Sales Science

In this video, we take a deep dive into Gong's impressive growth and what their recent milestone of surpassing $300 million in ARR means for the company's valuation in 2025. Gong, founded in 2015, is a SaaS company revolutionising the way sales teams understand and analyse customer conversations.

We explore Gong's rapid rise to success, especially during the COVID boom, and examine how its growth compares to other industry leaders like ZoomInfo, HubSpot, and Salesforce. Despite some post-COVID slowdowns, Gong has reaccelerated its growth, with a 28% ARR increase in 2024.

But how does Gong's $7.25 billion valuation stack up? In this video, we break down Gong’s potential worth using public market comparables, and discuss a more realistic valuation estimate. Could Gong be facing a down round if they raised funds today, or is there room for growth? Watch to find out!

Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more insights into SaaS companies and their valuation trends.

Also, stay tuned for an upcoming update on a LinkedIn experiment coming soon, if you'd like to watch the previous episode here's the link: 

https://youtu.be/JtvwUg9GeQA?si=vXrqf9tEZESlkJhg 

In today’s video, we’re excited to introduce Matt Jennings, our Head of Sales Operations, as he tests a new approach to cold outreach and lead conversion. After experimenting with LinkedIn outreach in a previous episode, where he reached out to 300 contacts and booked 5 meetings, Matt felt there was room for improvement in how he engages with leads.

Now, he’s switching things up! In this video, Matt breaks down his experiment where he follows up his LinkedIn connections with a strategic phone call to test whether it improves conversion rates. He’ll be tracking his conversations, testing three distinct lead buckets, and sharing the results at the end.

What’s in the video:

Matt’s experiment with 3 buckets of leads: warm leads, engaged leads, and cold leads.
How he’s tailoring his approach to each bucket and adjusting strategies for the best outcomes.
His thoughts on whether adding phone calls to LinkedIn outreach can improve overall conversion rates.
The power of multi-touch sales strategies.
Have you ever tried combining LinkedIn outreach with phone follow-ups? Or perhaps you’ve used the reverse strategy? Matt wants to hear your thoughts, so leave your comments below!

If you're interested in the latest sales tactics and behind-the-scenes strategies from our Sales team, don’t forget to subscribe to the channel!

#SalesOperations #LinkedInOutreach #ColdCalling #SalesStrategy #LeadConversion #SalesTips #MattJennings #SalesGrowth

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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/foggy-glass
License code: 3IDZHKOHBEZIZRDY

In this episode, we dive into a new LinkedIn outreach experiment focused on warmer leads. After testing cold DMs with mixed results, I decided to take a different approach by reaching out to 162 handpicked prospects who have engaged with my content before. This time, the goal is to offer more targeted resources and see how personalized video messages, audio clips, and DMs fare in generating leads and booking meetings.

I’ll walk you through my strategy, which includes sending a personalized video offering one of two resources: a Sales Development Maturity Checklist or a LinkedIn Playbook. I’ll also break down the expected metrics—response rates, positive replies, and conversion to meetings—while comparing this warmer outreach to our previous cold DM results. Will the warmer leads lead to more successful meetings? Watch to find out!

Follow along as I track every step of this campaign and share the results in real-time. Stay tuned for a full breakdown in two weeks! Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and I’ll see you then.

Tracking sheet - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mBjpuopmMflA36nL-C-QgSeq0ZcJzU9iewp-qc7YsD4/edit?usp=sharing

In this video, we share the results of our 3-week experiment where we sent 600 cold LinkedIn DMs to test whether outbound LinkedIn outreach is still effective in 2025. We aimed to understand if connection requests and DM sequences can generate sales opportunities in the modern LinkedIn landscape.

We divided the prospects into three groups:

• 200 received blank connection requests
• 200 got templated messages
• 200 received personalized messages

We also tested different approaches for the follow-up, including personalized video and audio messages. The goal was to see which method generated the best response rate, and how valuable content impacted engagement.

Key Takeaways:

• Templated messages performed surprisingly well with a 31% connection acceptance rate.
• Leading with valuable content (like offering free resources) produced the highest response rates.
• Sales leadership responded far more than C-suite executives in our outreach.
• We converted 5 positive responses into meetings during the experiment.

The experiment revealed that personalization doesn’t always guarantee better results, and creating curiosity with templated messages can be just as effective—if not more—when trying to get prospects to engage.

Stay tuned for future experiments as we plan to compare this outbound strategy with inbound responses and refine our approach.

Have thoughts or feedback? Drop them in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe for updates on our next LinkedIn experiment!

Q3 SaaS Metrics Report: Slower Growth, More Efficiency 

After 50 hours of deep analysis, we’ve summed up the state of the public SaaS market in four words: Slower growth, more efficiency. 

In this video, we break down:
 How ARR growth rates have declined from 49% (Q1 2022) → 22% (Q3 2024) 
The rise in free cash flow margins (from 6% → 17%) and improved operating margins
The go-to-market challenges, including increased CAC payback periods (20 → 33 months) and declining net revenue retention rates
How SaaS company valuations have dropped by 63% since 2021
The Rule of X and why growth rates are still the key driver of valuations

What's next for SaaS?
Companies must find new ways to drive revenue growth despite market challenges. Some, like Rubrik, Atlassian, Monday, Palantir, and GitLab, are still seeing strong growth. How? That’s what we’ll explore in our Go-To-Market Experiment Series.

📢 Don’t Miss Out!
Watch our latest LinkedIn Sales Pipeline Experiment video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XysaGXOS4Ts 

Get the full Q3 SaaS Metrics Report with insights on Salesforce, HubSpot, ZoomInfo, Box, Palantir & more: https://thesaasreport.beehiiv.com/subscribe 

If you found this helpful, like, subscribe, and hit the bell to stay updated on the latest SaaS trends! See you next week! 

#SaaS #Metrics #Growth #Efficiency #Valuations #GoToMarket #Startup

Does sliding into LinkedIn DMs actually work in 2025? 🤔 In this video, we dive deep into the controversial world of LinkedIn outreach with a hands-on experiment to test three different DM strategies! 🚀

Here’s what we cover:  
👉 Our experiment: Sending 600 DMs to cold prospects over 2 weeks   
👉 Three LinkedIn connection request approaches:
   1. Blank connection requests  
   2. Templated connection requests  
   3. Fully personalized connection requests  
👉 Two video messaging styles: Value-based vs. Problem-based pitches  
👉 Follow-up strategies using audio messages  
👉 Predictions, early results, and key metrics we're tracking  

We’re sharing everything — from the video and audio scripts to the connection request templates we’re using. 🛠️ Get all the resources linked below to follow along live!  

What do YOU think? Will blank connection requests outperform personalized ones? How many meetings will we book? Share your predictions in the comments!  

💬 Don’t forget to check back in two weeks for the results video where we’ll reveal all the insights and data from this LinkedIn DM experiment.  

🔗 Resources & Downloads:
- Experiment tracking sheet  
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HMSZZA7RqS2V_wisvq1NUfP_dWqygGfg7T9CmNvtL8g/edit?gid=1782006844#gid=1782006844 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o6fKQqWRcSSHPXjsPmJYCk90JnnYy1IdvDNsVzdx3Zw/edit?gid=1782006844#gid=1782006844

- LinkedIn messaging templates  
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CcKuG-HuWZPMn2QLtcywMNXlMwXz1vM1bmujLkJhpzI/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.6qgwam32h78

🎥 Like, comment, and subscribe for more actionable experiments and strategies to optimize your LinkedIn outreach in 2025!  

#LinkedInDMs #OutboundSales #B2BMarketing #SalesStrategy

2025 Is a Make-or-Break Year for SaaS Companies – And We’re Changing How We Share Our Insights

The data is clear: go-to-market efficiency has tanked across the SaaS landscape.
👉 CAC payback periods are way up
👉 Growth rates have slowed
👉 Valuations are dropping

We’ve been tracking this from two angles:
1️⃣ Reviewing the financials of 35+ public SaaS companies each quarter
2️⃣ Working directly with 25 SaaS organizations to optimize their outbound GTM motions

The takeaway? What worked 12 quarters ago no longer works today. The game has changed, and companies must adapt fast if they want to grow in a sustainable way.

In 2025, we’re changing the type of content we put out to help solve this:
🔎 We’ll still do our quarterly breakdowns of SaaS financials
⚙️ But we’re doubling down on in-the-weeds, experiment-driven insights
💡 We’ll share what we’re learning in real time — the wins, the losses, and actionable takeaways

It’s hands-on experimentation across multiple SaaS GTM motions. Follow along if you want to see what’s working in today’s market.

Make sure you are subscribe to @thesalesscience across all platforms to come with us on this journey. Our first GTM-focused content drops soon. Let’s tackle this together. 🚀

#SaaS #GoToMarket #GTM #GrowthStrategies #CAC #ARR #Startup

In this episode of The SaaS Report, we dive into the latest private SaaS company benchmarks, exploring key metrics and trends that are shaping the industry. We also analyze why ZoomInfo, despite recent fluctuations, presents a compelling investment opportunity at $11 per share. Join us for the future of SaaS in a rapidly changing market.

In this episode of The SaaS Report, we dive into two major developments in the SaaS world. First, we explore ServiceTitan’s journey to the public markets—unpacking their IPO. Then, we shift gears to analyze Xero’s half-year results—examining the financials, key growth metrics, and what the numbers say. Whether you're a SaaS enthusiast or just tracking major industry shifts, this episode has the insights you need. Tune in for all the details!

In this episode, we dive into three major stories shaping the tech and business world. Klarna is making moves toward going public—what does this mean for the future of buy-now-pay-later? Salesforce is ramping up its AI sales efforts by hiring 1,000 new salespeople—how will this shift impact their growth? Plus, we explore Klaviyo's remarkable rise from startup to a $10B powerhouse in the email marketing space. Tune in for insights on these game-changing developments!