SaaStr

MARCH 1, 2024

In SaaS, once you have even a few million in ARR, the #1 challenge is recruiting top-tier VPs and building a truly top-tier management team: SaaS products mostly don’t sell themselves. You can hack managing and finding 1–3 reps yourself, but after that, you really need a VP of Sales. As are you.

Scale 242

Scale Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Fractional VPE 242

SaaStr

DECEMBER 31, 2020

The most common objection you’ll get in SaaS sales, which will drive you nuts at first, is … Not Right Now. Every business is mostly running OK already with its tech stack, and it’s unlikely your little app, alone, is going to change the revenue/profits course of any customer. I Don’t Have Budget. Certainly not all in one year.

Sales Recruiting 306

Sales Recruiting Sales SaaS Software 306

SaaStr

JANUARY 24, 2024

Mark Roberge , SaaStr fan-favorite and Co-Founder and Managing Director of Stage 2 Capital brought together some of the top CROs in SaaS during the SaaStr Annual to share some of their greatest learnings and pivotal moments leading some of the Cloud 100 SaaS companies. From a GTM execution standpoint, they weren’t focused.

Scale 218

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Revenue 218

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

The list of problems is endless (this is one of the hardest parts of the job), but let me try to order a few of the biggest challenges roughly based on stage: Pre-Revenue: Finding a Truly Great Co-Founder That is Just as Committed as You. Then their collective revenues often only add up to Cappuccino money. This challenge never ends.

Sales Recruiting 246

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Startup Scale 246

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

We’ve talked a lot on SaaStr about how to hire a Great VP of Sales. And we’ll keep talking about it — so long as 70% of first-time VPs of Sales don’t make it 1 year. I wanted to take a moment to explore the flip-side … a guide to why first-time VPs of Sales that finally get their shot — fail.

Sales Hiring 344

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Headcount 344

SaaStr

OCTOBER 28, 2022

Conversations about the state of the SaaS market in 2022 are everywhere, and it can seem overwhelming for entrepreneurs and business leaders to make sense of everything. A New SaaS Playbook. In 2021, there was much less focus on efficiency and more on revenue metrics like ARR.

Sales Recruiting 196

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Leadership Interviewing 196

SaaStr

DECEMBER 16, 2020

We’ve talked a lot on SaaStr about how to make that critical hire: the VP Sales. Because you’ll lose not just some incremental revenue, but potentially far more. All the second-order revenue you could have had (6x the initial lost revenue). You’ll end up with a crummy sales team under a mis-hire.

Sales Recruiting 293

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Sales Engineering 293

SaaStr

JANUARY 30, 2021

One of the starkest differences I see between First Timers in SaaS and Second Timers is when they hire their VP of Marketing. Most of us can’t afford to hire a VPM 12 months before we have our first customer, and we can’t survive through 10 sales reps without one. In the early days, Revenue Per Lead is critical.

Sales Hiring 350

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Marketing 350

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Ah the VP of Sales. The first post is What a Great VP of Sales Actually Does. The second post is a script for you to use (and modify as you see fit) – 10 Great Questions to Ask a VP Sales Candidate. Just so you know, there are 48 Different Types of VP Sales. The toughest hire. Such a high failure rate.

Sales Hiring 363

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Sales 363

SaaStr

MARCH 5, 2021

Flock Safety’s Founder and CEO, Garrett Langley, and its VP of Growth, Alex Latraverse, know a bit about sales. Enough to go from 0 to 100 sales reps in about 18 months — and they’re looking to be well beyond 100 by the end of this month. Flock Safety is a hardware-enabled SaaS company dedicated to stopping crime.

Sales Recruiting 170

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Sales 170

SaaStr

JANUARY 23, 2024

Dear SaaStr: Does it get easier or harder to scale SaaS as your company grows? Efficiency goes down in other places (sales efficiency usually, marketing efficiency often). Account expansion starts to work. The best mid-market and enterprise SaaS companies grow their accounts 120%-160% as a cohort, inclusive of churn.

Scale 192

Scale Sales Recruiting Scaling Branding 192

Andreessen Horowitz

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

But building a sales compensation plan that both aligns your sales team’s compensation with your customers’ objectives and recruits top salespeople can be incredibly difficult in usage-based pricing. Determine where your sales team makes your customers more successful In usage-based pricing, value = usage.

Compensation 86

Compensation Sales Recruiting Sales Systems Review 86

Sales Hacker

JANUARY 6, 2020

The number one thing I grade candidates on is how well did they run their sales process on me? If you’re a job candidate in sales, you should be managing your job application process just like you’d run your sales process with a potential customer. Again, I’m running this like a sales process.

Sales Recruiting 70

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Sales Consulting 70

SaaStr

JULY 14, 2022

What started as a simple WordPress blog in 2012 has now become the world’s largest community of SaaS executives, founders, and entrepreneurs. And SaaStr Europa brings 2,500+ SaaS execs, founders, and VCs together to Europe every summer. We were the first major SaaS event back in the SF Bay Area. SaaStr is turning 10!

Scale 272

Scale Sales Recruiting CTO Hire New CTO 272

SaaStr

JANUARY 27, 2021

But I thought I’d take a stab at the Top 10 Pieces of Classic SaaS Advice … that, in my experience at least, are usually Just Plain Wrong. If a VP of Sales can’t improve things in one sales cycle or less — she never will. In one sales cycle, or less. SaaS compounds. Not always, but usually.

Part-Time VPE 289

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting 289

SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2021

I thought updating that list would create a useful checklist for things not to do in SaaS in the early days … since they are all avoidable. – My Top 10 Mistakes Starting An (Ultimately Successful) SaaS Company. – My Top 10 Mistakes Starting An (Ultimately Successful) SaaS Company. – Launching Too Early.

Sales Recruiting 263

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale SaaS 263

SaaStr

MAY 14, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: 15+ of The Top Sales & Marketing Mistakes SaaS Startups Make (Updated) Cloudflare: Our Top Reps Are Hitting 129% of Quota. 7 Things All Founders Should Know About Sales with Dave Kellogg: SaaStr Workshop Wednesday LIVE 2.

Sales Recruiting 191

Sales Recruiting Scale Generative AI AI 191

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.

Sales Hiring 286

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Sales 286

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 5, 2023

5 Interesting Learnings from ServiceNow at $8 Billion in ARR Pitchbook & IVP: Top Tier SaaS Companies Usually Raise at 15x ARR. SaaStr 630: Sales-led vs. Product-led? SaaStr 629: CRO Confidential: Sales Recruitment in 2023 For Candidates and Hiring Managers With Flexport’s Ben Braverman   3.

Sales Recruiting 185

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Venture Capital 185

SaaStr

JUNE 24, 2022

We’ve recently been posting polls on SaaStr’s LinkedIn account to get a feel for what SaaS companies are doing in the current environment. In the video below, he discusses the results and where he thinks SaaS companies are on track or need improvement. #1. This is particularly important for a VP of Sales.

Sales Recruiting 205

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Customer Success 205

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 18, 2019

Over the last decade or so, I’ve compiled a metrics sheet to summarise a SaaS business. Redpoint SaaS Metrics Template. The template is broken into six sections: People, Bookings & Revenue, Cash, Sales, Marketing, Customer Success. This section covers employee satisfaction, headcount, and recruiting metrics.

Metrics 211

Metrics Sales Recruiting Startup SaaS 211

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. They often melt. I say, you just gotta know the product. Not just with buzzwords.

Scale 219

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales 219

User Pilot

JULY 27, 2023

Confused about trying to understand SaaS roles? SaaS companies have many moving parts, and it can be difficult to determine who does what. TL;DR SaaS, or “Software as a Service,” is a business model that delivers centrally hosted software to subscribers over the internet. What is a SaaS business model?

Sales Hiring 98

Sales Hiring SaaS Payments Sales Recruiting CTO Hire 98

SaaStr

MAY 31, 2021

” now we have a strong team, enough revenues to start taking things more seriously, and a global (if accidental) footprint. I’ve also invested in 24+ next-generation SaaS companies, mostly successes, and had a chance to watch and learn from them as well, with a new lens. Sales — Not Easier. Maybe more.

Sales Recruiting 312

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Branding 312

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2021

Q: What are the top 20 pieces of advice for building a successful SaaS startup? Someone great at something core you aren’t: Sales, Engineering, Marketing. Someone great at something core you aren’t: Sales, Engineering, Marketing. Great at sales. Somehow, find enough cash to make it 24 months to first real revenue.

Sales Hiring 300

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Engineering 300

SaaStr

JUNE 23, 2020

In SaaS, it is recruiting your VPs and management team : SaaS products mostly don’t sell themselves. You can hack managing and finding 1–3 reps yourself, but after that, you really need a VP of Sales. SaaS products get too complex to hack a product roadmap too long.

Part-Time VPE 231

Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Fractional VPE Sales Recruiting 231

SaaStr

MAY 3, 2021

A new edition, new services, an outbound sales team, an account management / upsell team. From $1m to $10m ARR or so, as you build your first management team: You shouldn’t be the VP of Sales Anymore As You Scale. You still need to spend 15-20% of your time in sales. Add a layer. the prospects).

Part-Time VPE 272

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Outsourcing Services 272

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 5, 2022

Product-led growth (PLG) companies have become a major trend in the world of SaaS over the last few years. Going from sales-led to PLG is doable, but it is not easy. Sales-led organizations struggle to adapt to a PLG mindset.”. Let’s use sales-led organizations as a comparison point. Secret #2: Pricing.

Sales Recruiting 240

Sales Recruiting Business Pricing Churn 240

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 258

Part-Time VPE Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 258

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2022

If there really is a slowdown (and I’m not sure will be in SaaS), folks will have to work harder. So I’m not yet convinced times are really tougher for SaaS companies. But buyers are still buying more SaaS than ever, far more than just last year and far, far more than even 2 years ago. — Jason BeKind Lemkin #????????????

Sales Hiring 249

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Startup 249

Incredo

APRIL 8, 2020

Almost all industries witness decline in revenue because of the coronavirus crisis. And SaaS companies aren’t exceptions. The post Marketing During Coronavirus: 8 Ways SaaS Companies Reacted to the Pandemic appeared first on Incredo. Let us know and we may include your initiative in our post.

Sales Recruiting 269

Sales Recruiting Travel SaaS Sales Hiring 269

SaaStr

AUGUST 9, 2022

Investments I've made that didn't work out: – Momentum investment – CEO a bit of bulls**t artist – CEO good at sales but weak product team / CTO. Investments I've made that had so-so outcomes: – CEO not better than me – CEO couldn't control burn rate – Not really SaaS.

Investment 257

Investment Sales Recruiting CTO Startup 257

SaaStr

AUGUST 25, 2023

Hundreds of thousands of experts are telling you how to succeed in SaaS. SaaStr Founder and CEO Jason Lemkin shares the 10 worst pieces of SaaS advice, excuses, and mistakes founders make, and what to do instead If you want advice, you probably won’t get it from VCs, but ask anyway. #2 2 “Give the VP of Sales more time.”

Part-Time VPE 174

Part-Time VPE Scale Sales Hiring CTO Hire 174

SaaStr

JANUARY 18, 2023

It’s the most common objection you’ll get in SaaS sales … Not Right Now. Every business is mostly running OK already with its tech stack, and it’s unlikely your little app, alone, is going to change the revenue/profits course of any customer. And when you hire a real, great VP of Sales. I Don’t Have Budget.

Sales Recruiting 246

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Technical Review Software Review 246

SaaStr

OCTOBER 3, 2023

I asked this CRO how he’d handle the fact that 66% of their revenue came from indirect and channel. It’s so, so easy to stand out in recruiting if you’ve actually done your homework. CRO, SaaS Elevator “Yeah and this isn’t even hard. He said that was the first time he’d heard that. Now I see who they sell to!”

Interviewing 216

Interviewing Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Consulting 216

SaaSX

JULY 12, 2020

Determining if sales or customer success should own customer expansion and renewals is the age-old SaaS question. If you are a SaaS founder, sales, or CX leader you have probably spent a lot of time thinking about this topic. Who you recruit will impact the success of the model. Sales owns expansion and renewal.

Sales Recruiting 90

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Sales SaaS 90

SaaStr

MARCH 19, 2021

Recently, I met with a great SaaS founder doing about $1.5m No lead commit, or revenue commit. 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. I can go on.

Sales Recruiting 312

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring SMB Engineering 312