The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

Scott Belsky, CSO, and EVP at Adobe, does a deep dive on the profound transformations taking place in the creative world. As technology continues to reshape the landscape, Cloud and SaaS Founders, VCs, and Executives must adapt and evolve to stay ahead. Discover the playbook to thrive in this dynamic environment and unlock unprecedented opportunities. Belsky will share his deep insights into the rapidly changing creative industry, drawing from his vast experience at the forefront of innovation.

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

• SaaStr Annual: Sept. 10-12 in the SF Bay Area. Join 12,500 SaaS professionals, CEOs, revenue leaders and investors for the world's LARGEST SaaS community event of the year. Podcast listeners can grab a discount on tickets here: https://www.saastrannual2024.com/buy-tickets?promo=fave50
• SaaStr Europa: June 5-6 in London. We'll be hosting the 5th SaaStr Europa in London for two days of content and networking. Join 3,000 SaaS and Cloud leaders. Podcast listeners can grab a discount on Europa tickets here: https://www.saastreuropa2024.com/buy-tickets?promo=fave20

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This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

In this episode, Nick Mehta will share ten significant mistakes he made during his career, and how these failures shaped his journey as CEO of Gainsight. Mehta will impart valuable lessons on resilience and growth, offering attendees actionable takeaways for their own entrepreneurial ventures. This is a must-listen for anyone seeking to learn from real-life experiences and turn failures into opportunities for success in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) world.

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

• SaaStr Annual: Sept. 10-12 in the SF Bay Area. Join 12,500 SaaS professionals, CEOs, revenue leaders and investors for the world's LARGEST SaaS community event of the year. Podcast listeners can grab a discount on tickets here: https://www.saastrannual2024.com/buy-tickets?promo=fave50
• SaaStr Europa: June 5-6 in London. We'll be hosting the 5th SaaStr Europa in London for two days of content and networking. Join 3,000 SaaS and Cloud leaders. Podcast listeners can grab a discount on Europa tickets here: https://www.saastreuropa2024.com/buy-tickets?promo=fave20

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

In this new episode of CRO Confidential, we take a look at the proven customer acquisition strategies behind Toast's explosive growth to over $1.1B ARR. Hosted by Founders Fund Partner Sam Blond, this episode features the CRO of Toast Jonathan Vassil, who walks us through Toast's go-to-market and customer acquisition strategies.

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This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Welcome to Part Two of SaaStr founder and CEO Jason Lemkin's Ask Me Anything session at this year's SaaStr Annual.

Jason re-takes the stage in Part 2 of the series to answer questions about the right time is to invest in a new product line, building vertical vs. horizontal, multiples in 2024, and much more.

Building and scaling a startup isn't for the faint of heart and often comes with many ups and downs that SaaS veterans have experience in.

So, let's jump right into Part Two.

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This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Each year, tens of thousands of SaaS fans attend SaaStr Annual. And every year, Jason Lemkin, the founder of SaaStr, takes the stage to answer the audience's most pressing questions. For part one of this Ask Me Anything session, Jason covers everything you need to know about hiring your first VP of Sales, when to use AI at early-stage companies, and when the right time is to invest in a new product line. Building and scaling a startup isn't for the faint of heart and often comes with many ups and downs that SaaS veterans have experience in. Let's dive into the questions and answers!

As industry leaders, understanding the transformative power of AI and how it can be harnessed to drive innovation and growth is essential for staying ahead in today's rapidly evolving business landscape.

In this episode, Aliisa Rosenthal, Head of Sales at OpenAI, will delve into the ways in which AI is reshaping the way we work. With her extensive experience and deep knowledge of AI technologies, Aliisa will share insights, trends, and practical examples of how AI is being applied across various sectors.

As SaaS companies slash campaign budgets, marketing leaders need to find other ways to augment customer wins from their remaining campaigns. Increasing down-funnel conversions by having marketing enable sellers to "all-star" levels along the funnel can help make up the difference.

In this episode, Datadog's CMO Alex Rosemblat will explore the tactics, personas, best practices, and tracking metrics to significantly up-level product and campaign-level sales enablement.

In the dynamic landscape of SaaS startups, pursuing rapid customer growth while achieving and maintaining profitability is an art that requires flexible strategies and, more importantly, employees that are eager for the challenge.

In this episode, Expensify COO Anu Muralidharan will share how Expensify became profitable on its way to securing millions of users in less than 15 years.

You'll hear real-world examples and walk away with specific tactics they can immediately deploy at their own companies, including:

a.) when, where, and why to outsource

b.) a new, more bullish approach to testing and launching products with confidence

c.) how to leverage automation to reduce expenses while simultaneously supporting growth.

Monday has gone from $7m in 2017 to over $700m in revenue today, showcasing the sheer power of compounding revenue. Did Monday's founders feel like they'd be 100x bigger in just six years since that first SaaStr conference they attended? Eran Zimman, Monday's co-founder and co-CEO, shares his secrets to scaling and growth in an unpredictable market. Monday hasn't missed a bit, but before we dive into their secrets, let's first learn where it all started and what they do today.

Discover the best ways for a seed-stage startup to pitch to investors and successfully fundraise from Y Combinator's Michael Seibel. Any founder you talk to likely remembers every investor who said no to them. Those founders hold a special kind of "not hatred," says Michael Seibel, Managing Director and Group Partner at Y Combinator, but a special kind of something for those investors and a desire to prove them wrong. If you're a seed-stage startup, Michael shares the best ways for you to present your company to startup investors.