Michael Ni

As we move deeper into 2024, tracking the right metrics is critical for scaling a SaaS business. This insightful guide outlines the top metrics to watch and includes valuable benchmarks to keep you on track. Whether you’re focused on ARR, CAC, or CLTV, understanding where your company stands is key to driving sustainable growth. Check out the article for a comprehensive look into the latest SaaS trends and metrics! #SaaS #BusinessGrowth #Metrics

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Thanks to Dave Rigotti and team for a wonderful #PLGTM conference in SF. I had great discussions with sales and marketing leaders and here are some observations on how PLG has evolved. Part 1: Time to rethink PLG practice ✔ While the core idea of PLG revolves around self-service adoption and user-driven growth, the practice has evolved, and companies are recognizing the need for a hybrid approach. ✔ For a lot of practitioners, PLG means self-service and users adopt the product without sales support. In practice, PLG leads to increases S&M costs increasing CAC. So, it no more just about building a product but putting the marketing $ behind it. ✔ Enterprise buyers are researching on their own and have good information before they come to the call. Huge number of prospects want sales help in navigating the value prop but want to try out themselves. ✔ PLG does lead to execution speed driving the awareness, showing the value, decreasing sales cycles and enabling simple and faster expansion. ✔ There is a myth that only startups or B2C companies use PLG and has to be bottom-up approach. While many of the companies we know and products we use might be B2C, lot of enterprise B2B companies are PLG as well. e.g. users can simply signup and start using Calendly, Canva or Airtable. teams can start using the products like loom, figma and datadog. ✔ Bringing customers need a hybrid approach in 2024. You need to provide user value created by the product and buyer value created by sales teams. Think about product market fit and product customer fit - leading to greater number of happy customers ✔ Every KPI you are measuring should drive an outcome. If you collect data, ask "what is it used for? " and "how does it help customer or adoption?" ✔ As the PLG model continues to evolve, companies must adapt and embrace a balanced approach that leverages the power of self-service adoption while providing sales support to drive customer success and long-term growth. Thanks to David Yockelson and Dave Boyce for providing engaging discussion on the core of PLG. #productledgrowth #productledsales #salesledgrowth #startups #salesleadership #productmanagement

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The engineering team at SaaSGrid pumps out features faster than I can write about them, but I wanted to highlight one thing we released recently that has made a big impact for our customers. SaaS leaders are used to looking at monthly ARR, but that can leave them in the dark to the day-in-day-out changes in their customer base. Are new customers getting signed? Are renewals happening (and happening on time?) Is there organic expansion or contraction? Our new ARR Movements timeline gives day level granularity for every change in ARR, down to the specific products and quantities that were updated. Keeping track of data in real time lets our users move from reactive proactive, and never get surprised at the end of the month. If you're a SaaS leader, you're constantly faced with hard decisions about how to grow your business. SaaSGrid can't make those decisions for you, but everything we build is designed to deliver you the right data at the right time, and hopefully make those decisions a little easier.

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Who owns your end to end GTM system? What about the Bowtie data model? This was a key question during our two-day Revenue Architecture Summit in Santa Cruz. Marketing owns awareness. BDRs or equivalent own education. Sales owns selection. Finance oversees the mutual commit/contracting. Professional services do onboarding. CS helps with retention. Account managers focus on expansion. So do we even need somebody to own and optimize the overall #bowtie process and data model? YES! "But my marketing is great at increasing leads and sales is increasing close rates, so why worry about an overall owner?", you might say. What if the new leads are low quality and sales is rushing through the sales cycle, ultimately yielding high onboarding and ongoing churn? Whether you like it or not, revenue production is a closed loop system. Something you do on the left side of the bowtie impacts the right side and the other way around. Best to assign an unbiased data owner who does that personally have anything to gain by making the data tell any particular story. The most likely owner for the overall system, or at least for the overall data model, lives in operations or finance. We see new titles around GTM Strategy and Operations. We also see RevOps moving from CRO to COO or CFO. So hence my question: In your company, who owns the end-to-end revenue production system? Who owns data definitions and brings together your teams to decide on next actions to improve revenue production based on the data? #revenuearchitecture #bowtie #revops Photo courtesy Jill Guardia (she/her)

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🚨 Last Call for the Nektar Buzz Boat: Just 2 Days to Go! 🚨 Nektar.ai, DocketAI and RevOps Co-op are bringing you an exclusive GTM leaders Cruise in NYC(5th Sep), Boston(10th Sep), Chicago(12th Sep). Our GTM Leaders NYC Cruise is setting sail in just 48 hours, and we’ve got a couple of exclusive passes left. Don’t miss your chance to join an elite group of GTM pioneers for an evening of strategic insights and high-impact networking—right on the water! 🌊 Here’s why you need to be there: 🎯 Cutting-Edge Discussions: We’ll be diving into how AI is transforming sales, how to turn customer engagement into actionable data, and the latest GTM tactics that are driving real growth. 💡Discover how to operationalize Buying Groups: We’ll be diving into how AI automates capturing & tracking engagement with your buying groups on auto-pilot at scale. 🤝 High-Caliber Connections: This is your chance to network with fellow leaders who are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the GTM space. 🍸 Unwind & Recharge: Kick back with some great drinks, delicious bites, and amazing views on the cruise while you chat and chill with fellow leaders in a laid-back, exclusive vibe. With only a couple of spots left, this is your last chance to secure a seat on the Nektar Buzz Boat. If you’re serious about elevating your GTM strategy, you won’t want to miss this. Register on the link or DM me to grab one of the final passes. Let’s make waves together! 🐝🚢 #GTM #Sales #AI #Networking #Leadership #Nektar #BuzzBoat https://lnkd.in/g59Sxa6Z

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I'm speaking at the VSaaS Collective Live event in San Francisco on October 2 with 75-100 vertical SaaS CEOs who are scaling up their businesses. VSaaS Collective is just one of the contributions to the vertical SaaS community by Tidemark, an experienced growth equity firm with a practical orientation. David Yuan and the team at Tidemark offer a ton of useful content, market surveys, and therapy to bootstrapped vertical SaaS founders who are expanding the vision of their potential market impact. They know that vertical SaaS is its own special vertical. It's not like horizontal SaaS, which sells across industries. If you're interested in attending this educational and networking day next month in San Francisco, apply here and DM me to let me know you'll be there. https://lnkd.in/gHKfUQwg It's for ambitious vertical SaaS CEOs with ARR above $1M. Industry-focused software companies make up about half of all software companies in North America. These companies are awesome SaaS businesses, but very few of them fit the traditional venture capital model. #practicalfounders

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Congrats to ZoomInfo on their launch of Copilot – a new solution for B2B sellers powered by AI & G2 data. 🎉🎉🎉 I enjoyed chatting with Calen Holbrooks during today’s launch event, discussing the challenges B2B sellers face and how solutions like Copilot are helping to change the game. Here are some of the points we covered: ⚡It's time for B2B selling to catch up to B2C – providing the type of personalization we see with Instagram ads. ⚡Sales teams are often relying on the ineffective spray & pray approach -- wasting time, money & frustrating those being targeted with irrelevant outreach. ⚡With only 5% of a B2B business’ ICP actively in market at a given time, a more tailored, targeted approach is required. ⚡AI-powered solutions like Copilot can help – with accurate data from G2 & ZoomInfo, so sellers can reach the right in-market prospect with the right message at the right time. ⚡This is just one example of how AI will shape the future of go-to-market. Another is connecting software buyers and sellers more seamlessly, pairing up the perfect match. At G2, we are doing this with our #AI assistant Monty. Congrats to our partners Henry Schuck, Bryan Law, & team, and thanks for having me today! If you missed it, you can catch the event on-demand & learn more about Copilot from Henry at the links below. 👇

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We're thrilled to introduce Real-Time Integrations with top CRMs like Affinity.co, Attio, Salesforce, HubSpot, Airtable, and many more! 🎉 These integrations will transform your workflow by: 🔄 Syncing Companies and Contacts in Real-Time 🎛️ Offering Fully Customizable Settings 🧠 Automating Data Updates And, with our Push and Pull features, you can enrich your CRM data with Specter's unique growth signals and insights, making your decision-making process faster and more efficient ⚡ Read more in the first comment below 👇

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What (Management) lessons can we learn from Los Angeles' apocalypse fires, and why is it time for Californians to rise against professional politicians and ideologues... First and foremost, I am so sorry for the hard-working people of Los Angeles, the gardeners, construction workers, retail/services managers, and entrepreneurs. What happened was unfair and heartbreaking but mostly outrageous because it was so predictable and avoidable. I (legally) immigrated to this country 25 years ago. In exchange for an Eb1 visa, I had to produce a five-year plan, hire many people, and pay many taxes. This led to a green card and eventually US citizenship... Originally, from Europe, I always thought of my affiliation as progressive, squarely leaning toward democrats (the 80s and 90s version), although I was always fiscally conservative... After 2 decades of no changes, worse infrastructures, growing taxes (why are we paying $4.89 a gallon vs. the national average of $3 again?), exploding homelessness, and consistent deficits... California, the 5th largest economy with a budget of $322B, should LEAD THE WORLD FOR ITS INFRASTRUCTURES, have the most modern high-speed trains (LA to Seattle in 5 hours), quality and abundant water, and clean (nuclear) energy (France relies 75% on it). Modern buildings, with yearly preventive clean-ups and fire prevention strategies and equipment, and communities of tiny houses solving homelessness and addiction. Dream on... The Tenderloin (a dangerous San Francisco neighborhood) 25 years ago is the same as it is today, but some say it is probably more dangerous and dirtier...Homeless people have grown significantly over these last 5 years (~200,000 people), $24B has been spent on the problem, and there has been no progress... Why? Less than 20% goes to helping people, the rest and the vast majority in the hands of administrations and mindless bureaucrats...such a waste, such as shame... It does not matter if you lean right or left; the bottom line is that we should not support politicians who are incompetent and live only to protect ideologies... When will California change and recognize that politicians have failed us over the last thirty years? It's time to rally, rise, and shake up the status Quo. Let's remain civil and temper our (justified) anger, but man o man... Go to any city in Asia or Dubai, and you'll realize we are short-changed. As in any capitalistic corporation, how about demanding the following from our leaders: 🔥 Extreme transparency on budget allocation 🔥 One-time term 🔥 Enforce Lobbyist $ Caps 🔥 Enforce performance-based reviews 🔥 Streamline Recall mechanisms

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A standalone QMS is a relic that slows down the pace of innovation we need today. If you're a #MasterControl user, you may already be acutely aware of this truth. In a world where agility and traceability drive the market, having your QMS disconnected from your PLM is like trying to paddle a boat with one oar. MasterControl and others might dress up their offerings, but if your systems aren’t truly integrated, you’re just papering over the cracks. You need a system that’s as dynamic and fast-moving as the markets you serve. At Propel Software, we’re not patching up systems—we’re redefining solutions. Our cloud-native platform brings QMS and PLM together seamlessly. Because, today, being reactive isn’t an option—it’s about being proactive, all from one platform. This is a great read that gets into the nitty-gritty of the issues with siloed QMS: https://lnkd.in/gmrF-eV7 #Innovation #CloudPLM #CloudQMS #SinglePlatform

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We are seeing a tremendous amount of dialogue around replacing SaaS solutions with AI. Elementum is helping lead the way with easy to build AI Workflow apps that can be deployed in weeks. Cloud replaced On-prem. SaaS replaced traditional software. AI is rapidly replacing SaaS. Buckle up.

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"The journey to $10M ARR in the enterprise market is challenging but rewarding" SSOJet just released a fantastic guide titled "The $10M ARR Playbook" and they dive into the necessary components that your business needs to consider to level up. Whether it's defining that enterprise ICP or prioritizing customer success, they say "The journey to $10 million ARR in this arena is a different beast altogether. It requires more than just a great product – it demands a strategic shift in how you build, sell, and support your solution. B2B SaaS: The $10M ARR Playbook https://lnkd.in/gyfndrHi

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The Invoca value proposition in emoji format Marketing ❤️ Contact Center = 💰 💰 + 🔥 🔥 + 😃 😃 Learn how that recipe works from Peter Isaacson, together with Derek Top and Amy Stapleton from Opus Research, in the upcoming webinar "Making the Digital-Age Contact Center a Revenue Machine." More details at the link below: https://lnkd.in/gKACPcAM

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Incredibly proud of our team for this magical release 👏 🚀 Sequence has just launched our CPQ Product for B2B software businesses with hybrid pricing, designed specifically for Fintech, AI, and B2B SaaS startups. Alongside our billing and invoicing engine, this enables businesses to automate their full revenue collection workflow from contract to revenue. This release powers B2B teams to: 📃 Build and e-sign flexible pricing proposals or contracts: For teams selling custom deals with usage tiers, minimum commitments, or ramped pricing, Sequence CPQ works for any pricing model or deal term. 💸 Implement an intuitive product (synced with the CRM) to power sales productivity: "Sequence is like a notion page supercharged with pricing tools." 📈 Automate finance: Once a quote is executed teams can automate all downstream billing, invoicing and revenue collection workflows. Check out the demo - link in the comments!

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Transparency is key to the PT industry, so we're sharing our data. Here's operational benchmark data for PT practices in Massachusetts - Let's dive in 👇 Ave Units - 3.44 First Pass - 97.93% (Average) Denial Rate - 5.83% (Average) Ave Reimbursement - $85.15 Top Payers in MA: 1) Unicare - $119.08 2) Mass General Brigham Health Plan - $109.51 3) Medicare Massachusetts - $92.38

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Through our experience working hand-in-hand with customers from compliance to lending, here's the counterintuitive truth: for most companies, building and maintaining automated workflows costs more than training human teams. It's true that financial services still rely on humans for 50-80% of their manual review processes. But the core problem isn't automation capability – it's that companies can't build automations cost-effectively enough to justify moving away from manual processes. This explains why so many stick to their existing human-centric operations despite the promise of automation. At Cortex, we call this shift "Generative Process Automation" (GPA). Instead of just automating tasks, we're rethinking how to make the creation of automation itself more efficient. It's time we addressed automation's economic barriers, not just its technical ones.

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⏰ ICYMI: Our Book is Coming Soon! Accelerating Revenue: Your Definitive Guide to the Theory and Practice of Go-To-Market Enablement is designed for those looking to master the core of GTM Enablement. Whether you're new to the field or a revenue leader aiming to boost team productivity, this book offers practical insights and proven strategies. Curious to learn more about transforming your approach to Enablement? 👉 Head to the Level213 website for more details! www.level213.com/services #book #revenue #enablement #GTM

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Sharing RevOps co-op community best practices on something we all know is critical - designing territories to ensure the success of your sales force and, by extension, your company. The number of different strategies available make selecting the right one both challenging and critical. The team at RevOps Co-op delve deep into this topic 👇 https://gag.gl/Nm2xoO #RevOps #Data #DataQuality

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A lot of board directors don't understand marketing -- much less the art and science of it. This isn't surprising since only 4% of Fortune 1000 board directors have marketing roles in their bio. This dissonance can make it difficult for CMOs to engage effectively with their board and harder still to secure a board seat themselves. Join me on Thursday at 1pm ET along with an amazing group of executives, investors, and board directors (Steve Byrne, Sandra Lopez, Matan Hazanov) to share insights on how CMOs can successfully manage the board expectations and nail every single meeting. Link to RSVP in the comments. #CMOLeadership #BoardroomStrategies #Mavuus

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