SaaStr

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What are some of the “ultimate sins” in marketing and sales and success in SaaS in the early stages? My list of some bad ones: Sales: Hiring any reps you wouldn’t buy from. Later, once you have a strong VP of Sales, it’s fine though. Your sales reps need to eat. A bit more here. They can’t.

Sales Hiring 236

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Marketing 236

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 14, 2022

Last week, Office Hours welcomed Bill Binch, former CRO at Pendo, EVP Worldwide Sales at Marketo & operating partner at Battery to share his views on building world-class sales organizations. Bill & I exchanged emails about Deliberately Underselling as Sales Strategy. Most startups operate between 0.15-0.25.

Startup 282

Startup Construction Sales Compensation 282

Predictable Revenue

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Collin Stewart delves into the unique experiences and challenges faced by Blake Nolan, the first account executive at Seamless AI The post Mastering the Art of Startup Sales with Blake Nolan appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

Startup 130

Startup Sales AI Revenue 130

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What is The Biggest Difference Between Running a 10 Person Startup and a 100 Person Startup? You won’t be able to scale this far without a full management team — VPs of Sales, Marketing, Product, Engineering, Customer Success at least. I almost always see sales quickly fall in that case.

Sales Hiring 275

Sales Hiring Startup Scale Scaling 275

SaaStr

JANUARY 2, 2024

ARR, Zendesk today gets 14% of new business from startups. On top of that, if you look at their top accounts globally, 33 of the top 50 customers by ARR are startups. Some things to think about as you craft your offer are: Does it align with your sales motion? You don’t want conflict with the sales team. A free term.

Startup 186

Startup Scale Underperforming Technical Team AWS 186

SaaStr

JUNE 27, 2020

A little while back we put together some of the top sales & marketing mistakes SaaS companies and founders make, especially in the early days. Sales: Hiring any reps you wouldn’t buy from yourself. Later, once you have a strong VP of Sales, it’s fine though. Your sales reps need to eat. Just do it! It will help.

Sales Hiring 363

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Marketing 363

SaaStr

AUGUST 10, 2023

Dear SaaStr: How Can You Grow a SaaS Startup Without Spending a Ton on Sales and Marketing? Qualtrics has a sales-led motion, but kept a very tight lid on costs until they could scale. And Atlassian is a classic PLG play, and used partners to do the heavy lifting in sales and enablement. It’s hard but it can be done.

Scale 224

Scale Venture Capital Startup Marketing 224

SaaStr

MARCH 16, 2023

A rough structure from 1–25 sales reps: Early days: CEO acts as VP of Sales. CEO starts looking for true VP of Sales by $1m ARR, ideally hires one by $1m-$2m in ARR. VP of Sales hires next 5–10 reps herself. If VP of Sales is good, most of reps 5-10 perform. Segmenting by customer size, and sometimes geography.

Sales Hiring 292

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Compensation 292

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 287

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Sales 287

SaaStr

APRIL 8, 2024

Dear SaaStr: Why Do VC Backed Startups Seem To Almost Always Be Running Out of Money? But … but: A sales rep that can’t hit quota in a few months = cash drain. The #1 issue I see is not understanding what investments really are accretive — and which aren’t. And so the money goes far, far faster than anticipated.

Sales Hiring 197

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Venture Capital 197

SaaStr

JANUARY 17, 2023

What is the right Go-To-Market strategy for a startup getting out of the gate? Sales-led vs. product-led is a hot topic right now, and Jason Eubanks, Chief Revenue Officer of Harness, shares the answer during this week’s Workshop Wednesday — held every Wednesday at 10 a.m. and requires a top-down, sales-led approach. .

Startup 228

Startup Sales Sales Funnel Education 228

SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What happens to employees after your startup gets acquired? Then, either: They’ll want to keep everyone for a while; or They won’t see the value in keeping much of sales, marketing, finance, etc. The post Dear SaaStr: What Happens to Employees After Your Startup Gets Acquired? It varies — a lot.

Startup 223

Startup Sales Hiring Finance Acquisition 223

SaaStr

APRIL 7, 2024

So just a little while back, Lenny Rachintsky had me on his hyper-popular podcast to talk about scaling sales, from the perspective of a founder who hasn’t really done sales. They really are a great checklist when you are starting to scale sales in SaaS: #1. And sales go down, not up. #2. It’s a tough job.

Sales Hiring 248

Sales Hiring Scale Headcount Sales 248

SaaStr

JULY 26, 2021

Q: Dear SaaStr: Should a Startup Founder Handle Sales Themself When First Getting Started? The “best” sequence for building a repeatable sales engine is roughly: The CEO/founder should close at least the first 10 (or 20 or whatever) customers. But not to figure out if you really have a repeatable sales process.

Sales Hiring 265

Sales Hiring Scale Startup AWS 265

Tom Tunguz

MAY 16, 2023

What percent of headcount is in sales & marketing? Sales & Marketing are a different story. Startups operate with a broader variance with commercial teams : Canva & Databricks should paint the ends of the spectrum. On average, 20% of headcount is sales & marketing.

Headcount 238

Headcount Startup Scale Engineering 238

Tom Tunguz

MAY 15, 2022

As the fiscal quarters of many startups draw to a close, board members and management teams are having one of four conversations: The World is Your Oyster, Time to Strategize, Chewing Gravel, or Go Big/Go Profitable. The x-axis is the Zero Cash Date: when the startup runs out of money. The north star should be efficiency.

Startup 323

Startup Outsourced Development Scale Banking 323

SaaStr

APRIL 10, 2023

However, what many businesses may overlook is the startup segment. Often, startups are lumped in with small businesses, yet this approach fails to recognize what motivates and attracts these early-stage companies. Why Seek Out Startups? How is it that you want to sell to startups differently than the rest of your customer base?”

Startup 207

Startup Scale SMB Venture Capital 207

SaaStr

MARCH 18, 2023

Q: Dear SaaStr: Is it Ethical For a Startup CEO to Accept a Sales Commission for Deals They Close Themselves? But not a deal-by-deal commission like a sales rep. So that sort of tells you how folks usually view a CEO taking a sales commission. An annualized bonus for meeting the stretch plan is a great idea for a CEO.

Startup 220

Startup Sales Leadership 220

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 29, 2022

We can examine the sales efficiency of public software companies to get a sense. Since 2016, the average public software witnessed its sales efficiency winnowed from 52% to 47%, a decline of about 10%. Covid, marked in the orange rectangle, didn’t impact sales efficiency initially. It’s unclear what that could be.

Sales Hiring 276

Sales Hiring Sales Startup Acquisition 276

SaaStr

DECEMBER 26, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What Is A Good Demo Conversion Rate for a SaaS Startup? If fewer than 8%-10% or so of your demos convert to paid customers, you’ll start to burn out your sales team. Because they need to close 10-15 deals a month to eat. If they have to do more than 50 demos a month, they’ll just run out of time. Even that’s a lot.

Scale 235

Scale Startup Sales Hiring SaaS 235

SaaStr

MARCH 5, 2023

SaaStr 639: Scaling a SaaS Sales Team While Building Culture with Figma VP of Sales Scott Pugh   3. SaaStr 635: CRO Confidential: How Customer-First Focus Drives Retention and Revenue With Brex GM of Startups Lucas Fox                       Top Videos This Week: 1. appeared first on SaaStr.

Scale 208

Scale Sales Hiring CTO Hire Startup 208

SaaStr

OCTOBER 16, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Why Do Many Startup CEOs Quit After Their Companies Are Acquired? Having to use their sales team for future expansion, that also sells 4 other products? I left my first startup after 20 days, post-acquisition. Especially if the sale is around 5 years or so, that’s when everyone gets tired. That can be tough.

Startup 242

Startup Consulting Acquisition Retention 242

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 13, 2022

Thanks to the many readers who wrote in to Guess the Startup on Friday. I had three goals for the Guess the Startup Post. they employ dissimilar go-to-markets: Ethereum has no enterprise sales team but MongoDB certainly does. they employ dissimilar go-to-markets: Ethereum has no enterprise sales team but MongoDB certainly does.

Startup 252

Startup Scale Retention Enterprise 252

Predictable Revenue

APRIL 3, 2024

Collin, dives deep with Josh Schwartz from Bregal Sagemount, into the intricacies of startup sales, from the foundational steps to success. The post Process Development for Sales Success with Josh Schwartz appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

Development 130

Development Sales Startup Revenue 130

SaaStr

JULY 17, 2022

Q: Dear SaaStr: When Should a Startup Hire its First Sales Person, and What Should Their Profile Look Like? Try to close at least 10–20 customers yourself first, before you hire a sales rep. Then, hire a sales rep to help you. Don’t hire someone that hasn’t worked at a startup. A bit more here. A bit more here.

Sales Hiring 219

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Sales 219

SaaStr

MAY 23, 2023

So leading growth stage VC Iconiq has published its latest and very detailed Definitive Guide to Sales Compensation here. I didn’t so much learn from it as confirm — confirm things I’ve seen, known, and put into practice, and seen it confirmed across many SaaS startups. Everyone should have a read. SDRs $85k-$95k.

Scale 270

Scale Compensation Sales SMB 270

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 18, 2022

The most consistent sales leader I’ve worked with hit plan 27 consecutive quarters. How can a sales leader develop similar repeatability? This hypothetical startup amassed 2.3x Each business’s PQR funnel will differ depending on their sales cycle, ACVs, and overall motion. Will the sales leader attain plan?

Scale 319

Scale Sales Forecasting Outsourced Development 319

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Is It Ridiculous To Call Yourself the CEO When Your Startup is Tiny? I used to look at tiny little startups and wince when a founder went around talking about himself as “CEO”. Make that clear, and take advantage of it as a sales and customer success and retention tool. I used to feel that way, at least a bit.

Startup 273

Startup Innovation Customer Success Retention 273

SaaStr

JANUARY 4, 2023

Topic: Sales-led vs. Product-led? Today’s Startups Need Both. CRO Jason Eubanks: Sales-led vs. Product-led? Today’s Startups Need Both appeared first on SaaStr. Join us every Wednesday at 10 AM PST for SaaStr Workshop Wednesdays ! Up Next: Wednesday, January 11th @ 10AM. Speaker: Jason Eubanks, CRO @ Harness.io.

Startup 236

Startup Sales SaaS 236

SaaStr

JUNE 22, 2023

So my LinkedIn feed is full of sales execs complaining how unfair startups are: VPs get fired seemingly without cause (it’s never that simple, though. Startups not even hitting 40% quota attainmen t (more common these days, and brutal indeed). Are expectations for VPs of Sales, CROs, and CMOs too high? Is this fair?

Startup 221

Startup Leadership Investment Sales 221

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What Are The Biggest Problems You Face as a Startup Founder? Later, once you have a brand, you’ll be competing with Hot Startups nipping at your heals for top VPs. Why is my sales team less efficient at $20m ARR than at $2m in ARR? From $1m in ARR, and Then Forever After: Recruiting Great VPs. It never ends.

Sales Recruiting 256

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Startup Scale 256

SaaStr

MAY 12, 2023

You start to go upmarket, you get better at sales and upsell, and you start to add more value, and learn to close bigger customers and make them happier. More at the full report here : The post SaaS Capital: Across 1,500 SaaS Startups, Yearly Contracts Don’t Actually Increase NRR appeared first on SaaStr.

Startup 318

Startup SaaS Retention Churn 318

SaaStr

JANUARY 19, 2023

So the other day Colin Cadmus, who was VP of Sales at Aircall, summarized a career question I’ve thought about many times over the past 10+ years. If you are a great AE, a great sales exec … I know you might want “more” … but is it really better to be a VP of Sales? I often counsel patience.

Sales Hiring 251

Sales Hiring Sales Startup Leadership 251

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 24, 2024

So 2023 was a strange year, with many of the biggest, public Cloud and SaaS leaders on a tear, from Microsoft to Cloudflare to Palantir, but so many startups and especially those in traditional B2B struggling to grow. For some, sales is easier these days, at least a bit. It Looks Like It The post In Sales Any Easier So Far in 2024?

Sales 235

Sales Cloud AI B2B 235

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

and Lenny asked us to join his podcast to talk about building a sales team — from the perspective of a product-first founder or exec. It was a pretty strong conversation and we took a lot of our learnings over the years and focused on how to learn to do sales right if you come from a product-first background: It’s good.

Sales Hiring 250

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Headcount 250