Andreessen Horowitz

MAY 10, 2023

A16z recently brought together a group of early-stage CEOs to talk shop and learn from their peers who have successfully navigated the journey from scrappy startup into large growth-stage or even public companies.

Enterprise 132

Enterprise Scaling Startup Interviewing 132

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Q: What are some advice for people who want to create a SaaS startup? Do at least 20 potential customer interviews. A bit more here: Planning to Do a SaaS Startup? Don’t Forget the 20 Interview Rule. The post Are You Ready To Do a SaaS StartUp? Solo founders can work sometimes (see, e.g. Zoom, Twilio, etc.).

Startup 256

Startup SaaS Interviewing Market Segmentation 256

SaaStr

JUNE 27, 2020

Hire stretch reps if you want, but someone without any closing experience likely can’t close at your startup no one has ever heard of. Startups are a journey and you need reps that want to be on the journey. But if they say in an interview they “don’t really care about money” … well … they aren’t sales people. A bit more here.

Sales Hiring 363

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Marketing 363

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 18, 2019

Last week’s post on The Most Frequent Mishire in Startups generated the most comments on a post this year. Though the startup may have achieved product market fit, the company may not understand the fit. Over time, the startup’s growth demands a more specialized role. In particular, it was this section. Why is this?

Product Marketing 245

Product Marketing Startup Marketing Interviewing 245

SaaStr

JANUARY 10, 2020

Q: What is your advice for startup CEOs? But if you deep down aren’t sure you want to do this startup for 10 years, assuming it does even just reasonably well … then you don’t have the fire. Do more market research and especially customer interviews in the early days. The post What is your advice for startup CEOs?

Startup 240

Startup Market Research Interviewing B2B 240

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

OCTOBER 6, 2023

If you’re a seed-stage startup, Michael shares the best ways for you to present your company to startup investors. Stand Out by Being Concise and Easy to Understand Michael has done over 2000 YC interviews, and the one thing founders don’t understand is that if investors don’t know what your company does, they can’t fund you. “The

Payment Methods 213

Payment Methods Startup Payment Solutions Sales Hiring 213

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

When you interview salespeople for your startup, do you consider their experience at a market leader or market challenger? Few startups have answered these questions at the early stage. These are two mental models that are useful in evaluating salespeople and matching them to the stage of the startup.

Sales Hiring 234

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Interviewing 234

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 82

Startup Interviewing Metrics Management 82

SaaStr

JANUARY 9, 2024

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? I interviewed several seasons VPs of CS in the past 12 months that didn’t believe in this. Ask in the interviews. Things really were easier for many of us in 2021.

Sales Hiring 237

Sales Hiring Interviewing Startup Customer Success 237

SaaStr

JANUARY 24, 2023

And whatever you see as a flag during the interview process, is almost always 10x bigger once they join full-time. Everyone wants to give folks a pass here, and for sure, “startup folks” are passionate and often won’t stay 20 years anywhere. But at startups? Take risks in hiring in a startup.

Sales Hiring 257

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Startup 257

SaaStr

JUNE 27, 2022

Up today: Harry Stebbings interviews Shippo Co-Founder and CEO Laura Behrens Wu. The post eCommerce API Startup to Unicorn With Shippo Co-Founder and CEO Laura Behrens Wu (Pod 567) appeared first on SaaStr. To celebrate 10 years of SaaStr, we’re revisiting some classic podcast episodes.

Sales Hiring 190

Sales Hiring Startup Scale Content Marketing 190

Kellblog

AUGUST 24, 2021

I recently gave a presentation at SaaSBoomi , an India-based SaaS founder community, which was structured as an interview by Freshworks social media evangelist Jayadevan P K (aka, JPK). In the interview I answer the following questions: How do you look at ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) and its relation to the valuation of a company?

Interviewing 128

Interviewing Metrics Social Media SaaS 128

SaaSX

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

This article should really be titled, “How to interview a product manager (if you aren’t a product person) “ Because customer success, marketing, sales, support, and other operational roles are key stakeholders in a SaaS organization they are often called into the interview process for product managers.

Interviewing 59

Interviewing Management Sales Hiring Scale 59

SaaStr

JUNE 22, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What do startup founders typically get wrong when starting a business? More here: A Simple Commitment Test For You And Your Co-Founders – SaaStr Not doing enough potential customer interviews. More here: Planning to Do a SaaS Startup? Don’t Forget the 20 Interview Rule. That’s tough. That is important.

SMB 220

SMB SaaS B2C Interviewing 220

Baremetrics

AUGUST 29, 2021

In the early stages of founding a startup, finding clients can be a bit of a shot in the dark. Step 2: Interview a sample of current ICP users. Step 2: Interview a sample of current ICP users When it comes to getting honest feedback, nothing beats a phone call. Step 1: Identify ICPs within your current user base.

Outsourcing Services 124

Outsourcing Services Startup Interviewing Outsourced Development 124

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.

Sales Hiring 221

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Interviewing 221

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2022

So did startups. VCs funded startups in a day, with limited diligence, sometimes at 100x revenue for the hottest of deals. And startups … well, they moved pretty darn quickly too. What we used to do, from ‘05-‘19: Do 30 interviews per position, ideally. — Jason BeKind Lemkin #???????????? jasonlk) May 23, 2022.

Sales Hiring 248

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Startup 248

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 1, 2019

PR readies articles and interviews. Second, the market perceived the startup as fast moving and innovative. I imagine this is how every founder fats on the eve of demo day. Launch day requires collaboration across teams. Marketing must prepare the story and materials. Engineering builds the product. SRE ensures it stays up.

Startup 171

Startup Interviewing Innovation Engineering 171

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 213

Software Review Technical Review Acquisition Scale 213

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 93

Sales Hiring Interviewing Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team 93

For Entrepreneurs with David Skok

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

I recently did a podcast interview with Harry Stebbings of “The Twenty Minute VC” where we talked about the 9 step model for how B2B startups need to get through product/market fit, and then how they should go about finding a repeatable, scalable, and profitable growth process.

Interviewing 343

Interviewing B2B Startup Product Marketing 343

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 229

Cloud Scale AWS AI 229

User Pilot

APRIL 24, 2024

Using Userpilot’s survey functionality, Lisa created an interview invite survey and triggered it to the right user segment inside Userpilot. There are even websites created specifically for enlisting user interview participants, cutting the efforts of researchers in half. A website for recruiting interview participants.

Interviewing 94

Interviewing B2C B2B Advertising 94

SaaStr

AUGUST 22, 2023

Double-down on your market understanding, research, and customer interviews. More here: Planning to Do a SaaS Startup? Don’t Forget the 20 Interview Rule. #3. If time and money don’t matter, sure, just push a product out to market. But if they do matter. Give yourself 24 months to get to a Minimum Sellable Product.

Interviewing 213

Interviewing Market Research Business Model Startup 213

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. Per Lenny: “In our conversation, we discuss: ? How long a founder should be doing sales ? How to comp your salespeople

Sales Hiring 239

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Headcount 239

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. Later, … In this episode of SaaS Open Mic, I speak with Matt Lerner, the founder and CEO of Startup Core Strengths. Later, as a VC at 500 Startups, he led dozens of early-stage investments. waste time on little stuff.

Pricing 52

Pricing Startup PayPal Payment Methods 52

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 113

Sales Recruiting Startup Sales Hiring Data Analysis 113

CloseSaaS

AUGUST 30, 2014

Here's a recent interview Justin Mares did with me. Justin wrote Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers, together with DuckDuckGo founder Gabriel Weinberg.

Interviewing 52

Interviewing Startup Sales 52

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

OCTOBER 4, 2019

In a recent interview, Sid Sijbrandij, the founder of Gitlab observed something about remote teams that I think is absolutely true. I’ve seen it in many of the remote/distributed companies we work with. He said: Remote forces you to do the things you should be doing any way earlier and better.

Startup 220

Startup Interviewing Investment Communication 220

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Most interviews are a waste of time. According to Adam Grant, a professor of Organizational Behavior at Wharton , “standard interviews only accounted for 8% of the differences in performance and productivity.” When I interviewed PMs at Google, we used a very structured interview process.

Interviewing 113

Interviewing Startup Communication Scaling 113

SaaStr

JULY 18, 2022

And have them interview your top candidates. Avoid folks that have never worked at a startup not that much bigger than yours. No chance they know how to do a startup. If you’re not sure how to hire for a role, get an advisor that does. You gotta do reference checks. But they don’t all have to be perfect. Even if one disagrees.

Sales Hiring 230

Sales Hiring Strategy Interviewing Startup 230

SaaStr

DECEMBER 1, 2023

We’re still learning what world we’re in — some people interview over Zoom, some are focused on how to build teams in the current age, and many are dealing with a weird overhang from the SaaS explosion of 2021, quiet quitting, layoffs, and team turnover. In interviews, ask them if they want to close any in the first 90 days.

Sales Hiring 148

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Interviewing 148

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

Mark Roberge, the Chief Revenue Officer at Hubspot, has spent 20 years in startups. There might be 20-30 people at the startup which is generating about $1-2M in ARR with 2-5 salespeople. There might be 20-30 people at the startup which is generating about $1-2M in ARR with 2-5 salespeople.

Sales Hiring 184

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Compensation 184

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 54

Interviewing Technical Cofounder CTO Enterprise 54

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

How should you think about designing your startup’s logo? Appropriate - must fit your startup’s culture and its ecosystem. In the interview, Geismar shares a few other important points. The mark symbolizes your business. It’s destined to be ubiquitous. Not every business should use an abstract mark.

Startup 163

Startup Mobile Advertising Interviewing 163