4 out of 800 Sales Execs Raised Their Hand

So we decided to do some folks a solid this year for SaaStr Annual.

It’s tougher times for many, job hunting is tougher, and in general meeting the best of the best in SaaS and Cloud IRL is more valuable than ever.

And when we polled the 400+ CROs, CMOs and CCOs attending SaaStr Annual, almost 100% of them said they were hiring.

So we did something we’ve never done before:

We offered all 840+ of the past SDRs, AEs and more than had done booth duty at SaaStr Annual based in the SF Bay Area a chance to come this year for a 1 day pass — completely free. On us.

To actually experience Annual for real, not to just be stuck in a booth. To network, meet hundreds of great VPs of Sales, CROs, founders, and more. A gift, IMHO.

Literally, every single CRO at SaaStr Annual I talked to was hiring. 100% of them.

SaaStr Annual may be relatively low cost compared to peer events (which today usually are priced 2x-3x higher), and we also offer 50% off if you just buy early … that price of course may be out of reach to many junior sales execs.

So we quietly reached out to about 840 of our past Booth Heroes and Booth Professionals.

Admittedly, many might not still be in the SF Bay Area, making travel tough. But if there’s a will, there’s a way. These are sales execs after all!

And how many took us up on this unprecedented offer? That no one ever does? To learn, to hobnob, to network at an elite level?

4

Yes, Four.

You can read what you want into it, but I view it at least as one quantitative data point on the state of ennui in SaaS today. Only 4 out of 840 sales execs wanted to put in the energy to click on bettering themselves and their careers — for free.

THANK YOU! to the 10,000+ that attended SaaStr Annual 2024 with some of the very best speakers in SaaS and AI. We had so many great interactions & fun across the 3 days with 

We'll be back in MAY of 2025!! 

So you may have noticed there are now a ton of events in September. 

It was great for 3 years, but we’re going back to out roots, and Annual 2025 will again be earlier in the year, now May 13-15 at our 40 acre campus at the San Mateo County Events Center. 

LOCK IN THE LOWEST RATE EVER

Book your early bird tickets now to lock in your attendance at our best rates possible!

In today’s dynamic SaaS landscape of hyperfuncational SaaS, the journey of building a product that customers adore, while simultaneously scaling revenue to nearly $1B, is still quite a feat. During a conversation at SaaStr Annual with Jason Lemkin, founder, and CEO of SaaStr, Andrew Bialecki, co-founder and CEO of Klaviyo, shares his insights and lessons in achieving this milestone.

Klaviyo is the most awesome SaaS company you probably don’t know enough about but they’re a huge player in the e-commerce and SaaS space.  They’re bigger than HubSpot in marketing by ARR, period. By having huge market share, and owning a specific space.

Not only is Klaviyo a rocketship but it was also the first SaaS company to IPO in almost 2 years when it went public in September of 2023. It was a big milestone for the company and the markets as it had everything you’d want in a company going public: 39% annual revenue growth, 16% free cash margins, and 117% NRR.  More on that here.

#1. Only work with truly great executives going forward.

It’s time to work with fewer, better executives. Now you know who’s great and who isn’t. Don’t settle again.

#2. Try to move on from grudges, folks that weren’t fair to you, etc. It doesn’t matter.

Too many folks especially these days are angry at their ex-boss, their CEO, their VCs, whatever. It doesn’t matter. They don’t care. You need to find a way not to, as well. Let it go. Does a small chip on your shoulder help motivate you? For sure. But does a grudge? No.

#3. Work actually much harder in your 30s. This is the time to really build things that will last.

Sometimes, you can build a billion+ company in your 20s, or become the worlds greatest CRO or CMO in your 20s. Sometimes. But for most of us, we need 5-7 years of deep learning to get there. And so it’s our 30s when we should work even harder. To build on those 5-7 years and now just run it and own the place.

#4. Exercise every day.

It really does help you to go long.

#5. Seek Out the Best Mentors, Advisors, VCs, etc. in the World.

They don’t help every day. But the very best here do help 6-8 times a year on the stuff that really matters.

My best ideas here, at least.

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We’re excited to have Rippling as a first-time Diamond Sponsor for 2025 SaaStr Annual, May 13-15 in SF Bay!!

We’ve had so many great times with Rippling execs over the years, from CEO Parker Conrad joining us for the first SaaStr Annual waaay back in 2015 (!), to helping kick off SaaStr Europa 2023. And for CRO Matt Plank supporting us on our #1 ranked CRO Confidential podcast, and Live at SaaStr Annual 2024!

It’s a question for the ages.

First, let’s note that most successful SaaS startups do not have equal founder splits. Less than 15% do.

Second, note that some founders leave.

It’s important to have a thoughtful vesting schedule that incents folks that do stay and build something big to have an outsized share.

It’s probably just as important to get vesting right as it is to get the exact relative percentages right.

Third, in the end, you have to try to do what’s fair.

If one founder really started it and did most of the work getting it off the ground, it probably makes sense for them to have a 2:1, 3:1, even 8:1 ratio to other co-founders.

© SaaStr 2024

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