SaaStr

MARCH 23, 2025

5 Key Learnings from Scaling from 3 to 75 Go-To-Market Team Members in Less Than 12 Months The latest SaaStr CRO Confidential is out and Sam Blond did a great deep dive with Graham Mareno, VP of Worldwide Sales at Codeium. Create Compelling Economic Incentives For sales talent, compensation is critical.

Sales Recruiting 233

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale AI 233

SaaStr

JUNE 29, 2025

The Pivot : They interviewed 200 companies and 400 founders in just 6 weeks, asking one simple question: “If you’re open to hiring internationally, what are your biggest challenges?” Scaled Sales Without Revenue Operations (And Paid Dearly) The Explosion : From 2 AEs to 50 AEs in one year. ” Training was broken.

Payment Services 181

Payment Services Sales Hiring Payment Solutions SaaS Payments 181

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. 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. Your VP of Sales Shouldn’t Be Perfect.

Sales Hiring 269

Sales Hiring Part-Time VPE Scale Underperforming Technical Team 269

SaaStr

JANUARY 8, 2025

When Lindsey joined, she inherited an already built-out self-serve/PLG model for small businesses and a mid-market and enterprise sales, customer success, and post-sales team. But at the start of its expansion play, Checkr’s enterprise motion failed, and sales cycles were slow, taking up to a year for $100k & up deals.

Revenue 293

Revenue Scale Sales Hiring Compensation 293

SaaStr

JANUARY 23, 2025

Just look at the numbers: Enterprise customers bring 95%+ best-in-class retention vs. 85% in mid-market. Master the Multi-Stakeholder Sale Enterprise deals aren’t won in a single meeting. But the rewards – higher retention, bigger deals, and ultimately a much larger TAM – make it worth the investment.

Enterprise 244

Enterprise Sales Hiring Scale Outsourced Development 244

SaaStr

JUNE 14, 2025

For example, instead of saying, “We’ll hit $10M ARR in two years,” break it down: “We’ll grow from $1M to $3M ARR by expanding our sales team and doubling our lead generation, then scale from $3M to $10M by launching into a new vertical.” But that vision needs to be supported by a clear, step-by-step plan.

Scale 230

Scale Sales Hiring Benchmarks Churn 230

SaaStr

MAY 31, 2025

Key hires like a VP of Engineering or VP of Product might get 1%-2% each. Another way to think of this stage; the first 10 or so should probably get at least twice the equity of others for joining early, if they are mission-critical hires. This ensures you have enough to reward early hires without running out too quickly.

Part-Time VPE 202

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Compensation 202

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2025

If you can maintain this pace and improve your metrics (like NRR and sales efficiency), you could still build a significant, valuable B2B business over time. Fundraising and Hiring Challenges Raising a Series A or B at 35% growth will be essentially impossible. However, youll need to be patientits a slower path. Adjust to that reality.

Sales Hiring 198

Sales Hiring B2B Churn Retention 198

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 27, 2021

Is your CS team growing as fast as your sales team? If this is your first SaaS company, you may not have ever hired or built a Customer Success team. This one isn’t nearly as risky as a VP of Sales , or a VP of Marketing hire. You’ll make a good hire. So hire your first as soon as you can. >>

Sales Hiring 246

Sales Hiring Customer Success Scale Customer Lifetime Value 246

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 27, 2021

Is your CS team growing as fast as your sales team? If this is your first SaaS company, you may not have ever hired or built a Customer Success team. This one isn’t nearly as risky as a VP of Sales , or a VP of Marketing hire. You’ll make a good hire. So hire your first as soon as you can. >>

Sales Hiring 245

Sales Hiring Customer Success Scale Customer Lifetime Value 245

SaaStr

JANUARY 27, 2023

As the past few years have demonstrated, it’s wise to expect the unexpected, especially when it comes to hiring. In particular, hiring for your sales team is critical in an uncertain economic outlook. Additionally, sales professionals looking for a new role should choose their next company wisely.

Sales Recruiting 244

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Compensation 244

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 17, 2025

My hope is that this analysis can provide startup entrepreneurs with a framework for how to manage their businesses around SaaS metrics (e.g., net retention and CAC payback). On the other hand, if your net revenue retention is 120%, you only need to grow new logo revenue 10% to be a “high growth” business.

Cloud 277

Cloud Software Benchmarks Retention 277

SaaStr

APRIL 20, 2022

This famous quote from self-help author Robert Collier applies to every sales organization because excellent results come through repeatable activities, not one-off wins. Alice Katwan , SVP at Twilio , discusses how you can build a high-retention sales team while being remote. Implement systems to attract great talent.

Sales Hiring 272

Sales Hiring Scale Retention Sales 272

SaaStr

APRIL 7, 2020

In the early days of SaaStr, we wrote a bunch of posts that were controversial at the time, but later, most sales leaders eventually agreed with. That you know even in 1 sales cycle if a VP of Sales is going to work out. As soon as you hear a VP of Sales start to blame her/his own reports for missing a number, it’s over.

Sales Hiring 341

Sales Hiring Sales Retention Churn 341

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 15, 2021

There’s a simple secret to hiring quickly and building a strong team. Invest in great managers early. Post-PMF, the organization must evolve: it has to grow headcount and then manage that headcount well. How many hiring managers are in each of the two hierarchies from above? On the left, the startup is flat.

Sales Recruiting 363

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Headcount 363

SaaStr

JULY 8, 2024

How much more could you accomplish with your sales organization? Justworks CRO, Robert Lopez, and Director of Sales, Valeria Avila, show you how to create longevity in your sales organization and why it matters. If you’re hiring great people and giving them the tools to succeed, get out of their way. They’ll step up.

Sales Hiring 287

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Education 287

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 27, 2025

Making strategic hires before the strategy is fully locked. This also has implications on the people you hire. You don’t want to hire the “old guard” who only knows how to run the “old guard” playbooks. That means doing things in parallel that used to be sequenced. The list goes on!

Cloud 157

Cloud Sales Hiring Scale Investment 157

SaaStr

OCTOBER 10, 2023

On a sales front, how do you evolve past founder-led sales, or together with it, so that you can scale your organization? Founder-led sales can be an immense strength and rapidly become a limiting factor. PST, Laura Connell, Partner at Atomico, shares how to scale beyond founder-led sales on your path to Series B.

Scale 277

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Sales 277

SaaStr

JANUARY 31, 2022

Having learned from thousands of customers and prospects, Sarah Lash, Envoy’s head of enterprise sales, will talk about what it takes to guide and scale enterprise sales programs during an uncertain future. In my first six months at Envoy , I grew the sales team from six to 17. Combine Strategies To Drive Sales.

Sales Recruiting 246

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Enterprise 246

SaaStr

JULY 20, 2024

Dedicated Slack Channel For Every Metric From the early days at Secureframe, they have had a dedicated Slack channel for every metric: every net new sale, every expansion, every churn, and every expense. Let’s use net dollar or net revenue retention as an example. Hiring is another consideration. Why do they do this?

Sales Recruiting 299

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Engineering 299

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2024

We just wrote up how some of the biggest changes of SaaS are now coming, specifically in Customer Success and Sales. We still want to drive retention and growth and make money. No one would disagree that retention and expansion are important. Is it the end of an era for customer success in SaaS? The world has changed.

Sales Hiring 320

Sales Hiring Customer Success Scale AI 320

SaaStr

APRIL 13, 2025

This structure enables a seamless experience that starts when a company hires someone. One button click in Rippling sets up the new hire across HR, payroll, all relevant apps (Slack, Dropbox, GitHub, email, Salesforce), provisions their computer, and establishes them within the company’s financial systems.

Startup 157

Startup Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Cloud 157

Intercom, Inc.

FEBRUARY 11, 2020

A retention campaign that paints a commercial relationship as a personal one will always be awkward at best and at worst will create ill will. Here’s three better ways to create retention campaigns that feel genuine and actually work: Focus on how your product helps. Identify and solve the problems that caused churn.

Retention 282

Retention Sales Hiring Churn Onboarding 282

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

Everything from hiring on the GTM side to layering in a sales-led motion into PLG. Let’s dive into what’s making that hybrid model successful: PLG and Sales Led? Given this, you must understand the role that each facet of the business plays in promoting that product, from marketing and sales to customer service.

Scale 317

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Marketing 317

TechEmpower SaaS

DECEMBER 11, 2023

While the appearance matters, remember you are hiring the development firm primarily for its development skills, not its graphic design skills. Is there a project manager? An account manager? While beneficial, some project managers hinder effective communication. Communication: Evaluate their communication style.

Software Development 443

Software Development Development Software Review Software 443

SaaStr

MARCH 11, 2021

Congratulations on finally hiring your VP of Sales! There are 3 general options: Your VP of Sales is responsible for net new revenue only. Post-sales, other than upsell which adds to net new revenue for this year, is someone else’s job. Your VP of Sales is responsible for the ARR target for the end of the year.

Sales Hiring 274

Sales Hiring Metrics Sales Churn 274

SaaStr

MAY 27, 2022

41% of you have sales do some customer onboarding, not just CS or other specialists. Should sales just disappear once the contract is signed? #5. On average, you got a 33%+ boost in revenue when you hired your first VP of Sales. Hire a great VP of Sales, and revenue goes up. So yes, it always works.

Sales Hiring 339

Sales Hiring Pricing Scale Interviewing 339

SaaStr

AUGUST 9, 2024

Hiring for Customer Success When Braze was looking for their first customer success hires, you couldn’t find a CSM with seven years of experience in software because those people didn’t exist yet. Every incremental hire with a small team matters, so it’s worth being clear on what you want.

Scale 291

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Startup 291

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 24, 2021

The SaaS sales model seems so well-established, as hundreds of founders build their businesses and raise funding. Mark Roberge, Founder of Stage 2 Capital and Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, shares insights from his years of experience into common SaaS sales missteps and how you can avoid them.

Sales Hiring 256

Sales Hiring Scale Compensation Sales 256

SaaStr

APRIL 2, 2023

I walk them through this when I hire them. There are many stories of legendary exec hires. I hired the person with a great resume but who didn’t get our business, culture, or community. Lesson: Many times, I thought, “I need to hire for the role I’ll need 4 years from now.” Of course, sometimes that is indeed true.

Sales Hiring 329

Sales Hiring Scale Customer Success Scaling 329

SaaStr

JUNE 24, 2020

They keep buying more from you, and the net retention is positive. You didn’t build up a true management team. With a VP of Sales, it’s hard to create urgency and sell ahead, and compete in new segments. You hired the wrong management team. A junior hire just doesn’t cut it here.

Product Marketing 363

Product Marketing Sales Hiring Marketing Startup 363

SaaStr

APRIL 8, 2023

Over the years, we’ve done just an incredible number of deep dives, AMAs, and more with many of the best CROs and VPs of Sales in SaaS!

Scale 300

Scale Sales Hiring SMB SaaS 300

SaaStr

APRIL 5, 2022

My partial list: Hiring “too low” to save money. Why not just hire a manager for $80k, who can work with whatever budget you assign? The problem here is that instead of hiring an accretive resource, you hire a cost center than can’t deliver sales/leads/upsells. Settling on a VP hire. But not before.

Scale 261

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Startup 261

SaaStr

DECEMBER 28, 2019

Pick a few that work for you: Get That Key VP Hire Done in Q1. Enough with the excuses for not having hired your real VP of Sales, or that VP of Engineering, or whatever. Hire a real recruiter. Drop other stuff to get this hire done. Drop almost everything else to get that one critical, missing VP hired in Q1.

Part-Time VPE 325

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting 325

SaaStr

MARCH 19, 2021

I see this all the time in marketing hires that come out of non-demand gen roles. A head of sales that doesn’t recruit at least one strong rep in the first 90 days. A head of customer success that doesn’t own churn, or net revenue retention in the first 90 days. “9 months.” ” Oh. He will never.

Sales Recruiting 349

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring SMB Engineering 349

Neil Patel

OCTOBER 25, 2020

But should you build your own in-house marketing team or hire an agency partner? When you hire an agency, you are not just hiring one person. You are hiring a whole team and their network, which can sometimes be ten or more people. You won’t have to build out a management structure for that department either.

Sales Hiring 145

Sales Hiring Outsourcing Services Underperforming Technical Team Sales Recruiting 145

SaaStr

JANUARY 2, 2021

Your sales headcount. Hire a real management team. Hire a VP of Sales that knows what they are doing. Hire a VP of Marketing that knows demand gen cold. Hire a VP of Marketing that knows demand gen cold. You’ll “magically” get more MQLs, and the funnel will be managed more efficiently.

Sales Hiring 307

Sales Hiring Headcount Pricing Market Segmentation 307