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. He completely misunderstood the value prop of the startup. He completely misunderstood the value prop of the startup. Or CRO or CMO?

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Interviewing Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Consulting 273

SaaStr

JUNE 27, 2020

Hire stretch reps if you want, but someone without any closing experience likely can’t close at your startup no one has ever heard of. Startups are a journey and you need reps that want to be on the journey. But if they say in an interview they “don’t really care about money” … well … they aren’t sales people. A bit more here.

Sales Hiring 363

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Marketing 363

SaaStr

AUGUST 16, 2024

Dear SaaStr: When Should a CEO Tell Startup Employees That The Company Is Going Under? I recently asked this of an candidate I interviewed that just went through the shut-down of a top-VC backed start-up. Everyone knows in a startup, even a big one. This isn’t to say everyone knows a start-up is literally going under.

Startup 307

Startup Interviewing 307

SaaStr

DECEMBER 18, 2020

Q: How old is too old to start a startup? Are You Interviewing 50+ Years Young SaaS Veterans? The post How Old is “Too Old” To Start a SaaS Startup? Let me try to add some practical answers: 1. First, you need to give it a full 24 month commitment to hit Initial Traction. 6 months isn’t enough. 12 isn’t.

Startup 326

Startup SaaS Consulting Interviewing 326

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 18, 2019

Last week’s post on The Most Frequent Mishire in Startups generated the most comments on a post this year. Though the startup may have achieved product market fit, the company may not understand the fit. Over time, the startup’s growth demands a more specialized role. In particular, it was this section. Why is this?

Product Marketing 267

Product Marketing Startup Marketing Interviewing 267

SaaStr

JANUARY 10, 2020

Q: What is your advice for startup CEOs? But if you deep down aren’t sure you want to do this startup for 10 years, assuming it does even just reasonably well … then you don’t have the fire. Do more market research and especially customer interviews in the early days. The post What is your advice for startup CEOs?

Startup 281

Startup Market Research Interviewing B2B 281

SaaStr

OCTOBER 18, 2024

It’s mission-critical to go multiproduct on time — too early is bad but too late is bad too We’ve written this up already a few times recently on SaaStr already as Jason did a deep dive on this just last week and Parker Conrad’s theory of the compound startup from SaaStr Europa is a masterclass on the matter.

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Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale AI 305

SaaStr

OCTOBER 30, 2024

Ask the founders this question when you interview them: How supportive has X person been as an investor? And there is bad behavior all over the place on these imploding startups. Because VCs not only meet hundreds of startups a year, but they also get probably thousands of random inbounds asking for investment.

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Venture Capital Software Review Investment Startup 312

SaaStr

APRIL 21, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What Are The Top 5 Things I Should Know Before Starting a SaaS Startup? At least do 30+ customer interviews and really listen on if they’d paid for real, and then go validate that some more. The post Dear SaaStr: What Are The Top 5 Things I Should Know Before Starting a SaaS Startup? It’s never enough.

Startup 307

Startup CTO SaaS Interviewing 307

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

When you interview salespeople for your startup, do you consider their experience at a market leader or market challenger? Few startups have answered these questions at the early stage. These are two mental models that are useful in evaluating salespeople and matching them to the stage of the startup.

Sales Hiring 261

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Interviewing 261

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Q: What are some advice for people who want to create a SaaS startup? Do at least 20 potential customer interviews. A bit more here: Planning to Do a SaaS Startup? Don’t Forget the 20 Interview Rule. The post Are You Ready To Do a SaaS StartUp? Solo founders can work sometimes (see, e.g. Zoom, Twilio, etc.).

Startup 274

Startup SaaS Interviewing Market Segmentation 274

Intercom, Inc.

MARCH 19, 2018

The engineering interview presents a unique opportunity to showcase your company’s engineering culture and values to potential new hires. After spending months interviewing at companies of various sizes and success, I saw firsthand the unique styles of interviewing and testing across our industry. We ship to learn.

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Interviewing Engineering Software Engineering Software 85

SaaStr

AUGUST 9, 2024

From startup to $500M CARR, Spencer Burke, SVP of Growth at Braze, shares how Braze scaled a growth and customer success team. As an early startup team, you’re doing every job under the sun. We get lazy writing job descriptions, and taking shortcuts is a luxury most startups don’t have. But that was it.

Scale 291

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Startup 291

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

Hire stretch reps if you want, but someone without any closing experience likely can’t close at your startup no one has ever heard of. Startups are a journey and you need reps that want to be on the journey. But if they say in an interview they “don’t really care about money” … well … they aren’t sales people. Hiring just 1 rep.

Sales Hiring 284

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Marketing 284

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

FEBRUARY 1, 2025

If they dont ask good, curious questions during the interview process I say pass for that reason alone. "The " pic.twitter.com/1TSGIUwLRA — Jason SaaStr 2025 is May 13-15 Lemkin (@jasonlk) February 1, 2025 And a related post here: 90%-95% of Salespeople Won’t Make It At Your Startup. ."

Sales Hiring 185

Sales Hiring Sales compliance Interviewing 185

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2022

So did startups. VCs funded startups in a day, with limited diligence, sometimes at 100x revenue for the hottest of deals. And startups … well, they moved pretty darn quickly too. What we used to do, from ‘05-‘19: Do 30 interviews per position, ideally. — Jason BeKind Lemkin #???????????? jasonlk) May 23, 2022.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Startup 320

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 4, 2019

In a recent interview, Sid Sijbrandij, the founder of Gitlab observed something about remote teams that I think is absolutely true. I’ve seen it in many of the remote/distributed companies we work with. He said: Remote forces you to do the things you should be doing any way earlier and better.

Startup 252

Startup Interviewing Investment Communication 252

SaaStr

MARCH 23, 2025

Codeium has emerged as one of the hottest AI startups, growing from 30 to 150 employees in just one year, with a valuation already exceeding $1 billion. I really liked this one and wanted to write up a few more learnings. Create Compelling Economic Incentives For sales talent, compensation is critical.

Sales Recruiting 242

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale AI 242

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.

Sales Recruiting 363

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Interviewing Scale 363

SaaStr

OCTOBER 6, 2023

If you’re a seed-stage startup, Michael shares the best ways for you to present your company to startup investors. Stand Out by Being Concise and Easy to Understand Michael has done over 2000 YC interviews, and the one thing founders don’t understand is that if investors don’t know what your company does, they can’t fund you. “The

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Payment Methods Startup Payment Solutions Sales Hiring 273

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. Everyone wants to give folks a pass here, and for sure, “startup folks” are passionate and often won’t stay 20 years anywhere. But at startups? Take risks in hiring in a startup.

Sales Hiring 301

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Startup 301

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 27, 2025

As startups scale, effective sales implementation becomes the difference between stagnation and sustainable growth. After analyzing hundreds of sales organizations across startups, I’ve distilled the key pieces of advice that founders and leaders should keep in mind.

Scale 182

Scale Sales Hiring Startup Compensation 182

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2024

The speaker’s motivations have evolved over time, but initially, he was driven by a desire for meaning and a sense of guilt about selling his previous startup too early. Jason Lemkin has interviewed some of the best founders on his podcast, SaaStr Annual. He respects the founders he interviews more than he respects himself.

Sales Hiring 293

Sales Hiring Outsourcing Services Technical Review Scale 293

SaaStr

OCTOBER 7, 2020

Especially in Bay Area-centric startups. But I’ve generally found that candidates who bash their prior boss in an interview tend to do it again at their next gig. It’s what drives us in part to be great founders and startup executives. It can be tough to hold your tongue. Be wary of too big a chip of the shoulder.

Sales Hiring 362

Sales Hiring Scale Interviewing Startup 362

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 22, 2025

ServiceNow, Microsoft, and Amazon, plus nimble startups generating tens of millions in ARR with teams small enough to feed with a few pizzas all have benefitted. Interviewers also face a new challenge: developing golden standards to evaluate AI fluency. The new boast of 2025? 1 Fueled by AI.

Interviewing 113

Interviewing AI Sales Recruiting Construction 113

SaaStr

MARCH 26, 2021

Q: What are some top hiring tips for early-stage startups? Force yourself to interview at least 20 candidates for each open position. Reach out to folks that have worked at startups in your space that are a stage or two ahead. My top list: Hire an internal recruiter as soon as you are making 1 new hire a month.

Interviewing 343

Interviewing Startup Scaling 343

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

Your startup is just getting off the ground. Knowing about the options ahead of time may help you figure out the right sales plan for your startup. By communicating this clearly at sales kickoff or during interviews, you can set expectations properly with the team. I’ve seen four stages in early stage software companies.

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Compensation Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 195

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.

Sales Hiring 258

Sales Hiring Outsourcing Services Scale Interviewing 258

SaaStr

JANUARY 9, 2024

The other day I interviewed yet another other great AE who had recently become a Director of Sales. You know you’ll have to sell yourself at this startup? I interviewed several seasons VPs of CS in the past 12 months that didn’t believe in this. Ask in the interviews. Things really were easier for many of us in 2021.

Sales Hiring 311

Sales Hiring Interviewing Startup Customer Success 311

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 1, 2019

PR readies articles and interviews. Second, the market perceived the startup as fast moving and innovative. I imagine this is how every founder fats on the eve of demo day. Launch day requires collaboration across teams. Marketing must prepare the story and materials. Engineering builds the product. SRE ensures it stays up.

Startup 182

Startup Interviewing Innovation Engineering 182

SaaStr

MAY 28, 2024

Don’t Tell Them The 1 or 2 Slots You Are Free Instead, just tell them you’ll make almost anytime work for the interview. But if you start asking about comp before you even understanding the job … that’s a flag, at least for most startups and scale-ups. But maybe at the very end of the first interview. Ask about comp.

ChatGPT 282

ChatGPT SaaS Interviewing Startup 282

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 15, 2022

But I hadn’t really thought of them as a proxy for all SaaS companies until I saw the CEO’s interview from a few weeks back. So it’s less representative of raw startups, but more representative of overall enterprise and mid-market spend. The companies they own a majority of are collectively at $24B (!)

Cybersecurity 354

Cybersecurity SMB Interviewing Enterprise 354

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

Hiring a VP of Sales Who Never Really Understands Your Product During The Interview Process Ok I know some even many will disagree, but I’m right here :). I see so many SaaS startups hire someone likeable, who can talk the talk on sales hiring and processes — but never really understands what you do.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Interviewing 303

SaaStr

JULY 11, 2024

As a startup, most people who come to an interview appear happy. You interview 30 people. If it’s a role you’ve never hired, find someone great at it and have them do your final interview. Can Early-Stage Startups Run PLG and Enterprise GTM Motions at the Same Time? How do you spot the ones who are burnt out?

Sales Hiring 285

Sales Hiring Scale Marketing Interviewing 285

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 16, 2020

If my startup has a 9 months sales cycle and the VP of Sales projects a six month ramp time, my startup is committing this error. Alternatively, a head of sales may be interviewing for salespeople who have a book of business already. What does this mean? Leads have been nurtured in that territory for a while.

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Scale Forecasting Sales Interviewing 297

Chart Mogul

JANUARY 9, 2025

Its the classic question for growing startups: when is the right time to bring sales and revenue operations (RevOps) into your sales process and should you? Dani Riggs, Head of Revenue & Business Operations, Accord But in reality, many successful startups dont follow this path. Where do sales and revenue operations fit in all this?

Scale 52

Scale Sales Hiring Startup Sales Recruiting 52