OPEXEngine

MARCH 9, 2022

Most companies track R&D as a % of revenue, and maybe a few metrics about activity, but few CFOs can answer the question of what’s the ROI on their R&D investment. How can Finance and Engineering management work together to diagnose weak areas, and shift R&D resources to produce better outcomes for the company?

Software Review 59

Software Review Development Team Review Technical Review Outsourced Development 59

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

I’m talking about product-led growth as an investment strategy, but really my background is 10 years of operating experience in the product-led growth world. Now I’m investing in that. I say investment strategy, but really it’s like how do you build a company that’s focused on product-led growth?

Investment 101

Investment Underperforming Technical Team Sales Hiring Software Review 101

Scytale

OCTOBER 17, 2023

When your startup is compliant with relevant regulations and industry standards, it simplifies the due diligence process for potential clients and partners. Specify procedures to implement each policy, and hold your team accountable. They can help set up and review your security compliance program and get you audit-ready.

compliance 59

compliance Systems Review Development Team Review Startup 59

Scytale

AUGUST 29, 2023

Moreover, the questionnaire serves as a valuable tool for due diligence. In the long run, investing time and effort in the security questionnaire process can lead to significant cost savings. Through these discussions, potential issues can be identified and resolved even before they have a chance to escalate.

Outsourcing Services 52

Outsourcing Services Development Team Review Technical Review compliance 52

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2021

You can have the great product and a great team, but the market of small or very niche. The second one is the team, obviously depending on how earlier the team has a huge factor because you may be so early in your journey that there’s nothing else to point to, but the track record of the team. So that’s easy.

Sales Recruiting 251

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale VP of Engineering 251

OpenView Labs

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

But no matter how thick a skin you develop, it’s never fun to be told ‘no,’ especially after you’ve spent significant time with an investor exploring a potential deal. To make matters worse, the customers revealed that instead of paying for a seat for each team member, they bought one login and shared it amongst 10 people.

Technical Review 73

Technical Review Scale Development Team Review Software Review 73

Baremetrics

OCTOBER 31, 2021

It distracts the team from writing new features + fixing bugs. You have to face challenging tradeoffs, the more of your team’s time you buy with hosted services, the less customization and higher cost you incur. Wait… that’s bad news. Decide how much DevOps you want in your Development. Lessons Learned.

AWS 115

AWS DevOps as a Service Underperforming Technical Team Development Team Review 115

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 18, 2022

Sarah Dayan is a staff engineer at Algolia , a “Search-as-a-Service” platform that helps developers build index and search capabilities into their own platforms through an API, and the host of two tech podcasts: Developer Experience and Entre Devs. So we do that for customers, and that’s the team I’m working on.

Engineering 204

Engineering Software Review Technical Review Development Team Review 204

ChurnZero

JUNE 10, 2022

As an implementation team lead, I’ve overseen hundreds of launches—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Conduct your due diligence during the sales process before you purchase. Hold your team accountable to the same standards as you would your vendor. Identify the required levels of stakeholder backing.

Software Review 52

Software Review Development Team Review Systems Review Customer Success 52

Hitenism

OCTOBER 3, 2016

Two tweets about raising money was all it took to get 81 email responses and 53 customer development calls with founders. Template decks lack story, buildup, and character, with titles that simply say “The Market,” “The Team,” “The Opportunity,” and “The Competition.” Awesome, right?

Development Team Review 166

Development Team Review Software Review Underperforming Technical Team Interviewing 166

SaaStr

DECEMBER 5, 2019

We’d been doing some investment, the product and technology leaders, but we talked about creating a proper investment fund to spur innovation around Workday ecosystem to get earlier stage companies, part of the Workday story for our customers. And I found some exciting things happening in a lot of investments.

Development Team Review 131

Development Team Review Scale Technical Review Software Review 131

OPEXEngine

APRIL 5, 2022

Because freemium users have no skin in the game, many have no pressing incentive to make the behavior changes required to get the software to deliver a return on their investment. Poor-fit customers can weaken the product over time. Do your due diligence before implementing a Product Led Growth Strategy. Bring ‘em on!”

Development Team Review 52

Development Team Review Software Review Systems Review Underperforming Technical Team 52

OpenView Labs

OCTOBER 29, 2021

On a recent episode of the BUILD Podcast , Blake Bartlett spoke with Nikita Miller about best practices for building an early-stage product team. Nikita has a lot of real-world experience, having led stellar product teams at Trello and Dooly. She is currently SVP, Head of Product Management at The Knot Worldwide.

Sales Hiring 60

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Development Team Review Management 60

Sales Hacker

JULY 31, 2020

Much of this is due to the nature of our profession, but it’s made worse because most sellers today operate in toxic work environments. So, yes, it’s time to start a conversation about mental health on your sales team. But there is no such thing as only freezing out bad emotions. I was cold to protect myself.

Technical Review 104

Technical Review Development Team Review Underperforming Technical Team Social Media 104

Baremetrics

MAY 7, 2019

Choosing the right combination of funding for your business is just as fundamental as choosing the right co-founders (or not), the right market, the right product, and the right team. Build your startup in a way that you don’t need investment. What do I need funding for? TinySeed , Earnest Capital , and Indie.vc

Finance 111

Finance Startup SaaS Payments Payment Methods 111

Unbounce

AUGUST 29, 2019

And while we considered illustrations, our design team ultimately decided to go in a different direction. As marketers trying to stand out in an increasingly competitive industry—is it bad for us to follow design trends? Is it worth a heavy investment in design to look different? what gives? And for us, that was brand.

Trends 111

Trends Software Review Development Team Review Technical Review 111

SaaStr

AUGUST 9, 2019

Why is it so crucial to invest in enablement in the early days? Here’s what Eyal and Megan talk about: How to develop software faster. But I think what it boils down to is also how newer technology is being developed and the ability for it to inter-operate with other platforms. How should this enablement be structured?

SaaS Payments 128

SaaS Payments Cloud Technical Review Scale 128

Sales Hacker

JULY 11, 2019

And if you feel there is a lack of support or poor management, you might see the writing on the wall. If everyone on the sales team is missing quota, organizationally, you might be set up to fail. When it leaves both you and your sales team in a good place moving forward. Of course, it might not be you at all.

Development Team Review 63

Development Team Review Underperforming Technical Team Sales Branding 63

SaaStr

JULY 8, 2020

350: Neha Sampat is the Founder and CEO @ Contentstack, a modern content management system bringing business and tech teams together to deliver personalised, omnichannel experiences. What are the counter-intuitive strategies Neha has found work when it comes to motivating remote teams? * You should be. Harry Stebbings: Okay.

Scale 206

Scale Technical Review Technical Advisors Sales Hiring 206

Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

Sales development representative roles have grown 5.7X If you’re one of them, that’s both good news and bad: It means sales is growing, but you’re going to have a lot of competition getting started. You need to be on the defensive to make sure you don’t end up in a bad spot. Invest in yourself. Former CRO at Hubspot.

Sales Hiring 55

Sales Hiring Development Team Review Technical Review Sales 55

SaaStr

MAY 31, 2019

How can one prevent their customer support team from being a wall of protection for the product and eng team? Stripe recently announced their 5th office would be… “remote”, so how does Parker feel about the building of remote teams? What are the most important things when establishing your first remote team?

VP of Engineering 128

VP of Engineering Sales Hiring Scale Systems Review 128

SaaStr

JUNE 14, 2019

Finally pre-Salesforce, Dave was CEO @ MarkLogic where he grew the team from 40 to 240 and revenues from $0 to an $80m revenue run rate. Does Dave agree that if the money is on the table founding teams should take it? What are the clear differences between a good book and a bad book? Who is involved? How long does it take?

Sales Hiring 137

Sales Hiring Payment Services SaaS Payments Underperforming Technical Team 137

SaaStr

JULY 8, 2020

What Nobody Tells You About Seed Investing with SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin and Cowboy Ventures Founder and Partner Aileen Lee. I think it gives us a perspective that maybe we don’t get in some other places, in addition to many great investments over the years. Personally, our team has been holding back a little bit.

Investment 157

Investment Technical Review Part-Time VPE Development Team Review 157

Neil Patel

JANUARY 20, 2021

So, we’ll take the smarter route that doesn’t require a heavy investment for a small business owner. Post your team photos like Zappos. Bombarding your fans with 10 poor-quality updates in an hour. Some people completely dismantle groups with tens of thousand of members because of poor engagement. You don’t want that.

Social Media 145

Social Media Software Review Branding Engagement 145

SmartKarrot

JUNE 4, 2020

Here are 7 such practices that will fetch you a Zero Churn: Discover Account opportunities via Review meetings. This only can be possible if you discuss this one-on-one with your employees during a review meeting. Third, when motivating someone, they focus on strengths … not on weaknesses. Come up with solutions for the concern.

Sales Hiring 10

Sales Hiring Churn Development Team Review Management 10

Sales Hacker

OCTOBER 7, 2021

Never believe that doubting yourself is a bad thing. That company only lasted another year before they were out of business, so it was a poor use of my energy, time, and being away from my family – a lesson I work to pass on to others new in roles today. Invest in your development internally and externally.

Scale 130

Scale Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring VP of Engineering 130

SaaStr

AUGUST 5, 2020

Today She discusses how everything is changing in the current climate, the rise of war-time founders, having teams work remote, and the supply-chain reimagined. We invest in companies that transform the way people work. We mostly do seed-stage investments and a little bit if Series A. I started Basis Set Ventures in 2017.

Technical Review 144

Technical Review Payment Methods Travel Development Team Review 144

Kellblog

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

Kellblog 2022 Predictions Review Let’s start with a review of last year’s predictions which, as it turns out, were pretty good. Going forward, while VCs clearly have dry powder , what’s unclear is their willingness to invest it. Some companies treat these as publicity stunts, talking a big vision, but not really investing.

Software Review 119

Software Review Development Team Review Underperforming Technical Team Scale 119

Sales Hacker

APRIL 22, 2019

The importance of due diligence in company selection. Showpad’s all-in-one platform empowers sales and marketing teams to engage buyers through industry leading training and coaching software and innovative content and engagement solutions. I would call it sort of class new market development. What You’ll Learn.

Development Team Review 54

Development Team Review Scale Software Review Sales Hiring 54

Baremetrics

APRIL 16, 2021

Sweat equity and credit cards, personal lines of credit, direct cash investment into the business in the form of an equity stake or a related-party loan to the company, deferring cash-pay compensation. Future capital providers love to see that you’ve invested more than your time into your endeavor. Company Stage. What it Takes.

Venture Capital 66

Venture Capital Technical Review Underperforming Technical Team SaaS 66

Intercom, Inc.

DECEMBER 2, 2021

From the process of disambiguation and the worst outage we ever had to our obsession with speed and how legal and engineering teams can work better together, Engineer Chats will give you a peek behind the engineering process at Intercom. The legal team isn’t there to slow R&D down. That is an ambiguous problem.

Engineering 178

Engineering Technical Review Systems Review Underperforming Technical Team 178

SaaStr

AUGUST 12, 2022

We are post-term sheet moving along diligence. You would take three to four years to deploy it for new investments, not follow-ons but new investments. And they’ve probably cut the amount they want to invest in the next 12 months by half to 66% because of the math. They’ve cut the amount they want to invest.

Scale 206

Scale SaaS Payments Scaling SaaS 206

SaaStr

MAY 27, 2020

When the future is predictable, people like to invest. That means they spend less time looking at new stuff and they’re trying to shore up and protect their existing investments. It’s much easier to look at bright eyed and bushy tailed new investments. I don’t think we really know how bad things can be.

Technical Review 191

Technical Review Payment Services Payment Methods Development Team Review 191

Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

At the forefront of this change is what we at Engagio call, Account-Based Everything (ABE), some people know it as Account-Based Sales Development (ABSD), and others call it Account-Based Marketing (ABM). We’re going to look at what data you need to develop an account targeting strategy and where to get that data.

Underperforming Technical Team 57

Underperforming Technical Team Technical Review Data Development Team Review 57

Chargify

JULY 30, 2019

Competing on price isn’t always a bad idea, but if you are selling B2B software, it could be problematic. . Yet another complexity of the free plan burden is that the more free users you have, the more resources you need to invest in supporting your free plan. And paid users are not going to put up with poor customer service.

Subscription 64

Subscription Payment Features Metrics Scale 64

SaaSOptics

MARCH 1, 2022

What makes finance teams throw up their hands and say, “I just need a tool that can do X!” finance teams are responsible for planning the financial roadmap of an organization and keeping everything in balance. Most finance teams are familiar with enterprise and integrated solutions (think Netsuite, Sage Intacct.).

Payment Solutions 52

Payment Solutions Payments Payment Services Payment Features 52

Andreessen Horowitz

JANUARY 17, 2024

They know there’s 5 individuals with semi-automatic weapons in the car, SWAT team responds, and those people are now in jail. Bad guys know that when you come to Las Vegas, because of our abilities, technology being at the forefront of it, you are going to get caught. There’s a lot of communities in Vegas.

Technical Review 74

Technical Review Underperforming Technical Team Technology Systems Review 74