SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

379: From how many reps to hire, to compensation models, here are the top 10 mistakes founders make when hiring their first sales teams and how to avoid them. If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin. This episode is sponsored by Outgrow.

Sales Hiring 240

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 240

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

Finding and recruiting top talent is consistently ranked as one of the biggest challenges for growing SaaS companies. SaaStr Annual attracts thousands of high-quality SaaS professionals across functions like engineering, product, marketing, sales, and customer success. Meet and Find Your Next VP / CXO!

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Sales Recruiting Scale CTO Hire Sales Hiring 195

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 26, 2021

Brendon Cassidy, my VP of Sales wrote a version of this piece a while back. I though an updated version of this would be good for founders thinking about hiring a VP of Sales … VPs of Sales themselves … and VPs-to-be to read — Jason, ed. … 10 Rules to Being a VP of Sales in a Startup.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Sales 297

SaaStr

MARCH 25, 2023

So one recent survey we did really brought out a healthy debate: does your VP of Sales really need to be a product expert? Many of the comments said it was more important a VP of Sales understand process and leadership more than the product itself. Be present. Then I say … you probably made a mis-hire.

Scale 288

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales 288

SaaStr

MARCH 17, 2021

The other day, I met with a great founder who talked with me about how he was about to top his VP of Sales. in ARR in pretty short order, recruiting a great small team of reps under her, and had really nailed the formula. Or for another example, let’s look back at the Algolia’s CSO presentation at SaaStr Europa.

Sales Hiring 304

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale SMB 304

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 28, 2024

Kyle Norton CRO of Owner is kicking off a new podcast for Pavillion with revenue leaders, and we were lucky enough to be guest #001 here: It’s a great convo on many SaaStr themes — but from the perspective of a VP Sales / CRO. Prepare your presentations with this in mind, balancing metrics with high-level strategic insights.

Technical Review 294

Technical Review Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Revenue 294

SaaStr

APRIL 16, 2021

Support and partner with sales. Having a CMO that is present, that is visible, is great for recruiting and much more. So my only advice is just this: when the time comes to hire a CMO, take a look at their LinkedIn, their Twitter profile, their blog posts. Own brand & brand positioning. It’s a big job.

Sales Recruiting 336

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Branding Product Marketing 336

SaaStr

MARCH 7, 2021

I thought it would be worth drilling down deeper into each of them, and sharing the learnings and mistakes: 1/ Spending less time fixing things, more time recruiting senior folks to own them. No one spends enough time recruiting as it is, after $1m ARR or so. Yes, you can manage the sales team yourself. You can do this.

Part-Time VPE 290

Part-Time VPE Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 290

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2024

They discuss Sam’s learnings at Founders Fund, what the 2024 playbook looks like, hiring and motivating sales teams, and a handful of audience questions. On the sales side, people hired way too much. More salespeople do not equal more sales. If that’s true, then you should absolutely hire more salespeople.

Sales Hiring 297

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Headcount 297

Sales Hacker

JUNE 10, 2021

There’s one thing recruiters are unanimous about. 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. Our recruitment team at EASI has gotten really good at this. Sales courses are largely absent from college curricula.

Sales Hiring 125

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Interviewing 125

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 16, 2021

You’ll need to hire aggressively to get to the next level and continue that rapid growth. But what roles should you hire for, and what will your org chart look like at each stage? You can find the full slide deck from David’s presentation on Slideshare. Head of Sales. VP Sales (45 Employees). billion in 2012.

CTO Hire 281

CTO Hire Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting CTO 281

SaaStr

AUGUST 11, 2021

A ways back at SaaStr, we did a post “If Your VP Sales Isn’t Going to Work Out — You’ll Know in 30 Days” At first, so many VPs of Sales I know hated the post. A great VP can’t always double sales in a month or two. Now first, this trick requires you have your VPs present at board meetings.

Sales Recruiting 304

Sales Recruiting Scale Sales Hiring Scaling 304

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. According to Insightsquared, recruiting should take up to 20% of time for a C-level executive.

Sales Hiring 142

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Sales Enablement 142

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2021

They talked about product adoption, sales alignment, freemium models and lessons they have learned throughout their successful SaaS careers. As two CEO who love the art of sales and scaling, this one really was special. Recruiting is easier, but the things that don’t change are customers don’t care.

Sales Recruiting 260

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale VP of Engineering 260

Kellblog

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

Emboldened by this seeming endorsement, I dashed off what turned into a lengthy email on interviewing and recruiting, a topic about which I am passionate not because I think I am good it, but because I think I am not. Thoughts on The Recruiting Process. Remember it’s a mutual sales process. Use work test samples.

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Sales Recruiting Interviewing Sales Hiring Finance 110

SaaStr

OCTOBER 12, 2020

You can also totally change your sales team. In a way, this is the same point as #1, almost — except you can recruit even more of the team here. The sales team can call back every single prospect, not just the good ones. Again, all without a new feature, lead, or hire. There are only 40-50 hours in a sales week.

Sales Recruiting 350

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Churn Onboarding 350

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. Q: Where Should SDRs Report — Marketing or Sales?

CTO Hire 242

CTO Hire Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 242

SaaStr

OCTOBER 3, 2023

It’s so, so easy to stand out in recruiting if you’ve actually done your homework. We took 1 day to deliberate, cancelled all our other interviews and hired him on the spot.” I hired him on the spot.” I ended the interview (politely) after 10 minutes and told him to watch the video. Now I see who they sell to!”

Interviewing 271

Interviewing Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Consulting 271

SaaStr

AUGUST 23, 2019

Even what we could consider “good problems” need preparation, and it starts by understanding your team and your goals, including knowing when and how to recruit members of your team, and building in a way that compliments your growth. How to hire your core staff really well. Pssst Loving our podcast content?

Sales Recruiting 152

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Sales Leadership 152

OpenView Labs

APRIL 29, 2021

Recruiting top talent is the common denominator across all scaling startups. Nine out of 10 founders and CEOs I connect with are involved in recruiting on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Many of them are learning on the fly and trying to juggle being CEO and Chief People Officer/Lead Recruiter/Brand Evangelist all at once.

Sales Recruiting 98

Sales Recruiting Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring Scale 98

SaaStr

JANUARY 24, 2024

How should you handle presenting challenges to your C-suite team when you’ve just joined the company? She was hired because they saw a bit of softening in new business growth, and she came to help diagnose what was going on and help scale the business. How do you diagnose and solve churn?

Scale 271

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Revenue 271

Sales Hacker

AUGUST 7, 2020

When it comes time to book a speaker for your next panel, presentation, or podcast there’s a lot to consider. Fortunately, more organizers than ever before are consciously seeking out female sales experts for panels, presentations, and podcasts. Sales Development. Sales Growth. Sales Enablement. Leadership.

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VP of Engineering Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Payment Services 130

Chart Mogul

JANUARY 9, 2025

So read on, and hopefully, your SaaS sales journey will be less about trial and error and more about steady progress toward success. Whats important to note is that each model targets a distinct customer persona and, therefore, has a unique approach to the customer journeyfrom brand awareness to sales and, ultimately, conversion.

Scale 52

Scale Sales Hiring Startup Sales Recruiting 52

SaaStr

APRIL 7, 2022

We’re in the business of robots, software robots, an industry … There was a great presentation earlier, you all probably heard with the category awareness, category urgency, and I’d add one more, company urgency. Growth for us is about massive scaling and hiring. Bobby, tell us a little bit about UiPath. Bobby: Yes.

Sales Hiring 271

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Outsourcing Services 271

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

Success in sales requires the right skills and a competitive, driven, and personable nature. However, scoring a great sales role takes more than just being confident in your own skills and nature. You have to convince a management team of those things as well. 1) Know whom you’ll be talking to — Sales is all about relationships.

Sales Recruiting 87

Sales Recruiting Interviewing Sales Hiring Sales 87

Intercom, Inc.

MARCH 8, 2018

In a time where buyer behavior has rendered cold calling nearly obsolete, successful sales prospecting begins with using tools like live chat and social media to build relationships. He’d go on to become the VP of Sales at Sprinklr, guiding the company through its own high growth period, before striking out on his own.

Social Media 187

Social Media Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting 187

OpenView Labs

AUGUST 19, 2021

Sales recruiting is broken. The sad truth is that VP of Sales are turning over within 19 months —and that timeline is shrinking. . Not only that, the market has heated way back up and the VP of Sales is one of the most sought after roles. What is the hardest executive hire you’ve made?

Sales Hiring 98

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Scale 98

Incredo

APRIL 8, 2020

After receiving a query, she scans databases from the WHO and CDC, and presents the information in conversational form to the user. . #2 Named Sophie, the digital human is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week to answer concerns about the COVID-19 in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch.

Sales Recruiting 269

Sales Recruiting Travel SaaS Sales Hiring 269

SaaStr

JULY 15, 2022

It’s pretty good, someone did a Tweet storm the other day on Zeb from ClickUp’s presentation at SaaStr Annual 2020. Jason Lemkin: You certainly can hire a whole content team and build 10,000 pieces of content, but I will tell you what I have always seen work is one incredible piece a week. That’s a great example.

Scale 289

Scale Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring VP of Engineering 289

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 7, 2019

Hiring a VP that doesn’t work out is tough. You hire a bunch of folks that don’t perform. So if you do make a mis-hire — and everyone does — at least course correct quickly. Some crystal-clear signs you made a senior mis-hire: Too defensive re: their poor performers. But never in a manager. .

Sales Hiring 189

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale SMB 189

Intercom, Inc.

JUNE 9, 2021

It was also my first official week in the People Development Program Manager role, which certainly added to the challenge! . Onboarding virtually can be tough for our new hires. We needed to lean in and provide more opportunities and space for our new hires to connect, learn, and engage with each other and the business. “By

Onboarding 254

Onboarding Sales Hiring Scale Systems Review 254

Intercom, Inc.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

It’s an approach that’s served him well along the road to building the HubSpot sales team, where he was CRO for nine years. That experience led to his bestselling book, The Sales Acceleration Formula. I just don’t think sales have anything to do with product-market fit. But how fast should companies hire?

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Scale Scaling Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring 227

Sales Hacker

JUNE 3, 2025

Over his 15-year career at Meta, Rick was instrumental in driving international expansion, especially across Europe, the Middle East, and Africahelping to localize strategy, scale high-performing sales teams, and bring new ad products to market. Rick is the former managing director of Meta Ireland. Rick Kelley: You’re right.

Sales Hiring 85

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Sales 85

Totango

DECEMBER 13, 2022

As corporate expectations grow and hiring remains challenging for CS, automating the customer journey on a digital platform can do much of the heavy lifting for understaffed teams. . Speaking of the team, hiring presents a great opportunity to reassess the skills and expertise that will help you meet your goals. What do we want?

Sales Hiring 99

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Customer Success 99

SaaStr

APRIL 23, 2019

And can you talk a little bit about touching on the hiring point, because you did say that you focused a lot on talent, and recruiting. So, talk about … You were one of the few startups that I saw had a GC in your, pretty much, the first five hires. Anu: So, the CFO was the first hire. Anu : The third hire.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Payment Methods 212

ChurnZero

NOVEMBER 26, 2024

This is a guest article by Swati Garg , founder and CEO, Melo Associates , and Lindsay Lynch , senior recruitment consultant, Melo Associates , a recruitment firm focused on customer success hiring for SaaS and tech companies nationwide. This requires buy-in for the role and job description.

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Technical Review Sales Recruiting Customer Success Sales Hiring 52

Sales Hacker

OCTOBER 30, 2018

Welcome to Sales Hacker’s first-ever Influential Women in Sales list! In this exclusive list, we wanted to honor not just female leaders that promote their own sales platform (no shame in that!) They say “You can’t be what you can’t see,” and the sales floor is no exception.

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Sales Recruiting VP of Engineering Scale Sales Hiring 111