SaaStr

MARCH 24, 2020

Nothing matters but recruiting and using your personal network. Sam Blond, CSO at Brex explains why recruiting, networking and employee happiness is the key to this playbook on recruiting your sales team. Sam Blond | Chief Sales Officer @ Brex. I’m doing The Playbook To Recruiting Your Sales Team.

Sales Recruiting 183

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Underperforming Technical Team 183

SaaStr

MARCH 1, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What’s The Number One Challenge for Scale-Up Stage Founders? 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 will need a VP of Product to scale your roadmap.

Scale 269

Scale Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Fractional VPE 269

SaaStr

JANUARY 21, 2020

Justin Welsh, former SVP of Sales at PatientPop explains how he started in SaaS in 2009 as the second sales hire at Zocdoc. Justin used Sales Culture to grow a successful PatientPop team to 140 employees and 55 million in revenue. Justin Welsh | SVP Sales @ PatientPop. I was a local sales manager or regional manager.

Sales Recruiting 328

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Sales 328

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 16, 2025

The “Anti-Enterprise” Enterprise Model Most surprising insight: Atlassian’s growth challenges conventional enterprise wisdom. While competitors invested in huge sales teams, Atlassian actually restricted direct customer interaction. 5 Nonobvious Learnings from Atlassian’s Path to $10B 1.

Sales Recruiting 194

Sales Recruiting Marketplace as a Service Underperforming Technical Team Scale 194

SaaStr

JULY 12, 2024

Scaling to $150M ARR and beyond is no simple task. Back then, remote first was a recruiting advantage. Will this change as Grafana Labs scales? Grafana Labs still has features and capabilities they hold back that appeal to large enterprises, such as things around security and compliance. How did it come to be?

Scale 284

Scale Scaling Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting 284

SaaStr

JUNE 23, 2020

Q: What’s the number one challenge for scale-up founders? 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. Upsell and retention is an art, science and craft.

Part-Time VPE 300

Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Fractional VPE Sales Recruiting 300

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 5, 2020

One of the biggest challenges in scaling a SaaS company has always been VP and SVP level talent. It’s an even bigger deal in the enterprise, where the playbook to closing large deals is more critical to have down. But for now, if you are beginning to scale, aggressively recruit that Bay Area VP you always wanted to hire.

Sales Hiring 348

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Scaling 348

SaaStr

JANUARY 24, 2024

What should you look for in an Enterprise rep vs. a Mid-Market rep? She was hired because they saw a bit of softening in new business growth, and she came to help diagnose what was going on and help scale the business. Key Takeaways Creating Sales Acceleration at Lattice There are a few takeaways from Dini’s time at Lattice.

Scale 268

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Revenue 268

SaaStr

DECEMBER 11, 2020

#1: Todd McKinnon, CEO Okta: “Building a Higher Performance Organizaion” A really great, open session on what Okta got right to win: Todd is humble and candid about how they won (going enterprise, early) and where it ended up being OK they were a bit late, or took time to win (mobile, dev). How to recruit in a less hot space.

Scale 206

Scale Sales Recruiting Scaling SMB 206

SaaStr

JUNE 9, 2021

A ways back, I asked Brendon Cassidy, VP of Sales at LinkedIn, Adobe Sign / EchoSign, and Talkdesk to put together his playbook for double sales. … How We Increased Sales Nearly 100% In One Quarter at HackerRank – Brendon Cassidy. I thought it was a great checklist for all of us to take a look at.

Scale 278

Scale Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Sales 278

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

They credit this growth to their global team, a switch to an enterprise business model switch, and flexible work operations. Storyblok started with a leadership-first hiring plan and a recruitment strategy that involved the following: A test to know how candidates handle different tasks and their expertise level.

Scale 245

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scaling 245

SaaStr

DECEMBER 10, 2020

I hear again and again from SaaS founders growing to $5m, $10m ARR or even more that they don’t need a certain VP — with the exception of a VP of Sales. Basically, in SaaS, everyone “gets” that they need a VP of Sales. in ARR, get to Initial Traction , we then realize we have to scale. But trust me.

Sales Hiring 363

Sales Hiring CTO Hire Sales Recruiting Scale 363

SaaStr

MARCH 7, 2021

I thought it would be worth drilling down deeper into each of them, and sharing the learnings and mistakes: 1/ Spending less time fixing things, more time recruiting senior folks to own them. No one spends enough time recruiting as it is, after $1m ARR or so. Yes, you can manage the sales team yourself. You can do this.

Part-Time VPE 286

Part-Time VPE Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 286

SaaStr

OCTOBER 5, 2020

There’s a common thinking that sales teams should be relatively high churn. That the bottom 15-20% of the sales team almost has to churn each year, because it’s survival of the fittest. At Salesforce, at Box, the bottom end of the sales team churns out each year. First, do sales reps really compete with each other?

Scale 286

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales 286

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

More on that here and a great video discussion below: You’ll probably be ready for your first VP of Sales by $1m in ARR. We’ve talked about this a lot on SaaStr, but hiring a true VP of Sales before you have 2 reps hitting quota (and thus a repeatable, if not yet fully repeating process) is too early. Earlier is better.

Part-Time VPE 363

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring CTO Hire Scale 363

SaaStr

JANUARY 9, 2020

For example, Google put a lot of work into Google Hire, its recruiting SaaS product. If you buy Salesforce, you get several benefits: Scale. Salesforce is really 4+ clouds that are all at scale (sales, marketing, commerce and platform). Accelerated Enterprise Credibility. But then shut it down. Salesforce.

Sales Recruiting 283

Sales Recruiting Scale Sales Hiring Cloud 283

SaaStr

JUNE 15, 2021

Recruitment: Getting the right talent onboard is a critical step. Sales: You must understand how to grow your sales machine, and it isn’t easy. Sales: You must understand how to grow your sales machine, and it isn’t easy. In fact, you need both to optimally grow your sales efforts. Surprises Along the Way.

Sales Recruiting 268

Sales Recruiting Scale Software Delivery Travel 268

SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2021

If I had, I would have better understood the likely end point vis-a-vis freemium vs. enterprise. Not Hiring 2-3 Sales Reps to Start. More on that here: When You Hire Your First Sales Rep — Just Make Sure You Hire Two. Our first ‘enterprise’ customer seemed like an outlier. We should have taken $2m more.

Sales Recruiting 269

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale SaaS 269

SaaStr

MARCH 25, 2023

So one recent survey we did really brought out a healthy debate: does your VP of Sales really need to be a product expert? Many of the comments said it was more important a VP of Sales understand process and leadership more than the product itself. They often melt. I say, you just gotta know the product. Not just with buzzwords.

Scale 285

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales 285

SaaStr

JANUARY 27, 2021

“Give the VP of Sales More Time” This is always terrible advice. If a VP of Sales can’t improve things in one sales cycle or less — she never will. In one sales cycle, or less. RFPs are part and parcel of real enterprise deals. They’re for Enterprise Winners. ” No.

Part-Time VPE 347

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting 347

SaaStr

JUNE 2, 2023

With teams spread across the globe, they had to find new working patterns to scale their businesses in a distributed environment. The company helps enterprises internationally with contextual and actionable insights to secure their cloud infrastructure. In 2020-2021, many SaaS startups faced a unique challenge.

Sales Recruiting 258

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Branding 258

SaaStr

JANUARY 23, 2024

Dear SaaStr: Does it get easier or harder to scale SaaS as your company grows? Generally, it gets easier to grow at a “good”/modest rate at you scale, but harder to grow at an outsize rate. Efficiency goes down in other places (sales efficiency usually, marketing efficiency often). Account expansion starts to work.

Scale 269

Scale Sales Recruiting Scaling Branding 269

SaaStr

MARCH 22, 2022

I really appreciate you coming to talk about how to attract, hire, and build a more diverse sales team in your organization. So I’ve been building top-producing sales teams for a really, really long time. So over the years, I’ve watched many sales leaders go out and say, “Brian’s my top producer.

Sales Hiring 258

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 258

OpenView Labs

APRIL 29, 2021

Recruiting top talent is the common denominator across all scaling startups. Nine out of 10 founders and CEOs I connect with are involved in recruiting on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Many of them are learning on the fly and trying to juggle being CEO and Chief People Officer/Lead Recruiter/Brand Evangelist all at once.

Sales Recruiting 98

Sales Recruiting Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring Scale 98

SaaStr

OCTOBER 9, 2020

A VP of Sales and Success A VP of Sales and Marketing A VP of Sales and Anything Else. Is usually not really a VP of Sales. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had to recruit a lot of types of folks over the years where my domain knowledge was limited. I’ve had to recruit Ph.Ds. Not really.

Sales Hiring 255

Sales Hiring Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Sales Recruiting 255

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

So the other day I looked back at about 25 SaaS seed investments I’d made that had scaled well past $10m-$20m and reflected on the top themes. They are all avoidable : #1: Stepping Out of Sales Ok really this is mistake #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5. Instead, how they spend time in sales changes. Here they are. More here. #2:

Sales Hiring 306

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Scaling 306

Intercom, Inc.

JULY 28, 2022

And for Intercom’s VP of Sales EMEA, Sanj Bhayro , scaling is just what you need to invest in to ensure growth becomes as constant and linear as it can be. Sanj has plenty of experience scaling sales teams at growing businesses, and that’s precisely why, as of November of last year, he‘s overseeing EMEA sales at Intercom.

Scale 210

Scale Scaling Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting 210

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2021

They talked about product adoption, sales alignment, freemium models and lessons they have learned throughout their successful SaaS careers. As two CEO who love the art of sales and scaling, this one really was special. And now it’s all about like, can you really scale and execute? Dev Ittycheria : Thank you.

Sales Recruiting 258

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale VP of Engineering 258

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2023

For part one of this Ask Me Anything session, Jason covers everything you need to know about hiring your first VP of Sales, what he really thinks about AI, what the future of lead generation in 2024 looks like, and much more. Lead generation tools do change, but the basic motions of sales and marketing haven’t changed much.

Scale 278

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting AI 278

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 16, 2021

In 2008, he founded Yammer, an enterprise software company that David grew to 500 employees and $60 million in sales. Head of Sales. Positions Needed: Enterprise AEs, Mid-Market & SMB AEs, SDRs, Sales Ops, Sales Engineer. Positions Needed: FP&A Analyst, Accountant, HR, Ops, Recruiter.

CTO Hire 278

CTO Hire Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting CTO 278

SaaStr

JULY 14, 2022

Founders were able to recruit on-site. Fast forward to today, and there is an amazing amount of B2B-centric content out there, and many others have put together amazing events around the hard-learned lessons of scaling revenue and scaling SaaS companies. 2017 The Third SaaStr Annual: Scale Together.

Scale 300

Scale Sales Recruiting CTO Hire New CTO 300

How To Buy Saas

MAY 21, 2025

Whether youre a startup , an SMB , or a global enterprise , the right ATS can streamline your recruitment process, save time, and help attract top talent in a competitive market. Recruitee Best Collaborative Recruiting ATS Pricing: Key Features: Ideal Use Case: 4. Whats the difference between an ATS and a recruitment CRM?

Systems Review 52

Systems Review Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Technical Review 52

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2024

They discuss Sam’s learnings at Founders Fund, what the 2024 playbook looks like, hiring and motivating sales teams, and a handful of audience questions. On the sales side, people hired way too much. More salespeople do not equal more sales. Sam just finished 18 months at Founders Fund after joining in mid-to-late 2022.

Sales Hiring 294

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Headcount 294

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: Where Should SDRs Report — Marketing or Sales?

CTO Hire 241

CTO Hire Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 241

SaaStr

JULY 15, 2022

Jason recently opened up an AMA on Twitter Spaces to answer questions about scaling from $1M to $10M. We did a good AMA on this scaling at SaaStr Europa in Barcelona, a couple weeks back. That will scale, and then take those emails after four great pieces of content and do a weekly webinar and do a weekly get-together for them.

Scale 286

Scale Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring VP of Engineering 286

Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 8, 2024

Hello and welcome to The GTM Newsletter by GTMnow – read by 50,000+ revenue professionals weekly to stay up-to-date and scale their companies and careers. GTM 120: Avoid the AI Sales Skills Atrophy Trap with Peter Kazanjy Pete Kazanjy is a serial founder, and seasoned early stage Saas executive, advisor, and investor.

Scale 108

Scale Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring AI Search 108

SaaStr

APRIL 5, 2021

I told this VC I bet that while they had no true enterprise customers, they had a few nice silos within some large customers. Because at this scale, there will be room at the bottom. But then the leaders break through, achieve Scale, and the outlines become clear. Harder to Recruit. He said this competitor was cheaper.

Scale 278

Scale Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team Pricing 278