AI to ROI (fka Metrics that Measure Up)

B2B SaaS Metrics are talked about in board meetings, investor diligence, executive team meetings, and recently across every corner of the internet from industry influencers and thought leaders.As the host of the Metrics that Measure Up, I was thrilled that I could speak with Dave Kellogg, one of my long-term follows, and a master of all things B2B SaaS metrics.Dave is a multiple-time, CEO and Chief Marketing Officer of B2B Software and SaaS companies, and a highly sought after advisor, board member and speaker.During this episode, we discuss the top five metrics that Dave advises every B2B SaaS founder and CEO to calculate and they include:✔ Committed ARR (CARR)✔ Committed ARR Growth✔ Net Dollar Retention Rate (NDR)✔ Net Promoter Score (NPS)✔ Employee Net Promoter Score✔ BONUS METRIC - Customer Acquisition Cost Ratio (CAC Ratio)Next we discussed why Net Dollar Retention (NDR) is a less fungible metric than "Churn". One example of "gaming" churn is to include all customers, including multi-year deals in annual churn calculation. Survivor bias is one caution for NDR, where a company will look at a cohort of customers today and look at how much ARR they represented a year ago - which is not a best practice for NDR calculation.The next thing we discussed is which metric(s) have the highest impact on Enterprise Value to Revenue multiples. Traditionally Rule of 40, and company growth rate were the two highest impacting metrics to enterprise value. I suggested to Dave that we are seeing NDR having a much higher impact on EV, and in real-time, Dave calculated the R^2 of NDR which was .35, and three times more causal impact on EV than growth!The other item we discussed was "selection bias" which happens when you look at the public B2B SaaS/Cloud company's metrics, and target their metrics as the benchmark. It's important to remember that these are the BEST of the BEST, and many SaaS metrics will look much better at scale (> $250M) and in those companies that were able to go IPO.We also discussed how some metrics, even something as seemingly simple as "Win Rate" can be miscalculated. Dave has seen several companies take the number of opportunities at the beginning of the accounting period, dividing that into the # of closed-won deals, without considering that many of the opportunities that are still open will close in subsequent accounting periods.Dave once wrote a blog entitled "Don't be a Slave to Metrics". A couple of pithy, and easy-to-remember quotes included: "Metrics work for us, we do not work for the metrics" and " Metrics reflect strategy - they do not drive strategy".If you are just learning B2B SaaS metrics or are a seasoned SaaS metrics veteran, this episode is a must-listen for anyone responsible to led a SaaS company and/or calculate and present your top-level performance, company value-creating metrics.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Benjamin Shapiro started his internet marketing career at eBay, one of the first, largest and most data-driven marketplaces in the world. Ben's 7 years at eBay provided him the foundation of being a great digital marketer, including SEO and content marketing.Ben caught the Silicon Valley start-up bug, and spent the next 8 years in marketing leadership at B2C early-stage companies, and then he started the MarTech podcast in 2015.Ben's initial experience with podcasting was "an experiment that went wrong". In this case, wrong meant it was more successful than he could have even dreamed, and quickly he had over 1 Million downloads and a business that usurped his consulting business.The MarTech podcast was launched to be part of a content marketing program to drive awareness for his consulting business. When Ben first started the podcast, there was not much quality content on MarTech. Within just a few months, the MarTech podcast hit 10,000 downloads and began to provide monetization opportunities, and quickly evolved to be the centerpiece of his career.Ben shared his perspective on the MarTech industry, and his definition is broader than just "software" that marketers use, but also includes all of the technology, including platforms including Google, Facebook, Snap, etc. in concert with traditional "MarTech SaaS" vendors.C-Level executives have become more focused on MarTech and how it can positively impact brand as well as traditional customer acquisition and expansion metrics. They also are becoming much more focused on how their company can harness the power of the leading platforms in concert with their internal marketing technology platforms.Ben shared how MarTech has impacted his podcasting business growth. When building a MarTech stack, he started with what his customers needed, how he could measure their engagement and conversion rate, and thus how he could optimize revenue generation for the podcast to leverage MarTech best practices.One example was being able to capture unique identifiers for each listener on his podcast, and then drive advertising revenue through re-targeting campaigns for his sponsors. When I asked Ben about the metrics he uses to measure the health of his podcast, he first defined the differences between impressions, downloads, unique listeners (a listen is not a listener). The problem with using downloads as a key measurement is that a download is often not a listener. What really matters is to know when a download is really a listener and you can target the unique listener via re-targeting to develop a valuable outcome for sponsors.Being able to map an IP address to a unique mobile identifier is one key data capture that will make your podcast much more valuable to potential sponsors and customers. Ben shares the MarTech stack he uses to accomplish this, including Libsyn, ART19, Podsites, and Choozle.Ben shared that once you hit 10,000 downloads per month (3K-4K listeners) is a good initial point to start seriously monetizing your podcast. This number is fungible based upon the target audience. In fact, Ben recommended that your "target audience" needs to be broad enough to monetize the podcast, versus it being primarily a component of your content marketing program.Ben also highlighted that he has found that having a podcast of 20-30 minutes in duration will lead to a much higher listener completion rate. By taking a 50-minute podcast, and dividing it into 2 episodes has multiple positive effects, including being able to place ads at the end of the podcast which is actually heard.If you are an aspiring podcaster or a marketer desiring to learn about building a great podcast as part of your brand awareness and content marketing strategy, this is a great listen.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

During 2020, over 96% of B2B SaaS companies updated their messaging and positioning to counteract the short and long-term impact of the pandemic.Fortunately, there are experts on how to position your messaging and value propositions, including Bob Wright, Managing Partner at Firebrick consulting who has helped over 400 B2B tech companies develop and launch new positioning.The first topic we discussed was why an outside consultant is required when the Chief Marketing Officer is well-positioned to led a messaging initiative. The answer was the expertise developed from conducting positioning with 400 different companies, an experience base that no single CMO can possess.Bob highlighted why any positioning effort must start with the understanding that a cross-functional approach is critical to developing any new messaging platform. At the end of the day, messaging and positioning must be about the buyer, and that the messaging must be about the buyer, not about your product, and its feature/function.Any positioning initiative must include sales and pre-sales consulting, in concert with customer feedback. Customer feedback is critical to gaining validation on the value that the buyer is receiving from your solution. Being a "got to have" versus a "nice to have" is critical to success. One key example is the "digital transformation" inflection point that has opened the door to new, innovative vendors. One key to successful positioning is to ensure you align your value to the buyer's and reality, not to your assumptions.B2B SaaS companies have to run three different businesses today including new customer acquisition, existing customer expansion, and retention. This dynamic requires a "spin" on each of these three revenue-generating motion's messaging. Though the foundation of the story needs to remain consistent, that words will need to resonate with the stated purpose.Positioning must be directly linked to key performance metrics. Short term, it should center on increased revenue growth, higher selling price, and increased win rates. A second measurement is how external influencers, including industry analysts who start to use components of your updated positioning.Positioning needs to be centered on the "buyer", and not industry analysts. Positioning must shift when speaking to the user versus the executive buyer. A short version will resonate best with users/buyers and a longer story is best for analysts and investors.Operationalizing positioning needs to cover sales, marketing, services, support, and product. Having enablement, which includes a certification process that includes sales, services, and customer success is critical. Do not forget to communicate the updated positioning with customers and factor their feedback into enhancements.Once everyone in the company is sick of hearing the new positioning, that is a great indication that it has stuck!Lastly, we discussed a customer's return on positioning investment. This customer deployed a new "business-ready data" message, and within twelve months they increased ASP from $30K average contract value (ACV) to $70K ACV, and even closed eighteen new seven-figure deals in the two years following the updated positioning.We closed with the keys to success which including ensuring creating new positioning is a cross-company process that the CEO owns, not drinking too much of your own kool-aid, and removing overused words like scalable, easy to use, flexible, agility, and collaborative - these words mean nothing anymore and worse are boring!If your messaging and company are not standing out from the crowd, this is a great listen to hear the insights and advice from 400+ positioning programs.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Product Led Growth and Usage-Based Pricing are two of the hottest trends in the B2B SaaS and Cloud industry. Annual subscription pricing has been a hallmark of the financial model for SaaS companies. Lately, the move to Usage-Based pricing has attracted investor demand that is pushing Enterprise Value to Revenue multiples up to 15x-25x. Chris Mele, CEO of Software Pricing Partners discussed the caution around moving too quickly to Usage-Based pricing, and provides advice developed from consulting with hundreds of software and SaaS companies on their monetization strategy....yes monetization goes beyond just pricing!First, Chris highlights that "Consumption-Based Pricing" has been around for decades, and that there is not one model - there are many gradients of usage variables. As an example, pricing based upon the number of locations or even the number of users are examples of consumption-based pricing, so it is critical to understand how the usage variable selected is directly aligned to customer value received.Next, we discussed in greater detail how critical it is to ensure that any usage-based pricing model is carefully evaluated and then validated by the customer as to the value they are receiving from the "pricing variable" that you select. Customer Advisory Boards are one great source of pricing model feedback, specifically as it relates to the value they receive. In fact, these sessions will often uncover value nuggets that you were not aware existed.Chris highlights that when considering a pricing model change, a foundational premise is to do "NO HARM" to your existing customer and revenue base. Even as you test pricing models with existing customer's feedback, ensure they understand that their current pricing will be honored with a grandfather clause IF the new pricing model is deployed.A best practice is to implement new pricing first with either a new product and/or a new target market as not to do any damage to the existing customer base and their revenue.As Product Led Growth models continue to evolve, pricing models will be impacted. Pricing is more than a one-time event, or even a single-dimensional subject, as packaging, product functionality, product roadmap, and go-to-market strategy are all impacted by pricing. This is why Chris is recommending the need for a Chief Monetization Officer, who reports to the CEO. It is their primary responsibility to ensure that all cross-functional impacts and requirements of a monetization strategy, including pricing, are considered and understood prior to any decisions or roll-out of a Usage-Based Pricing strategy.For some companies, the primary responsibility for pricing may reside within Marketing, but in the Product Led Growth economy, Chris recommends that monetization is best positioned within a Chief Product Officers domain if the company decides that a Chief Monetization Officer is not the best path at the present time.If you are considering a Usage-Based Pricing model, this episode is chalked full of insights and perspectives that can only be gained from the depth and breadth of pricing model experiences that someone like Chris Mele possesses.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Imagine being asked by Marc Benioff, founder and CEO of Salesforce to ensure that every member of your sales organization can effectively deliver and communicate the latest presentation and messaging that he had just developed. Then after traveling around the world to execute this directive, Marc informs you that the messaging and presentation has been updated, and you need to do it all over again!Our guest, Elay Cohen founder and CEO of SalesHood experienced that exact situation when he was Vice President of Sales Productivity at Salesforce. His experience as Salesforce was a catalyst to Elay founding a SaaS company focused on using technology to make sales enablement more scalable, automated, and on-going.One of the first topics we discussed was the metrics that should be used to measure the business impact of the Sales Enablement function. Elay highlighted "time to ramp" and "time to productivity", defined as time to first deal and second deal closed, and time to hitting quota as the first metric to measure, followed by win rates, average contract value, and sales cycle length.The conversation highlighted the above sales productivity metrics are leading indicators that directly impact higher level, company metrics such as ARR growth, CAC Payback Period, and other critical, company value-creating metrics that the CEO and CFO track and present to investors and the board.Sales productivity, defined as the percentage of sales professional meeting quota was also discussed. Elay called this as distribution of sales attainment, and this metric is indeed important, but not as a leading indicator of sales performance.Benchmarking current sales productivity metrics is a requisite baseline activity to measure the impact of sales enablement. Then the conversation progressed to whether sales enablement will evolve to revenue enablement or Go-To-Market enablement. Elay highlighted that Sales Enablement is a good place to start the introduction of modern learning techniques, and then the results will encourage other departments to adopt the program.The growing importance of Net Dollar Retention was introduced as a company-level key performance indicator that foretells why Customer Success will become a great next candidate to apply the enablement techniques deployed in sales.We then discussed that enabling sales management is just as critical to individual contributor sales resource enablement. Front line management requires a program that includes coaching, recruiting, interviewing, running forecast calls, and conducting territory reviews. Simply providing a playbook on "what to do" will not work and sales enablement needs to sit down and coach alongside the manager to ensure they benefit from feedback from coaching.If increasing customer acquisition and customer expansion performance and productivity is an opportunity you are interested in learning more about, this is a great episode for you.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Experience is the best teacher. In this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up with Scott Leese we take a deep dive into how experience has informed his career journey.Scott has over twenty years of experience as a six time SaaS VP of Sales, and most amazingly, his average tenure for each role was greater than 3 years in a role that typically experiences a 14-18 month tenure. Scott shares some of his lessons learned and secrets to his sustained success.First, Scott highlighted how critical a Sales Operations leader is to become the foundation of success. Secondly, Scott talked about his own journey to learning how to hire better candidates which has a material impact on a VP Sales ability to be successful in early stage SaaS companies.Next we talked about the important of "sales process" and why Scott says he would even design and implement a structured sales process even before he would hire the first sales resource. Scott says one of the most common mistakes founders make is not to document the sales process that got them the first few deals, and provides insights into the initial scaling of the sales organization.Stage appropriate VP Sales is a common topic and discussion amongst investors, founders, CEO's and even VP's of Sales. Scott's recommendation is to ensure that you design your VP of Sales career journey to embrace and experience every stage of growth. Scott loved the role of being an early stage of VP Sales at SaaS companies, but did find that bias was created that certain "VP Sales" profiles get labeled as only an early stage VP Sales. This discussion led to why stock option programs that are historically based upon time - 4 years is the standard but should be aligned to size/growth accomplishments to reward achieving the goal versus a time horizon that is seldom achieved by the VP Sales in early stage SaaS companies. The other option discussed was to agree on a one-time bonus based upon hitting a pre-defined revenue level, such as $25M or $50M.Scott has leveraged his 20+ years of VP Sales experience to launch his own his own VP Sales consultancy, writing two books including "Rep to Sales Manager", a quickly growing, weekly Thursday Night Sales event, the Surf and Sales event and most recently his own private patreon. Scott highlighted that he built his network and the foundational elements of his entrepreneur journey while he was a full time, VP Sales.Scott also shared how his side hustles, including real estate, his books proceeds and even hold the initial Surf and Sales event during his annual two weeks of PTO. One caveat was ENSURE you are hitting your quota and goals before even considering taking this approach. During the episode we created the concept of "micro-entrepreneurship" which is an interesting step by step approach to moving from employee to entrepreneur.Lastly, Scott discussed that his initial catalyst to building his LinkedIn following was trying to save money on sales rep recruiting. As a result, not only did Scott eliminate the majority of his recruiting costs, he quickly saw the secondary benefit of building his LinkedIn following. He supplement his outreach with content that he thought sales professionals were in desperate need to see, read and learn from and not be charged for this type of educational content.If you love the world of B2B Sales, and are considering creating your own company some day, this is a great listen.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up podcast, we speak with Alex Theuma, the founder and CEO of SaaStock and the SaaS Revolution podcast.Alex started his career as an enterprise sales professional, and identified his passion for SaaS as he started to write a blog on all things SaaS, called SaaScribe. SaaScribe quickly morphed into a community blog, and enabled Alex to build deep and broad connections across the SaaS ecosystem.Based upon the community of SaaS entrepreneurs that developed, Alex identified the opportunity to launch a European SaaS event. Even though Alex was preparing to be a first time father in three months, Alex jumped head first into launching SaaStock and the first event in 2016 included 700 attendees from over 34 countries.Alex's initial vision behind SaaStock remains consistent to today - to help SaaS founders grow and find success in their SaaS based entrepreneurial venture. The SaaStock Mission is to make a real difference to those participating in the SaaS industry across the world. Being global was not part of the initial vision, as SaaStock was started to focus on SaaS founders across Europe. However, the first SaaStock event in Dublin attracted attendees from 34 different countries. With that as the backdrop, SaaStock expanded quickly to be the first global events company for SaaS founders with events in multiple countries around the world. As the event began to grow, Alex started to partner with communities, initially in Brazil to develop a global footprint. In fact, SaaStock started their global expansion by partnering the Brazil SaaS Forum and now has expanded to SaaStock LATAM. Then, Alex expanded into Asia-Pacific. One material finding was that most SaaS companies in Asia-Pacific need to think globally early on to have a meaningful Target Addressable Market. With the largest SaaS event competitor being headquartered in Silicon Valley, SaaStock initial decided to enter the US market with conferences in New York. Then in 2019 they identified the opportunity to hold an event in downtown San Francisco.2020 brought the reality of needing to pivot from in-person events to virtual events, and was the catalyst for SaaStock Remote. True to their global vision, SaaStock remote could not be conducted just in the 8AM - 5PM US time. So, they pulled the time forward to start at noon in Europe to 10PM in Europe, allowing for European and US SaaS entrepreneurs all to attend. SaaStock Remote LATAM and SaaStock Remote APAC are being held as focused, dedicated virtual events for those specific geographies.Even though 2020 was a down economic period due to the impact of COVID, the SaaS economy continued to thrive. Much like the larger, public SaaS companies, after an initial reaction to cut expenses in March, SaaS start-ups started to quickly emerge into hyper growth in 2H20. Hopin is an example of a European SaaS company that experienced hyper growth, which grew to a $2B valuation within 18 months of launching!When I asked Alex which area of the world he saw the fasted growing for SaaS companies, he first answered that the SaaS world is becoming much flatter, and that San Francisco is not longer the only place to start a SaaS company. Alex did highlight Latin America as a force to be considered for great SaaS unicorns over the next few years.If your goal is be a global SaaS company, this is a great listen!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss the revolutionary concepts of Revenue Intelligence and Advanced Sales Math with Todd Abbott, CEO at InsightSquared.Revenue Intelligence and Advanced Sales Math are critical competencies to successfully maneuver in todays B2B SaaS reality of compressed sales cycle and the changing customer buying journey.The good news - traditional metrics including lead conversion rates, close rates, pipeline coverage ratio, and sales rep productivity still are helpful to calculate basic sales math. Basic sales math is essentially what level of “X” inputs are required to achieve “Y” outcomes. X being primarily marketing + sales investments and Y being new revenue.Advanced Sales Math takes this concept to another level, and will dramatically increase the performance of the #1 reason why B2B SaaS CRO’s and VP Sales lifespan is less than 18 months. The #1 reason the average CRO / VP Sales tenure is so short - the inherent challenges and low performance of FORECASTING!Research highlights that only 54% of opportunities forecasted to close actually close in the original “closing” accounting period. The average number of times an opportunity “pushes” or changes forecasted close data is 3+ time.A key, new variable in advanced sales math is the ability to factor in buyer engagement metrics, across each step of the buying process across every resource at both the buyer and the seller. The challenge of traditional “event” based sales processes and forecasting were dependent upon the accuracy and timeliness of data in CRM systemsThe proliferation of point solution in martech and salestech has led to even more complexity of filtering through the noise to find the right signals to increase forecast accuracy. Having integrated Go-To-Market teams coupled with an integrated and unified GTM data source is mandatory to enhance revenue intelligence leading to improved forecast performanceThe concepts covered in this episode of Metrics that Measure Up are thought provoking, and even possibly career preserving for any CEO, CFO and CRO in todays B2B SaaS ecosystem.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you are contemplating VC funding, this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up podcast is like receiving a master's degree in pitching to VCs from Bill Reichert and his book "Getting to Wow"Key concepts covered include: Ensure your pitch follows the three C's- Clear- Compelling- CredibleCLEAR is removing the complexityDo not fall into the "experts curse" - only you have the depth of expertise on the topic- Ensure anyone can understand what you do in 1-2 sentences- Test your message with fresh brains before your pitch to VCsCOMPELLING - Investors are human - they invest with their "heart" - not just their "head"Ensure your pitch invokes emotional engagement- Go beyond the facts and use short stories ofhow customers are being positively impacted- Imagine if..."CREDIBLE - phrases like "disrupt the entire health care industry" or "we can capture 10% of the market and have $1B in revenue" - can negatively impact your credibility- real life customer stories and proof points go much fartherPITCH DECK - their is no template that fits every pitch but a common theme is - LESS slides is much better (15 or fewer)STORY TELLING - Do not use a single story arc or start with a personal story that led to your creation-use small stories to highlight key pointsEnsure you highlight the SPEED and EFFICIENCY of your Customer Acquisition to highlight your customer acquisition process is repeatable and scalable. Key metrics go beyond just sales cycle length and customer acquisition cost, but also efficiency metrics like Customer Lifetime Value to CAC ratio and your gross margin.Getting to WOW is based upon observing and participating in thousands of entrepreneur pitches to VC's and has been distilled into a guide for any first time or even experienced founder evaluating VC funding.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Imagine the experiences gained and lessons learned from founding your own SaaS company, selling it to Saleforce and then becoming the CEO of a Salesforce Business Unit.That was the journey Mike Micucci, who recently left Salesforce eleven years after selling his start-up to Salesforce in 2009 and ultimately rose through the ranks to be the CEO of the Commerce Cloud business.Mike shares the story behind founding GroupSwim, an early B2B collaboration platform that became the foundation for Salesforce Chatter. Then Mike shares the story behind how community cloud and commerce cloud came together, with both a B2B and B2C - or even a B2B2C offering. Over the last 10 years, Commerce Cloud has grown to be over a $1B business and you can rest assured that Metrics were at the heart of most of Mike's strategic decisions.Mike's experiences started when I first met Mike in the initial "vortex" of B2B eCommerce in 1997 - 2001 where he was an integral part of the product management senior leadership teams at Netscape and Commerce One. Then in 2005 he founded GroupSwim, and had firmly established Product Market Fit by the beginning of 2009 when he received two different offers to purchase GroupSwim.Following the GroupSwim acquisition, Mike decided to accept the opportunity to be part of the Corporate Social Network initiative within Salesforce - yes Chatter which launched in 2010. From that experience, Mike pitched the concept of "Community Cloud" to Marc Benioff and Parker Harris. The vision was to build a solution to connect the different "communities" within Salesforce to other communities and companies.By 2020, Community Cloud had reached 650 million users. Interesting that Community Cloud is measured by usage, growth and how much revenue they influence on the other core clouds. Mike shares the Salesforce relentless focus on customer input and feedback into the product lifecycle, especially through the use of Customer Advisory Boards (CAB's) which provides a primary to the product roadmap. In fact, the concept of Commerce Cloud was originally stimulated by a customer who had built their own commerce capability into Community Cloud in 2014.Later in 2014 Salesforce launched Commerce Cloud at Dreamforce. By 2016 Community Cloud and Commerce Cloud became one Salesforce Cloud business unit. Mike share how Digital Commerce grew more in 2020 then in the past few years combined. When COVID first hit, Mike saw his dashboards showing how volume on Commerce Cloud spiked starting in March. Finally, Mike shared he segments metrics into usage metrics and operational metrics. Operational metrics on commerce starts with GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) which hit over $50B GMV in 2020. DAU/MAU (Daily Average Users/Monthly Average Users) was a key metric used to evaluate the health of his business unit. ACV (Annual Contract Value), AOV (Average Order Value) and churn was also tracked daily as key operational metrics. Mike also shares why "branding" and "pricing" are the two hardest aspects of building a Cloud business. In fact, he went into detail on the benefit of a blended pricing model that uses both a subscription model plus usage based pricing levers. One of the hardest parts of a variable usage based pricing model is how best to forecast variable revenue.Mike's story reflects the opportunity, reality and journey that so many corporate leaders in the Cloud have experienced over the last 20+ years. If you are looking for inspiration coupled with detailed insights into how an entrepreneur's journey can evolve from the corporate world to being a founder and then on to the CEO of a $1B+ cloud business, this is a great listen!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Breaking into B2B Sales, especially Enterprise level B2B sales is still a challenge for many in todays Cloud and SaaS industry. Even more difficult for those who do not have relevant experience, ore connections and thus the access and opportunity that comes with many forms of inherent privilege.Gidget Pugh broke through those barriers, not in 2021 but beginning in 1998 with the power of self-confidence, drive and often the most important stimulus of all - a compelling reason to bet on yourself.In this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up, we speak with Gidget Pugh a 20+ year veteran in B2B sales who has recently transitioned into founding and launching her own social media agency focused on the community that she is so passionate about - small business - starting in the town that made Gidget who she is - Oakland, California.Gidget shares her journey from mortician - yes a mortician to her first role in B2B Sales at QRS. QRS was the world's largest subscription platform for sharing UPC codes in their product catalogue across the retail industry supply chain in 1998. Then she leverage that experience to working at household technology brand names including Oracle and Facebook.One of the main topics we discussed was how Gidget maneuvered within an industry and companies where often she was the only female, African American in the sales organization if not in the entire company. A recurring theme of "self-confidence" and "color blindness" were critical to her in every environment she entered.We then move on to her decision to leave the corporate world to launch her own social media agency, Socially Focused to help small and medium size businesses to harness the power of social media and on-line engagement building to counter the impact of COVID on their physical presence business and prepare them for the world of digital commerce that has been accelerated by the experiences and resultant digital transformations of every industry.This is an amazing story of drive, determination and self-confidence that provides everyone looking to move beyond the environment of their current state into the future of opportunity a great story of inspiration and reality all in one.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

M.R. Rangaswami is an enterprise software executive, angel investor, entrepreneur, corporate eco-strategy expert, community builder, and philanthropist. Wow, is right as his accomplishments are admirable. M.R., as he is known across the software and Cloud/SaaS industry, and around the globe founded the Sandhill Group and sandhill.com in 1997. In fact, the Wall Street Journal placed MR on their front page to highlight his early commitment and success as a leading angel investor in the early days of the Enterprise software movement in Silicon Valley. With over forty years in Silicon Valley, M.R. is probably the most networked person in the industry, through his experiences and connections from founding the Enterprise Software Conference, the Enterprise Retreat for the top SaaS CEOs, the Eco-Forum which is a membership only community of the top 100 executives responsible for driving sustainable green initiatives in Fortune 500 companies, and most recently, Indiaspora to transform the success of Indian American's into meaningful impact worldwide.In this episode, MR discusses the secrets to building his network in Silicon Valley and beyond. He highlights the importance of understanding the difference in building your network versus networking. A key attribute to building a strong, lasting network is to have no expectations beyond helping those in your professional network. Don't sell, don's solicit business, just identify how you can help each person in your network and watch the dividends pay back over the long term.MR and I cover the evolution of the Enterprise software industy to the Enterprise Cloud/SaaS market, the impact that leading cloud and technology companies are having on energy efficiency and green initiatives. If you are a fan of the Silicon Valley experience, and curious to understand how one of the industry's best and most well respected connectors has built his network and reputation, this is a must listen.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you are responsible for driving revenue growth at a SaaS company that is preparing to raise Series A or Series B funding, what are the key metrics investors will expect you to know cold?That is exactly what Doug Landis, Growth Partner at Emergence Capital shares on this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up podcast.Doug's journey to becoming Growth Partner at Emergence Capital, the first Venture Capital firm created specifically to invest in SaaS companies, is one of pedigree. Starting at Google as a skills productivity manager, then on to corporate sales productivity at Salesforce, followed by the position of Chief Story teller at Box and now, Growth Partner at Emergence Capital.During this episode, we discuss a wide variety of topics including the top metrics that every Chief Revenue Officer and SVP Sales should now before having a meeting with a growth stage fund, when trying to raise a Series A or Series B round of financing.The conversation moves on to the importance of understanding your customer acquisition and retention metrics on a cohort by cohort basis. Sales and Marketing integration versus alignment became a critical topic, and one that directly impacts the role of the CRO and the performance of the key customer acquisition performance metrics.Finally, we discuss the concept of pattern recognition, which is a key skill that VC's and experiences revenue leaders alike must develop to be successful. An element of pattern recognition is that it is critical to understand industry benchmarks that are relevant and appropriate for your company, including stage, size, annual contract value and distribution model.This is a fast moving, high energy discussion that highlights why Doug is known as an excellent story teller!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As businesses shift towards the Cloud, SaaS has become the de facto distribution method for modern day software solutions across the US and increasingly so in Europe. Joyce Mackenzie Liu, Founder of Pegafund which provides go-to market strategy and financial planning services to early stage, high growth B2B SaaS companies shares her perspective on the European ecosystem.In this episode, Joyce shares that the majority of investment volume in European SaaS companies occurs in the pre-seed, seed and Series A stages of funding in large part thanks to generous government support. European and country-specific governments remain the largest investor in technology and entrepreneurship, providing direct and indirect funding in the form of individual tax credits, startup grants, and VC equity and debt fund managers.The beauty and challenge of scaling an European SaaS company is the fragmentation of the continent and the distinct business cultures in each region. Europe can be broken down into 8 smaller "target markets" : 1) UK and Ireland; 2) Scandinavia/Nordics; 3) Baltics; 4) Germany and DACH; 5) Benelux (Netherlands and Belgium); 6) Spain and Portugal; 7) Italy; and 8) Eastern Europe. Each country within a sub-region has its own legal and tax framework as well as business customs. This market reality requires different go-to market motions for each region, making it more difficult to scale across Europe. This phenomenon encourages more creative and out-of-the-box thinking which Joyce believes leads to a relative higher likelihood of European SaaS companies having successful US expansion when go-to market fit has been achieved across Europe.The main KPI's for SaaS companies across Europe are very similar to the U.S.; the metrics also evolve in tandem at each stage of business maturity: < $2M ARR, $2-5M ARR, $5-10M ARR and > $10M ARR. In order to get to the right metrics, it requires a business, its leaders and Board members to invest early into data quality and SaaS reporting & metrics, ideally before raising an institutional Series A funding round.We also talked through some examples of private and public B2B software companies in Europe and the US, and how those with impressive growth metrics and unit economics command much higher valuations from investors and buyers alike. In fact, at over $400 million in ARR, UiPath, a business founded in Romania, is one of the fastest growing global enterprise software companies today.The episode closes off with some tips and best practices for European SaaS companies launching and expanding into the U.S. market.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Have you ever thought it would be cool to see a website from 5 years ago, 10 years ago, even 20 years ago?That is exactly the vision that Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive and The Wayback Machine first started to develop in the late 1990's!In fact, Brewster was developing the Wayback Machine simultaneously to running Alexa Internet, one of the first internet browser plug-ins to track user web activity, which was ultimately sold to Amazon in 1999 for $250M in Amazon stock!Over the last 20 years, the Internet Archive has built the worlds largest archive of internet content - think the LIBRARY of the Internet. The magnitude is incredible:- 516 Billion Web Pages- 70 Petabytes of Storage- 6 Million Movies and Videos- 600,000 Software Programs- 1.5 Million Audio Files- 1.5M Daily UsersBrewster was voted into the Internet Hall of Fame (yes, their is an Internet Hall of Fame), and is one of the most visionary, insightful and visionaries in the Internet ecosystem.Listen to this 30 minute session with Brewster and you will come away with a sense of excitement and possibilities that we have not yet realized in the internet economy!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The most interesting dilemma for a CEO? The decision that comes with having the option to go public or accept a strategic acquisition offer.Tom Reilly, former CEO at Cloudera has been a CEO with the experience of selling a company to IBM, another company to HP and then taking Cloudera public after raising $766.5M from strategic partner, Intel.Tom says a CEO should invest 20% - 30% of their time working with strategic partners - do not outsource to your partnership team. In fact, this advice comes from the experience of Tom working closely with the CEO at Intel which led to their strategic investment in Cloudera.Strategic buyers use partnerships to evaluate the value and fit of a strategic acquisition. It is critical to have well defined performance metrics for strategic partnerships, including close rates, annual contract value, gross and net dollar retention rate and CAC payback period to highlight the financial performance and efficiency of strategic partnerships.We then turned to discuss the decision to go public versus accepting a strategic acquisition offer. Tom shares that IPOs and being a public company do have their challenges - and that there are many great options including Private Equity, Growth Equity and now SPACS!Being public comes with heightened scrutiny on quarterly performance and transparency - which can be distracting. Developing the capability and culture of being able to accurately forecast quarterly revenue, margins and provide longer term guidance needs to a be a focus and competency developed three to four quarters before an IPOHot take #1 - being capital constrained can led to learning how to operate more efficiently - it may not always be best to take a lot more capital than needed OR at least ensure the culture of efficiency is maintained even after taking a large sum of investmentHot take #2 - companies have to start early to instrument, capture, analyze and make metrics informed decisions earlier and faster - numbers do not lie!!!#IPO #SaaS #cloud See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

B2B Communities caught fire in 2020 - especially B2B sales communities. Revenue Collective, Sales Hacker, Modern Sales Pros, RevGenuis, and Bravado all dramatically increased their membership and levels of engagement following the onset of COVID.Who better to discuss the trend of B2B communities, than a founder of the world's largest B2B network, LinkedIn. Konstantin shares the key differences between a B2B community and a B2B networkKonstantin shares the four variables that are required to build a scalable, sustainable and engaging B2B network. He also discusses the techniques that LinkedIn used to quickly reach 1M+ members, and how "Social Capital" was key to gaining initial momentum.Did you know that Inmails used to cost $10 each, or that the only way to join LinkedIn initially was through a referral?In a classic entrepreneurial pivot, we moved quickly from the back story of LinkedIn's early success to how walking meetings were a hallmark of the early days at LinkedIn, and have retained their allure to Konstantin as he mentors and advises new entrepreneurs.Lastly, we discuss Konstantin's founders' journey and he shares some advice based upon his own experiences at LinkedIn.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mike Smerklo is by any measure a story of entrepreneurial success. Mike founded a search fund which led to the early stage acquisition of ServiceSource, and he took it to over $300M in revenue, took the company public, and was the CEO for over 13 years.Then Mike followed his passion to help fellow entrepreneurs and founded Next Coast Ventures in Austin, Texas long before Austin was being heralded as the next Silicon Valley for software.His secret, which threatened his success throughout his founder's journey is now out in the open, in his book, Mr. Monkey and Me. Mr. Monkey is a symbol for the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that every entrepreneur and founding CEO will face.During the podcast, Mike shares his "SHAPE" framework, to help fellow entreprenuers understand and mitigate that inner voice of doubt...the imposter syndrome. SHAPE is an acronym for Self-Awareness, Help, Authenticity, Persistence, and Expectations.During our conversation, we also talk about the "strength" of showing vulnerability by asking for help, even when you think as the CEO you need to always portray strength by having the answer to any problem...an impossible expectation.Mike shares that you are not alone with those private thoughts of fear, uncertainty, and doubt that comes with the entrepreneurial and CEO journey, and provides some helpful advice and even a framework to make your "Mr. Monkey" for favorite frienemy.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we continue the discussion with the authors of Selling the Cloud. Building upon the first half of our conversation where we discussed the need for grit and passion to be success full in Enterprise sales, we move into several new topics. The Power of No is a key skill to develop. A great enterprise sales professional is qualifying prospects out every step of the process to reduce time investment on low probability to close opportunities. Often the most important "no" is to walk away from blind RFP's that you have had no opportunity to influence or understand before receiving. The other skill is to understand "no means no" but also to ensure the prospect understands you are available to help if they need to re-evaluate their decision that did not include you.The importance of credibility and trust, often starts with the enterprise sales professional knowing when to walk away from an opportunity where you know your solution is not appropriate. Buyers will respect your integrity, and your trust capital over the long term will grow.One fundamental step to being able to walk away from poor fit deals - investing more time in building a high quality, healthy pipeline. If you build more pipeline than you think is required, you will not force-fit your solution into opportunities you should have walked away from in the first place.We discussed their hot take that "opportunities close themselves". If the enterprise sales professionals manage the process by ensuring the buyer has all of the information they need to make a decision, that closing is a natural step, and not the primary objective!?We also discuss why Customer Success is not just a department - it is the responsibility of everyone who touches the customer, especially sales. In today's land and expand, recurring revenue model, having a Chief Revenue Officer who owns customer acquisition, expansion and retention is a key element to ensuring customer success is a culture...not just a function.Finally, we bring out the crystal ball by having Mark and Paul share their perspectives on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will impact Selling the Cloud...if you are an Enterprise sales professional you will like what they have to say which is AI will serve to decrease the time spent on administration and increase the time available to invest in serving the prospect!!!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up podcast we are joined by Paul Melchiorre and Mark Petruzzi - authors of Selling the Cloud.Paul has over 30 years of experience in enterprise sales leadership, at leading companies including Anaplan, Ariba, SAP, and now in Private Equity. Mark brings over 30 years of experience in strategic consulting firms including Deloitte, N3, Accenture and operating roles at Oracle, and Ultimate Software.GRIT was the first topic we covered as a required attribute for every enterprise sales professional. Paul shared some of his best tips to identify grit during the interview process. Mark added the importance of passion as a critical component of the "WHY" behind grit.We also discuss "process versus playbook", and why flexibility differentiates good versus great in the SaaS industry. Paul shares why he believes that no one sales methodology is that much better than another and that the primary benefit is the standardization of language while also maintaining the flexibility to embrace the reality of each company.Playbooks that work at a large, established entity like Salesforce is most likely at a < $10M company without the same brand name recognition....flexibility is key.My favorite topic was discussing why "Discovery" is the most important phase of the sales process. Being able to ask meaningful questions, listen to the answers, and learning everything possible about why the buyer will really buy by putting yourself in their shoes...and it's not about your product's feature/function.Next, we discuss "3 Level Listening", which includes gathering data, identifying what is meaningful to the buyer, as an individual first before their company, and then applying it to your efforts. Mark shared how Charlie Green and his trusted advisor approach highlights the need to control your own ego, be present in listening, and focusing on truly understanding what the buyer is saying - active listening + thinking aloud.Paul then shares why "balance" of performance across the entire sales organization is so critical to building a high-performance organization. Balance was defined as having at least 70%+ of sales reps hitting quota.Finally, Mark shares the lessons he learned from Hollywood and why storytelling is so important to being a top-performing enterprise sales professional - especially customer stories!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

B2B Sales communities are all the rage in 2020. Sales Hacker, Modern Sales Pro, Bravado, Revenue Collective and now RevGenius are building B2B sales communities to provide experiences, connections, ideas, and research.Jared Robin, co-founder at RevGenius recently joined the podcast to share the story behind Rev Genius and his vision for the community."Necessity is the mother of invention" a catalyst for RevGenius as Jared contemplated the next step in his career journey due to the impact of COVID. Jared felt too many communities felt "exclusive" and were not truly open RevGenius started as a LinkedIn Group to share events for B2B sales professionalsJared's desire to include members across revenue teams, including marketing, sales development, RevOps, etc. was a goal to enhance "revenue team alignment" . Jared shared his thought that the path to CRO is not only through sales, so it's critical to gain insights, experiences, and connections across every revenue team functionThree key metrics to measure the success of RevGenius- Member Acquisition- Member Engagement- Monetization - not a top priority.....yetJared strongly believes that professionals need to take responsibility for growth, and not depend solely on the training and experiences you gain from their current employer. If you want to level-up or grow = community involvementTwo key thoughts for everyone to make the community vibrant- Always be Helping- Always be LearningIf you are interested in learning more about building on-line communities or to evaluate why you will join a revenue team community, this episode if chalked full of insights.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up podcast we are joined by Howard Brown, Founder and CEO of ringDNA.How does being a clinical psychologist lead to founding a Sales Engagement Platform company? Howard shares the common theme - helping individuals and companies overcome THEIR challengesKey topics discussed include that if B2B companies are too focused on internal processes leading versus the customer's motivation to buy. Sales training represents a major opportunity to improve alignment to the buyer's journey, especially the prospect's personal needs. Howard discusses why increasing business acumen is a significant area of opportunity.We also discuss that "coaching" is different from training and a large opportunity to increase sales productivity. You should be asking yourself, how much time are sales managers investing in 1:1 coaching versus administration, planning and managing versus coaching.Sales #1 job is to HELP buyers make a decision and it may not be your solution - play the long game. Too much focus on quarterly numbers versus customer needs can lead to short term gains at the expense of long term company valueHoward shares his insights are why Marketing, Sales and CS alignment STARTS with aligning to the buyer's journey AND starts at the top with the CEO! Howard experience is that Go-To-Market models need to be re-designed, centralized, and informed by customer journey dataHoward summarizes our discussion with the quote " We are moving to an Experience Economy" and companies that align to the customer journey will be the long term winners!!!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Founding a B2B SaaS company is an exhilarating, yet high-risk experience. Creating a new market category at the same time even higher risk and often serves primarily to pave the path for second-generation market entrants who learn from the successes and failures of the first generation.Anurag Khemka, is a founding father of B2B Marketing Automation. Back in 1996, when the internet was first being commercialized, most B2B marketers were just starting to think about how to develop more personal, 1:1 relationships with potential customers.Anurag founded MarketFirst, the first generation of enterprise-class marketing automation technology. Developing the software was the easy part, educating an entire market on how to design, build, and execute B2B marketing campaigns on the internet was the real challenge.Marketing Automation is now one of the most mature segments of the MarTech market (8K+ companies). Marketing Operations is a mature, yet still evolving profession that was spawned out of the need to manage and maximize the return on Marketing Automation investments.Anurag is a founding father of both Marketing Automation and Marketing Operations, and for anyone who seeks to better understand how history predicts the future, you should listen to this episode!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up podcast - Court Lorenzini, Founding CEO at DocuSign discusses his journey to co-Founding DocuSign and then his decision to leave after five years to found two more companies.During our conversation, Court shared his unique path to DocuSign, including his father's legacy as a founding father of Silicon Valley and his habit of recording his observations of how people managed difficult situations starting at the age of 13.Court shares his belief that most CEO's are strongest or prefer one of the three stages that every start-up moves through including: 1) Napkin to Product-Market Fit; 2) Rapid Growth and; 3) Profitability. Court loves, and used the term "Fills my Cup" when discussing the joy he finds from starting companies and achieving Product-Market Fit.Court also shares his two key pieces of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs including: 1) Pressure test your idea rigorously to the point of trying to kill it early and often and; 2) Learn from predecessors who have attempted to blaze a similar path in your same market previously.Finally, Court shares his premise that founders created 70% of Terminal Value in the first five years of a companies life. So, if your cup is filled by creating and establishing product-market fit, and you believe in statistical probability, it may serve founders better to repeat the company creation process multiple times to optimize the probability of great success.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up podcast - David Appel, Head of the SaaS Vertical at Sage Intacct shares his insights and lessons learned from over 1,500+ SaaS financial solution implementations.During our conversation, David and Ray discuss several key attributes and approaches that SaaS CFOs take to ensure the data, metrics and KPIs they collect can tell the story of what the "financial data" is telling.Great finance leaders make sure financial information and KPIs get out to everyone as soon as possible to enable timely, data-driven, metrics information decision making. Great CEOs and CFOs ensure the measures that each department have in place are directly linked to the corporate objectives, and not allow functional leaders to primarily highlight those metrics that show their function in the best light, but not for the benefit of the entire company.Dave ends this episode with a quote from Steve Jobs "Building great companies is not dependant on the hierarchies that run companies, but they are built upon the ideas that run companies".See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up podcast, we talk with Jon Miller, co-founder of Marketo and Engagio, and now Chief Product Officer at Demandbase is a MarTech visionary. Marketo was purchased in 2018 by Adobe for $4.75B, and Engagio was recently acquired by Demandbase.Jon shared the B2B Marketing metrics that matter and the lessons learned in his personal career journey as a founding father and leading MarTech visionary.Jon shared how 1st gen Marketing Automation was designed to automate a linear process with discrete hand-offs between marketing and sales. We also discussed how today’s buying process requires insights into demand and buying intent BEFORE a buyer visits your website.We also discussed how the evolving land and expand customer acquisition model requires a non-linear, collaborative process between Marketing, Sales, and CSThe most interesting conversation for your host was Jon's perspective on the top KPIs for today's B2B Marketersincluding: 1) Pipeline Growth; 2) New + Expansion ARR; 3) Return on Investment. B2B Marketers still need leading indicator metrics that show how buyers are progressing across the buyer journey, such as stage by stage conversion, but measurements such as website visitors, leads, and content downloads are mostly vanity metrics.As a thought leader in Account-Based Marketing and Account-Based Sales, Jon highlighted this new Customer Acquisition and Expansion model requires new KPIs and benchmarksJon also discussed his decision to leave Marketo and why the time was right now to combine Engagio and DemandbaseJon's comment that he is driven to “build the next great marketing platform”, coupled with his career journey exemplifies his vision, commitment, and passion for marketing technology#SaaS #b2bmarketing #KPIsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's episode of the Metrics that Measure Up podcast, Thomas Stewart, Executive Director for the National Center for the Middle Market shares some very interesting insights into the 200,000 companies that represent 1/3 of the American economy.Highlights included that 85% of Mid-market companies are private, 33% are family owned and 17% are in the manufacturing industry. On average, middle-market companies grow an average of 6.5% per year, 3% faster than the average S&P 500 company.Middle Market companies that view Digital Transformation as strategic and are advanced in adoption grow at an average of 9.5%, almost 50% faster than their peers.Lastly, middle-market companies buy technology very differently than larger, Enterprise companies. They typically will not pilot or test innovation, they will watch...watch....watch and then jump in headfirst. Definitely not your early adopter persona.A great listen for anyone responsible for doing business in the middle market - or just wants to learn more about the middle market.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's episode of the Metrics that Measure Up, Sally Duby, Chief Sales Officer at The Bridge Grop discussed the findings from their Sales Compensation research conducted in August, 2020 in partnership with the Silicon Valley Vice President Sales Group.Sally shares benchmarks and compensation trends across a wide variety of roles including Chief Revenue Officer, Field Sales - Account Executive, Inside Sales - Account Executive, Sales Development Representative, Sales Operations and Sales Enablement.The trends identified since the latest research The Bridge Group conducted in 2018 is quite surprising. In this episode we find unexpected trends in Equity, On-Target-Earnings by Annual Contract Value (ACV) and how Quotas vary so greatly based upon ACV.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up podcast, William Cordes, Founder and CEO of KPI Sense share the insights and perspectives gained from providing CFO and finance advisory services to SaaS companies.One interesting insight was when William shared that Days Sales Outstanding - the time from invoice to payment is the financial metric that has been impacted the most at B2B SaaS companies since COVID.Other key insights discussed include why detailed monthly financial reviews have increased in importance due to the impact of delayed cash receipts, decreased new ARR, and increased cash burn, how multiple scenario analysis + dynamic planning should be used for 2021 planning.We also discussed why the B2B SaaS industry needs more consistent KPI calculation and reporting for public and private SaaS companies - but not currently covered by SEC, FINRA, FASB or GAAP regulations.Lastly, William shares the core KPI foundation that is required for an early stage B2B SaaS company needs to have in place to successfully scale including:-a solid financial data infrastructure & data structure-standard rules to ingest transaction data for analysis-scalable process that works at $5M ARR and $50M ARR-quality data that is consistently maintainedSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up, Kristopher Beible, Vice President at Software Equity Group discusses the importance of Net Dollar Retention on SaaS company enterprise value, both for public and private companies.Based upon insights gained from over 100 private B2B SaaS company acquisitions, Kris shares how Net Dollar Retention & Gross Dollar Retention have become the top KPI that acquirers ask about in the early stage of private SaaS company acquisition due diligenceOther topics discussed include how private SaaS company acquirers have increased the priority of Gross and Net Dollar Retention rates since the on-set of COVID. We also discuss why companies need to develop a cohort-based understanding of customer acquisition costs and customer retention rates PRIOR to starting a strategic financing initiative. In fact, a cohort-based analysis should be applied to operational decisions 12-24 months prior to starting any investment process.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up, Kyle Poyar, Vice President of Growth at OpenView Partners discusses a Product Led Growth Go-To-Market motion for B2B SaaS companies.High growth B2B SaaS companies like Zoom, Twilio, DataDog, Box and DocuSign have used a product-led go-to-market motion to decrease initial customer acquisition costs, expand the total addressable market and reduce dependency that an Enterprise sales led motion can have on getting executive buyers to engage.Topics discussed include how Gross Dollar and Net Dollar Retention Rates are different from sales led motions, critical KPIs and metrics that seem more B2C oriented and how understanding the marginal Customer Acquisition Costs for Enterprise led versus product-led cohorts is critical to understanding the overall CAC ratio.New terms and concepts for B2B SaaS leaders, including Product Qualified Leads, Natural Rate of Growth and how Free to Paid conversion rates are correlated to # touches are covered in this fast-moving, information-rich episode.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Metrics that Measure Up, we are joined by Byron Deeter, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, and one of the founding fathers of SaaS and Cloud Metrics.Byron first published the 10 Laws of being SaaSy in 2008. Over the years, B2B SaaS metrics evolved, and Byron subsequently published the 10 Laws of Cloud in 2019, which include the 6 C's of Cloud Finance.Over the years, BVP has led investments in leading Cloud Companies including DocuSign, Twilio, SendGrid, Eloqua, Shopify and LinkedIn, BVP, and specifically Byron have a world of insights and experience to share with the new entrepreneur, first-time founder and even experiences SaaS or Cloud executive.Bessemer also publishes the Cloud 100, which highlights the Top 100 private Cloud Companies and the BVP 100 Index of publicly traded SaaS and Cloud CompaniesIn today's episode we discuss the insights that the CAC Payback period provides as you evaluate how to accelerate ARR growth, the impact of "marginal" spend on non-organic and paid media customer acquisition.  Why you may need to identify your SECRET KPI, some examples of some predictive KPIs identified by Twillio, Docusign, and Shopify. Why conducting cohort-based Gross Dollar Retention and Net Dollar Retention Rates is critical to ensure you are not under-reporting churn.If you love SaaS and Cloud Metrics, or just want to take Byron's advice to be a scholar of the industry, this podcast is a must-listen.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Metrics that Measure Up, Chris Beall, CEO of ConnectandSell shares a wide variety of Key Performance Indicators and Benchmarks gained from over 10 million dials and over 500,000 B2B sales conversations - just in 2020!Chris, a Physicist by education, and self-professed data junkie provide a deeply analytical perspective into how to turn dials into conversations, and conversations into sales meetings.Chris even invokes the expertise of Chris Voss, formerly the FBI's top hostage negotiator, who says we only have 7 seconds in our first conversation with a prospect to get them to trust us sufficiently to have a productive relationship. In this episode, you will learn both benchmarks and techniques to turn dials into customers, including:Benchmarks:- Dials to Conversation- Conversation to Meeting (Cold calls and Follow-ups)- Meeting show rates- Conversations Per day (SDR and AE)Listen to this one closely, as the episode is data rich and keeps coming at you every minute.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Metrics that Measure Up, John Younger, Founder and Chief Collaborator at RecruiterShare shares his insights developed over his thirty-plus years of experience in all things talent acquisition. Over his career, John has developed talent acquisition software for Bank of America, led recruiting for two divisions at BofA with over 16,000 employees, founded a recruiting company acquired by TriNet, founded an early leader in Recruitment Process Outsourcing that he sold in 2018, and now is the founder of RecruiterShare.In this wide-ranging conversation, we cover a wide variety of talent acquisition topics and metrics to measure hiring success. Topics discussed include the three top talent acquisition metrics every SaaS company should track, including: 1) Days to Present the candidate hired; 2) Net Promoter Score for the recruiter and; 3) Business Impact the hired candidate delivers.Other items covered include the cost of a bad hire, the cost of a bad recruiter hire, and the Maslov's talent acquisition of value including the best fit candidate, the retention period of each new hire, and lastly the cost. John discusses the cost of a "bad hire" versus the traditional metrics of "Cost Per Hire".See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of "Metrics that Measure Up, Amy Volas shares her insights and perspectives on the concepts of side hustles and personal brand building for B2B sales professionals.Amy has seen every side of this topic, as an Enterprise Sales professional, a sales leader, and the founder and CEO of Avenue Talent Partners, which specializes in the recruitment of B2B sales reps, managers, and executive leaders.Amy and Ray discuss multiple topics, and provide experience-based advice including: 1) why money is not and should not be the primary motivation for a career in B2B Sales; 2) the power of "NO" when helping a prospective customer evaluate your solution, and company as a partner; 3) why preparation, practice always precede performance; 4) personal brand or company brand, which is your primary responsibility - is it time for a gut check on your priorities and; 5) Be as an ambassador of your brand and your company's brand by performing in your role as Job 1!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of "Metrics that Measure Up", Andy Paul, the host of The Sales Enablement Podcast and Ray discuss how and if the modern B2B Seller is different today than yesterday.Topics covered include the motivation of sellers to serve their customers and help them make an informed purchase decision, or providing buyers unique insights into a new way of approaching a business process.Why quota may be an outdated concept, and even why a famous British economist's research shows that when a measure becomes a target, it loses its value as a measure...think QUOTA!!!Andy also shares the differences between a "manager" and a "coach" and why companies should consider investing in professional coaches to help sales professionals to deliver maximum output. Within this discussion, we discuss the proven benefit of a positive mindset, why a functional organization may be outdated, and the possibility of instructing around customer acquisition, retention and growth versus sales, marketing and customer success.This episode is for anyone thinking about how to re-engineer the sales professional and accelerate revenue performance.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, Sahil Mansuri, the Founder and CEO of Bravado, a network of over 70,000 sales professionals, discusses how yesterday's Quota and Compensation models are not relevant in today's, customer-centered world.Sahil shares his insights and perspectives on why sales compensation and quota setting needs to change. These insights have been developed from his experiences as a top salesperson, VP of Sales, Founder/CEO, and early-stage investor. Topics covered include:Why is the average tenure of a salesperson < 12 months and a VP Sales < 8 months?Why do < 50% of sales professionals hit quota?What are the roles of Product, Marketing and Sales defined for optimal success?Has the level of specialization negatively impacted the customer experience?Are there just too many SaaS companies in each market segment?What role does the CEO play in ensuring the revenue plan is reasonable?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Metrics that Measure Up, our guest - Jason Reichl, CEO of Go Nimbly answers a wide variety of questions on the evolving function of Revenue Operations.Topics include why Revenue Operations should own their own quota number, how revenue operations will increase ARR Growth by 10% - 26%, and why Jason believes that Revenue Operations will be to customer experience and ARR growth what the Agile methodology was to software development and how lean manufacturing transformed the automotive industry.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sales Development is a rapidly growing professional for early career professionals in the B2B SaaS industry.David Dulany, founder and CEO of Tenbound was an early industry thought leader for Sales Development in the SaaS Industry.In today's Metrics that Measure Up, David and Ray discuss findings from their recent research that highlights how the Sales Development function has changed since the initial impact of COVID-9See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Martyn Lewis, author of How Customers Buy and Why They Don't: Mapping and Managing the Buying Journey DNA shares his insights from interviewing thousands of buyers.Martyn shares how The Buying Journey trumps the Sales Process, and that Buyers do not typically buy logically or rationally.Other topics include why your value proposition is just not enough and assuming that you understand the buyer journey is so dangerous.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

During the very first session of the Metrics than Measure Up podcast, Ben Murray - The SaaS CFO shares his insights and perspectives on the RevOps Squared KPI Framework and the Five First KPIs.Ben provides his feedback on how SaaS companies can take advantage of Key Performance Indicators like Rule of 40, CAC Ratio, Gross and Net Dollar Retention, Gross Margin, and Customer Lifetime Value to CAC to make smarter, more timely decisions.Come learn on when and how to use metrics that measure up to increase the Enterprise Value of your B2B SaaS company.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.