Dear SaaStr: What’s the #1 Way I Can Accelerate My Career Growth?
Dear SaaStr: What’s the #1 Way I Can Accelerate My Career Growth? My uber-learnings: Find the best boss you can; and Take on every initiative, project, task and endeavor you possibly can from her. And work for them for a while. Long enough to get promoted once,...
Dear SaaStr: How Much Vacation is Normal for an Early Stage Startup CEO?
Dear SaaStr: How Much Vacation is Normal for an Early Stage Startup CEO? I’ve gotten worse at this. I think many of us have. I can tell you I never skimped on my own vacations as CEO — except in the first year of my second start-up, when for a while I...
Should I Sell for $50m … Or Push On And Try to Build a Unicorn? Especially … Today?
A life poorly lived is a trap Go for it at least once — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin (@jasonlk) May 5, 2023 BusinessInsider had a great story a ways back on Datto’s $1b exit to Vista Private Equity (more on the role of PE in SaaS here). So much of it...
By The Time You Give Them a Raise, They’re Already Out The Door
If someone is looking for another job in Year 1, Even if they don’t take it … You’ve already basically lost them. Do more 1-on-1sGet more 360 feedbackTalk more I know you don’t have time Make it — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin (@jasonlk) October 11, 2020 So...
CRO Confidential: Principles that drove Wiz’s $0 to $100M Journey with Wiz CRO Colin Jones (Pod 665 + Video)
In 2020-2021, many SaaS startups faced a unique challenge. With teams spread across the globe, they had to find new working patterns to scale their businesses in a distributed environment. Wiz, one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies focused on security solutions,...
Dear SaaStr: How Difficult is It To Fundraise Over the Summer?
Dear SaaStr: How Difficult is It To Fundraise Over the Summer? There’s still seasonality to venture fundraising, even now with so much being done over Zoom. Yes, deals get done every day in venture. But especially in bigger partnerships, it’s just harder...
What You Need to Change at $10M to Scale to $100M with Sameer Dholakia, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners (Pod 664 + Video)
Building a company for $0-$1M in revenue differs wildly from $1-10M ARR. And scaling from $10M to $100M is wildly different still. Sameer Dholakia, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners with decades of operational experience, shares what you need to change as you...
The Power of Content: Driving Growth Through Storytelling with Monte Carlo CEO Barr Moses and Head of Content and Communications Molly Vorwerck (Video)
When you think about Nike, it’s not just a pair of shoes that comes to mind. Instead, you imagine yourself as an unstoppable athlete, sprinting towards victory or pushing your limits in the gym. This is because Nike has mastered the art of storytelling,...
10+ of The Top Mistakes Sales Reps Make … That Kill Deals (Updated)
Q: What are the common mistakes in the sales process that may lead to customer loss? A non-exhaustive 🙂 list: Not listening. Too many reps just talk and talk, trying to get the pitch out. They miss a chance to learn what problem the prospect actually wants solved. Not...
Dear SaaStr: How Many Board Seats Do VCs Typically Get?
Dear SaaStr: How Many Board Seats Do VCs Typically Get? Let me try to simplify, generally speaking: 1. Generally, “proportionate” boards are usually seen as fair, and easy to agree to. I.e., if the investors own 20%, and founders 80%, then investors get 1 board seat,...
When the Player-Coach is Just That. And No More.
We’ve talked a lot on SaaStr about not screwing up that VP of Sales hire. Done right, it will accelerate your company to the next level. Done wrong — you can lose the better part of a year, and half of your last round of capital. And we’ve talked a...
What’s the “Right” CAC These Days? The One You Can Afford
There are two great SaaS companies I’m working with right now. Both have a sales-driven process, selling to SMBs. Both have a CAC payback that is very short — around 90 days. Both have roughly the same number of employees (roughly 50). One is cash-flow...
Leadership Learnings: 5 Things I Wish I Could Have Told My 2013 Self With Advisor and Former CTO of Heap Dan Robinson (Pod 663 + Video)
You’ll never truly understand how to lead a SaaS company until you’ve done it firsthand. But it always helps to get advice from someone with experience. Dan Robinson, current Advisor and former CTO at Heap, shares five essential learnings from nearly a decade of...
If Your VP Hasn’t Done Some Key Part of the Job by Day 90. They Never Will.
Recently, I met with a great SaaS founder doing about $1.5m in ARR. She was telling me about her VP of Marketing who, in the Bay Area, she was paying $95,000. I was a bit skeptical. Because that’s rather low for a true VP out here in the Bay Area (see typical...
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