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The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

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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Now displaying: 2023
Dec 28, 2023

SaaStr 712: Is AI the Only Thing in SaaS that Anyone Cares About Anymore? Ask-Me-Anything Part 1 with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin

Ask Me Anything with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin Part One.

In the first part of this open AMA, Jason shares his thoughts on the current state of sales and marketing, if anyone really cares about anything other than AI anymore, how to hire great partners, and breaking out of a crowded ecosystem.

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

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This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Dec 27, 2023

SaaStr 711: 5 Lessons from Scaling Six Products to $100M+ with Samsara's Chief Strategy Officer Kiren Sekar

For any Cloud and SaaS Founders or execs seeking practical strategies and inspiration to stay ahead of the curve, this episode's for you. At the SaaStr Annual, Kiren Sekar, Samsara’s Chief Strategy Officer and founding chief Product Officer shared five lessons he learned along the way from scaling six products to $100M+.

The six products/companies Kiren helped scale to $100M that he'll reference in this playbook include: Bill, Cloudflare, Crowdstrike, Samsara, Snowflake, and Zscaler. 

His five lessons are:

  • A single metric that helps guide decisions of when to pivot, when to iterate, and when to pivot.  
  • Discovering the entire market and mapping out all potential verticals early in the process.
  • The incredible power and value of the mid-market segment.
  • Building customer feedback into the DNA of your product team and products.
  • Going multi-product early. 

Listen to the full episode now. 

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

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This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

 

Dec 21, 2023

Welcome to the Official SaaStr Podcast Episode 710:

Running a PLG and Sales-Led Motion at the Same Time: What’s New at ZoomInfo with CEO Henry Schuck and SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin

In the latest installment of SaaStr’s What’s New series – where we sit down with the leaders in SaaS and Cloud for the inside scoop on what’s top of mind and what’s new, SaaStr CEO and Jason Lemkin chats with the CEO of ZoomInfo, Henry Schuck.

So, what’s new at ZoomInfo?

In this episode, Jason and Henry discuss:

*PLG vs. a sales-led motion, and which is more efficient

*The macro-environment and what to expect next year

*What’s new at ZoomInfo

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

--------------

This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Dec 19, 2023

SaaStr 709: 15 Signs You Have A SaaS Metrics Problem (and How to Fix it) with Dave Kellogg, EIR at Balderton Capital

In this episode of the SaaStr Podcast, SaaStr OG and fan fave, Dave Kellogg, EIR at Balderton Capital, walks you through the complexities of SaaS metrics.

With a wealth of experience leading major SaaS and enterprise software firms, Dave delves into the art of leveraging metrics for strategic advantage and the potential pitfalls of their misinterpretation. This episode will equip you with a nuanced understanding of how SaaS metrics can shape success and why careful interpretation is paramount.

SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

--------------

This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Dec 14, 2023

The Top 10 Mistakes People Make When Hiring a VP of Sales with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin

Hiring a VP of Sales isn’t new, but the conversations have evolved as the world has. SaaStr’s own Jason Lemkin shares the top 10 mistakes he sees during the hiring process during Workshop Wednesday, held every Wednesday at 10 a.m. PST. 

Jason has written about the cheat codes for hiring VPs of Sales since 2012 and realized it was worth a deeper dive. The last 18 months have seen the biggest changes in the VP of Sales in his SaaS career. We’re still learning what world we’re in — some people interview over Zoom, some are focused on how to build teams in the current age, and many are dealing with a weird overhang from the SaaS explosion of 2021, quiet quitting, layoffs, and team turnover.  While this topic isn’t new, you want to avoid getting this hire wrong. So, let’s look at the top 10 mistakes Jason sees in the VP of Sales hiring process. 

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

--------------

This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Dec 12, 2023

SaaStr 707: The Where, When, and How of AI with Theory Ventures, Open AI, MotherDuck and Lamini

Hear the latest insights on AI from leading VC Tomasz Tunguz of Theory Ventures Theory Ventures, joined by Jordan Tigani, Founder and CEO of Mother Duck Maggie Hott, GTM at OpenAI, and Sharon Zhou, Co-Founder and CEO of Lamini. Together they discuss the new architecture for building Software as a Service (SaaS) applications with data & machine learning at their core, moderated by Tomasz.

The focus of the episode centers around the transformative role of data, which has become an integral part of the production stack. The speakers also delve into the implications of this shift and explore how leveraging data within the architecture empowers developers to create more robust, intelligent, and scalable SaaS solutions.

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

--------------

This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Dec 7, 2023

In our 'What's New' series, SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin sits down with the top CEOs from leading SaaS companies to discuss What's New and what's top of mind.

In this episode, Jason sits down with Aaron Levie, CEO and Co-Founder of Box, and also a SaaStr-fan fave from speaking at various SaaStr events in-person and digitally.

Together they discuss:

  • How to go long as a CEO and Founder in SaaS
  • Overhauling operating margins at Box to a top-tier 25%
  • Implementing AI at BOX
  • Macro issues on the horizon for 2024
  • What's new at Box

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Dec 5, 2023

A holistic and well-executed go-to-market strategy is one of the key pillars that drives sustainable, long-term growth for software companies. But there is a dearth of data that leaders can leverage to inform building out the best team, strategies, and tactics to scale their go-to-market organization.

Leveraging proprietary data from over 200 leading GTM executives and tens of thousands of data points related to executive profiles across Sales and Marketing leaders, Doug Pepper, General Partner, and Christine Edmonds, General Partner and Head of Analytics at ICONIQ Growth will share detailed answers to the key go-to-market questions from B2B SaaS leaders including:

  • The latest insights on what “effective” scaling means in today’s environment
  • Best practices for building out GTM teams and processes
  • Learnings related to what profiles make the most successful IPO-ready executive hires
  • How top companies are tweaking tactics in today’s environment to drive efficient selling

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Nov 30, 2023

We had a party in 2020 and 2021 where valuations and growth were crazy. Then, we had a hangover in 2022 and the first half of this year. Now, investing is coming back, public markets have returned, and we’re almost back to normal.  Jameson Yung, SVP of Sales at Gong, and Sam Blond, Partner at Founders Fund and previous CRO at Brex, share five tactical ways to get back to growing and hitting revenue targets.  The days of working a little for big returns are behind us in the Boom of ‘21, so what can you do to start hitting revenue targets? 

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Nov 28, 2023

As AI continues to reshape the way businesses operate, it has become a critical differentiator in gaining a competitive edge. Stage 2 Capital Co-founder and Managing Director Mark Roberge dissects the advantages and challenges faced by both startups and incumbents in leveraging AI for Go-to-Market strategies. Uncover the unique capabilities that startups bring to the table and how they disrupt established players with their agility, innovation, and ability to adapt to changing market dynamics.

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Nov 24, 2023

From seed funding to reaching $100M ARR to going public in 2021, Spenser Skates knows about growing and scaling a business. But for many founders, the question becomes: how do you maintain hypergrowth? In this podcast, Spenser will share key lessons around maintaining long-term, sustainable growth, including when to expand your product suite, why iteration matters more than perfection, where AI fits (and doesn't!) fit into growth strategy, and how to ensure your exec team is the right group for your next stage of growth.

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Nov 16, 2023

Scott Belsky, CSO, and EVP at Adobe, does a deep dive on the profound transformations taking place in the creative world. As technology continues to reshape the landscape, Cloud and SaaS Founders, VCs, and Executives must adapt and evolve to stay ahead. Discover the playbook to thrive in this dynamic environment and unlock unprecedented opportunities. Belsky will share his deep insights into the rapidly changing creative industry, drawing from his vast experience at the forefront of innovation.

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Nov 14, 2023

In this episode, Nick Mehta will share ten significant mistakes he made during his career, and how these failures shaped his journey as CEO of Gainsight. Mehta will impart valuable lessons on resilience and growth, offering attendees actionable takeaways for their own entrepreneurial ventures. This is a must-listen for anyone seeking to learn from real-life experiences and turn failures into opportunities for success in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) world.

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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.

Join us in 2024 at:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Nov 9, 2023

In this new episode of CRO Confidential, we take a look at the proven customer acquisition strategies behind Toast's explosive growth to over $1.1B ARR. Hosted by Founders Fund Partner Sam Blond, this episode features the CRO of Toast Jonathan Vassil, who walks us through Toast's go-to-market and customer acquisition strategies.

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This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Nov 7, 2023

Welcome to Part Two of SaaStr founder and CEO Jason Lemkin’s Ask Me Anything session at this year’s SaaStr Annual.

Jason re-takes the stage in Part 2 of the series to answer questions about the right time is to invest in a new product line, building vertical vs. horizontal, multiples in 2024, and much more. 

Building and scaling a startup isn’t for the faint of heart and often comes with many ups and downs that SaaS veterans have experience in. 

So, let’s jump right into Part Two. 

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This episode is sponsored by: Northwest Registered Agent

When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/saastr to get a 60 percent discount on your next LLC.

Nov 2, 2023

Each year, tens of thousands of SaaS fans attend SaaStr Annual. And every year, Jason Lemkin, the founder of SaaStr, takes the stage to answer the audience's most pressing questions. For part one of this Ask Me Anything session, Jason covers everything you need to know about hiring your first VP of Sales, when to use AI at early-stage companies, and when the right time is to invest in a new product line. Building and scaling a startup isn’t for the faint of heart and often comes with many ups and downs that SaaS veterans have experience in. Let's dive into the questions and answers!

Oct 24, 2023

As industry leaders, understanding the transformative power of AI and how it can be harnessed to drive innovation and growth is essential for staying ahead in today's rapidly evolving business landscape.

In this episode, Aliisa Rosenthal, Head of Sales at OpenAI, will delve into the ways in which AI is reshaping the way we work. With her extensive experience and deep knowledge of AI technologies, Aliisa will share insights, trends, and practical examples of how AI is being applied across various sectors.

Oct 22, 2023

As SaaS companies slash campaign budgets, marketing leaders need to find other ways to augment customer wins from their remaining campaigns. Increasing down-funnel conversions by having marketing enable sellers to “all-star” levels along the funnel can help make up the difference.

In this episode, Datadog's CMO Alex Rosemblat will explore the tactics, personas, best practices, and tracking metrics to significantly up-level product and campaign-level sales enablement.

Oct 18, 2023

In the dynamic landscape of SaaS startups, pursuing rapid customer growth while achieving and maintaining profitability is an art that requires flexible strategies and, more importantly, employees that are eager for the challenge.

In this episode, Expensify COO Anu Muralidharan will share how Expensify became profitable on its way to securing millions of users in less than 15 years.

You'll hear real-world examples and walk away with specific tactics they can immediately deploy at their own companies, including:

 a.) when, where, and why to outsource

b.) a new, more bullish approach to testing and launching products with confidence

 c.) how to leverage automation to reduce expenses while simultaneously supporting growth.

Oct 12, 2023

Monday has gone from $7m in 2017 to over $700m in revenue today, showcasing the sheer power of compounding revenue. Did Monday’s founders feel like they’d be 100x bigger in just six years since that first SaaStr conference they attended? Eran Zimman, Monday’s co-founder and co-CEO, shares his secrets to scaling and growth in an unpredictable market. Monday hasn’t missed a bit, but before we dive into their secrets, let’s first learn where it all started and what they do today.

Oct 6, 2023

Discover the best ways for a seed-stage startup to pitch to investors and successfully fundraise from Y Combinator’s Michael Seibel. Any founder you talk to likely remembers every investor who said no to them. Those founders hold a special kind of “not hatred,” says Michael Seibel, Managing Director and Group Partner at Y Combinator, but a special kind of something for those investors and a desire to prove them wrong. If you’re a seed-stage startup, Michael shares the best ways for you to present your company to startup investors.

Oct 4, 2023

SaaStr founder Jason Lemkin deep dives into the current state of SaaS and the Cloud and what to expect over the next year.

Oct 2, 2023

One of the open secrets behind a lot of great companies is going multi-product. Jack Altman, CEO and co-founder of Lattice, firmly believes that many more companies should be multi-product, and many should go multi-product earlier than they think. Lattice has launched four product suites in the last eight years, and the ideas that drove their growth apply to most companies today.

Sep 27, 2023

Given the massive downturn that started 18 months ago, many SaaS founders are nervous about what it takes to raise capital in SaaS in 2023. Christoph Janz, General Partner of Point Nine Capital, shares some answers about what it takes to raise capital in SaaS, overall investment activity in 2023, and how to develop a convincing AI strategy.

Sep 25, 2023

Discover Bessemer Venture Partners’s annual State of the Cloud report, going through trends, benchmarks, and metrics that underpin the Cloud economy. 

Presented by:

  • Mary D'Onofrio, Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners
  • Janelle Teng, VP @ Bessemer Venture Partners
  • Caty Rea, VP @ Bessemer Venture Partners

The past twelve months have been relatively turbulent for Cloud founders. SVB collapsed, market multiples are down, yet the IPO window is re-opening, and we have a platform shift to AI that’s exciting everybody. 

What does this mean for Cloud companies? 

Let’s find out.

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