September 14th with DJ Duke Dumont
• And so much more

ICYMI

By Amanda Beaty · Sunday, September 4, 2022 | Blog Posts

Each week, we round up our most popular content so you can catch up on anything you may have missed. Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos!

SAASTR ANNUAL NEWS

By Jason Lemkin  · Sunday, September 4, 2022 | Blog Posts

So that’s it for content!  We’re done, we’re locked and loaded, with 292 total speakers for 2022 SaaStr Annual — our biggest Annual ever!

And we also have almost 1,000 Braindates scheduled as well — smaller 1:1, 1:4, 1:8, and 1:20 sessions where you really can ask questions and do deep dives.

DEAR SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin  · Saturday, September 3, 2022 | Early, Fundraising

1. Picking a mediocre co-founder just doesn’t work.  You can’t settle here. You have to find someone at least as good as you, ideally better. And importantly, at least as committed. A mediocre “coder” CTO because you can’t code … won’t really work out. A mediocre “business guy” that can’t really run marketing and sales won’t really get you those key early customers. It’s always better to wait and a great co-founder than settle.

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