64% of You Are Growing Your Sales Teams in 2024

So layoffs still fill the headlines in 2024.  Even now.  I thought we’d be behind them by now, that the cuts were sort of a one-off for the most part.  But now everyone is focused on getting more and more efficient.  To $300k-$400k+ per employee at scale.  So cuts and slower hiring continue.

But don’t let the headlines obscure what’s really happening, because they tend to shout out quieter trends.

According to our latest unscientific but directionally correct survey of over 2,000 SaaS execs, 64% of you are growing your sales team in 2024.

And 22% of you are growing the team 50% or more.

So if you’re looking for your next role — stop sending 1,000 random resumes without a cover letter or any research.  Slow it down.  Find those still hiring, and find 5 or 10 that truly are a match for your skills.  Watch their webinars, do a product demo, learn as much as you can in 60 minutes.  And write them the best cold email ever.  On why you’d truly crush it there, for real.

I bet you get an interview.

No.

Strong Disagree. It does not make any sense, 99 times out of 100.

Generally, the CEO or another founder will hack being both the head of product, and head of product marketing, at least until a few million in ARR, often longer.

You definitely need do need senior product marketing experience as you truly scale, often at least by $8m-$10m ARR. Because you need help in Product Marketing and positioning generally once things get complicated.

But … you need a VP of Demand Gen and/or Growth as early as $20k in MRR. That’s far, far, far earlier. And the product usually isn’t all that complicated in the earlier days. 

You need help in Demand Gen as soon as you have even a tiny stream of growing customers. And the hire should be almost immediately accretive.

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

In the Forrester Wave™ Customer Success Platforms, Q4 2023 Report, Forrester recommends that CS platform buyers look for providers that:

• Prioritize digital-led strategies for success at scale.
• Leverage AI and machine learning to harness predictive analysis and optimize resources.
• Include rich reporting and integrations out of the box.

“CS teams need to find alternatives to high-touch models and manual processes and invest in digital-led programs designed to meet customers where they are,” writes Shari Srebnick, principal analyst, Forrester.

Want to partner with SaaStr? Click here to Sponsor our events, podcasts, newsletters and more.

Having struggled a lot myself in the early days several times … just a few thoughts to summarize my learnings:

1.  Get help & upgrade the team. This is the #1 thing you can do to move the needle.   Don’t be ashamed to ask for help.  Especially if you are struggling.  And if you can, just go hire 1 great leader, one great VP or even 1 incredible individual contributor.  It really does make a difference, adding one more truly great one to the team.  It always does.  In my toughest times, it was always adding one great leader that turned things around in the end.  Just one great one.

2. You may be doing better than you think.  This is a mistake many entrepreneurs make once they have the tiniest bit of product-market fit.  I know you aren’t doing as well as Figma or OpenAI.  But it’s possible you are doing better than you think.   If you got 10, 50, 100 businessess to actually buy Yet Another SaaS Product — that is something. Real.

3.  Get a (better) mentor if you can. This doesn’t have to be Marc Benioff.  What it does need to be is someone at least 18-24 months further down the road than you.  They’ll help you see what’s working and what isn’t. 

Katy Hammond of 6-time SaaStr Annual sponsor couldn’t make SaaStr Annual this year so she put together a list of top tips for folks manning booths at Annual — and in general.  I loved the list, so I’m “borrowing” it below.  These are the basics you have to get right if you are going to sponsor a big event — that many still don’t get right.

She hit 183% of plan with these tips.

And I have to tell you — I see so many AEs, SDRs, and more just not following these great tips.

We’re getting close to 2024 SaaStr Europa on June 4-5 in London, followed by 2024 SaaStr Annual, Sep 10-12 in San Mateo, CA (just south of downtown SF, just north of Palo Alto).  Join us!!

In the run up, we’re looking at a bunch of classic sessions from the past.

Aaron Levie, founder CEO of Box, has been part of SaaStr since the beginning, both our first real SaaStr post as well as our first SaaStr Annual speaker ever. Predicting that Box would hit $1B in ARR on TechCrunch way back in 2014 was also a key part of early SaaStr lore.

How Big of a Return Are VCs Looking For in a Startup?

• For Angel, Pre-Seed: At least 50x, with a possible chance of more.  The loss rate in general is so high here, the winners have to do 50x.  And this is after dilution, so 100x from the valuation at initial investment.
• For Seed to Series C or so: At least 10x, with a possible chance of that same 50x-100x.
• For Growth Stage: At least 3x, with a real chance at 10x if everything goes well.

Top results for a VC fund itself is 3x-4x for strong funds. 8x for the handful of crazy good funds.

3x “net” (of fees and costs) is pretty darn solid, though for the fund overall — the cumulative returns of all the investments (usually 15–40) in a given fund.

To make up for the losers, the failures, and the half-successes …. the winners need to do 10x-15x, minimum. Often really more than that, 30x-100x to return the fund.

So if the VCs don’t “see” the chance of 10x and more, they’ll pass on investing. No matter the other positive attributes.

“My App Stack” is a new series where we dig in with top CMOs, CROs, CTOs and CEOs on just what apps they’re really using to run their business.  I always learn a lot from these — they are in essence a best practices list from each leader.  Last time we had a great one with Tifenn Dano Kwan, CMO at Amplitude, check it out here.

This week we have Rachel Wolan, CPO at Webflow!

Up Next: Wednesday, February 14th @ 10AM

Topic: Territory Assignment Innovation: High-Velocity Techniques to Maximize Sales with Gusto

Speakers: Tolithia Kornweibel, CRO at Gusto Jamie Edwards, Head of Go-to-Market Operations and Tools at Gusto

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

Each workshop will be hosted in a live, interactive 30-minute format at 10am Pacific each and every Wednesday. This workshop will be 100% LIVE, not pre-recorded, and will be hosted in an, interactive 30-minute format, including Q&A.

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