The Official SaaStr Podcast is the latest and greatest from the world of SaaStr, interviewing the most prominent operators and investors to discover their tips, tactics and strategies to attain success in the fiercely competitive world of SaaS. On the side of the operators, we center around getting from $0 to $100m ARR faster, what it takes to scale successfully and what are the core elements of hiring. As for the investors, we learn what metrics they hone in on when examining SaaS business, what type of metrics excites them and what they look for in SaaS founders.
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SaaStr 076: What Metrics Seed Investors Require For Prospective SaaS Investments & What Makes The Best SaaS Investors with Rob Siegel, Partner @ XSeed Capital
Robert Siegel is a Partner at XSeed Capital, one of the leading seed funds in the valley. At XSeed, Rob specialises on, you guessed it, all things from the wonderful world of SaaS and he sits on the Board of Directors of Cape Productions and Caller Zen. Robert is currently on the faculty at the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he teaches an array of topics that he led to His role as the Co-President Emeritus of Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs. Prior to joining XSeed, Robert was General Manager of the Video and Software Solutions division for GE Security, with annual revenues of $350 million. Before that, Robert was Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Weave Innovations Inc. (acquired by Kodak). If that was not enough Robert also served in various management roles at Intel Corporation, including an executive position in their Corporate Business Development division, in which he invested capital in startups that were strategically aligned with Intel’s vision. I would also like to say a huge thanks to Tien @ Zuora for the intro to Robert today. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did Robert make his way into the world of SaaS? What was it about XSeed that made him want to make the transition from operations to VC? We have seen many big SaaS exits in the last year with Marketo and Nutanix, does Robert think the time for big SaaS exits has come and gone? Have we moved to a world of consolidation? How do companies both large and small need to react to this shift on a strategic level? How does this affect the internal infrastructure of larger companies? For smaller startups, how should their attitude to competition change? How does this change Robert’s search process as an investor? How can smaller startups make themselves attractive acquisition targets? How does Rob’s view of consolidation affect his excitement for mega returns in SaaS? How does it impact how Rob approaches valuation? How does this change Rob’s expectations of unit economics? 60 Second SaaStr Strategic investors: Good or Bad? What does Rob know now that he wishes he had known when he started? Fave SaaS resource or reading material? Greenfield opportunity in SaaS? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Robert Siegel
SaaStr 075: Domo CMO, David Thompson on Why B2B Branding Is Both Consumer & Enterprise & Why Facebook & SEM Is Crucial For B2B Branding
David Thompson is CMO at Domo, the company that allows customers to turn data into opportunities. David is a highly accomplished branding expert and recognized leader in demand generation, having served as longtime CMO of WebEx, where he named the company, helped create the cloud-based conferencing category and positioned the company for its IPO and subsequent buyout by Cisco. He also co-founded and served as chief executive officer of Genius.com, a leading SaaS marketing automation company, and he launched the Sales 2.0 Conference. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did David make his way into the world of tech and SaaS pre-bubble? How did the bubble affect how David approached company building going forward? What should all SaaS startups consider pre spending big on marketing? What should their core gating factors be? Is it always right to have an internal marketing team? What are the must haves and the nice to haves in B2B marketing? Why is Facebook a must have or business branding today? How can businesses accurately measure the success of their marketing and branding efforts? Is it all about revenue or is there external reputation metrics to consider? On the whole, would David consider successful B2B branding closer to consumer or closer to enterprise marketing? What do the best in the enterprise class do? 60 Second SaaStr What are David’s favourite marketing tools? If David could recommend one book to SaaS founders what would it be? With the martech explosion: are we entering a world of consolidation? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr David Thompson
SaaStr 074: The 4 Step Playbook To Expanding Distribution Outside of Early Adopters & How Humans Really Want To Buy Software With Daniel Saks, Co-Founder & Co-CEO @ AppDirect
Daniel Saks is the Co-CEO of AppDirect, which he founded in 2009. AppDirect is the leading commerce platform for selling cloud services and at the firm, Daniel plays a key role in the growth and development of AppDirect, from attracting a leading team, to nurturing relationships with customers and partners. AppDirect has backing from some of the leading investors in the world including the likes of Foundry Group and J.P. Morgan. Prior to AppDirect, Daniel worked at Viant Capital, a boutique tech investment bank. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did Daniel make the move from family business to SaaS founder? How did he get the business off the ground in the early days? From working in his family business, what did Daniel observe about the buying patterns of businesses? What makes Daniel believe humans like to buy from humans? Is it a problem that many of today’s software vendors lean on direct sales? What are the first steps to create a multi-channel approach? What does it take to support indirect sales channels such as affiliates and resellers? What is Daniel’s 4 Step Playbook for optimising the distribution of software? What does it take to move past the early adopter audience into the hands of the wider market? Why does Daniel believe that the promise of SaaS is yet to be fully realised? What excites Daniel with the rise of the cloud and the movement away from on-premise? 60 Second SaaStr When is the right time to hire your first customer success rep? What does Daniel know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? Biggest challenge in the AppDirect journey and how Daniel overcame it? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Daniel Saks
SaaStr 073: David Skok Part 2: What Is Negative Churn? How To Get Different ACV's From The Same Product? Should Customer Success Be Involved In The Up Sell Process?
Part 2 with David Skok, now David is a serial entrepreneur turned VC at Matrix Partners. He founded four companies: Skok Systems, Corporate Software Europe, Watermark Software, and SilverStream Software and did one turnaround with Xionics. Three of the companies he founded went public and one was acquired. In 2001 David joined Matrix Partners, who had backed his last two startups, as a General Partner. David’s successful exits as an investor at Matrix include: HubSpot, JBoss, AppIQ, Tabblo, Netezza, Diligent Technologies, CloudSwitch, TribeHR, GrabCAD, OpenSpan and Enservio. David currently serves on the boards of Atomist, CloudBees, Digium, Meteor, Namely HR, Salsify, and Zaius. You can also find David’s amazing blog here! Huge thanks to Hardi Meybaum and Jason Lemkin for the intro to David today. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: What is negative churn? Why is it fundamental for SaaS startups to have a strong grasp of their negative churn? How does negative churn affect the pricing axis? What can startups do if they have no alternative product to upsell to? To what extent should founders be willing to engage in customisation in order to upsell a product? What are the dangers? What should founders be mindful of? To what extent is up sell the responsibility of customer success? Should they have a hand in the sales process? What are the dangers and concerns? How important is it for a startup to track their champion with the customer company? Does it matter if your champion leaves? What should you do if so? 60 Second SaaStr If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr David Skok
SaaStr 072 Part 1: David Skok, SaaS Legend on How Long Should Your Payback Period Be, How To Assess Sales Rep Productivity & What Is A Good LTV In Relation To CAC
David Skok is a serial entrepreneur turned VC at Matrix Partners. He founded four companies: Skok Systems, Corporate Software Europe, Watermark Software, and SilverStream Software and did one turnaround with Xionics. Three of the companies he founded went public and one was acquired. In 2001 David joined Matrix Partners, who had backed his last two startups, as a General Partner. David’s successful exits as an investor at Matrix include: HubSpot, JBoss, AppIQ, Tabblo, Netezza, Diligent Technologies, CloudSwitch, TribeHR, GrabCAD, OpenSpan and Enservio. David currently serves on the boards of Atomist, CloudBees, Digium, Meteor, Namely HR, Salsify, and Zaius. You can also find David’s amazing blog here! Huge thanks to Hardi Meybaum and Jason Lemkin for the intro to David today. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did David make his way into the world of SaaS? What was it about Matrix that made him want to make the transition from operations to VC? Why are metrics so important? What role do they play in an organisation? How do good founders respond to questions on not achieving sales targets? Why are SaaS businesses immune from being measured on standard financials like GAP financials? What metrics in SaaS really determine the trajectory of the business? How can founders examine unit economics to determine whether they have a sustainable SaaS business? How does David address sales rep productivity? How much in ARR should they be booking in relation to their annual comp package? 60 Second SaaStr If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr David Skok
SaaStr 071: 5 Steps To Building A Cohesive Team & How Founders Should Structure Off-Sites with Taro Fukuyama, Founder & CEO @ AnyPerk
Taro Fukuyama is Founder & CEO @ AnyPerk. Born and raised in Tokyo, Taro is a Y Combinator graduate with AnyPerk and part of the first Japanese team ever to be admitted to YC. He was also named one of Business Insider’s “Silicon Valley 100 Coolest People in Tech Right Now.”Fun fact, Taro co-founded AnyPerk in a Taco Bell car park! What a story! They also have investment from the likes of DCM, YC, Gary Vaynerchuk, previous SaaStr guest Nick Mehta and many more incredible people. I would also like to say a huge thanks to Jason lemkin for the intro to Taro today. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did Taro make his way to San Francisco and come to found AnyPerk? As a first time founder, how did Taro look to build out the management team? What were the inherent challenges and what did Taro look for in his core executive? What are the 6 questions that will determine whether you have clarity in your organisation? Why is clarity so important to unify the team? What does this clarity allow? What are the 5 steps to building a cohesive team? How can CEOs be both vulnerable and authoritative as a leader? How should founders approach offsites? What is the necessary preparation? How should they be structured for optimal productivity? What can be done to ensure they produce meaningful outcomes? 60 Second SaaStr Favourite SaaS reading material? What does Taro know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? The biggest mistake companies make with employee happiness? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Taro Fukuyama
SaaStr 070: Whether You Should Have A Missionary or Mercenary Sales Team, Does Culture In Sales Really Matter & How To Make Sales and Engineering Work In Unison with Sequoia Backed Inkling Founder, Matt MacInnis
Matt MacInnis is the Founder & CEO @ Inkling, the company that brings policies and procedures to life for your desktop workers. The company has backing from some of the best investors in the world with the likes of Sequoia, Felicis and Kapor Capital behind them. As for Matt, prior to Inkling, he spent 7 years at the one and only Apple Inc. I would also like to say a huge thank you to Taro Fukuyama, Founder @ AnyPerk for the intro to Matt. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did Matt make his way into the world of SaaS and Inkling from Apple Inc? Does culture in sales really matter? Is it not just about hitting the fucking number? What are the two opposing culture that exist in the world of sales team? Why is missionary always better? How can a sales leader instill a competitive element into a missionary sales culture? What are the inherent challenges and how does Matt approach them? Is it possible to have a fantastic sales and a fantastic engineering culture? How can the two live under the same roof and what needs to happen to ensure this works? In terms of measurement, how can a founder know whether they have a strong culture? What are the signs and indications? 60 Second SaaStr Productivity Tools What does Matt know now that he wishes he had known in the beginning? Biggest mistake most SaaS companies are enacting with their sales process? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Matt MacInnis
SaaStr 069: 5 Key Elements Founders Must COnsider Before Embarking On The Sales Process with Whitney Sales, VP of Sales @ TalentIQ
Whitney Sales is the VP of Sales at TalentIQ, has been involved in bringing products to market and managing high growth sales teams for over a decade. She is the creator of the Sales Method, a strategic framework for launching products, which she used to help three companies earn a place on the Inc 5000 fastest growing companies list. Prior to joining TalentIQ, Whitney held executive positions at Wanelo and SpringAhead and currently serves as a mentor at StartX, Alchemist, and previous guest Acceleprise and a huge thanks to Michael Cardamone @ Acceleprise for the intro to Whitney today. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did Whitney make her way into the world of SaaS and more specifically sales? What are the 5 key criteria that founders need to consider before embarking on the sales process? How specific and targeted should a customer profile be? How many profiles can they have? What are the best questions to determine the optimal customer segment? How can founders identify which buyers are innovators? What tools are best for this? Once discovered, how should founders approach these innovators? Founders learn about gaps in customer information from selling. So how close should the integration of content marketing and selling be in the early days? 60 Second SaaStr What are Whitney’s preferred tools for her tech stack? What does Whitney know now that she wishes she had known at the beginning? Does the proliferation of sales tools make it harder or easier? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Whitney Sales
SaaStr 068: Flexport's Ryan Petersen on Why NPS Is The Most Important Metric, How To Structure Internal Compensation Schemes & How To Implement @ Bottoms Up Decision Making Organisation
Ryan Petersen is the Founder and CEO of Flexport, the freight forwarder for the internet age. Flexport recently raised a phenomenal $65m Series B from the likes of Founders Fund, First Round, Felicis, Bloomberg Beta, Yuri Milner, Susa Ventures and more incredible investors. With none other than YC founder Paul Graham stating ‘Ryan has the rare ability to not just satisfy the market but grow it’. Prior to Flexport, Ryan was Founder and CEO of ImportGenius.com, the largest provider of business intelligence to the import-export industry. A huge hand to Chad Byers @ Susa and Jason Lemkin for the intro In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did Ryan make her way into the world of SaaS and come to found Flexport? How does Ryan view NPS? Why is he so bullish? Why is it the most important metric? What are the downsides to relying on NPS? What is the optimal method to structure internal compensation structures? Why is compensation based on NPS and Net not effective and what are the dangers of this? How can founders look to implement bottoms up decision making in their organisation? What are the benefits of this and what are the challenges to it’s implementation? Ryan is hiring his first VP of Marketing? What should founders look for in their VP of Marketing? Why is now the right time and what challenges has Ryan faced in the process? 60 Second SaaStr Fave SaaS reading material? What does Ryan know now that he wishes he had known when he started? What has been his biggest learning throughout the Flexport journey? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Ryan Petersen
SaaStr 067: Gusto's Joshua Reeves on How To Optimise The Hiring & Interview Process, How To Build Create An Ownership Culture & Why Every 6 Months A Company Becomes A New Company
Josh Reeves is the Founder and CEO @ Gusto. Gusto reimagines payroll, benefits, HR, and personal finance and it is this reimagination that has led to their recent addition to the unicorn club with investors including Google Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Data Collective and General Catalyst, just to name a few. As for Josh, he was selected for the 2012 Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Prior to co-founding Gusto, he was the CEO and co-founder of Unwrap, a SaaS startup which was acquired in 2010, and he began his career as an early employee at Zazzle. I would also like to give a big hand to Jason Lemkin and Phil Libin for the intro to Josh today. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: HR and Payroll is not sexy so how did Josh make his way into the industry and what was the a-ha moment for Gusto? Josh has said before ‘he lives and breathes how a company is built.’ How has Josh looked to grow and develop his own internal organisation at Gusto? How does this vary with stage? Josh has hired over 300 people at Gusto, how does he approach the interview process? What is the right way for employers to approach the ‘making offers’ stage? How important does Josh feel it is to have an ownership culture and internal entrepreneurialism? How can this environment be fostered and developed? 60 Second SaaStr How employers can ensure new employees have an amazing first day? What does Josh know now that he wishes he had known when he started? The biggest mistake SaaS companies make with their HR and payroll organisation? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Josh Reeves
SaaStr 066: Why CEO's Should Lead From The Heart, Walk The Sales Floor, Pay The Sales Team Well & Why Sometimes, You Have To Go Slow To Go Fast with Jeff Fernandez, Founder & CEO @ Grovo
Jeff Fernandez is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Grovo, the enterprise learning solution that allows you to educate and empower your employees. At Grovo, Jeff oversees sales, investor relations, and the building of Grovo’s award-winning culture. Prior to founding Grovo in 2010, Jeff served as product manager at Clickable (acquired by Syncapse). From 2006 until 2009, he led business development and sales for Doostang (acquired by Universum Global), an online career networking community. Jeff is also a bit of a rockstar off the field getting the highest honours from Harvard penning his thesis on human performance and then playing semi pro football for the New York Rebels in 2008. I would also like to say a massive thank you to Greg Sands @ Costanoa Venture Capital for the intro to Jeff today. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How Jeff came to found Grovo? What was the a-ha moment for him? Jeff is renowned to ‘lead from the heart’. What are the advantages of this as a CEO? How does this affect the company, the culture? What are the inherent challenges? Question from Greg Sands: Jeff likes to ‘work the sales floor’, how does that work? What does Jeff actually do? What have been Jeff’s observations having seen the sales floor up close? How does Jeff look to structure the compensation for his sales team? How does this vary with time and stage? What does Jeff mean when he says ‘sometimes you have to go slow to go fast’? How does that play out in his management style? 60 Second SaaStr Jeff’s biggest productivity tips? Biggest challenge for Jeff in being CEO @ Grovo? What does Jeff know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Jeff Fernandez
SaaStr 065: How To Create An Ownership Culture, When To Hire Your First Customer Success Rep and Why The Funnel Needs To Be Re-Invented with Sangram Vajre, Founder & CMO @ Terminus
Sangram Vajre is the Co-Founder & CMO at Terminus, the leading account-based marketing platform. Prior to Terminus, Sangram was the Head of Marketing @ Pardo, prior to it’s acquisition by Salesforce. Sangram is also the brains behind the marvel that is Flip My Funnel which challenges the status quo of traditional B2B marketing practices and transform how B2B marketers approached driving revenue in their organization. You might remember in a recent episode Tim Kopp @ Hyde Park Ventures cited Sangram and his revolutionary approach with Flip My Funnel as one to watch. If that was not enough, Sangram is also the author of "Account-Based Marketing For Dummies". In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How Sangram came to found Flip My Funnel and Terminus? What was the a-ha moment and origin story for Sangram? Why does Sangram believe the funnel needs to be reinvented? Where are the inefficiencies? What can be done to optimise the funnel and what are the steps to do so? How did Sangram establish such a strong brand in the B2B space on a shoe-string budget in such a short space of time? What tactics can be done to exert your authority over a domain? How does Sangram look to create an ownership culture of internal entrepreneurs at Terminus? Why is it so important to try and hire people who know more than you? Why did Sangram decide to hire a customer success rep before any other function? What did he look for in his first CS person? What does Sangram thinks is fundamental to being successful at CS? 60 Second SaaStr Biggest learning from founding and scaling Terminus? Sangram’s Favourite SaaS reading material? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Sangram Vajre
SaaStr 064: Why Now Is A Really Good Time For SaaS Startups To Raise, How SaaS Startups Can Innovate Their Business Models & The Biggest Takeaways From Working With John Doerr @ Kleiner Perkins with Matt Murphy, Managing Director @ Menlo Ventures
Matt Murphy is a Managing Director @ Menlo Ventures where he focuses on multi-stage investments across cloud infrastructure and AI-first SaaS applications. Since joining Menlo, Matt has led investments in Heap Analytics, Usermind, and Veriflow. Previously, Matt was a General Partner at Kleiner Perkins for over 15 years. Matt was also an observer at Google (from initial investment to IPO), launched the iFund in ’08 (a collaborative initiative with Apple to build the defining applications on the iOS platform), and led KPCB’s investments in AutoNavi (Nasdaq: AMAP, 2010) and Aerohive Networks (Nasdaq: HIVE, 2014). Before joining KPCB, Matt worked at semiconductor startup Netboost (acquired by Intel) and prior to that at Sun Microsystems. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How Matt made his way into the world of VC and enterprise investing? What were his biggest takeaways from working alongside John Doerr @ Kleiner Perkins? How is the enterprise investing landscape changing? What fundamental shifts have we seen and what have been the dominant repercussions of this? Nakul Mandan stated that ‘we would see the 2nd wave of consumerisation of enterprise through business model’. Does Matt agree with this and what key trends is Matt most excited about in SaaS? How does Matt look to evaluate early stage SaaS valuations? What are people fundamentally misvaluing and how should the topic be approached? Is it harder now for SaaS companies to raise than ever before? What metrics does Matt look for in a Series A investment opportunity? 60 Second SaaStr Matt's Fave SaaS reading material? What are the greenfield opportunities in SaaS today? What was Matt's biggest takeaway from working with John Doerr @ Kleiner Perkins? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Matt Murphy
SaaStr 063: The Sales Script That Increases Conversion By 80%, How To Optimise Events Increasing Leads & Demos & How Bootstrapped Startups Can Scale Teams Alongside Revenue with Brandon Bruce, Founder & COO @ Cirrus Insight
Brandon Bruce is the Co-Founder and COO @ Cirrus Insight, the plugin for Gmail and Outlook that automatically updates Salesforce as you work. Cirrus is a bootstrapped startup with triple-digit yearly growth since it's founding 4 years ago and has grown from 2 co-founders in 2011 to a team of 55 people today. And I have to say a huge thanks to Aaron Ross, Author @ Predictable Revenue for the intro to Brandon today. Likewise, if you want to join me and Jason for mojitos at SaaStr Annual 2017 and also want an incredible 20% off ticket prices, then all you have to do is click here! In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did Brandon make his way into the world of SaaS and come to found Cirrus Insight? What does Brandon mean he says he likes to take the road less travelled in Sales? What have been his learnings from his interactions on the front line of sales? How has it changed how he approaches sales? How are Cirrus so efficient at events in terms of getting more leads, meeting and sales? What is the strategy going into events? How can we optimise this? Speaking of events in general there, how does Brandon look to define prospect and buyer personas? How important is this for events? How narrow and specific do these personas have to be? Brandon has stated before in the importance of learning and doing manual before automatic with the future in mind. What do he mean by this and how does it affect his roadmap and thought process to the future going forward? 60 Second SaaStr Favourite SaaS reading material? What does Brandon know now that he wish he had known at the beginning? The biggest challenge of running Cirrus and how Brandon looks to combat it? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Brandon Bruce
SaaStr 062: Why Unprofitable Customers Must Be Fired, Segmentation in Sales Breeds Laziness & The Future of Sales in an AI Driven World with John Barrows, Godfather of Sales
John Barrows is essentially the Godfather of Sales. We often have VPs of Sales from tech titans on the show but who trains those VPs and sales reps to be the best in the world at sales? That is where John Barrows comes in, with clients including Dropbox, Box, Marketo, Twilio and many more, John has amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience allowing him to provide the most proactive sales tips and strategies to optimise the sales process. If you have not checked out his blog, that really is a must and can be found here. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did John make his way into the world of SaaS and more specifically sales optimisation? How has John seen the sales landscape evolve? What has been the effect of the segmentation of roles pioneered by Salesforce? What will be the catalyst that causes teams to shift from current sales methods and teams to AI replacing the sales team? What does this depend on? How does John view the integration of sales and marketing? How does the rise of ABM change this? How can sales reps perfect the balance of being direct and being rude? How important is a summary email? What is the optimal structure and how should sales reps follow up on summary emails? 60 Second SaaStr The most common question asked to John by VPs of Sales? What are the benefits of Top Down prospecting? Do execs need structure? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr John Barrows
SaaStr 061: The Optimal Relationship Between Customer Success & Sales, Why CS Is Not A Playbook Function & Why The Best CSMs Are Like Good Parents with John Gleeson, VP Customer Success @ Affinio
John Gleeson is VP of Customer Success @ Affinio where John was employee #1. 2 years and a half years later, John is the VP of Customer Success following their Series A and has seen the team expand to over 40 people and have offices in New York, Toronto, Halifax and Ireland. John has written a special blog post just for SaaStr listeners today outlining his ultimate guide to customer success reading, it is my go to guide for customer success. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did John make his way into the world of SaaS and more specifically customer success? John has previously described customer success as ‘The Analogue of Sales’, what does he mean by this? How does it affect the way he views customer success How does John view the role of sales vs customer success in large accounts? How do they partner to drive expansion? How customer success managers be truly productive at the enterprise level? How can they measure their success with this productivity increase? Moving downstream, why does John believe the $2m benchmark per CSM is the hardest phase? What skills do you need to be successful at this stage? With so many accounts, is it possible to be proactive? 60 Second SaaStr The biggest mistake most companies make when it comes to customer success? Most common questions asked by CSM leaders? Measuring customer success? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr John Gleeson
SaaStr 060: How To Use SDR As A Growth Engine a & Customer Success As A Bridge For Gaps In Product with Lawrence Coburn, Founder & CEO @ DoubleDutch
Lawrence Coburn is the Founder & CEO @ DoubleDutch, the category leader for event marketing automation. If you are at SaaStr and have the pleasure of using the SaaStr app, yep that is DoubleDutch! They have raised more than $75m in VC funding from some of the best VCs in the world including Index Ventures, Bessemer, Floodgate and Bullpen. As for Lawrence he is a three time entrepreneur, Lawrence also founded RateItAll, a top ten consumer review property, and LocationMeme, a blog about location based services. Lawrence is also the geo-location editor for The Next Web, is a mentor at IO Ventures, a San Francisco based incubator, and on the advisory board for the Enterprise 2.0 conference. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did Lawrence made his way into SaaS and then came to found DoubleDutch, the category leader for mobile social events? How does Lawrence look to use SDR as a growth engine and does he think it is important to invest in this early to build the machine? How has Lawrence found the transition in terms of moving upmarket from SMB to Enterprise? How does Lawrence look to differentiate himself in such a crowded market? How has Lawrence seen the evolution of the team? Does he agree there are different people for different phases of the growth cycle? How does Lawrence look to use customer success as a bridge to cover gaps in product? 60 Second SaaStr Fave SaaS resource? What does Lawrence know now that he wish he had known at the beginning? What is the biggest challenge Lawrence faces to this day? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Lawrence Coburn
SaaStr 059: How To Measure Sales Team Success, Test New Pricing, Build Culture From Day 1 & The Biggest Learnings From Watching Box Scale Into Hypergrowth with Michael Cardamone, Managing Director @ Acceleprise
Michael Cardamone is the Managing Director of Acceleprise, a SaaS focused accelerator based in San Francisco and backed by leading operators. He is also an advisor to and angel investor in early stage SaaS companies. Prior to Acceleprise, Michael was one of the first 30 employees at Box in a business development role and then led partnerships at an EdTech company called AcademixDirect. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did Michael make his way into the world of SaaS and then start Acceleprise in SF? How can founders know when is the right time to ship product? Does Michael agree with Reid Hoffman, ‘if you are not embarrassed by your V1, it is too late’? How should startups look to establish a pricing mechanism at such an early stage? What are Mike’s thoughts on freemium? Before Mike has said founders can charge more than they think. Why does he think this and how can founders know when they have reached their price ceiling? Do founders need to sell their own product? How should founders approach the sales learning process? What questions should they be asking How important is it for a startup to have an ideal customer profile? Should founders be looking for influential customers early or just getting as many dollars in as possible? How impactful can big brands and companies be as customers to early stage companies? 60 Second SaaStr Scrappiness: good or not as it just simply isn’t scalable? Most common challenge for Mike’s companies? Fave SaaS reading material? Entrepreneur optimism: Let it run or be wary? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Michael Cardamone
SaaStr 058: Intercom's Eoghan McCabe on Why There Are No Rules For Building a SaaS Company, How To Turn Every Challenge Into An Opportunity & Why You Will Never Have As Much Empathy For Others As You Do For Yourself
Eoghan McCabe is CEO and co-founder of Intercom. The customer communications platform that has taken the saas world by storm in the last few years with 116m in VC funding from truly some of the world’s best including Bessemer, Social Capital and Index Ventures. He previously founded Contrast, an award-winning software design consultancy, and co-founded Exceptional, a developer tool startup acquired in 2011 and now a part of Rackspace. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did Intercom break out in the early days with seemingly lots of competition and an install before you buy process? In terms of category creation, in the early days how did Eoghan convince people of a product that had previously never existed? At what stage did Eoghan and Des stop selling the product themselves? When is the right time to hire your VP of Sales? How did Eoghan establish a pricing mechanism for Intercom? Why is Eoghan such an advocate for value based pricing? Why it is so important for founders and sales teams to have empathy for the customer? How can you practice empathy? How can you cheat empathy? How does Eoghan manage a distributed workforce so well? What does he do to create links and culture between both the Dublin and SF office? 60 Second SaaStr Biggest advice to SaaS founders? Fave SaaS reading material? Most proud moment of Intercom’s journey? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Eoghan McCabe
SaaStr 057: Building & Scaling Your Core Execs from VPs of Sales to CSMs with Louis Jonckheere, Co-Founder & Co-CEO @ Showpad
Louis Jonckheere is the Co-Founder & Co-CEO @ Showpad, the company that enables sales teams by making content, findable, presentable and trackable. They have raised from some incredible investors including Dawn Capital, Hummingbird Ventures and Insight Venture Partners who more recently led their Series C $50m fundraise earlier this year. As for Louis, Showpad is his second company. He and his co-founder, Pieterjan, founded the mobile development agency, In The Pocket in 2010, where Louis still serves on the board. Prior to In The Pocket, Louis was a Strategic Partnership Manager at Netlog, where he first met Pieterjan. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did Louis come to found Showpad? What was the a-ha moment for him? How did Louis look to build out the core executive team? What have been the big lessons learnt? What have been the big mistakes and how has Louis changed his approach since? How did Louis look to scale the customer success team? At what stage did Louis hire his first CSM? Is $2m ARR the right benchmark? Do customer success teams need to be product specialists? How has Louis looked to build a scalable and repeatable sales process with Showpad? At what point did Louis decide to hire sales reps for the first time? What benchmark was this? Did Louis hire the first 2 reps at the same time? 60 Second SaaStr Louis’ Fave SaaS resource? Louis’s biggest advice to SaaS founders? What does Louis know today that he wishes he had known at the start? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Louis Jonckheere
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