article thumbnail

What Order Should You Hire Your Management Team In?

SaaStr

IME, rough order to make hires in: VPM: $0.2m ARR VPS: $1-$1.5m ARR VPCS: $2m ARR VPP: $3m-$4m ARR VPE: $5m-$6m ARR CFO: $10m ARR COO: $20m ARR. He’d found several good First VP candidates, in particular, a strong first head of marketing and a strong first head of product. He asked which to hire first.

article thumbnail

The Top 10 Things to Know Before Starting a SaaS Company

SaaStr

A mediocre tech team, a part-time CTO, or even just a decent CTO just doesn’t get you there. Wait until you find a great partner here. Finally you have great customers and traction — but you can’t afford to hire all the people you need to meet their needs. If you can’t do the time, don’t do the startup.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Dear SaaStr: I’m Bootstrapped. How Can I Afford to Hire Any VPs?

SaaStr

Q: When should a bootstrapped startup hire a (CFO, COO, CMO)? How can a CEO hire those C-level positions for the first time as a CEO and entrepreneur? Here are some rough rules: You want a VP of Everything (Sales, Marketing, Product, Eng) by about $1m-$2m ARR. You probably have to hire them one at a time, a bit slowly.

article thumbnail

Dear SaaStr: When should a bootstrapped startup hire a (CFO, COO, CMO)?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: When should a bootstrapped startup hire a (CFO, COO, CMO)? How can a CEO hire those C-level positions for the first time as a CEO and entrepreneur? Here are some rough rules: You want a VP of Everything (Sales, Marketing, Product, Eng) by about $5m ARR, and ideally, Sales and Marketing well before that.

article thumbnail

The Top 5 Things Everyone Should Know Before Starting a SaaS Company

SaaStr

but you can’t afford to hire all the people you need to meet their needs. If you can’t do the time, don’t do the startup. You have to love, or at least commit to, recruiting constantly. You have to hire so many functions in SaaS?—?VPS, VPS, VPM, VPP, VPCS, VPE, etc. More here: TAM is Great.

article thumbnail

Bet On Up-and-Comers. But Add One Veteran For Each $10m ARR.

SaaStr

The first type is the kind of management team hired by second+ time founders. Often folks they convince to once again be a VP of Eng or VP of Sales. But most of us are first-time founders, or close to it. But most of us are first-time founders, or close to it. The director that wants a shot at VP.