SaaStr

AUGUST 4, 2021

Innovation holds the key to brilliant products and successful business outcomes. Yet, it’s critical to understand what product innovation looks like across various company stages. Based on his own experience, Schlampp explains in detail how product strategy, org structure and innovation models will transform over time. .

Innovation 264

Innovation Startup Leadership Investment 264

Intercom, Inc.

NOVEMBER 9, 2022

Few books have chronicled how innovation takes place – and how market leaders fail to seize it – as well as Clayton Christensen ’s seminal book The Innovator’s Dilemma. So why not take a page from the startup book and set up new avenues and opportunities so people can innovate in their job? And that’s what we’re exploring today.

Innovation 226

Innovation Scale Startup Government 226

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 5, 2025

What’s Next The next 12-18 months will be critical for SaaS companies looking to establish leadership in vertical AI. cost savings, 35% time savings The Partner Ecosystem Play IBM isn’t going it alone. IBM’s Instruct Lab approach, delivering 98.5%

AI 191

AI Scale SaaS Government 191

SaaStr

MARCH 9, 2025

Meeting intensity KPI challenge : Sometimes AI efficiencies can reduce a company’s core metrics (like Calendly’s “meeting intensity”), requiring leadership to make conscientious decisions about value tradeoffs. That’s what Calendly’s leadership team discovered as they embarked on their AI journey.

AI 207

AI Scale Education User Experience 207

SaaStr

MARCH 6, 2023

SaaS companies must implement flexible and innovative sales strategies that can weather the future. Mary Shea, Global Innovation Evangelist at Outreach, shares her vision for the future of B2B sales and provides actionable advice for leaders to thrive in today’s dynamic marketplace. Acquire, cultivate, and retain top-tier sales talent.

Innovation 246

Innovation Sales Hiring B2B Strategy 246

TechEmpower SaaS

AUGUST 21, 2023

Most innovators don’t have a technical background, so it’s hard to evaluate the truth of the situation. The explanation from software leadership is often unsatisfying or unclear. Getting Buy-in from Leadership Business leaders are often concerned about how their tech teams will react to an external technical review.

Technical Review 390

Technical Review Software Review Development Team Review Systems Review 390

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

Strategic Transformation The company’s leadership, including CEO Tim Sang, recognized that their challenges extended beyond typical growing pains. Conclusion Apollo.io’s transformation from a sales-led to a product-led growth model represents a comprehensive reimagining of their business approach.

Scale 165

Scale Scaling Outsourced Development Sales 165

Buffer Resources

AUGUST 6, 2024

Early in my career, the idea of “thought leadership” wasn’t on my radar. My passion for narrative naturally evolved into a commitment to thought leadership, where I leverage the art of storytelling for myself and my clients to share insights, provoke discussions, and influence change.

Social Media 114

Social Media Business Leadership Sales Hiring 114

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

The 4 states of an engineering team is a mental model that resonated with me, and I think it provides a framework for leadership teams and boards to understand the state of a developer team. Innovating - craft enough slack in the system to enable the team to transition to this phase, invest in good quality code.

Engineering 363

Engineering Software Review Systems Review Technical Review 363

SaaStr

MARCH 5, 2022

Despite their founders’ ambition and good intentions, any innovative idea that results in millions of dollars in revenue and funding is bound to come with growing pains. Know when to diversify leadership. Focus on the long-term, and be willing to create a leadership that can handle the tasks ahead. Key takeaways.

Startup 316

Startup Leadership Innovation Scaling 316

SaaStr

DECEMBER 1, 2024

He created a culture of “structured chaos” – enough process to scale, enough freedom to innovate. The Culture Play Zinman’s secret weapon? Building in Tel Aviv but thinking global from day one. Result: 93% employee satisfaction even post-IPO. Today, users can build custom workflows without code.

Scale 257

Scale SaaS Company Culture Leadership 257

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

Early customers are often innovators and tech enthusiasts willing to try new solutions, even if the product is incomplete or buggy. Companies at this stage must demonstrate that their product is not only innovative but also reliable and capable of delivering tangible value to a broader audience.

Pricing 113

Pricing Scale SaaS Technical Review 113

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

Bringing your leadership team to SaaStr Annual allows for compressed learning experiences that would otherwise take months to acquire. This provides an efficient way to evaluate potential additions to your tech stack, negotiate deals, and discover innovative solutions to operational challenges.

Sales Recruiting 195

Sales Recruiting Scale CTO Hire Sales Hiring 195

SaaStr

DECEMBER 17, 2023

It allows us to deliver reminders, call summaries, suggested next steps, custom prompts and easy to follow workflows directly to our market facing teams and leadership. He is passionate about supporting the SaaS ecosystem and empowering entrepreneurs and innovators.

Scale 298

Scale Leadership AI Innovation 298

Chargebee

APRIL 18, 2024

Chargebee’s London-based user conference, beelieve, hummed with excitement as it united trailblazers and innovators from the subscription and revenue growth sector. Let’s explore the winners in each category, highlighting their exceptional contributions to efficiency, transformation, retention, revenue growth, and leadership.

Innovation 116

Innovation Leadership Subscription Payment Features 116

SaaStr

MAY 10, 2022

Companies that capitalized on these unique circumstances, however, have emerged stronger than ever by innovating new ways to sustain their business. It’s normal for people to seek inspiration and leadership during times of uncertainty. Put your employees and customers first by pivoting to meet their needs through innovative solutions.

Travel 275

Travel Revenue Underperforming Technical Team Scale 275

SaaStr

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Once you have this, it’s important to turn innovation into execution. They like to do what they do best; innovate. However, the expectations for leadership are quite different from that of management. Key Points: Transitioning from Innovation to Execution means involving sales in product. 1 New phase, new everything.

Engineering 289

Engineering Part-Time VPE Scale B2C 289

SaaStr

JUNE 7, 2024

Product is the connective tissue of an organization, it’s what drives innovation and the business forward. This is why many companies struggle to innovate, because the incentive structures that exist are driven by revenue. Is it helping or hindering innovation and progress? Consider your team and company structure.

Scale 296

Scale Innovation Revenue Leadership 296

SaaStr

DECEMBER 14, 2021

The reality was that they were heavily relying on the enterprise deals closed by the leadership team. Even after that exciting third year of growth, leadership at Treasure Data began noticing the lack of product-market fit. The platform innovations slowed temporarily, which drove churn higher. million and $1.2

Sales Hiring 312

Sales Hiring Data AWS Leadership 312

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 5, 2022

Building a team of rockstar product managers and leaders is hard, but even harder is to scale the team by hiring and growing senior talent in global locations while maintaining a culture of innovation, impact, and integrity. Successful co-innovation for our customers needs strong partnerships between Customer Success and Product Leadership.

AWS 246

AWS Customer Success Scale Sales Hiring 246

SaaStr

MAY 1, 2022

SaaStr 549: From 0 to $500 Million ARR in 6 years: Learnings from Innovating in Underserved Markets with Samsara CPO Kiren Sekar. 10 Tips: CMO + CRO = Love… Building Lasting Leadership with Gusto’s CRO Tolithia Kornweibel. A 4 Point Test To Know If You Are Ready to Hire BigCo Folks. Are You Fundable in 2022?

Sales Hiring 263

Sales Hiring Leadership Innovation Retention 263

Chargebee

MARCH 6, 2024

Chargebee’s annual user conference, beelieve, buzzed with excitement as it brought together trailblazers and innovators from the subscription and revenue growth industry.

Innovation 100

Innovation Leadership Subscription Payment Features 100

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 9, 2022

This is the sixth year in a row we’ve been included on the list, demonstrating ongoing innovation and excellence. This list, published by Forbes in partnership with Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures , contains many of the most innovative companies in the industry.

Cloud 211

Cloud Leadership Innovation Communication 211

SaaStr

AUGUST 15, 2024

Key results can be hard to measure, and people might get overly focused on one key result, so strong leadership skills within GTM are imperative to building and executing a robust and clear strategic plan. It fosters adaptability, continuous improvement, innovation, and resilience. You want to balance these two personalities.

Scale 314

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Innovation 314

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2020

Juggling People, Processes & Priorities: CTO Leadership Lessons from the Front Lines. Somersault Innovation. [link] . The Future of Cloud: Navigating through Uncharted Territory. Tarik Faouzi. Rose Nuñez. Channel Management. IBM. [link]. 9:00 – 9:50AM. Marianna Tessel. Intuit. [link] . 9:00 – 9:20AM. Co-Founder.

Technical Cofounder 289

Technical Cofounder Enterprise New CTO CTO 289

Sales Hacker

DECEMBER 9, 2021

Driving innovation and creativity in business development. Peter Mahoney, CMO of Plannuh, regularly interviews his prospects’ CMOs, publishing thought-leadership podcasts that they promote on their social media. Try and see what works for your sales team, and keep innovating to see what other new ideas you develop!

Innovation 123

Innovation Development Marketplace as a Service Business 123

SaaStr

JANUARY 4, 2023

It may seem counterintuitive to seek out a sales leadership hire during this time of slowed hiring, but it’s the number one topic that many founders talk about and many SDRs, AEs, and sales managers ask about. . Founders may ask, “how do I find the right sales leadership hire?” To succeed, you have to learn from your mistakes.

Sales Hiring 245

Sales Hiring Scale Leadership Sales 245

Andreessen Horowitz

MAY 6, 2024

The Cultural Leadership Fund (CLF) team is often asked by portfolio founders how exactly cultural leaders can be a game-changing asset for their companies. For Founders Make It Make Sense Venture capital is where innovation meets investment. Don’t be afraid to feel uncomfortable when diving into new sectors or investment opportunities.

Technical Review 104

Technical Review Innovation Technical Cofounder Development Team Review 104

SaaStr

MARCH 9, 2022

Sometimes, it takes innovative thinking to pull more revenue out of a current customer base or business model. Author Geoffrey Moore describes the chasm criteria this way: Demonstrate market leadership. Along with a higher growth rate, leadership should also pause to review their retention and churn rates.

Revenue 264

Revenue Sales Hiring Leadership Scale 264

SaaStr

JANUARY 6, 2021

It’s partly hiring the right leadership team specifically to create the right cultural practices and standards in order to define the culture of the company to be a performance-oriented culture or not. This allows all employees to be more creative and innovative in their daily jobs which gives them more autonomy.

Scale 281

Scale Software Review Scaling Sales Hiring 281

SaaStr

MARCH 2, 2022

A larger business, however, may have less appetite to spend on innovation. Encourage your teams to innovate and give them the space to do so without penalty. Leadership education. Your executive team and leadership board should understand that many different actions lead to a conversion.

Outsourcing Services 246

Outsourcing Services Scale Outsourced Development Marketing 246

SaaStr

DECEMBER 1, 2021

Mark spent 10 years at Salesforce where he held a variety of sales leadership roles, including senior vice president of Marketing Cloud, senior vice president of global sales for Salesforce Pardot, and senior vice president of commercial sal es. Mark Waylan is the Chief Revenue Officer at Box.

Scale 284

Scale Scaling SMB compliance 284

SaaStr

MARCH 30, 2022

As you hire, be sure to employ passionate problem-solvers for your R&D teams and innovative challengers on your sales and marketing teams. Empathetic leadership is a foundational principle at Atlassian that has carried through to this day. Leading With Empathy.

Scale 278

Scale Sales Hiring Marketplace as a Service Construction 278

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

From 0 to $500 Million ARR in 6 years: Learnings from Innovating in Underserved Markets with Samsara’s CPO Kiren Sekar. Kiren and the founding leadership team started Samsara after founding and selling Meraki to Cisco for $1.2 If you plan on tuning into just one session at SaaStr Build, make it this one.

Scale 246

Scale Innovation Leadership Acquisition 246

SaaStr

AUGUST 9, 2024

Braze invested in this, and the leadership team agreed to do so. Maintain a small company mindset to foster ongoing innovation and growth. It’s sad when a company loses that innovation mindset that helped it to get where it is. Usually, your CSMs have side projects that get derailed by more pressing matters.

Scale 296

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Startup 296

SaaStr

MARCH 25, 2023

Many of the comments said it was more important a VP of Sales understand process and leadership more than the product itself. I get that in bigger companies it’s more about process, there is more support, and you often see sales and sales leadership not really be product experts. Not just with buzzwords.

Scale 297

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales 297

Andreessen Horowitz

OCTOBER 16, 2023

It’s all based on their book, Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon , drawing from the 27 years combined experience of being in the room where it happened at Amazon.

Innovation 81

Innovation Scaling Leadership 81