Kellblog

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

The other day a founder asked me about interviewing because a candidate had described me as “a great interviewer,” and she wanted to know why. I find interviewing and recruiting difficult, have made plenty of mistakes over the years, and the consequences of those mistakes are invariably painful. Check references.

Sales Recruiting 109

Sales Recruiting Interviewing Sales Hiring Finance 109

SaaStr

JANUARY 9, 2024

Perhaps the biggest change though is how many folks want to manage a team, versus do the work themselves. The other day I interviewed yet another other great AE who had recently become a Director of Sales. “You know you’ll have to sell yourself at this startup? Not just hire and manage people?”. Ask in the interviews.

Sales Hiring 236

Sales Hiring Interviewing Startup Customer Success 236

SaaStr

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Those founders hold a special kind of “not hatred,” says Michael Seibel, Managing Director and Group Partner at Y Combinator, but a special kind of something for those investors and a desire to prove them wrong. If you’re a seed-stage startup, Michael shares the best ways for you to present your company to startup investors.

Payment Methods 215

Payment Methods Startup Payment Solutions Sales Hiring 215

SaaStr

MAY 27, 2024

There is more capital available to startups than ever before. The influx of capital has made it easier for startups to raise money, but it has also led to higher valuations and more competition. Jason Lemkin discusses why pricing is worse than ever for startups. Startups are staying private longer.

CTO Hire 183

CTO Hire Development Team Review Software Review Technical Review 183

SaaStr

MAY 31, 2024

Jason recently interviewed a SaaStr superfan, and about 40 minutes in, the person said they didn’t want to do some of the work required for the job. Jason recently interviewed a SaaStr superfan, and about 40 minutes in, the person said they didn’t want to do some of the work required for the job. I’m out of here.”

Sales Hiring 217

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Marketing Scale 217

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

Hiring a VP of Sales Who Never Really Understands Your Product During The Interview Process Ok I know some even many will disagree, but I’m right here :). I see so many SaaS startups hire someone likeable, who can talk the talk on sales hiring and processes — but never really understands what you do. At least get close.

Sales Hiring 220

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Interviewing 220

Kellblog

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

I’ve written a lot about startups, boards, and CEOs. The post Appearance on Run The Numbers Podcast: A Startup CEO’s Guide to Board Meetings appeared first on Kellblog. A video of the episode is embedded below. You can find it on Apple or Spotify as well. Thanks CJ for having me.

Startup 80

Startup Interviewing Metrics Management 80

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

How to interview salespeople ? Instead of rushing to hire a VP early in the startup phase, wait until you have established a repeatable sales process and witnessed success with initial sales reps hitting quota. Make sure your VP of Sales actually wants to sell, not just manage. How long a founder should be doing sales ?

Sales Hiring 240

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Headcount 240

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 25, 2015

Last week, I interviewed Tien Tzuo, the former CMO & CSO at Salesforce, and founder/CEO of Zuora. During our conversation, he spoke about one of the major challenges facing fast growing startups. He called it recognizing the breaking points of management. At the founding a startup, the structure of the company is flat.

Startup 114

Startup Management Interviewing Engineering 114

Valuize Consulting

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

Transform With An Agile Approach To Change Management. Your people are your most critical change agents, and they need a leader that empowers them through a thoughtful change management strategy that leverages Agile methodologies to ensure the success of your transformation. Change is taking place in your organization every day.

Interviewing 52

Interviewing Strategy Scale Management 52

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 28, 2019

Your startup is growing quickly. Both are viable strategies, but hiring a strong management team at every level provides some key benefits. As you grow, your company well need to interview and hire large numbers of new people. Managers and leaders often recruit lieutenants from their previous work experience.

Management 141

Management Interviewing Leadership Startup 141

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 1, 2019

PR readies articles and interviews. Second, the market perceived the startup as fast moving and innovative. But, the product launch can be a powerful management technique to align and accelerate teams. I imagine this is how every founder fats on the eve of demo day. Launch day requires collaboration across teams.

Startup 163

Startup Interviewing Innovation Engineering 163

User Pilot

AUGUST 29, 2023

Product management is equal parts art and science – and it’s vital to the success of your SaaS. TL;DR Product management describes the continual process of overseeing the development of a product across its entire lifecycle. The main difference between product management and project management is the focus.

Management 89

Management Interviewing Marketplace as a Service Product Marketing 89

User Pilot

JULY 13, 2022

Do you follow any product manager blogs? Would you like to discover new ones that will give you valuable insights into product management ? In our article, we introduce 20 of our favorite product manager blogs that every product pro should follow, regardless of their experience. Our favorite product management blogs.

Technical Review 90

Technical Review Management Leadership Systems Review 90

SaaStr

MARCH 12, 2024

It’s a common dream for founders to hope their startup be acquired one day, but what is a company, like Google, really looking for in their acquisitions? Not only do you have to pass the hiring interviews as a Founder, but everyone on your team does, too. And what should all founders know about the process if the time comes?

Software Review 215

Software Review Technical Review Acquisition Scale 215

SaaStr

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Alison brings the perspective of all sides of a startup, from investing to SaaS to Cloud. Pursuing Two Different Segments: The Tale of Startups vs. Enterprise From a marketing perspective, the GTM marketing position and product market messaging differ between Google Workspace and Google Cloud.

Cloud 228

Cloud Scale AWS AI 228

SaaStr

JANUARY 30, 2023

To solve this, Deel interviewed 200 founders seeking answers to the question, “If you’re open to hiring internationally and remotely, what are your biggest challenges, and what kind of product can we build to solve them?” As a startup, it’s hard to know if the timing is right and what to expect.

Sales Hiring 222

Sales Hiring Payment Services SaaS Payments Scale 222

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 4, 2019

In a recent interview, Sid Sijbrandij, the founder of Gitlab observed something about remote teams that I think is absolutely true. As company scale, they need to develop infrastructure to successfully manage and coordinate large numbers of people. I’ve seen it in many of the remote/distributed companies we work with.

Startup 211

Startup Interviewing Investment Communication 211

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 13, 2020

And what I wish I’d done better as a SaaS CEO: Force yourself to interview 30 candidates for each VP position. You’ll have to, to get through 30 interviews. Second, you’ll force yourself to spend more time tracking and managing candidates. After each of those 30 interviews — email over a note on your feedback.

Sales Recruiting 362

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Interviewing Scale 362

SaaStr

DECEMBER 11, 2021

Q: What are some top hiring tips for early-stage startups? Let me share some learnings, and what I do now to force myself to be a better recruiter: Force yourself to interview 30 candidates for each VP position. You’ll have to, to get through 30 interviews. After each of those 30 interviews — email over a note on your feedback.

Interviewing 249

Interviewing Compensation Startup Engagement 249

User Pilot

APRIL 6, 2023

In this article, we look at different ways for product managers to avoid falling into the overengineering trap. However, product managers are also to blame for not setting clear objectives and realistic timelines, and communicating them effectively. But worry not! Also, performance issues and frequent bugs are such an indication.

Underperforming Technical Team 84

Underperforming Technical Team Management Interviewing Scale 84

Chart Mogul

JANUARY 27, 2023

In this episode of SaaS Open Mic, I speak with Matt Lerner, the founder and CEO of Startup Core Strengths. Matt spent 15 years as a marketer and General Manager in Silicon Valley, including ten years at PayPal. Later, … In this episode of SaaS Open Mic, I speak with Matt Lerner, the founder and CEO of Startup Core Strengths.

Pricing 52

Pricing Startup PayPal Payment Methods 52

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 26, 2023

(Updated) The Top 10 Questions to Ask a VP of Marketing in an Interview (Updated) Around Year 5, You’ll Have to Build Your Third Management Team Top Podcasts This Week: 1. SaaStr 635: CRO Confidential: How Customer-First Focus Drives Retention and Revenue With Brex GM of Startups Lucas Fox   3.

CTO 181

CTO Scale Interviewing Retention 181

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 2, 2015

Because of her position, Maia has observed recruiting patterns in hundreds of companies, and has developed best practices for startups. A QC is defined as a phone interview that qualifies a candidate as a good fit for a requisition. Startups should aim for 70% or better. Consider using them in your startup.

Sales Recruiting 107

Sales Recruiting Startup Sales Hiring Data Analysis 107

Kellblog

MARCH 25, 2021

Well, we just finished the first episode (“ Dave interviews Thomas “) of our Enterprise SaaS Product Power Breakfast series and wow, was it crazy. So, we’re going to try it again next week with Episode #2: Thomas Interviews Dave. (TLDR — Link to Episode #2 , Thursday, April 1st at 8 am pacific.).

Interviewing 55

Interviewing Technical Cofounder CTO Enterprise 55

Sales Hacker

APRIL 21, 2020

You’ll be able to download the interview scorecard template that I use with my clients. Part two of this scorecard series will help you create a sales interview scorecard to land that sales role you’ve been dreaming about. Who is involved in the interview process, onboarding process, and ongoing support and training process?

Sales Hiring 95

Sales Hiring Interviewing Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team 95

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

Mark Roberge, the Chief Revenue Officer at Hubspot, has spent 20 years in startups. As he told me a few days ago, he has observed the lack of sales management and sales execution skills as one of the most consistent deficiencies limiting the potential of early stage SaaS companies.

Sales Hiring 183

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Compensation 183

The Angel VC

APRIL 1, 2017

At the excellent SaaStr Annual 2016 conference about a year ago, a very experienced SaaS CEO said on stage that an internal recruiter can be a startup CEO’s secret superpower. I couldn’t agree more, and I think startups should make that hire sooner rather than later. Here’s why.

Sales Hiring 168

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Software Review 168

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

One of the hardest but least spoken about transitions in a startup’s life is crossing people management chasm. At the outset of the startup, there might be three people, then eight, then fifteen. As they grow, startups often create ad hoc managers I call team leads. Team leads manage 3 to 5 people.

Sales Recruiting 100

Sales Recruiting Startup Sales Hiring Scale 100

OpenView Labs

AUGUST 19, 2021

Image from First Round’s State of Startups Report. To add insult to injury, the odds are against the first VP of Sales hired in a startup, churning within 12 months. . Getting clear with your startup’s needs. We recently worked with a startup that was coming off of their 2nd VP of Sales mis-hire in 3 years.

Sales Hiring 82

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Startup 82

Kellblog

MARCH 27, 2021

To what extent should we talk to startups and founders versus large enterprise product managers (PMs)? In terms of session focus, I’d say my current conclusion is that we want to make each session follow this sort of template: Dave & Thomas Interview {Guest} on {Topic}.

Interviewing 55

Interviewing Engineering Enterprise Trends 55

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

Your startup is just getting off the ground. Knowing about the options ahead of time may help you figure out the right sales plan for your startup. Stage 1: Management by Objectives. By communicating this clearly at sales kickoff or during interviews, you can set expectations properly with the team.

Compensation 145

Compensation Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 145

User Pilot

MAY 1, 2024

There is a ton of product management advice out there, but most of it is generic tips repeated over and over again. Keep on reading to learn about his journey into product management , his recommended newsletters and podcast episodes, and his top tips for product management success. Lenny’s Podcast homepage.

Underperforming Technical Team 76

Underperforming Technical Team New CTO Interviewing CTO 76

Kellblog

MAY 18, 2024

“When you read their profiles and interview them, you think one thing: these people are gods.” — European founder on early US hiring. That’s why behavioral interviewing — drilling down into claims, asking “tell me about a time” questions that describe specific moments — is so important in the US.

Interviewing 121

Interviewing Finance Management Startup 121

SaaStr

MAY 6, 2021

You might never have considered a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) because it’s not been a common role until very recently, and because you might not have the kind of revenue that needs its own manager. You need someone that can manage the big numbers and has hefty experience, but it’ll be an in-the-trenches job. What are the tricky things?

Sales Hiring 228

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Revenue 228

OpenView Labs

MARCH 8, 2021

For all those reasons, hiring and management must be on point. Conducting interviews. What Interviewing 600+ Sales Reps Taught Me About Team Building. Loom’s Peter Prowitt shares the biggest mistakes to avoid if you’re interviewing for a sales position. 14 SaaS Leaders Share Their Favorite Interview Questions.

Sales Hiring 80

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting B2B 80

SaaStr

JANUARY 6, 2021

To help you with your search, we’ve compiled a list of sales leadership opportunities from around our community to help connect leading startups with the best candidates. . 10 Rules to Being a VP of Sales in a Startup. 10 Rules to Being a VP of Sales in a Startup. Who is looking to hire a VP of Sales in January / Q1?

Sales Hiring 316

Sales Hiring Scale Payment Solutions Payments 316