Dear SaaStr: How Common Is It For a Seed Investor To Have The Right to Block a Sale?
Dear SaaStr: How Common Is It For a Seed Investor To Have The Right to Block a Sale? It’s not super common to have an explicit “veto”, but it’s not unheard of either. Usually it’s phrased as a consent by the investors rather than a veto. And...
Dear SaaStr: What Should I Look For In My Very First Sales Rep?
Dear SaaStr: What Should I Look For In My Very First Sales Rep? The first thing to understand is that hiring your first sales rep is one of the most critical decisions you’ll make. It’s not just about finding someone who can sell—it’s about finding someone who can...
Dear SaaStr: I’m at $30m ARR Both as CEO and CRO. Which Should I Focus On?
Dear SaaStr: I run a 30M arr software company — operating as both CEO and CRO. I feel like I failing at both – what is a better option? At $30M ARR, you’re at a stage where the demands of both the CEO and CRO roles are too significant for one person to handle...
Dear SaaStr: What Should Quota Be for a Commercial Sales Rep?
Dear SaaStr: What Should Quota Be for a Commercial Sales Rep? Our Deal Size is $20k-$50k For commercial AEs, quotas typically range from $600K to $800K annually, depending on your ACV and sales cycle. At least, once you have a repeatable process. Before that, you...
Dear SaaStr: As a Founder, What Were the Sketchiest Things a VC Asked You To Do?
Dear SaaStr: As a startup founder, what’s the shadiest thing a VC asked you to do (to get their funding)? I don’t think anything is truly shady in venture. Deals are generally made at arm’s length, and founders don’t have to sell any shares if they don’t...
Dear SaaStr: We Can Sell to a New Vertical. Should We?
Dear SaaStr: We Can Sell to a New Vertical. Should We? Getting ahead of expanding into new verticals can be a huge win. You really want to get there, and to a second product, before you exhaust your TAM in your existing markets and product. But of course it’s not...
Dear SaaStr: How Do I Manage a Partner Referral Process?
Dear SaaStr: What is a great way to allow the partner to submit a referral and have my team verify it? I want it to be as frictionless as possible. The key to making a referral submission process frictionless is to keep it simple, scalable, and automated where...
Dear SaaStr: What’s a “Messy Cap Table?” And How Do I Fix It?
Dear SaaStr: What’s a “Messy Cap Table?” And How Do I Fix It? A “messy cap table” refers to a capitalization table that’s overly complicated, disorganized, or structured in a way that creates problems for the company, especially when...
Dear SaaStr: Should You Hire Sales Reps in Pairs To Test Them?
Dear SaaStr: Should You Hire Sales Reps in Pairs To Test Them? Ideally, yes. Yes, you absolutely should hire sales reps in pairs, especially early on. Here’s why: When you hire just one sales rep, you won’t learn anything. Not for sure. If they fail, you won’t know...
Dear Should: Should Sales Execs Do Implementation Themselves?
Dear Should: Should Sales Execs Do Implementation Themselves? Almost never — outside of the earliest days. Your first 1 or 2 reps may have literally no one else to help here, and they often have to do the onboarding and implementation themselves. But you...
Dear SaaStr: How Important Is a Strong LinkedIn Presence Today?
Dear SaaStr: How Important Is a Strong LinkedIn Presence Today? Look there are few folks out there more skeptical and critical than me on folks that waste their entire day on LinkedIn. Go do the real work, folks. 🙂 And way too many folks are selling snake oil on...
Dear SaaStr: How Do I Structure a Comp Package for Our First VP of Sales?
Dear SaaStr: How Do I Structure a Comp Package for Our First VP of Sales? He’ll have 7 folks under him, For a small SaaS company with a Head of Sales managing 7 FTEs, I’d recommend a compensation structure that aligns with both early-stage SaaS norms and your...
Dear SaaStr: What Incentives Are Given To Design Partners and Other Super Early Customers?
Dear SaaStr: What Incentives Are Given To Design Partners and Other Super Early Customers? Design partners are critical—they provide feedback, validate your product, and often become your first case studies. At least … if they are real customers, and not...
Dear SaaStr: What Are Signs It’s Finally Time to Move on From An Employee?
Dear SaaStr: What Are Signs It’s Finally Time to Move on From An Employee? "When you make a bad VP hire, it's always your fault as CEO, not theirs. The candidate can never do enough research to understand if it's really the right fit."...
Founder SaaStr
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