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. SaaStr 567: Classic Episode: eCommerce API Startup to Unicorn With Shippo Co-Founder and CEO Laura Behrens Wu.

CTO Hire 261

CTO Hire Sales Hiring CTO Scale 261

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’s first foray into SaaS was in 1999 when he joined a startup that would become PayPal, starting as the product leader and later as the COO.

CTO Hire 290

CTO Hire Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting CTO 290

SaaStr

JULY 5, 2024

GTM Mistake #1: A VP of Sales That Can’t Sell or Demo the Product Mistake number one has always been an issue, and it’s the number one reason startups struggle in today’s world. They hire a VP of Sales who doesn’t want to sell or learn the product. You also don’t want to hire a VP of Sales who won’t carry a bag. Or why you lose?

CTO Hire 211

CTO Hire Sales Hiring New CTO Venture Capital 211

SaaStr

JULY 10, 2021

As a founder/CEO, building your first management team is something that you often lose sleep over. Which role should you hire for first? For starters, your first hire should be someone who can complement your skills, someone who is strong in areas where you’re weak, but it goes much deeper than that. One thing is the timing.

Sales Hiring 264

Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Development Team Review CTO Hire 264

SaaStr

JULY 13, 2023

Startups come in all shapes and sizes on various stages of a timeline, yet it’s not surprising how many have the same questions and concerns about how to scale from x to y to z, the right time to hire and fire, and how to keep a team motivated during hard times. Q: How Do You Get Sustainable Output In A Startup?

CTO Hire 241

CTO Hire Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 241

SaaStr

APRIL 7, 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. They often staff up their teams with folks they already know and have been successful with at their last startup. Veterans of the SaaS journey. The director that wants a shot at VP.

Part-Time VPE 269

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting CTO Hire 269

SaaStr

JULY 5, 2019

For me, it took a while to build up the experiences and confidence to get there: First, I worked with enough startups and CEOs to “get it”. I had a chance as a startup lawyer working in “Silicon Valley” to work with 20+ startups. Second, I joined the best startup that would have me, as a Director and then Senior Director.

Part-Time VPE 196

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE CTO Hire Sales Recruiting 196

Valerian Tech

DECEMBER 30, 2022

The role of a Fractional Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is to provide technical expertise and leadership to a company on a part-time or temporary basis. This can be a useful option for startups or small businesses that may not have the resources to hire a full-time CTO or may not need one on a permanent basis.

Fractional CTO 52

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Part-Time CTO CTO 52

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2022

Indeed this was also my #1 mistake and the #1 I see from so many startups learning to go upmarket. 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. Hire that person, and make sure they are someone the top customers can really trust and count on.

CTO Hire 328

CTO Hire Sales Hiring New CTO CTO 328

FastSpring

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

If you’re running a smaller digital business, you may find it challenging to hire great talent. If you’re facing challenges winning the best candidates for your roles, or if you have a small number of roles and every hire really matters, then don’t miss this episode of Growth Stage. to working for smaller brands.

SMB 108

SMB Sales Recruiting Branding Sales Hiring 108

SaaStr

AUGUST 18, 2019

Not hiring a good enough CTO. Not managing the cash burn with extreme precision. A bit more here: 15+ of The Top Sales & Marketing Mistakes SaaS Startups Make | SaaStr. The post What are the biggest mistakes first-time startup founders make, and how can they be avoided? SaaS is so competitive these days.

Growth Hacking 146

Growth Hacking CTO Hire Startup Sales Hiring 146

SaaStr

AUGUST 25, 2023

To some extent, if you have the hottest startup in the world, the full package, you can play some games with investors. 99% of startups aren’t that. For 99% of startups, when you want money, tell VCs you want money. 2 “Give the VP of Sales more time.” Hiring someone too junior. Ask for money when you want advice.”

Part-Time VPE 242

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Scale CTO Hire 242

The Angel VC

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Last night I read this question on Quora : In general terms, what is the ideal size and make-up of a team for a pre-revenue SaaS startup? I think the second part of the question is more important. This can be a huge advantage, especially for a bootstrapped startup that can't afford to hire many people.

CTO Hire 106

CTO Hire Startup Sales Hiring New CTO 106

SaaStr

DECEMBER 20, 2023

The real conflict is around trying to serve both sets of messaging and marketing at the same time since how you market to SMBs is very different than Enterprise customers. Henry’s Favorite Upcoming Feature ZoomInfo is rolling out a co-pilot product for SDRs, AEs, and Account Managers called Signal To Action.

New CTO 316

New CTO Scale Sales Hiring CTO Hire 316

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 18, 2015

Last night, SaaS Office Hours hosted Optimizely co-founder and CTO Pete Koomen. Pete was a Google Associate Product Manager for AdSense and launched Google App Engine. First, hire a management coach to work with you as the company grows. These were some of the things I learned from Pete.

CTO Coach 113

CTO Coach Sales Hiring CTO Hire Startup 113

SaaStr

JUNE 1, 2021

Co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah shared with us how they got there — and the top mistakes they made — just 3 quarters after their IPO. We have someone that probably 98 percent of you know virtually or socially in some sense, Dharmesh Shah, founder and CTO of HubSpot. But of course, it wasn’t always quite that big!

Part-Time VPE 296

Part-Time VPE Technical Cofounder CTO Hire New CTO 296

SaaStr

JUNE 26, 2024

Deals are contracting, not because of layoffs, but because people are managing budgets so tightly. It Takes Time To Bounce Back Jason was the first investor in RevenueCat , a company that automates mobile subscriptions on your phone. 30% of all mobile apps with a paid subscription use RevenueCat to manage it.

CTO Hire 147

CTO Hire AI Venture Capital Sales Hiring 147

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 24, 2021

A thanks to [Marsh 00:00:34] for stepping in at the beginning of the month, and a great session with our own Jason Warner and Adrian, the CTO of Zendesk. This is a program where we invite luminaries from the startup world to share their insights. Lionetti, the CMO at Confluent, and most recently, the CTO from Zendesk, Adrian.

CTO Coach 164

CTO Coach Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting CTO Hire 164

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 18, 2020

I was working with a company that … Because people will write big checks today into early stage companies, where someone came in very early and gave an early startup $50 million too early, and just started telling them how to raise the company, immediately told them to go buy competitors, which they’re not ready for.

Sales Hiring 246

Sales Hiring CTO Hire Scale Investment 246

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

They were aware of it, but startups that I work with closely or invested in, if they got all the way to 25 million with 75% NRR, I would tell them to quit today. Your core models for sales, for marketing spend, for hiring and engineering and product. That’s how you manage your burn rate. More likely than not, but barely.

Outsourcing Services 243

Outsourcing Services Banking CTO Hire New CTO 243

Intercom, Inc.

APRIL 19, 2018

Over time I had eight different jobs there and progressed from an engineer, to technical project manager, to technical program manager, to manager, to a manager of managers. Ciaran, our CTO , came up with this magical line. Not every startup is able to handle our throughput or reliability needs.

Outsourcing Services 192

Outsourcing Services Part-Time VPE Software AWS 192

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 25, 2020

So even the freshest new SaaS startup celebrating their 50th customer may find themselves dealing with sales tax in multiple states. . hiring in-house talent). That’s what Basecamp, a leading project management software provider, chose to do when partnering with TaxJar. It’s time to think about sales tax management.

Merchant Services 199

Merchant Services Technical Review Scale Sales Hiring 199

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

Before that, he was the first non-founder seller at three startups, turning early traction into a repeatable sales motion. If you missed GTM 134, check it out here: Build your AI Outbound Machine with ChatGPT | Jordan Crawford Highlights: 05:03 When to hire your first sales reps. 31:55 Hiring for grit, curiosity & determination.

Sales Hiring 89

Sales Hiring CTO Hire Scale VP of Engineering 89

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 130

Underperforming Technical Team CTO Hire CTO Coach Technical Review 130

Intercom, Inc.

APRIL 27, 2018

Back in the early days of Intercom, our CTO Ciaran was the entirety of the on call team, both in and out of the office. We also created a “Level 2” escalation team made up of engineering managers to be a single point of escalation for the on call engineer. The history of on call at Intercom.

Engineering 209

Engineering Software Review Technical Review Systems Review 209

User Pilot

MARCH 7, 2024

This could be explained by the fact that it was women, more often than men, who had to step down and work part-time to take care of stay-at-home children during the pandemic. Then I got hired at a tech company in Lithuania before I knew what tech even was. Sima Banijamali – Sr. Sima Banijamali – Sr.

Technical Review 105

Technical Review CTO Coach Sales Hiring CTO Hire 105

Scytale

OCTOBER 21, 2024

Regardless of whether you’re running a startup or a more established business, this certification is the key to unlocking deals you once thought were out of reach. SOC 2 stands for “Service Organization Control 2,” and it’s a standard that evaluates how well a company manages customer data. Uh-oh, now what?

Technical Review 52

Technical Review Scale compliance CTO Hire 52

Sales Hacker

SEPTEMBER 29, 2020

Today on the show, we’ve got Vishal Sunak, CEO and co-founder of LinkSquares, a company that applies AI to your contract. Sam Jacobs: Today on the show, we’ve got Vishal Sunak, CEO and co-founder of LinkSquares, a company that applies AI to your contract. Sam’s Corner [28:45]. Show Introduction [00:10].

Scale 117

Scale CTO Hire CTO Coach Scaling 117

Intercom, Inc.

JULY 21, 2022

Along the way, we’ve interviewed trailblazers, business leaders, makers and doers to share their experience and insights on all things startup strategy, product management, design, marketing, customer experience, and much, much more. And so we hired somebody who had a lot of experience and could recommend ways to build the team.

Outsourcing Services 216

Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring CTO Hire Acquisition 216

SaaStr

APRIL 16, 2019

We ended up signing that contract in the uber back to the airport on the way home. It was our largest contract to date, kind of helps the other quarter. He was a VP of product at a series D startup, so a little bit ahead of us and we just had a real connection. For example, I referenced hiring a Chief Revenue Officer, Bill.

CTO Hire 173

CTO Hire Travel Underperforming Technical Team CTO Coach 173

OpenView Labs

JULY 2, 2020

Pricing in a Time of Uncertainty. Steven Forth, CEO of Ibbaka, shares wisdom on managing pricing through the COVID-19 pandemic. Patrick Campbell deconstructs and walks through the elements of a pricing strategy that enables startups to more effectively acquire customers. There are Only 3 Pricing Strategies for Your Startup.

Pricing 138

Pricing SaaS Payments Payments SaaS 138

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

Intercom, Inc.

JANUARY 5, 2022

Suddenly, the team got to know SOC 2 Reports all too well and realized just how burdensome and unscalable it could become, especially for high-growth startups. Security affects every function across your company: from onboarding and offboarding to encrypting data and managing endpoints. Less than a year later, Drata was launched.

Scale 212

Scale Software Review compliance Technical Review 212

Intercom, Inc.

OCTOBER 31, 2019

When a company is moving from the startup to the scale-up phase, there is the potential for productivity practices to be lost along the wayside. Tim: I was hired in 2010, when Facebook was what I like to call a “teenage company”. That was actually a pretty tall order at the time. Calendars are broken.

Artificial Intelligence 169

Artificial Intelligence Scale CTO Hire Technology 169

Baremetrics

DECEMBER 7, 2023

Here’s an overview of the series: Part 1: How to Categorize Expenses in a SaaS Startup v2.0 You’ll probably want to include Contract Labor – R&D for any product-related contractors you work with. This means things like rent or the accountant fees, but also your C-level managers and their assistants.

Startup 90

Startup Merchant Services DevOps as a Service SaaS 90

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Since 2010 we’ve seen more startups, funds, and capital than ever before, but with this drastic increase, investors are seeing unexpected new trends reshaping the future of the industry. Pietro Bezza | Managing Partner @ Connect Ventures. We’ve got half a billion into management. Want to see more content like this?

New CTO 173

New CTO Sales Hiring B2C CTO Hire 173

OPEXEngine

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

In this framework, you’ll learn how to design a scoring system that aligns to your growth strategy, brainstorm and select leader indicators of success, and operationalize the system across your startup. In HubSpot’s case, we eventually hired a world-class data science team, but our scoring only improved by a few points,” notes Redbord.

Startup 91

Startup Scale Systems Review Technical Review 91