Co-Founder + CCO of Zylo: Fixing SaaS Spend + Sprawl
04/20/23 • 37 min
Our Guest: Cory Wheeler, Co-Founder + Chief Customer Officer of Zylo, a leading SaaS Management and Optimization platform with over $30 billion in SaaS spending under management. Zylo’s investor base includes Bessemer Venture Partners, GGV, and Menlo Ventures.
Episode Topics:
- Zylo’s “2023 SaaS Management Index” report
- Cory’s view on a more challenging SaaS market environment - the 1st year with a decline in their platform-wide SaaS spend
- The drivers of SaaS spending declines, like reductions in force and underutilized apps
- Stories of SaaS sprawl, including an organization with 49 different project management apps
- How vendor customer success teams need to prove value and ROI at every renewal
- The significant waste of unused licenses - 56% average monthly utilization in the 2023 Zylo SaaS Management Index
- Project Management Tools as a prime example of SaaS sprawl and underutilization
- Balancing SaaS tools for maximized ROI
- The emerging trend of SaaS negotiation services
- Importance of governance in managing SaaS applications within organizations - balancing prudence against undue bureaucracy.
- A smart insight into the role of Enterprise License Agreements in mitigating risks from “shadow IT”
Episode Resources:
https://zylo.com/reports/2023-saas-management-index/
https://www.saasletter.com/p/saasletter-cost-discipline-post-svb
SaaSMe Podcast on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMpzGma3CYOXHcibXCvz3?si=ad5a24f4e8f54234
SaaSMe Podcast on Other Platforms:
https://podcast.zylo.com/public/112/SaaSMe-Unfiltered%3A-The-SaaS-Management-Podcast-c316deea
About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:
Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio covers all aspects of the business of software.
Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.
https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/
https://twitter.com/SaaSletter
About Cloud Ratings:
Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.
Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products.
Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.
Our Guest: Cory Wheeler, Co-Founder + Chief Customer Officer of Zylo, a leading SaaS Management and Optimization platform with over $30 billion in SaaS spending under management. Zylo’s investor base includes Bessemer Venture Partners, GGV, and Menlo Ventures.
Episode Topics:
- Zylo’s “2023 SaaS Management Index” report
- Cory’s view on a more challenging SaaS market environment - the 1st year with a decline in their platform-wide SaaS spend
- The drivers of SaaS spending declines, like reductions in force and underutilized apps
- Stories of SaaS sprawl, including an organization with 49 different project management apps
- How vendor customer success teams need to prove value and ROI at every renewal
- The significant waste of unused licenses - 56% average monthly utilization in the 2023 Zylo SaaS Management Index
- Project Management Tools as a prime example of SaaS sprawl and underutilization
- Balancing SaaS tools for maximized ROI
- The emerging trend of SaaS negotiation services
- Importance of governance in managing SaaS applications within organizations - balancing prudence against undue bureaucracy.
- A smart insight into the role of Enterprise License Agreements in mitigating risks from “shadow IT”
Episode Resources:
https://zylo.com/reports/2023-saas-management-index/
https://www.saasletter.com/p/saasletter-cost-discipline-post-svb
SaaSMe Podcast on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMpzGma3CYOXHcibXCvz3?si=ad5a24f4e8f54234
SaaSMe Podcast on Other Platforms:
https://podcast.zylo.com/public/112/SaaSMe-Unfiltered%3A-The-SaaS-Management-Podcast-c316deea
About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:
Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio covers all aspects of the business of software.
Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.
https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/
https://twitter.com/SaaSletter
About Cloud Ratings:
Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.
Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products.
Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.
Previous Episode
Founder + CEO of ScaleMatters: Fixing Go To Market Waste
Our Guest: Scott Stouffer, Founder + CEO of ScaleMatters, a Go-To-Market (GTM) Optimization Software Platform.
Episode Topics:
- What to do if you inherit bad RevOps data + systems
- His take on the SaaS industry's declining sales quota attainment levels
- The dangers of focusing too much on late-stage pipeline
- Areas of waste at the top-of-the-funnel
- The ROI of investing in RevOps to eliminate GTM waste
- How tech stacks are often the root cause of GTM waste
- Why everyone invests in RevOps too late
- Reinvesting savings into growth + equity value creation
- His perspective on cold investor outreach
Episode Resources:
About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:
Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio covers all aspects of the business of software.
Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.
About Cloud Ratings:
Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.
Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products.
Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.
Next Episode
Founder + CEO of RepVue: 1,600,000 Sales Data Points
Our Guest: Ryan Walsh is the Founder and CEO of RepVue. Sometimes called “a Glassdoor for sales,” RepVue is the largest platform for crowdsourced ratings (140,000 and growing) of sales organizations globally.
Episode Topics:
- The concept of RepVue and how it aims to solve the problem of information asymmetry in the sales rep hiring process.
- Ryan’s views on market conditions, including declining quota attainment and inbound lead flow.
- Why is quota attainment - currently in the 40% range across software - so low, and how does this situation happen?
- Asking the tough questions as an interviewee: understanding territories, quota attainment, a company's burn rate, and cash runway when considering new sales positions.
- How much product due diligence should sales reps conduct before joining a software company
- If Ryan were a growth equity or private equity investor, how would he assess the strength and health of a sales organization?
- Signs an SDR will become a successful Account Executive
Episode Resources:
Quota Attainment Data Trend - https://twitter.com/ryan_c_walsh/status/1636704102980648961
About Cloud Radio by Cloud Ratings:
Made for "full stack" cloud + SaaS operators, Cloud Radio covers all aspects of the business of software.
Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.
https://cloudradio.cloudratings.com/
https://twitter.com/SaaSletter
About Cloud Ratings:
Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.
Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products.
Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.
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