Insider Guide
What is SaaS?
A plain-English guide to the industry you're about to work in
Want to talk through what you've read?
Get in touchSaaS stands for Software-as-a-Service. Companies sell access to cloud-based software on a subscription basis: customers pay monthly or annually to use it, rather than buying it outright. It's delivered online, constantly updated, and scales with customer growth. Think Salesforce, HubSpot, Aircall, or Paddle.
How do SaaS companies make money?
- Subscription revenue: monthly or annual fees, often per user (e.g. £50/user/month)
- Usage-based pricing: charged by volume, such as number of API calls
- Freemium: free basic plan with paid upgrades (e.g. Dropbox)
- Upsell & expansion: start small, land the client, then expand usage or tier over time
VC funding & why it matters
Most SaaS businesses, especially early-stage ones, are VC-backed. Investors give them money in exchange for equity (ownership), and the model is built around fast growth. If a company has raised a Series A or B, it's likely hiring aggressively. That's where we come in.
| Stage | What it means |
|---|---|
| Pre-Seed | Early idea, friends & family funding |
| Seed | Product-market fit, first customers |
| Series A | Scaling the sales team, GTM push: this is when hiring ramps |
| Series B / C / D+ | Rapid growth, international expansion |
| Exit | IPO or acquisition |
Key GTM titles
| Title | What they do |
|---|---|
| SDR (Sales Development Representative) | Prospect new leads, qualify interest, book meetings for AEs. KPIs: meetings booked, call volume, conversion rate. Career path: SDR → AE → Sales Manager → VP Sales |
| AE (Account Executive) | Run discovery calls, demos, and close new business. KPIs: closed revenue, deal size, pipeline coverage |
| Sales Manager / Head of Sales | Manages AEs or SDRs, owns team targets and hiring |
| VP Sales | Leads sales strategy, hires/manages GTM teams, forecasts revenue |
| CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) | Owns all revenue: Sales, CS, Marketing |
GTM sister departments
- Customer Success (CS): keeps existing customers happy, manages onboarding, renewals, and upsells
- Marketing: creates awareness and generates inbound leads, works closely with SDRs
- RevOps (Revenue Operations): responsible for systems, data, and forecasting; supports the efficiency of the entire GTM machine
What makes a good SDR?
- Grit, coachability, and organisation
- Strong written and verbal communication
- Not afraid to pick up the phone
- Resilience: rejection is part of the job, and the best SDRs treat it as data
SaaS jargon you'll need to know
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| ICP | Ideal Customer Profile |
| TAM | Total Addressable Market |
| SQL / MQL | Sales / Marketing Qualified Lead |
| Quota | Target number for bookings or revenue |
| Pipeline | Value of deals in progress |
| Churn | Lost customers |
| ARR | Annual Recurring Revenue |
| Tech Stack | Tools a company uses (e.g. Salesforce, Outreach, ZoomInfo) |
If you're preparing for interviews and want to talk through what to expect, get in touch with the team at info@timberseed.com.
timberseed.
Want to talk through what you've read?
Our team is happy to discuss any of this in the context of your own search, whether you're hiring or looking.
Get in touch