The Daily Egg

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

An effective video interviewing process comes with a host of benefits. The post The Complete Guide to Conducting a Video Interview appeared first on The Daily Egg. These include reducing the time to hire, creating a positive candidate.

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Interviewing 309

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 8, 2025

Every great hire starts before their first day And often even during the interview process — Jason SaaStr 2025 is May 13-15 Lemkin (@jasonlk) January 12, 2025 #1. The Best VPs Have True Urgency They push the interview along. But if theres no urgency at all during the interview there wont be any when they start, either. #4.

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Sales Hiring Interviewing Sales Marketing 270

SaaStr

AUGUST 4, 2021

I’ve interviewed 100s of VP of marketing candidates over the past years and I can tell you one think — it’s easy to spot the ones that won’t work out. The post The Top 10 Questions to Ask a VP of Marketing in an Interview appeared first on SaaStr. But a new VP of Marketing will really only do 3 things.

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Interviewing Sales Hiring Marketing Branding 356

SaaStr

JUNE 25, 2020

Let me give you a partial interview checklist that may help a bit. The post 10 Great Questions to Ask a VP Sales During an Interview appeared first on SaaStr. We did an update of that classic post below together with this brand new video on the topic: Use this script for hiring that first VP of Sales. But haven’t done it before?

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Sales Hiring Scale Interviewing Sales 353

SaaStr

JANUARY 3, 2025

If you missed part 1 of this interview, you can catch up on their conversation about the current state of SaaS, evolving board meeting formats, and how AI is reshaping the industry. HubSpot recently changed its interview process to try and help maximize tenure and employee retention at the executive level. ’ It’s a bet.”

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Sales Hiring Scale Systems Review Interviewing 290

SaaStr

APRIL 11, 2024

Dear SaaStr: Is it OK to Reschedule a Job Interview with a Founder? It’s generally fine to reschedule an interview set up with a recruiting manager or similar. But — be careful rescheduling a job interview with a founder CEO — especially at the last minute. They’ll figure it out. That’s their job. appeared first on SaaStr.

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Interviewing Management 289

SaaStr

DECEMBER 27, 2024

Here are the key takeaways from part 1 of this interview. Reflecting on Company Outcomes as a Founding CEO We started with Brian flipping the tables a bit and asking Jason a question to kick off the interview: “I know this is a podcast supposed to be interviewing me, but do you regret selling your company?”

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AI Marketing SaaS Interviewing 290

SaaStr

JULY 21, 2021

Secrets to a solid interview: 1/ Interview your heroes 2/ Do an hour of research 3/ Write out 5 great questions + 5 back-up questions 4/ Listen, and ask +1 follow-up question on the great responses 5/ Share questions ahead of time. The other day on Twitter a CEO asked who they should emulate as an interviewer for their new podcast.

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Interviewing Content Marketing Startup Marketing 306

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 4, 2024

I’m going to paraphrase his answer, but I 100% agree it’s the right one: Do it all, do all the interviews, etc. Do 30+ interviews. And … again and again. Because if you go long, many of the best will eventually leave. But make sure if nothing else, you hire One Senior Exec a Quarter. Yes, you do need to hire them all.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Finance 278

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 4, 2023

I’ve interviewed several COO candidates recently, a bunch of CROs, and other leaders who never did >any< real research on the companies they were interviewing with. Even when I was the 5th or 6th interview at the company (as an investor) (!!). And actually come up with a genuine idea or two on how you’d crush it there.

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Interviewing 277

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 29, 2024

Shocking % say they got the foot-in-the-door job by going way over the top on their job application / interview prep. 3️⃣ Do 2 hours of homework before each interview. He just can’t find enough great folks to hire. Talking to a lot of top performers lately. it didn’t only get them the job. At least think about it.

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Sales Hiring Scale Marketing SaaS 289

SaaStr

OCTOBER 3, 2023

Interviewing? One bit of advice: Please, please, actually research the company you are interviewing at. The other day I did a similar final, fourth round interview for a VPM. I ended the interview (politely) after 10 minutes and told him to watch the video. Looking for your next role? Been through a lay off? For real.

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Interviewing Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Consulting 278

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

If a sales exec makes it anything but effortless to schedule a job interview with them, Basically it won't work out — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin  ?? Sales execs that can’t even sell themselves or be responsive during the interview process … well, I’ve never see them get better once they start.

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Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Interviewing Sales 263

SaaStr

MARCH 15, 2025

“10 Great Questions to Ask a VP Sales During an Interview.” . “ – This one is a classic because it breaks down the real, tactical changes that can drive exponential growth in sales. Its practical and relatable for SaaS founders struggling with scaling their sales teams.

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Sales Hiring AI Scale Compensation 261

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

Do the old thing where in the second interview at least, the prospective rep has to sell you your product. If they cant do it by interview #2 probably pass. So bring out the old sell me this pen question. Better yet, do it as sell me my product. At least for your early reps.

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Interviewing SaaS Sales 199

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 3, 2024

Someone that wants to sell. Go deeper and really ask during the interview process. That’s somone that optimizes process and team and strategy. As Loren noted — what 90%+ of us need is a VP of Sales. Especially if they’ve done it before. Ask especially what they’d do their first 30 days.

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Sales Hiring Sales Interviewing Startup 290

SaaStr

DECEMBER 10, 2024

I was reminded of this from the great SaaStr Annual interview that Jyoti Bansal did with MongoDB’s CEO Dev Ittycheria. But you need one you respect say they were an A. Especially if you are tired. That’s when we all sort of settle. "Your lucky if 60% of your executive hires work out."

Interviewing 278

Interviewing Management 278

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

To be direct: We have a record number of SaaStr Annual sponsors that dont have anyone to man their booths Most sales executives I interview dont want to do in-person customer visits now Very few SDRs I talk to are running very targeted, very custom campaigns. Are we willing to do this? A lot of teams arent. Just most AI-fueled ones.

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AI Scale Social Media Generative AI 270

SaaStr

MARCH 16, 2025

Force Yourself to Interview 30 Candidates for VP Roles Yes, 30. Use Screening Filters Create simple tests to weed out unqualified candidates before the first interview. It sounds like overkill, but magic happens when you commit to this. Youll stop settling for mediocre hires, and youll build a real pipeline.

Software Review 162

Software Review Interviewing Engineering Startup 162

SaaStr

OCTOBER 18, 2024

“You’re hiring a new VP of sales and you’re on your 20th interview. And sure, founders know that, but the point is that you have to internalize being OK with it taking way longer than you wanted to get the next great person in seat. We give up too early Henry explains. And then you’re just like, ‘Forget it.

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Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale AI 310

SaaStr

DECEMBER 20, 2024

Set clear goals to ensure that your frontline managers are executing properly in their interviewing and hiring cycles, and measuring the impact of their new hires every 6 months. .” Frontline managers are the key link between sales strategy and execution, responsible for: Hiring and developing your next generation of top talent.

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Sales Hiring Scale Underperforming Technical Team Sales 263

Predictable Revenue

AUGUST 29, 2024

The post How to Run a Customer Development Interview? Customer development can be daunting, especially when unsure what to ask or how to approach potential users without a finished product. appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

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Interviewing Development Revenue Sales 130

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

That result alone should encourage rethinking of AE interviewing. Adam Grant delimited the types of interviews with the greatest predictive power. The biggest challenge in interviews: interviewers try to hire themselves. Does your interview process screen for those attributes? Closing ability correlated negatively.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Marketing 349

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 22, 2025

Interviewers also face a new challenge: developing golden standards to evaluate AI fluency. Of course, this modern interview won’t exclude the other critical components of a high quality process , identifying characteristics of teamwork and sales skills or marketing expertise. 1 Fueled by AI.

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Interviewing AI Sales Recruiting Construction 112

SaaStr

MAY 10, 2024

Keep Your Hiring Standards High Interviewing is believed to be the most predictive part of the hiring process, but it actually isn’t. Part of the reason we fail at this is the average interview is only about 10% better than flipping a coin and predicting job success. Scored – all interviewers use a scorecard.

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Sales Hiring Scale Sales Interviewing 245

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 13, 2020

And what I wish I’d done better as a SaaS CEO: Force yourself to interview 30 candidates for each VP position. You’ll have to, to get through 30 interviews. After each of those 30 interviews — email over a note on your feedback. Do that extra podcast, that extra event, that extra blog post, that extra press interview.

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Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Interviewing Scale 363

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 6, 2024

He just interviewed Sanjit Biswas the CEO and co-founder of Samsara (which will go live on saastr.com shortly) but they went from $1M to $7M to $70M. They lost the plot and lost sight of driving up each customer’s NRR by keeping them happy and helping them achieve better business outcomes. Jason agrees and gives a recent example.

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Headcount SaaS AI Pricing 274

SaaStr

MARCH 23, 2025

Codeium made this a centerpiece of their recruiting strategy: Competitive comp plan openly discussed during interviews 7 out of 10 sellers who’ve been with Codeium 6+ months have already exceeded annual targets Several on track to earn $500K+ in W2 income One seller closed $1.6M

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Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale AI 236

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 1, 2025

If they dont ask good, curious questions during the interview process I say pass for that reason alone. "The There is no one to coach them, unless they can get SEs and others to do most of the heavy lifting. And they just start making things up. Rather than truly learning.

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Sales Hiring Sales compliance Interviewing 188

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2024

Jason Lemkin has interviewed some of the best founders on his podcast, SaaStr Annual. He approaches interviews with profound respect for the founders he interviews. He believes that he is good at interviewing founders because he is better at interviewing than they are.

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Sales Hiring Outsourcing Services Technical Review Scale 298

SaaStr

JANUARY 24, 2023

And whatever you see as a flag during the interview process, is almost always 10x bigger once they join full-time. No research before interview. “Informational interviews” may make sense at big tech companies. Flags are different. Flags (not Risks) IMHE: Never stayed anywhere for even 18 months. But at startups?

Sales Hiring 306

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Startup 306

SaaStr

OCTOBER 30, 2024

Ask the founders this question when you interview them: How supportive has X person been as an investor? The ones that are really engaged, the ones that are there for founders will have some friction swith some of founder they’ve invested in.

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Venture Capital Software Review Investment Startup 316

The Daily Egg

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

It’s so well known that the happiest, most powerful, and most successful people on the planet have shared it freely in interviews and biographies. I’m going to give you an aha! moment so big that you’ll never forget it. Sadly, this simple secret is often overlooked, hiding in plain sight. Or just not taken seriously. […].

Interviewing 347

Interviewing 347

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2022

What we used to do, from ‘05-‘19: Do 30 interviews per position, ideally. Then when everything super boomed in 2H’20 and ‘21 it went kind of like this: Do 3-4 solid interview for a position, not 30. So maybe it’s time to get back to the Old Ways, with more interviews, more time, and real reference checks. Find 3 good ones.

Sales Hiring 323

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Startup 323