AI
Today, I presented at SaaS Metrics Palooza 2025 on the differences between selling work and selling software. I'd like to thank my metrics brother, Ray Rike, for inviting me to speak and I'd like to thank everyone who attended the session. Topic covered include: * Defining outcomes
Finance
"I have a map of the United States ... actual size. It says, Scale: 1 mile = 1 mile. I spent last summer folding it. I also have a full-size map of the world. I hardly ever unroll it." -- Stephen Wright (comedian) Much as we build maps as models
Demandgen
My marketing professor once said, The answer to every marketing question is, "It depends." Thus, the important part is knowing on what. So, how do you calculate the cost/opportunity? Well, it depends! On what? On the specific question you're trying to answer. When people ask
Branding
I’m late with this year’s predictions post because I’ve discovered that writing while recovering from knee surgery, zonked on painkillers, is a surprisingly difficult endeavor. Onward, through the fog. And apologies for the delay. I’m always humbled by the act of making predictions. A few months
AI
Just a quick post to highlight that the good people of Benchmarkit, host of SaaS Metrics Palooza 24, have posted the video of my presentation, The Impact of AI on SaaS metrics. The slides are here. https://vimeo.com/1020584064
AI
Just a quick post to share my slides from today's presentation at SaaS Metrics Palooza 2024, entitled The Impact of AI on SaaS Metrics. The short summary is: * The concept of ARR is already challenged by monthly-varying pricing, e.g., usage-based pricing. * AI will exacerbate that problem, bringing
AI
While I was unable to make SaaStr Annual this year, I am pleased to announce that I will back at SaaS Metrics Palooza, an entirely virtual conference (where I don't need to walk on my recovering knee) focused entirely on SaaS metrics, and hosted by my SaaS Talk
SaaS
Excluding VC funds, I've directly invested in a few dozen startups. While the jury's still out on my performance, I can share a few things that I've learned along the way: * This isn't easy. Though I'd never thought I'
Competition
Yes. And, by the way, I'm not joking with that answer. I'm not saying you need 17 patents. I'm not saying you need any patents at all -- but you probably do. I am saying that despite the frenetic life of running a startup,
Metrics
As readers will hopefully know, I've been running a podcast with Ray Rike for about the past year called SaaS Talk with the Metrics Brothers, Growth and CAC. (Ray's growth and I'm CAC.) If that name rings familiar, it's because our naming
Leadership
I'm always looking for better ways to distill strategy. My favorite strategy author is Richard Rumelt, who wrote Good Strategy, Bad Strategy and the more recent but less acclaimed follow-on, The Crux. I love Rumelt's work for two reasons: * He takes a wrecking ball to the
Marketing
"If a bird walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck." -- James Whitcomb Riley Many marketers are in such a hurry to talk about topical issues that they forget the duck test: if it walks like