SaaStr

AUGUST 7, 2021

I thought it might be helpful to assemble a checklist of 22 reasons I almost immediately pass on investing in start-ups that are still interesting. If I wouldn’t work for you … then I can’t help you recruit folks that will. You’re in sales. Recruit the VPs? Others bet on traction. And/or Late.

Sales Recruiting 341

Sales Recruiting Scale AWS Investment 341

SaaStr

JULY 21, 2020

Your investors and others will learn a lot more hearing about sales from your VP of Sales, your CTO co-founder … and not you. This also will make you appear to be a much stronger manager. Especially, don’t try to talk over your weakest VPs and managers. Just assume none of your investors invest again.

Sales Recruiting 326

Sales Recruiting New CTO Scale CTO 326

SaaStr

JANUARY 21, 2020

Justin Welsh, former SVP of Sales at PatientPop explains how he started in SaaS in 2009 as the second sales hire at Zocdoc. Justin used Sales Culture to grow a successful PatientPop team to 140 employees and 55 million in revenue. Justin Welsh | SVP Sales @ PatientPop. I was a local sales manager or regional manager.

Sales Recruiting 256

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Sales 256

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 2, 2021

Today, she advises and invests in companies on these topics and others. How you should you go about recruiting the right person? Throughout her time there, she scaled the SaaS company from $1M ARR to pre- IPO, along the way, creating the category of customer success software, and paving the way for Gainsight’s $1.1B

Scale 299

Scale Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Customer Success 299

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

So we’ve spent a ton of time over the years on SaaS talking about hiring a great VP of Sales. Not only because it really matters, but because hiring the wrong VP of Sales can set you back a year — or longer. They never invest the time after they start, either. 50% of what a VP of Sales really does is recruiting.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Interviewing 233

SaaStr

OCTOBER 5, 2020

There’s a common thinking that sales teams should be relatively high churn. That the bottom 15-20% of the sales team almost has to churn each year, because it’s survival of the fittest. At Salesforce, at Box, the bottom end of the sales team churns out each year. First, do sales reps really compete with each other?

Scale 293

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales 293

SaaStr

AUGUST 30, 2022

On the investing side of life, the toughest meeting of all for me at least is probably the Right Co-Founder, Wrong CEO start-up. But after that, it starts to break down when you have to recruit a true management team, and in many cases, additional capital. They’ll know … Who can best recruit a management team?

Sales Recruiting 231

Sales Recruiting Technical Cofounder Scale Investment 231

SaaStr

JULY 12, 2022

One of the first what How to Hire a Great VP of Sales at the New York Enterprise Tech Meet-Up (thank you to John Lehr and Work-Bench for setting this up). The Number One Thing You Can Do to Accelerate Your Business Post-Initial Traction is Hiring a Great VP of Sales. Now, I just invest in SasS companies. SaaStr is Turning 10!

Sales Hiring 261

Sales Hiring Part-Time VPE VP of Engineering Sales Recruiting 261

SaaStr

MARCH 5, 2021

Flock Safety’s Founder and CEO, Garrett Langley, and its VP of Growth, Alex Latraverse, know a bit about sales. Enough to go from 0 to 100 sales reps in about 18 months — and they’re looking to be well beyond 100 by the end of this month. The three things that led to ramping up sales at Flock Safety were: Achieving product-market fit.

Sales Recruiting 181

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Sales 181

SaaStr

JULY 20, 2024

Dedicated Slack Channel For Every Metric From the early days at Secureframe, they have had a dedicated Slack channel for every metric: every net new sale, every expansion, every churn, and every expense. Invest in People You want to keep the bar high on talent, especially in hypergrowth, and not just in the early stages.

Sales Recruiting 236

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Engineering 236

SaaStr

MAY 1, 2021

Who can help me find that first VP of Sales? A lot of folks will want to invest in the next round of their startups. This does help with recruiting and partnerships. Many employees really do want to join one they see a well-regarded and popular VC has invested in. Let’s say a VC invests $3m into your start-up.

Sales Recruiting 287

Sales Recruiting Venture Capital Sales Hiring Investment 287

SaaStr

MARCH 7, 2021

I thought it would be worth drilling down deeper into each of them, and sharing the learnings and mistakes: 1/ Spending less time fixing things, more time recruiting senior folks to own them. No one spends enough time recruiting as it is, after $1m ARR or so. Yes, you can manage the sales team yourself. You can do this.

Part-Time VPE 269

Part-Time VPE Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 269

SaaStr

MAY 6, 2021

A CRO owns and directs the strategy over a company’s revenue cycle, but there’s not a set standard for operational or management decisions: in addition to sales and sales development, they might be responsible for customer success, lead generation and pipelines, and even marketing and brand development. Is a CRO right for you?

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Revenue 240

SaaStr

JUNE 21, 2023

They hired their first VP of Sales with a wonderful pedigree and experience at some of the hottest startups. because they needed to rebuild the sales team. They rebuilt the sales team and closed some big deals. VCs can be fickle about what they fund, but if you have revenue, you have more leeway for when you take an investment.

Sales Recruiting 249

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Pricing 249

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

What are the top 10 mistakes founders are still making today when hiring their VP of Sales? In this post, we’ll delve into the common pitfalls founders encounter when hiring a VP of Sales. 1: You Can’t Stay Founder-Led Sales Forever. . #1: 1: You Can’t Stay Founder-Led Sales Forever. This one is newer.

Sales Hiring 239

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Technical Review 239

SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2021

And then, I would have invested more wisely in Year 1 especially. Not Hiring 2-3 Sales Reps to Start. More on that here: When You Hire Your First Sales Rep — Just Make Sure You Hire Two. I should have invested a little more in sales reps, more quickly, one we had some initial traction (see above).

Sales Recruiting 272

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale SaaS 272

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2021

Someone great at something core you aren’t: Sales, Engineering, Marketing. Great at sales. If you hire someone to do the first sales, you’ll never understand it yourself. When you go to hire your first sales rep, hire 2. 50% of the job for a VP is recruiting. A bit more here. Great at engineering. More here.

Sales Hiring 312

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Engineering 312

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

Enough to invest, but not enough to go crazy with. More on that here and a great video discussion below: You’ll probably be ready for your first VP of Sales by $1m in ARR. Ideally, have your VP of Sales on board in time to hire reps 3-300. You’ll need a VP of Engineering by $8m-$10m ARR. ARR VPS: $1-$1.5m

Part-Time VPE 363

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring CTO Hire Scale 363

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

From $1m in ARR, and Then Forever After: Recruiting Great VPs. You need to learn to become great at recruiting. Why is my sales team less efficient at $20m ARR than at $2m in ARR? Many functions simply need more bodies to keep up with larger bookings goals, and inefficiencies come from that, especially in sales-driven models.

Sales Recruiting 256

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Startup Scale 256

SaaStr

JULY 11, 2020

When I catch up with founders on the march from $1m to $10m in ARR, the number one topic has always shifted to recruiting. Where do i find a great VP of Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Product, Customer Success, etc.? Some times, it seems like simply building a management team is all you have time for. jasonlk) July 10, 2020.

Sales Recruiting 347

Sales Recruiting Management Engineering Customer Success 347

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

The backup of 2020 was great, 2021 comes in and somehow we have 600 unicorns and everyone can burn 500 million a year or have huge sales teams. But the meta point is this, if you’re recruiting in 2024, beware of the “Lost Generation” candidate and persona you may come across. This starts to get tough.

Sales Recruiting 290

Sales Recruiting Trends Sales Hiring Software Review 290

SaaStr

AUGUST 7, 2020

A few factors that contribute to high-performing sales teams: High quota attainment. The best startups invest in their sales teams and work hard so most of the reps hit and exceed quota. Turning over a sales team is very hard on the organization. A great VP of Sales is worth her weight in gold.

Sales Hiring 308

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Compensation 308

SaaStr

JANUARY 8, 2022

Scaling your sales team can be one of the hardest things to do in SaaS. What’s the best way to help your sales team navigate today’s changing markets and changing priorities? And what’s the right time to fill crucial sales leadership roles? 1 Buyers Expect Personalization in Outbound Sales. So now what?

Scale 234

Scale Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scaling 234

SaaStr

JULY 18, 2023

The most successful entrepreneurs I’ve invested in (6+ unicorns, 3 billion+ exits) are very different in many ways. Some engineers by training, others in sales or product originally. But a few uniting characteristics of the very best: Relentless Recruiters. You have to be constantly recruiting the best. No Excuses.

Sales Recruiting 203

Sales Recruiting Scale Scaling Engineering 203

SaaStr

AUGUST 8, 2023

So there’s a sort of org chart you’ll probably end up with at least twice as you start scaling in SaaS: The “Headless” Sales Org. It’s a bunch of sales reps without anyone to manage them other than … you. But if you end up not hiring a VP of Sales at that perfect moment in time (and most don’t), you’ll end up headless.

Sales Hiring 197

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 197

Andreessen Horowitz

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

You were the shoulder I would go and cry on anytime I would have some sort of executive-level problem or executive recruiting problem. We’re coming at it from the lens of not being recruiters. And when you’re in the executive recruiting process, feeling is not scientific. Tell me what the priorities are.”

Sales Recruiting 89

Sales Recruiting Technical Advisors Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team 89

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

I’ve had the privilege to invest one way or another in about 35 SaaS companies, both as a VC and as angel. They understand why they got “No”s in the early, pre-traction days, and even, in the early-ish days when they had a handful of customers but wasn’t really taking off yet (my favorite time to invest).

Scale 343

Scale Sales Recruiting Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence 343

SaaStr

JANUARY 5, 2021

1% equity considered low as a startup Director of Sales? What types of due diligence are undertaken by VCs before investing in a company? I’m Head of Product and I think our CEO is actively recruiting a VP of Product. He has met Adam Neumann for only 4 minutes and decided to invest $4.4 How much does a VC make?

Software Review 293

Software Review CTO Coach Technical Review Sales Recruiting 293

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2023

For part one of this Ask Me Anything session, Jason covers everything you need to know about hiring your first VP of Sales, what he really thinks about AI, what the future of lead generation in 2024 looks like, and much more. Lead generation tools do change, but the basic motions of sales and marketing haven’t changed much.

Scale 242

Scale Sales Hiring AI Sales Recruiting 242

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2021

They talked about product adoption, sales alignment, freemium models and lessons they have learned throughout their successful SaaS careers. As two CEO who love the art of sales and scaling, this one really was special. 20 VCs do come to me to invest in the company now. Jyoti Bansal: Let’s switch topics to sales.

Sales Recruiting 246

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale VP of Engineering 246

SaaStr

MARCH 22, 2022

I really appreciate you coming to talk about how to attract, hire, and build a more diverse sales team in your organization. So I’ve been building top-producing sales teams for a really, really long time. So over the years, I’ve watched many sales leaders go out and say, “Brian’s my top producer.

Sales Hiring 215

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 215

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 16, 2020

The merry retail investors using Robinhood bolster the passive investment wave, and their market-shaping forces sustain stratospheric multiples in the public markets. I thought the remote trend would be a powerful recruiting advantage; I didn’t foresee a global pandemic obligating companies to work remotely.

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Sales Recruiting Blockchain Banking Artificial Intelligence 279

SaaStr

MAY 21, 2023

My #1 Best Hack for VC Fundraising Only 7% of You Have Really Gotten Outsourced SDRs to Work 11 Signs To Predict If a Venture Investment Will or Won’t Work Out Top Podcasts This Week: 1. SaaStr 658: SaaStr CRO Confidential: Omni Founder Colin Zima on the Power of Leveraging Your Network for Sales and Recruiting  5.

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Sales Recruiting Startup Investment SaaS 213

SaaStr

JUNE 2, 2023

Recruit diverse leaders The goal of hiring a revenue leader is to put gasoline on finding product market fit success. So the playbook for Colin during that time was tuned to one goal: hire and scale a sales team that could listen to those customers and put together a value proposition with a complimentary tone that customers were reacting to.

Sales Recruiting 211

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Branding 211

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 9, 2019

To invest in you when there’s no logical reason to. Manage People. This is one of the best things you can do, because 50% of the job of a CEO is recruiting a team, leading a team, empowering a team, convincing a team. Manage anyone you can, even if it’s not perfect. Being a CEO is tough. To do the impossible.

Sales Hiring 278

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting AWS Churn 278

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

Every prospect championing a software purchase will be asked by the opponents of the sale and decision-makers : “Who else is using the software?” And the best way to fight the inertia in sales is to equip your champions. A great customer logo slide is like a bank account. Logos confer credibility.

Sales Recruiting 201

Sales Recruiting Banking Branding Software 201

SaaStr

JANUARY 18, 2023

It’s the most common objection you’ll get in SaaS sales … Not Right Now. It can’t strategically improve sales software, financial software, quoting software, recruiting software, QA processes, call center software, etc. And when you hire a real, great VP of Sales. Truly qualified leads and prospects. I Don’t Have Budget.

Sales Recruiting 257

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Technical Review Software Review 257