Jason M. Lemkin tells SaaS leaders to hire strong VPs, focus on net revenue retention as an annuity, and ask existing happy customers what else they'd buy. Datadog sustained high NRR at scale.
Datadog
$1 billion ARR (cited as 'a billion in ARR').
130% plus NRR
16 quarters
Look, if you're in a tough time, sometimes only time will solve a tough time. But a great VP or two will pull you out and faster growth will de stress things. Point 10 we've said this many times on Saster, but it's true. If things are stressful, if you don't know what to do, if you're not growing fast enough, if the competition seems to be passing you by, if the world seems to be passing you by, sometimes you don't know what to do. You don't know how to get more customer. You don't know what features to build. You don't know how to get out of this pit. This is SaaS, okay? And there's one thing that always works because we have recurring revenue, at least most of us do, which is focus on your happy customer. If you're even close to a hundred percent NRR and you treat your customers well, one it's an annuity that a hundred percent NRR is going to last forever. Datadog's at a billion in ARR and it's still it still has 130% plus NRR at a billion in revenue and it's had it for 16 quarters. INRR lasts forever. So lean into it. If you don't know what to do, just ask your customers. You can't get more leads. Just ask your existing customers what more they would like to buy from you. If they love you, they will.
