SaaStr

NOVEMBER 29, 2024

It’s not the crazy hiring market of 2021. He just can’t find enough great folks to hire. It earned them special attention from others on the hiring panel + company leaders… — Brie Wolfson (@zebriez) November 26, 2024 Everyone great is hiring. But almost everyone growing even at “pretty good” rates is hiring.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 19, 2024

So we have a classic set of New Year’s Resolutions in SaaS that we update every year. Over the years, so much has changed in SaaS. So with that here are Your Top 10 New Years SaaS Resolutions for 2025: #1. Go Hire That Missing VP! The best way to get out of a hole is to hire a great VP. A great VP of Sales.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 20, 2024

Former Head of Revenue at BILL and HubSpot Americas leader Michelle Benfer recently joined us on a SaaStr Workshop Wednesday share her insights on one of the most critical roles in any SaaS organization: the frontline sales manager. “At HubSpot, I had over 100 frontline sales managers reporting to me.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 31, 2024

So I caught up the other day with the CTO of a leading SaaS company with tens of thousands of customers, growing quickly. This is a leader in SaaS. In vertical SaaS, many are even further behind. The post Most SaaS Apps Are Just Getting Starting With AI. AI is all over their homepage and website and comms.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 25, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How far in the SaaS can a 10 or 20 person team go? But maybe not so much in SaaS. Today, the most efficient public SaaS company is probably Doximity, at about $700,000 in revenue per employee. Theres just physics here to get to $10m in ARR in a sales-led model, even a partially sales-led model: After $1.5m

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SaaStr

JANUARY 16, 2025

Workato’s SVP of Embedded Sales and Director of Solutions Marketing joined us at SaaStr Annual to talk about how to nurture customers — a great topic in general, but especially for embedded sales and APIs that can take a while to scale. The Second Most Important SaaS Hire? Customer Success. But the results?

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SaaStr

AUGUST 26, 2022

Who we’re hiring for at SaaStr: Director of Account Management to support our top sponsors. Ideally has some services or agency CS experience, not just SaaS. The post Who We’re Hiring for Team SaaStr: Director of Account Management, and Director of Email / Growth Marketing appeared first on SaaStr.

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SaaStr

JANUARY 9, 2025

Dear SaaStr: What Are Some Successful SaaS Leaders Without Sales Teams? Many that are self-serve and SMB-focused can start off without a sales team … for a while. But almost none stay without a sales team … forever. Yes, Atlassian since well past its IPO had almost no direct sales team. Maybe on Day 0.

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SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

What are the top 10 mistakes founders are still making today when hiring their VP of Sales? SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin, has done numerous surveys now that confirm that a startling 70% of first hires don’t make it. In this post, we’ll delve into the common pitfalls founders encounter when hiring a VP of Sales.

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SaaStr

MARCH 15, 2025

It’s live on SaaStr.com itself and you can also access it here and talk to AI Jason about any of 1000s and 1000s of B2B, sales, SaaS, VC, etc. Here are some of the top ones: “How My VP, Sales Doubled Our Sales in 90 Days. Here are some of the top ones: “How My VP, Sales Doubled Our Sales in 90 Days.

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SaaStr

OCTOBER 16, 2023

We’re hiring at SaaStr!! Take over our complex email campaigns to drive event attendance and ticket sales, as well as our 4 weekly newsletters. Senior Sales Executive. Own 50+ accounts. Build relationships with the top marketers in SaaS! The post We’re Hiring at SaaStr! VP/Director of Events.

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SaaStr

MARCH 29, 2025

Dear SaaStr: What Are The Best Ways to Transition From The Founder-Led Sales Stage? Transitioning from founder-led sales to a commissioned sales team is one of the most criticaland trickysteps in scaling a SaaS business. You Never Get to Leave Sales. This is non-negotiableeven if you hate sales. Be specific.

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SaaStr

MARCH 11, 2024

So you’re hiring your first few sales reps in the early days? Before you have a great VP of Sales? So you need a very certain type of sales rep. Don’t make the hire. If they just show up at 2:05 onto the Zoom though, don’t make the hire. #2. Not during founder-led sales.

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SaaStr

OCTOBER 13, 2024

I found, when I was a SaaS CEO, that the CEOs that complained about needing a COO early, that it was too hard (which it is), etc. I felt part of your core job as CEO was to assemble a management team, not complain about how you couldn’t get it all done. Or didn’t want to do sales. Hiring a strong COO between Management Team 1.0

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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. Don’t make this hire. 50% of what a VP of Sales really does is recruiting.

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SaaStr

MAY 24, 2022

Many mediocre hires were made to fill slots, reference checks not made, etc. If there really is a slowdown (and I’m not sure will be in SaaS), folks will have to work harder. So I’m not yet convinced times are really tougher for SaaS companies. Everyone talks about making 10x hires, and each hire being better than the last.

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SaaStr

APRIL 1, 2023

On the hiring side, it often seemed like you just couldn’t hire anyone. Everyone was hiring everyone, anyone, back in mid-2021. We hired job hoppers that never stayed anywhere for more than 18 months for leadership roles. The post Lowering the Hiring (And Investing) Bar Didn’t Work appeared first on SaaStr.

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SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

Ah, hiring those first 1 or 2 sales reps. So often, they are mis-hires. But when you get that Sales Magician — they really can be a game changer. If that’s you, hiring your first few sales reps, here are our Top 10 SaaStr Posts on Hiring Your First Few Sales Reps: #1.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 29, 2024

Top Posts of the Week: #1: Salesforce: Actually Were Going to Hire 2,000 Sales Execs Now To Sell AI #2: Gong: $100k Deals Take About 70 Days to Close #3: Why The Greatest Sales Teams Just Kill It On Dec 31. When Everyone Else Has Gone Home. #4:

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SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

But we’re lapping tougher times for many, and for many others, it’s just plain time to hire again. So many Cloud and SaaS leaders kept hiring flat for the past 12-18 months, and yet still grew. That works for a while, but you end up with not enough headcount if you do freeze hiring but still want to grow.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 19, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What are the signs that an enterprise SaaS startup is ready to scale by hiring more sales people? For a higher-velocity, in-bound driven SaaS product, most sales reps will have trouble processing more than 50 or so truly qualified leads a month. Before $10m ARR or so, more qualified leads = more sales.

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SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2025

Top Posts: #1: 2025 And The Rise of the Mech AE (Account Executive) #2: 2025 Should Be Better Than 2024 For Almost All Leading Public SaaS Companies #3: 38% of Bootstrapped Start-Ups Have Solo Founders. But Only 17% of VC-Backed Ones Do. And 10%-12% of Ones That IPO. #4:

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SaaStr

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

Dear SaaStr: Should SaaS Startups Really Have CROs or COOs? Is That Too Many Management Layers? Theres no way a SaaS startup needs a CRO or COO or other C-level Officers Without a Clear, Single Functional Area to Own Until $40m-50m+ in ARR. As weve all gotten more experienced in SaaS, weve specialized more.

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SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

There are 3 types of hires you may be tempted to make now, but you just can’t: The Jaded, The Broken, and The Done They’ve always existed, it’s just there are so many more folks with great LinkedIns and experiences in these categories in SaaS. Just don’t hire them. You can’t hire them.

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SaaStr

JULY 3, 2023

Dear SaaStr: When Should You Hire Your First Demand Generation Marketer in SaaS? A deep dive on that and why here: I Hired My VP of Marketing at $20k MRR. In a recurring revenue model, you want to make every accretive hire you can. Or just hiring a junior marketer to start to save a few dollars. Don’t wait.

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SaaStr

MARCH 17, 2025

Hire an Ex Post-Facto Co-Founder: This is someone who isnt technically a co-founder but acts like one. It could be a VP of Product, Sales, or Engineeringsomeone who takes ownership of a big chunk of the business and cares almost as much as you do. Prioritize Great Early Hires. If youre technical, hire someone who can sell.

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SaaStr

FEBRUARY 1, 2025

When I look at the VP of Sales / CRO that didnt work out the past 12-18 months across the SaaStr Fund portfolio and my ecosystem, one thing stands out. And its an old SaaStr theme: #1: You have to hire folks in sales where their last job was harder. How many times can you sell somewhat sorry but boring SaaS products?

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SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

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.

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SaaStr

MAY 30, 2023

So one of the latest SaaStr surveys confirms what I’m seeing, and we’re seeing across many public SaaS companies. Hiring has way slowed down, but many folks are still hiring, albeit at a reduced rate. 56% of you aren’t hiring, or barely hiring. The post 43% of You Are Still Hiring.

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SaaStr

JULY 11, 2024

How Do You Sift Out the Bitter and Broken Individuals When Hiring? If it’s a role you’ve never hired, find someone great at it and have them do your final interview. For sales, product, or customer success, the best question you could ask is, “What would you do your first couple of weeks?” Don’t hire those people to lead.

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SaaStr

APRIL 2, 2025

Dear SaaStr: How Long Should You Give a New Sales Rep? sales cycles. Sales is tough. And while sales is pretty similar in SaaS at a given price point / ACV, different products are still different to sell.A sales cycles, it rarely works out. sales cycles, I’ve seen that work.

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SaaStr

MARCH 12, 2025

About Dave Kellogg Dave Kellogg brings a rare combination of marketing and executive leadership experience to his analysis of SaaS businesses. “Marketing is fluffy and unmeasurable” – Unlike sales, which has clear metrics like quota attainment, founders often believe marketing can’t be measured.

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SaaStr

AUGUST 12, 2024

Probably the biggest challenge in vertical SaaS I see is scaling the sales team. It’s pretty easy to hire SaaS sales execs to sell … a SaaS sales product. But who do you hire to sell a very complex piece of vertical software? Plan to be in founder-led sales mode longer.

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SaaStr

OCTOBER 27, 2022

In SaaS, I think one of the biggest traps you can get yourself into as a founder is doing Low ROI things for one minute longer than you have to. But quickly, in SaaS, it becomes worse. Why didn’t we just hire another 3 guys in TechOps much, much. I was lucky to have a great hire who handled our first few large customers.

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SaaStr

JANUARY 8, 2025

When Lindsey joined, she inherited an already built-out self-serve/PLG model for small businesses and a mid-market and enterprise sales, customer success, and post-sales team. But at the start of its expansion play, Checkr’s enterprise motion failed, and sales cycles were slow, taking up to a year for $100k & up deals.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 18, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What is the best way to deal with an “unauthorized signer” on a contract in SaaS sales? I would have let it go, but it was very important to a sales rep. I’ve been there, on both sides of it. Let me just add my personal learnings. Against my better judgment, this one time, I tried to enforce it.

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SaaStr

AUGUST 7, 2024

Dear SaaStr: Our VC Is Encouraging Us to Hire Aggressively and Increase the Burn Rate. Most of the first-time founders I’ve invested in aren’t “spending enough” in that they are a bit too slow to make accretive hires. The best version of this advice is to help founders learn where to make certain hires faster.

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