Loïc Engulu

Steak dinners are back. Andreessen Horowitz shared a new report on why software sales is so hard right now. All the usual suspects are there - macro uncertainty, COVID spending hangover, consolidation. PLG companies are getting hit especially hard on growth, managing 18% on average in 2023 compared to 24% growth in top-down sales companies. One thing that cuts through the struggle? Relationships. The CIO of a chemicals multinational: "If the investment is above a certain threshold, they have to come to us. . . . We also tightened up the guardrails, and therefore the threshold investment limits have probably come down a bit." Plan accordingly. Link to report in comments.

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Is your team effectively using your MEDDIC fields or is it a checkbox exercise? Lots of organizations have MEDDIC requirements in Salesforce that need to be filled out before advancing the deal to the next stage. The problem is for most teams this becomes a check box exercise. Reps fill out what they can quickly, so there is information in there to move the deal forward. This information never really gets used or analyzed retroactively. When more time is spent properly filling out this information in detail - it has the potential to be utilized as a high leverage tool to help understand how and why certain types of deals are closing. Learning from the MEDDIC information from similar deals is a super power that some of the best reps lean on, but can be hard to find or access in your Salesforce. Is your team analyzing and evaluating your MEDDIC information, or is it another unused field because there isn't enough information properly filled out?

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Employee Productivity is up, but what’s happening with Headcount Efficiency?!👇 ICONIQ Growth's latest report reveals a notable trend in the SaaS space: While employee productivity - reflected in the ARR per FTE benchmarks - has surged in recent years, headcount efficiency has actually declined. As you can see in the chart below, OpEx per FTE rose over the same period. What do you think is the reason for this? Temporary blip due to market conditions that growing AI adoption will eventually correct? Or will companies always find ways to absorb productivity gains, preventing significant profit boosts? #saas #startup #tech #kpi #benchmarks

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Software Pricing is Hard 🫤 SaaS CFOs, CEOs, and founders know that. That's why they will join us next week when I bring in guest expert Chris Mele. Chris will discuss the importance of integrating pricing strategies throughout the entire software product life cycle. He will critique the common practice of treating pricing as an occasional, reactive measure tied to specific events. Chris advocates for "continuous monetization," where pricing evolves alongside the product, ensuring that companies capture the total value of their offerings. By developing internal pricing expertise, software companies can maximize profitability and avoid the pitfalls of underpricing or overpricing. Key Learning Points ✅ Understanding Continuous Monetization: Learn how to implement ongoing pricing strategies that adapt to product changes. Avoiding the Pitfalls of Event-Based Pricing: Discover why reactive pricing decisions can undermine profitability. Building Internal Pricing Expertise: Find out why cultivating in-house pricing knowledge is crucial for sustained growth. Maximizing Profitability: Understand how to balance pricing to achieve maximum revenue without creating sales friction. Navigating Pricing Challenges: Learn strategies to avoid the yo-yo effect of inconsistent pricing and its impact on customer relationships. Save your seat at the link in the comments! If you don't see the link, just comment below. See you live next week! #SaaS

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