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It’s been a little over 4 years since I officially launched my internet marketing
software company, HubSpot. (The “official” date is June 9th,
2006 — for those that are curious about such things). So, I’ve had
about 4 years on the “inside” of a fast-growing, venture-backed B2B
SaaS startup. Quick stats: ~2,900 customers, ~170 employees and $33
million in capital raised. But, this is not an article about HubSpot,
it’s an article about things I’ve learned in the process of being a part
of one of the fastest growing SaaS startups ever. (I looked
at data for a bunch of publicly traded SaaS companies, and the only one
that grew revenues faster than HubSpot was Salesforce.com). In any case, let’s jump right in.
7 Non-Obvious SaaS Startup Lessons From HubSpot
1. You are financing your customers. Most SaaS businesses are subscription-based (there’s usually no big upfront payment when you signup a customer). As a result, sales and marketing costs are front-loaded, but revenue comes in over time. This can create cash-flow issues. The higher your sales growth, the larger the gap in cash-flows. This is why SaaS companies often raise large amounts of capital.
To read the full, original article click on this link: SaaS 101: 7 Simple Lessons From Inside HubSpot
Author: Dharmesh Shah
