Top 5 SaaS Leaders You Should Follow
The SaaS industry has matured a lot since Marc Benioff started Salesforce. Through the years, many SaaS start-ups have gotten our attention, but none of these firms would be as successful if it were not for their game-changing leaders. Check out these top 5 influential SaaS leaders whose ideas are propelling the industry forward today.
- David Skok
I was fortunate enough to listen to Mr. Skok live a couple of times and every time I’m so impressed with his depth of knowledge, data-obsession, and leadership. He is a big proponent of metrics-driven growth. In addition to his advice on why and how to use key SaaS metrics like “LTV:CAC,” he actually shares a free template so you can make your own calculations.
Moreover, he regularly publishes SaaS data that you can compare your metrics with the rest of the industry. For instance, if you have been spending $0.7 for every $1 of new ARR and spending $0.2 for upsell, you are above the median.
2. Tomasz Tunguz
Influencers are the ones that you pick up new stuff from. How about bite-sized chunks of content every day? Instead of long and detailed guidelines, Mr. Tunguz, -almost daily- publishes short content pieces with an average read time of 3 minutes. If you are busy and have limited time to learn something new, his website is the one you should follow.
He is comfortable with data, either pulling up his portfolio companies or researching publicly traded SaaS companies to prove any of his points and support his arguments with easily digestible graphs. One of my favorites is his elaboration on 40% rule.
3. Jason Lemkin
You’ve probably heard about Mr. Lemkin if you are in the SaaS business. (I mean unless you have never searched any SaaS-related questions on the web.) A successful entrepreneur turned into an investor, he founded the SaaStr community that you should check out. As an attendee of the SaaStr 2018 event, I can clearly say he has so much respect from both the entrepreneurs and the investors.
I don’t know how he finds time to answer ~3,000 questions on Quora (actual number as of August 2018) while he invests, leads, mentors and organizes events, but if you are not following SaaStr.com, you’re missing out on plenty of valuable info.
4. Mike Volpe
Co-founder of one of the most successful SaaS startups, Mr. Volpe (along with Dharmesh Shah) is the mastermind behind the growth of Hubspot. I have to admit whenever I launch a new growth campaign, I ask myself “How would Hubspot do it in 2008–2011?” Post Hubspot IPO, he moved on to another CMO role before finally becoming a CEO. He has a personal blog and is very active on social media, but I wouldn’t ignore his Hubpost blog series.
If you’re trying to grow your SaaS business, you’re behind if you don’t already follow Mike!
5. Mamoon Hamid
Another investor on the list, Mamoon Hamid, has some of the best tips to scale your SaaS business. He is the sought after speaker for various conferences. Oh, he also invents things. One of my favorites is “Quick Ratio” that tells how healthy your future growth is by looking at your churn and contraction rates. I’m very grateful, as leaders like Mr. Hamid advocates that no particular metrics fits everyone and therefore you have to find out your own KPIs based on your unique business.
If growing your SaaS business is your primary focus, building, selling, and fixing problems should consume most of your time. And you don’t have time to research other success stories. Focusing on only the top influencers and learning from their experience and leadership is a valuable use of your time. Good luck in growing your business.
Who are the other SaaS leaders that you think might be followed-up? Comment below…
