SaaStr

MARCH 18, 2025

” – Colin Jones, CRO Emeritus at Wiz You may have seen the news that Google is making its biggest acquisition — by far — of Cloud and SaaS security leader Wiz for a stunning $32 Billion (!). Rather than seeing this as a liability, Wiz leveraged it as a strategic advantage — even in its sales team.

Scale 182

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Headcount 182

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. Flock Safety is a hardware-enabled SaaS company dedicated to stopping crime.

Sales Recruiting 251

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Sales 251

SaaStr

JANUARY 31, 2022

Having learned from thousands of customers and prospects, Sarah Lash, Envoy’s head of enterprise sales, will talk about what it takes to guide and scale enterprise sales programs during an uncertain future. In my first six months at Envoy , I grew the sales team from six to 17. Combine Strategies To Drive Sales.

Sales Recruiting 246

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Enterprise 246

SaaStr

JUNE 22, 2021

The other day I saw a VP of Sales flame out and resign with no notice from a SaaS company doing $10m ARR growing quickly. So I thought it might be helpful to brush off the topic of alignment between Sales and Marketing by updating a classic post on the topic. What 3 factors/skills must every VP of sales possess?

Sales Recruiting 310

Sales Recruiting Scale Sales Hiring Revenue 310

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

In SaaS, #1 most common misfire, with a bullet, is the VP/head of sales. It goes something like “You’ve Got to Get Past the Carcass of Your First VP of Sales” or “It’s The Second VP of Sales When You Really Start Selling” or variants thereof. Because in SaaS start-ups, it seems like the majority of first VP Sales fail.

Sales Hiring 363

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Sales 363

SaaStr

JANUARY 27, 2021

But I thought I’d take a stab at the Top 10 Pieces of Classic SaaS Advice … that, in my experience at least, are usually Just Plain Wrong. If a VP of Sales can’t improve things in one sales cycle or less — she never will. In one sales cycle, or less. SaaS compounds. Not always, but usually.

Part-Time VPE 348

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting 348

SaaStr

OCTOBER 28, 2022

Conversations about the state of the SaaS market in 2022 are everywhere, and it can seem overwhelming for entrepreneurs and business leaders to make sense of everything. A New SaaS Playbook. This focus on margins and efficiency forces SaaS companies to adjust the tried-and-true playbook.

Sales Recruiting 258

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Leadership Interviewing 258

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. Then, we have this community in SaaS — SaaStr.

Sales Hiring 281

Sales Hiring Part-Time VPE VP of Engineering Sales Recruiting 281

SaaStr

AUGUST 7, 2021

But if you can’t tell me the future (in your market) at least 3 years out … then it’s hard for me to believe in SaaS you’ll ever build a unicorn. Exit Strategy Slide. An Exit Strategy Slide almost by definition tells me you aren’t. You’re in sales. Recruit the VPs?

Sales Recruiting 341

Sales Recruiting Scale AWS Investment 341

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 2, 2015

Last night, SaaS Office Hours at Redpoint welcomed Maia Josebachvilli , the VP of People and Strategy of Greenhouse. Specifically, she champions a metrics-based approach for developing world class recruiting teams. Maia reports these five strategic recruiting metrics to the executive team each quarter.

Sales Recruiting 109

Sales Recruiting Startup Sales Hiring Data Analysis 109

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2024

At SaaStr Miami, former Founder’s Fund Partner and CRO of Brex Sam Blond — host of the SaaStr CRO Confidential Podcast — sat down with SaaStr CEO and founder Jason Lemkin for a fireside chat about finding success as a SaaS company in 2024. On the sales side, people hired way too much. More salespeople do not equal more sales.

Sales Hiring 297

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Headcount 297

SaaStr

MARCH 17, 2021

The other day, I met with a great founder who talked with me about how he was about to top his VP of Sales. in ARR in pretty short order, recruiting a great small team of reps under her, and had really nailed the formula. Time to get the management team in order. You’re going to need a whole series of sales managers.

Sales Hiring 304

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale SMB 304

SaaStr

JULY 14, 2022

What started as a simple WordPress blog in 2012 has now become the world’s largest community of SaaS executives, founders, and entrepreneurs. And SaaStr Europa brings 2,500+ SaaS execs, founders, and VCs together to Europe every summer. We were the first major SaaS event back in the SF Bay Area. SaaStr is turning 10!

Scale 304

Scale Sales Recruiting CTO Hire New CTO 304

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

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2021

Q: What are the top 20 pieces of advice for building a successful SaaS startup? Someone great at something core you aren’t: Sales, Engineering, Marketing. Someone great at something core you aren’t: Sales, Engineering, Marketing. Great at sales. It just takes that long in SaaS and B2B, nine times out of ten.

Sales Hiring 310

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Engineering 310

SaaStr

JULY 13, 2023

Q: Where Should SDRs Report — Marketing or Sales? Continuing the conversation on effective team members, it’s important to hire the right people to manage SDRs. A VP of Sales might seem the logical place to have your first SDR team report. But if they’ve never managed a higher turnover SDR team, they often melt.

CTO Hire 242

CTO Hire Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 242

SaaStr

MARCH 25, 2023

So one recent survey we did really brought out a healthy debate: does your VP of Sales really need to be a product expert? Many of the comments said it was more important a VP of Sales understand process and leadership more than the product itself. They often melt. I say, you just gotta know the product. Not just with buzzwords.

Scale 288

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales 288

SaaStr

JUNE 15, 2021

Every SaaS founder dreams of their company becoming a unicorn. Recruitment: Getting the right talent onboard is a critical step. Sales: You must understand how to grow your sales machine, and it isn’t easy. Sales: You must understand how to grow your sales machine, and it isn’t easy. Surprises Along the Way.

Sales Recruiting 272

Sales Recruiting Scale Software Delivery Travel 272

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

But it’s a good question and I thought it might make sense to set out an Ideal VP Hiring Plan for Most SaaS Companies. 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. I’ve worked closely with 26+ SaaS start-ups and founded a few.

Part-Time VPE 363

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring CTO Hire Scale 363

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

Whether you’re just starting out in SaaS or have a successful SaaS startup, founders and startup teams can learn a lot from those who have found success in the industry through its ups and downs. In this Ask Me Anything Part 1, Lemkin answers the questions: Many VCs talk about funding, yet you’re so focused on sales.

Outsourcing Services 282

Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting 282

SaaStr

AUGUST 9, 2022

Investments I've made that didn't work out: – Momentum investment – CEO a bit of bulls**t artist – CEO good at sales but weak product team / CTO. Investments I've made that had so-so outcomes: – CEO not better than me – CEO couldn't control burn rate – Not really SaaS.

Investment 304

Investment Sales Recruiting CTO Startup 304

SaaStr

JUNE 2, 2023

In 2020-2021, many SaaS startups faced a unique challenge. Wiz, one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies focused on security solutions, was one of them. Recruit diverse leaders The goal of hiring a revenue leader is to put gasoline on finding product market fit success. Some of the initial demand can be misunderstood.

Sales Recruiting 259

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Branding 259

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 183

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Compensation 183

SaaStr

APRIL 30, 2022

So the first question is what made SaaS so successful. If you kind of that question, thinking about the stakeholders and the decisions and companies of using SaaS products, there’s kind of three types. Customers love SaaS products and tools because it simply works. Why do developers love SaaS products? Why is that?

SaaS Payments 246

SaaS Payments Metrics Payment Methods Scale 246

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 5, 2022

Product-led growth (PLG) companies have become a major trend in the world of SaaS over the last few years. Going from sales-led to PLG is doable, but it is not easy. Sales-led organizations struggle to adapt to a PLG mindset.”. Let’s use sales-led organizations as a comparison point. Secret #2: Pricing.

Sales Recruiting 281

Sales Recruiting Business Pricing Churn 281

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 16, 2020

The 2010s were the decade of software and SaaS, the era when Salesforce become the first SaaS company to sail past the $100B market cap mark. I thought the remote trend would be a powerful recruiting advantage; I didn’t foresee a global pandemic obligating companies to work remotely. 2020 becomes the decade of data.

Sales Recruiting 279

Sales Recruiting Blockchain Banking Machine Learning 279

Chart Mogul

JANUARY 9, 2025

So read on, and hopefully, your SaaS sales journey will be less about trial and error and more about steady progress toward success. Chances are, your strategy already incorporates at least one of these models. Self-service sales often (but not always) go hand in hand with product-led growth (PLG)-driven motions.

Scale 52

Scale Sales Hiring Startup Sales Recruiting 52

SaaStr

JULY 1, 2021

What’s the secret to SaaS success at YCombinator? Sam : We’re going to talk today about a lot of topics, but the general theme is, what’s the difference between good and great SaaS companies? I want to come be your VP of sales and, you’re going to meet me for the first time. You hire a search firm.

VP of Engineering 290

VP of Engineering Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team 290

SaaStr

MAY 14, 2023

Here’s a chance to look back at 4 pre-IPO SaaS leaders today, and how they were doing and what they were thinking in the run up to $10m ARR. Daniel, you grew to 3 million in ARR before you hired a VP of Sales. You had all the reps and SDRs reporting to you, managed it all yourself. How’d you manage all that?

Sales Hiring 271

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Payment Methods 271

Intercom, Inc.

MAY 16, 2018

First, most founders don’t have a background in either sales or marketing, and even though they’re told to “ start marketing the day you start coding ”, they just don’t know where to begin, or they’re incredibly overconfident. George wrote a fantastic article detailing how to determine the product marketing strategy through beta products.

Product Marketing 223

Product Marketing Strategy Marketing Sales Recruiting 223

SaaStr

AUGUST 8, 2023

The role of finance in SaaS is changing. In a fascinating workshop session, Miao shares his thoughts on how finance teams can contribute to company strategy and grow revenue. Growth Strategy Identify and implement new growth opportunities and revenue streams. This role can be recruited through headhunters or your network.

Scale 239

Scale Finance Outsourcing Services Sales Recruiting 239

OpenView Labs

APRIL 29, 2021

OpenView, Work-Bench , Primary Venture Partners , and Lerer Hippeau just hosted the fourth and final session of SaaS Growth Camp—a series for the firms’ portfolio companies tailored to the complex ideas behind SaaS growth and go-to-market strategies. Recruiting top talent is the common denominator across all scaling startups.

Sales Recruiting 81

Sales Recruiting Outsourcing Services Sales Hiring Scale 81

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 11, 2020

Recently, we welcomed Hollie Wegman to SaaS Office Hours to talk about marketing to developers. A recruiter in the audience submitted a question often discussed in startup boardrooms. You hire for strategy. It was our first virtual event, and we had hundreds of people attend. Here are some of the highlights from the session.

Sales Hiring 263

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Product Marketing Startup 263

Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 8, 2024

For B2B SaaS companies, building a base of advocates – customers who champion your brand can be a pivotal go-to-market advantage. GTM 120: Avoid the AI Sales Skills Atrophy Trap with Peter Kazanjy Pete Kazanjy is a serial founder, and seasoned early stage Saas executive, advisor, and investor.

Scale 111

Scale Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring AI Search 111

Intercom, Inc.

JUNE 3, 2021

And so, now’s the time to start thinking about accelerating our business strategies and grabbing the opportunities it brings. Now that the worst seems to be over, what exactly should your strategy look like? But if the strategy was good to begin with, keep at it. How can we accelerate our current strategy? Paul: Yeah.

Strategy 228

Strategy Software Review Development Team Review Sales Recruiting 228

SaaStr

MAY 31, 2024

1: How Sales and Marketing Have Shifted Since 2020 Expectations and the types of people working in SaaS have shifted over the past few years, and much more in sales, marketing, and customer success. . #1: Folks are either burnt out or came in during the boom, and they don’t know what the real world of SaaS looked like before.

Sales Hiring 299

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Marketing Scale 299

SaaStr

AUGUST 25, 2023

Hundreds of thousands of experts are telling you how to succeed in SaaS. SaaStr Founder and CEO Jason Lemkin shares the 10 worst pieces of SaaS advice, excuses, and mistakes founders make, and what to do instead If you want advice, you probably won’t get it from VCs, but ask anyway. #2 2 “Give the VP of Sales more time.”

Part-Time VPE 242

Part-Time VPE Scale Sales Hiring CTO Hire 242