SaaStr

JANUARY 24, 2021

2021 will be the year SaaS sales evolves the most since the Appexchange ecosystem started to take off ~15 years ago, which spawned the entire notion of a true sales app stack. The permanent move to distributed sales teams. Almost every SaaS VP of Sales and CRO I’ve talked to in the past few months isn’t going back.

Sales Recruiting 349

Sales Recruiting Scale Technical Review Sales 349

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 22, 2021

I've never seen a great VP of Sales hide from a miss. — Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) November 22, 2021. We’ve talked a lot on SaaStr over the years about how to hire a great VP of Sales — and how to course-correct if you’ve made a miss hire. Nothing gets better in 1 sales cycle. Sales is tough.

Sales Recruiting 247

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Sales Marketing 247

SaaStr

JUNE 22, 2021

— Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) June 22, 2021. The other day I saw a VP of Sales flame out and resign with no notice from a SaaS company doing $10m ARR growing quickly. So I thought it might be helpful to brush off the topic of alignment between Sales and Marketing by updating a classic post on the topic. Sales Tactics.

Sales Recruiting 309

Sales Recruiting Scale Sales Hiring Revenue 309

SaaStr

AUGUST 29, 2023

So I was on a group Zoom with a number of CROs and VPs of Sales the other day and a consistent theme came up: everyone was surprised how high OTEs (On Target Earnings) had held up in the current environment. In 2021, they might have gotten their bonus for closing say $500k in bookings. Look, it just makes sense. Today they care.

Sales Recruiting 195

Sales Recruiting Venture Capital Enterprise Sales 195

SaaStr

JANUARY 24, 2023

The best VPs of Sales I’ve hired were Directors of Sales before. Maybe once you have a full recruiting team, they can parse some of these. The truth is, most of us got … a bit desperate in hiring in the Boom.Growth was everywhere in 2021, but talent wasn’t. And recruiters all told us we had to settle.

Sales Hiring 271

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Startup 271

OpenView Labs

DECEMBER 16, 2019

And according to Gartner , by the time 2021 hits, the software industry will have grown another $113 billion. So if scaling your sales organization is a priority in 2020, here are the things you need to be aware of to make sure you do so successfully. Hiring sales leaders will get harder. What makes them want to choose you?

Sales Recruiting 53

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Trends 53

SaaStr

APRIL 16, 2021

— Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) April 15, 2021. Support and partner with sales. Having a CMO that is present, that is visible, is great for recruiting and much more. So my only advice is just this: when the time comes to hire a CMO, take a look at their LinkedIn, their Twitter profile, their blog posts.

Sales Recruiting 275

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Branding Product Marketing 275

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Dig deeper on a lot of titles during recruiting. A "VP of Revenue" often knows nothing about inside sales or building a sales team. A "CRO" often doesn't want to do sales anymore. — Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) September 22, 2021. A “VP of Revenue” for a VP of Sales job.

Sales Hiring 279

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Growth Hacking Product Marketing 279

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 5, 2020

The companies that create the SVPs you’ll need, especially in Sales and Marketing, are still mostly based in the SF Bay Area. Top execs are looking for new spots in 2021. As crazy as things are now, we’ll almost certainly see a return to some sort of pre-Covid like normalcy by the second half of 2021. are all here.

Sales Hiring 300

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Scaling 300

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2022

But I saw most of the startups I work with cut corners in the Boom Times of 2020 and 2021 just to keep up with hiring. Even the very best VPs of Sales I know admitted to lowering the bar a bit on their sales teams, when I quietly pushed them. A related post here: How To Get Better at Recruiting. (We We All Need To).

Sales Hiring 261

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Startup 261

SaaStr

MAY 31, 2021

Still, an overall deep-dive on lessons learned the second and third time around: Not Easier : Recruiting – Not Easier. You might think after (goodness) the best part of 20 years of working in tech, 18 as an executive or CEO, and 13 as a founder … I’d be pretty good at recruiting at this point. I’m not.

Sales Recruiting 316

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Branding 316

SaaStr

AUGUST 11, 2021

— Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) August 11, 2021. A ways back at SaaStr, we did a post “If Your VP Sales Isn’t Going to Work Out — You’ll Know in 30 Days” At first, so many VPs of Sales I know hated the post. A great VP can’t always double sales in a month or two. They can’t recruit.

Sales Recruiting 279

Sales Recruiting Scale Sales Hiring Scaling 279

SaaStr

AUGUST 9, 2022

Investments I've made that didn't work out: – Momentum investment – CEO a bit of bulls**t artist – CEO good at sales but weak product team / CTO. Some sales-y, some very technical. CEO good at sales, but CTO not that great. — Jason 2022 SaaStr Annual Sep 13-15 Lemkin (@jasonlk) October 28, 2021.

Investment 271

Investment Sales Recruiting CTO Startup 271

SaaStr

MAY 2, 2021

“A Step by Step Guide to Build a Marketing Strategy to Take You to the First $100M with Snowflake” An A+ session from SaaStr Build 2021. #5. “Recruiting Your Sales Team with Brex Chief Sales Officer Sam Blond” Brex was just valued at $7B just 4 years after founding.

Sales Recruiting 146

Sales Recruiting Scale CTO Scaling 146

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2021

As we gear up for 2021 SaaStr Annual, I wanted to highlight some of my very favorite Annual sessions from the past you may have missed. They talked about product adoption, sales alignment, freemium models and lessons they have learned throughout their successful SaaS careers. Jyoti Bansal: Let’s switch topics to sales.

Sales Recruiting 248

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale VP of Engineering 248

OPEXEngine

APRIL 8, 2021

What Are the Most Significant Factors Impacting the Business Environment for Your Company in 2021? Fundamental shifts in customer buying, big changes in workforce expectations, and rapid movement in the competitor landscape are what SaaS companies expect to have the most impact on business in 2021. It’s not Covid (at least directly).

Sales Hiring 59

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting SaaS Business 59

BetterCloud

DECEMBER 17, 2020

But it’s also a good time to build a different type of list: Your enterprise’s 2021 SaaS sprawl management checklist. Without knowing and monitoring for potential SaaS app account creep, your SaaS environment becomes a risky, expensive, and unmanageable clutter. Without actively managing them, the dangers mount.

Sales Recruiting 52

Sales Recruiting Management SaaS Government 52

SaaStr

MAY 5, 2021

— Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) May 4, 2021. 50% of the job of a real VP is recruiting. Sales — for a VPS. You may still need to spend just as much time in sales when you hire a great VP of Sales — but you shouldn’t have to own it as much. – does the team believe?

Part-Time VPE 197

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Metrics 197

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

And in the Boom Times of 2021 and such, VCs took a lot more risk across the board. I’m 100% OK taking a lot of risk here because I know I can help them recruit a local team as much as necessary or desired. Which is expensive, can take tons of sales reps, and isn’t done through the software / network effects per se.

Scale 343

Scale Sales Recruiting Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence 343

OPEXEngine

JANUARY 13, 2021

If 2020 is remembered as the year of COVID-19, we also think 2021 will be remembered as the year of change. Putting aside everything else, let’s just focus on what’s changing in SaaS in 2021. That doesn’t mean that 2020 wasn’t hard to manage through, but overall as a sector, SaaS companies grew revenue and valuations skyrocketed.

Sales Recruiting 52

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring SaaS Benchmarks 52

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 25, 2019

It will be in March this year for one year in 2020, before we go back to February for 2021 on. With power, snacks, and more, we’ll have lounges just for Founders; just for Sales + Marketing professionals; just for Builders (Dev + Product), and just for VCs to issue term sheets. Recruiting Fair. 4,000+ CEOs. 1,000+ VCs.

New CTO 258

New CTO Sales Recruiting CTO Coach Scale 258

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

The backup of 2020 was great, 2021 comes in and somehow we have 600 unicorns and everyone can burn 500 million a year or have huge sales teams. And then at the end of 2021, all of a sudden the music stopped. 2 Beware Sales / Customer Success Reps who don’t want to visit customers in person. ” #3.

Sales Recruiting 291

Sales Recruiting Trends Sales Hiring Software Review 291

ProfitWell

JANUARY 24, 2020

So they dropped a blog post all about the common problems that marketers face when focused too much on brand affinity. But once they dug deeper into the data, they found out that their campaign generated the same amount of web traffic as a reasonably successful blog post, converted minimal leads, and generated barely any business.

Sales Recruiting 40

Sales Recruiting CTO Hire New CTO Sales Hiring 40

yoursales

JANUARY 29, 2021

Sales Stack 2021. Sales Tools for Professional Sales. SALES STACK 2020: THE TOOLS SALES STACK 2020: THE TOOLS. Sales technology for professional sales will be more important than ever. In 2020 almost every single Sales Professional was forced inside. Same goes for Sales Professionals.

Scale 104

Scale Payment Methods Payment Solutions Sales Recruiting 104

SaaStr

JUNE 2, 2023

In 2020-2021, many SaaS startups faced a unique challenge. Recruit diverse leaders The goal of hiring a revenue leader is to put gasoline on finding product market fit success. CROs should focus on capturing that unrealized demand which is not a sales-led effort. There are two types of it: realized demand and unrealized demand.

Sales Recruiting 214

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Branding 214

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

In this Ask Me Anything Part 1, Lemkin answers the questions: Many VCs talk about funding, yet you’re so focused on sales. Question #1: Why Are You So Focused On Sales When Other VCs Are Focused On Funding? That VP of Sales came out of Salesforce. Lemkin’s Hail Mary was hiring Brendon Cassidy when that first VP of Sales quit.

Outsourcing Services 212

Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting 212

SaaStr

APRIL 7, 2021

— Elkanah Carnell Reed (@ElkanahReed) April 6, 2021. There are roughly 2 types of start-up management teams. The first type is the kind of management team hired by second+ time founders. Often folks they convince to once again be a VP of Eng or VP of Sales. — Jeff Lawson (@jeffiel) February 18, 2021.

Part-Time VPE 236

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting CTO Hire 236

SaaStr

JULY 13, 2023

Q: Where Should SDRs Report — Marketing or Sales? Continuing the conversation on effective team members, it’s important to hire the right people to manage SDRs. A VP of Sales might seem the logical place to have your first SDR team report. But if they’ve never managed a higher turnover SDR team, they often melt.

CTO Hire 176

CTO Hire Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 176

yoursales

JANUARY 28, 2022

Sales Stack 2022 Sales Tools for Professional B2B Sales SALES STACK 2022: Sales Tools for. Professional Sales SALES STACK. 2021: Sales Tools. Sales W hich challenges would you like sales technology to solve for your sales team? What is sales technology here to do?

Scale 111

Scale Payment Methods Payment Solutions Sales Recruiting 111

SaaStr

JULY 1, 2021

As part of the run up to 2021 SaaStr Annual in the SF Bay Area Sep 27-29, we’re taking a look back at some of our top sessions of all times. I want to come be your VP of sales and, you’re going to meet me for the first time. Spencer : For me, the key things for a VP of sales is, “OK, tell me about your best reps.

VP of Engineering 266

VP of Engineering Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team 266

Sales Hacker

OCTOBER 7, 2021

Women in sales often have a polarizing experience. It has little to do with the work itself, and more to do with the societal pressure, norms, and bias that exist in 2021. In the Sales Hacker video series Aha Moments , I asked 10 women: “What is one ‘aha moment’ you’ve had in your sales career?”. Anything less is failure.

Scale 130

Scale Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring VP of Engineering 130

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 28, 2021

And I just started blogging my mistakes and that blog (SaaStr) took off. I’d never done any investments before, but I just invested in some of the founders that were fans of the SaaStr blog and it worked out okay. Yesterday Harry Stebbings and I caught up for an upcoming podcast on sales, startups, venture, and more.

Scale 181

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scaling 181

SaaStr

MARCH 22, 2022

According to author Dan Schawbel, in 2021, 70% of job seekers said they want to work for a company that demonstrates a commitment to diversity and inclusion. I really appreciate you coming to talk about how to attract, hire, and build a more diverse sales team in your organization. And it’s something that’s so important.

Sales Hiring 219

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 219

yoursales

DECEMBER 19, 2022

Sales Stack 2023 Sales Tools for Professional B2B Sales SALES STACK 2023: Sales Tools for. Professional Sales SALES STACK. 2022: Sales Tools. Sales share this with your network S ales tools and figuring out what your sales stack 2023 should look like is as challenging as ever.

Scale 86

Scale Sales Recruiting Sales Outsourced Development 86

yoursales

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

Sales Stack 2023 Sales Tools for Professional B2B Sales SALES STACK 2023: Sales Tools for Professional Sales SALES STACK 2023: Sales Tools for Professional Sales share this with your network S ales tools and figuring out what your sales stack 2023 should look like is as challenging as ever.

Scale 52

Scale Sales Recruiting Sales Outsourced Development 52

ChurnZero

JANUARY 26, 2021

This is a guest blog post by Jay Nathan, Chief Customer Officer at Higher Logic. A J oint Success Plan is a simple but powerful tool for outcome-based customer success management. Sofia Varga, Director of Recruiting. Alan Alda, Manager of Recruitment Marketing. Linda Hale, HR Manager (East). Power Users: .

Customer Success 98

Customer Success Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Management 98

Totango

JULY 19, 2021

It may be wise to look for applicants coming from diverse backgrounds, such as those with customer relations, sales or other service-orientated backgrounds. Be sure you look for the skills and qualities that will allow a customer success manager (CSM) to truly connect with customers. 1: Recruit the Right People.

Customer Success 124

Customer Success Sales Recruiting Compensation Scale 124