Articles by Tomasz Tunguz
Which is a More Efficient Way to Build a SaaS Startup - Bottoms Up or Top Down?Tomasz analyzed tops-down versus bottoms-up companies, across revenue growth, gross margin, profitability, and capital raised. His analysis found that both approaches can produce efficient companies, and there was no statistically significant difference between the efficiency of bottoms up and top down companies in any of the four measures analyzed.
- How Should You Structure Sales Teams for Optimal Performance?
Tomasz explores real-world data on the effectiveness of how many direct reports a sales manager should have: • Smaller sales teams with spans of control of 7 or less tend to perform better and attain higher quotas. Teams with spans of control over 7 attain less than 50% of quota twice as frequently. • Teams with spans of control of 7 or less are twice as likely to attain 80-95% of quota, indicating smaller teams are more likely to outperform. • Hypergrowth companies may hire more managers to scale teams, resulting in smaller spans of control during hypergrowth. • Senior sales team members need less coaching, so team performance could also depend on salesperson experience.
- Your Startup’s API Could be Its Disruptor
Tomasz provides a framework - a "balance of data trade" - for thinking through what to expose versus what to receive when designing an API to support a platform strategy.
- The Compounding Returns of Content Marketing
Tomasz explains how to think about a content strategy that separates evergreen posts (those that confer timeless advice) versus temporal posts (those that comment on recent events).
- The Three Dimensions of Content Marketing Strategy for Startups
Tomasz provides a great intro to content marketing strategy by providing a framework with 3 dimensions: Customer Segments Customer Lifecycle Content Types
- What SaaS Startups Miss in User Onboarding
Tomasz provides a nice intro to onboarding with a key premise: "the onboarding process must create some value for the user during that sign-up session, in order to keep the user coming back."
- Ten Year's Worth of Learnings About Pricing
Tomasz provides a summary of pricing frameworks that covers strategies (Skimming, Maximization, and Penetration), philosophies (cost-based vs. value-based), structure, and position.
Structuring One on Ones to Maximize Your Team's SuccessTomasz explains how adding structure to 1:1 meetings can take them from being mediocre to being great. He covers the framework used by the legendary CEO coach, Bill Campbell: the manager and direct report should each compile a list of their perceived top-5 priorities before the meeting, and review those at the beginning of the meeting. After that, they can cover four standard meeting topics.