SaaStr

JUNE 14, 2020

Each quarter, the bookings plan starts at $0 again. To hire 3-4 folks to do what you used to do mostly yourself. To hire 3-4 folks to do what you used to do mostly yourself. To want a head of sales operations and a director of sales to help carry the load not later … but on Day 1. Because SaaS is hard.

Sales Hiring 299

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting SaaS 299

SaaStr

JANUARY 21, 2020

Justin Welsh, former SVP of Sales at PatientPop explains how he started in SaaS in 2009 as the second sales hire at Zocdoc. Justin used Sales Culture to grow a successful PatientPop team to 140 employees and 55 million in revenue. Justin Welsh | SVP Sales @ PatientPop. Want to see more content like this?

Sales Recruiting 331

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Sales 331

SaaStr

JANUARY 5, 2024

In the latest episode of CRO Confidential, host Sam Blond, partner at Founders Fund and former CRO at Brex, sits down with Ashley Kelly, VP of Global Sales Development at Rippling. For context – Ashley had previously helped Sam scale Brex’s outbound sales from $2M to over $300M in ARR as Senior Director of SDR.

Sales Hiring 311

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Outbound Sales Team 311

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

What was the first warning sign your VP of Sales wasn't going to work out? A new VP of Sales doesn’t always double sales in 30 days — although it can happen in SMB sales. The old playbook does help, but every great VP of Sales knows they quickly have to evolve it to any new role.

Sales Recruiting 274

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Sales SaaS 274

SaaStr

DECEMBER 13, 2021

It’s a bit of a bummer than oftentimes, once you finally hire a few great VPs at $1m, $2m, $3m ARR … and they do a great job … that they then don’t scale. Either by yourself, or with a Sales Ops / Marketing Ops / Some Sort of Ops leader under you. Inability to hire great Directors / managers under them.

Scale 354

Scale Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scaling 354

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. But the reality is, if you’re scaling from $1M to $20M in ARR, you’re going to need to become best friends with your executive recruiters.”

Sales Recruiting 299

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Engineering 299

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

You’ll see: Bookings that stop increasing. For example, a great Stretch VP of Sales might get you to from $50k to $500k a month in new bookings. To recruit the team and resources it takes not just to meet the plan this quarter, but the next one and the following quarters as well. But then … that’s it.

Sales Recruiting 312

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Metrics 312

SaaStr

AUGUST 7, 2020

A few factors that contribute to high-performing sales teams: High quota attainment. The best startups invest in their sales teams and work hard so most of the reps hit and exceed quota. It does mean a well-oiled machine that hires strong reps of all backgrounds, and gets them the help and training so they can scale up and succeed.

Sales Hiring 363

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Compensation 363

Tom Tunguz

MAY 15, 2017

How much revenue do you want to book for your SaaS startup next quarter? It’s another thing altogether to have the sales team staffed to close that amount of business. The bookings capacity of the business is the amount of business a sales team should book in a certain period. So does recruiting time.

Sales Hiring 124

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 124

SaaStr

JUNE 9, 2021

A ways back, I asked Brendon Cassidy, VP of Sales at LinkedIn, Adobe Sign / EchoSign, and Talkdesk to put together his playbook for double sales. … How We Increased Sales Nearly 100% In One Quarter at HackerRank – Brendon Cassidy. The end result: In one quarter we nearly doubled new business and total bookings.

Scale 284

Scale Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Sales 284

SaaStr

JANUARY 27, 2021

“Give the VP of Sales More Time” This is always terrible advice. If a VP of Sales can’t improve things in one sales cycle or less — she never will. In one sales cycle, or less. Don’t hire some junior marketing person that can’t really get you more leads. More on that here.

Part-Time VPE 348

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting 348

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. From $1m in ARR, and Then Forever After: Recruiting Great VPs. You need to learn to become great at recruiting. Why is my sales team less efficient at $20m ARR than at $2m in ARR? It never ends.

Sales Recruiting 284

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Startup Scale 284

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 2, 2021

She’s written extensively on the topic and co-authored a book The Customer Success Economy. Should you hire a COO for your startup? How you should you go about recruiting the right person? Today, she advises and invests in companies on these topics and others. Allison is an incredible builder of teams.

Scale 299

Scale Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Customer Success 299

SaaStr

JULY 10, 2022

Sales growth slowly declines as she struggles to bring in enough reps. Take say 100 leads a month spread across 2 great reps, then bring in a new VP of Sales that hires 4 weak reps. Your new bookings can plummet 50% almost overnight. You’ll know in a quarter which you just hired. Then, manage a small team.

Sales Recruiting 256

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Churn 256

SaaStr

JULY 11, 2023

How do you win with a high-velocity sales strategy in a fast-moving, competitive market? In a special session of Workshop Wednesday, Gorgias Founder & CEO Romain Lapeyre and Gorgias VP of Sales & Partnerships Aasif Osmany share their learnings, advice, and hacks for optimizing your sales process. Sign up for free.

Sales Hiring 200

Sales Hiring SMB Sales Recruiting Payment Methods 200

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2021

They talked about product adoption, sales alignment, freemium models and lessons they have learned throughout their successful SaaS careers. As two CEO who love the art of sales and scaling, this one really was special. Recruiting is easier, but the things that don’t change are customers don’t care.

Sales Recruiting 261

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale VP of Engineering 261

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 2, 2015

Specifically, she champions a metrics-based approach for developing world class recruiting teams. Because of her position, Maia has observed recruiting patterns in hundreds of companies, and has developed best practices for startups. Maia reports these five strategic recruiting metrics to the executive team each quarter.

Sales Recruiting 113

Sales Recruiting Startup Sales Hiring Data Analysis 113

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

You might have a few account executives and a sales leader in place; maybe some revenue and a handful of customers. The sales team costs real money, and the question before the company is: how do you know what quota plan to assign to the account executives? Stage 1: Management by Objectives.

Compensation 195

Compensation Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 195

Kellblog

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

Emboldened by this seeming endorsement, I dashed off what turned into a lengthy email on interviewing and recruiting, a topic about which I am passionate not because I think I am good it, but because I think I am not. Thoughts on The Recruiting Process. Remember it’s a mutual sales process. Use work test samples.

Sales Recruiting 110

Sales Recruiting Interviewing Sales Hiring Finance 110

Tom Tunguz

MAY 28, 2019

In 2013, Scott Berkun authored a book called The Year Without Pants. After I read the book, I wrote : In the coming years, video conferencing and online meetings will become much more prevalent as stories like the ones Scott shares are told and retold. They are are among the best engineers to recruit to the team and the first to join.

Sales Recruiting 278

Sales Recruiting Startup Sales Hiring Engineering 278

Intercom, Inc.

JUNE 21, 2018

Whether you’re at an early-stage startup that’s just made its first sales hires, or part of a fast-moving sales team in a large organization, the key to success often comes down to efficiency. Then, the sales team went to work. In his opinion, the hiring process is a preview of their sales technique.

Sales Hiring 183

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Technical Advisors 183

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 3, 2017

Every startup’s sales commission plan is different. But it’s key to understand the theory and the benchmark data that governs the creation of sales commission plans to create a good one for your business. Sales compensation is communicated in OTE, On Target Earnings. Before we begin, let’s define a few terms.

Sales Recruiting 160

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Data Sales 160

Chart Mogul

JANUARY 9, 2025

So read on, and hopefully, your SaaS sales journey will be less about trial and error and more about steady progress toward success. Whats important to note is that each model targets a distinct customer persona and, therefore, has a unique approach to the customer journeyfrom brand awareness to sales and, ultimately, conversion.

Scale 52

Scale Sales Hiring Startup Sales Recruiting 52

Sales Hacker

MAY 6, 2021

What’s the difference between a VP of Sales and a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)? The VP of Sales. Great VPs of sales have gravitas and tact, command the room and hold their end of the table regardless of who is on the other side. And this is exactly why you hired them! Singular focus on sales.

VP of Engineering 119

VP of Engineering Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales 119

Incredo

APRIL 8, 2020

2 Company: InternX , University Recruiting Platform InternX created a constantly updating list of hiring companies who are still looking for new employees during the coronavirus. They also decided to shift their focus to providing virtual fairs.

Sales Recruiting 269

Sales Recruiting Travel SaaS Sales Hiring 269

SaaStr

JULY 15, 2022

Jason Lemkin: You certainly can hire a whole content team and build 10,000 pieces of content, but I will tell you what I have always seen work is one incredible piece a week. Jason Lemkin: I’ll answer it, but are you thinking more on sales or technology or broadly speaking in the question? That’s a great example.

Scale 293

Scale Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring VP of Engineering 293

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 1, 2016

There are two main ways of building a SaaS sales team: top down or bottoms up. Top down SaaS sales organizations start with a VP of Sales who often hires senior account executives. Bottoms up sales teams hire the first account manager and promote from within. Which is better?

Sales Recruiting 100

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Sales SaaS 100

How To Buy Saas

MAY 21, 2025

In the fast-paced hiring landscape of 2025, an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) has become an essential tool for companies of all sizes and sectors. Whether youre a startup , an SMB , or a global enterprise , the right ATS can streamline your recruitment process, save time, and help attract top talent in a competitive market.

Systems Review 52

Systems Review Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Technical Review 52

SaaStr

AUGUST 25, 2019

The Playbook to Building a Thriving Sales Culture with Fmr. PatientPop SVP of Sales Justin Welsh. The Playbook to Hiring Your First VP of Sales and Not Screwing it Up… with Cassidy Ventures Founder Brendon Cassidy, the first VP of Sales at LinkedIn, Talkdesk and EchoSign. BOOK A BRAINDATE.

Scale 179

Scale Sales Recruiting Scaling Sales Hiring 179

SaaStr

JULY 4, 2019

Matt Schatz is SVP of Sales at WPEngine, responsible for defining and executing the global sales strategy. Matt has nearly two decades of senior leadership experience in sales and customer growth, specifically for technology companies with customers around the world including Bazaarvoice, CityVoice and Rackspace. It is hard.

Sales Hiring 212

Sales Hiring Scale Engineering Sales Recruiting 212

SaaStr

JULY 10, 2021

As a founder/CEO, building your first management team is something that you often lose sleep over. Which role should you hire for first? For starters, your first hire should be someone who can complement your skills, someone who is strong in areas where you’re weak, but it goes much deeper than that. And for good reason.

Sales Hiring 261

Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Development Team Review CTO Hire 261

Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 29, 2018

Company raises money and is now ready to “scale the sales team.” Their current seller has done a great job, so the natural inclination is to assume that we want to replicate that person and sales will continue to grow, right? Fast forward 1 year later: “Oh no, my entire sales team looks the exact same…”. Sound familiar?

Sales Hiring 79

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 79

Intercom, Inc.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

It’s an approach that’s served him well along the road to building the HubSpot sales team, where he was CRO for nine years. That experience led to his bestselling book, The Sales Acceleration Formula. I just don’t think sales have anything to do with product-market fit. But how fast should companies hire?

Scale 226

Scale Scaling Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring 226

Sales Hacker

AUGUST 7, 2020

When it comes time to book a speaker for your next panel, presentation, or podcast there’s a lot to consider. Fortunately, more organizers than ever before are consciously seeking out female sales experts for panels, presentations, and podcasts. Sales Development. Sales Growth. Sales Enablement. Enterprise Sales.

VP of Engineering 131

VP of Engineering Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Payment Services 131

Sales Hacker

OCTOBER 30, 2018

Welcome to Sales Hacker’s first-ever Influential Women in Sales list! In this exclusive list, we wanted to honor not just female leaders that promote their own sales platform (no shame in that!) They say “You can’t be what you can’t see,” and the sales floor is no exception.

Sales Recruiting 111

Sales Recruiting VP of Engineering Scale Sales Hiring 111

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 12, 2019

I started a software company in college to make it easy to update websites called Content Management Software Now, and I had this idea for Pardot, I wanted to make it easy for marketers to run campaigns online and measure their results. SalesLoft, why was that Pardot, I tried to recruit this guy, Kyle Porter, to come run sales at Pardot.

Sales Recruiting 194

Sales Recruiting Scale Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring 194

Kellblog

FEBRUARY 15, 2020

I’ve seen numerous startups try numerous ways to calculate their sales capacity. Such models are, in my humble opinion, dangerous because the combination of relatively small errors in ramping, sales productivity, and sales turnover (with associated ramp resets) can result in a relatively big mistake in setting an operating plan.

Sales Hiring 101

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Forecasting 101