The Latest from SaaStr: Why You Need to Fundraise 52 Weeks a Year

There’s a superpower some founders have.  When they are ready to raise the next round, be in Seed-2, Series A or even these days tough Series B, C, or whatever … they just send out a few emails, and in a week or so, have a few offers and even term sheets.  Ok, maybe 3-4 weeks these days.  But still, it seems almost effortless. How did they do it?  What sort of magic is this? 

Well, it ain’t magic.

They put in the time, folks.

But what’s behind the numbers?  If you squint, you can see there’s just a funnel.

Like everything.

So the thing is, you have to approach fundraising a lot like a sales funnel with medium-ish long sales cycles.  At least, until you are so hot investors are tripping over themselves to meet you.  And maybe even then.

And what do we do with a funnel, in sales and marketing?

So we’re getting closer!  It’s the 4th SaaStr Europa, coming to LONDON for the very first time!  And we’re adding the very last batch of speakers

A new incredible addition is Daniel Dines, founder and co-CEO of UiPath.  UiPath has had an incredible history, taking 10 years to get to that first $1m in ARR … and then turning into one of the fastest growing software companies to $1 Billion in ARR ever!

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

Get audit-ready, prove compliance, and speed through security reviews with Drata. Save hundreds of hours using Drata to automate compliance.

I understand the frustration, and it’s annoying, but you have to change your thinking.

Working with VCs is sales. It’s a founder trying to sell shares to a VC.

And sometimes, it’s a VC trying to themselves to the founder as well.

I know it’s a lot of work and risk engaging with a VC.

I know it doesn’t feel that it’s reciprocal, or that VCs value all that time, effort, and risk you put in.

I know it’s especially annoying when you let a VC do customer diligence, take up a lot of favors with your customers … and nothing ends up happening.

Ghosting is frustrating and not cool in any sales process. I’m not perfect here myself.

But it’s most common when a prospect (i.e., VC) has some genuine, real initial interest … and then the product (i.e., startup) doesn’t end up quite being what she wanted during a multi-step learning and diligence process.

As we gear up for SaaStr Europa 2023 in London on 6-7 June and SaaStr Annual 2023 in the SF Bay Area on 6-7 September, we wanted to take a look back at some of our most iconic speakers and sessions from over the year, that we can still learn from today.

Asana today has crossed $600,000,000 in ARR growing an enviable 34% with 115%+ NRR (135% from its bigger customers). 

But when CEO Dustin Moskovitz came to SaaStr Annual 2017, they were still leaving the scrappy stage at $60m in ARR and a primarily self-serve customer base … and deciding just how sales-driven they really wanted to be.

Dustin described it as “the late early adopted phase”, having just crossed 20,000 mostly self-serve customers.

Alex Konrad, Staff Writer at Forbes sat down with Dustin Moskovitz, CEO and co-founder at Asana and former co-founder of Facebook, to have an interesting conversation about what it means to be a mindful business.

The best parts:

• Having a great team. Once you really have a great team, not just some great individuals — magic happens. It’s truly special.
• Lifelong relationships with the team. Building long-life friendships grounded on a multi-year journey together. Pretty powerful.
• Relationships with other CEOs. The ones you went through it all together with.
• The victories. The first $1m ARR. The first $1m day. The first $1m customer. We don’t celebrate these victories enough, but they never get old.
• Always something important to do. You’re never bored. It’s more than this, but when you’re on that journey together, truly building something — you’re never bored. Sometimes tired. Even a little burnt. But never bored.
• Always challenged. This can be stressful, and tiring. But if you’re scaling a tech business, the pace of change always challenges you.
• Builders gotta build. My most unhappy stretches have been when I haven’t been building. Being a founder solves this.
• Not working for “The Man”. The benefits here are real. You’re in charge of your own destiny, at least in part.
• Keeps you young at heart — and curious. A curious mind keeps it all going.

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

Increase customer retention, LTV and generate more revenue with Upzelo. Take a look at their live demo today. No sign-up is required.

A few that I think really do you a disservice in SaaS, especially before you have a huge brand:

• “Be careful of prospects that waste your time.” Yes, your time is precious in sales. But this is backwards. Almost no one wants to waste a salesperson’s time. Talking to sales isn’t fun. It’s not TikTok. A prospect inbounds because they have a need. Maybe they are a smaller business than you’d like, or need more time than you’d prefer. But their business is just as important to them as a larger company. Treat each prospect with respect. Watch your sales go up.
• Selling a feature you haven’t used yourself. There is no excuse, folks. Don’t talk about a product or feature you haven’t used. Don’t be so lazy. This is SaaS. Fire up your web browser and actually try it. And for real. Use it as if you were a prospect / customer.
• Insta-discounting. Yes, discounting is part of most sales toolkits. But you don’t go there first. You go there last. And you do it fairly. A discount does not create a sale. It does not save a sale. It rarely beats the competition. What it really does is create urgency to close.
• Relying on SDRs to always qualify your deals. Yes, SDRs are great. But they aren’t always there, they don’t always do the full job, etc. It’s still your job to own the sale.

Up Next: Wednesday, May 3rd @ 10AM

Topic: Selling. The Seven Things all Founders Should Know About Sales. with Balderton Capital

Speaker: Dave Kellogg, Executive In Residence at Balderton Capital and Principal at Dave Kellogg Consulting

Workshop Wednesdays is our new favorite series where we’ll be bringing some of the best SaaStr speakers to you LIVE, every Wednesday. 

This workshop will be 100% LIVE, not pre-recorded, and will be hosted in an, interactive 30-minute format, including Q&A.

Don't miss a SaaStr fan-favorite speaker this Week!

© SaaStr 2023

644 Emerson St. Suite 200, Palo Alto, CA 94301

If you'd like to stop receiving the SaaStr Daily, click here