On Wednesday, we had SaaStr University: Spring Semester and I led a convo with @kyleporter @SalesLoft on the learnings to the journey from SDR app ... to Unicorn
My Top 5 Learnings from the convo:
My Top 5 Learnings from the convo:
#1. Kyle sat with 30+ prospects and customers in the early days, literally next to them.
Many of the early competitors really didn’t understand the needs of SDRs and sales teams enough.
Do you do enough of this?
Many of the early competitors really didn’t understand the needs of SDRs and sales teams enough.
Do you do enough of this?
#2. Salesloft sees platforms that do most of what 1 customer wants, in 1 core vendor, as the future.
We’re seeing more and more of this. But also, more innovation. If nothing else, it raises the bar to break out for new niche vendors.
We’re seeing more and more of this. But also, more innovation. If nothing else, it raises the bar to break out for new niche vendors.
We’re also seeing this with Hubspot, Datadog, Salesforce, and more.
#3. Sticking with SMBs, even as go more enterprise.
Kyle noted this is a top board-level discussion, with enterprise customers worth 100x or more than SMBs.
But even if the math says "Go More Enterprise", Salesloft wants to keep to its roots as well and retain SMB customers
Kyle noted this is a top board-level discussion, with enterprise customers worth 100x or more than SMBs.
But even if the math says "Go More Enterprise", Salesloft wants to keep to its roots as well and retain SMB customers
#4. Gross revenue retention just as important as net revenue retention (NRR). This was an interesting learning for me. As Saleloft starts to think about an IPO, there is more and more focus on gross revenue retention, i.e. >before< upsells and upgrades.
This north star metric keeps you from pushing the existing base for growth over finding new accounts, which is harder.
Kyle wants at least a 50/50 mix today … 50% or more of growth from new logos, not the existing base.
Kyle wants at least a 50/50 mix today … 50% or more of growth from new logos, not the existing base.
#5. Unicorn Fundraising was easier over Zoom — but he picked a unicorn investor he’d already met in IRL.
Yes, fundraising is so much faster and easier over Zoom in many cases than meetings IRL. But Kyle’s latest investor was still someone he’d met IRL.
Yes, fundraising is so much faster and easier over Zoom in many cases than meetings IRL. But Kyle’s latest investor was still someone he’d met IRL.
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