SaaStr

JANUARY 6, 2021

Finding the perfect VP of Sales position can be daunting, especially in the middle of a global pandemic. Candidates need to find opportunities that not only fit their sales experience and stretch goals, but also companies that are coming out of the pandemic with momentum. Who is looking to hire a VP of Sales in January / Q1?

Sales Hiring 322

Sales Hiring Scale Payment Solutions Payments 322

SaaStr

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Hiring a VP of Sales isn’t new, but the conversations have evolved as the world has. SaaStr’s own Jason Lemkin shares the top 10 mistakes he sees during the hiring process during Workshop Wednesday, held every Wednesday at 10 a.m. The last 18 months have seen the biggest changes in the VP of Sales in his SaaS career.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Interviewing 152

SaaStr

MAY 9, 2021

The toughest hire of all is probably your VP of Sales. What are the right interview questions? When is too early to make the hire? When do you know that you’ve made a mis-hire? How far can you stretch to make the hire? What’s fair to expect from a VP of Sales, and what isn’t?

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Sales Hiring Sales Interviewing 265

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2022

Many mediocre hires were made to fill slots, reference checks not made, etc. What we used to do, from ‘05-‘19: Do 30 interviews per position, ideally. Then when everything super boomed in 2H’20 and ‘21 it went kind of like this: Do 3-4 solid interview for a position, not 30. So did startups. jasonlk) May 23, 2022.

Sales Hiring 257

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Startup 257

SaaStr

AUGUST 19, 2022

So we’ve talked a lot of the years on SaaStr on how to avoid a mis-hire for a key VP role: We’ve talked here about the 48 Types of VPs of Sales, and making sure you hire the right type. We’ve talked here about how to hire the right VP of Marketing, so you get leads and not just blue pens with your logo on them.

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Sales Hiring Interviewing Customer Success Sales 231

SaaStr

JULY 18, 2022

Q: Dear SaaStr: What Are Some Good Strategies To Hire People In The Early Days? A few basic thoughts … that many still don’t get right: Don’t hire anyone that doesn’t understand their functional area better than you do. Don’t hire anyone you don’t believe in. If you’re not sure how to hire for a role, get an advisor that does.

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Sales Hiring Strategy Interviewing Startup 238

SaaStr

JUNE 25, 2020

One of the classic original SaaStr posts was on the Top 10 Questions to Ask a VP of Sales Candidate. We did an update of that classic post below together with this brand new video on the topic: Use this script for hiring that first VP of Sales. Ready to hire your first VP Sales? And When to Hire One.

Sales Hiring 297

Sales Hiring Scale Interviewing Sales 297

SaaStr

OCTOBER 3, 2023

Interviewing? One bit of advice: Please, please, actually research the company you are interviewing at. The other day I did a similar final, fourth round interview for a VPM. I ended the interview (politely) after 10 minutes and told him to watch the video. Looking for your next role? Been through a lay off? For real.

Interviewing 223

Interviewing Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Consulting 223

SaaStr

AUGUST 4, 2021

Ask them what those top 3 are before you hire them. I’ve interviewed 100s of VP of marketing candidates over the past years and I can tell you one think — it’s easy to spot the ones that won’t work out. How have you worked with the sales team in the past? Were they close to the VP of Sales?

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Interviewing Sales Hiring Marketing Branding 356

SaaStr

MAY 6, 2021

A CRO owns and directs the strategy over a company’s revenue cycle, but there’s not a set standard for operational or management decisions: in addition to sales and sales development, they might be responsible for customer success, lead generation and pipelines, and even marketing and brand development. Is a CRO right for you?

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Revenue 237

Sales Hacker

OCTOBER 17, 2023

This week we have a special 2 guest episode, with the best hiring guru’s in the game, Chuck Brotman & David Teichner. Chuck is the co-founder of Blueprint Expansion , a GTM roles recruiting firm that has helped over 50 VC-backed companies make amazing Sales, Marketing, & Customer Success hires.

Sales Hiring 105

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing SMB 105

SaaStr

OCTOBER 7, 2020

As you scale up in SaaS, one thing I can almost guarantee is that you are going to hire some VPs who were either fired or quit their last role. So you’ll end up hiring VPs who went through a significant transition at their last gig, sometimes an involuntary one. They are good managers, and they know there is no upside here.

Sales Hiring 316

Sales Hiring Scale Interviewing Startup 316

SaaStr

JANUARY 26, 2021

There’s nothing wrong with hiring folks from the competition. Only hire them if you still would if they worked somewhere else. The time will come when you are first tempted to hire someone from your competitor. Hiring from your Competitor. Interview them, learn from them … but generally, stop there.

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Sales Hiring Interviewing Engineering SaaS 212

SaaStr

JUNE 5, 2022

Most of you are hiring twice as many sales reps as last year. This isn’t an epic insight, but I did the poll because I find so many SaaS founders underestimate how many reps you have to hire. If you want to double, you have to at least double your sales team. At least. #23. Of course not. #24. Another Sigh.

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Sales Hiring Interviewing Revenue Sales 212

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

That when you make a mis-hire, you'll always look back and say you should have made a change 3-4 month earlier? When to hire them. How to interview them and qualify them. Some classics here: How My VP, Sales Doubled Our Sales in 90 Days. If Your VP Sales Isn’t Going to Work Out — You’ll Know in 30 Days.

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Sales Hiring Part-Time VPE Scale Underperforming Technical Team 212

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

and Lenny asked us to join his podcast to talk about building a sales team — from the perspective of a product-first founder or exec. It was a pretty strong conversation and we took a lot of our learnings over the years and focused on how to learn to do sales right if you come from a product-first background: It’s good.

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Sales Hiring Scale Sales Headcount 246

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

And so many of you in fact are, well … hiring. Most of you are, in fact: According to our latest unscientific but directionally correct survey of over 2,000 SaaS execs, 64% of you are growing your sales team in 2024. Find those still hiring, and find 5 or 10 that truly are a match for your skills. Slow it down.

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Sales Hiring Scale Sales Interviewing 264

SaaStr

JANUARY 5, 2024

In the latest episode of CRO Confidential, host Sam Blond, partner at Founders Fund and former CRO at Brex, sits down with Ashley Kelly, VP of Global Sales Development at Rippling. For context – Ashley had previously helped Sam scale Brex’s outbound sales from $2M to over $300M in ARR as Senior Director of SDR.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Outbound Sales Team 249

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

Product marketing can be difficult, and managing product launches and rollouts can be complex. Your sales rise to a very high level You may realize that your sales are reaching high levels, but at the same time, you may encounter a situation where there needs to be more structure or control in your sales process.

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Sales Hiring Product Marketing Scale Marketing 200

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What are some of the “ultimate sins” in marketing and sales and success in SaaS in the early stages? My list of some bad ones: Sales: Hiring any reps you wouldn’t buy from. Later, once you have a strong VP of Sales, it’s fine though. Your sales reps need to eat. Hiring just 1 rep.

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Sales Hiring Scale Startup Marketing 232

SaaStr

JANUARY 9, 2024

The 1000+ unicorns of Covid fueled this, with ample capital to hire, hire and hire. The other day I interviewed yet another other great AE who had recently become a Director of Sales. Not just hire and manage people?”. Before They Hire Anymore. Ask in the interviews. Constantly.

Sales Hiring 246

Sales Hiring Interviewing Startup Customer Success 246

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Market challenger sales are very different. In fact, this is where the name challenger sale originates. Sales cycles lengthen, demand more work, and consumer more time. When you interview salespeople for your startup, do you consider their experience at a market leader or market challenger? How do you sell a new product?

Sales Hiring 223

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Interviewing 223

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

Whether you need to hire dozens of sales reps in the next few months or you’re a scrappy startup and need your first three sales hires, building a business will nearly always involve hiring for sales. Avoid bringing in an objective third-party interviewer. List out questions for each competency.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Sales Enablement 139

Sales Hacker

JANUARY 22, 2020

If you think sales is a simple job, I have a few hundred professional connections who would like a word with you. There’s a range of key skills that separate the best from the rest, and success belongs to companies who can identify and hire reps who have those precious skills. By mastering your sales interview questions.

Sales Hiring 77

Sales Hiring Interviewing Underperforming Technical Team Sales Recruiting 77

SaaStr

JANUARY 21, 2021

We’ve talked a lot about hiring a VP, Sales. We’ve talked about the 48 Different Types of VP Sales , What a VP Sales Really Does , and a Script to Use When Interviewing a VP Sales. In those cases, no “big mistake” hire was made. But still, some hires didn’t work out.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Point of Sale Sales 158

Sales Hacker

JUNE 10, 2021

It’s that sales representatives are one of the toughest positions to hire for. The demand for sales reps is one of the highest of any job. Sales courses are largely absent from college curricula. Most sales managers will tell you that they’re looking above all for the right attitude. Leadership.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Interviewing 105

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Almost every week, Iceberg RevOps’ founder Taft Love gets messages from executives and CEOs at growth-stage companies asking for help with their first revenue operations hire. These leaders are looking for the right person to own the implementation and management of their company’s go-to-market tech stack. Teams need to scale, fast.

Sales Hiring 71

Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Scale Consulting 71

SaaStr

JUNE 27, 2020

A little while back we put together some of the top sales & marketing mistakes SaaS companies and founders make, especially in the early days. Sales: Hiring any reps you wouldn’t buy from yourself. Later, once you have a strong VP of Sales, it’s fine though. Your sales reps need to eat. Hiring just 1 rep.

Sales Hiring 363

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Marketing 363

Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

Hiring was a common thread in conversations at both community dinners we hosted this week – one in San Francisco and the other in Austin (included a picture further along – great time as always!). It’s a strange hiring market out there especially at early-stage companies. Almost every company seems to be hiring.

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Interviewing Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team 89

Totango

OCTOBER 20, 2022

Hiring team members with the right customer success manager skills is critical for the effectiveness of your CS team and strategy. Here we’ve identified the 13 most essential qualities to consider when hiring a CS manager. What Skills Are Required for a Customer Success Manager?

Sales Hiring 93

Sales Hiring Customer Success Sales Recruiting Technical Review 93

OpenView Labs

MARCH 8, 2021

B2B sales involves one business selling its product to another business. Those with experience in both B2B and B2C sales know that B2B is a lot tougher—the deals are bigger, there’s often more than one decision-maker, and the competition is intense. For all those reasons, hiring and management must be on point.

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Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting B2B 80

Sales Hacker

APRIL 5, 2021

In 2020 I was building my sales team at Livestorm , and at the time we were going through a big hiring boom. For the first time in my life, I was in charge of vetting and hiring new team members at scale. This was a big challenge for me because I am very passionate about hiring without bias. First impressions still count.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Company Culture Interviewing 93

OpenView Labs

JANUARY 31, 2022

You are looking for tips on how to hire top talent, so now what? . Just a few bullet points with a basic overview of what the hire is responsible for can come easily. This is especially effective with hiring top talent for executive and leadership hires. . Make a clear plan for your interview process .

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Sales Hiring Interviewing Sales Recruiting SMB 60

SaaStr

AUGUST 29, 2023

So there’s a situation I see happening with many (not most, but many) SaaS companies as they build out the first management team: They hire a VP of Sales that doesn’t think much of the VP of Marketing. Does this always fail, when sales and marketing don’t really talk, and aren’t a team?

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Sales Hiring Marketing Sales Interviewing 201

SaaStr

MAY 29, 2022

So we’ve talked so much over the years on SaaStr on how to hire a great VP of Sales, the difference they’ll make, and how the level-up comes quickly. And VPs of Sales do, too. Don’t hire a VP of Sales that isn’t truly comfortable selling to your buyer persona, especially in B2D and fintech.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Sales 254

SaaStr

JANUARY 30, 2023

They focused on building a payment platform that empowers international talent and independent contractors to get paid on time in a compliant way while also ensuring that companies can hire international talent and make payments efficiently. Interview personally and define hiring values to build your team.

Sales Hiring 226

Sales Hiring Payment Services SaaS Payments Scale 226

Baremetrics

NOVEMBER 25, 2021

Your marketing and sales budgets, and the personnel assigned to those teams, will also rise. A hiring plan is the basis for growing your team and organizing your future payroll expenses. A hiring plan allocates expected future expenses based on your revenue forecasts. What is a hiring plan? Interview stakeholders 2.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Finance Forecasting 97