David Skok

The Author

David Skok

Serial entrepreneur turned VC @MatrixPartners. - Author of forEntrepreneurs blog. - Interested in investing in SaaS, Cloud, Infrastructure Software

Matrix Growth Academy – Zero to 100 Videos

Introduction Lean Startup taught the world how to find product/market fit, but in the B2B world that isn’t enough. B2B founders must then find a way to build repeatable, scalable and profitable growth before they are ready to step on the accelerator and grow at high speed....

David Skok 12/06/2018

2018 Private SAAS Company Survey- Part 2

We recently released Part 1 results of our private SaaS company survey in partnership with KBCM Technology Group (formerly Pacific Crest Securities). This is the sixth annual survey we’ve produced together, which provides data to help SaaS companies benchmark their...

David Skok 11/15/2018

WebSummit Presentations

I presented on two topics at WebSummit 2018 in Lisbon on November 6th. The slides and videos of those two presentations can be found below. The videos are provided courtesy of WebSummit. Special bonus: for those interested in the fun side of life, I have added a video...

David Skok 11/06/2018

2018 SAAS Private Survey Results- Part 1

For the seventh year in a row, we’re proud to work with KBCM Technology Group (formerly Pacific Crest Securities) to share results from a survey of ~385 private SaaS companies. Thank you to the readers of forEntrepreneurs who participated in taking the...

David Skok 11/06/2018

SaaStock Dublin 2018: Get inside your Buyer’s Head – Improve Conversion Rates

At this year’s SaaStock, I presented on one of my favorite topics: how to improve your marketing and sales funnel conversion rates using a deep understanding of what is going on in your buyer’s mind as the navigate through their purchasing process, and experience...

David Skok 10/16/2018

Zero to 100 – Photos from the SFO Sept 2018 event

Thanks to all of you who helped make the Zero to 100 event in San Francisco such a great success. Please find below a selection of photos from the event:

David Skok 10/08/2018

We’re Overthinking Seed Round Signaling Effects

There is much hand wringing in the startup ecosystem about various forms of signaling between the seed and A rounds. Conventional wisdom, and advice, abounds: entrepreneurs should never include a venture firm in their seed round because it’ll scare other VCs off from...

David Skok 09/25/2018

Onboarding your first Sales Hire as an Entrepreneur

In today’s blogpost I would like to introduce my partner for Zero to 100, Stephanie (Schatz) Friedman. Stephanie has been an executive in 3 successful startups and was most recently the SVP of Sales and Customer Success at Xamarin which has since been acquired by Microsoft....

David Skok 09/06/2018

“Zero to 100” for High Growth SaaS – A workshop on how to build your Go-to-Market

I have great pleasure in announcing a new program called Zero to 100 – Matrix Growth Academy. This program is my response to what so many of you have been asking for: a detailed instruction manual for how to take your startup from zero to $100m, with a particular focus...

David Skok 07/13/2018

A High Growth SaaS Playbook – 12 Metrics to Drive Success

I recently gave a talk at the 2018 SaaStock NYC conference in June. I had two goals I wanted to accomplish, present a simple model to understand SaaS business and to show a simple model of a SaaS business and to show the key levers a CEO can pull to achieve the greatest...

David Skok 06/28/2018

Why early-stage startups should wait to calculate LTV:CAC, and how they should use it when they do

I have the great pleasure in introducing you to a new writer, Jared Sleeper, who will make regular contributions to this blog. We were very excited to have Jared to join Matrix Partners recently as he is a truly exceptional individual. Jared grew up in Maine working in his...

David Skok 06/28/2017

Optimize Your Funnel By Getting Inside Your Buyer’s Head

Part of finding product/market fit is turning early wins into repeatable, scalable, and profitable sales. In my talk given at Heavybit as part of their developer-focused speaker series and community, I discuss how to design a great sales process, analyze the buyers journey,...

David Skok 06/15/2017

Optimizing the SaaS Funnel from Top to Bottom

In my talk at the 2017 SaaStr Annual conference, the goal was to offer a simple model of a SaaS business and highlight key areas for optimization within the SaaS funnel. Watch the video presentation to learn the key levers a CEO can pull to make the greatest impact to their...

David Skok 04/19/2017

Zero to $50M – A Roadmap of the Key Stages, and How to Win at Each Stage

There are seven key stages in a startup’s evolution from $0m to $50m in revenue. Understanding where you are in that evolution, and how to act at each stage is critical for success, as what is appropriate at one stage is not appropriate at another stage. In my talk at SaaStr...

David Skok 02/05/2018

Top Two Reasons for Churn

In working with a number of SaaS portfolio companies, I have found that there are two causes of churn that occur more frequently than any others. They are: Failure to successfully onboard the customer Loss of the champion who drove the purchase Looking at these in order:...

David Skok 01/03/2018

The Never-Ending Journey: In Search of Product-Market-Fit

Intro Many potentially great companies fail each year because, while they have an incredible product, they don’t figure out how to get it to market fast enough. Figuring out how to reach customers and break through to Product-Market-Fit remains one of the hardest parts of...

David Skok 12/14/2017

How to calculate your total addressable market and make a great TAM slide for investors

I’ve seen hundreds of startup pitch decks in my time at Matrix, and have found total addressable market (TAM) slides to be among the most frequently mis-executed. I get the sense they are often included as a formality in an attempt to get VCs to check a mental box and...

David Skok 12/06/2017

Building a Repeatable, Scalable & Profitable Growth Process

I gave a talk this year at the 2017 SaaS North conference in Ottawa, where I discuss the fundamentals of building a repeatable, scalable, & profitable growth process for a startup. Building a Repeatable, Scalable & Profitable Growth Process [View on Slideshare...

David Skok 11/28/2017

2017 SaaS Survey Infographic

The third annual forEntrepreneurs SaaS Survey Infographic shares top highlights from this year’s SaaS Survey results! You can find the full 2017 survey results here: Part 1 shares growth rates, go-to-market trends and cost structure Part 2 covers application delivery methods...

David Skok 10/31/2017

2017 Private SaaS Company Survey – Part 2

David Skok 10/31/2017