A few weeks back we had our second SaaStr Social.  It was quite a hit, with over 700+ SaaS entrepreneurs, execs and VCs getting together at Storm Ventures.

The first time, we just had BBQ and cocktails.  That was pretty fun as it was.

This time, we added some terrific, standing-room only content — Two Epic Sessions on How to Hire a Great VP Marketing.

The first session was together with my VP Sales, Brendon Cassidy (ex-VP Sales Adobe EchoSign, first Head of Sales at LinkedIn) and VP Marketing, Loretta Jones (VP Marketing, Insightly; ex-VP Marketing from Day 0 at EchoSign).

The second session was a great 1-on-1 with Jon Miller, co-founder and VP Marketing at Marketo.

There were some great differences in opinion and approaches, which I think made the discussion even more valuable.

We’re broken the sessions down into bite-size chunks below, and here.  Check out the ones that can help you!

Videos: 

Loretta Jones (VP Marketing Insightly, EchoSign) and Brendon Cassidy (VP Sales EchoSign, Linkedin):

1) When it comes to VP Sales v. VP Marketing, which should you hire first? (and when?)

https://vimeo.com/94061475

2) How much should you budget for the VP Marketing hire?

https://vimeo.com/94061476

3) Sales Team v. Marketing Team: Who takes responsibility/owns leads?

https://vimeo.com/94061478

4) Who’s to blame when leads grow faster than revenue?

https://vimeo.com/94061483

5) When making a VP Marketing hire, is it OK if they don’t have a lead commit?

https://vimeo.com/94061485

6) How important is it to lead commits and sales goals in the early stages of a company?

https://vimeo.com/94064525

7) How and when do you know if you hired the right person for VP Marketing?

https://vimeo.com/94064528

8) How important is it for the candidate to have experience in your target deal size?

https://vimeo.com/94064530

9) Where and how do you find the right candidate?

https://vimeo.com/94064534

10) You’re not going to get the perfect hire, so what qualities in a VP Marketing do you compromise on?

https://vimeo.com/94064535

11) Loretta on what she learned from her VP Sales, Brendon Cassidy:

https://vimeo.com/94066643

12) Brendon on what he learned from his VP Marketing, Loretta Jones:

https://vimeo.com/94066868

_________________

Jon Miller (co-founder and VP Marketing, Marketo):

13) Are things easier/different now that Marketo has gone IPO?  Aka, When did you know Marketo was going to make it?

https://vimeo.com/94070452

14) What are the different types of VP Marketing, and which one should you hire?

https://vimeo.com/94070454

15) What should we do to drive growth in our company the way Marketo did in its early days?

https://vimeo.com/94070455

16) How should we consider a candidate’s potentially different areas of Marketing expertise when making a hire?

https://vimeo.com/94070457

17) When hiring a VP Marketing, which qualities should you insist on, and which can you compromise on?

https://vimeo.com/94070459

18) If the candidate has never had a lead/opportunity commit, should you still hire them?

https://vimeo.com/94073293

19) What are some more qualities that you would not demand from a potential VP Marketing?

https://vimeo.com/94073297

20) How important is it to hire a VP Marketing from a company that is about two stages ahead of you?

https://vimeo.com/94073298

21) How much should you budget for your VP Marketing hire?

https://vimeo.com/94073299

22) How early should a company think about investing in their brand/DemandGen, and how should they best go about it?