We’re getting closer!!  Its 2023 SaaStr Annual, Sep 6-8, in SF Bay Area!!

Want to learn from and meet top CROs?  We’ve got just a ton of the best coming, sharing, and presenting:

• Jameson Yung, SVP Sales @ Gong
• Scott Sutton, CBO @ ZoomInfo
• Jane Kim, CRO @ CircleCI
• Laurabeth Harvey, CRO @ Lattice
• Erica Anderson, CRO @ Notion
• Sangeeta Chakraborty, CRO @ Miro
• Aliisa Rosenthal, Head of Sales @ OpenAI
• Megan Prince, VP of Sales @ Zeni
• Bryan Caplin, CRO @ Thoropass
• Colin Danaher, VP Enterprise Sales @ G2
• Ankur Passi, VP of Enterprise Revenue @ Greenhouse
• Veronica Fernandez, SVP, North America Head of Business Solutions @ Visa
• Mark Kosoglow, CRO @ Catalyst
• Meghan Gill, SVP Sales Operations & Sales Development @ MongoDB

Hey SaaStr Community,

Recently our CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin, took to the stage to answer the audience’s most pressing questions about the present and future of startups. 

His answers didn’t disappoint.

Many in our community are wondering about the future of customer success, motivation during hard times, and how to grow in this new era of efficiency. 

This epic two-part Q&A has gone somewhat viral, so if you've missed it:

The Cold Truths About SaaS in 2023 Part 1 is Here

and Why You're Fundable in 2023, Part 2 is Here

They're both a must-watch. 

So G2 has its latest Buyer Behavior Report for 2023 out here, sourced from 1,700+ buyers.

A few great takeaways:

#1.  49% of G2’s Buyers are Increasing Spend in 2023.  42% are holding spend flat (or say they are), and only a tiny 9% are actually cutting spend.  This is consistent with all my data and experience.  Almost no one is cutting SaaS spend other than overfunded startups.

#2.  47% of Deals Are Less Than 1 Year in Length. 

Of course, this is very sensitive to the specific vendor, type of buyer, etc.  Most enterprise deals in general IMHE are 1+ years in length.  But super interesting to see that across all G2’s buyer base, 47% of deals are 6 months or less, and that exceeds 50% outside the U.S.  Let folks buy the way they want to buy, and more folks buy.

This edition of the SaaStr Weekly is sponsored in part by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise 

New Zealand technology is made for the world. From sustainable space travel to AI-driven agritech, we deliver innovative technology on a global scale.

So if you’ve looked for real estate lately, you’ve probably used Matteport software to see those cool 3-D renderings of homes and buildings.

The business exploded during lockdown when in-person tours were more difficult, growing 100% YoY from 2020 to 2021, and the business continues to grow today.

It’s now at $160,000,000 in “ARR” growing a healthy 33% year-over-year.

 Its market cap is $945m, but that’s including $450m in cash, so the net enterprise value is closer to $500m, or a bit less than 4x revenues.

One reason to do a deep dive on Matterport is as a case study for the pro and cons of “SaaS + Services” models.  These hybrid models have exploded over the past few years.

One of the top minds in B2B PR I’ve worked with is Ed Zitron.  We’ve had him at SaaStr Annual and SaaStr several times over the years, and we’ve worked together on over a dozen on my SaaStr Fund portfolio companies.  I asked him to put together a primer on just what PR really is .. in 2023. Jason – ed.

What Worked Before And Still Works Today

If you’re knowledgeable about a subject and a reporter needs a comment, give them one. People pick up the phone for helpful people. 

And if you’re asked for something, provide it quickly. Respond quickly.

Be useful.

There’s also really something to be said for having meaningful commentary on things that you truly understand. Usually founders are either scared to ruffle feathers or way, way too firebrand-adjacent – find your “thing” and really stick to it. Jason has done well getting quoted – when he wants to – talking about the state of major enterprise software companies. He’s a master of this stuff. 

I do caution you to be aware of when you’re out of your depth. Don’t talk about politics. Don’t get into culture war stuff. Focus on your work, and the world around your work. 

Many start-ups, and even larger SaaS vendors, are reluctant to provide a Service Level Agreement — an SLA — that says they will, well, stay up.  It’s not our fault, they think.  What if Amazon goes down?  Or our email provider?  That’s not our fault.  The lawyers tell you to try to not to do this.  Sometimes, the accountants too.  But they are wrong.

An SLA is most importantly a cultural commitment. That you truly, fully stand behind an enterprise-grade product.

Look at Cloudflare’s commitment in their base SLA -> “1.1 100% Uptime. The Service will serve Customer Content 100% of the time without qualification.”  Is 100% possible for any CDN, and web product?  Not.  But they are committing to doing everything humanly possible to deliver it.  That’s what you want as an enterprise customer, when you’re paying $100k+ a year. $5 a month, maybe, maybe not.  But enterprise customers have the right to expect it to not, well, be their problem.

So a little while back we had a deep dive on just how much of a product expert your VP of Sales needs to be, and your sales team in general.

The bottom line is while views weren’t consistent, I can tell you VPs of Sales that don’t know the product close to cold … fail. 

They just plain fail in my experience.

I repeated the survey for CS, and found more what I’ve personally experienced — the CS team needs to know the product cold. 

And yet, so many seasoned VPs of CS and Chief Customer Officers actually … don’t agree.

How do you win with a high-velocity sales strategy in a fast-moving, competitive market? What are common pitfalls to avoid, and how can teams maximize efficiency and meet quota?

In a special session of Workshop Wednesday, Gorgias Founder & CEO Romain Lapeyre and Gorgias VP of Sales & Partnerships Aasif Osmany share their learnings, advice, and hacks for optimizing your sales process.

• SaaStr 675: Why You're Unfundable in 2023: The Cold, Hard Truths About SaaS Part 2 with SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin
  

• SaaStr 674: The Cold, Hard Truths About SaaS In 2023: Part 1 AMA with SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin

• SaaStr 673: How To Boost Your Net Retention Revenue (NRR) to Over 140% with Insider's CEO and CMO

Listen on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts or Spotify

Product-market fit, definition:

When you have more leads than you know why

The #1 mistake SDRs make:

They don’t tell me how their app will solve my top problem

They talk about:

- Features

- Who is #1

- Buying me a coffee

Don’t care

But everyone cares about solving their Top 3 problems

When someone tells you they will quit if they don't get something

They almost always quit anyway a little later

© SaaStr 2023

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