Anthony Putignano

Why some SaaS companies 🚩 struggle to grow on cloud marketplaces? These 5 root causes may not be what you expect. 1️⃣ Strategic Cloud GTM Misalignment The most critical blocker isn’t technical—it’s strategic. Many companies treat cloud marketplaces as "just another channel," but success demands a fundamental GTM shift. Winning in cloud marketplaces requires embracing a partner-led, customer-centric, consumption-focused model where you align with the cloud provider’s priorities—not the other way around. You’re entering ecosystems of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud as their partner, not the reverse. 2️⃣ Cloud & Customer Centricity Gap The "build it and they will come" approach fails spectacularly on marketplaces. Successful ISVs deeply embed themselves in the cloud ecosystem by: Mapping their solution to the cloud provider’s growth areas and strategic initiatives. Understanding how and why customers discover, evaluate, and buy solutions in cloud marketplaces and on each cloud platform. Aligning GTM motions with the cloud provider’s sales cycles and engagement models. 3️⃣ Immature Co-Sell Many SaaS companies struggle with co-sell readiness, held back by ingrained direct sales cultures, concern of conflict (channel/competition) and lack of Cloud GTM understanding. Incentives: Sales teams aren’t motivated (or de-motivated) to collaborate with cloud reps or sell through marketplaces. Value Proposition: SaaS companies fail to articulate how their solution complements the cloud provider’s offerings and drives customer value. Program Knowledge: ISVs often miss out on cloud program benefits because they don’t meet requirements or focus enough on eligibility. 4️⃣ Lack of Alignment and Internal Resistance The most insidious obstacle often comes from within: Siloed Departments: Sales, marketing, product, and finance don’t collaborate effectively, hindering a unified marketplace strategy. Leadership Gaps: Executives may not fully grasp the strategic importance of cloud marketplaces, leading to misaligned priorities or underinvestment. Not leveraging marketplace data and insights and not integrating MP into your sales and company operations 5️⃣ Cloud-Native Product Reality Success on cloud marketplaces goes beyond GTM strategy—your product must also be ready... Ideally its architecture should leverage cloud-native services to enhance consumption and scalability. 📈 What This Means The gap between leaders and laggards in cloud marketplaces is widening. Those who treat Cloud GTM as a transformation, not just another sales/partner channel, are experiencing rapid growth. Others risk being left behind in what’s quickly becoming the largest software distribution channel. 💡 What’s the biggest obstacle you’ve encountered? _________ PS. Accelerate your #growth on #cloud marketplaces with Cloud GTM Leader Course. Last chance to join Cohort 9 starting Jan 14th (tomorrow) - https://lnkd.in/ejc7S4Pb

22

3 Comments

In the last month, we've all heard this Service-as-a-Software narrative that AI will enable applications to sell an outcome or a full task, rather than a seat as in vertical SaaS. This could then increase annual contract values from 3 or 4-figures to 6 or 7-figures. After all, that is the cost of labor previously delivering the service, right? Service-as-a-Software expands the $650B Software Market into the $10T Services markets. We've heard this seductive VC narrative from Mamoon Hamid at Kleiner Perkins; Sarah Tavel at Benchmark and Pat Grady at Sequoia Capital. Smart investors, no doubt. But what if this thinking ignores the competitive element? Since when is pricing a function of the work you replace, rather than the next application who is seeking to replace you? I suspect customers will see massive savings in cost / task, but competition will render value capture difficult for these first movers. With dozens of AI SDRs, AI Coding Agents, and AI Work Assistants and discerning IT procurement departments, how will these price assumptions sustain? The answer, I think, lies in dusting off Hamilton Helmer's 7 Powers, specifically 3 of them: 1) Network Effects (on users or data) 2) High Switching Costs (system of record) 3) Counter-Positioning (inimitable pricing or delivery mechanism) This is what we are looking for at Optimist Ventures. Would love others' thoughts on this.

290

27 Comments

Anyone interested in generative AI, especially GAI for GTM, should study the work of Erik Brynjolfsson. Erik is an author and Stanford University professor who examines the effects of technology on business strategy and human productivity and performance. Here's just one of the many ideas I've gained from his work, and it relates to the hot topic of the AI SDR. It starts with the belief that AI can serve human performance and not replace humans - race with the machine, not against the machine as the quote says. In the bigger picture, he's an optimist who believes AI can reverse the trend of technology widening income inequality. But that's going a bit beyond my pay grade, so let's go back to the question of the AI SDR... He points out that replacing jobs is the wrong way to look at this because most jobs are a collection of tasks. Rote tasks can be automated with AI, but most jobs include a long tail of tasks and qualities that require human creativity and judgment. The delineation of jobs and tasks means you need to define the tasks an SDR owns. In the case of the SDR, research and writing the first draft are tasks that AI can do extremely well. But objection handling, authenticity, and human connection require a...human! The takeaway is that you need to define the tasks your SDRs own. If you think your SDRs can be fully replaced by AI, you are probably setting expectations too low. This happens to align with how we are building rule5 - as a complement to human performance that performs key tasks, not a replacement for human jobs. Btw, the quote here is from a 2013 TED talk that you can find on Youtube. I'll post it in the comments. Needless to say, this question isn't new it just feels more urgent now with AI. #generativeai #ai #humanintheloop

16

1 Comment

7. That's the median employee headcount for SaaS companies under $1m in ARR. Nearly half of those positions are in engineering. I'm often asked about headcount planning and it's so helpful to provide data to drive decisions. The High Alpha SaaS Benchmark Survey is live and it's full of data like this. Download the report now. (Link in the comments)

17

1 Comment

One picture Solution Interview Prep: Limited Time 🍱 Kth largest element solved using Max-Heap implementation with full dry-run of the problem and dry-run of the Max-Heap it's no big deal just follow the Roman numerals they will lead you to the right direction 1⃣ Understand how heaps rearrange their elements. 2⃣Learn how to percolate down and percolate up operations work Max-Heap plays a crucial role here🍱 Simple steps🍱 🚩 Populate the heap array with all elements. 🚩Apply the Heapify Down algorithm from the last inline nodes. 🚩Achieve a Max-Heap structure array. 🚩Run a loop until the kth element is updated, storing each maximum value. #javascript #programming #problemsolving #leetcode @leetcode Excalidraw #excalidrawn #datastructurealgorithm #coder

14

1 Comment

A GTM engineer who can “build anything” is worth $1M. A GTM engineer who can figure out “what to build” is worth 100X that. In business, the GPS creates more value than the engine.

135

51 Comments

We analyzed hundreds of SaaS companies and the landscape of social proof to see how it has evolved and where it’s heading. We found 3 core eras and we’re now entering a 4th. 1. Era I: Analyst-led Back in the day, firms like Forrester and Gartner were the gold standard for advice. Their deep industry knowledge and extensive research were invaluable. But as the pay-to-play model crept in, their credibility took a hit. Only vendors who could afford to subscribe had access to their insights, which diluted the trust factor. 2. Era II: Platform Review-led Enter the era of platform review sites like G2 and Capterra. They shook things up with crowd-sourced reviews and ratings, much like Yelp but for software. This user-generated content, often incentivized by rewards, became a goldmine of information. Other review platforms emerged, and many were eventually acquired by larger firms. 3. Era III: Community-led (in this era) Then came the community-led era, which we’re still in. Professional networking sites like LinkedIn and online communities on Slack have become the new hubs for software recommendations. Influencers play a big role, offering genuine advice at first, but soon monetizing their opinions, which is eroding trust. Companies lean heavily on customer advocacy and influencer programs, but overusage and compensation blur the lines between genuine and incentivized endorsements. 4. Era IV: Authentic Word of Mouth (entering this era) Now, we’re in the era of authentic word-of-mouth. Organic feedback from peers is more valuable than ever. Platforms like Noble facilitate honest conversations between prospects and existing customers, making uncurated, genuine opinions the new norm. This approach emphasizes transparency and trust. This fourth era changes the game. Vendors confident in their product-market fit will embrace this approach, even at the risk of occasional negative feedback. Transparency builds trust, and unlike G2 reviews or paid influencer posts, this model of facilitating authentic word of month ensures people hear directly from customers in a trusted way. Read the full post in The GTM Newsletter in the comments. For more of what we are seeing across go-to-market and the insights of 350+ of the best operators in the game, join 52,000+ other revenue leaders who read The GTM Newsletter weekly below. ✍️

42

4 Comments

TollBit just landed $24M in Series A funding, and this is the kind of deal that doesn’t just raise eyebrows—it rewrites the playbook. Lightspeed led the charge, but they weren’t rolling solo. Heavyweights like Section 32, Sunflower Capital, AIX Ventures, and more piled in to back this rocket ship. Massive congrats to Olivia Joslin and Toshit Panigrahi for pulling off what every AI startup dreams of: solving a huge problem and locking down the resources to scale it like nobody’s business. Now let’s talk impact. AI companies have been cruising through the internet, gobbling up content like a buffet, while publishers have been left holding the bill. TollBit is here to fix that. They’ve built a platform that tracks AI bot traffic, charges for every content use, and does it all automatically. For publishers, it’s not just a payday—it’s getting paid on time without the hassle of chasing down AI companies. And for AI businesses? They finally get a legitimate, scalable solution for content licensing—without stepping into legal quicksand. That’s a win-win. But that $24M isn’t just for show. It’s getting funneled straight into infrastructure. We’re talking faster payment protocols, even smoother integrations, and the muscle to handle the tidal wave of new publishers and AI companies jumping into the mix. And with Time Inc., Penske Media Corporation, and ADWEEK already signed up, this isn’t just a proof-of-concept. TollBit is the real deal, sitting at the intersection of AI innovation and media monetization. Olivia Joslin doesn’t mince words: “This market’s moving at light speed, and neither publishers nor AI companies can afford to be bogged down by manual deals. We’ve made it frictionless for both sides to come out on top.” Toshit Panigrahi sees the bigger picture: “What we’re building isn’t just a platform. We’re creating a future where publishers get paid for the content that powers AI, and AI companies keep innovating without stepping on any toes.” Here’s the real takeaway: TollBit just carved out their place as the go-to for AI content licensing. They’ve figured out how to make sure the creators behind the content get their fair share while helping AI companies keep the innovation engine running. This $24M Series A? It’s just the beginning. Everyone else in the space? Better start taking notes. #Content #Publishing #Publishers #ContentLicensing #Technology #Innovation #AI #MediaMonetization #Technology #Innovation #ContentPayment #AIInnovation

The acquisition game is very different from 10 years ago now that 70% of SaaS acquisitions are led by private equity investors or PE-owned strategic buyers. Most SaaS founders aren't thinking about the new realities of eventually selling their SaaS companies. It's very different than the old days of "sell it for big multiples to a strategic buyer, cash out, and see ya later." Here are 5 questions for founders to consider the new realities of a potential PE-backed exit: 1) Is my company built to keep growing efficiently after I sell it? - Your SaaS metrics need to be healthy. Growing steadily with efficient CAC and solid revenue retention - You need a business that runs without you, the founder. - And you will still be responsible for fixing the problems in your business. 2) Would I invest in the new company with my hard-earned equity or cash? PE buyers don't cash you out of 100% of your equity, just a partial "first bite of the apple" prize. They buy a minority or majority of your company, so you become the major private investor in the acquiring business. This is not an earn-out. You now own shares in a new company that you don't control. You must be confident enough in the new owners, operators, culture, and vision to invest 20-60% of your hard-earned equity in this new venture. 2) Why will this acquisition work to build and sell a much bigger company? Most old-style mergers and acquisitions didn't work for either side. In this new world, founders need to find the right owner/partner with the right strategy and team to ensure their hard-earned equity pays off on their "2nd bite of the apple" when it is sold again. Founders should also do deep due diligence on their acquiring PE investors, not just pitch themselves for "sale" to any takers. 3) Do I trust the new owners and operators to do the right things? Most founders don't stay on as CEOs when they sell to PE buyers. Someone else owns your business (PEs), and they have CEOs who will run the business their way. 90% of founder-CEOs who sell to PE end up as board members with the ability to make suggestions to the new leaders. That's it. You must trust the people and their approach to your business and your precious equity. 4) How will things change now that I'm not the CEO? Maybe you continue running the business as a CEO with new owners for a while, but eventually, you won't be there. Now what? How do you spend your time now that you're only an involved board member? This is very jarring for most former CEOs, so it's worth considering before selling. 5) How will things change now that I have money? The biggest reason to sell a major part of your healthy SaaS business is to take some chips off the table and win a major cash prize. You invested 5-15 years in this business and probably some of your own cash. Now what? Will your life change a little or a lot? It's a whole new world for successful SaaS founders when they sell to PE buyers. #practicalfounders

136

26 Comments

#Automation comes in various forms. One is robotics, like the article below. Another is process automation, driven by data and software, solving the same labor shortage problem higlighted in the TechCrunch article. Entytle automates tedious, time consuming and laborious Installed Base workflows for OEMs, using data, AI and software. Different side of the same labor shortage coin. #installedbaseintelligence #oems #laborshortage #productivity

15

4 Comments

SaaS Buying Behavior Has Shifted: What Software Founders Need to Know The landscape for software purchasing has changed dramatically since 2021. Companies are no longer buying software for every need—instead, they’re categorizing products as either "nice-to-have" or "must-have." Here's what that means: Scrutiny is Higher Than Ever: Every purchase is heavily examined, with CFOs, head of sales, and RevOps teams now playing key roles in the decision-making process. Must-Have or Bust: If your SaaS product isn’t essential, you’re at risk. Companies demand solutions that solve critical problems. The game has changed. Has your SaaS strategy?

54

15 Comments

IMO, mental health is vital for GTM architects and leaders. Anyone working on the GTM team at a B2B tech company has probably experienced or seen firsthand how the very normal byproduct of it all - aka stress - is highly unavoidable. And that stress needs to be managed in the right way. The world and our own unique lives provide enough stress as it is. But add on ambitious goals, tight deadlines, too much work, and constant change…. You can easily fall victim to too much stress and a big decline in your mental health (and physical health too!). When you are struggling mentally, even the simplest tasks or projects seem harder. I know it from experience. So a very sneaky “hack” to being better at your job is to work on your mental resiliency. Yes, you can change your job if the stress is too much. But a change in a job isn’t always the answer. But working on your mental resiliency can be the answer and you are the owner of that. So here are some tips for how to handle: 1. 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲. If you are way too stressed because of too much work, voice this to your boss who can maybe help prioritize or take some of that load off for you. If your boss isn’t as receptive to this feedback, look at where you spend most of your time and decide if that amount of time and effort is really worth it. If not - get rid of it! 2. 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿. For me, it has always been exercising early before I start work (and now before the kids are up). That release of endorphins really sets my mood and energy for taking on what the day brings. But you do you. This might mean a morning meditation or even a dance party in the living room. 3. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆. For me, this means scheduling out my days with blocks of time to get head-down work done versus just calls or organizing days of the week to certain tasks or types of work (strategic versus tactical). I also like starting my day with a walk meeting. Fresh air and steps are when I brainstorm best. 4. 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲. That last-minute request to do something? Annoying. But is it really enough to send you down a spiral? Focus on the parts of your life that are very important and going well - your health, family, and security. We aren’t saving lives here. But also don’t be ashamed of taking your job seriously and having it be a meaningful part of your life! I find mental health for myself and my team so important that we keep open conversations on the topic. I even did a team activity last year that had some great tips and activities you can do yourself or with your team. I can share it with you if you comment on my post!

31

Stumbled upon this great little gem of a podcast episode from LinearB with Mark Robinson at Plaid "The Rise of Cloud Costs, and How to Optimize Them": "There’s a million little blind alleyways where you're spending money without realizing it. You might think, 'Someone set it up, it must be right,' only to find out it’s not. Amazon, for instance, charges a lot for networking fees. By default, they route all your S3 traffic externally, which incurs those fees. But if you flip this one little toggle to route it internally, it’s such a huge change. It’ll save you a fortune, especially if you use a lot of S3." I highly recommend checking this resource out: https://lnkd.in/g-aBJbEH

65

4 Comments

Apollo.io is tanking. Deliverability is a joke and data quality is going down. I've been an enterprise Apollo user for years. I loved the platform. However, the data seems to just be getting worse and worse and deliverability is essentially non-existent. We're switching Identity Matrix to Smartlead. Any other suggestions from my outbound friends? #outboundsales #sales

656

428 Comments

A very helpful enablement tool that almost no one has? List of initiatives / tools / programs to steal budget from + WHY our solution is a better investment. In most orgs… There are 1000 one pagers about random features. Zero one pagers about initiatives that we could get $$$ from and how to position for it.

14

1 Comment

One of the biggest challenges we all face as SaaS founders is nailing down the actual problem we're solving. Stéphane Paquet from DashAPI.ai shared how they initially aimed to be a decision intelligence platform but realized the real pain was in the data layer. This pivot was crucial. The lesson? Stay curious, keep questioning, and listen closely to your market. 🎧 Tune into SaaS Founder Stories to learn more! 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gxDBzxGm #SaaS #StartupJourney #FounderChallenges #PivotWisely

13

1 Comment

Some tools I'm using in many of my consulting engagements right now (steal my tech stack—"Good artists copy, great artists steal": (For context, the type of engagements I'm doing include: automated PLG workflows, inbound automation, scoring, micro-campaigns, and automated warm outbound/signal-based selling). ~~In alphabetical order~~ [CRM] Attio (a new one in the mix) HubSpot Salesforce [Data] Apollo.io Clay (a spreadsheet with APIs into 80+ data providers and LLMs) Sumble ZoomInfo [Miscellaneous] Chili Piper (Lead routing) Default (next-gen lead routing) HeyReach (LinkedIn automation) Ocean.io (Lookalikes) [Signals] Apollo.io Champify Common Room Koala Orchestra Pocus RB2B UserGems 💎 ZoomInfo ••• The alpha is not in the technology. It's in the strategy. Remember, avoid catching "GAS" (gear acquisition syndrome). The tools used to execute the strategy is merely a means to an end.

56

33 Comments

The "Anti-AI SDR Company," Rox, came out of stealth today. It's a world-class team, building agentic workflows natively on the data warehouse. Here's why you shouldn't write them off as simply playing Silicon Valley buzzword bingo: 1. Account-based agents Rox's central idea is account-based agents for quota-carrying reps. Traditionally, we think about task-specific agents or assistants - eg: an email-writing assistant, a research bot, a CRM plugin, etc. Rox flips this on its head. Instead of having agents for different tasks, Rox provides one dedicated agent per account that can scour: - public data - third-party data partners - first-party tools like your CRM and data warehouse and - can even leverage a team of humans who can be used to manually research and verify important data. 2. Software that gets smarter with time I joke that gtm tech gets worse the more you use it, not better. (Looking at you, Salesforce… after several years of usage, it starts to look more like a 59-year old Mike Tyson trying to fight a 27-year old YouTuber… tired and past its prime) With Rox, it gets smarter the more you use it. Over time, the tuning kicks in and the more context you share with it, the better it will get. 3. Results, not "demoware" Over 35 of the best-performing enterprise sales teams have adopted Rox organically. What impresses me the most is how Ishan, Rox's Co-founder/CEO responded when I congratulated him on the fundraise. He said: “It doesn't matter. What matters is: do reps find it useful? Does it make them more productive? And hopefully the productivity is significant enough where it changes the fundamental unit economics of the market. That's pretty much our sole focus.” 4. Anti-AI SDR My dumbed-down explanation of the product: Perplexity/Claude Projects + Clay-lite + a slick workflow layer (plus… it uses dark mode — my kinda people). It’s built for quota-carrying reps. Rox is explicitly anti-AISDR. It's not trying to replace the human touch with automation. Their approach is to help you save time on: information gathering, wrangling and reasoning. 5. Supercharge your best reps Rox’s arbitrage is around the fact that reps don’t spend time in Salesforce anymore. And, maybe more interestingly, the data is not all in Salesforce anymore (this is a very big deal). Ramp has saved 200+ hours of time by automating previously manual work - things like: pre-meeting research, note-taking, follow-up reminders, and more. Ramp is re-allocating those hours into pipeline generation. This is a great example of how software will enable teams to do more, with less. I think we’re still very early here. –––––––––––– My full breakdown on Rox on today's deep dive sponsored post on The Signal: https://lnkd.in/gc8tB5Rg PS - Don't take my word for it. You can sign up for free today, at run.rox.com 

171

51 Comments

Just a few weeks after the GA release of Arm64 runners, we’re already seeing our clients achieve noticeable reductions in build times and lower runtime costs. If you're looking to scale your CI/CD operations and accelerate feedback loops, now is the time to explore the benefits of Arm64! Key takeaways: - ⚡ Faster build times to streamline development. - 💰 Cost savings through optimized runtimes. Ready to take your CI/CD to the next level? #CI/CD #Arm64 #DevOps #BuildOptimization #CostEfficiency #ContinuousIntegration target: https://lnkd.in/gY-_n6JJ

77