SaaStr 078: To Get Early Customers You Have To Make People Uncomfortable & Why Customer Success Should be Actively Involved In The Upsell Process with Kathryn Minshew, Founder & CEO @ The Muse

Kathryn Minshew is the Founder & CEO @ The Muse, named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Media and Inc.’s 15 Women to Watch in Tech. Before founding The Muse, Kathryn worked on vaccines in Rwanda and Malawi with the Clinton Health Access Initiative and was previously at McKinsey. Kathryn has spoken at MIT and Harvard, appeared on The TODAY Show and CNN, and contributes on career and entrepreneurship to the Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How Kathryn came to found The Muse? What was the a-ha moment for her?
• Why did Kathryn introduce a SaaS business model into the traditionally, transactional model of recruiting? What were the benefits and how did it alter her go to market?
• With no prior sales experience, how did Kathryn find the experience of running the sales team? What were the core takeaways? At what stage should the founder stop selling the product and hire a sales team?
• Why does Kathryn believe you have to make the customer feel slightly uncomfortable to be successful? What did Kathryn look for in her initial sales hires? Why did Kathryn hire 3 reps to start with and not 2, as usually suggested?
• How does Kathryn approach the customer success field at The Muse? When did Kathryn hire her first CS rep? What is Kathryn’s take on CS being involved in the sales process?

1. What does Kathryn know now that she wishes she had known when she started?
2. Biggest mistake SaaS companies are enacting with their recruiting process?
3. Productivity tips and hacks?

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Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Kathryn Minshew