Alexander Santonastaso

Freaking out bc you just heard about data waterfalls and how they'll fix your crappy pipeline? I spent 3 months exploring them deeply, and data waterfalls are one of the biggest crackpot GTM snake oil sales I've ever seen. Data waterfalls are one of those things that make so much sense at face value. Give some data waterfall provider a list of leads. Select multiple data vendor partners to enrich the list with emails. First vendor on the list fills in x% of the emails. Then, vendor 2 takes a shot at what's left and fills y% of the emails. Rinse, repeat until you run through your list through all the vendors. One stop shop to get all of those yummy email addresses. Give 'em to your SDRs and 2021 pipeline numbers return with vigor! Sounds magical right? Googling for data waterfall companies now? Wait a sec. Let's peek under the covers a bit. But, Mark, why look more deeply? Tons of smart people are so excited and giddy over them. Shouldn't I just jump in? Let's walk through this... 1. Many of those smart people trumpeting data waterfalls are making big bucks using these tools. Paid posts. Consulting. Reselling lists they've enriched with them. 2. Many of those smart people have NEVER had a job where they've held a number, yet execs that need to deliver $1M, $5, $10M, $20M a quarter are trusting them with adjusting their GTM strategy bc they are nervous as hell. 3. The excitement comes from conflating accuracy with coverage. You think "If I can get emails from 10 vendors, one of them has to be right. This waterfall will get us the right ones." HA! It doesn't work like that. The waterfall goes to the first vendor and runs through the whole list filling in emails it has. Then, vendor 1 passes the leads who still don't have an email to vendor 2 to see if they do. Repeat through all the vendors See? There is NO version of "vendor 1 and vendor 2 both have emails and they are different and the data waterfall knows which one is right so it only gives me the right one." If vendor 1 has data, vendor 2 isn't engaged. Even if you allow every vendor to enrich every lead with their emails, the waterfall is dumb. It has no clue which ones work or not. It just wants to fill the value requested. You end up with a better fill rate on email addresses, not better email addresses. That's not entirely invaluable, but it's not what most people think is happening. 4. Costs are almost uncontrollable as newbies go on "data adventures" to enrich a lead list with what they think are accurate emails. I've heard of people blowing $1000 in 10 seconds and not even understanding what they are doing...and not ending up with even 20% of the data they were hoping for. Listen, things are changing fast. AI and several other disruptive ideas are coming to bear quickly to help solve the Pipeline Famine of 2023/24. I encourage everyone to explore these new ideas. Just take a second to look deeper and understand how they work.

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Here is how you can find a lot of hidden revenue ⤵️ I was recently engaged by a PE firm to support them with GTM playbooks and revenue tech. Guess where we found 90% of the revenue opportunities? Hint: It wasn’t in the P&L Once it hits the Accounting P&L, it’s ‘too late’ - 90% of the impact you can make on the revenue is already exhausted Jeff Bezos once remarked that he felt odd whenever an analyst congratulated him on a good quarter. Why? Because the results of that quarter were shaped 12+ months ago Similarly, when revenue appears on the P&L, it was generated months, quarters, or even years ago through the sales pipeline So, what can you do? Focus on the Sales P&L as much as you do on the Accounting P&L. That's where 90% of the revenue value creation lives #PrivateEquity #Cepture #B2B #Sales #Technology

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Founders & Finance get this, but Rev Ops and BI does not (and sales is wayyy off) - your numbers have to be defensible. No, the executives are not micromoanaging, they are in the details. There’s a difference. If you come from FP&A or Accounting then you get it.

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“Why are my financials not matching my Rev Ops data?” is a common question I get from CFOs and Founders. If you have this issue, here is my 2-step advice: 1. First things first - define what you’re measuring. If your financials are not matching your Rev Ops, the first thing you need to do is go back to first principles and understand what you’re measuring. Since there’s no standard definition of ARR, Rev Ops teams measure it differently across different businesses. This is true with most metrics including revenue and gross margin. So first - figure out exactly what you’re measuring and make sure your definitions are consistent across your different teams, including finance. 2. If that doesn’t work, make sure your financial operations (FinOps) processes are accurate. You’d be surprised how many companies screw this up. Specifically: Your books could be incorrect, especially when categorizing transactions and adjusting them. You might not be getting paid what you thought you were being paid (maybe closing deals but not getting paid) If your financials still aren’t matching your Rev Ops — you probably need to do a deeper analysis and may have more deep-seated issues. Just my $0.02 😜

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If your business case is a 23 slide PPT deck, you're missing the mark. CFO's will only give your champion ~15 minutes so don't give them an hour deck. Everything they care most about comes down to 2 elements: 1. 'Why change' and why a new investment is required 2. Why your solution is the best for them So align my 1-pager business case exactly to that. 1. Why Change Company-Specific Objective ↳ New product being launched Area of Opportunity Identified Within It ↳ Sellers are all over the place demoing + messaging it ↳ Hurting our overall win rates of opportunities Current State ↳ 20% win rate Ideal State ↳ 25% win rate What that's worth ↳ Growing 5% in win rates, is worth $2M / annually What they've tried today and why that doesn't work. ↳ Having managers sit in on more calls (time intensive) ↳ Recording calls manually on Zoom (no aggregate insights) 2. Why Your Company How your solution is uniquely able to help ↳ Evaluated 3 different vendors - x, y, z ↳ ACME is the only one that can track our messaging accurately, which is the root cause behind our poor win rate ↳ ACME ran a 10 day pilot with us to de-risk the investment and show us first-hand Takeaway: 80% of this business case is spent on 'why change' and they should invest You learn everything about this through really strong discovery 20% of this business case is spent on 'why you' So lose your 23 PPT slides and simplify it. 🦙 P.S. Join 12,000+ sellers choosing to level up on the (free) weekly newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gjeVd_U8

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Let me start by saying, "We live in an ever expanding data junkyard crawling with data junkies getting their fix." - JC Christensen Pictures like these with little pithy statements are the *data* that has been *orbiting* around my *body* as I float through *online* space. Yes, the internet is an abundant resource with a powerful ability to scale economy. It's also an awful social experiment. Life online continues to entice and fail at an exhilarating and yet exhausting pace. From a distant vantage point high above the noise, you could see just how tangled up we have all become in algorithms. We have become tethered to systems that feed on our inputs like gasoline, selling the outputs 🤑 "Danger! Will Robinson, Danger!" Anywho, it is what it is... the point I'm trying to make is that at first glance this pitcure and quote seems cleaned up, normalized, with a super slick color visualization. But for all its polish it's got at least a few glaring problems: 1. This isn't a quote from Lewis ❌️ 2. Very bad advice ❌️ 3. No iconic historical warrior applied this statement resulting in their greatness ❌️ The reality is this has all the feels and none of the real. Making a decision based on this type of data will not end in destiny but just prolonged hardship. So if those were the jabs, here comes the "Bald Bull" upper cut. (Mike Tyson's Punch Out? IYKYK) My caution to all of you out there chasing the latest AI driven data platform to drive business decisions, do some digging into their methodology. Chances are it's about as useful as this picture. What are the data sources? Like so many social media platforms are you the product, the source? Is their goal a giant echo chamber? And obviously you can run this excerise all the way down... Why are those sources reliable? What are the strengths and weakness of each? How many sources do they pull from? How are those sources aggregated? How are those multitude of sources crosswalked? What is the process for identifying duplicates and reducing the noise? What is their normalization, classification, and enrichment process? How is it thematically reviewed? How often? It appears that AI will magnify and multiply at scale which can be super cool if it is stewarded well. But what appears too often to be the case is this includes hallucinations and noise right alongside what appears to be accurate, trusted, and reliable data. Presented back faster than you can read... and fast equals smart right? sited equals truth right? My call to action, make sure your data driven decisions are based on a bedrock foundation not shifting sand. If you don't know find out! Make them prove it. Have them take you back in the "kitchen" where the data is collected and prepared for use. If not, this image is for you. Just know your end isn't extrodinary destiny, but instead you will ONLY be embracing hardship unduly expecting your extraordinary destiny. As always, push the LinkedIn 3000 character limit... everytime. 😂🎯

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Imagine this... ... you're a CFO at a fast growing B2B SaaS company, you have one more team member in the finance team. Your subscription model is too complex for your traditional finance system to handle revenue recognition for the services you provide - you have to do this manually in spreadsheets. A seller closed a deal, starting Thursday, June 27th, including: - License fee: 30 seats, 8,000 EUR, billed annually upfront. - Add-on module: 1,000 EUR, starting when custom integration is complete. - Custom integration: One-time fee of 2,000 EUR, billed upon project completion. - Usage: Additional charges based on API calls, billed quarterly in arrears. The challenge? - Despite receiving the payment upfront, the license fee needs to be recognized over 12 months, starting June 27th. This means there will be a prorated month at the start and the end of the service period. - The add-on module cannot be recognized over time until the integration is completed. - The custom integration fee needs to be recognized when the project is completed. - The usage-based billing introduces variability in revenue recognition. You need to estimate the revenue from API calls based on actual usage and adjust it quarterly. Now, imagine adding 200 other contracts into this mix, each with different terms, and mid-term changes to subscriptions i.e adding more users or annual price uplifts on specific contracts. Continuing managing these complex billing scenarios manually in spreadsheets will increase the risk of errors sooner than later. Chances are you're not going to stay compliant according to ASC 606/IFRS 15 standards. And, during an audit, detailed documentation and evidence of how revenue is recognized and allocated across different components of the contract must be provided. …a true nightmare 😱 How are you managing your revenue recognition for more advanced subscriptions? If you're interested in how you can automate your revenue recognition on advanced contracts with Younium and sleep like a baby before your next audit, send me a DM 👋 #RevenueRecognition #B2BSaaS #SubscriptionManagement #Younium

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Tech Talk Wednesday is here! Through my lens as a CFO, one thing's clear – pre-technology, we'd be up a creek without a paddle. I've come to rely heavily on data-driven decisions and FP&A tools like data rails, Adaptive by Workday, and Power-BI. Cast your memory back to the days of AS400, now the IBMI Power 9, coupled with software packages like BOSS Warehouse and PRMS. Once a shining gem in Automotive and piping supply manufacturing, these tools now seem like remnants of a bygone era. Indeed, these software packages could be customized to a fair extent, and for a time, they were invaluable. But let's be honest here, when data storage takes the form of unending spreadsheets, and critical information gets lost in Excel’s labyrinth, the whole system’s integrity unravels. Let's swerve in another direction. Today's needs demand AI, data-driven decisions, and efficient software solutions. Yet, as leaders, we often grapple with understanding the ROI Value of these advanced systems. Are we unwittingly cornering ourselves by not equipping our teams with the latest tools? We ask for reports in 10 minutes, but have we gauged the feasibility of that? Or are we just trying to appease the board without scrutinizing the numbers ourselves? It's food for thought as we navigate this tech-driven landscape. So, what's your experience with balancing traditional systems and the push for modern tech solutions? Share your stories below.

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Snowflake's secret to sky-high NRR? Dissolving their customer success department. You read that right. One of the fastest-growing SaaS startups ELIMINATED its CS department...and it worked. Here's why: Snowflake knows customer success is a team sport. The customer experience spans product, sales, marketing, and billing. It's not just one department's job - it's EVERYONE'S top priority. By spreading CSMs across the org, Snowflake ensures customer success is woven into the fabric of every team. No more siloed thinking or dropped handoffs. Just a relentless, company-wide focus on delivering customer value. The lesson? To build a SaaS rocket ship, customer success can't be relegated to a single team. It needs to be the beating heart of your entire operation. When every employee treats customer success as their #1 mission... You create an unstoppable growth engine. Snowflake's results speak for themselves. Want to instill a customer-obsessed culture in your org? Start by making customer success everyone's KPI. Demolish the silos. Rally every team around a shared goal. The NRR will follow. I know it sounds radical. But the proof is in the revenue. Snowflake's approach may be unconventional, but it's undeniably effective. Thoughts?

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I'm graduating Snowflake sales boot camp today, here are a few highlights. 🥳 1. It was *actually* useful. That should be a given but for most corporate sales training it certainly isn't. Shoutout to Emily Carrillo and team for putting together relevant & actionable content - this is the new gold standard in my mind. 2. My new colleagues are very kind and insanely talented. Clearly we're doing a great job hiring. 3. Snowflake has a very bright future. Between the incredible talent density I saw this week, and the cool stuff we have coming (🤫) I'm very excited to be here. 4. Our customers are building at the bleeding edge! I've seen everything from models trained and deployed fully on platform, to Snowpark used for function-as-a-service. 5. My group lucked into Nikki Damaschino as our coach and got some very actionable feedback. Snowflake is moving quickly from powerful data platform to trusted strategic partner to enterprises, hearing that underscored live by leadership was inspiring. Bonus photo: Sridhar Ramaswamy walked into the office at 7:30PM on Tuesday, clearly on his way to do something. He still stopped for Q&A + a photo op. ⬇️ Classy and cool. 😎 I could not be more excited to be here! #technology #innovation #data #sales

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Account Receivables can be confusing. There are so many metrics to focus on. - Aging reports - Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) - Bad Debt to Accounts Receivable Ratio - Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio - Collection effectiveness index There are definitely some metrics that matter more than others. I've been scaling CPG brands for more than 10 years. I check for these things instead: 1. Consistent cash flow: Ensuring there's enough cash to cover all costs. 2. Credit control: A tight grip on credit control can help prevent overdue payments. 3. Regular reviews: Regular reviews of receivables help to identify problematic accounts early. And it is working for me. Has your approach to account receivables changed over the years? #AccountReceivables #CPGBrands #FinancialManagement

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💁‍♂️ 3 simple steps to data effectiveness in any field sales org (in order)... 1️⃣ Get a CRM that your reps will actually use 2️⃣ Start with asking for only the data you absolutely need 3️⃣ Mandate adoption of the system in number 1 above 👆 These sound simple, right? You would be shocked at how many companies have 100+ reps driving around, and do exactly 0 of these....

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Product usage data is a goldmine for growth. But only if you know how to dig. Amplitude built a $7 billion business helping companies leverage this data. Here's how you can do it: 1. Identify power users for upsell opportunities 2. Spot teams approaching usage limits 3. Predict and prevent churn with engagement metrics 4. Inform product development priorities 5. Personalize user experiences and offers Companies that effectively use product data see a 30% reduction in churn rates. Are you fully capitalizing on the wealth of data your product generates?

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FMV: Cap Tables, SAFEs, & 409A - I recently was asked this question: An early-stage SaaS company is using a SaaS cap table tracking service for their 409A valuation for stock option grants. The service valued the company at a multiple of cash flow, which I agree with, and then subtracted the investments from existing SAFE agreements (calling them debt). The SAFEs are not debt, there is no repayment obligation. Have you seen this before? My understanding is that these should not reduce the value; they are only dilutive if and at the next funding round. My answer: You are correct. Most SaaS cap table tracking systems have limited free versions and more robust paid ones, but sometimes lack flexibility in dealing with unusual transactions like a SAFE. However, the generally accepted principles for reflecting SAFEs on cap tables are sketchy at best. You are correct in that the SAFE is NOT debt and should not have been subtracted from the value. They are ‘pre-paid’ equity, so how can that be reflected in the cap schedule? Here are my suggested options: [Always specifically note the existence and terms of the SAFE on the cap table, regardless of how you reflect dilution.] (a)  Take the 409A valuation and reverse out the subtracted debt amount, Then add back in an imputed increase in fully diluted shares (representing a pro forma conversion of the SAFE) using an arbitrary conversion share price (e.g., the cap if there is one in the SAFE). This newly calculated equivalent of shares, when added to the total fully diluted share number for determining the share FMV, will of course lower the price a bit; or (b) If there was a previous priced round, within 12 months of the FMV calculation, the Board can ignore the 409A and use available information and best judgment (based on the last round, company progress, financial condition, comps, competition, and any previous FMV) to set the new current FMV; or (c)  Just go with the 409A valuation as it stands, since the objective of a valuation for FMV for option grant purposes is generally to justify a lower price for employee options; or Note: It’s up to the Boards of Directors to weigh the risk of losing the IRS’s “safe harbor” protection (relatively small risk and far in the future) against the cost of getting a 409A (usually $5K+ in precious cash). This is only my opinion. I welcome yours.

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How much are you paying per lead? DM Me "DataX" or Comment Below👇 Empower Your Business with DataXplorer, Industry-First, Lead DataProvider. Message Me Today; Send me an Email: kylef@dataxplorer.ai 🤝 Accuracy matters most, especially when you are paying for leads. Segmenting your target market is the difference between average and excellent. Knowing your customer at the deepest level provides a powerful advantage. Does it make sense to transact on clean lead data for a fraction of the price? 🥇 What Impact Should You Expect? 🎯 Accurate Data and Deep Insights 🎨 Tailored Marketing Campaigns ⏱️ Optimized Sales Team Productivity 🌐 Increased Awareness and Visibility How to Get Started 📝 Create an account and choose a subscription level. 📂 Upload your current customer contact data OR search for new leads. 📊 Export your data and upload it to your CRM—or use it within the DX platform. Flexible Pricing Plans: Small Business? Mid-Market? Enterprise? Inquire! Sign up and choose a tier between $199–$2,975/month, no contracts, or try it for free. Custom enterprise packages are available with a contract. 🛠️ Maximize your sales and marketing teams’ reach and impact: Check Our Pricing: https://lnkd.in/ePHEy3JJ #DataXplorer #Sales #Marketing #DataDriven #CustomerEngagement #TargetedMarketing

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The software PE model of Vista, Thoma Bravo, etc. is fundamentally flawed. ​ Buying legacy market leaders in B2B SaaS categories, raising prices, offshoring a % of R&D, buying adjacent products you can cross-sell, etc. etc. - doesn't work that well anymore. ​ It might have worked from ~2000-2015. ​ But it doesn't work in the modern era of software and AI. Markets are too competitive and technology is changing too quickly. ​ --- ​ Vista founder Robert Smith's thesis- "Software contracts are better than first-lien debt. A company will not pay the interest on its first lien until after they pay its software maintenance or subscription fee. We get paid our money first. Who has the better credit?" ​ The problem with this premise is that software contracts have much shorter duration on average than debt. The typical loan duration in private credit is 5-7 years. ​ The avg. enterprise software contract is 1-3 years. But in SMB and mid-market, it's rare to see contracts much longer than one year. Many companies with month-to-month contracts. Not to mention usage based pricing. ​​ Additionally, there's a lot more liquidity in B2B software than their used to be. Software is easier to build. Markets are more competitive. Customers have more choices. And LLMs make migrations easier than they used to be. ​ The most under-discussed flaw in this thesis is that it treats the customer as a captive audience. Prisoners to your mission critical product that they can't live without. ​ Software companies usually win by building a great product that solves a meaningful problem. It's trite to say, but this only happens if you're customer obsessed. Once you lose that, you become extremely vulnerable to up-starts that will obsess over the customer. No one that views their customers as debtors is going to be customer obsessed. ​ This is less of an issue in commodity products / industries like CPG. Oreo's in 2024 are pretty damn similar to Oreos in 1987. But technology is constantly changing. State of the art software in 2010 is miles behind what people are doing in 2024. ​​ Distribution and brand moats can protect your legacy products for a while (esp in enterprise) but eventually you get lapped by competitors with better products, service, pricing, etc. ​ Buying other products doesn't fix this either. The answer to customer problems is not to buy other products and jam them together with your existing solution just so you can call yourself a platform company (rather than point solution). ​ Software is too competitive and changes too fast for this model to work in 2024. ​ Anyone competing with incumbents recently purchased by private equity (like we are) knows exactly what I'm talking about.

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I’m watching Q1 SaaS results. IMO, the weakness continues to be budget scrutiny. CFOs are reprising their roles as CIOs (I = investment). 1) Spend that doesn’t meet ROI hurdle rates gets cut entirely. 2) Spend that is renewed is still subject to inspection of diminishing marginal returns: the final 20% of the order form is never as valuable as the first 80%. And software CFOs should be introspective: in the same way they inspect features on vendor order forms, they should inspect products in house. Divest or sideline products that don’t hit your hurdle rate.

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