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Dear SaaStr: What Makes a Bad CTO?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: What Makes a Bad CTO? While there is no legal definition for CTO or bright line between CTO and VPE, I’d suggest a start-up CTO really only has to do a few things — which are very hard: Assemble a small team (3–9) of very good engineers. A “bad” CTO doesn’t care about growing very, very quickly.

CTO Hire 251
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The Irreplaceable But Toxic Employee

SaaStr

The best we made our CTO. But what if our CTO gets hit by a bus? He scaled up our technology in a way folks for years had thought was impossible. They feed on each other, hire other toxic people, and turn the company against the mission and each other. By definition, these folks are hyper-smart. Well he was toxic.

CTO Hire 236
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Intercom’s Rich Archbold on how to run less software

Intercom, Inc.

Rich Archbold , Senior Director of Engineering, has been at the forefront of codifying and scaling this philosophy over the past few years. Our chat covers the origins of Run Less Software, how it has evolved at scale, and how it differs from the equally valid approaches of other engineering teams.

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SaaStr Podcast #403 with Loom VP of Sales Sam Taylor

SaaStr

What was Sam’s biggest lesson from scaling the sales team at Dropbox? When is the right time to hire the first sales rep? Should you hire 2 at a time? What does one look for in their first sales hire? We were hired into the same role, same start date, competed head to head. Let’s go do it.

Scale 178
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Drata’s CEO Adam Markowitz on creating a culture of cyber security

Intercom, Inc.

Evernote’s CTO on Your Biggest Security Worries From 3 to 300 Employees. This is Scale , Intercom’s podcast series on driving business growth through customer relationships. Liam: Why is it so important for B2B companies to be SOC 2 compliant as they scale? Scaling security as a startup. Definitely leverage automation.

Scale 211
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SaaStr Podcasts for the Week with Crossbeam and Podium – January 10, 2020

SaaStr

At what scale does that become impossible? How does Bob think about when is the right time to hire a Head of Partnerships? Where do most startups go wrong both in hiring for partnerships and in the engagements themselves? What are the drivers of its death? How important is it to own the entire customer journey?

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10 key lessons SaaStock18 attendees picked up

SaaStock

Here is what he writes: Kieran Flanagan , VP of marketing at HubSpot, shared some interesting insights on approaching new ideas for scaling up your business. The Gold: these are very rare and hard to achieve at the scale-up stage, so you’ll mostly encounter them with startups. The best part? Hire Game Changers to Propel Growth.

Scale 103