Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

This chart holds the secret to successful hiring of go-to-market teams. A stack rank of attributes within HubSpot account executive candidates that correlate to quota attainment. The pushier the account executive, the worse the result. I think it’s still one of the best books on how to repeatably scale sales teams.

Sales Hiring 349

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Marketing 349

SaaStr

DECEMBER 19, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What are the signs that an enterprise SaaS startup is ready to scale by hiring more sales people? For a higher-velocity, in-bound driven SaaS product, most sales reps will have trouble processing more than 50 or so truly qualified leads a month. Before $10m ARR or so, more qualified leads = more sales.

Scale 257

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Sales 257

Predictable Revenue

JANUARY 17, 2023

Learn how to transition from founder-led sales to making your first hire, including the four outbound funnels your sales team should focus on. The post From Founder-Led Sales to Hiring Your First AE appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

Sales Hiring 257

Sales Hiring Sales Revenue Development 257

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

So we’ve spent a ton of time over the years on SaaS talking about hiring a great VP of Sales. Not only because it really matters, but because hiring the wrong VP of Sales can set you back a year — or longer. Don’t make this hire. 50% of what a VP of Sales really does is recruiting.

Sales Hiring 219

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Interviewing 219

SaaStr

DECEMBER 7, 2023

Dear SaaStr: When Should I Expect New Sales Hires to Be On Target? sales cycles. You should know well before that if you are managing her or him — you’ll usually know by half a sales cycle. More here: Dear SaaStr: How Long Should You Give a New Sales Rep? At least by 1.5 appeared first on SaaStr.

Sales Hiring 222

Sales Hiring Sales Management Metrics 222

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

Ah, hiring those first 1 or 2 sales reps. So often, they are mis-hires. But when you get that Sales Magician — they really can be a game changer. If that’s you, hiring your first few sales reps, here are our Top 10 SaaStr Posts on Hiring Your First Few Sales Reps: #1.

Sales Hiring 209

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Startup 209

Predictable Revenue

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

Sales leaders are navigating a complex landscape marked by uncertainty and rapid changes. The post Elevating Sales Hiring Practices with Dan Fantasia appeared first on Predictable Revenue. Dan Fantasia, touches on these challenges.

Sales Hiring 130

Sales Hiring Sales Revenue Development 130

SaaStr

OCTOBER 23, 2021

………………… Hiring a VP of Sales in a startup is an incredibly hard thing. Even if you hire the right person there is no guarantee your startup is going to make it. Understands and has experience running a sales org at your sales velocity (i.e. And just stop. And rethink this.

Sales Hiring 318

Sales Hiring Scale Development Team Review Sales 318

SaaStr

JANUARY 6, 2021

Finding the perfect VP of Sales position can be daunting, especially in the middle of a global pandemic. Candidates need to find opportunities that not only fit their sales experience and stretch goals, but also companies that are coming out of the pandemic with momentum. Who is looking to hire a VP of Sales in January / Q1?

Sales Hiring 314

Sales Hiring Scale Payment Solutions Payments 314

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

But we’re lapping tougher times for many, and for many others, it’s just plain time to hire again. So many Cloud and SaaS leaders kept hiring flat for the past 12-18 months, and yet still grew. That works for a while, but you end up with not enough headcount if you do freeze hiring but still want to grow.

Sales Hiring 272

Sales Hiring Headcount Scale Cloud 272

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Ah the VP of Sales. The toughest hire. The first post is What a Great VP of Sales Actually Does. So you expect the right things, and hire your rockstar at the right time to do the right things. 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.

Sales Hiring 362

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Sales 362

Predictable Revenue

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Collin sat down with Mia Murphy from Tontine.ai, to discuss her transformative journey through the sales landscape. The post What Founders Must Do Before Their First Sales Hire with Mia Murphy appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

Sales Hiring 130

Sales Hiring Sales Revenue Development 130

SaaStr

AUGUST 28, 2020

I know we’ve hit a number of these points individually before on SaaStr, but after getting asked about the top mistakes hiring your first sales team so many times over the years, I thought it would be worthwhile to assemble a Top 10 List. Yes, you may be terrible at sales. It’s sales, after all. But you are the CEO.

Sales Hiring 320

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 320

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 16, 2021

Q: Dear SaaStr: What Are The Top 3 Criteria for Hiring Your First Head of Sales? We’ve talked a lot on SaaStr about hiring that first VP of Sales. Training is a critical part of sales management. The post Dear SaaStr: What Are The Top 3 Criteria for Hiring Your First Head of Sales?

Sales Hiring 302

Sales Hiring Sales Pricing Management 302

SaaStr

APRIL 1, 2023

On the hiring side, it often seemed like you just couldn’t hire anyone. Everyone was hiring everyone, anyone, back in mid-2021. We hired job hoppers that never stayed anywhere for more than 18 months for leadership roles. The post Lowering the Hiring (And Investing) Bar Didn’t Work appeared first on SaaStr.

Sales Hiring 245

Sales Hiring Investment Leadership Startup 245

SaaStr

JULY 12, 2021

Q: What are some common blind spots and mistakes startups make when hiring for and building out a sales team? Some of the top blind spots founders and even VPs of Sales make: #1. You hire a sales rep to sell before you can prove you can do it yourself. You don’t let reps go that fail in one sales cycle.

Sales Hiring 259

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Branding 259

SaaStr

JANUARY 19, 2024

He made many great leadership points, but one in particular rattles around my head a lot and I think deserves its own post: You usually won’t know if you’ve made a 10x hire … when you make the hire. But I didn’t know they were truly 10x hires. Hire the very, very people you can. They more often rise up. months later.

Sales Hiring 210

Sales Hiring CTO Hire New CTO CTO 210

Predictable Revenue

OCTOBER 28, 2021

Nadja Brow, founder of The Doyenne Agency, joined us to explain why hiring a sales trainer instead of a sales manager will help you scale your sales organization faster. The post Why Hiring a Sales Trainer Will Help You Scale Faster appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

Sales Hiring 265

Sales Hiring Scale Scaling Sales 265

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

IME, rough order to make hires in: VPM: $0.2m He asked which to hire first. If you have a few nickels in the bank, and you somehow find a great VP a half stage or even full stage early, just hire her. Hiring is so hard as it is. Make the hire now. ARR VPS: $1-$1.5m More here: [link].

Part-Time VPE 363

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring CTO Hire Scale 363

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 25, 2022

Dear SaaStr: How Many More Junior Marketers Should you Hire Before Hiring a VP of Marketing? In fact, one of the 10 most unforced errors I see founders make is hire someone too junior to get marketing going. If you are say $500k in ARR, you can’t hire a CMO that needs a team of 15-20 around her/him. But owned it?

Sales Hiring 275

Sales Hiring Marketing Revenue Management 275

SaaStr

DECEMBER 11, 2021

We’ve talked about how all the Second Timers are hiring in customer success way early , ahead of sales, ahead of revenue. To hire in customer success. First, let’s make a rule, a compact, and a commitment: You Must Hire your First Customer Success Manager as a “Single Digit” Hire.

Sales Hiring 269

Sales Hiring Customer Success Headcount Churn 269

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 22, 2022

Ok we’ve talked a bit more on SaaStr over the years on how to hire a Great VP of Sales , but hiring a Great VP of Marketing is just as important. Maybe in some ways more so, in that you can generally hire a great VP of Marketing earlier. Do you make the hire now? Not just in sales. What do I mean?

Sales Hiring 265

Sales Hiring Growth Hacking B2C SMB 265

SaaStr

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Hiring a VP of Sales isn’t new, but the conversations have evolved as the world has. SaaStr’s own Jason Lemkin shares the top 10 mistakes he sees during the hiring process during Workshop Wednesday, held every Wednesday at 10 a.m. The last 18 months have seen the biggest changes in the VP of Sales in his SaaS career.

Sales Hiring 148

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Interviewing 148

SaaStr

APRIL 12, 2021

The biggest mistake folks make when they go to hire a VP of Sales is hiring a top AE that's never really built a team. But it does not remotely prepare you to be a VP of Sales on its own. They are pretty good and each worth a read: If You are Going to Hire a Stretch VP — Do It Early.

Sales Hiring 314

Sales Hiring PayPal Growth Hacking Startup 314

SaaStr

MAY 9, 2021

The toughest hire of all is probably your VP of Sales. When is too early to make the hire? When do you know that you’ve made a mis-hire? How far can you stretch to make the hire? What’s fair to expect from a VP of Sales, and what isn’t? What trade-offs should you make? What are the right interview questions?

Sales Hiring 261

Sales Hiring Sales Interviewing 261

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 1, 2021

That you absolutely, positively, have to only hire “Rockstars” in your startups. If you don’t think you need a great VP of Sales, Product, Marketing, Customer Success, and Engineering — then all that all that means is you’ve never worked with a great one. So I’d hire earlier here rather than wait.

Sales Hiring 271

Sales Hiring Part-Time VPE Scale Sales Recruiting 271

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 24, 2020

Then, once you know how to do it yourself, you hire 2 sales reps. More on that here: When You Hire Your First Sales Rep — Just Make Sure You Hire Two | SaaStr. After you have 2 reps hitting quota, you hire a head of sales. A related post here: Should Your VP Sales Start Off as a Player-Coach?

Sales Hiring 243

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Management 243

SaaStr

MAY 30, 2023

Hiring has way slowed down, but many folks are still hiring, albeit at a reduced rate. 56% of you aren’t hiring, or barely hiring. But a good chunk of you are still hiring, albeit in moderation. Many did layoffs and capped hiring to get radically more efficient — and it worked.

Sales Hiring 216

Sales Hiring Headcount Engineering Revenue 216

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

In the “old” days, there was a rough rule that as soon as you are bringing on more than 1–2 reps a quarter, you needed to hire a director of sales ops. That at that point, at a minimum, there would be too much administrative work for your VP of Sales to handle it herself. One manager can only really manage 8 AEs.

Sales Hiring 211

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 211

Predictable Revenue

NOVEMBER 22, 2021

If you’re looking to create consistent revenue for your organization, a quality outbound sales team is precisely what your business needs to continue its path to growth and success. The post 10 Signs It’s Time To Hire An Outbound Sales Team appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

Outbound Sales Team 237

Outbound Sales Team Sales Hiring Sales Revenue 237

SaaStr

OCTOBER 1, 2022

What almost never works, somewhat surprisingly, is hiring a Director of Outbound as your first outbound hire. And especially, a new VP of Sales comes in without real outbound experience. So they naturally look for a leader to start, a Director of Outbound that has built and managed an outbound team before.

Sales Hiring 232

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Startup 232

SaaStr

JULY 3, 2023

Dear SaaStr: When Should You Hire Your First Demand Generation Marketer in SaaS? A deep dive on that and why here: I Hired My VP of Marketing at $20k MRR. In a recurring revenue model, you want to make every accretive hire you can. Or just hiring a junior marketer to start to save a few dollars. Even when you hire a VP.

Sales Hiring 209

Sales Hiring Marketing SaaS Engineering 209

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

A "VP of Revenue" often knows nothing about inside sales or building a sales team. A "CRO" often doesn't want to do sales anymore. Ok this is a seemingly simple post but if you are hiring your first or second batch of VPs it will really, really save you some time. Marketing is adjacent to sales.

Sales Hiring 263

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Growth Hacking Product Marketing 263

Predictable Revenue

MAY 23, 2022

One of the most common startup questions is when to begin hiring SDRs. The answer comes down to product market fit, and whether you’re in a product or sales motion. The post When’s the Right Time to Start Hiring SDRs? appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

Sales Hiring 232

Sales Hiring Startup Product Marketing Revenue 232

SaaStr

MAY 12, 2022

The biggest mistake you can make as a founder when you hire your first VP of Sales is stepping out of sales. It only works with the very best VPs of Sales. Every other first VP of Sales needs you doing at least half of what you were doing before. A founder hires a Pretty Good First VP of Sales.

Sales Hiring 226

Sales Hiring Sales Investment Engineering 226

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. They often hire a VP of Demand Gen Marketing even before they have their first paying customers. But it’s very, very easy to make the hire late. Second Timers know. But she can help. Don’t.

Sales Hiring 350

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Marketing 350