SaaStr

MAY 20, 2024

A Burn Rate That is Too High Venture capital is meant for investing, for sure. Almost every founder regrets using capital to keep a high-burn rate engine going that isn’t scaling rapidly. #2. Will marketers really buy your product if sales execs do? Sometimes, it’s just hiring too many reps, too quickly.

Trends 289

Trends Scale Sales Hiring Venture Capital 289

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Back in the day, premium comp for some software sales execs made simple and easy sense. Traditional software had 90% gross margins, and the classic enterprise sales reps, the best ones, could close a million or more dollars a year. Either higher quotas, lower attainment, or for a while, even more venture capital.

Scale 326

Scale Venture Capital Sales Hiring Sales 326

SaaStr

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Catch up on part one here , where he deep dives into what he really thinks about AI, Sales and lead Gen for SaaS in 2024. Q: When Should A Slow Growth Company Hire a Head of Sales? They have one salesperson but want to skip having two scaled reps and immediately hire the VP of Sales. This is the VP of Sales’ job.

Sales Hiring 255

Sales Hiring Scale Venture Capital Generative AI 255

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Many will want to quit when you finally have revenues, just not enough to hire anyone else or pay anyone a decent salary. As you finally begin to scale, you’ll have enough revenue to hire some great folks, but not enough to build very redundant teams. Why is my sales team less efficient at $20m ARR than at $2m in ARR?

Sales Recruiting 263

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Startup Scale 263

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 6, 2021

Companies like Atlassian and Qualtrics have cruised past nine-figures in ARR (and IPO’d in the case of Atlassian) without needing any venture capital. THEN, after $10m, bootstrapped SaaS companies seem to basically scale at the same rate as their venture-backed peers. Longer to afford your first VP of Sales.

Sales Hiring 360

Sales Hiring Venture Capital Scale SaaS 360

SaaStr

JANUARY 13, 2023

They usually come in and handle compliance and oversight for an existing finance team that perhaps lacks the seasoned experience to handle models, venture capital and debt, prepare for an audit, etc. For sure, if you have a strong existing sales team that needs some mentorship, I can see a Fractional CRO working.

Sales Hiring 302

Sales Hiring Venture Capital Scale Finance 302

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2021

The CEO basically is the VP of Sales and Revenue and Customer Success, with maybe a junior resource or two helping. And they realize, now that they’ve gotten here, that — it’s time to Go Bigger: That the CEO, not trained in sales, shouldn’t be the VP of Sales anymore. I tell them I absolutely agree.

Sales Hiring 261

Sales Hiring Scale Marketing Sales 261

SaaStr

JANUARY 9, 2023

Later stage venture capital has evaporated, and budgets are at least under more scrutiny. Well at a practical level, many SaaS companies are doing a Strategic Sales & Marketing Retreat. What’s a Strategic Sales & Marketing Retreat? What’s a Strategic Sales & Marketing Retreat? So what do you do?

Scale 291

Scale Sales Hiring Venture Capital Marketing 291

SaaStr

DECEMBER 7, 2020

“How Would a Person Start a Venture Capital Fund?” More details on why and how here: How would a person start a venture capital fund? A Framework For Your First SaaS Sales Comp Plan. What Makes a Great VP of Sales and How to Hire One. Even if you don’t know how to grow sales per se.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Sales Hiring AWS Cloud 319

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

Founders Today Just Need to Assume the Next Round Never Comes What Happens When You Hire the Wrong VP (Updated) Dear SaaStr: When Do Free Trials Work Well? SaaStr 632: CRO Confidential: How To Adapt Your Sales Strategy To The Current Sales Environment with Sam Blond and Hannah Willson, SVP of Sales at Modern Health  2.

Sales Recruiting 130

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Venture Capital Sales 130

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 25, 2022

The Broken State of SaaS Sales Rep Comp. The Ultimate Guide for Hiring a Great VP of Sales. SaaStr 589: The Secrets to Working with VC Associates, Scouts, Syndicates… and the True Gate Keepers to Venture Capital with Coelius Capital Managing Partner Zach Coelius and GGV Capital Investor Tiffany Luck. ? ? ? ?.

Sales Hiring 285

Sales Hiring Venture Capital Scale Cloud 285

SaaStr

OCTOBER 10, 2022

From a venture capital perspective, there’s now a premium on driving efficient growth rather than growth at any cost. . “Sales and marketing alignment is a terrific place to figure out and improve efficient growth.” . From the get-go, ensure alignment between sales and marketing teams on goals and anticipated outcomes.

Scale 287

Scale Sales Hiring Marketing Venture Capital 287

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 11, 2022

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: The Ultimate Guide for Hiring a Great VP of Sales. Our classic guide which packages up some of the very best SaaStr content on hiring a VP of Sales in a great, slick PDF. Top Videos This Week: 1.

Sales Hiring 211

Sales Hiring Scale Venture Capital Scaling 211

SaaStr

DECEMBER 29, 2022

Go Hire That Missing VP! The best way to get out of a hole is to hire a great VP. A great VP of Sales. Well, stop saying you can’t hire anyone. And just go finally hire her. #2. And just go finally hire her. #2. Venture Capital has dried up. Of Marketing. Of Product. A bit more here. #7.

Sales Hiring 251

Sales Hiring Venture Capital Healthcare Communication 251

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 5, 2023

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. SaaStr 631: What Is Going On In Venture Capital in 2023 with SaaStr Founder Jason Lemkin and 20VC Host Harry Stebbings    4.

Sales Recruiting 220

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Venture Capital 220

SaaStr

MARCH 27, 2022

When times were really tough, I met with one of my ex-bosses and mentors, Mark Selcow (founder Merced Systems + BabyCenter, now GP at Costanoa Venture). Mark is one of the most talented natural sales leaders I know). “Go visit your customers and prospects.” It was especially rough working in venture capital.

Scale 361

Scale Sales Hiring Venture Capital Startup 361

SaaStr

OCTOBER 17, 2023

If you’ve raised venture capital, you know net revenue retention is important. The framework above is a lean canvas to help you understand your customers’ needs post-sale. Chances are: You’ve hired your first Head of Sales, and you’re probably about to see a lot of growth on the sales side.

Scale 157

Scale Sales Hiring Customer Success Scaling 157

SaaStr

JANUARY 15, 2023

Yes, There’s Lots of “Dry Powder” in Venture Today. SaaStr 624: Investing and Venture Capital in 2023 with SaaStr Founder and CEO Jason Lemkin and Atrium Founder and CRO Pete Kazanjy. . Half of You Are Giving No Raises for 2023. But There is Zero Pressure to Deploy It. Top Podcasts This Week: 1.

Scale 245

Scale Venture Capital Sales Hiring Scaling 245

SaaStr

OCTOBER 6, 2019

And often, if you are capital efficient, your marketing cost will be close to $0 at this point (you are barely spending anything to acquire most customers), and your sales costs are pretty predictable. Generally speaking, one Director of Sales can manage about 8 closers, account execs, max. Why would this be?

Sales Hiring 249

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Venture Capital 249

SaaStr

MAY 23, 2022

But public stock prices are way down, and venture capital is much tighter than it was just a few months ago. So many of you will want to manage the burn more carefully. Let go of your bottom 20% of sales reps, concentrate leads in the best reps. Have a firm, management-team wide burn rate budget. More here.

Sales Hiring 291

Sales Hiring Management Airlines Venture Capital 291

SaaStr

JANUARY 22, 2023

SaaStr 627: Move Over, Sales: Why Product & Marketing are the C-Suite’s New Power Partnership with Checkout.com CMO Leela Srinivasan and CPO Meron Colbeci    4. SaaStr 624: Investing and Venture Capital in 2023 with SaaStr Founder and CEO Jason Lemkin and Atrium Founder and CRO Pete Kazanjy  5.

Scale 220

Scale Customer Success Venture Capital Sales Hiring 220

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

Many start-ups think they need to net venture capital to jumpstart their growth. Sales and marketing are still significant, but consider dedicating more research and design to the user experience. Nail down your foundational marketing with crisp and clear value propositions; your ROI and your sales team will thank you later.

Scale 235

Scale Venture Capital Sales Hiring SMB 235

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 18, 2022

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: The Broken State of SaaS Sales Rep Comp. The Ultimate Guide for Hiring a Great VP of Sales. How to Build a Super High-Retention Sales Team with Twilio SVP & GM Alice Katwan. VCs and The Three Types of Struggling Startups.

Scale 217

Scale Sales Hiring Venture Capital B2B 217

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 24, 2023

The venture capital firm’s mission is to be “entrepreneurs backing entrepreneurs.” On the other hand, the sales expenses form a larger share of operating expenses as the GTM motion is leveraged. Over the last ten years, ICONIQ Growth has partnered with over 90 companies, seeing them grow through critical phases.

Scale 230

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Venture Capital 230

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 3, 2023

While the world of public tech stocks is defined by consumer-facing juggernauts like Facebook, Amazon, and Google, the world of venture capital is defined by the North Star of SaaS. People used to respect capital more. Founders remain extremely optimistic about raising future capital at higher valuations.

Sales Hiring 247

Sales Hiring Headcount Finance Technical Review 247

SaaStr

AUGUST 25, 2023

You have to understand how venture capital works. 2 “Give the VP of Sales more time.” You can’t always expect a great VP of Sales to double sales in 30-60-90 days. But you have to see progress in one sales cycle. If, in one sales cycle, things aren’t improving on several core metrics, they never will.

Part-Time VPE 206

Part-Time VPE Scale Sales Hiring CTO Hire 206

SaaStr

JULY 12, 2022

One of the first what How to Hire a Great VP of Sales at the New York Enterprise Tech Meet-Up (thank you to John Lehr and Work-Bench for setting this up). The Number One Thing You Can Do to Accelerate Your Business Post-Initial Traction is Hiring a Great VP of Sales. I don’t know anything about sales.

Sales Hiring 265

Sales Hiring Part-Time VPE VP of Engineering Sales Recruiting 265

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022

With more rounds of venture capital come more board seats, and after a few rounds, the founders often don’t control the board. You know when that fancy VP of Sales you hired isn’t going to work out. First, it’s tough to be truly fired if you control the majority of the board, voting shares, et c.

Venture Capital 340

Venture Capital Sales Hiring Forecasting Startup 340

SaaStr

MARCH 7, 2021

Yes, you can manage the sales team yourself. Fixing it yourself becomes the biggest time sink and excuse for not hiring there is. You end up spending all your time backfilling roles you should have hired. And even worse, you often sort of give up trying to make the hire. These are all full-time jobs by $1m ARR.

Part-Time VPE 271

Part-Time VPE Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 271

SaaStr

MAY 8, 2020

What’s Really Happening in Venture Capital Right Now. How To Hire Your First Sales Team. I’m not quite sure this is a format the world wants, but I’ve added a bunch of new videos and content : 10 Learnings From the Last Downturn as a SaaS CEO. The New Normal: 8 Ideas To Help You and Your Team.

Venture Capital 186

Venture Capital Sales Hiring SaaS Sales 186

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2019

Because later you’ll see just having gotten on one more jet, made one more key hire, and then a few years down the road, you might be $1m, $2m, $5m further along in ARR. Not Paying Up for Top Hires, and #2. Under-Hiring. Yes, a true VP, or even a stretch VP, will cost a lot more than a manager or individual contributor.

Sales Hiring 196

Sales Hiring Venture Capital Scale SaaS 196

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

The problem is going too long without capital when you really need it. You get exhausted : Too many customers to follow up with, without the money to hire a real client success team. You’re doing all the core sales yourself. Great when you start. Terrible after 24 mos. So bootstrapping is great.

Venture Capital 301

Venture Capital Sales Hiring Scale Cloud 301

Point Nine Land

MARCH 7, 2019

The issues are real and include:  —  @jasonlk In a funny coincidence, one of our portfolio CEOs wrote me an email with the subject “Should we be hiring a CFO?” If there’s a trade-off between hiring a CFO and, say, a marketing leader or 1–2 developers, most founders will understandably go for the latter.

Sales Hiring 72

Sales Hiring Outsourcing Services Payment Services Finance 72

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

How many sales reps, how much marketing spend, how many engineers will you really need? Worth hiring a sales team, raising some venture capital (even a modest amount). Build it for you : How will you get your customers? And what mix? What will your ACV really be? How can that scale over time?

Scale 224

Scale Sales Hiring Venture Capital AWS 224

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

In the past week, I asked two heads of engineering to identify the most important characteristic in new hires. The more time I spend in venture capital working with startups, the better I understand that there are no templates or stencils or best practices. Both responded, “humility”. Disruptive companies reinvent.

Sales Hiring 103

Sales Hiring Startup Venture Capital Interviewing 103

SaaStr

APRIL 11, 2023

Silicon Valley Bank specialized in venture capital-backed startups, primarily in tech. Understandably, the collapse of a venture bank where companies could lose billions of dollars was staggering. Wait And See DiTargiani has worked in sales and business development roles in Silicon Valley for a long time.

Banking 230

Banking Sales Hiring Venture Capital Communication 230

SaaStr

AUGUST 13, 2021

At least break out who is handling all the key functions, and how and when you are hiring to fill them: Sales lead, Marketing lead, Product lead, Engineering lead. One gap is OK, you can fill it later, with the capital. Hiring churn doesn’t help. A Partly Complete Team – Relative to Your Stage.

Scale 274

Scale Sales Hiring Venture Capital Headcount 274