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The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

886 episodes — Page 10 of 18

SaaStr 438: Webflow CEO Vlad Magdalin on Building an Enduring Company, One Hard Lesson at a Time

Webflow, a no-code website builder, doubled its customer base last year, pushing the company's valuation to $2.1 billion. Webflow CEO Vlad Magdalin openly shares the struggles and triumphs they endured along the way to their success. Video + blog post: https://www.saastr.com/webflow-ceo-vlad-magdalin-on-building-a-four-billion-dollar-company/

Mar 22, 202127 min

SaaStr 437: SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin Shares 5 Interesting Learnings on Zoom at $4B

In today's SaaStr insider episode, SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin shares 5 interesting learnings about Zoom as they reach $4 billion. Video + blog post (including full transcript): https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-437-5-interesting-learnings-on-zoom-at-4b-with-saastr-ceo-jason-lemkin/

Mar 19, 202117 min

SaaStr 436: The 2021 State of the Cloud with Bessemer Venture Partners

In today's SaaStr podcast the team at Bessemer Venture Partners unveils the 2021 state of the cloud. Listen in as Byron Deeter, Elliott Robinson and Mary D'Onofrio share the latest trends and predictions for the cloud marketplace. Video + blog post: https://www.saastr.com/state-of-the-cloud-2021-with-bessemer-venture-partners/

Mar 17, 202143 min

SaaStr 435: The Future of Sales Post-Covid with Sam Blond, Chief Revenue Officer @ Brex and Jason Lemkin, CEO and Founder @ SaaStr

In this episode of the SaaStr podcast, SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin, chats with Sam Blond, Chief Revenue Officer at Brex. Together they discuss the future of SaaS sales and buying cycles in a post-covid marketplace. Video + blog post: https://www.saastr.com/future-of-sales-post-covid-with-brex/

Mar 11, 202125 min

SaaStr 434: How to Build out a Sales Organization from 0 reps to 100 in 18 months with Flock Safety

In this episode of the SaaStr podcast, Garrett Langley, CEO @ Flock Safety and Alex Latraverse, VP Growth @ Flock Safety discuss How to Build out a Sales Organization from 0 reps to ~100 in 18 months. Video + blog post: https://www.saastr.com/building-a-sales-organization-from-0-to-100-with-flock-safety/

Mar 5, 202136 min

SaaStr 433: What It Really Takes to Have Your Marketing Team Deliver Pipeline and Revenue with Latane Conant, CMO @ 6Sense

Is your marketing team struggling to deliver the right kind of prospects and accounts that actually convert into revenue for your company? In this episode of the SaaStr Podcast, Latane Conant, CMO at 6Sense shared her 6 steps for building marketing campaigns that deliver pipeline and revenue. This episode is an excerpt of Latané's session from SaaStr University: Spring Semester conference. Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/UW9fl1Z6Jac Transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-433-with-6sense-cmo-latane-conant-what-it-really-takes-to-have-your-marketing-team-deliver-pipeline-and-revenue/ Is getting compliant with a SOC 2 report on your company's 2021 roadmap? Vanta automates the tedious and time-consuming process of collecting evidence for an audit. So you can get focused on growing your business. On average Vanta customers are SOC 2 compliant in just two to four weeks compared to three to five months without Vanta, learn more and redeem a $1,000 off coupon at Vanta.com/SaaStr.

Mar 4, 202127 min

SaaStr 432: 5 Interesting Learnings from Wix at $1B in ARR with SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin

In today's SaaStr insider episode, SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin shares 5 interesting learnings about Wix as they cross $1 billion ARR. Video + blog post: https://www.saastr.com/5-interesting-learnings-from-wix-at-1-billion-in-arr/

Feb 26, 202110 min

SaaStr 431: The Playbook to Boosting Net Retention Quickly with Tim Kopp, CEO and Executive Chairman @ Terminus

Want to accelerate your SaaS growth? Start by prioritizing your Net Revenue Retention (NRR). In this episode of the SaaStr podcast, Tim Kopp, the CEO of Terminus, shares his playbook for boosting net retention to fuel your business growth. Video + blog post: https://www.saastr.com/the-playbook-to-boosting-net-retention-quickly-with-terminus/

Feb 25, 202123 min

SaaStr 430: The Secrets to $1B ARR and 100,000 Happy Customers with Brian Halligan, CEO and Co-Founder @ HubSpot, and Jason Lemkin, CEO and Founder @ SaaStr

In today's SaaStr insider episode, SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin catches up with Brian Halligan, CEO and Co-founder of HubSpot. Together they discuss: why partners are a moat, why HubSpot avoided going more enterprise, building vs. buying, and building an eco-system. Video + blog post: https://www.saastr.com/brian-halligan-ceo-and-co-founder-at-hubspot-the-secrets-to-1b-arr-and-beyond/

Feb 19, 202138 min

SaaStr 429: The Current State of SaaS Companies, Subscriptions, and Retention in 2021 with Patrick Campbell, Founder & CEO @ ProfitWell

In this episode, ProfitWell Founder & CEO Patrick Campbell shares benchmarks from over 23,000 companies and offers a helpful framework to re-evaluate your retention strategy and increase your CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) between 10 and 60%. This episode is an excerpt of Patrick's session from SaaStr University: Spring Semester conference. Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/-hybaFIV964 Transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-429-with-profitwell-founder-ceo-patrick-campbell-the-current-state-of-saas-companies-subscriptions-and-retention-in-2021/ If your startup doesn't have a SOC 2, you can't close major customers, it's that simple. Vanta integrates with the tools you already use, from cloud providers to task trackers, to automate the complex, time-consuming and expensive process of preparing for a SOC 2 audit, so you can focus less on compliance and more on growing your business. Learn more and unlock a $1,000 off coupon at Vanta at vanta.com/saastr.

Feb 18, 202127 min

SaaStr 428: How to Execute a Winning Self-Service Strategy with Naomi Rozenfeld, VP of Revenue @ Wix Answers, and Amelia Ibarra, SVP & GM @ SaaStr

In today's SaaStr insider episode, SaaStr SVP and GM, Amelia Ibarra sits down with Naomi Rozenfeld, VP of Revenue @ Wix Answers. Together they discuss how to execute a winning self-service strategy, including when to launch, cross-functional implications, and how to find the right balance between self-service and customer support. Video + blog post: https://www.saastr.com/how-to-execute-a-winning-self-service-strategy-with-wix-answers/

Feb 12, 202144 min

SaaStr 427: How to Build a Great Intern Program with Farhan Thawar, VP Engineering @ Shopify

Internships have sparked millions of successful careers, and they can be a valuable talent pool from which companies can eventually hire full-time employees. But it's critical to build your internship program the right way. Farhan Thawar, the VP of Engineering at Shopify, has dedicated years to perfecting his internship program and shares his insider tips for launching a successful initiative of your own. Video + blog post: https://www.saastr.com/how-to-build-a-great-intern-program-from-scratch-with-shopify/

Feb 11, 202125 min

SaaStr 426: How to Market at Mass Scale, with Harry Stebbings and Ryan Bonnici, CMO @ Whereby

In today's SaaStr insider episode, Harry Stebbings sits down with Ryan Bonnici, Chief Marketing Officer at Whereby to chat about how to market at scale. Together, they cover how to hire marketers at scale and how to use marketing to set your brand above the rest. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/how-to-market-at-mass-scale-with-whereby/

Feb 8, 202139 min

SaaStr 425: 5 Interesting Learnings from Atlassian at $2B in ARR with SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin

Atlassian has always done things a bit differently. With a relatively small sales team and a huge investment in R&D since inception, Atlassian is proof that you can build a decacorn from anywhere. Listen in to the 5 Interesting learnings we can take away from Atlassian at $2B in ARR. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/5-interesting-learnings-from-atlassian-at-2b-in-arr/

Feb 5, 202118 min

SaaStr 424: How To Raise Your Next Round. What It Takes to Really Raise Capital in 2021 with Christoph Janz, Co-Founder and Partner @ Point Nine Capital

Each year, Point 9 Capital surveys founders and investors to explore what it takes to raise capital for SaaS companies. In this episode, Christoph Janz, a Founding Partner at Point 9 Capital, gives his data-backed insight into what investors are looking for in the year ahead. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/what-it-takes-to-really-raise-capital-in-2021/

Feb 4, 202126 min

SaaStr 423: The Misunderstanding of Enterprise Marketing and What it Really Takes to Scale with Menaka Shroff, Director of Marketing @ Google

When you're ready to take your enterprise marketing to the next level, you may run into some common pitfalls that hinder optimal performance. In this episode, Menaka Shroff, the Director of Global Marketing at Google, shares her observations of the misunderstandings she has seen during her career and how to avoid them. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/7-common-enterprise-marketing-mistakes/

Feb 1, 202121 min

SaaStr 422: The Twists and Turns Along the Way to Building a Unicorn with SalesLoft CEO, Kyle Porter, and SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin

After a newly minted $1.1B valuation, Kyle Porter, CEO of SalesLoft, sits down with SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin to talk about the twists and turns along the way to building SalesLoft into the Unicorn it is today. From completely pivoting the product early on, to becoming an essential software tool for inside sales reps -- learn how SalesLoft landed some of the Cloud giants like Shopify, Google, and Slack as its customers, and what it takes to build a Unicorn company in today's changing market. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/salesloft-unicorn-valuation-story/

Jan 29, 202156 min

SaaStr 421: 11 tips to Build Stronger Relationships with Customers with Jason Lemkin, CEO @ SaaStr

One of the easiest ways to consistently grow revenue is to make your customers happier. They buy more and churn less when you do. Here are 11 actionable steps and tips that always work in SaaS companies to drive NPS and happiness up from SaaStr CEO & Founder Jason Lemkin. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/how-do-you-build-strong-relationships-with-customers/

Jan 22, 202116 min

SaaStr 420: Mastering the Art and Science of Product-Led Growth with Mickey Alon, Founder, and CTO @ Gainsight PX and Ciara Peter, VP, Product @ Gainsight

Product-led growth is a disruptive go-to-market strategy adopted by the most successful companies in the subscription business, including Slack, Dropbox, Twilio, and Shopify. Drawing on his personal experience building innovative SaaS products, Mickey Alon, the creator of Gainsight PX, and Ciara Peter, VP Product at Gainsight, will cover the principles of Product-led growth strategy, how to build a product growth team, and how product teams can apply this strategy as part of their 2021 roadmap. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/mastering-the-art-and-science-of-product-led-growth-with-gainsight/

Jan 21, 202126 min

SaaStr 419: How To Collaborate, Manage & Work with Developers with Jeff Lawson, CEO and Co-Founder @ Twilio and Jason Lemkin, CEO @ SaaStr

At his core, Jeff Lawson is a software developer first, and a CEO second. He knows both sides of the executive & engineering equation intimately. He gets what goes on in a developer's brain and the detailed process of building software, but he understands that businesses are motivated to move quickly. And in turn, developers need to adapt. An all-time SaaStr fan-favorite, Jeff recently chatted with SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin to discuss his thoughts on collaborating, managing, and working with developers. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/how-to-collaborate-manage-and-work-with-developers-featuring-jeff-lawson-twilio/

Jan 15, 202153 min

SaaStr 418: 10 Rules for Defining Churn with Andrea Webb, SVP of Customer Success & Retention @ Solarwinds, and Tim Willey, the SVP of Commercial Strategy & Operations @ ForgeRock

Reducing churn in SaaS, along with increasing new ARR is the backbone to growing your business. In this guide, Andrea Webb, the SVP of Customer Success & Retention at Solarwinds, and Tim Willey, the SVP of Commercial Strategy & Operations at ForgeRock, share their tips for understanding and combating churn. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/10-rules-for-defining-churn-with-forgerock-and-solarwinds/

Jan 14, 202125 min

SaaStr 417: How Sales and Product Really Should Work Together with Javier Molina, VP, Corporate Sales, Americas @ MongoDB and Sahir Azam, Chief Product Officer @ MongoDB

In this episode, Sahir Azam, Chief Product Officer at MongoDB, and Javier Molina, SVP at MongoDB, share their journey to increasing company revenue through their cohesive sales and product relationship. When sales and product work together, amazing things happen. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/how-sales-and-product-really-should-work-together-with-javier-molina-vp-corporate-sales-americas-mongodb-and-sahir-azam-chief-product-officer-mongodb/

Jan 8, 202154 min

SaaStr 416: The Secret Sauce for Scaling to $1B with Sharon Prosser, VP, Global SMB GTM and Business Development @ Zendesk, and Astha Malik, VP, GTM Strategy, Planning and Enablement @ Zendesk

As your company grows, so does the focus on enterprise deals. Learn from Zendesk senior management about how to balance your needs and organization's focus on enterprise wins to reach $1B in revenue without ever forgetting the importance of catering to your original customer base and extending those learnings into new market segments. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/the-secret-sauce-to-scaling-to-1b-with-zendesk/

Jan 7, 202121 min

SaaStr 415: Fighting Churn with Data featuring, Carl Gold, Chief Data Scientist @ Zuora

Customer churn is the bane of online businesses, and data can help you understand the causes of churn and take action to reduce it. In this podcast, you'll discover powerful customer metrics that help your entire organization. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/fighting-churn-with-data-in-saas/ Sponsors: GuideCX is a client onboarding and project management platform that helps you invite, guide, and engage internal and customer teams in a transparent way that delivers value faster. (Pause) You can start a free fourteen-day GuideCX trial today or take a virtual tour at GuideCX.com. SaaSMQL helps high-ticket SaaS startups generate opportunities and recurring revenue from target accounts. Their Account-Based Marketing approach has proven to be effective at engaging decision-makers from Fortune one thousand companies. SaaSMQL's clients include Intellimize, Side, Travelbank, Alphonso, Alloy.ai, and many more. Book your intro call at SaaSMQL.com/SaaStr.

Jan 1, 202145 min

SaaStr 414: How to Leverage the Cloud Giants to Scale to 100 Million ARR and Beyond with Snowflake, CrowdStrike, Sumo Logic, and Sapphire Ventures

To help revenue and sales leaders navigate and identify ways to leverage cloud marketplaces, join Sapphire Ventures, Snowflake, Sumo Logic, and Crowdstrike to understand: How to successfully sell enterprise software through the major cloud marketplaces, what investments and alignment you need at your company need to be successful transacting on cloud marketplaces, and how to cultivate and enable a successful co-sell relationship with cloud marketplaces. Panel: Colleen Kapase, VP of WW Partner & Alliances, Snowflake Jessica Alexander, Senior Director Cloud Technology & OEM Partnerships, Crowdstrike Jabari Norton, VP WW Partner and Alliances, Sumo Logic Rico Mallozzi, Sr. Director of GTM Ops, Sapphire Ventures This episode is an excerpt from a session at SaaStr Scale. You can view the full video here: https://youtu.be/k4KEth7sNzw Transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-414-how-to-leverage-the-cloud-giants-to-scale-to-100-million-arr-and-beyond/ Visit Dell.com/SaaStr for exclusive savings on Dell products and more information about the Dell for entrepreneurs program. Everything from Dell financial services to Dell rewards, Dell for Entrepreneurs wants to help your business run smarter through technology. Bandwidth makes it easy to add enterprise-grade voice calling, text messaging, and emergency calling to your platform all backed by the power of a fully owned and operated tier-one carrier network that gives you direct to carrier pricing with better quality, control, and insights that other API providers can't. See why the biggest brands in the world rely on bandwidth and sign up for a free trial at bandwidth.com/SaaStr.

Dec 31, 202025 min

SaaStr 413: How to Build a Unicorn in 8 Simple Steps with Auren Hoffman, CEO @ SafeGraph

Join four-time Founder and CEO Auren Hoffman as he breaks down how businesses can become the right model for explosive growth, emulate their strategy, and join the path to Unicorn potential in eight simple, hand-made steps. This episode is an excerpt of Auren's session at SaaStr Scale. You can view the full video here: https://youtu.be/d6tnt2a12ZY Transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-413-with-safegraph-ceo-auren-hoffman-how-to-build-a-unicorn-in-8-simple-steps/ If you don't have a SOC 2 report, you aren't going to be able to sell to major customers. Secureframe helps startups get and maintain SOC 2 compliance in as little as two weeks. Join companies like Stream, Hasura, Benepass, and unlock more sales with Secureframe. SaaStr listeners get 10% off at secureframe.com/SaaStr.

Dec 29, 202051 min

SaaStr 412: The Secrets to Turbocharging Sales in 2021 with Keyfactor, Checkout.com, Contentstack, and Insight Partners

2020 has been a wild ride, but Sales teams are still expected to deliver. Hear from 3 companies on how they delivered in a year riddled with challenges, and what those battle scars have taught them as they plan to turbocharge their sales in 2021. Walk away from this episode with the tactics and tips you and your Sales team need for the upcoming year. Pablo Dominguez, Operating Partner, Insight Partners Ellen Kindley, Chief Transformation Officer, Keyfactor Brooke Treseder, SVP, Revenue Operations, Checkout.com Gordana Vuckovic, EVP Global Sales & Partnerships, Contentstack Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/the-secrets-to-turbo-charging-sales-in-2021/

Dec 24, 202029 min

SaaStr 411: Slack Chief Product Officer Tamar Yehoshua on Effective Product Design, Customer Development Processes and Evolving Management Philosophies

Tamar Yehoshua is the Chief Product Officer @ Slack, the company providing a place where people get work done, together. Prior to their direct listing in June 2019, Slack raised over $1.3Bn from the likes of Accel, Thrive, Softbank, Kleiner, IVP, T Rowe, GV, and a16z to name a few. As for Tamar, previously, Tamar was a Vice President at Google, holding product and engineering leadership roles on Google's most important products, including Search, Identity, and Privacy. Prior to that, she was the Vice President of Advertising Technologies at Amazon's A9. If that was not enough Tamar is also on the board of 2 public companies in the form of Yext and ServiceNow. In Today's Episode We Discuss: How Tamar made her way from Google and Amazon into the world of bottoms up SaaS with one of the leading companies of our generation, Slack? What were Tamar's biggest takeaways from her time with Amazon and Google? How did Jeff Bezos' approach to "the customer" impact Tamar's operating mindset? How does Tamar analyse customer responses to product changes? How important a role does the press play in customer's responses? How does Tamar think about effective product design today? How does Tamar structure the customer development process? What questions does she ask? What is she looking for? Where do many people go wrong with customer discovery? What channels can teams put in place to have this real-time dialogue with their customers? How would Tamar describe her management philosophy today? What have been some of Tamar's biggest lessons on giving effective feedback? How should it be structured? When should it be given? To what extent does Tamar agree with "radical candour"? Where do many go wrong in giving their feedback? Tamar's 60 Second SaaStr: The most challenging element of Tamar's role with Slack? What would Tamar most like to change about the SaaS industry? What moment in Tamar's life has served as an inflection point and changed the way she thinks? Read the full transcript on our blog: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-411-with-slack-chief-product-officer-tamar-yehoshua/ 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

Dec 22, 202032 min

SaaStr 410: 10x Your Organization's Performance with Todd McKinnon, CEO and Co-Founder @ Okta and Jason Lemkin, CEO @ SaaStr

In today's SaaStr insider episode SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin catches up with Todd McKinnon, CEO and co-founder of Okta. Together they discuss what it takes to build, maintain and grow a high-performance organization. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/10-learnings-from-talking-with-todd-mckinnon-ceo-of-okta/

Dec 20, 202052 min

SaaStr 409: Lessons in Scaling a Low Code Platform with Howie Liu, Co-Founder, and CEO @ Airtable

As one of the early champions of "low-code", Howie Liu shares the lessons he's learned building and scaling a company in an entirely new category. He'll discuss how Airtable focuses on solving customers' increasingly complex needs, all with products that are easily adoptable. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/lessons-in-scaling-a-low-code-platform-with-airtable/

Dec 18, 202026 min

SaaStr 408: Going Long and the 20-year Journey of Being a CEO + Founder with Therese Tucker, CEO and Founder @ BlackLine and Jason Lemkin, CEO and Founder @ SaaStr

SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin catches up with Therese Tucker, Founder, and CEO at BlackLine about her SaaS journey, going long and surviving black swan events. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/going-long-the-20-year-journey-of-being-a-ceo-founder-with-blackline/

Dec 11, 202041 min

SaaStr 407: The Secrets of Market Timing and How to Develop the Right Idea, at the Right Time with Allen Gannett, Author of the Creative Curve

Trends are fleeting and hard to pin down. Or are they? Learn how you can leverage the science of trends and better understand market behavior. This episode is an excerpt of Allen's session at SaaStr @ Home 2020. You can view the full video here: https://youtu.be/v1c08Ztdrss Podcast transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-407-with-the-creative-curve-author-allen-gannett-the-secrets-of-market-timing-and-how-to-develop-the-right-idea-at-the-right-time/ Visit dell.com/saastr for exclusive savings on Dell products and more information about the Dell for entrepreneurs program. Everything from Dell financial services to Dell rewards, Dell for Entrepreneurs wants to help your business run smarter through technology. Bandwidth makes it easy to add enterprise-grade voice calling, text messaging and emergency calling to your platform, all backed by the power of a fully owned and operated, tier-one carrier network that gives you direct to carrier pricing with better quality, control, and insights that other API providers can't. See why the biggest brands in the world rely on Bandwidth and sign up for a free trial at bandwidth.com/saastr.

Dec 10, 202022 min

SaaStr 406: Notion's Head of Customer Experience, Kate Taylor on How To Approach Delegation at Scale, How Leaders Can Truly Empower Their Team Members & The Role of Sales in a World of Product-Led Growth

Kate Taylor is Head of Customer Experience at Notion, one of the fastest-growing startups of the last 5 years with over $68M in funding from some of the best in the business including Index, Daniel Gross, Elad Gil, Lachy Groom, Josh Kopelman and Aydin Senkut to name a few. As for Kate, prior to making the move to Notion just last month, she spent an incredible 8 years at Dropbox including holding roles such as Head of Sales Development, North America and Director of Global SMB Revenue and Operations. Before Notion, Kate spent 2 years at Salesforce in the corporate sales and enterprise business units. In Today's Episode We Discuss: How Kate made her way into the world of SaaS with Salesforce, how that led to her 8 year tenure at Dropbox before joining the breakout, Notion? Why does Kate not believe that in startups you can "do it all"? How to discover the problems people care about? How to think through prioritisation of problems at the early stage? Where do many people make mistakes here? How does Kate approach delegation at scale? When is the right time to start? How can founders let go and entrust others to do the role they have been doing? How can leaders build trust with the people they work with? How can leaders empower employees with act with conviction and invest in them? What is the role of sales in a product-led growth organisation? How can sales and product work effectively well together? Where do many mistakes happen in sales and product? How can product and marketing also collaborate productively? What can one do to shorten the feedback cycles as much as possible? Kate's 60 Second SaaStr: Most challenging element of Kate's role with Notion? What would Kate like to change about the world of SaaS? What does Kate know now that she wishes she had known from the beginning? Read the full transcript on our blog: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-406-with-notion-head-of-customer-experience-kate-taylor/ 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

Dec 8, 202029 min

SaaStr 405: 6 Learnings on Scaling to $100M ARR with Bernadette Nixon, CEO @ Algolia and Jason Lemkin, CEO @ SaaStr

In today's SaaStr insider episode SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin catches up with Bernadette Nixon CEO at Algolia and together they share 6 learnings on scaling to $100M ARR and what it really takes selling to customers small, medium and large. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/6-learnings-from-algolia-on-the-way-to-100000000-arr/

Dec 4, 202039 min

SaaStr 404: The Secrets To Managing in All Directions with Arquay Harris, Sr. Director Engineering @ Slack

The benefits of managing upwards and downwards are frequent management topics. However, managing sideways and inward are also important skills for a successful leader. Learn new ways to build strong teams by managing in all directions from Arquay Harris at Slack. This episode is an excerpt of Arquay's session at SaaStr @ Home 2020. You can view the full video here: https://youtu.be/q40RWMgZgIo Podcast transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-404-with-slack-sr-director-engineering-arquay-harris-the-secrets-to-managing-in-all-directions/ Visit dell.com/saastr for exclusive savings on Dell products and more information about the Dell for Entrepreneurs program. Everything from Dell financial services to Dell rewards, Dell for Entrepreneurs wants to help your business run smarter through technology. Bandwidth makes it easy to add enterprise-grade voice calling, text messaging and emergency calling to your platform, all backed by the power of a fully owned and operated Tier 1 carrier network that gives you direct-to-carrier pricing with better quality, control, and insights that other API providers can't. See why the biggest brands in the world rely on Bandwidth and sign up for a free trial at bandwidth.com/saastr.

Dec 3, 202027 min

SaaStr 403: Loom's VP Sales, Sam Taylor on Sales' Role in a Product-Led-Growth Organisation, How Sales Can Most Effectively Work With Marketing & When To Hire Your First Reps When Selling Bottoms Up

Sam Taylor is the VP of Sales and Success @ Loom, the startup that helps you get your message across by making it easy to record instantly shareable videos. To date, they have raised over $73M from some of the best in the business including Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, General Catalyst and Point Nine to name a few. As for Sam, prior to Loom, Sam spent over 4 years at Salesforce following their acquisition of Quip, a startup Salesforce acquired for $750M where Sam was also the 1st sales leader. Before Quip, Sam spent an incredible 3 years at Dropbox where he was the first enterprise sales rep in the entire company. In Today's Episode We Discuss: How Sam made his way into the world of SaaS with Dropbox and how that led to his leading the sales and success team today @ Loom? What was Sam's biggest lesson from scaling the sales team at Dropbox? How did his 4 years at Salesforce change his operating mentality? Thinking of Dropbox, how does Sam justify the role of sales in a world of product-led growth? How do product and sales work together most efficiently? What can one do to structure that relationship? Does Sam agree that the founder is the one who has to create the sales playbook? When is the right time to hire the first sales rep? Should you hire 2 at a time? What does one look for in their first sales hire? What measurements should be used to determine their success? How does this change when selling to SMBs vs enterprise? How does Sam think about the relationship between sales and marketing? Are marketing becoming the new sales team with their content being used more and more in the sales funnel? How should the success of marketing be measured? Does it have to be tied to a number related to revenue? Sam's 60 Second SaaStr: Biggest challenge of Sam's role with Loom today? What would Sam most like to change in the world of SaaS? What is Sam's biggest weakness as a sales leader? Read the full transcript on our blog: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-403-with-loom-vp-of-sales-sam-taylor/ 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

Dec 1, 202034 min

SaaStr 402: Customers Want Value + Simplicity: The Must Haves to Deliver with Marten Mickos, CEO @ HackerOne

Marten Mickos, CEO of HackerOne, explains their innovative approach of packaging customer value derived from a variety of activities into an annually recurring subscription offering that delivers outstanding value to customers while simplifying the buying process and the customer journey. This episode is an excerpt of Mårten's session at SaaStr @ Home 2020. You can view the full video here: https://youtu.be/GAw4vKbMevk Full transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-402-with-hackerone-ceo-marten-mickos-customers-want-value-simplicity-the-must-haves-to-deliver/ Want to see why Adobe, Salesforce, and Marketo use Outgrow? Try building quizzes, ROI calculators, and assessments on Outgrow. Find out how you can build these tools with Outgrow's powerful builder, learn more at outgrow.co/saas. If you don't have a SOC 2 report, you aren't going to be able to sell to major customers. Secureframe helps startups get and maintain software compliance in as little as two weeks. Join companies like Stream, Hasura, Benepass, and unlock more sales with Secureframe. SaaStr listeners get 10% off at secureframe.com/saastr.

Nov 30, 202048 min

SaaStr 401: The Secrets To Doing Freemium and Sales-Driven Sales at the Same Time with MixMax CEO, Olof Mathe

In this session, you will learn how to make the Freemium model work while also incorporating the traditional sales-driven strategy. Olof Mathe will share how the two strategies can blend together and specific lessons he has learned from his experience. Full video: https://youtu.be/9dIaJpuBCU4 Transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-401-with-mixmax-ceo-olof-mathe-the-secrets-to-doing-freemium-and-sales-driven-sales-at-the-same-time/ Bandwidth makes it easy to add enterprise-grade voice calling, text messaging, and emergency calling to your platform, all backed by the power of a fully owned and operated tier-one carrier network that gives you direct-to-carrier pricing with better quality control and insights that other API providers can't. See why the biggest brands in the world rely on Bandwidth, and sign up for a free trial at bandwidth.com/SaaStr. Dell for Entrepreneurs is here to help your business scale faster through technology. Reach out to [email protected] for a free IT consultation. From laptops, desktops to servers and cloud, Dell Technologies is there for you.

Nov 26, 202018 min

SaaStr 400: The Future of Digital Events with Ben Hindman, Co-Founder & CEO @ Splash and Jason Lemkin, CEO @ SaaStr

In today's SaaStr insider episode SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin catches up with Ben Hindman, Co-Founder & CEO at Splash to talk about the future of digital events. This interview was part of Splash's Boom, a video series about the innovation explosion in events and the tech stack. Podcast transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-400-with-splash-ceo-ben-hindman-and-saastr-ceo-jason-lemkin-the-future-of-digital-events/

Nov 21, 202011 min

SaaStr 399: Four Steps to Scaling to $250M, While Keeping Community at Your Center with Prashanth Chandrasekar, CEO @ Stack Overflow

Building the world's largest and most trusted software developer and technologist community and going from 0 to 120 million users happened rapidly for Stack Overflow. Hear four steps from its CEO, Prashanth Chandrasekar, on how your product-led startup can grow its community and its revenue. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/four-steps-to-scaling-to-250m-from-stack-overflow/

Nov 20, 202026 min

SaaStr 398: How To Price To Maximise For Upsell and Expansion, Why and When To Engage with Partner Programs & How To Correctly Segment Customer Profiles Most Efficiently with Rob Gonzalez, Founder & CMO @ Salsify

Rob Gonzalez is the Co-Founder & CMO @ Salsify, empowering brand manufacturers to deliver the product experiences consumers demand at every point in their buying journey. To date, Salsify has raised over $250M in funding from the likes of Venrock, Underscore, Warburg Pincus, Matrix Partners & Greenspring to name a few. As for Rob, prior to founding Salsify, he was the first-ever product manager at Cambridge Semantics and before that was a Senior Product Manager @ Endeca helping grow the company to it's $Bn exit. In Today's Episode We Discuss: How Rob made his way into the world of SaaS as a product manager and how that led to his founding Salsify over 8 years ago? How does Rob think about the bundled vs unbundled thesis within SaaS? When is it right for SaaS companies to turn down potential customers? How can they do that the right way? What is the right way to think about customer segmentation? How should startups decide which customer segment to focus on? How should startups think about implementing partnerships? When is the right time? What is the right way to onboard them? How can they be trained in implementation efficiently? What does great change management look like to Rob? What does Rob believe are the biggest misconceptions around change management? How does Rob think through pricing today in a way that encourages land and expand? What can you do to make the land as frictionless as possible? What does it take to expand effectively? How does Rob think about usage vs seat-based pricing in SaaS? How should sales and marketing work together on pricing? Rob's 60 Second SaaStr: Most challenging element of Rob's role with Salsify? What would Rob most like to change in the world of SaaS today? What does Rob know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? Read the full transcript on our blog: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-398-with-salsify-co-founder-cmo-rob-gonzalez/ 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 Rob Gonzalez

Nov 18, 202025 min

SaaStr 397: Going Upmarket and How Things Have Changed in a Decade, @ Trello, with Co-Founder Michael Pryor and Jason Lemkin, CEO @ SaaStr

In today's SaaStr insider episode SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin catches up with Michael Pryor, the Co-Founder of Trello to talk about going upmarket, and how things have changed in the last decade as Trello crosses 50M+ users. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/going-upmarket-and-how-things-have-changed-in-a-decade-at-trello-with-founder-michael-pryor/

Nov 14, 202054 min

SaaStr 396: Buying patterns in the Enterprise: CEOs and More- Who's Really Buying & Why with Godard Abel, Co-founder & CEO @ G2, Mike Weir, Chief Revenue Officer @ G2 and Samantha DeStefano, Vice President, Enterprise Sales @ UpWork

As digital business and collaboration models have been permanently accelerated by the events of 2020, our panel of SaaS experts discuss who's buying in the Enterprise, and how to drive conversions across multiple business functions. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/buying-patterns-in-the-enterprise/

Nov 12, 202023 min

SaaStr 395: Why Seat Based pricing Will Die and Volume Based Pricing Is Optimal, How To Structure Pipeline Meetings Most Effectively & How To Think Through Demand Gen Strategically with UserTesting CEO Andy MacMillan

Andy MacMillan is the CEO @ UserTesting, the company that provides real-time feedback, from real customers, wherever you work. To date, they have raised over $200M in funding from the likes of Accel, Greenspring, Openview and Insight to name a few. As for Andy, prior to UserTesting, he was the Chairman and CEO @ Act On Software and before that held several positions at Salesforce, including COO - Products Group. Before Salesforce Andy spent close to 5 years at Oracle as VP Product Management. In Today's Episode We Discuss: How did Andy make his way into the world of SaaS? How did he come to be CEO at the market leader, UserTesting? Why does Andy think the seat-based pricing model in SaaS will die? What are the downsides of it? Why is volume-based pricing optimal? How does one instil volume based pricing without disincentivizing usage? How does Andy think about discounting? How does Andy view the importance of offering trials? What does it take to scale a sales team successfully? How can one determine a closer in the interview process? Should one hire sales reps 2x2? How does Andy think about hiring sales reps from adjacent companies and industries? How does Andy think about minimizing and optimising sales ramp times? How does Andy think about payback period? How does Andy structure the pipeline meetings? Who is invited? How are the meetings structured? How does Andy advise on the right segmentation of pipe? How does Andy evaluate the closability of the pipe? Where do many people go wrong in pipeline meetings? What have been his biggest lessons on running them successfully? Andy's 60 Second SaaStr: The hardest element of Andy's role with UserTesting? What Andy would most like to change about the world of SaaS? The hardest role to hire for today and why? Read the full transcript on our blog: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-395-with-usertesting-ceo-andy-macmillan/ 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 Andy MacMillan

Nov 10, 202046 min

SaaStr 394: How to Hack Venture Capital with Sunil Dhaliwal, GP @ Amplify Partners and and Jason Lemkin, CEO @ SaaStr

Where is Venture Capital today? And how do you hack it? SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin, sits down with Sunil Dhaliwal, General Partner at Amplify Partners to discuss. Full video: https://youtu.be/8w6K7slhLX4 Podcast transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-394-with-sunil-dhaliwal-and-jason-lemkin/

Nov 6, 202040 min

SaaStr 393: 3 Secrets to Selling Up-Market with the Leaders of Fivetran, Stripe, and Docusign

The journey for a company to move upmarket can be daunting and varies widely depending on the internal and external factors that inspire a shift in go-to-market strategy. Join these incredible sales leaders are they share their experiences in the evolution from SMB to Enterprise. Kelly Del Curto, Senior Director of Sales at Lever Tammy Aguillon, Area Vice President, Commercial Sales at DocuSign Kate Jensen, Head of Platform Sales at Stripe Lauren Schwartz, Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Fivetran Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/how-to-sell-upmarket-in-saas/

Nov 5, 202025 min

SaaStr 392: 10 Simple Steps To Help Any Sales Exec Close More with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin

In today's SaaStr insider episode SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin shares 10 Simple Steps To Help Any Sales Exec Close More. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/10-simple-tips-to-help-any-account-executive-close-more/

Oct 30, 202017 min

SaaStr 391: The Secrets to Bootstrapping to $5M ARR in Less than a Year with Martha Bitar, CEO @ Flodesk

Learn how Flodesk bootstrapped to $5M in ARR by focusing on customer-driven growth: from kickstarting growth by empowering new customers to share, to creating product viral loops that amplify and optimize these customer-led funnels. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/how-to-bootstrap-to-5m-arr-in-less-than-a-year/

Oct 29, 202026 min

SaaStr 390: How To Crush It With Interactive Content, What Type, Where and When To Use It Most Efficiently and Where Many People Make Mistakes with Randy Rayess, Founder @ Outgrow

Randy Rayess is the Co-Founder @ Outgrow, a growth marketing platform that enables marketers to build interactive content/tools to increase customer engagement and boost demand generation. Prior to founding Outgrow, Randy co-founded VenturePact, an invite-only marketplace that connects companies with trusted software development firms. Before VenturePact Randy held roles at Ampush and then on the investor side at SilverLake. If that was not enough, Randy is also an investor having invested in the likes of SmartyPal, Nooch, Alie and AirCare Labs to name a few. In Today's Episode We Discuss: How Randy made his way from the world of PE with SilverLake to changing the game of digital marketing with Outgrow? What does interactive content mean? What are the most common forms? When should one start to use interactive content What resources and team does one need to engage with an interactive content strategy? Where do many people make mistakes with using interactive content? How should one think about idea generation for interactive content? How does one know what interactive content works best? How should we test it's effectiveness? How should interactive content be promoted? Where should it be placed? How many text inputs is it optimal to request for? How does it convert more leads? How does Randy think about using interactive content to maximise sales rep efficiency? How should customer success engage with interactive content? What can be done to make the sales and customer success teamwork so well together? Randy's 60 Second SaaStr: The hardest element of Randy's role with Outgrow today? Hardest role to hire for today? Why? What would Randy most like to change about the world of SaaS? Read the full transcript on our blog: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-390-with-outgrow-co-founder-randy-rayess/ 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 Randy Rayess

Oct 28, 202025 min

SaaStr 389: How To Really Disrupt the Big Guys With Free with Mikael Cho, CEO @ Unsplash and Kinsey Grant, Business Editor and Podcast Host @ Morning Brew

Mikael Cho, CEO of Unsplash shares his lessons learned from starting Unsplash as a side project and growing it to a market leader, and disrupting an industry of giants like Shutterstock, Getty, and Adobe Stock with a free business model. Full video: https://youtu.be/t3nmvxlybJM Podcast transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-389-with-unsplash-ceo-mikael-cho-and-morning-brew-business-editor-kinsey-grant-how-to-really-disrupt-the-big-guys-with-free/

Oct 22, 202022 min