In this briefing, I’ll share my thoughts on how SaaS companies can prepare to navigate a potentially inflationary environment. Before I do so, let me share my background on this topic. I received an undergraduate degree in quantitative economics. My macroeconomics professor was the #2 economist at the Federal Reserve and was one of those […]
How to Run a SaaS Business During Inflation Read More »
Many of the CEOs I’m working with have been complaining about the difficulties of hiring experienced sales development representatives (SDRs) and business development representatives (BDRs). I’ve also been looking at various human capital data sets regarding average SDR tenure in a sample of a few hundred SaaS companies, which has dropped significantly in the last
SaaS SDR/BDR Shortage Read More »
Venture debt has become an increasingly popular way to finance SaaS businesses. Venture debt lenders typically lend more than a traditional bank loan or line, but they require a higher interest rate (and often warrants to buy stock in your company) in exchange for the higher risk. There is a time and place for debt financing.
When to Use SaaS Venture Debt Financing Read More »
When you have a product that works, it solves the customers’ problems, and the customers are happy, congratulations, you’ve just achieved product-market fit. The question is: What’s next? The obvious but slightly simplistic answer is to generate sales. While this is certainly true, how you generate sales makes an enormous difference in whether you’ll be
After Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Read More »
Many SaaS companies have a demand generation function within marketing. I think the term “demand generation” is terribly misguided. There is no such thing as generating demand. Demand either exists or does not. If demand exists in the marketplace, it can be channeled to your company via lead generation mechanisms — such as cold calling,
SaaS: Demand vs. Lead Generation Read More »
I’m sometimes asked what makes a hired “professional” CEO different than a founder CEO. The obvious answer is experience. Some great questions to ask are: “What does experience specifically give a ‘professional’ CEO that is typically lacking from founder CEOs? Can the latter supplement that knowledge gap in some way to remain CEO without the typical downsides
The “Professional” CEO Read More »
