Jason M. Lemkin
Co-Founder and CEO of EchoSign from inception through tens of millions in cash-flow positive SaaS revenue and acquisition by Adobe Systems Inc.
Jason then served as Vice President, Web Services at Adobe, where EchoSign was named the most successful acquisition of 2011-12, posting 199% YoY growth.
Day 1: Who Should Be CEO? A Checklist.
SaaStr has now passed 100+ posts, and we’ve somewhat gone on a journey from the early days of a SaaS company, through the growth phases, and as of our last post, up to the Unstoppable phase. We’re not quite done with that journey but if you’ll forgive me going back in time, I wanted to [...]
The $64,000,000 Question: When Things Become Unstoppable
A little while back, a VC asked me what I thought of a prospective mid/late stage investment. I was/am reasonably familiar with this company as it is adjacent to EchoSign. My answer was, well, I’d probably pass — certainly at the valuation (12x+ ARR). I said the product was ooooold and the platform dated, the [...]
When Big Companies Can Kill You. And When They Can’t.
I remember every day, every moment, of both my start-ups with hyper-lucidity. But a few moments especially stand out. Those times when BigCo calls you up to their fancy office, and tells you they are going to enter your space and kill you. It happened to me twice at EchoSign. I’m not going to share [...]
Things Not to Share With VCs (and Others) Pre-Term Sheet
In the pre-diligence phase with either VCs or acquirers, I’ve learned you want to hold some things back. Not through the whole process. But at least until you are past the Second Date.
Hyperaggresiveness … Can You Do It?
Recently I’ve met with several of my friends who are moving on, or have moved on, to their next SaaS company after some real success in their first one. SaaS 3.0 entrepreneurs, I guess. They all have some measure of initial success in their next venture. To me, given their backgrounds, and their ability to [...]
Measure Your Churn. But What’s Even More Important is to Measure Your Almost Churn. 5 Tricks to Help You Here.
Churn is a paramount topic in SaaS, as we all know. If every dollar of ARR is worth $6+ in the long term, including upsells and second order revenue … then of course, by the same token, for every dollar of ARR that churns … you’re losing $6 of notional ARR. Lose a $100k customer? [...]
The Virtues and Opportunities in Being #2
In our insular tech world, we’re all obsessed with being #1. Look at Google Search vs. Bing + Yahoo! Facebook vs. Google+. Salesforce vs. nobody else of any scale. Etc. etc. We all know in tech, in internet, almost all the spoils go to #1. Except … Often, not always. In fact, there are a [...]
3 Tips for Building Discounts into Your SaaS Pricing Model (from OpenView Labs)
The good folks at OpenView Labs did an interview with SaaStr and broke it up into a few articles. The first they published the other day, on Pricing, reproduced below. They have a lot of interesting SaaS insights and advice on their blog that ties into the same themes we’re working on here at SaaStr [...]
Your Customer Success Team. Hire Early. And No Squishy Goals — It’s All About the Numbers.
If this is your first SaaS company, you may not have ever hired or built a Client Success team. This one isn’t nearly as risky as a VP of Sales, or a VP of Marketing hire. If you hire a great, experienced Client Success leader as your first hire here, and you like him/her, and [...]
10 Great Questions to Ask a VP Sales During an Interview
Ready to hire your first VP Sales? But haven’t done it before? Let me give you a partial interview script that may help a bit. You’ll have to vary it for different types of SaaS businesses — a bit. But it will basically work for all SaaS companies from say $200k in ARR to $10m [...]
I Was Wrong. Associates at VC Firms Are a Great Way to Get Funded.
I’ll admit to a blatant bias. I thought associates at VC firms, no matter how well intentioned, did nothing but waste founders’ time. At EchoSign, I’d get dozens of “Big Fan of Your Product” emails from VC associates, at a time when I really didn’t need any capital, and they’d each burn an hour of [...]
Why There Is a 50/50 Chance You’ll Tilt Upmarket in SaaS
When you’re starting off in SaaS, it’s very tempting to target small businesses. After all, when you launch, your product will be pretty feature poor. You won’t have the resources to service the Fortune 500. And in fact, unless you’ve worked and lived inside the Fortune 500, you won’t understand them at all. How they [...]
What a Great VP Sales Actually Does. Where The Magic Is. And When to Hire One.
In SaaS, #1 most common mishire, with a bullet, is the VP/head of sales. In fact, there a VC saying that I used to really hate. It goes something like “You’ve Got to Get Past the Carcass of Your First VP of Sales” or “It’s The Second VP of Sales When You Really Start Selling” [...]
Post-Traction, You Need to Spend 20% of Your Time Recruiting
Love him or hate him, Nick Saban is the most successful college football coach of the current generation. Winner of 3 out of 4 of the last national championships. And how often is he recruiting? Every. Single. Day. In fact, every single day he and his team go into their Recruiting War Room, and analyze [...]
Hire the Right Type of VP Marketing — Or You’ll Just End Up With a Bunch of Blue Pens with Your Logo On Them
Apologies to all those to whom this is already well known. But, I know many of you have never hired a head of marketing before. And as soon as you get your MSP (Minimum Sellable Product) out the door, and you’ve got your first 10 customers under your belt — you’re probably going to want [...]
