Dear SaaStr: When Should The CEO Step Away From Sales?
Dear SaaStr: When Should The CEO Step Away From Sales? Never. It’s just, as you scale, what you do in the sales process as CEO evolves and changes. I remember when we closed Groupon as one of our Ten (or so) Largest customers, back in the day. They’d brought us...
Dear SaaStr: What’s It Really Like to Be CEO of a Startup?
Dear SaaStr: What’s It Really Like to Be CEO of a Startup? Let me just throw out a few things I’ve learned that being a CEO of start-up isn’t, or isn’t as you’d expect: It isn’t glamorous until you are At Scale and Hot, at the very minimum. At...
Dear SaaStr: How Does a First Time Founder Identify 10x Hires?
Dear SaaStr: How does a First Time Founder Identify 10x Hires? How do you hire a great CTO, a great VP of Product, a great VP of Sales … if you’ve never worked with one? It’s hard. There’s a reason almost every founder you talk to had a...
Dear SaaStr: What Do VCs Do When They Aren’t Sourcing or Closing New Deals?
Dear SaaStr: What Do VCs Do When They Aren’t Sourcing or Closing New Deals? VCs don’t spend most of their time working on new deals. They spend most of their time on existing investments. Imagine you are a VC on 9 boards of directors: Board meetings alone...
Dear SaaStr: At What Stage Should the Founders Stop Being Individual Contributors?
Dear SaaStr: At what stage should SaaS founders fully stop being individual contributors? I’ve come up with 2 rough rules here to avoid stalling out: Try to have a complete 1.0 management team by $4m ARR at least. Earlier is better, of course. And try to hire at...
Dear SaaStr: As An Employee, How Do I Negotiate My Compensation in an Acquisition?
Dear SaaStr: As An Employee, As an acquired employee, How Do I Negotiate My Compensation in an Acquisition? Unfortunately, as a non-CEO, non-founder of an acquired start-up … you have almost no ability to really negotiate. Especially below the VP level. Overall,...
Dear SaaStr: When Should a CEO Walk Away From an Acquisition Offer?
Dear SaaStr: When should a CEO walk away from an acquisition? I’ve thought about this a lot. I’ve walked from acquisitions where I, to be honest, did want the money but still walked. And I’ve taken several offers, too, sometimes when it turned out to be the wrong...
Dear SaaStr: How Do You Price a SaaS Product in a New B2B Market?
Dear SaaStr: How Do You Price a SaaS Product in a New B2B Market? I’ve lived it. It’s not as complicated or as hard as it sounds. The simplest answer is usually to copy the pricing from the closest public company or other break-out leader you can find that is...
5 Top Things to Remember When Starting a Company
It took us 2 years just to figure out our ultimate business model. What you think you do on day 1 may look very different by day 365. https://t.co/gmg2HH1MS8 — Aaron Levie (@levie) September 11, 2020 My Top 5 Things to Remember When Starting a Company:: #1....
Dear SaaStr: As a CEO, Who is The Most Talented Founder You Have Ever Met?
Dear SaaStr: As a CEO, Who is The Most Talented Founder You Have Ever Met? A few of the most talented I’ve ever met. Ok, let me qualify this by saying earlier in my career. As part of SaaStr, I meet so many incredible founders from HubSpot to Monday to Slack and...
Dear SaaStr: Who Should I Hire First to Get Customer Success Going?
Dear SaaStr: Who Should I Hire First to Get My Customer Success Function Going? Key criteria for first customer success hire: – smart – truly understands and cares about the problem your product solves– lives and breathes making customers happy Rest,...
Dear SaaStr: What Key Things Should a SaaS Startup Focus on To Grow from 100k to 1M ARR?
Dear SaaStr: What key things should a SaaS startup focus on to grow from 100k-1M ARR? The simplest way to go from $500k to $1m ARR is to treat every prospect like a king or queen. Like they are the single most important prospect / customer in the world. Even for a...
The 5 Best Pieces of Advice I Got From My Mentors (Updated with New Video)
Dear SaaStr: What is the best advice you have received from a mentor? I’ll make a short list: #1. When you don’t know what to do — go visit your customers A Zoom is not the same. An email is not the same. Go visit them — in person. Especially when times are...
Dear SaaStr: What are The Top Challenges of Venture Capital Firms?
Dear SaaStr: What are The Top Challenges of Venture Capital Firms? Generally there are three major challenges. The first one is non-obvious. Challenge #1: Raising Another Fund. While Sequoia, Benchmark, Founders Fund, etc. etc. can all basically raise a new fund in...
Founder SaaStr
Related Posts
Industry News
- Expensify Sponsors SaaStr Annual 2023
- Snyk losses surged to $267 million in 2022 despite 157% increase in revenue | CTech
- Microsoft CEO testifies that Google will expand search dominance with AI
- The inside story of Dave Clark's tumultuous last days at Flexport: Standoffs, politics, and spin
- Global economy is taking a turn for the worse says Zoho's CEO Sridhar Vembu
- Back to the future: Jack Dorsey secures the reins of Square once again - Tearsheet
- Nasdaq Lures Record Number of Japanese Startup IPOs
- Network security company IronNet ceases operations two years after going public - SiliconANGLE
- ‘Talk to everyone you can’: Plaid’s Zach Perret on navigating a failed sale and Covid upheaval
- Leak: Shopify clarifies its stance on employee side hustles in new internal guidance one day after CEO memo said Shopify requires 'unshared attention'