Beware The Overly Self-Promotional CMO (and CRO)
The best CMOs are very good at promotions That's part of the job, after all Just make sure at least 50% of their energy goes into promoting the company, and not just their personal brand — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin (@jasonlk) April 15, 2021 CMO is a tough...
7 “Easy” Ways to Increase Sales in One Quarter. Or Even Just One Month.
Dear SaaStr: What Can I Do To Grow Faster, Right Now? My 7 top tips to increase sales quickly. Hire a great VP of Sales. Yes, I am a broken record here. But I’ve seen it 100+ times. Hire a great VP of Sales, and even if nothing else changes … she’ll...
A Look Back: Talkdesk, Greenhouse, Algolia and Gainsight Coming Up On $10m ARR
As we gear up for SaaStr Europa 2023 in London on 6-7 June and SaaStr Annual 2023 in the SF Bay Area on 6-7 September, we wanted to take a look back at some of our most iconic speakers and sessions from over the year, that we can still learn from today. At the very...
SaaS Capital: Across 1,500 SaaS Startups, Yearly Contracts Don’t Actually Increase NRR
So SaaS Capital put out its latest report on SaaS retention and NRR after having surveyed over 1,500 SaaS companies and professionals. You can download it here. There are a lot of great learnings and metrics in the report, and a few stood out to me: #1. Annual...
The 9 Types of CEOs That Are Really Hard for VCs to Work Well With (Updated)
Q: What type of CEO is the most difficult for the Board to work with? So founders, in many cases, were taught some of the wrong lessons in the Boom of late ’20 to early ’22. They were taught you could fundraise in a week. That you could sort of hide...
Dear SaaStr: How Long Should a CEO Continue Being the Head of Product?
Q: Dear SaaStr: How Long Should a CEO Continue Being the Head of Product? Roughly, for me, for as long as it’s about a 10-hour a week job. Or often, maybe only up to $3m-$5m in ARR or so. These days, especially, I see way too many SaaS companies at $8m-$10m ARR or...
Dear SaaStr: If You Sell a Multi-Year Deal, Does The Whole Amount Count Toward Quota?
Dear SaaStr: As a salesperson, if you sell a multi-year SaaS deal, does the whole amount count towards your current year quota? Or just the part attributed to your current year? Approaches vary here. First, what you pay on vs. quota retirement can vary. On commissions...
Dear SaaStr: How Do You Decide Between Hiring a VP or Director/Manager of Product?
https://twitter.com/jasonlk/status/1321210631198887936 Hiring too junior a resource to own product is almost always a huge mistake — 9 times out of 10. You can take a lot of “stretch” risk in sales. Sales breeds leadership. But what I’ve seen time and time again is...
10 Tips to Make Your VCs Calmer, Happier — And On Your Side
It’s really hard to ask much of an investor if you don’t give them regular, detailed updates This is why these updates are even more important in tougher times — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin (@jasonlk) April 14, 2023 Your VCs aren’t the boss. They should work...
Webinars Almost Always Work. If You Really Commit. (Updated)
One thing if you are a first-time founder in SaaS that may seem as boring as you can imagine is … webinars. You yourself as a founder or even sales exec never go to them. And they seem like something you do, well, later. When you are bigger. But I’d...
10 Crystal Clear Signs Your VP of Sales Just Isn’t Going to Work Out (Updated)
A great VP doesn’t make the plan every single month But a great VP never hides the facts or allocates blame when they miss it — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin (@jasonlk) April 19, 2021 We’ve written a lot on SaaStr on how to find a great VP of Sales, what the...
As Soon As You Have Your First Real Management Team — It’s Time to Add Redundancy
A little while back I was walking on the streets of San Francisco and bumped into a terrific public company CEO. A beloved CEO of a beloved SaaS company several years post-IPO. We caught up briefly, and I asked if there was any way I could help. He said,...
Great VPs of Sales Never Hide from a Miss
I've never seen a great VP of Sales hide from a miss — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin (@jasonlk) November 22, 2021 We’ve talked a lot on SaaStr over the years about how to hire a great VP of Sales — and how to course-correct if you’ve made a mis-hire. The two...
Founders: Get Your Comp Package Approved By Your Board of Directors
So something quietly changed in the past few years. Maybe it was the investing craziness of late ‘20 through late ‘21. Maybe it was VCs not wanting to rock the boat. Maybe it was a lot of startups just plain not having real boards of directors. What’s changed is...
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