This episode was recorded at Saastr Annual 2016 and it is an incredible conversation whereby Jason Lemkin deep dives into the career and wisdom of Keith Rabois. For those that do not know, Keith is a legend of the tech industry having helped build some of the most important companies in Silicon Valley including Paypal, Square and Linkedin. He is also a very prominent VC with Khosla Ventures and has recently rejoined the world  of operations, looking to disrupt the world of property with OpenDoor.

For your chance to win a signed copy of Jason's new book 'How Hyper Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue', we would be so grateful for you to upvote the episode on ProductHunt!

In Today's Show We Cover:

• Why Keith rejoined the world of operations having been a VC with Khosla?
• Is domain expertise a good or a bad thing to have when entering an industry?
• When hiring, how do you achieve the balance of experience and potential?
• When is the right time to hire a COO? What are the signs?
• How Did Keith approach hiring in high growth rocketship companies?

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
• Keith Rabois

If you enjoyed the conversation with Keith today and want to save your space at what promises to be the best Saastr Annual ever, Saastr Annual 2017! You can buy early bird tickets here!

I am thrilled to welcome, Doug Pepper, Partner @ Shasta Ventures to the show today. Doug is a master when it comes to SaaS investments with his companies generating over $500m in revenue in 2015, having funded the likes of Marketo, Optimizely and Flurry. In today's show with Doug we discuss: 

• How Doug made his approach into investing?
• What metrics are required for startups to get Series A investors interested?
• What are the guidelines for a startup to manage their burn rate?
• In future tough markets, we will see greater consolidation?
• How can startups stand out when selling to CIO, CEO's and VPs? 

In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear:

1. What has been the scariest moment of Doug's VC career?
2. Why Doug is so excited for the future of mobile SaaS? 
3. What the main effects are of the rise of bottoms up sales strategies?

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
• Doug Pepper

Joining us today, I am delighted to have Russell Fujioka, US President at Xero, the world's fast growing SaaS company making accounting software beautiful. Prior to joining Xero, Russ was the Global Vice President of Marketing at Dell, EIR at Bessemer Venture Partners and held executive roles at the likes of Adobe. In today's show with Russ we discuss:

• How Russ came to be US President at the world's fastest growing SaaS company?
• How has Russ seen the SaaS industry change over his 25 years?
• Why does Russ believe all the SaaS best companies are founder led?
• What were the determinants that allowed Adobe to go from 40m to $1bn?
• How does Russ view the current competitive landscape for accounting software? 
• What were the main benefits of experiencing the VC industry with Bessemer?

In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear:

1. Which pubic markets SaaS company does Russ most respect?
2. Russ' favourite SaaS resource?
3. Is accounting software a winner take all market?

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
• Russ Fujioka

It is a huge honour to welcome, Mamoon Hamid, Partner @ Social Capital. One of the world's best performing funds with investments in the likes of Slack, Box, Intercom, Yammer and many more incredible companies. Prior to joining Social Mamoon was a Partner at US Venture Partners (USVP) and in today's show we discuss:

• How Mamoon made his way into the world of investing and VC?
• What were Mamoon's biggest takeaways from seeing the rocketship growth of the likes of Slack and Box? What were their challenges faced?
• What is the distinct value proposition of Social over other VC funds? How do you look to differentiate?
• What has been the effect of the rise of the bottoms up sales apprcach and what role will this play in the future for selling to enterprise clients?
• Which company will be the first to make a million on Slack? 

In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear:

1. Biggest challenge facing Mamoon and Social Capital?
2. Mamoon's favourite SaaS resource?
3. Biggest piece of advice to SaaS founders?

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
• Mamoon Hamid

I am thrilled to welcome, Shardul Shah, Partner @ Index Ventures to the show today. Shardul is the sole member of the Index team to have worked in all Index's offices around the world in Geneva, London and SF. Now in SF, Shardul focuses on security, software and infrastructure with investments in the likes of Squarespace, DropBox and Adaloom, just to name a few. 

Discussed In Today's Show:

• How Shardul made his unorthodox approach into investing?
• What Shardul really looks for in early stage SaaS products when investing?
• Why is reducing time distance to value so important for a SaaS product?
• How can startups effectively sell to CSO's in this new wave of cyber security?
• What are the risks and flaws of the open source community? 
• How can enterprise SaaS products create true customer stickiness?

In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear:

1. What is Shardul most concerned about in the SaaS space?
2. Shardul's favourite SaaS resource: 
3. Which public markets SaaS companies is Shardul most impressed with?

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
• Shardul Shah

Joining us today, I am thrilled to welcome, Mark Geene, CEO @ Cloud Elements the cloud API integration service that uses uniform APIs to connect your application with entire categories of services. Prior to joining Cloud Elements, Mark has had over 20 years experience in the industry including executive roles with IBM and Oracle and in today's show with we discuss:

• What was the origin story behind Cloud Elements and how Mark became CEO?
• What does it take for a company to transition from a 50 person company to a 500 person company?
• How does Mark apply lean startup methodology to SaaS?
• When is the right time to really invest in sales and marketing?
• Does the lack of SaaS exits greater than $500m concern Mark? 
• Why have we seen the rise of the API economy and what does the future hold?

In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear:

1. What lesson has Mark learnt recently that changes the way he works?
2. Mark's favourite SaaS resource?
3. Vertical vs platform SaaS play?

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
• Mark Geene 

Joining us today, I am thrilled to welcome, Andy Lark, CMO at Xero, the world's fast growing SaaS company making accounting software beautiful. Prior to joining Xero, Andy work with the likes of Dell, Sun Microsystems and The CommonWealth Bank Of Australia and in today's show with Andy we discuss:

• How Andy came to be CMO at the world's fastest growing SaaS company?
• How Andy structures his team?
• What does Andy make of the expansion of the traditional marketing role?
• How to approach branding with regards to competitors?
• How did Tiago choose his investors? 
• What are the main differences of the old enterprise world compared to selling SaaS to SME's today?

In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear:

1. What lesson has Andy learnt recently that changes the way he works?
2. Andy's favourite SaaS resource?
3. How does Andy approach the issue of work life balance?

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 Lark

Welcome to Episode 1 of The Official Saastr Podcast, the show will delve behind the scenes of the latest and greatest SaaS rocketships talking to the founders and operators themselves. We will also be chatting with the investors and VCs funding these hyper growth companies to reveal their tactics and strategies when it comes to deciding whether to invest. 

To celebrate, we have a very special guest: Tiago Paiva. Tiago is the CEO and Co-Founder of Talkdesk, the world's leading browser -based call center software solution and in today's show with Tiago we discuss:

• The Origin Story For TalkDesk
• How Tiago achieved $3m in Sales without spending a $ on marketing
• When is the right time to hire your VP of Sales? 
• How important is it for SaaS startups and founders to be in SF?
• How did Tiago choose his investors? 

In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear:

1. The biggest challenge Tiago has faced to date?
2. Tiago's favourite SaaS resource?
3. What role is the hardest to fill in a SaaS 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
• Tiago Paiva