SaaStr

MARCH 1, 2024

In SaaS, once you have even a few million in ARR, the #1 challenge is recruiting top-tier VPs and building a truly top-tier management team: SaaS products mostly don’t sell themselves. You can hack managing and finding 1–3 reps yourself, but after that, you really need a VP of Sales. She can be your CTO forever.

Scale 246

Scale Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Fractional VPE 246

SaaStr

DECEMBER 16, 2023

We’ve discussed most before individually, but let me throw ’em together: It may well take 24 months to get to true product-market fit and Initial Traction. You have to love, or at least commit to, recruiting constantly. If you’re not willing to constantly recruit cross-functionality … you’ll never attract the talent.

Part-Time VPE 217

Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Sales Recruiting VPCs (Virtual Private Cloud) 217

OPEXEngine

APRIL 12, 2022

Emboldened by this seeming endorsement, I dashed off what turned into a lengthy email on interviewing and recruiting, a topic about which I am passionate not because I think I am good at it but because I think I am not. Thoughts on The Recruiting Process. Remember it’s a mutual sales process. Know what you’re looking for.

Sales Recruiting 40

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Interviewing Finance 40

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 175

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Sales 175

SaaStr

AUGUST 30, 2022

Great product, driven team, good early product-market fit, great vision. 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? Check, check, check and check.

Sales Recruiting 227

Sales Recruiting Technical Cofounder Scale Investment 227

SaaStr

AUGUST 15, 2021

Are you both willing to go 18–24 months before initial product market fit? But one of you has to lead on Customers/Sales/Marketing and the other likely on Product/Engineering for it really to work. Most products do not sell themselves. Better recruiter than you. Are you both 100% all-in?

Sales Recruiting 277

Sales Recruiting Engineering Product Marketing Marketing 277

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 22, 2015

On December 2, SaaS Office Hours at Redpoint will welcome Maia Josebachvilli , VP of Strategy and People at Greenhouse, a fast growing recruiting software company. Maia is especially well known for her thought leadership in developing best in class recruiting metrics. She was also selected for Inc’s 30 under 30.

Sales Recruiting 100

Sales Recruiting Metrics SaaS Sales Funnel 100

User Pilot

JUNE 19, 2024

Interested in product marketing manager roles? In this guide, we’ll explore the ins and outs of product marketing manager roles through detailed job descriptions and handy templates. TL;DR A product marketing manager is a professional responsible for promoting and selling their company’s products.

Product Marketing 52

Product Marketing Management Marketing Sales Recruiting 52

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. It’s part of the job now.

Sales Recruiting 285

Sales Recruiting Trends Sales Hiring Software Review 285

Andreessen Horowitz

OCTOBER 16, 2023

One of the toughest challenges for founders — and especially technical founders who are used to focusing so much on product features over sales — is striking “product-market fit”. What does this mean for product design and product management? the night before it was to IPO).

Product Marketing 78

Product Marketing Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting 78

SaaStr

AUGUST 26, 2020

Founder-led sales generally stops scaling around $1m-$2m ARR. A sign to hire a real sales leader. Over the years at SaaStr we’ve talked a lot about hiring a great VP of Sales, when it works, when it does, and how it moves the needle. To stick with founder-led sales longer than most folks do, i.e. past $1.5m-$2m ARR or so.

Sales Hiring 283

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 283

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. Q: Should Product Marketing Work for Product or Marketing?

Scale 237

Scale Sales Hiring AI Sales Recruiting 237

SaaStr

JUNE 2, 2023

Recruit diverse leaders The goal of hiring a revenue leader is to put gasoline on finding product market fit success. Hire a leader who will not only agree with you but someone you can disagree with in a respectful and productive way. Prioritize demand discovery Demand is a strong indicator of product market fit.

Sales Recruiting 209

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Branding 209

Intercom, Inc.

MAY 16, 2018

Despite the mountain of evidence contradicting the mantra of “if you build it, they will come”, it’s still extremely prevalent among product-first companies. In this article, you’ll learn how to: Understand the role of product marketing. Start creating your product marketing plan.

Product Marketing 223

Product Marketing Strategy Marketing Sales Hiring 223

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Dig deeper on a lot of titles during recruiting. A "VP of Product Marketing" rarely knows anything about demand gen, ABM, etc. A "VP of Revenue" often knows nothing about inside sales or building a sales team. A "CRO" often doesn't want to do sales anymore. Sales is hard.

Sales Hiring 272

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Growth Hacking Product Marketing 272

SaaStr

JUNE 27, 2024

At the same time, you want to give trust and power to people who recruit, and you do that by ensuring they understand what the culture is. How Can You Tell When You Have Product Market Fit? Over time, you establish product-market fit and determine how to sell at scale. She still works at Remote.

Scale 203

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Sales Recruiting 203

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.

Sales Hiring 234

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Revenue 234

User Pilot

MAY 30, 2024

Overlapping responsibilities and conflicting priorities are just a couple of the many friction points between product managers and product marketing managers – leading to inefficient workflows and potential product failures. Product marketing managers focus on getting the product in the right hands.

Product Marketing 77

Product Marketing Interviewing Management Scale 77

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 13, 2022

When You Fall Out of Product-Market Fit. SaaStr 603: SaaStr CRO Confidential Presents the Ultimate Guide to Sales Compensation, Quotas and Recruiting with SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin. 5 Interesting Learnings from Duolingo at $360,000,000 in ARR. Top Podcasts This Week: 1. Top Videos This Week: 1.

Sales Recruiting 220

Sales Recruiting AWS Compensation Enterprise 220

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2024

They discuss Sam’s learnings at Founders Fund, what the 2024 playbook looks like, hiring and motivating sales teams, and a handful of audience questions. On the sales side, people hired way too much. More salespeople do not equal more sales. If they don’t, they never will , and they’ll never learn the product.

Sales Hiring 252

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Headcount 252

Intercom, Inc.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

That’s why some of Intercom’s first marketing hires were product marketers and why we’ve had a “seat at the table” from the early days of the company. . Product marketing looks different in every company, but one common trend is that many product marketing managers (PMMs) feel undervalued.

Product Marketing 138

Product Marketing Marketing Sales Hiring Scale 138

SaaStr

JULY 11, 2023

How do you win with a high-velocity sales strategy in a fast-moving, competitive market? In a special session of Workshop Wednesday, Gorgias Founder & CEO Romain Lapeyre and Gorgias VP of Sales & Partnerships Aasif Osmany share their learnings, advice, and hacks for optimizing your sales process.

Sales Hiring 159

Sales Hiring SMB Sales Recruiting Payment Methods 159

Sales Hacker

AUGUST 27, 2024

Navigating the challenges of raising funding and finding product-market fit. Building a strong internal BDR team versus outsourcing sales efforts. 51:44) One thing that is working for Mark in go-to-market right now. Most recruiting firms fill an order, but IPS is a different breed of search firm.

Outsourcing Services 103

Outsourcing Services Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Sales Outsourcing 103

SaaStr

JUNE 15, 2021

Product-Market Fit: There’s no shortcut –– finding the perfect target will always take time and hard work to get right. Finding the product-market fit is still the same iterative process. Recruitment: Getting the right talent onboard is a critical step. In fact, you need both to optimally grow your sales efforts.

Sales Recruiting 195

Sales Recruiting Scale Software Delivery Travel 195

SaaStr

APRIL 16, 2021

Own product marketing. Own customer marketing (hopefully). Support and partner with sales. And part of being a good marketer is … well, marketing yourself. Many of the top CMOs are out there are always marketing. Many of the top CMOs are out there are always marketing.

Sales Recruiting 270

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Branding Product Marketing 270

Sales Hacker

APRIL 23, 2024

Linda Lian is Co-Founder and CEO at Common Room, the all-in-one customer intelligence platform that automatically surfaces signals across 30+ channels, reveals the person and account behind the signal, and automates actions like email messaging and team alerts. Lessons learned from scaling innovative products and go-to-market motions at AWS.

Sales Recruiting 91

Sales Recruiting Scale AWS Management 91

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 2, 2019

If you must choose a long term headquarters for your startup, call an executive recruiter who focuses in that city. VP Engineering, VP Product, VP Sales, VP Customer Success, VP Marketing, or VP Operations. After establishing product market fit, the startups grow their management team to scale.

Sales Recruiting 208

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Startup Scale 208

SaaStr

JULY 15, 2019

Are you both willing to go 18–24 months before initial product market fit? But one of you has to lead on Customers/Sales/Marketing and the other likely on Product/Engineering for it really to work. Most products do not sell themselves. Better recruiter than you. Are you both 100% all-in?

Sales Recruiting 190

Sales Recruiting Engineering Product Marketing Marketing 190

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. Recruiting is easier, but the things that don’t change are customers don’t care.

Sales Recruiting 244

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale VP of Engineering 244

SaaStr

MARCH 19, 2021

I see this all the time in marketing hires that come out of non-demand gen roles. Sometimes a marketing lead with a corporate marketing or even product marketing background actually signs up for a lead or other commit. A head of sales that doesn’t recruit at least one strong rep in the first 90 days.

Sales Recruiting 313

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring SMB Engineering 313

OpenView Labs

JUNE 3, 2021

If you aren’t clear on what product marketing is, how it’s different from product management, and what the responsibilities of a product marketer are, you’re not alone. Specifically, I’m talking about product management and product marketing.

Product Marketing 93

Product Marketing Sales Hiring Startup Scale 93

Sales Hacker

MAY 6, 2021

From B2C consumer-focused tech to the next B2B enterprise cloud giants, B2B, and B2C technology companies are springing up left and right and sprinting toward multi-billion dollar valuations (whether on the private or public markets) faster than ever. What’s the difference between a VP of Sales and a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)?

VP of Engineering 98

VP of Engineering Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales 98

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 21, 2020

The customer story typically originates from two founts; either the founders or product marketing. Regardless, the message should be promulgated through every channel: sales, marketing, press, recruiting, events, etc. The more you can spread the narrative, the greater the potential force for your business.

Sales Recruiting 293

Sales Recruiting Banking Engineering Customer Support 293

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 11, 2020

A recruiter in the audience submitted a question often discussed in startup boardrooms. The head of product would prefer someone with product marketing experience. And when I say pillar, I mean like a product marketing problem, a growth problem, or brand marketing problem.

Sales Hiring 247

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Product Marketing Startup 247

Point Nine Land

OCTOBER 23, 2023

P9 Panel on Hiring Sales Leaders — Founders Summit 2023 “You are going to fire your first sales manager!” — A lesson too many founders learn the hard way. The Founder isn’t willing to be the first salesperson Many of the best founders we work with don’t have a sales background and are either product or engineering focused.

Sales Hiring 124

Sales Hiring Scale Technical Advisors Technical Cofounder 124

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

As he told me a few days ago, he has observed the lack of sales management and sales execution skills as one of the most consistent deficiencies limiting the potential of early stage SaaS companies. Sales execution deficiency manifests itself at roughly the same time as product market fit.

Sales Hiring 184

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Compensation 184

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

It takes a year to figure something out (sales, next-gen product, marketing, etc.), the next year to optimize it and get the first next-level managers in place, and then you want a couple of years to just scale the heck out of a great hire’s skillset. You need to spend 20%+ of your time recruiting.

Sales Recruiting 350

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Scaling 350