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What Happens When You Hire the Wrong VP

This post is by Jason Lemkin from SaaStr


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A lot of classic SaaStr advice has been how to spot the best potential VPs.  When to hire them.  How to interview them and qualify them.  What they really do.  Etc. etc. Because to scale, you are going to need to add a true management team, and then a second one, and then layers of management.  Otherwise, you’re growth will hit a wall. And you’re are going to hire some VPs that … just don’t work out.  It may be more your fault than theirs.  After all, you know Continue reading "What Happens When You Hire the Wrong VP"
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5 Things that Kill Startups with Y Combinator

This post is by Amelia Ibarra from SaaStr


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Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel is featured in one of our most-watched SaaStr videos of all time — so we were delighted to have him back during our SaaStr at Home event to share the top 5 things that kill startups after their seed rounds, and how to avoid them. In this tactical session, he highlights the trends he’s seen most commonly seen in startups that die and offers insights on the causes, symptoms, and solutions. #1 Fake product-market fit You’re company building before product building. This is one of the most common symptoms of “impending death” for post-seed companies. So why do founders believe they have market fit, even if they don’t? Causes:
  1. Raising money from impressive people
  2. Raising a series of pre-product market fit
  3. Magical thinking (ignoring the obvious!)
  4. Lack of strong technical talent
There is a common misconception that product-market fit means you’ve conceptually built what Continue reading "5 Things that Kill Startups with Y Combinator"
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Paradigm Shifts and the Future of Data Infrastructure with Snowflake, Neo4j, and Cockroach Labs

This post is by Amelia Ibarra from SaaStr


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We recently brought together Denise Persson, CMO @ Snowflake, Emil Eifrem, CEO @ Neo4j, and Spencer Kimball, CEO & Co-founder @ Cockroach Labs, to discuss the future of data infrastructure in the Cloud. In undergoing a sudden shift this year to the cloud of the future, these three leaders discussed 3 main paradigm shifts: #1 Everything is moving to the cloud #2 Data is becoming a strategic asset #3 We are in the midst of a big generational shift when it comes to data infrastructure The truth is, most companies are already falling behind with the ramifications of 2020 and need to move quickly. So how do we change our businesses by fundamentally exploiting the benefits of the cloud? #1 You shouldn’t go with a cloud-specific platform service Instead, opt for the independent service and be aware of company trade-offs. #2 Avoid having any one vendor have significant
future of data infastructure
Continue reading "Paradigm Shifts and the Future of Data Infrastructure with Snowflake, Neo4j, and Cockroach Labs"
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Need Leads in Q4? Sponsor SaaStr Scale!

This post is by Jason Lemkin from SaaStr


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



So our SaaStr Digital events since March have been wildly successful — much more than we expected.  With 100,000+ total attendees, and probably 200,000+ including on social, we’ve had a ton of fun and learned a lot, from the CEO of Slack, Box, PagerDuty, Unsplash, and so, so much more. Our next big Digitial Event will launch next week, SaaStr Scale 2020 on Dec 8-9. But if you want to partner with us and sponsor Scale, and connect with 20,000+ Cloud founders, CEOs, and execs … get ahead of the line.  We’re limited to about 10 core sponsors in the current format. Reach out here: The post Need Leads in Q4? Sponsor SaaStr Scale! appeared first on SaaStr.
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How To Still Hire a Great VP of Sales Even If You Are Struggling

This post is by Jason Lemkin from SaaStr


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



When you are finally ready to hire your VP of Sales, oftentimes, there’s often a bit of a quiet panic around time.  About getting the hire done.  Because there’s a window.   Even if you are growing like a weed up to $1m, $2m, $4m ARR or beyond … you can see growth is going to slow down without help.  You can’t hire more reps yourself.  You don’t know the rest of the playbook and don’t have the rest of the toolkit.  You can see that even with great sales rep efficiency with say 1-3 reps, it is going to slow down unless you bring in that VP in time. And indeed it often does. Continue reading "How To Still Hire a Great VP of Sales Even If You Are Struggling"
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5 Leadership Lessons Everyone Needs Right Now From Github COO Erica Brescia

This post is by Amelia Ibarra from SaaStr


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



One of our top sessions from our recent Annual at Home event was from Github’s COO, Erica Brescia. For those unfamiliar with her background, Brescia started off as the founder and COO of Bitnami, a 75 person startup. Just over a year ago, she sold to VMware and the company has since doubled in size. In her session, Erica shares her hard-earned leadership lessons–  from selling her company to what she’s learned at Github, we’ll share her most essential leadership principles for any stage of business. #1 Build a Support Staff Early The truth is, founders are frugal. You want to lead by example and get everything done with your own two hands. But that “do it all” mindset, is actually harming your ability to execute. In fact, every task you do that is not actively building your business is distractive of the work truly adding to reaching your goals. Time Continue reading "5 Leadership Lessons Everyone Needs Right Now From Github COO Erica Brescia"
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Speaker Submissions are OPEN for SaaStr Scale 2020!!

This post is by Jason Lemkin from SaaStr


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Ok on the heels of 100,000+ across social, Zoom and more at 2020 SaaStr Annual at Home, our next big digital event is the 2nd edition of SaaStrScale.com on Dec 8-9. Scale particularly focuses on helping founders scale to $1B ARR … and beyond.  We’ll have top CEOs like Todd McKinnon, CEO of Okta, and Howie Liu, CEO of Airtable, top product leaders like Carl Gold, Chief Data Scientist at Zuora, and 40+ CROs, CMOs, CCOs, and much more! We’ll also have 100+ roundtables and workshops and much more. We are now taking speaker submissions, so if you want to lean or join a session or workshop, please apply here: The post Speaker Submissions are OPEN for SaaStr Scale 2020!! appeared first on SaaStr.
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That Super-Successful VP of Sales. Great? Or Just Lucky?

This post is by Jason Lemkin from SaaStr


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I get sent this resume to review all the time. Director+ of Sales at Slack / Zoom / DropBox / Pick Your Brand Name SaaS Company. Took Hot Start-Up from $0 to $30m as VPS from Day 0. Was there “early” through IPO and did amazing things. That all sounds impressive, for sure. But were they great? Or just lucky? The thing is, it’s actually hard to know on the surface. Because it’s not ARR growth or even an IPO alone that determines if a VP of Sales him or herself is great. Because so many people were involved in getting Salesforce to $20,000,000,000 in ARR. It’s really how well they did based on a situation. Come into a #2 player and turn it into #1? That’s kind of amazing. Come into Salesforce at $2 billion and help it get to $5 billion? I mean, that’s great … but … Continue reading "That Super-Successful VP of Sales. Great? Or Just Lucky?"
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You Don’t Want Your Dream VP Candidate

This post is by Jason Lemkin from SaaStr


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Ok this is a simple post, and one we’ve touched on many times before.  But it deserves its own post because it’s a mistake so, so many of you will make as you go to hire your first VPs.  And even your second VPs. Don’t hire the “Hot VP”.  Not until you are equally hot, at least. What do I mean?  So many founders, especially first-time founders, fall in love with That Great VP They’ve Heard Of.  The one at SaaStr Annual at Home.  The Continue reading "You Don’t Want Your Dream VP Candidate"
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Top 7 Regrets in Hiring VPs. Firing Them Is Not One of Them.

This post is by Jason Lemkin from SaaStr


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Q: Have you ever regretted firing an employee?

No.

I’ve regretted, and still regret almost daily:

  • Waiting too long to make a critical hire. You overload the existing team, and progress stalls out.
  • Not closing my A+++ top choice for a role, no matter what it took. This haunts me to this day. When there is a true game-changer, do whatever it possible takes to close them. And then even when they say No, remember, you still have another chance next week, next month, and next year.
  • Underhiring. Not hiring someone experienced enough Continue reading "Top 7 Regrets in Hiring VPs. Firing Them Is Not One of Them."