Dear SaaStr: When Should You Hire Your First Demand Generation Marketer in SaaS?

Dear SaaStr: When Should You Hire Your First Demand Generation Marketer in SaaS?

My overly specific rough rule is about $20k in MRR. A deep dive on that and why here: I Hired My VP of Marketing at $20k MRR. It Wasn’t a Week Too Early. | SaaStr

I.e., usually much, much earlier than you might think.

Why? Assuming you are growing reasonably quick, a head of demand gen at even $20k in MRR can be accretive over the next 12 months. I.e., she can more than pay for herself.

In a recurring revenue model, you want to make every accretive hire you can. Don’t wait. Each $1 you bring in this year may be worth $10-$20 over the lifetime of a customer.

So if you can hire a VP of Demand Gen today and they can bring in even just $200k in additional revenue in the next 12 months from improving the funnel, BDR management, demand gen campaigns, webinars, events, whatever … hire them today!  Just breaking even is great to start.

What I see today … is the opposite. I see too many founders hiring a VP of Sales early, but waiting years in many cases to hire a true VP of Demand Gen. Or just hiring a junior marketer to start to save a few dollars. Or hiring someone that does Product Marketing or Corporate Marketing but that can’t hold a commit to lead / opportunities / revenue.

That’s just starving sales. You have to feel the sales engine. Even when you hire a VP.

You really can’t lose hiring a great VP of Demand Gen / Growth even at $20k MRR. Defined as someone that will at least bring in as much new revenue as they cost, to start.

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