SaaStock’s Post

Build More Than Just Code: Unlocking the True Value of Relationships in Tech Startups In the fast-paced world of technology, hard work and long hours are often seen as the primary drivers of success. However, the real key might lie in the foundational relationships cultivated along the way. From Airbnb's Brian Chesky, who emphasized the need for relentless dedication to relationship-building, to Greg Hong, whose partnerships were integral to his company's achievements, it's clear that early relationships can significantly influence a startup's trajectory. Whether it's early users who champion your product like Dropbox's adopters, or the talent that propels your vision forward, these connections can become the most influential ambassadors and pivotal elements of your business ecosystem. 🤝 As we continue to innovate and grow, let’s remember: the relationships we foster in the early days of our journey are as crucial as the technology we develop. Let's build and leverage our network to uncover the infinite value and the lasting impact it can bring. Subscribe to FounderMail today to read more! https://lnkd.in/gMSBkegD #TechStartups #BusinessGrowth #Networking #StartupSuccess #RelationshipBuilding

I've spoken with 35 startups at various stages over the last few months; this is what I learned: - 26 of them had problems with their technical co-founder as they scaled - 18 of them went through multiple technical leaders before finding the right one - 12 of them will never use a technical recruiter due to cost and value misalignment - 10 of them had no issues whatsoever, a match made in startup heaven - 15 had made mistakes with their tech stack, but they learnt that it didn't really impact their business apart from some growth pain. - 28 of them liked the fractional-CTO model and said they would entertain this strategy for their next startup as they realized their CTO needed to do CTO-grade work for the first few years. - Almost all of them would hire in LATAM rather than the USA because of labour costs and are all entertaining such a strategy going forward. What I really learnt is that my business will absolutely explode if given enough time...

Even though we are quite early in 2024, it seems some changes can already be observed in the Saas world 1. Raise Smart Not Hard  Founders aim for one effective funding round, inspired by success stories like Klaviyo and The Trade Desk. This helps them avoid unnecessary dilution. 2. Slow & Steady Growth Learning from tough times in 2022 and 2023, SaaS startups are opting for slower but smarter growth. Only a few are chasing super-fast expansion, while others focus on sustainable growth. 3. Smarter Hiring, Not More Hiring  Facing difficulties in finding talent, SaaS startups are leaning towards smaller, more effective teams. The new normal is around 50 employees at $10m ARR and 100 at $20m ARR. #saasinsights #sustainablegrowth #techtrends2024 #EfficientTeams #startupsuccess #productmarketfit #futureofwork #innovativehiring

Great teams build great companies.. but building those great teams? Not an easy feat. Getting the right people at the right stage can be challenging at the best of times, especially when you’re trying to manage a growing business. In the upcoming edition of #SaaStockLocal Dublin we'll be focussing on just that: from hiring to retention, attendees will hear what’s worked for others and what could influence their critical path to succeeding with a rockstar team 🔥 Kicking off the content, Shane Evans (founder & CEO, Zyte) will share Zyte's growth story to $30M ARR and the impact that hiring had in their journey. This will be followed by an open discussion with a panel of scaling and hiring experts, who will share how to scale and build your startup teams effectively 🚀 Get your ticket today: https://buff.ly/4cyD5Vu ❤️ Rippling is the proud sponsor supporting all founders and start-ups to hire, pay and manage employees and contractors internationally. #SaaS #hiring Shea S. #startups #scaling #growth #founders #ARR

I've raised, attended Techstars, experienced the boom and bust of unicorns. Here’s what we are doing differently this time as we build to our first $1M ARR. 🛠 Services: We’re offering RevOps Services to solve the problems that we are building software for. Contract services will act as our “pre-seed” and customer discovery. 💸 Bootstrapping to $1M ARR: You can design, code, host and ship SaaS applications for practically nothing today. Building is no longer the expensive part. Raising a round starts the “clock”, which may prevent you from raising the next round if you raise too early. 🎭 Avoiding StartUp Theatre: The only thing that matters is building solutions for our customers. And earning the right to sign the renewal. We’re laser focused on turning revops pro’s into superheroes. Nothing else. 💪 Lean and Mean: AI solutions supercharges so many roles today. The new age of SaaS companies are going to be leaner than ever. We’ll hire, when we need to and not a moment earlier. ✅ Retention focused: You can buy growth. You can’t buy renewals. You have to earn it by solving a real problem. Growth before renewals is a sure fire way to be dependent on VC funding to survive. ie Bridge rounds to nowhere. Increasing the chance of liquidation preferences wiping out returns for the operating team. 📈 Only Raising for Growth not R&D: Not every saas company can reach VC level outcomes. Raising too early means we limit our exit outcomes. If VC funding is right for our growth targets, we’ll raise. If not, we’ll build a multi million $ ARR SaaS company on our schedule that we own entirely. Need badass revop services? Send me a DM. It'll be the best decision you've made this quarter. I'll be posting about revops and startups as we build. Follow along if you're interested!

8 tips for early stage startup founders I had the privilege to attend a Founders Breakfast event at AWS in TLV moderated by Yoav Fishman with 4 extremely impressive CTO/founders - Nir Klar Adi Elimelech Ron Konigsberg and Guy Rinat About 50 founders, 45 men, 5 women - wide range of ages. Some of the key takeaways (I may have missed a few) 1. Do what you love 2. Don't poach employees from companies you worked for 3. Use managed services (don't reinvent the wheel or DIY your own database) 4. Manage up the chain of command - CTO's mission is to off-load from CEO 5. Obsess on customers 6. Raise funding when you can for a 2 year runway 7. Don't assume that the market will fund your company to profitability 8. Hire according to the stage of your company - engineering, operations, sales i.e. Don't hire a big company VP R&D if you have 5 employees and $2m in revenue.

Cheers to Dis"Mantle"ing equity-management challenges one local Canadian SaaS company at a time🔥🔥🔥 We’re BLESSED Y’all! 💥 Our little startup(Happly.Ai) has grown to 18 full-time employees and we're raking in 7-figures in annual revenue - not too shabby, eh? 🇨🇦 🤫The secret sauce? Good old-fashioned elbow grease & 1-on-1 client wooing. No big marketing blitz or sales team needed - just a bunch of awesome humans kicking butt and taking names. 🙌🏽We're proud to have earned the trust of startups, incubators, accelerators , corporations, non-profits, artists, municipalities, & researchers galore. Clearly, we're doing something right! 🫱🏽🫲🏼 👊🏽Now we're looking to accelerate even further, so our 1st seed round ever might be in our future. But first, we had to find the perfect tech partner. Enter a small, mighty team of Canadian badasses who believe in the power of diversity & inclusion. Sign. Us. Up. 👌🏽 Now let’s SCALE! 🚀 #Blessed #StartupLife Anyways, stay tuned! Big news coming up😉👍🏽! PS: Deveena Rocks! Sabena officially knows how to live her life and CoFounder Amit obviously understands the power of building relationships by showing the product himself. Bravo! 🖤 #LoveIt

The best deal I ever cut with a founder was not for more equity, more power or more money. The best deal I ever cut with a founder was a life deal. Here's the story: In 2014, I joined a small startup as their first employee in Europe, they're called Guidebook. I took a lesser salary, and increased equity to do the deal. Some call this "sweat equity" But it wasn't the equity that was the key to the deal, the key was this: In 2014 I dreamed of moving to California and had a failed attempt a couple of years earlier. However, I was still determined to live and work in the Bay Area. I agreed that if we hit our growth numbers, in ~2-3 years we'd explore a role for me in California, and the company would support my move there. It was a life-changing negotiation. -> 3 years later I moved my family from London, UK to San Francisco; -> -> 7 years on (now) I'm about to co-found my 2nd company. And in a few months, we'll be proud American citizens 🇺🇸🎉 Sometimes it's not about power or money. Sometimes it's just about life. #sales #saas #startups #venturecapital #GTMdebt

Merry Christmas! We are super busy and excited for what the new year is going to bring! It's been an exhilarating first 10 months in business - and we know the final two of our first year are going to be huge! First 10 month highlights: Met a ton of great people to do business with and that are already doing great business Got connected to a startup that's going to do great things (and needs an ED if you know someone!) Working with another startup that's going to do great things - in a completely different space - and also needs help on a number of fronts Able to assist 5 clients in getting the talent they needed in less than 45 days Let us know how we can bring you the skilled talent you need - while removing your headaches, roadblocks and frustrations, while giving you back your time and putting $$$$$ back in your pocket that you didn't know you were spending. #merrychristmas #1st10months #business

Startups might shower their C-Suite, VPs, and engineers with eye-watering salaries, but tucked away in the heart of every company is a 26-year-old Operations Associate. They're the unsung hero, the glue holding everything together, quietly steering the ship through storms. Remember their name; they're the real MVP. #UnsungHeroes #StartupLife #OperationsRockstars