The Latest from SaaStr: 5 Interesting Learnings from Figma at $300M ARR

THE LATEST FROM SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin  · Wednesday, October 12, 2022 | 5 Interesting Things, Scale

So we can only learn so much about Figma.  Even though it’s being acquired for $20 Billion (!) by Adobe — the largest private acquisition in SaaS ever, and maybe startups ever — it doesn’t really have to disclose any information itself, and Adobe only has to disclose limited information for now (it will share more later).

But we can learn some good stuff from what’s been disclosed.  And what we can learn is pretty darn interesting.  That Figma is growing so quickly, in such an important space … that maybe the deal wasn’t so crazy expensive after all!

DEAR SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin  · Wednesday, October 12, 2022 | Q&A, Fundraising

1.  Don’t do any VC investments your first year.  Take your time.   Sound advice.  But would have missed 4 unicorns if I had.

2.  It’s Hopeless.  Let’s Throw in the Towel.  Yes, it was.  But quitting doesn’t help.

3.  Don’t start that start-up, it won’t work, there aren’t enough customers, and the technology doesn’t work.  All true, based on conventional knowledge.  We sold that company (my first start-up as a founder) for $50,000,000 12.5 months later.

NEW PODCAST + VIDEO

By Amelia Ibarra  · Wednesday, October 12, 2022 | Marketing

Every company moves through different growth phases, and eventually, the focus, strategy, and motions for growth must change alongside the business. Dave McJannet, CEO of HashiCorp, shares from his wealth of experience to reveal the secrets to building and expanding SaaS companies the right way.

SAASTR EVENTS

HIRING

By Jason Lemkin  · Tuesday, October 12, 2022 | Early, Growth

Even with late stage VC capital much harder to get now, and the IPO markets still frozen, I see many folks on my LinkedIn feed saying Sales and Customer Success are underpaid.  And that they, in particular, are underpaid.  That they add so much value, they should be paid more.

That’s fine, and at SaaStr, we’ve been strong proponents of some of this.  Of paying your sales team well, of not capping sales commissions, of putting customer success on a variable plan, and of the power of second-order revenue.  We and I are still strong proponents of paying your revenue team well.  But they do have to deliver.  Paying up for performance.

EVENTS

By Jason Lemkin · Tuesday, October 11, 2022 | Blog Posts

SaaStr Europa comes to London in 2023!  We’re at the epic Tobacco Dock in East London from 6-7 June, bringing together 4,000 SaaS founders, execs, and VCs, 200+ speakers, and 1000+ Braindates and 1-on-1s. 

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

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