SaaStr

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

The goal is to help each other learn something new, find mentorships, create partnerships, and exchange strategies. with Yamini Jain, Co-founder at Global roots inc How to manage a SAAS startup effectively? with Dumindu Tennakoon, General Manager at appiGo International Pvt Ltd How to achieve more with OKRs?

VP of Engineering 286

VP of Engineering Technical Cofounder Outsourcing Services CTO Coach 286

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

Here are our most popular answers over the past 12 months: How do VCs value startups? Which startup did you leave too early? (74k What makes a bad CTO? Are there any examples of a unicorn startup that was bootstrapped? How did Mark Zuckerberg manage to own 25% of Facebook? 90k views). 74k views). 52k views).

Venture Capital 249

Venture Capital New CTO CTO Startup 249

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

The founders named their startup JFrog because a frog is agile and always leaping forward. JFrog is the pioneer of Continuous Software Release Management, or CSRM. The initial goal was actually not to build a company; rather, it was just to solve the highly complex problems of managing software updates and delivery.

New CTO 267

New CTO CTO Benchmarks Consulting 267

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. But if they’ve never managed a higher turnover SDR team, they often melt.

CTO Hire 241

CTO Hire Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 241

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2022

Indeed this was also my #1 mistake and the #1 I see from so many startups learning to go upmarket. You have to be careful to pair that with someone strong to manage the relationship, that has more time and that also can be trusted. As a founder, you’ll just run out of time to properly manage key customers and partners yourself.

CTO Hire 321

CTO Hire Sales Hiring New CTO CTO 321

SaaStr

JULY 10, 2021

As a founder/CEO, building your first management team is something that you often lose sleep over. Obviously, I can’t imagine a chief executive not having loss of sleep over building a management team. What makes you feel that you need to level up your management, set up your first management team? Is it a time?

Sales Hiring 258

Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Development Team Review CTO Hire 258

SaaStock

MARCH 8, 2019

Because, as she says, building a startup is simply much more fun. Today Carman is Founder and Managing Partner of Click Ventures, the globally renowned Hong Kong venture capital firm. She has been around the globe, working in startups and digital agencies in Brazil, Germany, Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong. The reason? Jessie Lam.

VP of Engineering 264

VP of Engineering CTO Coach Venture Capital SaaS 264

SaaStr

JULY 5, 2024

Some are decades-old problems, while others have emerged from this new world we’re in. GTM Mistake #1: A VP of Sales That Can’t Sell or Demo the Product Mistake number one has always been an issue, and it’s the number one reason startups struggle in today’s world. Also, determine whether you have the right CTO to handle these changes.

CTO Hire 204

CTO Hire Sales Hiring New CTO Venture Capital 204

The Angel VC

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Last night I read this question on Quora : In general terms, what is the ideal size and make-up of a team for a pre-revenue SaaS startup? I do have a slight preference with respect to the team size as well, but it's light because I've seen and worked with very successful SaaS startups with different team sizes.

CTO Hire 106

CTO Hire Startup Sales Hiring New CTO 106

Buffer Resources

SEPTEMBER 3, 2024

Tagging your partner organizations, influencers, or thought leaders at your company (your CEO, CTO, etc.) We create a social content calendar and schedule posts ahead of time I cannot stress the importance of planning ahead enough to build consistency, especially if you’re in a role where you manage multiple marketing initiatives. 

Social Media 106

Social Media B2B Interviewing New CTO 106

Intercom, Inc.

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

We identified some “ known unknowns” too; problems we needed to solve, but didn’t know how just yet – like integrating the new region into our billing system. In a recent Intercom on Product podcast , our co-founder Des talked about that old Jedi bell curve meme, and how it often applies to startups’ speed.

Scale 235

Scale New CTO Engineering CTO 235

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 18, 2015

Last night, SaaS Office Hours hosted Optimizely co-founder and CTO Pete Koomen. Pete was a Google Associate Product Manager for AdSense and launched Google App Engine. First, hire a management coach to work with you as the company grows. These were some of the things I learned from Pete. And you should do it right then.

CTO Coach 113

CTO Coach Sales Hiring CTO Hire Startup 113

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Since 2010 we’ve seen more startups, funds, and capital than ever before, but with this drastic increase, investors are seeing unexpected new trends reshaping the future of the industry. Pietro Bezza | Managing Partner @ Connect Ventures. We’ve got half a billion into management. Want to see more content like this?

New CTO 165

New CTO Sales Hiring B2C CTO Hire 165

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Basecamp , a leading SaaS-based project management solution, was a company that didn’t know they had to collect and remit sales taxes. And, like every software startup, their small team had a million other things to worry about. Meanwhile, new tax legislation for SaaS companies was brewing.

New CTO 205

New CTO SaaS Sales CTO 205

SaaStr

JUNE 1, 2021

Co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah shared with us how they got there — and the top mistakes they made — just 3 quarters after their IPO. We have someone that probably 98 percent of you know virtually or socially in some sense, Dharmesh Shah, founder and CTO of HubSpot. But of course, it wasn’t always quite that big!

Part-Time VPE 283

Part-Time VPE Technical Cofounder CTO Hire New CTO 283

SaaStr

MAY 8, 2019

Every week we’ll be rolling out new winners until we get to the very pinnacle of our list. Namely is an HR software company that offers HR, payroll, benefits and talent management tools to businesses. Over the years, Dug has been an advisor to many startups from Mu Dynamics, Olark and Tech Brewery to Trace and Stratos Card.

CTO Coach 29

CTO Coach New CTO CTO Web Developers 29

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

They were aware of it, but startups that I work with closely or invested in, if they got all the way to 25 million with 75% NRR, I would tell them to quit today. Jason Lemkin: I think I noticed a pattern, and I wrote it up a couple of years ago and refreshed it, and then I’ll add a new anecdote. And not enough people do that.

Outsourcing Services 243

Outsourcing Services Banking CTO Hire New CTO 243

FastSpring

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

If you have the CEO, CTO, some executive chat through, here’s the big picture of the company. Why are you looking for a new job? And I hear a lot of startup founders, they’re like, oh, I want someone that’s so into working for equity. Lizzie Mintus (07:58) Yes. Here’s your impact.

SMB 108

SMB Sales Recruiting Branding Sales Hiring 108

Valerian Tech

DECEMBER 30, 2022

The role of a Fractional Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is to provide technical expertise and leadership to a company on a part-time or temporary basis. This can be a useful option for startups or small businesses that may not have the resources to hire a full-time CTO or may not need one on a permanent basis.

Fractional CTO 52

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Part-Time CTO CTO 52

Intercom, Inc.

APRIL 27, 2018

Back in the early days of Intercom, our CTO Ciaran was the entirety of the on call team, both in and out of the office. Soon after, new teams started building a lot of new features and services, and they assumed full on call responsibilities. The history of on call at Intercom. There were too many people on call at any moment.

Engineering 209

Engineering Software Review Technical Review Systems Review 209

Intercom, Inc.

JUNE 14, 2018

Rather than suggesting a model startup, advisor and author Laura Klein is likely to point you toward her favorite heist film. Now the Vice President of Product at Business Talent Group , she has honed her expertise into a set of best practices and published them in two books: UX for Lean Startups and Build Better Products.

VP of Engineering 190

VP of Engineering Underperforming Technical Team CTO Coach New CTO 190

Scytale

OCTOBER 21, 2024

Regardless of whether you’re running a startup or a more established business, this certification is the key to unlocking deals you once thought were out of reach. SOC 2 stands for “Service Organization Control 2,” and it’s a standard that evaluates how well a company manages customer data.

Technical Review 52

Technical Review Scale compliance CTO Hire 52

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 25, 2020

So even the freshest new SaaS startup celebrating their 50th customer may find themselves dealing with sales tax in multiple states. . That’s what Basecamp, a leading project management software provider, chose to do when partnering with TaxJar. Expanding into new sales channels is a common growth play.

Merchant Services 187

Merchant Services Technical Review Scale Sales Hiring 187

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 24, 2021

Great to see a lot of repeat attendees and some new ones. A thanks to [Marsh 00:00:34] for stepping in at the beginning of the month, and a great session with our own Jason Warner and Adrian, the CTO of Zendesk. This is a program where we invite luminaries from the startup world to share their insights. I’m Travis Bryant.

CTO Coach 164

CTO Coach Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting CTO Hire 164

Intercom, Inc.

JANUARY 5, 2022

Suddenly, the team got to know SOC 2 Reports all too well and realized just how burdensome and unscalable it could become, especially for high-growth startups. And then, in the 50s, they introduced this new thing, and there was resistance. Evernote’s CTO on Your Biggest Security Worries From 3 to 300 Employees.

Scale 212

Scale Software Review compliance Technical Review 212

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Wouldn’t it take away from allowing managers to manage and coach — not to mention the monstrous to-do lists of VPs and CEOs? Your CTO probably does not need to be on the first Demo, but instead that could be an opportune time to loop in a Manager or director. Who doesn’t love a good combo of ham, egg and cheese?

Underperforming Technical Team 130

Underperforming Technical Team CTO Hire CTO Coach Technical Review 130

SaaStr

JUNE 26, 2024

Growth is still good for them, but they had no net new customers last quarter. Deals are contracting, not because of layoffs, but because people are managing budgets so tightly. 30% of all mobile apps with a paid subscription use RevenueCat to manage it. How does a startup benefit from this? UiPath saw a huge drop of 30%.

CTO Hire 141

CTO Hire AI Venture Capital Sales Hiring 141

Scytale

NOVEMBER 4, 2024

Whether you’re a new entrepreneur in the software industry, scaling your startup, or a seasoned SaaS provider, securing a SOC 3 audit report can be a game-changer for your business , helping you strengthen customer trust while demonstrating your unwavering commitment to data security. The good news? What is a SOC 3 Report?

compliance 52

compliance Underperforming Technical Team Scale Technical Review 52

Intercom, Inc.

APRIL 19, 2018

Over time I had eight different jobs there and progressed from an engineer, to technical project manager, to technical program manager, to manager, to a manager of managers. Ciaran, our CTO , came up with this magical line. Not every startup is able to handle our throughput or reliability needs.

Outsourcing Services 192

Outsourcing Services Part-Time VPE Software AWS 192

Baremetrics

DECEMBER 7, 2023

Here’s an overview of the series: Part 1: How to Categorize Expenses in a SaaS Startup v2.0 What’s their new CAC Payback Time? New Gross Margins? Start by creating a new account from clicking the button New on the top-right. If spending $20,000 meant 200 new customers, spending $25,000 would result in 250.

Startup 90

Startup Merchant Services DevOps as a Service SaaS 90

OPEXEngine

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

In this framework, you’ll learn how to design a scoring system that aligns to your growth strategy, brainstorm and select leader indicators of success, and operationalize the system across your startup. Drive new levers of growth. Through this work, it can drive new revenue opportunities. Strategically allocate CS resources.

Startup 91

Startup Scale Systems Review Technical Review 91

Scytale

MAY 29, 2025

If youre running a SaaS business that collects or processes data from California residents, chances are youve heard about the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and its impact on how you manage personal information. Since then, the CCPA new regulations have been continuously updating the law to keep up with the latest privacy challenges.

compliance 52

compliance Scale Systems Review New CTO 52

Intercom, Inc.

JULY 21, 2022

Along the way, we’ve interviewed trailblazers, business leaders, makers and doers to share their experience and insights on all things startup strategy, product management, design, marketing, customer experience, and much, much more. For Slack, that was clearly the engineering and dev communities, who love new tools.

Outsourcing Services 216

Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring CTO Hire Acquisition 216

Intercom, Inc.

OCTOBER 31, 2019

When a company is moving from the startup to the scale-up phase, there is the potential for productivity practices to be lost along the wayside. How can it really, really help businesses outside of just, say, managing a calendar? By retiring technologies proactively , you can remain focused on consistently moving the needle.

Artificial Intelligence 169

Artificial Intelligence Scale CTO Hire Technology 169

User Pilot

MARCH 7, 2024

So I talked to several female leaders in SaaS – about their experience with breaking into leadership positions in tech startups – what challenges they’ve faced, and how they managed to overcome them. I wanted to learn more about what challenges are deterring women from entering leadership career paths in tech.

Technical Review 105

Technical Review CTO Coach Sales Hiring CTO Hire 105

OpenView Labs

JULY 2, 2020

New for 2020: SaaS Pricing and COVID-19. In this brand-new report, we finally answer the question “Freemium or free trial?” Steven Forth, CEO of Ibbaka, shares wisdom on managing pricing through the COVID-19 pandemic. Pricing Low-Touch SaaS: How to Approach Pricing and Packaging a New SaaS App, by Example.

Pricing 138

Pricing SaaS Payments Payments SaaS 138

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.

Underperforming Technical Team 102

Underperforming Technical Team New CTO Interviewing CTO 102