Hey SaaStr Community,

So even after doing SaaS all this years, and being perhaps the biggest fan of SaaS sales and sales processes out there … I still struggle with the idea of cold calling.  

Personally, I never answer a cold call, and want at least my initial discovery to be done over email.

But I’m not the average tech buyer, and you probably aren’t either.

So I put out the latest survey to see how many folks were successful doing cold phone outbound (not email) in 2023?

The answer: a lot.

So does SaaS take time off?

It sure doesn’t. The customers still buy, even during the toughest times.  Businesses still run.  And even Private Equity and buy-outs stay on track.

We had 3 big ones this week:

• Qualtrics is going private at a $12.5B valuation
• Cvent is going private again at a $4.5B valuation
• Momentive is going private at $1.5B valuation

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So at Team SaaStr, we flag certain startups as “hero companies”. The ones founders really look up to, and especially want to learn from.  We try to get as many of their founders and CROs and CMOs to speak at our events as possible.

One of the top ones is GitLab. 

Whether you use GitLab or not to build and manage your software, you’ve at least looked at it and learned from them.  They’ve also paved the way in running distributed teams at scale, and in ethical leadership.

And now … they’ve crossed $500,000,000 (!) in ARR, growing a jaw-dropping 58% (!).  And yet, Wall Street didn’t like their latest results. 

Why? 

Because as blow-out as those results are, GitLab is worried about revenue for the next 12 months.  If they’re worried, maybe it’s a sign for everyone to be a bit conservative, too.

Because they’re one of the best of the best.

There’s a lot to talk about in customer success about churn, and about upsells.  Together, they are one of the most critical topics in recurring revenue business models.

To all that, I wanted to add one very tactical insight:  of the 1000s of customers we closed when I was running Adobe Sign / EchoSign … while we lost a few over time for many reasons, indeed we lost some great customers …

we never lost a single one I actually visited.

At least not on my watch.  Not one.

Why is that? Was it my scintillating conversation?  My electric personality?  No, and no.

It’s because we generally, naturally, misunderstand why we lose customers, and where to spend our time.

I’ve invested in 5 start-ups that had a $1,000,000,000+ cash exit or IPO.

Advice is very context-sensitive, so take this post with a grain of salt.

But I thought I’d take a stab at the Top 10 Pieces of Classic SaaS Advice … that, in my experience at least, are usually Just Plain Wrong. 

 “Ask VCs for Advice When You Want Money, Money When You Want Advice”. I don’t know who started this, but they must be smarter and more perceptive than me.  I get asked for advice a lot.  I get asked for money a lot.  I have 60 hours a week.  Please help me really know which you want.  Especially the money part.  I probably will pass on investing in you if I don’t know you want money.  We recently did a New New in Venture event, and I asked the question of many top VCs, including David Sacks, Keith Rabois, Aileen Lee, and more.  Most say the same — just send us the pitch when you are ready.  We move quickly.

“Just Give the VP of Sales More Time”.  This is always terrible advice.  If a VP of Sales can’t improve things in one sales cycle or less, or at least just a smidge longer — they never will.  And you are better off without them.  This doesn’t mean the improvement has to be magical.  But it does have to be there, quantitatively.  In one sales cycle, or less.  It’s your fault for making the wrong hire, but more time won’t fix it.

“We Can’t Afford It”.  Bear with me here.  If something is accretive — you can afford it.  As CEO, you need to find a way.  That’s your job.  If a great VP of Marketing can double your inbound leads — of course you can afford her salary.  If an outbound sales team really can generate more revenue than it costs … if an event can generate more customer revenue than it costs to put on … if an engineer can build more features, that close more customer revenue than her salary … etc. etc.  You can’t afford stuff that doesn’t make you money until you are relatively big.  But after just $1m-$2m in ARR, you can afford everything that makes you money.  Find a way.

Ok get EXCITED for SaaStr Europa 2023, this time in London!  We’ll looking forward to hosting 4,000 SaaS founders, execs and VCs in hip East London at Tobacco Docks across 2 packed days, 6-7 June.

About 70% of our sponsorships are sold out, but we’ve got some good stuff left!

• 1 Super Gold
• 3 Gold
• 1 Platinum

And some really, really good ancillary and related sponsorships are left:

• Registration (this is a good one — do this)
• Braindates and Mentorship (this is a good one)
• Coffee
• Cantina
• Swag Store
• Founders’ Dinner

Interested?  Reach out here ASAP!

If you’re on the path to building a startup, you know what it means to fail. In last week’s Workshop Wednesday, Tracy Young, CEO and Co-Founder of TigerEye and PlanGrid, says that “everything is going to fail.” 

Young took PlanGrid from nothing to $100M ARR before passing the baton and shares the biggest lessons learned, the biggest failures, and how to navigate them.

ChartMogul is looking for an Events and Partner Marketing Manager who will be responsible for the development and execution of ChartMogul’s events and partner marketing strategies around the world.

Rapid is seeking a Director of Demand Generation to help expand and accelerate the sales pipeline. This role is responsible for building, leading, and executing integrated multi-channel campaigns.

• SaaStr 641: The Playbook to Blending Product-Led Growth with Sales-Led Growth: Teams, Tools, Processes with Amplitude VP of APJ Mark Velthuis

• SaaStr 642: Founder-Led Enterprise Sales: Failure Points on the Path to $100m ARR with Tracy Young, CEO and Co-Founder of TigerEye and PlanGrid.

• https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/saastr-643-whats-holding-up-buyers-top-obstacles-to/id1089973241?i=1000604678747 with G2's VP - Asia Pacific, Chris Perrine

Listen on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts or Spotify

Founders:

Ask your VCs in a quiet moment how much carry they have in the fund

Very roughly, multiple this by the funds’ ownership stake in your startup … and then once again by 0.2

That’s about how much they own of you

Things are going to get even harder for many of us in SaaS for the next few months … and then almost automatically at least a little easier by November Why?

We’re lapping tough renewals right now

My worst investments:

When I wasn't 100.0000% sure I wanted to do it

© SaaStr 2023

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