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SaaS categories we're watching

8 mins read
Adam Schoenfeld
Adam Schoenfeld

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Ask your tech friends if they know of SaaS companies still hiring and there’s a good chance they’ll throw out companies in one of the SaaS categories below.

Data Source: Keyplay

Aside from serving evergreen needs, security, AI, HR, design and developer tools tend to adopt modern strategies like community and PLG at a high rate.

Despite the economic climate, companies still growing in these categories offer transparent and generous employee benefits to attract top talent.

At the beginning of this year, we launched StillHiring.Today with Ross Pomeranz (AKA Corporate Bro) to help tech workers find their next role.

This week, we filtered our 1,276-company database based on key hiring signals to identify the best crowd-sourced companies still hiring.

I highlighted ten promising companies with several high-paying job openings in today's LinkedIn post.

In this issue:

* 4 SaaS categories worth watching

* 9 B2B SaaS companies still hiring

* Tips for job seekers looking for roles with promising SaaS companies

**4 B2B SaaS categories worth watching**

Pro Tip: *You can find and filter open tech roles like these on factors like remote work, function, funding, and more at* *StillHiring.Today**.*

Security & Compliance

Security & Compliance ranks #1 in six-month headcount growth for B2B SaaS subcategories with $10M or more in funding.

Regardless of the market, companies can’t axe security software to save money.

They’d risk compromising customer data along with their own, not to mention the legal ramifications of failing compliance.

GTM insights

Post-500+ employees, 1password, Drata, and Recorded Future are well past the fledgling startup and growth stages.

At 129 employees, Datagrail has a mature GTM motion for its size.

Drata, Datagrail, and 1password have owned communities supported by webinars and podcasts.

Recorded Future, one of the larger companies with a higher ACV and tighter TAM, taps into the security community through its media arm, The Record, led by former NYT and NPR journalists.

Recruiting insights

To recruit national journalists and other high-caliber employees, Recorded Future offers competitive pay and stock grant options.

All four offer remote work accommodations along with competitive benefits.

1Password

Headcount growth: 🔺18% in 6 months

Funding: 2022 C round, $940.1M total

Open roles in: Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Product, Customer Success, Support, Finance, Design

Drata

Headcount growth: 🔺40%(!) in 6 months

Funding: 2022 C round, $328.2M total

Open roles in: Sales, Engineering, Product, Customer Success, Design

Recorded Future

Headcount growth: 🔺 5% in 6 months

Funding: 2023 venture round (post E), $69.2M

Open roles in: Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Product, Customer Success, Support, Finance

Datagrail

Headcount growth:🔺4% in 6 months

Open roles in: Sales, Engineering, Product, Finance

Funding: 2022 C round, $84.2M total

Generative AI

A close second behind Security & Compliance in six-month headcount growth for $10M+ funded B2B SaaS companies, generative AI is quickly infiltrating SaaS.

Back in April, we noticed 71% of AI companies we track were still hiring as other SaaS companies were downsizing, nearly a quarter (24%) received funding in the last 12 months, and more than half (52%) of companies in our full SaaS index were integrating with AI in some way.

Companies like Descript and Grammarly are well positioned to not only survive but dominate the emerging generative AI market as competition is still sparse compared to established categories.

At just 132 employees, Descript’s seeing outsized growth with hiring trends and funding patterns matching that of established and scaled companies.

GTM insights

Descript and Grammarly lean on successful PLG motions supported by community plays.

Grammarly has an owned community while Descript has built a strong audience with a podcast and templates.

Both products are highly viral and can be used by nearly anyone, making them a no-brainer for PLG.

More than a quarter (28%) of AI companies have an owned community.

Recruiting insights

Grammarly is pioneering the remote-first hybrid working model and Descript offers similar flexibility with options to work from home or at an office.

Descript

Headcount growth: 🔺 5% in 6 months

Open roles in: Engineering, Product

Funding: 2022 C round, $100M total

Grammarly

Headcount growth: 🔺8% in 6 months

Open roles in: Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Product, and Customer Success

Funding: 2021 PE round, $400M total

Data Source: Keyplay

HR Tech

HR platforms with a fintech component, such as accounting, payroll, or spend management, are foundational, must-have tech.

In many cases, HR tech is one of the first software purchases at a startup.

For instance, Keyplay onboarded Rippling at the six-employee mark.

As the employee count grows, the more entrenched companies become in their HR tech, and the less likely they are to churn.

GTM insights

Both Deel and Rippling invest in high-impact initiatives like partnerships and video content.

And while Rippling, unlike Deel, lacks a PLG motion, it makes up for it by offering several other ways for users to engage early – community, podcast, templates, and events.

Recruiting insights

Lastly, Deel supports its people by providing work-from-home accommodations while Rippling offers wellness and parental leave programs.

Deel

Headcount growth: 🔺 41% in 6 months

Funding: 2022 venture round (post D), $523M total

Open roles in: Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Product, Customer Success, Support, Finance, HR, Design (159 open roles)

Rippling

Headcount growth: 🔺 4% in 6 months

Funding: 2023 E round, $1.2B total

Open roles in: Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Product, Support, Customer Success, Support, Finance, HR, Design (261 open roles)

Design Tools

Design, developer, and productivity tools are well positioned to take advantage of the current AI era as there’s a direct use case for generative AI integrations for all three.

Webflow and Figma are scaled (~1K+ employees) companies within their subcategories, with tangible product-market fit.

GTM insights

Both show positive signs of promising GTM programs – PLG motions coupled with community, events, and templates to support.

Cloud 100 companies, considered the best of SaaS, tend to invest in communities more often than their B2B SaaS counterparts – 58% vs 37%.

Recruiting insights

Besides a strong GTM track record and upcoming market advantages with AI, both Webflow and Figma are doubling down on the people who helped them scale — and in Figma’s case, exit for $20B — by offering remote work options for some roles, personal development stipends, 401(k), paid parental leave, mental health programs and more.

Webflow

Headcount growth: 🔺 8% in 6 months

Open roles in: Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Product, Support, Finance, Security

Funding: 2022 C round, $334.9M total

Figma

Headcount growth: 🔺97%(!) in 6 months

Open roles in: Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Product, Customer Success, Support

Funding: 2022 venture round, $333.4M

**Tips for tech job seekers (what to look for)**

* Sales and marketers should consider GTM offers to determine how supported they’ll be in potential roles.

For instance, the presence of free plans and trials could mean AEs will have high-intent inbound leads to work.

The presence of podcasts and community can indicate how much the company invests in brand.

* Growing *too* fast can also be a red flag.

Filter roles in StillHiring.Today by Keyplay Growth Signals like “6-month headcount growth: 10%-20%” or “1-month headcount growth: positive” to get a sense of layoffs and hiring track record.

* If remote or hybrid work arrangements are a must, filter by “remote” in StillHiring.Today to cut out the noise.

Filter and find companies still hiring at StillHiring.Today.

Is your company hiring?

Submit open roles to StillHiring.Today to reach more of the right candidates (it’s free).

Sell to B2B SaaS companies and struggling to find good-fit logos still spending and thriving in 2023?

Keyplay Lists (our free account list builder) can help.

Have more questions or feedback?

Reply or join the conversation on LinkedIn.

I read all replies.

Best,

Adam & Camille

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Fill out* *this form**.*

*2.

Tag a company on* *my LinkedIn post**and I’ll add them manually.*