SaaStr

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

Go-to-Market matters because sales and marketing spend remain the biggest proportion of SaaS spend, so honing in on that spend to build an engine and drive growth is paramount. But to develop a GTM strategy, you must have Product Market Fit. The Early Stage — $0 to $20M ARR The early stage is crucial for GTM.

Scale 279

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Outsourced Development 279

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

Sales execution deficiency manifests itself at roughly the same time as product market fit. As Mark told me, “Most founders fail to understand that 95% of sales leaders will implement exactly the total market strategy they employed at the last company.”

Sales Hiring 184

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Compensation 184

SaaStr

MARCH 5, 2021

The three things that led to ramping up sales at Flock Safety were: Achieving product-market fit. If your product is selling at such a reliable rate, with consistent growth over multiple quarters, you’re probably at this point. 2 – Get your compensation right. When do you decide to scale?

Sales Recruiting 261

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Sales 261

SaaStr

AUGUST 18, 2019

Sales team: lets move all the best features into the paid product. Marketing team: let's move all the free features into a free trial. Well, at that point there were probably 150 folks working part or full-time on the product. And you know how many were compensated by the number of free users? Not usually.

Compensation 251

Compensation Branding B2B Engineering 251

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2023

The right strategy to win means reassessing fundamental issues like the product-market fit and centering on the best ICP. A simple way to achieve this is to align sales compensation with LTV to reward good behavior and disincentivize poor behavior. Strategy to win.

Consulting 49

Consulting Underperforming Technical Team Management Marketing 49

SaaStr

OCTOBER 29, 2022

If they truly carry the weight and responsibilities of the initial founders, and it’s pre-real product market fit (e.g., < $10k in MRR for example) … I say a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio is about right , depending on contributions. Probably 1:4 if you are just past product-market fit. That’s fair. That’s fair.

Product Marketing 290

Product Marketing Marketing Management Compensation 290

Andreessen Horowitz

OCTOBER 16, 2023

One of the toughest challenges for founders — and especially technical founders who are used to focusing so much on product features over sales — is striking “product-market fit”. What does this mean for product design and product management? the night before it was to IPO).

Product Marketing 78

Product Marketing Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting 78

The Angel VC

APRIL 1, 2017

That means that you’ll have to: screen around 500-1000 CVs interview around 100 people do 2nd and 3rd interviews with around 20-50 people do a few dozen reference calls negotiate compensation and an employment contract with 10 people The numbers can obviously vary greatly, but you get the idea.

Sales Hiring 168

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Software Review 168

Sales Hacker

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

Still, they don’t always nail down the details when it comes to the things that might entice a prospective salesperson — like a well-rounded sales compensation plan , for example. Think about the compensation structure of various sales roles. While it can be daunting to create such a plan, be kind to your future self.

Sales Hiring 104

Sales Hiring Compensation Sales Payments 104

SaaStr

AUGUST 12, 2020

And, the second system is what I call the product marketing system. What I find is that if you think about the product marketing calendar this way, it makes it a little bit more like the sales finance calendar where sales is about selling to customers, sales don’t work unless a customer buys what you’re selling.

Startup 300

Startup Software Review Scale Systems Review 300

SaaStr

MARCH 24, 2020

In the early days, what you really want as a CEO is to actually be the first sales rep, so you want to find some sort of product market fit. The reason that you want to do this, if you just hire one AE, you don’t know if they are good, which is why the product you’re really selling and the product is taking off.

Sales Recruiting 196

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Underperforming Technical Team 196

User Pilot

AUGUST 30, 2024

In this article, we’ll explore 7 product advertising examples to inspire you—from video ads and social media marketing to events and blogging. Plus, you’ll learn how Userpilot can help with product marketing and drive user engagement. TL;DR Product and digital advertising come in different packages.

Advertising 105

Advertising Software Review Social Media SaaS 105

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 20, 2015

It’s rare to see salespeople consistently close more than 2 deals per month (unless the company has exceptional product/market fit). The remaining 80% must cover the marketing spend, customer success team and sales development costs - in other words the fundamental unit plus product and engineering costs.

Startup 100

Startup Outsourced Development Compensation Sales 100

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

This will usually center around PMF (product-market fit) or growth. Also, reward employees for good work recognition, thoughtful thanks, and compensation. Start by defining the following: Vision: Compelling company vision that inspires employees, investors, customers, and partners to join you on the journey.

Retention 130

Retention Leadership Compensation Communication 130

SaaStr

OCTOBER 21, 2019

“Compensation: know your worth and negotiate your best offer” with Former Anaplan CMO Maria Pergolino. “Launching with impact: Leading a Cross-Functional Team to Launch a New Product” with Ooda VP. of Marketing Joe Andrews, InsideView Sr. Product Marketing Manager Calvina Cheng.

Scale 113

Scale Compensation Content Marketing Revenue 113

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 9, 2015

Last, matrixed organizations ask employees to report to both a functional manager and a product general manager. Most startups begin as functional organizations, grouped by engineering, product, marketing and sales. Google is a good example. A change in strategy requires new talent, new reward systems and new company goals.

Sales Recruiting 113

Sales Recruiting Startup Scale Systems Review 113

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 19, 2016

At the outset, when the business prices on a monthly basis, the startup is looking for as much information about the strength of their product market fit as possible. Monthly payment plans minimize the friction associated with new users signing up and using the product, while still testing their willingness to pay.

Outsourced Development 100

Outsourced Development SaaS Payments Startup Sales Hiring 100

Chaotic Flow

APRIL 14, 2015

When I’m not completely absorbed with my agile marketing software startup , I do a bit of SaaS consulting on the side. SaaS colleagues come to me with a wide variety of problems from positioning to sales compensation to churn analysis, but lately I’ve noticed a common theme: poor SaaS customer alignment.

Scale 156

Scale SaaS Compensation Churn 156

Casey Accidental

OCTOBER 18, 2021

In the Reforge Product Strategy course, we teach that there are four different types of product work : Feature development: adding new things to the product that improve value proposition e.g. Uber’s Split Fare. Product/market fit expansion: adding totally new products that create new value propositions e.g. Uber Eats.

Technical Advisors 140

Technical Advisors Technical Review Scale Marketplace as a Service 140

OnStartups

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Hiring full-time employees before product-market-fit As Marc Andressen said , getting to product-market-fit is the only thing that matters in the early years of your company. Not having a marketing co-founder The number one thing investors look for in a startup is high growth, typically 10% month-over-month or more.

Startup 113

Startup Compensation Leadership Mobile 113

Sales Hacker

JULY 14, 2022

Start-ups primarily fail because of lack of product-market fit and running out of cash. Read: The Foolproof Formula for Finding Product-Market Fit . This goes back to finding product-market fit and not running out of cash. . Sellers do not have the knowledge, nor are they compensated enough to take that on.

Sales Hiring 109

Sales Hiring Sales Compensation Sales Funnel 109

SaaStr

JULY 1, 2021

There’s no amount of positive output that can compensate for someone who’s outputting negativity because their blast radius is so big, and it actually affects the core team that is actually getting stuff done. We ended up so totally nailing product market fit because we were laser focused on the customer.

VP of Engineering 300

VP of Engineering Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team 300

User Pilot

OCTOBER 15, 2023

A growth marketer is a professional who leverages experimentation and optimization techniques to increase customer lifetime value, drive retention, and fuel business expansion (referral programs, upsells, etc.). In contrast, traditional marketing managers primarily concentrate on classic marketing campaigns for customer acquisition.

Growth Marketing 105

Growth Marketing Marketing Customer Lifetime Value Scale 105

Kellblog

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

I recently spoke with a product leader with a team of about 8 PMs, none of whom were allowed to travel anymore. Ditto for product marketers. If that’s 20% of someone’s total compensation, that’s a material pay cut — and that’s certainly not keeping the company a great place for those who stay.

VP of Engineering 124

VP of Engineering Travel Underperforming Technical Team Headcount 124

Sales Hacker

APRIL 10, 2018

However, pursuing a new segment needs to be a company initiative—it may even require you to re-look your product-market fit. In Mid-Market, the value of a specific product is obscured by many other products and often you find yourself selling to only a small group or department at best.

SMB 97

SMB Strategy Outsourced Development Marketing 97

SaaStr

MARCH 31, 2020

When you’re going up, you have no product market fit, okay? And you’re starting to find that product market fit. Once you have the product market fit and you’ve reached the maxima of the easy to close customers, then you can hire a growth team, okay? Easy, after product market fit.

Scale 162

Scale Scaling Sales Hiring Engineering 162

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2021

Do you have to still find the right product market fit, you have to build a good product, you have to service the customers, you have to compete in the market. In this conference that’s a important thing like, you know, as companies start, they start getting a product market fit. None of that changes.

Sales Recruiting 265

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale VP of Engineering 265

SaaStr

AUGUST 27, 2019

Depending on size and stage, variable compensation can be one of a company’s highest expense items, and a thoughtful approach is key. So I like to say that if sales is like a train, then sales compensation is the driver. Want to see more content like this? Join us at SaaStr Annual 2020. Jessica Lin | Co-Founder @ Workbench.

Sales Recruiting 160

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Sales 160

ChurnZero

OCTOBER 5, 2021

Are your compensation plans setting your business up for longer-term success or subscription contraction? You’ll know you’ve found your product-market-fit when strangers start becoming paying customers. SaaS customers are only using 50% of the licenses that they buy- @markroberge. saastrannual.

Customer Success 95

Customer Success Scale Customer Lifetime Value Compensation 95

OpenView Labs

SEPTEMBER 8, 2021

Here’s what that means for Product, Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, Pricing, and Finance. Product: Treat product investments as a revenue-generating expense. At the risk of repeating myself, usage-based revenue growth depends on customers using and seeing value from the product.

Customer Success 64

Customer Success Pricing Scale Compensation 64

Intercom, Inc.

MARCH 28, 2019

I expected her to talk to me about stock or compensation, and while I’m sure she asked for those things, she said, the biggest sticking point was that she wanted 10 more people for her tech team. ’ This is the way modern marketing teams are. It’s intended to elicit emotions you should have.

Scale 117

Scale Sales Recruiting Revenue Scaling 117

Sales Hacker

MARCH 15, 2022

Asad Zaman : We specialize in helping companies build their go-to-market teams. We went from sales to the entire go-to-market org, practices, technical sales, and executive search. Product marketing, customer success, etc. We established operations in Europe and Asia, building those markets out.

Sales Hiring 104

Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Acquisition Development 104

User Pilot

JULY 21, 2024

Indicates Product-Market Fit : High retention suggests your product meets market needs. On the other hand, SLG companies might need to invest more in personalized onboarding and support to improve their early retention rates to compensate for the longer onboarding and setup times.

Benchmarks 105

Benchmarks Retention Healthcare Scale 105

OpenView Labs

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

It’s clear that faster-growing businesses are taking advantage of more creative pricing models, however, the switch to usage-based pricing can represent a host of challenges from revenue recognition to sales compensation. These metrics are an indicator of product-market fit.

Headcount 73

Headcount SaaS Compensation Acquisition 73

Sales Hacker

OCTOBER 22, 2018

Start with the usual suspects—whether this be your VP Sales, Product Marketing or Sales Enablement—you want them in the room with you. talk to product marketing prior to talking to the VP Marketing because…”). Compensation plan. Getting Started. Most importantly, involve your sales team.

Sales Hiring 111

Sales Hiring Sales Sales Enablement Underperforming Technical Team 111

Chart Mogul

JANUARY 9, 2025

Its not just about knowing who your customers areits about having clear hypotheses that you can test on your journey to find product-market fit. Ideal customer profile (ICP) This involves identifying the key characteristics of the businesses or individuals your product is built for. Here are the basics you need to get started.

Scale 52

Scale Sales Hiring Startup Sales Recruiting 52

Sales Hacker

JUNE 20, 2018

Differences between startups with a product-market fit and those without. Here’s the tactical part—Jaimie compensates her Inside Sales team for both the self-service leads and SMB leads. Working at Andreessen Horowitz and how large VCs support their portfolios. Using networking to help grow your career.

Scale 99

Scale Sales Hiring SMB Interviewing 99