SaaStr

OCTOBER 26, 2023

Getting off the ground is one thing — an easy pitch of being an HR tech startup focused on improving hiring. Hiring is complicated, so you have to build a lot of software to get to $200M ARR. Now, over the next decade, they need to think about other things their customers do in hiring that aren’t done well and could be scaled.

Sales Hiring 200

Sales Hiring AI SMB Scale 200

SaaStr

OCTOBER 20, 2023

AI is rapidly changing the way we work. It’s only been ten months since ChatGPT launched, and since then, we’ve seen a huge increase in AI applications being created and used globally. OpenAI’s Head of Sales, Aliisa Rosenthal, joined OpenAI a year and a half ago — before ChatGPT launched. How did they get here?

ChatGPT 224

ChatGPT AI Search Scale Sales Hiring 224

SaaStr

DECEMBER 8, 2023

Hear the latest insights on AI from leading investor and SaaStr fan-fave, Tomasz Tunguz of Theory Ventures. LLMs are transforming the way people use software, and these AI and data-driven companies share first-hand how they’re seeing this change take place. AI expertise might take a couple hundred top AI researchers to train them.

Artificial Intelligence 226

Artificial Intelligence AI ChatGPT Software Engineering 226

SaaStr

APRIL 4, 2024

The post The Top 8 SaaStr Tips to Building an Effective First Sales Team (per Perplexity) appeared first on SaaStr. I think it did a pretty good job The summaries we do might be better, but this is a great place to start. I think it did a pretty good job The summaries we do might be better, but this is a great place to start.

Sales Hiring 194

Sales Hiring Scale AI Search Compensation 194

SaaStr

APRIL 20, 2024

Marketing hackers, sales hackers, product hackers. We went pretty deep on: The real role of AI in marketing today Does everyone just want to be a strategist now? Will AI let ICs do more, with fewer managers? Automation is more important than AI for businesses, especially in the current labor shortage.

Sales Hiring 243

Sales Hiring Startup Marketing Technical Review 243

SaaStr

APRIL 30, 2024

How do you build GTM efficiency in SMB sales? Lesson #1: Just Say No Once he joined, Kyle quickly discovered that Owner had a leaky bucket and had either bad or no targeting on prospects, was closing a lot of poor-fit customers, and there were a lot of miss set expectations from sales so customer handoff was sketchy at best.

Scale 243

Scale SMB Sales Hiring Sales 243

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 21, 2023

People have said “AI” more this year than any other year combined. Everyone is looking forward to what AI can do for them in business. PST, the CIO and SVP of IT at Freshworks, Prasad Ramakrishnan, shares five ways organizations can leverage AI to solve problems and grow. But this AI wave is slightly different.

AI 214

AI Scale Generative AI Sales Hiring 214

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2024

We just wrote up how some of the biggest changes of SaaS are now coming, specifically in Customer Success and Sales. ” Prediction #3: CSM Hiring Doesn’t Bounce All The Way Back Things are bouncing back, in 2024, not all the way back, so efficiency still matters. They paused hiring for a year (rather than cut) and got profitable.

Sales Hiring 234

Sales Hiring Customer Success Scale AI 234

SaaStr

MAY 29, 2024

So UiPath was early to what we now think of as “AI”, but blazed the path in automation. Which is what a lot of SaaS and B2B AI is really about. They are still hiring and growing expense in all areas, from Sales and Marketing to Product to G&A. Automating away human-driven processes.

Scale 192

Scale Headcount Sales Hiring AI 192

SaaStr

DECEMBER 6, 2023

SaaStr founder and CEO Jason Lemkin chats with Box CEO and Co-Founder Aaron Levie to talk about what’s new at Box, SaaS fatigue, hiring a new COO, operating margins and efficiency, the future of AI, and what to expect for 2024. On Hiring a New COO This is Box’s third COO in 14-15 years. That’s what the COO is for.

AI 198

AI Sales Hiring Scale Artificial Intelligence 198

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2024

They discuss Sam’s learnings at Founders Fund, what the 2024 playbook looks like, hiring and motivating sales teams, and a handful of audience questions. For instance, Founders Fund doesn’t really invest in AI, health tech, or edtech, even if you’re growing 5x. On the sales side, people hired way too much.

Sales Hiring 242

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Headcount 242

SaaStr

MAY 16, 2024

They dive into the nuances of topics like: Evolving dynamics of remote work The most effective marketing channels of 2024 Owned assets vs. “walled gardens” The practical realities vs. the hype around AI As everyone here at SaaStr knows, Jason sold his first company, Echosign, for $400M. They had no hiring expertise and little money.

Sales Recruiting 222

Sales Recruiting AI Search B2B Sales Hiring 222

SaaStr

JANUARY 3, 2024

“I f you’re expanding and scaling and you’re closing more deals, it may justify a full-time hire to take the load off the team. Now, if you’re in FinTech or another highly regulated industry, you’re probably going to be doing these things and have a dedicated hire earlier.”

AI 145

AI SMB Sales Hiring compliance 145

SaaStr

DECEMBER 24, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: 10+ Signs of a Mediocre Hire The Where, When, and How of AI with Theory Ventures, Open AI and More 15 Signs You Have a SaaS Metrics Problem (and How to Fix it) 4 Recent, Very Bad, Truly Terrible Customer Success Experiences.

Sales Hiring 199

Sales Hiring Scale AI Metrics 199

SaaStr

DECEMBER 29, 2023

In part one of this week’s Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) with SaaStr founder and CEO Jason Lemkin, he answered the community’s questions about whether all anyone cares about is AI anymore, investor appetites going into 2024, vertical SaaS, and thriving as a solo founder. Now, everyone wants AI to do it. Fire anyone that isn’t metrics-oriented.

Scale 219

Scale Sales Hiring Customer Success AI 219

SaaStr

MAY 8, 2024

Sales is much harder than in 2021. Therefore, sales and marketing practices made no sense in 2020. How Does That Impact Sales and Marketing? In 2021, many sales folks were marginally efficient. If you have a good sales and marketing team, they will respond. It’s a cancer on the sales team.

Metrics 199

Metrics Scale Sales Hiring SaaS 199

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Big Bet #2: Find Tomorrow’s Great Anglers — Hire Talent With A Learning Mindset In 2010 and 2011, San Francisco was the place for SaaS talent. So, if he wanted to hire customer support, it could be a biomechanical engineer. Instead of hiring for skill, he focused more on core traits like empathy, patience, and being detail-oriented.

Sales Hiring 223

Sales Hiring Scale SMB AI 223

SaaStr

APRIL 5, 2024

Leandra has over 30 years of experience leading large sales and revenue teams. Apollo is a next-gen sales tool that combines sales intelligence and execution workflows with AI. Today, that tech stack would be different because of AI-enabled companies like Apollo. This hypergrowth platform raised $100M at a $1.6B

Sales Hiring 180

Sales Hiring Scale Pricing SMB 180

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

We all become new customer-oriented, so we say we’re focused on the existing base, but once the sales team becomes 30-40% of headcount, it tends to dominate every conversation. All public companies did hiring freezes last year, which is a hidden layoff. And that’s where AI comes in. What’s the next deal?

Customer Success 221

Customer Success Sales Hiring Scale AI 221

FastSpring

AUGUST 2, 2023

When TestDome was created, CEO and co-founder Mario Zivic knew the pre-employment testing software company wouldn’t be able to rely on domestic sales to succeed. “As We do less than 1% of our business in Croatia, so it’s not really a big market for us,” added TestDome’s head of customer success and sales Igor Novosel.

Payment Solutions 147

Payment Solutions Payment Methods Merchant Services AI Search 147

SaaStr

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Catch up on part one here , where he deep dives into what he really thinks about AI, Sales and lead Gen for SaaS in 2024. Q: When Should A Slow Growth Company Hire a Head of Sales? They have one salesperson but want to skip having two scaled reps and immediately hire the VP of Sales. Sometimes, yes.

Sales Hiring 233

Sales Hiring Scale Venture Capital Generative AI 233

OpenView Labs

APRIL 4, 2019

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a technological breakthrough with potential applications for nearly every industry. The proliferation of AI-powered tools, software systems, and devices is also dramatically transforming the way that recruiters source top talent. Recruiting technology can bring fresh hiring strategies to life.

Sales Hiring 65

Sales Hiring AI Search Sales Recruiting Artificial Intelligence 65

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

Sales-assisted, product-led growth strategies that close Enterprise leads. For example, if someone in their TAM is hiring for a CX lead, this is a signal for Gorgias to help them figure out a CX motion since their product is a help desk for e-commerce. In this playbook we’ll share: Automated outbound at-scale strategies.

Scale 215

Scale Sales Hiring Strategy Marketing 215

Andreessen Horowitz

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Now, we believe generative AI promises to revolutionize marketplaces again. Over the next 3 to 5 years, we expect some existing marketplaces will pivot, some will go out of business, and some will be supercharged with the help of AI. One example here is Pietra’s AI product design tools.

Marketplace as a Service 129

Marketplace as a Service AI Search AI Outsourcing Services 129

SaaStr

DECEMBER 17, 2023

10+ Signs of a Mediocre Hire Top Podcasts This Week: 1. SaaStr 707: The Where, When, and How of AI with Theory Ventures, Open AI, MotherDuck and Lamini   2. SaaStr 708: The Top 10 Mistakes People Make When Hiring a VP of Sales with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin     3.

Sales Hiring 159

Sales Hiring Scale AI Startup 159

SaaStr

DECEMBER 20, 2023

So to serve both segments at the simultaneously, ZoomInfo has been rolling out a Product-led sales motion, that gives the ability for an SMB customer to sign up directly on their website for a free trial and grow into a paid customer, without ever having to talk to an sales rep or go through a demo process. So, what’s new at ZoomInfo?

New CTO 237

New CTO Scale Sales Hiring AWS 237

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2024

Third, AI exploded. Many top sales and marketing apps saw growth plummet to close to 0%. At some point, you reach your Rule of 40 gains, and you have to start hiring and spending again to grow. Even if you hire and spend more slowly than before. Shopify was up 128%! HubSpot was up 104%! More on that here.

Sales Hiring 245

Sales Hiring Cloud AI Startup 245

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. By this we mean, that Jason interviewed sales and events candidates recently and started to notice a pattern in the candidates he was speaking with. “Don’t hire the broken.

Sales Recruiting 274

Sales Recruiting Trends Sales Hiring Software Review 274

CustomerSuccessBox

APRIL 27, 2022

For that to happen, you must hire the best Customer Success Manager (CSM). Regardless of which you’d still want to consider a candidate with no prior experience in customer success and to hire them, you’d need to consider a few factors. Let’s figure out the best practices to hire a CSM! Plan their responsibility!

Sales Hiring 52

Sales Hiring Customer Success Management Interviewing 52

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Discussed in this Episode: The challenges of personalization in marketing and the role of AI in addressing these challenges. Insights on the future of AI in marketing and the importance of storytelling in building impactful brands. 08:01) The role of AI in personalization. (10:44) 16:04) The future of AI in marketing. (19:32)

AI 90

AI Marketing Advertising Finance 90

SaaStr

DECEMBER 31, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: The New Normal: 700 Employees at $200,000,000 in ARR ServiceTitan: The First Great SaaS IPO of 2024 (Potentially) at $500,000,000+ ARR Why The Greatest Sales Teams Just Kill It On Dec 31. When Everyone Else Has Gone Home.

Scale 204

Scale Sales Hiring AI Customer Success 204

IT World

APRIL 27, 2023

Facing a slowdown in revenue growth, cloud storage company Dropbox announced today that it is laying off 500 employees, or 16% of its workforce, mainly in order to be able to hire staff with AI expertise. million, the company has experienced a slowdown in sales recently. year over year to $598.8

Sales Hiring 73

Sales Hiring AI Sales Cloud 73

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 26, 2023

ARR On Average Per SaaSomomics Pilot: 57% of Venture Startups Will Need to Raise More In 2024 5 Ways To Leverage AI in Tech with Freshworks Top Podcasts This Week: 1. SaaStr 701: The 5 Ways AI Will Transform Creativity with Adobe CSO & EVP Scott Belsky     3. Who Will Win the Go-To-Market AI Race?

Sales Hiring 185

Sales Hiring AI Startup Acquisition 185

SaaStr

JANUARY 11, 2024

Between the initial COVID economic shutdown to the tech V-shape recovery to the rise and fall of the public and private valuation landscape with inflation and interest rates to now the advent of a massive technology breakthrough with AI, these are crazy, fast-moving, and exciting times. what would you do with a clean start?

Technical Review 261

Technical Review Scale Management Sales Hiring 261

SaaStr

JUNE 29, 2023

Many net-new purchases are for data security, compliance, risk management, and AI-powered tools. Many net-new purchases are for data security, compliance, risk management, and AI-powered tools. AI-Powered Tools: AI-related purchases in Q1: Made up 41% of new investments in Q1. weakest link.

VP of Engineering 228

VP of Engineering Trends Cybersecurity Sales Hiring 228

Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

Three overarching learnings from incredible sales leaders who have lived through the ups and downs of growing sales teams at some of the fastest growing SaaS companies is exactly what we’ll dive into today – so you can get the learnings and insight without being in the driver’s seat. years as SVP, Global Sales at Klaviyo.

Sales Hiring 106

Sales Hiring Scale Headcount Sales 106

SaaStr

OCTOBER 13, 2023

If your product has effortless growth or a word-of-mouth motion and momentum, it automatically takes care of one of your biggest cost drivers: sales and marketing. The only way to stay ahead of support volume was to keep hiring into the support team. Once you hire a team, there’s a soft cost. It’s your biggest asset.

Outsourcing Services 228

Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring Scale SaaS 228