Hey SaaStr Community,

So over the past few weeks I’m doing a lot of end-of-the-year catch-ups and I’ve heard this one story again and again:

“I replaced my entire management team this year”

I push founders and the reason in the end is basically always the same. The existing team just wasn’t happy or motivated in the tougher environment of 2023. And it was simply time for new folks that, while not necessarily better — simply wanted the job.

I’ve got a meta takeaway from this for everyone out there that’s a bit unsettled, unhappy, wistful about their tech role:

If you’re respected, well paid, and have a good job — see if you can come in fresh in 2024 with a better attitude.

Seriously. Even I get grouchy and feel sorry for myself at times. When a founder isn’t appreciative. When a co-investor does things they shouldn’t. When I see disloyalty. Sometimes even I quietly think, “hey, they’ll see how it is without me.”

But if you can — stop.

All the changes in the world from March 2020-December 2023 will be behind us in 2024.

It’s time to put it all in a box. Easier times, bigger teams, and easier quotas are all behind us.

Come back in 2024 happy. Even if you have to fake it at first. Come back appreciative. Even if you feel you’re owed more.

Everyone wants to work for folks that are positive, on the mission, and great to be around. Whatever happened, in 2024, be one of those folks.

So there’s a perhaps obvious conversation everyone should be having, but isn’t:

“Look, in 2023 we basically hid inside our existing customer base. We pushed through record price increases.  We made it harder to cancel.  

We tried everything we could in upsell.  And most importantly, we relied on our 100%+ NRR to stay in the game.”

While I don’t love it, I get it in a tough year. 100%+ NRR helps you stay in the game even in tougher times.

The most extreme example of the public Cloud and SaaS companies is Fastly. It literally added no new customers last year and basically none the past 2 years.

Hiding Behind The Base?  That playbook works once, or at least once every 5-8 years or so.  Customers aren’t stupid.  They’re frustrated with these games, and they remember.  Now it’s time to get back to New Logo Growth.

So quotas are relatively well understood, if sometimes complicated to get right in practice. 

Overall, the median AE closes $750,000 a year, and that’s actually up from 2022 — mainly due to hiring freezes and contractions. 

And how many hit quota?  While different data sources report different numbers, the companies themselves in the Keybanc Sapphire data report 80% hitting quota attainment. That sounds way too high to me, but it’s still useful to see the data represented cleanly here together.

One thing I’ve never really had much data on is exactly below what level of attainment sales reps typically are at risk of losing their jobs, however. 

40% attainment? 

30%?

Salesforce recently shared theirs in a Bloomberg article:

Their “PIPs” or being put on a performance plan to be managed out kick in now at the following performance levels:

• After 1 quarter of underperformance in sales, not 5-6; and
  If an enterprise rep closes less than $100k a quarter ($400k a year annualized); or
• If an SMB rep closes less than $40k a quarter ($200k a year annualized)

That sounds a bit harsh on the surface, but it actually may be generous, as it likely ties to about 30%-40% attainment. 

For the first time ever in 2024, SaaStr is hosting its first Demo Day - a completely live, digital event that will bring the global SaaStr community together with the brightest innovators in SaaS for the inaugural Demo Day on Tuesday, January 30th.

The focus of Demo Day is to put a SaaStr-style spin on a classic “Demo Day” - but this time around we’ll be showcasing New Features from leading SaaS companies, highlighting up & coming SaaS companies, sharing What’s New via in-depth interviews with some of the top CEOs in SaaS, and of course - bringing actionable insights and expert speakers in to round out Demo Day with the latest trends, best practices and features to help you scale faster in 2024. 

We have limited space for a handful of Gold sponsors to host 15-minute demos. The lens for SaaStr Demo Day is that it should be an executive (ideally) showing off your product in a way that will help those in SaaS meet their goals faster in 2024. 

If you're interested in hosting a Demo during Demo Day, let us know. 

So if you are outside of fintech and banking, you may not have heard of nCino.

But if you’re in the space, it’s a big player.

They’re at almost $500m in ARR, with 1,850 customers, now growing a modest but steady 19% and they have gotten pretty efficient, like most other public SaaS and Cloud leaders. Non-GAAP operating margins are now +17%.

They’ve made a few clever acquistions, but haven’t been immune to macro impacts.  A year ago, growth was at 48%. Today it’s at 19%. Wall Street seems OK with the change however, as nCino is still valued at $3.3 Billon.  Not a huge ARR multiple, but just above the 5x-6x average today.

My list of what mediocre employees do:

• Unable to hit deadlines. This is different than missing a few, with a proper heads-up.
• Get angry when they fall behind. Instead of quietly stepping up and just getting it done.
• Refuse to own a quantitative KPI or goal. They don’t want to own a number.
• Don’t raise their hand when they need help. They just hide it. Often even to themselves.
• Always “very busy”. The best employees always find a way to help, to take a little more on to help the team.
• Argue with bosses and other leaders in public. The boss isn’t always right. But understanding someone has to make the call on tough decisions is important.
• Argue when you ask them to fix something that wasn’t done that well.  The best agree and just go fix it.
• Push back on doing core parts of their job.  So you end up doing it yourself.
• Need folks to do all their work for them. More an issue with mediocre managers. They are often unwilling to do any actual work themselves.
• Blame others. It’s never their fault.
• Gossip. A little is OK, but mediocre employees often become toxic ones, spending too much time on office-related gossip.

In the latest installment of SaaStr’s What’s New series – where we sit down with the leaders in SaaS and Cloud for the inside scoop on what’s top of mind and what’s new, SaaStr CEO and Jason Lemkin chats with the CMO of Google Cloud, Alison Wagonfeld. 

Alison brings the perspective of all sides of a startup, from investing to SaaS to Cloud. In this episode of What’s New at Google Cloud, Jason and Alison talk about:

• The top priorities as a CMO over the next 12-18 months
• Generative AI
• Attracting and serving customers from both the Startups and Enterprise segments
• Partnership structures from Google Cloud
• What’s new and what’s next

Numbers don’t lie, but sometimes the stories we tell around them do.

Dave Kellogg, EIR at Balderton Capital and 25-year C-level veteran, shares the top 14 signs that you have a SaaS metrics problem, the five reasons those symptoms exist, and a SaaS metrics maturity model with five layers to help you move the needle at every stage. 

First, let’s deep dive into the 15 ways that people misuse and abuse SaaS metrics. By understanding the problems, you can extract the solutions. 

• SaaStr 708: The Top 10 Mistakes People Make When Hiring a VP of Sales with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin               

• SaaStr 707: The Where, When, and How of AI with Theory Ventures, Open AI, MotherDuck and Lamini                     

• SaaStr 706: What's New at Box with Aaron Levie, CEO and Co-Founder of Box and Jason Lemkin, CEO and Founder at SaaStr      

Listen on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcasts

Very few downsides to getting to know the CEOs of your competitors 

- They could buy you someday, or vice-versa

- De-escalates later tensions

- Helps you focus on the bigger prize

- Share a little, learn a little

Will be working every day until and through Dec 31

But not taking any meetings in 2023 after Friday Dec 15

Gotta recharge that way

2008: SaaS is Really Hard …

2016: SaaS is Really Hard

2017: SaaS is a Great Business

2018: Everyone Invests in SaaS

2019: SaaS Eating the World

2020: I’m Genius

2021: King of World! 

2022: Nothing Makes Sense

2023: SaaS is Really Hard

2024: SaaS Still Hard But Smidge Less So

© SaaStr 2023

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