SaaStr

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

Many companies believe excellent product design comes from hiring the best engineers and signing up for the latest software instead of building from the users’ perspectives. Stripe’s CTO, David Singleton, shares how they use a system of feedback, iteration, and fast shipping to create products that meet users’ expectations.

CTO Hire 242

CTO Hire CTO Payment Methods Payment Solutions 242

SaaStr

DECEMBER 16, 2023

You really need a great CTO, not just a good business team. A mediocre tech team, a part-time CTO, or even just a decent CTO just doesn’t get you there. Finally you have great customers and traction — but you can’t afford to hire all the people you need to meet their needs. True in B2C too of course.

Part-Time VPE 226

Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Sales Recruiting VPCs (Virtual Private Cloud) 226

TechEmpower SaaS

DECEMBER 11, 2023

While the appearance matters, remember you are hiring the development firm primarily for its development skills, not its graphic design skills. Employee and Contractor Details: How many full-time W2 employees and contractors do they employ, and where are they located? Is there a project manager? An account manager?

Software Development 443

Software Development Development Software Review Software 443

SaaStr

JUNE 23, 2020

In SaaS, it is recruiting your VPs and management team : SaaS products mostly don’t sell themselves. You can hack managing and finding 1–3 reps yourself, but after that, you really need a VP of Sales. Or churn will increase, NPS will stagnate and decline, and upsell and revenue retention will be a fraction of what it could be.

Part-Time VPE 238

Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Fractional VPE Sales Recruiting 238

SaaStr

JULY 3, 2022

The Ultimate Guide for Hiring a Great VP of Sales. Top Podcasts This Week: SaaStr 568: Mind the Gap: Balancing Growth and Efficiency in Tougher Times with Point Nine Managing Partner Christoph Janz. Balancing Growth and Efficiency in Tougher Times | Point Nine Managing Partner Christoph Janz.

CTO Hire 198

CTO Hire Sales Hiring Scale CTO 198

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Lately I’ve been working with 5+ SaaS companies all hiring their first VP of Product. And critically, most have a really strong CEO-CTO partnership. A few general learnings: A VP of Product that Reports to CTO / Engineering Rarely Meets With That Many Customers. I just see this time and time again.

Part-Time VPE 298

Part-Time VPE Outsourcing Services CTO Hire CTO 298

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 16, 2021

You’ll need to hire aggressively to get to the next level and continue that rapid growth. But what roles should you hire for, and what will your org chart look like at each stage? David considers product to be its own department that should also report directly to the CEO, instead of falling under the CTO. CTO (40 Employees).

CTO Hire 252

CTO Hire Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting CTO 252

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

Founded by Sanjit Biswas, former CEO at Meraki and John Bicket former CTO at Meraki[link] Samsara builds software to manage physical operations: truck fleets, mining, food & beverage, oil & gas. If a business has to manage physical assets with drivers, there’s a Samsara product for it. Revenue, $M. Gross Margin.

CTO Hire 352

CTO Hire CTO Coach Benchmarks Scale 352

Valerian Tech

MAY 4, 2023

In this article, we'll explore the benefits of DevOps for legacy businesses and how a Fractional CTO can help overcome the challenges of DevOps adoption. This may involve training employees, hiring new talent, and creating a culture of innovation. How can a Fractional CTO help legacy businesses implement DevOps practices?

CTO Hire 52

CTO Hire New CTO CTO Business 52

SaaStr

JANUARY 16, 2023

Hiring a reliable team is an all-encompassing issue where startups dive in head-first but fail to optimize it for success. . Hiring an expert produces 1000x better results than someone with interests elsewhere. . “A Hiring in a streamlined manner with a rigorous selection process initially builds momentum for long-term goals.

Scale 203

Scale CTO Hire Cloud Scaling 203

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 15, 2021

The first 2 scaled reps you hire that hit plan (some may churn before then) get special training. They get CTO training. And so we see reps 3-10, or reps-from-#3-until-The-VP-of-Sales-is-Hired … fail. And for CEOs, especially reps 3-10, the ones that you are still managing. Simplify to a 1 page contract.

Scale 342

Scale CTO Hire Sales Hiring New CTO 342

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 29, 2020

They’ll revolt when you make a senior or mid-level hire that as a group, they simply cannot suffer one day longer. It’s happened to me, and I think for whatever my faults, I have a pretty high EQ and am a half-decent manager. Another time, a rather long time ago, I had a senior product hire that was pretty brilliant.

Part-Time VPE 281

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring CTO Hire Scale 281

SaaStr

DECEMBER 10, 2020

Hire not just 1-2 reps, but 10. That it’s time to bring in someone that knows. But I’ve found many great SaaS founders take longer, too long, to decide to hire the other VPs. But I’ve found many great SaaS founders take longer, too long, to decide to hire the other VPs. Manage a trade show?

Sales Hiring 355

Sales Hiring CTO Hire Sales Recruiting Scale 355

SaaStr

MAY 3, 2021

A new edition, new services, an outbound sales team, an account management / upsell team. From $1m to $10m ARR or so, as you build your first management team: You shouldn’t be the VP of Sales Anymore As You Scale. And importantly, you need to spend more time with your existing customers (vs. Add a layer. More here.

Part-Time VPE 281

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Outsourcing Services 281

SaaStr

MARCH 7, 2021

No one spends enough time recruiting as it is, after $1m ARR or so. Yes, you can manage the sales team yourself. These are all full-time jobs by $1m ARR. Fixing it yourself becomes the biggest time sink and excuse for not hiring there is. You end up spending all your time backfilling roles you should have hired.

Part-Time VPE 273

Part-Time VPE Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 273

SaaStr

APRIL 28, 2020

In fact, right after that we hired a roundtrip employee as our CTO in my first start-up and it was amazing. First, what doesn’t work, or at least hasn’t for me, is re-hiring: Folks that left for a company that was a better fit. They leave a manager and a situation that isn’t. Roundtrip hires can work.

CTO Hire 254

CTO Hire CTO Scaling Management 254

Outseta

APRIL 11, 2019

Why most SaaS companies are blind to some of the best talent on the market By Geoff Roberts 9 min read I believe that most SaaS companies are missing out of a major opportunity when hiring—the opportunity to hire more part-time help, where the employee acts as a fully integrated (albeit part-time) member of the team on an ongoing basis.

CTO Hire 52

CTO Hire Sales Hiring B2B New CTO 52

SaaStr

JULY 5, 2019

We then had our own mini rocketship, hitting challenges and being acquired, and then being part of an IPO. But I got to part of the management team and make mistakes, and work cross-functionally with the other leaders and managers. Third, I then managed a small team. To hire our CTO, our first VPE, etc.

Part-Time VPE 163

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE CTO Hire Sales Recruiting 163

How To Buy Saas

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

Traditionally, a data annotation specialist is hired to perform this task manually, but numerous automated processes have also been developed to perform this activity through AI applications. Hiring an on-premises data annotator is a costly option.

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence CTO 40

User Pilot

JULY 27, 2023

Before hiring, assess your current needs and hire as your company grows. Chief Operating Officer: Responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations, providing strategic advice, and managing the company’s operations. Engineering Manager: In charge of planning, designing, and overseeing projects.

Sales Hiring 98

Sales Hiring SaaS Payments Sales Recruiting CTO Hire 98

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2022

You have to be careful to pair that with someone strong to manage the relationship, that has more time and that also can be trusted. As a founder, you’ll just run out of time to properly manage key customers and partners yourself. ” — Echeyde Cubillo, Co-founder and CTO, Acme Ticketing.

CTO Hire 283

CTO Hire Sales Hiring New CTO CTO 283

Crafty CTO

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Yes, I needed to replatform my blog, but I also needed a web presence for my new fractional CTOing entity. In the end, I found a name that I think works well for both (ask me again in 5 years): Crafty CTO / craftycto.com for the entity, with the blog living at CraftyCTO.com/blog.

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire New CTO CTO Software Engineering 40

SaaStr

AUGUST 25, 2023

You have to see: A couple of good hires brought in Improvement on some metrics A big deal or two hanging out there, brought in and closed Things taken off your plate. More time may make them better if they’re already progressing, even if it’s just 10-15% in the first sales cycle. Hiring someone too junior. That often compounds.

Part-Time VPE 180

Part-Time VPE Scale Sales Hiring CTO Hire 180

Valerian Tech

JULY 5, 2023

Increasing Efficiency and Streamlining Operations Efficiency is vital in managing the complex operations of a hospitality business. Property management systems centralize operations, encompassing reservations, inventory management, housekeeping, and more.

Payment Services 52

Payment Services Technology Payment Solutions CTO Hire 52

Valerian Tech

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

A cryptocurrency project is a venture or initiative that involves the development, launch, and management of a new cryptocurrency or blockchain platform. Poor management: A cryptocurrency project is only as good as the team behind it. How can CTO’s help ensure the Success of a Cryptocurrency Project?

Part-Time CTO 52

Part-Time CTO CTO CTO Coach CTO Hire 52

OPEXEngine

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

A Couple SaaS Generations Ago… Traditional software companies managed sales, product development, finance and HR in siloed organizations by function. Cross functional management was attempted but often not effective. In the early SaaS days, management structure was essentially the same.

Part-Time CTO 69

Part-Time CTO CTO CTO Hire Management 69

SaaStr

JULY 14, 2022

This led to our first meet-ups in 2013 and 2014, the first SaaStr Annual in 2015 , the industry’s leading podcast in 2016, the first SaaS founder coworking space in 2017, and SaaStr Pro , the first learning management system for SaaS founders in 2018. Teams saw on another in-person instead of behind a screen for the first time.

Scale 287

Scale Sales Recruiting CTO Hire New CTO 287

SaaStr

JULY 30, 2020

I’ve been reminded of this question in several meetings lately where founders are doing pretty well, getting to and past Initial Traction, but with hindsight it’s interesting that the founder that took the CEO gig perhaps was better suited to a different role, say CTO or SVP of Sales or President or COO or SVP Product.

Sales Recruiting 323

Sales Recruiting Venture Capital CTO Hire CTO 323

Valerian Tech

MAY 30, 2023

By analyzing order data, shipping times, and customer feedback, businesses can identify bottlenecks, streamline workflows, and recommend improvements. They can implement order management systems, shipping automation tools, and real-time tracking solutions to enhance order fulfillment efficiency.

CTO Hire 52

CTO Hire Data Business CTO 52

SaaStr

OCTOBER 24, 2022

WorkOS CEO Michael Grinich, Developer Success Manager Betsy Calender, and VP of Developer Experience Zeno Rocha share how to price your product for developers, how to market it to developers, how to how to support them as they scale and use the products. Management might even know that they’re using a product.

Underperforming Technical Team 183

Underperforming Technical Team Outsourced Development Development Part-Time VPE 183

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

What’s the point of all the specialization so many sales orgs strive for if it’s just going to eat up director, VP and executive-level time and energy? Wouldn’t it take away from allowing managers to manage and coach — not to mention the monstrous to-do lists of VPs and CEOs? Have an action plan.

Underperforming Technical Team 121

Underperforming Technical Team CTO Hire CTO Coach Technical Review 121

SaaStr

APRIL 22, 2019

What should your first management team look like? Egnyte General Manager of EMEA Charles Lawson and Egynte SDR Lara Badanes break down how to build a pipeline with no brand and sometimes no market. “Freemium at Scale” Typeform CEO Joaquim Lecha and Point Nine Managing Partner Christoph Janz.

CTO Hire 156

CTO Hire Scale Sales Hiring CTO 156

Casey Accidental

JUNE 8, 2021

When I started managing teams at Grubhub over a decade ago, I was pretty obsessed with high performance. I was able to hire a strong team, and we got to work, 100xing the size of our customer base over four years. We were definitely winning, after all. Many companies would not even let me write a blog like this while working there.

CTO Hire 125

CTO Hire Venture Capital CTO Communication 125

Valerian Tech

JUNE 13, 2023

The company’s leadership should work to identify potential compliance gaps by analyzing data management practices, security protocols, documentation processes, and employee training programs. Assessing Compliance Gaps: Maintaining compliance requires thorough evaluation of existing systems, processes, and policies.

Healthcare 52

Healthcare compliance CTO Hire New CTO 52

SaaStr

AUGUST 18, 2019

Not hiring a good enough CTO. Not managing the cash burn with extreme precision. A bit more here: Why There Is a 50/50 Chance You’ll Tilt Upmarket in SaaS | SaaStr. SaaS is so competitive these days. The most agile teams win. If you don’t have a strong enough technical co-founder, it’s really hard to win.

Growth Hacking 121

Growth Hacking CTO Hire Startup Sales Hiring 121

Andreessen Horowitz

DECEMBER 4, 2023

To improve the efficiency of spend on cost of goods sold (COGS), most growth-stage leaders can optimize seat-based spend or renegotiate consumption-based contracts in a quarter or 2. Focus on performance management of your product and engineering teams as early indicators for what R&D investments are working, and which aren’t.

Underperforming Technical Team 120

Underperforming Technical Team Benchmarks CTO Hire New CTO 120

Intercom, Inc.

FEBRUARY 22, 2022

Continuous risk management. Hiring and cultivating incredible talent on our Information Security team. Our InfoSec team members implement guardrails rather than gates by leveraging our skills to make balanced security risk management decisions. . Evolving our security program through a continuous process of risk management.

Data 118

Data Technical Review compliance CTO Hire 118