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 254

Scale Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Fractional VPE 254

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 264

Fractional VPE Sales Hiring Part-Time VPE Engineering 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 223

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Scale SMB 223

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 236

Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Fractional VPE Sales Recruiting 236

SaaStr

MAY 8, 2022

Dave Kellogg, Principal @ Dave Kellogg Consulting. Krista Moroder, Director of Engineering @ Checkr. Pierre Alain Bouchard, VP of Engineering @ Zendesk. Giorgos Ampavis, VP of Engineering @ Tide. Paul Albert SVP Global Sales @ Payhawk. Haresh Baraj, VP Product Growth @ Pleo. See you there!

Technical Cofounder 221

Technical Cofounder Fractional VPE CTO Engineering 221

SaaStr

JULY 5, 2019

To hire our CTO, our first VPE, etc. And to close $6m in customer contracts through founder-led sales. Bootstrapping is far better. But if you do need to raise money, it’s the CEO that has to do it. And I learned to recruit. I’m still learning. View original question on quora.

Part-Time VPE 158

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE CTO Hire Sales Recruiting 158

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 185

Underperforming Technical Team Outsourced Development Development Part-Time VPE 185