61. How can I overcome the SaaS sales objection of, “we don’t have a budget for this, this year”? Three answers, but really, it’s one answer (no. 3): • Present your app as a solution to a problem -- not a tool. There’s always money to solve a big headache. Millions of extra dollars, in fact. But there’s never extra money to just buy another tool unless the cost is trivial. • Make sure you are selling high enough. You may need to sell a level higher. • You need a real VP of Sales that knows how to sell. You hear this a lot when you aren’t great and trained at sales. You blow past it when you are a pro. 62. What should be the typical gross margin for a SaaS startup? Should it stay between 30-40% or can it be as high as 80%? The other answers are all correct (>80% for all comps). The key though is to make sure you actually know what goes into gross margin - customer support, hosting fees, etc. The fact you say “stay between 30-40%” I think means either you mean something different when you say gross margin than in the GAAP sense (perhaps you mean operating margins), or else your business is sufficiently expensive to provide and service that it might not be seen as SaaS. If your true gross margins are 30-40%, your business likely really is a professional services business with a SaaS veneer. Servers just don’t cost that much. SAASTR.COM 59