SaaStr

MARCH 1, 2024

In SaaS, once you have even a few million in ARR, the #1 challenge is recruiting top-tier VPs and building a truly top-tier 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. She can be your CTO forever.

Scale 264

Scale Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Fractional VPE 264

SaaStr

MARCH 6, 2024

Founder CEO Todd McKinnon was VP of Engineering at Salesforce and left to start Okta in the depths of the last downturn. Seat Contractions Have Brought NRR Down From 120% to 111% While 111% NRR is still quite an engine at this scale, the drop in NRR from seat contractions explains a good chunk of the headwinds Okta has seen. #2.

Fractional VPE 241

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Scale SMB 241

SaaStr

JANUARY 22, 2021

But there’s one thing I can tell you in SaaS, at least: Almost Everything Except the Product Itself is Sort of the Same at a Given ACV (Annual Contract Value) Level. You may need solutions architects, more sales engineers, more support. Your engineers can build complex features that only a handful of customers use.

Fractional VPE 269

Fractional VPE Sales Hiring Part-Time VPE Engineering 269

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 246

Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Fractional VPE Sales Recruiting 246

SaaStr

MAY 8, 2022

Dave Kellogg, Principal @ Dave Kellogg Consulting. Michael Manapat, Head of Engineering @ Notion. Krista Moroder, Director of Engineering @ Checkr. Pierre Alain Bouchard, VP of Engineering @ Zendesk. Pierre Alain Bouchard, VP of Engineering @ Zendesk. Giorgos Ampavis, VP of Engineering @ Tide.

Technical Cofounder 232

Technical Cofounder Fractional VPE CTO Engineering 232

SaaStr

OCTOBER 24, 2022

They’re able to actually swipe a credit card, and what starts off similar to a freemium self-serve product can turn into a six-figure contract in just a few months. Bottom-up sales. It might even be months later that a VP of Engineering or a CTO or CFO realizes that they’re built on a new platform.

Underperforming Technical Team 196

Underperforming Technical Team Outsourced Development Development Part-Time VPE 196

SaaStr

JULY 12, 2022

One of the first what How to Hire a Great VP of Sales at the New York Enterprise Tech Meet-Up (thank you to John Lehr and Work-Bench for setting this up). The Number One Thing You Can Do to Accelerate Your Business Post-Initial Traction is Hiring a Great VP of Sales. I don’t know anything about sales.

Sales Hiring 274

Sales Hiring Part-Time VPE VP of Engineering Sales Recruiting 274