SaaStr

FEBRUARY 25, 2024

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: The Thing Is, Maybe 10%-15% of Venture-Backed Startups Are Still Running the 2021 Playbook. Tech and Startups Have Changed. Bringing Product-Led and Sales-Led Growth Together For Go-To-Market Success with Zapier’s CRO 4.

Growth 87

Growth Go To Market Product Customers 87

SaaStr

JANUARY 5, 2021

It’s been a fun experience being on Quora for … a decade We’ve crossed 60,000,000 views of our answers there, so let’s take a look at the Top 50 most viewed SaaStr Answers on Quora in 2020: Why do many startup owners sell their firm and move on instead of planning on making it a big player like Google, Microsoft, etc.?

Cross-sell 116

Cross-sell Commission Legal Negotiate 116

SaaStr

MARCH 18, 2023

Q: Dear SaaStr: Is it Ethical For a Startup CEO to Accept a Sales Commission for Deals They Close Themselves? But not a deal-by-deal commission like a sales rep. It’s a bit of a flag of someone not going big, of not seeing the real win in their equity, not just in a short term contract or two. But still — I did it once.

Commission 88

Commission Closing Contract Sales 88

SaaStr

JUNE 1, 2023

Carta is a platform that helps people manage equity, build businesses, and invest in the companies of tomorrow. Our mission is to unlock the power of equity ownership for more people in more places. Carta manages over two trillion dollars in equity for nearly two million people globally. SAP for Startups?

Growth 76

Growth Pipeline Trust Technology 76

SaaStr

APRIL 11, 2023

Silicon Valley Bank specialized in venture capital-backed startups, primarily in tech. Wait And See DiTargiani has worked in sales and business development roles in Silicon Valley for a long time. Over the years, he shifted into consulting with early-stage founders on go-to-market strategies and sales. How much equity is there?

Pitch 84

Pitch Consult Gaming Networking 84

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

C-suite employees get an equity grant, 9+ times out of 10, based on the current cap table. What this means in practice is VPs and CXOs often get far more equity by joining … later. And far, far more risk-adjusted equity by joining later. I.e., imagine you grant a VP of Sales 1% of the company at $1m in ARR.

Start-ups 40

Start-ups Up-sell Closing Sell 40

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2023

I’m not a branding expert but when I met with some true experts a ways back, their advice always stuck in my head: “Don’t ever change your name if it has strong brand equity, even if the history is mixed. But the larger topic of when to change your name as a startup is an interesting niche topic. My instinct was to change the name.

Niche 71

Niche Consult Service Product 71

Hubspot

FEBRUARY 24, 2022

Raising startup funding is one of the most exciting, challenging times for a company. If successful, the startup has the capital to continue building its products or providing new features to customers. Fortunately for entrepreneurs, startup funding is at an all-time high. How Startup Funding Works. The downside?

Non-Profits 79

Non-Profits Minimum Viable Product Finance Growth 79

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 16, 2021

After “Founder Confidential” ends, emerging SaaS startups network in person with leading VCs in our CoWorking area as part of our “ Meet A VC ” program. . Fulcrum Equity Partners. JMI Equity. Level Equity. TZP Growth Equity. Startup Advice”. No VCs are invited. First Ascent Ventures. FTV Capital. High Alpha.

Meeting 94

Meeting GTM Legal Presentation 94

SaaStr

JUNE 13, 2023

Here’s what I’ve learned across 3 startups of my own, and investing in 25+ more: Underpaying certainly leads to departures. Sales folks in particular will stay until a big bonus check. But I’ve found non-sales folks will leave even days before a bonus and don’t care. Yes, if their salaries are unfair, unequal, or below market.

Sales 84

Sales Growth 84

Sales Pop!

JANUARY 10, 2024

Discounting Wisdom and Experience The whole venture startup financing scenery is removing the real entrepreneurial approach. Risk and Responsibility Up to 90 percent of startups fail, so it, in fact, is a real risk. Therefore, we will invest, but will increase our equity. Both risks have their complexities.

Gambling 52

Gambling Government Finance Service 52

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

Here are our most popular answers over the past 12 months: How do VCs value startups? Which startup did you leave too early? (74k Are there any examples of a unicorn startup that was bootstrapped? How much equity do you give to extremely early employees? Is Y Combinator asking too much equity for 120k worth of funding?

Pitch 90

Pitch Start-ups Customers Sales 90

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

I’m tired of running my (very) successful (VC funded) startup after 5+ years. What is your advice for the 21st Century Startup Founder? Why are founders and startup employees expected to take minimal salaries while VC partners rake in $500K-$1M per year plus carry? How can a SaaS startup survive in a crowded market?

Cross-sell 73

Cross-sell Legal Up-sell Follow-up 73

Sales Pop!

OCTOBER 31, 2023

Partnering with an expert accounting firm can help startups build a foundation for success. Read on to see why startup bookkeeping services are such an invaluable asset. Navigate financing options Very few startups are fully self-funded. Minimize tax liability Startups face complex tax scenarios given their evolving nature.

Service 52

Service Finance Referrals Growth 52

SaaStr

MAY 16, 2023

In a special workshop session, Jay Levy shares insights into successful founder-investor relationships and why they are so crucial to the success of your startup. Levy explains, “Startups don’t seem to give too much credence and weight to investor relations, and I think this is, unfortunately, a missed opportunity.” Sign up for free.

Legal 83

Legal Launch Follow-up Presentation 83

SaaStr

JANUARY 4, 2022

A specific amount of equity, for senior folks especially. Every startup I’ve talked to that does profit sharing says the same thing. This doesn’t mean competing with Google / Facebook / Huge Public Companies, but it does mean being top-of-market vs. other startups. This is especially important to sales reps.

Promote 104

Promote Start-ups Sales 104

SaaStr

APRIL 10, 2023

However, what many businesses may overlook is the startup segment. Often, startups are lumped in with small businesses, yet this approach fails to recognize what motivates and attracts these early-stage companies. Why Seek Out Startups? How is it that you want to sell to startups differently than the rest of your customer base?”

Sell 82

Sell Referrals Up-sell Growth 82

SaaStr

JANUARY 29, 2023

Sometimes it’s VP Sales (OK, often, this is the most common mishire — another post here on what a really great VPS can do for you, and how a poor one can wreck your company, coming). Mercenaries leave when the war gets tough, because the pay (the equity) can’t keep up. It’s one of our enduring topics on SaaStr.

Start-ups 113

Start-ups Up-sell Meeting Closing 113

ClickFunnels

AUGUST 3, 2021

The post 10 Prospecting Tips To Explode Your Sales appeared first on ClickFunnels. Prospecting is a crucial part of the sales process. You need to identify prospects, reach out to them, and persuade them to take the next step in your sales funnel. Table of Contents: What Is Sales Prospecting? #1 Attend sales conferences.

Prospecting 130

Prospecting Cold Call Objectives and Key Results Quota 130

Highspot

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

A comprehensive sales and marketing plan sets up organizations for long-term growth and success. In this guide, we’ll dig into the differences between sales and marketing plans, how to create your plan, and templates to get the ball rolling. What is a Sales and Marketing Plan?

Objectives and Key Results 52

Objectives and Key Results Cross-sell Click Through Rate Lead generation 52

Highspot

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

A comprehensive sales and marketing plan sets up organizations for long-term growth and success. In this guide, we’ll dig into the differences between sales and marketing plans, how to create your plan, and templates to get the ball rolling. What is a Sales and Marketing Plan?

Objectives and Key Results 52

Objectives and Key Results Cross-sell Click Through Rate Lead generation 52

Hubspot

MAY 6, 2024

Your favorite graphic design software or AI tool may just be a unicorn startup dazzling in plain sight. But, how common are unicorns, and are these successful startups as immortal as they seem? Learn more unicorn statistics in our State of Global Unicorn Startups Report. A rousing 22% of unicorn startups are HubSpot customers.

Manufacturing 53

Manufacturing Pharmaceutical Technology Technology 53

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 22, 2021

I’ll defer to those with more data than me, but here’s what I’ve learned across 3 startups of my own, and investing in 25+ more: Underpaying certainly leads to departures. Sales folks in particular will stay until a big bonus check. But I’ve found non-sales folks will leave even days before a bonus and don’t care. And equally.

Promote 99

Promote Sales 99

SaaStr

MAY 19, 2021

Monday is putting 10% of its equity into its new Equal Impact Initiative Foundation. Many SaaS startups that start outside the U.S. Added a true sales team and function around $30m ARR. Eventually, almost everyone adds a sales team and goes upmarket. At $240m in ARR, there are now 365 employees in sales and success.

Legal 144

Legal Cross-sell Government Launch 144

SaaStr

APRIL 9, 2022

Oh, you are CEO of a 4-person startup? You still get a lot of equity and don’t have to take the risk of getting something off the ground. Most founders, in fact, get a bit lost once they sell their startups, or move on as CEO. (@jasonlk) April 6, 2022. It’s not what you’d think. It’s not : A power trip. Not necessarily.

Meeting 79

Meeting Sell Product Sales 79

Highspot

AUGUST 11, 2021

11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Highspot , the sales enablement platform that increases the performance of sales teams, today announced another year of top-tier recognition for its business growth and culture. For the sixth straight year, the Cloud 100 reviewed submissions from hundreds of cloud startups and private companies.

Represent 98

Represent Technology Technology Strategize 98

Sales Hacker

APRIL 27, 2021

If you missed episode 157, check it out here: Bootstrapping, Building & Scaling Startups with Lloyed Lobo. Subscribe to the Sales Hacker Podcast. Matt is a founding partner of the venture capital firm kind of growth equity firm called PeakSpan Capital. powered by Sounder. We’re on iTunes. And on Stitcher.

Growth 61

Growth Sales 61

Sales Hacker

JULY 14, 2023

Stephen Farnsworth , Head of GTM at Stealth Startup : SDR comp – commission should be 90+% based on things the SDR can control…booking a qualified meeting that is accepted into pipeline. Do you have any suggestions for structuring an incentive package to optimize for sales/revenue efficiency?” Have cash and equity for each.

GTM 52

GTM Commission Quota Growth 52

Hubspot

JANUARY 21, 2019

You might be in the midst of launching a startup. Maybe you’ve planned out your path into the world of startups and have yet to start … or perhaps you’ve simply dreamed about your startup behind-the-scenes. When you hear the word “startup,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind? I’m glad you're here.

Non-Profits 90

Non-Profits Agriculture Growth Launch 90

SaaStr

JULY 30, 2023

“A growth team that takes risks and looks for outlier effects,” says Guillaume “G” Cabane, Co-Founder at Hypergrowth Partners, a collective of advisors, VPs, and others working on an equity basis with companies like Maze, ramp, and Honeycomb.io. PST, G shares low CAC, scalable tactics for earlier growth-stage startups. Map it all out.

Growth 79

Growth Engineering Technology Technology 79

SaaStr

JULY 23, 2023

For many startups I’ve invested in, I’ve helped put in first VP of Sales, Marketing, Controller, etc. If you are in tech especially, I can help get you customers and brand equity by promoting you through the #1 platform in SaaS. I will help you build your first management team. Ideally, very quickly. I have actually done it.

Promote 83

Promote Price Follow-up Start-ups 83

Hubspot

NOVEMBER 23, 2018

If your startup were a Netflix series, the cap table would be the credits rolling at the end of each episode. A cap table, or capitalization table, is a chart typically used by startups to show ownership stakes in the business. A cap table is the place of record for the equity-based transactions of a company. Date of issuance.

Finance 72

Finance Legal Negotiate Conversion 72

Hubspot

NOVEMBER 2, 2018

If you're running a startup, odds are that you might be trying to secure funding: from friends and family, from a venture capital firm, from crowdfunding, or from a bank. Financial leverage ratios, or gearing ratios, comprise a category of ratios that evaluate the financial leverage a business in terms of its assets, liabilities, and equity.

Manufacturing 68

Manufacturing Niche Finance Service 68

Hubspot

MARCH 25, 2024

If you look at a list of the “fastest” growing SaaS companies, besides having a great product and great go-to-market skills, they’re usually B2B sales-led products. The startup was reportedly making around $100m in revenue the year before, getting a 9x-10x multiple. Can I Afford To Be Patient? Amazon bought PillPack for $1B in 2018.

Niche 58

Niche Price Contract B2B 58

SaaStr

APRIL 4, 2023

Most startup founders create companies to grow them. CIPIO Partners is a pan-European growth equity firm and early growth investor, primarily in software and software-enabled models. The sales cycle at this stage may be very short. The sales cycle will be slightly longer at this stage. This is true in life and business.

Go To Market 89

Go To Market GTM Strategize Growth 89

SaaStr

APRIL 12, 2021

The biggest mistake folks make when they go to hire a VP of Sales is hiring a top AE that's never really built a team. But it does not remotely prepare you to be a VP of Sales on its own. Not until you are Uipath, or Canva, or Algolia, or whatever the next super hot startup is. How to Succeed as a First Time VP of Sales.

Inside sales 129

Inside sales Start-ups Strategize Growth 129

Salesforce

DECEMBER 1, 2022

Tech, sales, and marketing experts speak on our podcast channel about what matters to business leaders. From Assyrian traders 4,000 years ago to today’s startups, we’ll gain a deeper understanding of the infinite ways that businesses can connect — deeply, powerfully — with their customers. Podcast: Closing the deal — Women in sales.

E-commerce 96

E-commerce Cross-sell Drivers/motivators Technology 96