OpenView Labs

APRIL 29, 2021

Recruiting top talent is the common denominator across all scaling startups. Nine out of 10 founders and CEOs I connect with are involved in recruiting on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Many of them are learning on the fly and trying to juggle being CEO and Chief People Officer/Lead Recruiter/Brand Evangelist all at once.

Sales Recruiting 81

Sales Recruiting Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring Scale 81

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

Success in sales requires the right skills and a competitive, driven, and personable nature. However, scoring a great sales role takes more than just being confident in your own skills and nature. You have to convince a management team of those things as well. 1) Know whom you’ll be talking to — Sales is all about relationships.

Sales Recruiting 76

Sales Recruiting Interviewing Sales Hiring Sales 76

SaaStr

JANUARY 15, 2021

Maybe you think developers are weird beasts that type on a keyboard pushing out code, and then as soon as they become indispensable, they quit. At his core, Jeff Lawson is a software developer first, and the CEO of Twilio second. In turn, developers need to adapt. You may ask, “When can we ship this?”

Sales Recruiting 163

Sales Recruiting Development Software Review Management 163

SaaStr

AUGUST 26, 2020

Founder-led sales generally stops scaling around $1m-$2m ARR. A sign to hire a real sales leader. Over the years at SaaStr we’ve talked a lot about hiring a great VP of Sales, when it works, when it does, and how it moves the needle. To stick with founder-led sales longer than most folks do, i.e. past $1.5m-$2m ARR or so.

Sales Hiring 291

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 291

Sales Hacker

AUGUST 26, 2019

And as companies take advantage of global business opportunities, they’re experiencing an increasingly diverse range of clientele. ” Prioritizing women is sales and other business sectors continues to be a challenge for businesses, but recruiting women of color—that’s a greater challenge yet.

Sales Recruiting 55

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Company Culture 55

SaaStr

MARCH 25, 2023

So one recent survey we did really brought out a healthy debate: does your VP of Sales really need to be a product expert? Many of the comments said it was more important a VP of Sales understand process and leadership more than the product itself. They often melt. I say, you just gotta know the product. Not just with buzzwords.

Scale 231

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales 231

Andreessen Horowitz

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

But building a sales compensation plan that both aligns your sales team’s compensation with your customers’ objectives and recruits top salespeople can be incredibly difficult in usage-based pricing. Determine where your sales team makes your customers more successful In usage-based pricing, value = usage.

Compensation 90

Compensation Sales Recruiting Sales Systems Review 90

SaaStr

MAY 6, 2021

A CRO owns and directs the strategy over a company’s revenue cycle, but there’s not a set standard for operational or management decisions: in addition to sales and sales development, they might be responsible for customer success, lead generation and pipelines, and even marketing and brand development.

Sales Hiring 241

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Revenue 241

User Pilot

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

The product development process is part art, part science, and all important to the success of your SaaS. In this article, we've got a comprehensive review of the entire product development process. While product development describes the process of creating the product itself (i.e. What is product development?

Development 92

Development Software Review Sales Recruiting Technical Review 92

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2021

They talked about product adoption, sales alignment, freemium models and lessons they have learned throughout their successful SaaS careers. As two CEO who love the art of sales and scaling, this one really was special. And we were like less than 10 million ARR and business was doing very well.

Sales Recruiting 249

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale VP of Engineering 249

SaaStr

JUNE 15, 2021

But you need more than a vague desire to start a business. That builds great business.”. Bansal felt passionate about enhanced software delivery, the need that Harness meets for developers. Recruitment: Getting the right talent onboard is a critical step. In fact, you need both to optimally grow your sales efforts.

Sales Recruiting 200

Sales Recruiting Scale Software Delivery Travel 200

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 21, 2020

By tomorrow, the bank will face insolvency, even though it was business as usual at the bank this morning. You’ll have been trained to answer questions in a very particular way: each answer will tie back to the main storyline of the business. What is the narrative of your business? Here are some from our portfolio.

Sales Recruiting 307

Sales Recruiting Banking Engineering Customer Support 307

Buffer Resources

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

This trend leverages social media platforms to build connections and establish meaningful relationships with potential business prospects — and when it comes to social selling, LinkedIn is the MVP. I’ve never created LinkedIn content with the “goal” of lead generation or immediate-term sales.

Sales Recruiting 127

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Social Media 127

Mucker Capital

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

It's not merely a tagline or hyperbole; it's your distinct role and relevance within a specific domain, bridging the gap between business strategy and various operational facets. Think of it as the rational Spock side of your business brain, defining the concise, fact-based narrative, while branding embodies the emotive Captain Kirk side.

Branding 98

Branding Startup Development Strategy 98

Sales Hacker

AUGUST 7, 2020

Fortunately, more organizers than ever before are consciously seeking out female sales experts for panels, presentations, and podcasts. At Sales Hacker, we’re serious about diversity, and for that reason, we’ve compiled a list of 530+ female sales experts to consider for your next event. Sales Development.

VP of Engineering 121

VP of Engineering Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Payment Services 121

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

In 2019, the founding team at Storyblok set out to create a content marketing solution that worked for everyone—developers and marketers alike. They credit this growth to their global team, a switch to an enterprise business model switch, and flexible work operations. You spread your hiring net and draw in as much talent as possible.

Scale 199

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scaling 199

Intercom, Inc.

JULY 28, 2022

And for Intercom’s VP of Sales EMEA, Sanj Bhayro , scaling is just what you need to invest in to ensure growth becomes as constant and linear as it can be. Sanj has plenty of experience scaling sales teams at growing businesses, and that’s precisely why, as of November of last year, he‘s overseeing EMEA sales at Intercom.

Scale 210

Scale Scaling Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting 210

Sales Hacker

MAY 6, 2021

What’s the difference between a VP of Sales and a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)? The VP of Sales. Great VPs of sales have gravitas and tact, command the room and hold their end of the table regardless of who is on the other side. Singular focus on sales. As the title would hint at, the VP of Sales should focus on sales.

VP of Engineering 93

VP of Engineering Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales 93

Sales Hacker

JANUARY 30, 2023

The first goal of sales at a startup isn’t to bring in revenue — it’s to get customer feedback. I’ve used our sales process to iterate our way to product market-fit and wanted to share what I’ve learned along the way. Use sales conversations as a tool to get product feedback. So how do you get there?

Sales Recruiting 88

Sales Recruiting Product Marketing Scale Sales Hiring 88

SaaStr

JANUARY 24, 2024

She was hired because they saw a bit of softening in new business growth, and she came to help diagnose what was going on and help scale the business. Suddenly, people’s calendars went from six calls to two calls a day, but because they added more time to focus on qualified accounts, activity and conversion increased.

Scale 231

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Revenue 231

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 11, 2020

Recently, we welcomed Hollie Wegman to SaaS Office Hours to talk about marketing to developers. A recruiter in the audience submitted a question often discussed in startup boardrooms. I have this concept that I talk about called “The Developer Duplex.”. It was our first virtual event, and we had hundreds of people attend.

Sales Hiring 248

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Product Marketing Acquisition 248

Sales Hacker

JULY 25, 2022

Here’s the thing about driving a car — and about running a sales org: Bumps in the road are inevitable. One of the best ways to ensure every part of your engine is running smoothly is to build sales performance dashboards for everyone on your team. What is a sales performance dashboard? What is a sales performance dashboard?

Sales Recruiting 99

Sales Recruiting Engineering Revenue Sales Enablement 99

Sales Hacker

JANUARY 20, 2022

Strong sales reps are the lifeblood of your business and how you choose to invest in them matters. For frontline sales managers, attributes like competency, quality of work, ease of execution, and length of contribution indicate reps’ overall job success, but you can’t rely on those inputs to tell you if they are personally satisfied.

Sales Recruiting 98

Sales Recruiting Scale Retention Sales 98

Sales Hacker

JANUARY 19, 2023

I traveled with them in business class to see clients. First, I’ll explain the challenges facing Black and brown women in sales, and why addressing those challenges isn’t just the right thing to do: It also makes business sense. Related: Recruiting Saleswomen of Color: What Are You Waiting For? Treat them that way!

Sales Recruiting 85

Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team Sales Hiring Sales 85

Sales Hacker

MARCH 12, 2020

Like most things in life, hiring sales talent is a matter of timing. Especially since the best candidates with strong sales skills are usually snatched up within 10 days. Add to that the dramatic pace of business, and it can be very difficult to put the right people in place. Business Moves at the Speed of Light.

Sales Hiring 76

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Compensation Underperforming Technical Team 76

Intercom, Inc.

MARCH 12, 2019

A little over a year ago, I got the opportunity to start a new team within our sales organization – a team of Relationship Managers dedicated to growing our current customers at scale. The opportunity emerged out of a shift in how we practice sales. Starting a new sales team is not unlike doing improv.

Sales Hiring 171

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team Scale 171

SaaStr

DECEMBER 10, 2020

I hear again and again from SaaS founders growing to $5m, $10m ARR or even more that they don’t need a certain VP — with the exception of a VP of Sales. Basically, in SaaS, everyone “gets” that they need a VP of Sales. To get to $5m-$10m ARR and beyond, we’ll need a real VP of Sales.

Sales Hiring 358

Sales Hiring CTO Hire Sales Recruiting Scale 358

Sales Hacker

OCTOBER 30, 2018

Welcome to Sales Hacker’s first-ever Influential Women in Sales list! In this exclusive list, we wanted to honor not just female leaders that promote their own sales platform (no shame in that!) They say “You can’t be what you can’t see,” and the sales floor is no exception.

Sales Recruiting 111

Sales Recruiting VP of Engineering Scale Sales Hiring 111

Sales Hacker

APRIL 4, 2022

Want to write sales emails like a pro? Manager, Outbound Growth Marketing at Greenhouse) and Will Allred (Co-Founder & COO at Lavender) to get TWO perspectives and TWO approaches on real sales emails, every week on Sales Hacker. Would it be right to assume that Lavender uses a recruitment specific CRM system?

Sales Recruiting 83

Sales Recruiting Growth Marketing Sales Management 83

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 21, 2020

By tomorrow, the bank will face insolvency, even though it was business as usual at the bank this morning. You’ll have been trained to answer questions in a very particular way: each answer will tie back to the main storyline of the business. What is the narrative of your business? Here are some from our portfolio.

Sales Recruiting 208

Sales Recruiting Banking Engineering Customer Support 208

User Pilot

APRIL 19, 2024

TL;DR Market research is vital for making informed business decisions, enabling companies to understand the market, target audience, and competitors, reducing risks, and optimizing marketing communications and product strategies. This allows businesses to tailor their offerings and engage more effectively with their target market.

Market Research 52

Market Research Sales Recruiting Marketing Underperforming Technical Team 52

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

You might have a few account executives and a sales leader in place; maybe some revenue and a handful of customers. The sales team costs real money, and the question before the company is: how do you know what quota plan to assign to the account executives? Some businesses employ all four, others just use one or two.

Compensation 153

Compensation Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 153

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 16, 2021

In 2008, he founded Yammer, an enterprise software company that David grew to 500 employees and $60 million in sales. Positions Needed: Developers (Front-End and Back-End), Client Applications, Core Services/Platform, Analytics, and DevOps. Head of Sales. Positions Needed: FP&A Analyst, Accountant, HR, Ops, Recruiter.

CTO Hire 249

CTO Hire Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting CTO 249

Intercom, Inc.

DECEMBER 16, 2020

Your sales team is integral to your business’s success: not only do your salespeople bring in the big deals, but they also represent your company and culture to every new and potential prospect. So why is sales team culture still an afterthought for so many organizations? Be collaborative, not cutthroat.

Sales Hiring 143

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 143

OpenView Labs

MARCH 8, 2021

B2B sales involves one business selling its product to another business. Those with experience in both B2B and B2C sales know that B2B is a lot tougher—the deals are bigger, there’s often more than one decision-maker, and the competition is intense. For all those reasons, hiring and management must be on point.

Sales Hiring 80

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting B2B 80

Sales Hacker

DECEMBER 8, 2023

Accordingly, the recruiting of beta customers and roadmap selling happen earlier, providing for customer quotes as part of the launch. Joseph Goldberg (Director of Product Marketing at Vanta ) explains that one of the benefits of starting early is that it serves as a forcing function. Make sure your message lands. Keep it simple. “Do

Sales Recruiting 99

Sales Recruiting Generative AI AI AWS 99

InsightSquared

MAY 15, 2019

It’s one of my favorite questions to ask a fellow professional in sales operations. Insurance sales rep. Account Manager. Sales Operations is Still Developing. Sales operations as a profession is growing, yet it is a comparatively new function in businesses. Business Analytics.

Sales Recruiting 110

Sales Recruiting Scale Technical Review Sales 110