The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

SaaStr 173: Lemkin's Lesson on What To Look For In Your First Sales Reps, How to Approach Variable Compensation, The Right Way To Acquire Customers When Starting Paid Marketing and more with Jason Lemkin, Founder @ SaaStr

30 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Jason Lemkin is the Founder @ SaaStr, the world's largest SaaS event with over 20,000 of the world's best SaaS founders and investors attending every ...

SaaStr 172: Why It Is Easier To Start In SMB and Work Your Way Up, How To Encourage A Risk Mindset Into Your Culture & How To Separate Ego From Decision-Making with Jon Lee, Founder & CEO @ ProsperWorks

23 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Jon Lee is the Founder & CEO @ ProsperWorks, the #1 recommended CRM for G Suite. To date, ProsperWorks have raised over $85m in VC funding from the li...

SaaStr 171: How To Figure Out Your Pricing Strategy: The Diminishing Role of The Per Seat Model, Why Open Source Is The Only Way To Get In Front of Today's Developers & Why Capital Efficiency Is Always Key with Chetan Puttagunta, General Partner @ NEA

16 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Chetan Puttagunta is a General Partner @ NEA, one of the world's largest venture capital firms in the world with over $3Bn in their latest fund and a ...

SaaStr 170: Intacct's Rob Reid on Scaling Intacct's Team & Culture To An $850m Exit, Why You Must Attack The Process Not The People & Why The Old School CEO Approach Is Upside Down and Backward

09 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Rob Reid is the Executive Vice President & Managing Director @ Sage Intacct, the undisputed global leader serving finance teams of any size. With over...

SaaStr 169: The Secret To Ensure High Conversion On Trials, How To Start and Scale A Remote Team Successfully & Lessons From Amazon and Netflix on A Culture of Achievement and Goal-setting with Kolton Andrus, Founder & CEO @ Gremlin

02 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kolton Andrus is the Founder & CEO @ Gremlin, the failure as a service startup finds weaknesses in your system before they cause problems. To date, th...

SaaStr 168: Why 70% of Startup's VPs of Sales Fail, How and When To Hire Your First VP of Sales & The One Question That You Must Always Ask VP of Sales Candidates with Ryan Williams, Founder @ SalesCollider

26 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Williams is the Founder @ SalesCollider, the organisation that helps technical founders jumpstart sales. Ryan got his start as the first sales ma...

SaaStr 167: The Biggest Challenges In Scaling From $1-10m in ARR, How To Navigate Enterprise Sales Negotiations Successfully & Why You Must Reiterate Value At Every Touchpoint with PJ Bouten, Founder & CEO @ Showpad

19 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Pieterjan (PJ) Bouten is the Founder & CEO @ Showpad, the world's leading sales enablement platform that allows for the creation of amazing buyer expe...

SaaStr 166: Why SaaS Startups Do Not Have To Scale To Enterprise, Why Usage Is The Key Metric When Serving SMBs & How To Optimise The Partnership Model In SaaS with Clate Mask, Founder & CEO @ InfusionSoft

12 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Clate Mask is the CEO of Infusionsoft, the leading cloud-based CRM platform for growth-minded small businesses with more than 145,000 users worldwid...

SaaStr 165: Step By Step Guide To Building Truly Diverse Teams, Why Data Professionals Must Be At The Core of Your Company & How To Move Upmarket Effectively with Harry Glaser, Founder & CEO @ Periscope Data

05 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Harry Glaser is the Founder & CEO @ Periscope Data, the startup that allows you to transform your business with the fastest, most powerful analytics p...

SaaStr 164: The Right Way To Sell To Enterprise Buyers, Why Sales Ops Will Be A C-Suite Role in the Next 10 Years and Whether Or Not To Engage With Pilots and Discounting with Mark Godley, President @ LeadGenius

26 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Godley is the President of LeadGenius, the startup that provides the power of human intelligence with the scale of machine learning. To date they...

SaaStr 163: Scaling Zapier to $35m in ARR with Just $1.3m in Funding &Why Most Founders Should Ignore Fundraising & How To Harness The Power of Completely Remote Teams with Wade Foster, Founder & CEO @ Zapier

19 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Wade Foster is the Founder & CEO @ Zapier, the startup that moves information between your web apps automatically, so you can focus on your most impor...

SaaStr 162: How To Achieve True Virality in SaaS with $0 CAC, Why Customer Success Is The New Marketing & How To Optimise Remote and Contract Workers with Olof Mathé, Founder & CEO @ Mixmax

12 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Olof Mathé is the Founder & CEO @ Mixmax, the startup that allows you to be a sales pro, providing powerful analytics, automation and enhancements fo...

SaaStr 161: Brad Feld on Structuring Your SaaS Startup For Scalability, How The Role Of CEO Should Adjust To The Growth Of The Organisation & What Makes The Most Effective Board Members

05 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Brad Feld is one of the world's leading VCs having Co-Founded Foundry Group, Brad has made investments in the likes of Zynga, Makerbot and Fitbit, ju...

SaaStr 160: Why People Over Index Culture Fit, How To Hire Through Market Cycles & How To Balance The Assessment of Output vs Input with Mark Mader, CEO @ Smartsheet

29 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Mader is the CEO @ Smartsheet, the company that allows firms the best way to plan, track, automate and report on work. To date, they have raised ...

SaaStr 159: Why CAC/LTV Is Not The Guiding Metric In SaaS, How To Build An Inside Sales Team From Scratch & Why SMB Up Is The Right Way with Fred Shilmover, Founder & CEO @ InsightSquared

22 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Fred Shilmover is the CEO and co-founder of InsightSquared, one of Boston's premiere tech startups paving the way in the sales intelligence space. Thr...

SaaStr 158: 3 Core Skills of The Best Performing SaaS CEOs & The Inflection Points In The Scaling of SaaS Teams & How To Mitigate Them with Mike McDerment, Founder & CEO @ Freshbooks

15 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Mike McDerment is co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks, the #1 cloud-based accounting software designed exclusively for service-based small business owner...

SaaStr 157: MuleSoft Founder, Ross Mason on How Unbundling to A SaaS Platform Alters Revenue, Org Structure and Product Roadmap, Why Moving To Silicon Valley Was Fundamental For Mulesoft &Why Startups Can No Longer Own The Entire Customer Lifecycle

08 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ross Mason is the Founder & VP of Product Strategy @ MuleSoft, one of the world's leading software platforms making it easy to connect the world's app...

SaaStr 156: Most Downloaded SaaStr of 2017: David Skok, General Partner @ Matrix Partners

18 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

David Skok is a serial entrepreneur turned VC at Matrix Partners. He founded four companies: Skok Systems, Corporate Software Europe, Watermark Softwa...

SaaStr 155: Intercom Co-Founder, Des Traynor on Constructing The Right Brand Architecture, The Right Way To Integrate Customer Feedback Into Product Roadmap & Why There Is An Inverse Correlation Between Quality & Market Size

11 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Des Traynor is the Co-Founder, Chief Strategy Officer and VP of Marketing at Intercom, one of the world's hottest startups that simply put, makes comm...

SaaStr 154: Why The Rule of 40 Is Wrong, Why Growth Does Matter More Than Profitability & Why Every First Hire In A Function Must Be A Swiss Army Knife with Greg Sands, Founder & Managing Partner @ Costanoa Ventures

04 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Greg Sands is the Founder & Managing Partner @ Costanoa Ventures, one of the leading early stage enterprise funds on the West Coast with their latest ...

SaaStr 153: How To Build and Scale Sales Teams As A Technical Founder, How To Scale The Sales Learning Curve & Why No One Actually Cares About Your Product with Spenser Skates, Founder & CEO @ Amplitude

27 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Spenser Skates is the Founder & CEO @ Amplitude, the only analytics solution built for modern product teams that helps you understand user behaviour a...

SaaStr 152: Cloudera's Lars Nilsson on Why SDRs Are The Most Important Role In The Sales Function, How To Build An SDR Team From Nothing & How To Construct A Compensation Plan That Drives A Behaviour You Want Other Than Just Revenue

20 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Lars Nilsson is the VP of Global Inside Sales for Cloudera and with over twenty-five years of sales and operations experience, Lars Nilsson is a globa...

SaaStr 151: AppDynamics Founder, Jyoti Bansal on The Requirements To Proceed Through The Scaling Stages in SaaS To Build One Of The Fastest Growing Enterprise Companies And Achieve a $3.7Bn Exit

13 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Jyoti Bansal is the former Founder & CEO @ AppDynamics, backed by the likes of Lightspeed, Greylock and Kleiner Perkins just to name a few before it's...

SaaStr 150: Why New Qualified Leads Divided By Win Rate Is The Metric in SaaS, Why It Is Harder To Go Enterprise Down Than SMB Up & How To Create Engines of Growth Within Your Organisation with Paul Albright, Former CRO @ Marketo

06 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Albright is one of the valley's most experienced SaaS execs with extensive operational and capital management experience, including 3 IPOs. Most ...

SaaStr 149: 2 Fundamental Challenges To Rapid Scaling in SaaS, The Importance of Short Qualification Periods & Why Departments Must Also Have North Stars with Jack Altman, Founder & CEO @ Lattice

30 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Jack Altman is the Founder & CEO of Lattice, the #1 performance management solution for growing companies.They have raised close to $10m in funding fr...

SaaStr 148: Why Startups Die of Indigestion Not Starvation, Why Early Product Market Fit Can Be Misleading & Why Gross Margin Is So Crucial For SaaS Businesses From Day 1 with Rajeev Batra, Partner @ Mayfield

23 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Rajeev Batra is a Partner at Mayfield, a firm that has championed bold entrepreneurs since 1969. Rajeev's investments at Mayfield include the likes of...

SaaStr 147: Why Payback Period Is The Critical Metric, Why There Is No "No Man's Land In SaaS Pricing" & When Is A Stretch VP, A Stretch Too Far with Shan Sinha, Founder & CEO @ Highfive

16 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Shan Sinha is the Founder & CEO @ Highfive, the startup that quite simply makes insanely simple video conferencing. They have raised over $45m in fund...

SaaStr 146: Why Management Upgrade Is The Most Important Thing A CEO Can Do, Why You Must Hire More Generalists with Scale & How To Hire People with 3-4 Years Runway with Chris Caren, CEO @ Turnitin

09 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Caren is the CEO @ Turnitin, the company revolutionising the experience of writing to learn with backing from the likes of IVP, Norwest Venture ...

SaaStr 145: Mulesoft CEO, Greg Schott on The Challenges & Lessons of Scaling from 20 to 1,000 People & Where Most Companies Go Wrong In The Hiring Process

02 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Greg Schott is the Chairman and CEO @ Mulesoft, provider of the leading platform for building application networks. They have raised over $250m in fun...

SaaStr 144: 7 Steps To Land $100K+ "Whale" Clients with Sequoia Backed, Andy Byrne, Founder & CEO @ Clari

25 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Andy Byrne is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Clari, the startup that helps sales teams drive more revenue and increase forecast accuracy through improved deal...

SaaStr 143: DigitalOcean CEO, Ben Uretsky on Scaling To 1m Customers with No Sales Team, Key Learnings From Raising $123m & Why It Is Not Just About Culture Fit

18 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Ben Uretsky is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Digital Ocean. Under Ben's leadership, DigitalOcean has risen from a cloud startup for developers to the second ...

SaaStr 142: Why CAC/LTV Is The Most Important Metric In SaaS, How To Analyse Churn Correctly & Why Bookings Are Inaccurate and Easy To Manipulate with Dave Kellogg, CEO @ Host Analytics

11 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Dave Kellogg is the CEO @ Host Analytics, the leader in cloud-based enterprise performance management (EPM). Previously, Dave was SVP/GM of Service Cl...

SaaStr 141: How To Scale & Segment Your Sales Team Efficiently, How To Move Upmarket With Speed & How To Raise Over $50m in an "Unsexy" Industry with Classy Founder, Scot Chisholm

05 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Scot Chisholm is the Founder & CEO @ Classy, the world's leading  fundraising platform for nonprofit organizations As a result they have raised close...

SaaStr 140: Key Requirement To A Cash Flow Positive SaaS Business, How To Land Your First "Whale" & How To Incentivise Your Sales Team Aligned To The Company Mission with Mark Organ, Founder & CEO @ Influitive

28 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Organ, Founder & CEO at Influitive. Influitive helps B2B companies mobilize their army of advocates for more rapid and profitable revenue growth....

SaaStr 139: Why Hiring Sales People Is Like Being Thirsty, Why You Have to Separate Between Customers and Money & Why Time Kills More Companies Than Dollars with Mike Dauber, General Partner @ Amplify Partners

21 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Dauber is a General Partner @ Amplify Partners, the fund that backs technical founders, building technical products for technical buyers. Their p...

SaaStr 138: The Rule of 40% For A Healthy SaaS Company, Why It Is Not All About Top Line Growth In Enterprise & Why Land & Expand Is Wrong with Vineet Jain, Founder & CEO @ Egnyte

14 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Vineet Jain is the Founder & CEO @ Egnyte, the startup that delivers smart content collaboration in the cloud or on-premises. They have raised over $6...

SaaStr 137: How To Scale A Sales Org The Right Way, What Makes A Truly Effective SaaS Board & Why SaaS Leaders Need To Be Vulnerable with Max Yoder, Founder & CEO @ Lessonly

07 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Max Yoder is the Founder & CEO @ Lessonly, the modern learning software used by teams to translate important work knowledge into Lessons that accelera...

SaaStr 136: What Role Should The CEO Play With The Marketing Strategy, What Do CEOs Most Often Get Wrong About CMOs & What Makes The Optimal CEO-CMO Relationship with Stacey Epstein, CEO @ Zinc

31 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Stacey Epstein is the CEO @ Zinc, the secure communications platform for workers in front of customers, not computers. They have backing from some of ...

SaaStr 135: Auren Hoffman on Why Raising Prices Is Not A Good Idea, How Fewer Employees Can Mean Fast Growth & Why The CEO Must Never Delegate HR

24 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Auren Hoffman is the Founder & CEO @ Safegraph, the startup that is unlocking the world's most powerful data so that machines and humans can answer so...

SaaStr 134: The Crucial Difference Between Mentorship & Advocacy, Why You Have To Practice Upward Empathy & How To Make The Successful Transition from Services Based Business to SaaS Based Business with TapInfluence CEO, Promise Phelon

17 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Promise Phelon is the CEO @ TapInfluence, bringing the first ever influencer marketing platform to the Fortune 1000. Under Promise's leadership the co...

SaaStr 133: 3 Fundamentals SaaS Founders Have To Nail To Get To $30m+ ARR & What First Time SaaS Founders Can Do To Increase Their Chances of Product Market Fit

10 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Ashu Garg is a General Partner @ Foundation Capital whose portfolio includes the likes of Uber, Lending Club, Adroll and Netflix, just to name a few. ...

SaaStr 132: Why The 1 Metric You Have To Know Is "Magic Number", Why Measuring The "Time To Money Is Crucial" & Why You Must Switch From Metrics to KPIs with Kurt Bilafer, CRO @ WePay

03 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Kurt Bilafer is the CRO @ WePay, the most complete payments solution for platforms. To date, they have raised close to $75m in VC funding from some of...

SaaStr 131: The Secret To Selling To SMBs & Creating A Sales Model That Scales with Jens Nylander, Founder & CEO @ Automile

26 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Jens Nylander is the Founder and CEO @ Automile, the startup that makes fleet and asset management much much easier. They have backing from some of th...

SaaStr 130: Accel's Steve Loughlin on Founding RelateIQ & Lessons From Working with Marc Benioff, How Founders Can Determine Which Is The Right Market For Them & Evolutions in The Enterprise AI/ML Landscape

19 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Steve Loughlin is a Partner @ Accel in San Francisco, one of the leading funds with prior investments in the likes of Facebook, Dropbox, Atlassian, Sl...

SaaStr 129: How To Quadruple MRR Growth With SDR Training, The Right Way To Scale Prospect Search & Why Startups Can Immediately Be In The Enterprise Market with May Habib, Founder & CEO @ Qordoba

16 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

May Habib is the Founder & CEO @ Qordoba, the best platform for building truly localized products across apps, websites and marketing content. It is t...

SaaStr 128: Algolia's Nicolas Dessaigne on The Journey To $10m in ARR, Why You Must Separate The Work You Do From The Culture You Build & How To Successfully Create A Developer Community

12 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Nicolas Dessaigne is the Founder & CEO @ Algolia, the most reliable platform for building search into your business. Just last week they raised $53m i...

SaaStr 127: Why $1-2m ARR Is Not The Hardest Phase Of A SaaS Startup, Why Your Developer Talent Pipeline Is Broken & How To Approach Regrettable and Non-Regrettable Churn with Ryan Carson, Founder & CEO @ Treehouse

05 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Carson is the Founder & CEO @ Treehouse the startup that teaches you to code and learn the skills needed to launch a new career. They have backin...

SaaStr 126: Box's Chief Strategy Officer on How To Build High Performing Teams & Why You Must Only Monetise To 30% of Your Value

29 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Jeetu Patel is Senior Vice President of Platform and Chief Strategy Officer of Box where he leads the Box Platform organization, driving the strategy ...

SaaStr 125: Why You Should Always Be Premium? Why You Have To Create An Outbound Sales Culture As Early As Possible & Why There Are Only 2 Real Ways To Hire with Laura Bilazarian, Founder & CEO @ Teamable

26 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Laura Bilazarian is the Founder & CEO @ Teamable, the startup that allows you to recruit the best talent from your network. They have raised funding f...

SaaStr 124: Upfront's Mark Suster on The One Thing That Kills Sales, Why You Have To Price High and Discount & Why Sales People Are Either Farmers or Hunters?

22 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Suster is Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures which he joined in 2007, having previously worked with Upfront for nearly 8 years as a two-time ...

SaaStr 123: Top 10 VP of Sales Lessons In Scaling To $100m in ARR with DFJ, TalkDesk and Predictable Revenue's, Aaron Ross

19 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Today's show is centred around The Top 10 VP of Sales Lessons Learned In Scaling To $100M ARR. Leading this conversation is Aaron Ross, author of best...

SaaStr 122: How To Successfully Scale The 1-10 Customer Phase Of Any SaaS Business, The True Signs Of A Great Sales Person & How To Analyse NPS Effectively with Edith Harbaugh, Founder & CEO @ LaunchDarkly

15 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Edith Harbaugh is the Founder & CEO @ LaunchDarkly, the startup that allows you to fearlessly and swiftly release software by separating feature rollo...

SaaStr 121: Box's VP Marketing on Why ARR Pipeline Is Not Just The Responsibility of The Sales Team, Why Lead Nurturing Does Not Stop At Email & Why Lead Segmentation is Key To Success with Lauren Vaccarello

12 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Lauren Vacarrello is VP of Marketing @ Box, one of the leading enterprise B2B brands today. At Box, Lauren leads a 50 person team that involves demand...

SaaStr 120: Sequoia Partner, Aaref Hilaly on How To Manage Up Your Board & Keep The Happy Even In Hard Times

08 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Aaref Hilaly is a Partner @ Sequoia Capital, one of the world's most successful VC funds with investments in the likes of Apple, Google, Paypal, Whats...

SaaStr 119: The Sales Mistakes That Can Kill Your Startup & How To Avoid Them with Mark Roberge, Former CRO @ Hubspot & Michele Law, Former COO @ OpenDNS

05 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Roberge is a Senior Lecturer @ Harvard Business School where he teaches entrepreneurial sales and marketing. Prior to his role with HBS, Mark was...

SaaStr 118: Why Tension Has Shifted From Sales vs Marketing To Customer Success vs Product & Why You Have To Hire For Ahead Of Where You Are Now with Todd Olson, Founder & CEO @ Pendo.io

01 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Todd Olson is the Founder & CEO @ Pendo, the startup that allows you to capture all user behaviour, gather feedback and then provide contextual suppor...

SaaStr 117: How, Why & When To Launch A Second SaaS Product & Is There A No Man's Land In SaaS ACV's with Amit Agarwal, Chief Product Officer @ Datadog

28 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Amit Agarwal is the Chief Product Officer @ Datadog, the startup that provides cloud scale monitoring that tracks your dynamic infrastructure and appl...

SaaStr 116: The Most Important Metric For Your Startup, When To Ship Your Second Product & How To Structure Your Sales Team For 7 Figure Deals

24 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Tim Eades is the CEO @ at vArmour, the industry's first distributed security system that provides application-aware micro-segmentation. Tim joined vAr...

SaaStr 115: Why Not All Companies Should Invest in SEM? Why No Demand Channel Is An Island & How To Ensure For Dollar Efficiency with SEM with David Rodnitzky, Founder @ 3Q Digital and Loretta Jones, VP of Marketing @ Delighted

21 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

David Rodnitzky is founder and CEO of 3Q Digital, a leading digital agency that was acquired by Harte Hanks in 2015. Prior to 3Q Digital, he held seni...

SaaStr 114: Redpoint's Tom Tunguz on The Rise of Machine Learning In Enterprise SaaS & How Existing SaaS Startups Can Incorporate ML Into Their Offering?

17 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Tom Tunguz is a Partner at Redpoint Ventures and one of the pre-eminent thought leaders in the rise of SaaS. Tom has made investments in the likes of ...

SaaStr 113: The Most Important Metrics To Assess The State Of A SaaS Startup, Why Customer Payback Period Is Crucial & The Right KPI To Measure Customer Success On with Dan Adika, Founder & CEO @ Walkme

14 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Adika is the Founder and CEO @ Walkme, the cloud-based service designed to help professionals guide and engage prospects and customers, and comple...

SaaStr 112: Brad Feld on Structuring Your SaaS Startup For Scalability, How The Role Of CEO Should Adjust To The Growth Of The Organisation & What Makes The Most Effective Board Members

10 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Brad Feld is one of the world's leading VCs having Co-Founded Foundry Group, Brad has made investments in the likes of Zynga, Makerbot and Fitbit, ju...

SaaStr 111: How To Build & Scale A Customer Success Team & Why You Must Hire Full Stack Engineers with Dan Burkhart, Founder & CEO @ Recurly

07 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Burkhart is the Founder & CEO @ Recurly, the startup powering much of the subscription success, trusted by the likes of Twitch, CBS Interactive an...

SaaStr 110: Why Payback Period Is The Single Most Important Metric, How To Optimise Sales Efficiency & 3 Fundamental Developments In SaaS with Scott Friend, Managing Director @ Bain Capital Ventures

03 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Scott Friend is a Managing Director @ Bain Capital Ventures where he has made investments in the likes of Jet and Rent The Runway. Scott joined Bain C...

SaaStr 109: Scaling SaaS Teams With Startup Hyper-Growth & When Is The Right Time To Hire A COO with Mat Ellis, Founder & CEO @ Cloudability

31 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Mat Ellis is the Founder & CEO @ Cloudability, the startup that provides cloud cost efficiency at scale and they have raised close to $40m in VC fundi...

SaaStr 108: Growing To $500m In ARR & How To Hit 7 Figure Sales with Veeva Systems Founder, Peter Gassner

27 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Gassner is the Founder & CEO @ Veeva Systems, the industry cloud for life science systems. With just $4m in capital raised, Peter has taken Veev...

SaaStr 107: How Hiring Is Just Like Being A VC, Why You Have To Pay Up For Great Talent & Why Multi-Tasking Is Not Always Wrong with Daniel Ruch, Founder & CEO @ Rocketrip

24 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Daniel Ruch is the Founder and CEO @ Rocketrip, the startup that reduces travel spend by rewarding employees to save. They have backing from some incr...

SaaStr 106: Why Early Stage SaaS Metrics Do Not Matter, The 5 Things To Look For In Early Stage SaaS Companies & How To Negotiate A Term Sheet The Right Way with Alex Rosen, Managing Director @ IDG Ventures

20 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Alex Rosen is a Managing Director with IDG Ventures where he focuses on investments in cloud infrastructure, SaaS applications, ad tech, and consumer ...

SaaStr 105: Why Marketing Is Eating Sales, How To Make Data-Driven Marketing Decisions & Why Companies Need To Have A Strong Point of View About The World with Nadim Hossain, Founder & CEO @ BrightFunnel

17 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Nadim Hossain is the Founder and CEO @ BrightFunnel, the startup that shows marketing true impact on revenue. They are backed by many past guests of t...

SaaStr 104: Trello Founder, Michael Pryor on The 3 Key Elements That Make A Great CEO, The Fundamentals To Make A Pivot Successfully & The Secrets To Building The Most Efficient Workforce

13 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Pryor is Co-Founder & CEO @ Trello, now Head of Product with Trello at Atlassian following their recent acquisition. For those that do not kn...

SaaStr 103: Why You Must Sell Your Product Before It's Done Being Built, Why Product-Organisation Fit Is Key & Why The Best Sales Process Is The Customer Success Process with Matin Movassate, Founder & CEO @ Heap

10 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Matin Movasatte is the Founder and CEO @ Heap. the startup that provides analytics infrastructure to automate away the annoying parts of user analytic...

SaaStr 102: Why You Should Not Pay Your Sales Team Commission, Why There Is Such Little Innovation In Go-To-Market Strategy & Why Adaptability Is Key Not Efficiency with Didier Elzinga, Founder & CEO @ Culture Amp

06 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Didier Elzinga is the Founder & CEO @ CultureAmp, the world's most powerful employee feedback and analytics platform. They have raised funding from so...

SaaStr 101: How To Scale From Early Adopter To Mass Market, Why Organisations Are Not A Good Way To Get Work Done & How To Perfect Upsell Mechanics with Fayez Mohamood, Founder & CEO @ Bluecore

03 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Fayez Mohamood is the Founder and CEO @ Bluecore, the company that is transforming the way eCommerce marketers use data and automation to communicate ...

SaaStr 100: Box's Aaron Levie on The 3 Stages of Company Scaling, Why Most Enterprise Software Is 'Dumb' & The Future For Enterprise Software with Artificial Intelligence

27 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Aaron Levie co-founded Box with three high school friends in 2005 when they discovered there wasn't a modern solution for sharing and collaborating on...

SaaStr 099: How To Hire & Assess The Best Demand Gen Candidates & Where To Put Focus In The Demand Gen Process with Luke Retterath, Head of Demand Generation @ Duo Security

24 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Luke Retterath is the Director of Demand Generation @ Duo Security, the most loved company in security. They have the backing of some of the best inve...

SaaStr 097: Zendesk's Douglas Hanna on How To Build A Platform? How To Scale A Platform? How To Measure The Success Of A Platform?

17 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Douglas Hanna is the GM of the Developer Platform @ Zendesk, one of the world's fastest growing SaaS startups. Before joining Zendesk, Douglas was the...

SaaStr 096: How To Sell SaaS To Fortune 500s, What Drives Decision-Making In Large Corporates & Why Enterprise Is Middle Up Not Top Down with Jonathan Lehr, Co-Founder @ WorkBench

14 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Lehr is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Work-Bench, where he focuses on early stage enterprise technology investments in areas includ...

SaaStr 095: Trello's JD Peterson on Why Now Is The Best But Hardest Time To Be A Marketer, How To Unify The Sales & Marketing Team & How The Role Of Data Effects Marketers Today

03 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

JD Peterson is CMO of Trello where he heads the company's marketing and customer service teams. A true child of Silicon Valley, J.D. has been helping...

SaaStr 094: The $100m Question All SaaS Founders Must Ask, Learnings From Working with Marc Benioff at Salesforce & Scaling Zuora To A $Bn Valuation with Tien Tzuo, Founder & CEO @ Zuora

30 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Tien Tzuo is the Founder and CEO @ Zuora, one of the fastest growing SaaS companies that has been at the forefront of the rise of subscription busines...

SaaStr 093: Why You Cannot Be Excellent For Anyone If You Are Not Willing To Be Ok For Someone & How To Manage NPS Effectively With Scaling with Lexi Reese, Chief Customer Experience Officer @ Gusto

27 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Lexi Reese is the Chief Customer Experience Officer at unicorn startup, Gusto and is one of the top female executives in Silicon Valley. Lexi's passio...

SaaStr 092: Raising $100m From Sequoia & Why Sustainable Growth Is Fundamental with Zoom's Eric Yuan

23 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Eric Yuan is the Founder & CEO @ Zoom, the video and web conferencing service that just last week raised $100m in venture funding from Sequoia Capital...

SaaStr 091: Jason Lemkin on Why Hire Fast Fire Fast is BS, Why He Never Invests In Quarterly MRR & Why The Key Is Successful Reinvention

20 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Jason Lemkin is the Founder and VC @ SaaStr, or more accurately put Jason is a 2x founder, 1x VC, and constant SaaS enthusiast. He led or sourced the ...

SaaStr 090: SaaStr's Own Jason Lemkin on The Specific Characteristics Jason Looks For In Founders? What Levels Of ACV Suggest The Potential For A Unicorn? Why Founders Always Undersell & How You Should Hire Your First Sales Reps?

16 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Jason Lemkin is the Founder and VC @ SaaStr, or more accurately put Jason is a 2x founder, 1x VC, and constant SaaS enthusiast. He led or sourced the ...

SaaStr 089: Buffer's Leo Widrich on The Top 10 Learnings in Growing to 10m ARR.

13 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Leo Widrich is the Founder & COO @ Buffer, the Simple and powerful social media scheduling, publishing & analytics. They have raised funding from some...

SaaStr 088: How To React When A Lead Goes Dark? How Sales Reps Can Be Polite Not Rude? Why Summary Emails Are Fundamental After All Client Interactions with John Barrows, Godfather of Sales

09 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

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...

SaaStr 087: Successful SaaS Startups Do 1 Of Two Things & Why Specialisation Is Key To Success In SaaS with Michael Driscoll, Founder @ CEO @ Metamarkets

06 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Driscoll is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Metamarkets, the startup that provide interactive analytics for programmatic marketing. They have raised ...

SaaStr 086: Why You Have To Focus On A Tiny Market & How to Sell That Market To VCs with Auren Hoffman, Founder @ Safegraph & LiveRamp

02 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Auren Hoffman is best known for being the former CEO and Founder @ LiveRamp, the leading data onboarder that was acquired by Acxiom for $310m. Today's...

SaaStr 085: How SaaS Founders Should View Competition, Why You Should Raise Every Round As If It Is Your Last & How To Create An Environment of Growth & Fulfilment with David Hassell, Founder & CEO @ 15Five

23 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

David Hassell is the founder and CEO of 15Five, the leading web-based employee feedback and alignment solution that is transforming the way employees ...

SaaStr 084: Why Personalisation Is The Future Of Sales, The Benefits Of An Engineering Led Sales Team & Why Customers Pay A Premium For Predictability with Alex MacCaw, Founder & CEO @ Clearbit

19 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Alex MacCaw is the Founder & CEO @ Clearbit, the startup that is building a suite of business intelligence APIs to help companies find more informatio...

SaaStr 083: Qualtrics' Ryan Smith on Bootstrapping To A $Bn Valuation, Why Radical Transparency Is Fundamental & What Makes The Truly Great CEOs

16 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Smith is the Founder & CEO @ Qualtrics, an online survey company with 1,200 employees and a valuation of more than $1bn. They have backing from s...

SaaStr 082: What Really Is SaaS Marketing? What Are The Big Factors Startup Founders Should Consider Before Spending Big On Marketing @ What Are The 'Must Have' Marketing Channels Today in SaaS with David Rodnitzky, Founder & CEO @ 3Q Digital

12 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

David Rodnitzky is founder and CEO of 3Q Digital, a leading digital agency that was acquired by Harte Hanks in 2015. Prior to 3Q Digital, he held seni...

SaaStr 081: Why It Is Wrong To Have A Sales Led Culture, Why There Should Be Tension Between Your Sales and Finance Orgs & Why Everyone Needs An Executive Coach with Steve Garrity, Co-Founder @ HearSay

09 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Steve Garrity is COO and founder of Hearsay Systems the leading advisor-client engagement solution for the financial services industry. Hearsay have b...

SaaStr 080: Segment's Peter Reinhardt on Why The Reality Distortion Field Is Damaging When It Comes To Product Market Fit, How Founders Should Approach Pricing Negotiations with Large Corporates & How Founders Can Truly Determine Product Market Fit?

05 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Reinhardt is the Founder and CEO @ Segment, the startup that allows you to collect all of your customer data and send it anywhere and they count...

SaaStr 079: Where To Start With A B2B SaaS Content Plan, How To Encourage The Non-Marketing Team To Create Content & Why NPS Should Be Central To Everything with Seth Besmertnik, Founder & CEO @ Conductor

02 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Seth Besmertnik is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Conductor, the company that boasts the biggest customer list in their category including more than 500 Fortu...

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

28 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

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,...

SaaStr 077: WTF Is Net Retention? Why The Best SaaS Companies Focus On It & Why You Do Not Have To Be In SF To Be Successful in SaaS with Michael Sharkey, Founder & CEO @ Autopilot

25 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Sharkey is CEO & Co-Founder of Autopilot, the startup that allows you to automate customer journeys as simply as drawing on a whiteboard. Auto...

SaaStr 076: What Metrics Seed Investors Require For Prospective SaaS Investments & What Makes The Best SaaS Investors with Rob Siegel, Partner @ XSeed Capital

21 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

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 fro...

SaaStr 075: Domo CMO, David Thompson on Why B2B Branding Is Both Consumer & Enterprise & Why Facebook & SEM Is Crucial For B2B Branding

18 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

David Thompson is CMO at Domo, the company that allows customers to turn data into opportunities. David is a highly accomplished branding expert and r...

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

14 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

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 fir...

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?

11 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Part 2 with David Skok, now David is a serial entrepreneur turned VC at Matrix Partners. He founded four companies: Skok Systems, Corporate Software E...