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 352

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

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

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 4, 2021

Preparing to interview for a new job is challenging. When we’re looking for our next incredible support teammate, we want to set up every candidate to give the best interview they can. When we’re looking for our next incredible support teammate, we want to set up every candidate to give the best interview they can.

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Customer Support Interviewing Engineering Communication 239

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 265

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.

Interviewing 275

Interviewing 275

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 262

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

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 336

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

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 244

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 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.

Sales Hiring 278

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Finance 278

SaaStr

JANUARY 9, 2024

The other day I interviewed yet another other great AE who had recently become a Director of Sales. I interviewed several seasons VPs of CS in the past 12 months that didn’t believe in this. Ask in the interviews. The 1000+ unicorns of Covid fueled this, with ample capital to hire, hire and hire. Super high. And just ask.

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Sales Hiring Interviewing Startup Customer Success 314

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.

Sales Hiring 298

Sales Hiring Outsourcing Services Technical Review Scale 298

SaaStr

MARCH 11, 2024

They’re Late Many will challenge me here, but if they’re late to the interview, they’ll be late to customer calls, too. They Can’t Sell You This Pen I don’t know if these days, a sales rep has to come to the first interview being able to do a strong sales demo of your sales product. That’s fine.

Sales Hiring 305

Sales Hiring Sales Interviewing compliance 305

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

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.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Startup 322

SaaStr

OCTOBER 11, 2020

It’s Probably Not Too Late When They Interview. There are some very tell-tell signs of someone interviewing. But it isn’t necessarily too late when they start to interview. And most of the best ones won’t ask. They’ll just eventually get frustrated and leave. #3. So Be Paranoid. And Intervene.

Scale 362

Scale Interviewing Engineering Scaling 362

SaaStr

MAY 6, 2021

Kathy used her interview with the founders to see how they responded to different points of view and find out what their “why” was. She used her interviews with investors to find out how they really felt about the product and their why. People’s past accomplishments and references tell you more than their interview.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Revenue 304

SaaStr

DECEMBER 11, 2021

Let me share some learnings, and what I do now to force myself to be a better recruiter: 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. Great things will happen if you do. So be cool to them.

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Interviewing Compensation Startup Engagement 290

SaaStr

JULY 22, 2024

And Not Being Curious Enough Way too many VP of Sales candidates these days try to (1) turn every interview around to interviewing the founders back and (2) talking all about process. I see so many candidates basically run this playbook when interviewing with CEOs and board members: “So, tell me more about the company.”

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Sales Hiring Scale Sales Interviewing 312

SaaStr

MAY 9, 2021

What are the right interview questions? The toughest hire of all is probably your VP of Sales. What trade-offs should you make? When is too early to make the hire? When do you know that you’ve made a mis-hire? How far can you stretch to make the hire? What’s fair to expect from a VP of Sales, and what isn’t?

Sales Hiring 328

Sales Hiring Sales Interviewing 328

SaaStr

JANUARY 5, 2024

The SDR Interview We’ve determined the profile we want to hire for dedicated outbound folks, so now, let’s look at the interview itself. It’s usually a simple interview with a hiring manager screen first and then an actual interview panel. Find the candidates who are hungry to break into tech sales for those early hires.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Outbound Sales Team 315

SaaStr

DECEMBER 15, 2023

The focus of Demo Day is to put a SaaStr-style spin on a classic “Demo Day” – but this time around we’ll be showcasing New Features from leading SaaS companies, highlighting up & coming SaaS companies, sharing What’s New via in-depth interviews with some of the top CEOs in SaaS, and of course – bringing actionable insights and expert (..)

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Scale Interviewing Trends Innovation 305

SaaStr

AUGUST 31, 2023

First, interview at least 30. But by interview 10-15, you’ll find at least 1 that stands out. to interview your top candidate. But you can bend the odds. Here’s how to hire a 10x VP or other hire in any are you don’t … fully understand yourself. Yes, that’s a lot. This pretty much always works.

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Sales Hiring CTO Hire CTO Coach CTO 277

SaaStr

MARCH 28, 2021

Starting without any real, true customer interviews. Early interviews won’t be magic — customers can’t give you perfect feedback on wireframes. Don’t Forget the 20 Interview Rule. A little more here: A Quiet Plan B For When The Good Times Are a Smidge Less Good | SaaStr. Folks don’t do enough homework in the early days.

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Sales Hiring Interviewing B2B Product Marketing 299

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

I bet you get an interview. Watch their webinars, do a product demo, learn as much as you can in 60 minutes. And write them the best cold email ever. On why you’d truly crush it there, for real.

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Sales Hiring Scale Sales Interviewing 321

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

Candid VC Interviews – Session #1 . For our very first session of “Off The Record” we are honored to interview Pat Grady from Sequoia Capital. Partner | Sequoia. Follow Follow. Wednesday – November 17th, 2021 | 10:00 am PST.

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Venture Capital Interviewing Investment SaaS 278

SaaStr

DECEMBER 15, 2020

Do 20 customer interviews (more on that here ). 20 interviews and a just amazing co-founder can be the missing pieces, to show you how to really do your own SaaS start-up. You can’t pass tests 1, 2 and 3 above. But you are … close. Then take a pause. But don’t say no yet. Instead, go do some more homework.

Sales Recruiting 363

Sales Recruiting SaaS Interviewing Consulting 363

SaaStr

OCTOBER 7, 2020

But I’ve generally found that candidates who bash their prior boss in an interview tend to do it again at their next gig. Finally, if you just aren’t sure … have your most trusted outside advisor interview the VP candidate. It can be tough to hold your tongue. The best VPs really do hold their tongue here.

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Sales Hiring Scale Interviewing Startup 362

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

With nearly a full hour of Q&A with a phenomenal communicator as our guest, our “Off The Record” interview with Pat Grady (Partner at Sequoia Capital) surfaced a number of actionable insights for Founders. We’ve excerpted 10 key highlights from our interview below: #1 – Habits Of Exceptional CEOs.

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Scale Company Culture Interviewing Finance 336

SaaStr

JULY 14, 2024

Hiring and Interviewing Tips: Jason emphasizes the importance of interviewing at least 30 candidates for a role and consulting with an expert in the field to interview the final candidate. This approach helps in identifying the best fit and avoiding future problems.

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Sales Hiring Outsourcing Services Scale Interviewing 237