The Angel VC

OCTOBER 8, 2015

This is part two of Jenny's article about the importance of reference checks. Last time we spoke about WHY you should do reference checks and what impact a bad hire can have on your organization. General thoughts on the HOW: If you do reference checks, make sure they are one of the last steps of your recruitment process.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Leadership Investment 129

The Angel VC

MARCH 14, 2015

In both cases I asked how the reference calls went, and in both cases the answer was that they hadn't done any before hiring the candidate. I can think of a few possible reasons: "Based on the candidate's CV and my interviews I'm so confident that he/she is the right one, reference calls aren't necessary." It costs so much time!"

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Natalia Luneva

JANUARY 7, 2023

Cheat sheets Get up to speed fast with these quick references and keyboard shortcuts. The post Microsoft office 2016 training courses free.Quick Reference Guides first appeared on Natalie Luneva. The post Microsoft office 2016 training courses free.Quick Reference Guides appeared first on Natalie Luneva. Necessary Necessary.

Technology 52

Technology Software Development Data Software 52

IT World

JULY 12, 2022

This download accompanies our Word for Microsoft 365 cheat sheet. See that article for detailed information on how to get the most out of Word for Microsoft 365/Office 365 in Windows. To read this article in full, please click here (Insider Story)

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Tom Tunguz

APRIL 3, 2013

Reference checks are part and parcel of the VC diligence process and most hiring processes. Types of References. I find it’s valuable to speak to references who have worked with the candidate in different roles. I find it’s valuable to speak to references who have worked with the candidate in different roles.

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Sales Hiring Technical Review Interviewing Engineering 100

Unbounce

JANUARY 29, 2019

You earn 20% of the recurring revenue for every person you refer to Unbounce, and keep earning for as long as they remain a customer (it can really add up). “As the best-in-show landing page software on the market, Unbounce makes it SO easy for me to create residual income by recommending and referring clients and other marketers.”

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Payments Revenue Payment Methods PayPal 109

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 29, 2024

The AI even references images in the post. They reference a pasted image & the contents of the image - in this case a schematic of the Initia stack. There are some inaccuracies : the AI references TVL (total value locked) as cash, which isn’t exactly right in this case, but it’s close.

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AI Search AI Generative AI Advertising 224

USIO

JULY 1, 2024

How to Implement a Referral Program: Create a Referral Incentive : Offer existing customers a discount, a free month of service, or other perks for every new customer they refer. Simplify the Referral Process : Make it easy for customers to refer others by providing them with a unique referral link they can share via email or social media.

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Payments SaaS Payments Payment Solutions Payment Services 306

TechEmpower SaaS

DECEMBER 11, 2023

References: The company should willingly provide references. Do they assist with the transition to in-house or other developers? How do they handle hosting and support? Client Retention: Do they have repeat or long-term clients?

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Software Development Development Software Review Software 443

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

And some do very in-depth ones with lots of “off sheet” references (i.e., Many do few references checks beyond the CEO, but not all. 1 rough reference isn’t going to stop a deal. Everyone does some background checks, or least they did outside of the Boom Times of late 2020 through late 2021. ones not provided by the CEO).

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Investment Leadership 204

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 19, 2024

Customers you have a bond with will give you positive reviews on G2, become your reference customers, share their success stories, and work together with you on product innovation. This will naturally build trust with your customers. Extending Your Service Window As you scale, you may expand your target audience, even internationally.

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CloseSaaS

DECEMBER 14, 2015

Can you provide some references for us?” You’ve been on the phone with your prospects for a while, and your sales game is on fire. You’re pumped, and ready to seal the deal. Then they pop the question: “We’d like to get a sense of your business from customers similar to us.

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SaaStr

APRIL 30, 2024

If you aren’t sure … then check references. So pick investors: You trust ; that Can help the most. Everything else is secondary. But those two points do encompass a lot of variables. The post Dear SaaStr: How Can I Remove a Troublesome Investor from my Cap Table? appeared first on SaaStr.

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Leadership 240

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2022

Many mediocre hires were made to fill slots, reference checks not made, etc. Do reference checks, on and off sheet. Often with zero reference checks or diligence. So maybe it’s time to get back to the Old Ways, with more interviews, more time, and real reference checks. So did startups. jasonlk) May 23, 2022. Probably.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Startup 265

CloseSaaS

MARCH 26, 2014

When you're talking with prospective clients, they'll sometimes ask you for references. They want to talk with someone other than you to get a real customer's perspective on your product and service.References of happy customers are one of the most powerful sales tools you have.

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Startup Sales 52

SaaStr

MARCH 12, 2024

Do Reference Checks — Thoughtfully VC reference checks are a bit nuanced. A lot of VCs publish today. Blog posts. Read, watch, and listen. Do this enough, you will get a sense of what they are truly like. #5. What will failed founders say? What about folks that never hit the plan? They may give negative feedback on VCs.

Sales 243

Sales 243

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 7, 2024

They refer all single-user prospects to a competitor — right on their website. Put the Customer First Fast — Including When It’s Not the Right Fit Mangomint today at eight figures in ARR isn’t just focused on SMBs, it’s focused on the “M” in SMB (much like HubSpot historically was).

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SaaS Payments Payments Payment Methods SMB 271

SaaStr

MARCH 23, 2024

What will matter is that you don’t squander the leads, that you make them happy, that you learn from them, and that they refer others to you. In the end, it won’t matter too much if your first 100 customers pay you $50,000 in total or $100,000. It will matter, but not too much. But after that, you need some professionals. Often 2x better.

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SaaStr

JANUARY 8, 2022

References Really Do Matter Here — from Customers Too if possible. Sometimes, references are just a Check the Box exercise. If they won’t provide a positive reference — that’s a big flag. But even in that case, the products don’t have to be remotely similar. Not here.

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Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Sales Pricing 285

SaaStr

JUNE 4, 2023

A few tells: No CEO-level reference. Please, do real reference checks — and find at least one CEO or boss that says they are truly great. Reference checks are not a waste of time. But they actually aren’t that good. They didn’t really do it. They just worked there. Maybe not everywhere. Zero is an issue.

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Sales Hiring SaaS Interviewing Startup 242

SaaStr

OCTOBER 12, 2022

He has one terrible reference. Yes, but what about the other 3 great references? True, but it got the journey going. Don’t leave. I’ll pay you $50,000 to stay. A lot of money. But it was time. Don’t hire that VP. The best in startups often break a little glass. Too much is a problem.

Investment 255

Investment Startup Technology 255

Tom Tunguz

JULY 24, 2024

” Better for large enterprises to wait until there’s a reference architecture that’s been proven to work. So AI products aren’t electric motors with one or two moving pieces, but more like the gas powered engines with many moving parts. Plus, data movement is less expensive than in the previous era.

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AI Artificial Intelligence AWS Innovation 246

The Daily Egg

JANUARY 9, 2024

More often, the term refers to a key component of your network. These days, firewalls aren’t just a part of building construction. The post What Is a Firewall and How Do I Know If It’s Working? appeared first on The Daily Egg.

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Construction 173

Sparktoro

DECEMBER 2, 2024

They get <9% of all web visits, but send more than 60% of all referring traffic to other sites. They’ve held 90%+ of the global search market share for 15 years. Even the rise of AI tools has been unable to budget that number (so far). Google is certainly one of…

AI Search 79

AI Search Data AI Marketing 79

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

It takes time here, often a few years for enough happy customers to refer you enough other happy customers to really matter. Which means once you get 100, then 500 or 1000 customer … there will be enough super happy customers to get a word-of-mouth engine going.

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Scale Engineering Acquisition Metrics 233

Totango

DECEMBER 22, 2022

According to research at the Wharton School of Business, a referred customer can have at least twice the lifetime value of a non-referred customer. Once you’ve defined and identified your promoters, develop a plan for following up and making it easy for them to refer your product, service, or company to their professional network.

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Social Media Software Review Customer Success Communication 106

SaaStr

JULY 22, 2021

To get that word-of-mouth/viral/refer ral engine going faster. The more you share success with your existing customers — the more they will refer more of their friends to you. If you see 20% or more of your new customers coming from word-of-mouth by $2m-$3m ARR, Things are going really well. Do it for rea l. More on that here.

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Sales Hiring Scale Customer Success Branding 358

SaaStr

MAY 27, 2023

The latest Carta data summarizes it well: But while raise VC capital has gotten harder, the rough rules in B2B / SaaS haven’t really changed: Seed Round: $10k-$100k a month in revenue Growing 150% annually or more Strong founders, including strong technical co-founder Series A: $2m ARR or more ($1m if in hot space and growing fast) Growing 100%-150% (..)

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Venture Capital Startup CTO Churn 249

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 17, 2023

User Evidence which helps collect high value references, case studies, and more. Other than your own, what app would you never let anyone take away from you no matter what: Asana – our team lives in it and it keeps us in sync. #4. What’s your top “undiscovered gem” — an app you love but others may not have heard of?

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Marketing Scale Mobile Branding 256

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 24, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: How to Do a Reference Check in 60 Seconds Building a Global SaaS Empire: 5 Bets That Paid Off with Freshworks How to Be a Much Better Sales Executive in About 60 Seconds Salesforce, Samsara, Monday and More: “Layoffs are Over.

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Sales Hiring Scale AI Cloud 246

User Pilot

AUGUST 7, 2024

Product depth refers to the variety within each product line. TL;DR Product mix refers to the total collection of products and services offered by a company. TL;DR Product mix refers to the total collection of products and services offered by a company. Product mix encompasses all the product lines a company offers.

Pricing 92

Pricing Branding Strategy Enterprise 92

SaaStr

AUGUST 27, 2024

So they decided to make a reference guide, like developer documentation, but for doctors. Publish 150+ Articles Every Month In addition to the reference guide, Rupa publishes 150+ articles a month. The same way Rupa did the reference guide. They needed to build a user experience that allowed Google to index everything in it.

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Scale AI Search Sales Hiring Social Media 217

SaaStr

APRIL 1, 2023

We stopped doing reference checks. While layoffs are all across the news today, looking back, July 2021 was the nadir for layoffs. Everyone was hiring everyone, anyone, back in mid-2021. This data from Carta helps illustrate it: So we cut corners. No time, didn’t want to know.

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Sales Hiring Investment Leadership Startup 267

SaaStr

OCTOBER 30, 2024

1 Do reference checks Talk to as many founders they’ve invested in as you can and do reference checks. A bad investor doesn’t come off the cap table until you sell the company or years after an IPO. And so much happens in that time, in that decade or more. So here are 8 signs to help you avoid bad investors. #1

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Venture Capital Software Review Investment Startup 264

SmartKarrot

APRIL 28, 2021

Although the game of customer reference can be a pretty risky venture, you need to know what to do and specifically what not to do. When you play your cards right, there is a golden chance that won’t just add a new customer but also augment relationships with your existing references. What is a Customer Reference? Source: Veeva.

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Scale Software Review Technical Review Branding 10

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 26, 2024

Well, as frustrating as it can be when a new VP, a new Director, a new IC doesn’t work out … it was your fault not doing enough diligence: Did you really do reference checks? Did you do good ones? Were you really sure they could do the job? Or did you more love their LinkedIn and experience? Did the hire really meet the bar?

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