The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors - podcast cover

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.

Episodes

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. I...

Nov 10, 202047 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 F...

Nov 05, 202025 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 t...

Oct 28, 202026 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

SaaStr 388: Okta CMO, Ryan Carlson on How To Measure Marketing Attribution Effectively, Why People Think About Category Creation Incorrectly Today & How You Have To Think Through The Product vs The Company Story

Ryan Carlson is the CMO @ Okta , the leading independent provider of identity for the enterprise. Prior to their incredibly successful IPO in April of 2017, they raised funding from some of the best in the business including Sequoia, a16z, Greylock, Khosla and Floodgate to name a few. As for Ryan, he has spent an incredible 9 years at Okta in numerous different roles starting with running the product marketing team before moving to run the marketing team, leading to his promotion to CMO close to...

Oct 20, 202033 min

SaaStr 385: How To Approach Core Product Decisions in SaaS, Why Storytelling is a Lost Art in SaaS & How Product and Marketing Can Work Together Most Efficiently with Paul Rosania, Founder & CEO @ Balsa

Paul Rosania is the Founder & CEO @ Balsa , the company that recognises that builders move the world forward and so they are building the best second screen for builders, integrating tools you already use like Jira, GitHub, and Figma. Coming out of stealth today with their seed round being led by Andrew Chen @ a16z and joined by former CPO @ Slack, April Underwood, Chapter One’s Jeff Morris Jr and then of course, 20VC Fund. Prior to founding Balsa, Paul was Senior Director of Product @ Slack...

Oct 14, 202033 min

SaaStr 384: When to Launch a Second Product with Dharmesh Shah CTO and Co-Founder @ Hubspot and Jason Lemkin, CEO @ SaaStr

We caught up with one of the SaaStr community’s favorite speakers, Dharmesh Shah CTO and co-founder of Hubspot on lessons learnings launching a second product. Hubspot recently expanded its Sales products and the learnings were top of mind. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/how-when-and-why-to-launch-a-second-product-a-deep-dive-with-dharmesh-shah-cto-hubspot/

Oct 09, 202032 min

SaaStr 383: Growing Product and Engineering Orgs from Zero to IPO with Nick Caldwell, VP of Engineering @ Twitter, and Tomasz Tunguz, Managing Director @ Redpoint Ventures

Nick Caldwell has built and grown product and engineering organizations at PowerBI (0 to 300 engineers), Reddit (500M MAU) and Looker ($2.7B sale to Google). Nick will share 5 big lessons he's learned along the way that you can use as you build your company's product and engineering functions from its earliest days to its largest successes. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/growing-product-and-engineering-orgs-from-zero-to-ipo-with-twitter-and-redpoint-ventures/

Oct 08, 202020 min

SaaStr 380: How To Effectively Sell Into Mid-Market, Why SEO Is The Best Kept Secret In SaaS & How To Show Credibility To Enterprise Customers as a Startup

Ryan Sandler is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Truework , the company that gives employees control over employment, income and other identity data. To date, Ryan has raised over $44M with Truework from the likes of Sequoia, Khosla, Menlo and from the founders of companies such as Plaid, Seatgeek, Mino Games and Checkr. Prior to founding Truework, Ryan spent 3 years as a Senior Product Manager @ LinkedIn. In Today’s Episode We Discuss: How Ryan made his way from LinkedIn Product Manager to founding Seq...

Sep 29, 202023 min

SaaStr 379: The Top 10 Mistakes Founders Make When Hiring Their First Sales Team with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin

From how many reps to hire, to compensation models, here are the top 10 mistakes founders make when hiring their first sales teams and how to avoid them. Full video: https://youtu.be/SrHKclELBEg Podcast transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-379-with-saastr-ceo-and-founder-jason-lemkin-the-top-10-mistakes-founders-make-when-hiring-their-first-sales-team/ Sponsor message: Are you looking to better educate your audience on the value you deliver? Build products or service recommendation ...

Sep 25, 202016 min

SaaStr 378: The 5 Things That Kill Startups After Their Seed Rounds and How to Avoid them with Michael Seibel, CEO @ Y Combinator

Investment can create more problems than it solves and founders may trick themselves into thinking they have product-market fit when they don't. Michael Seibel, CEO @ Y Combinator explores the top risks founders should be aware of after funding and his best tips to avoid them. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/5-things-that-kill-startups-with-y-combinator/

Sep 24, 202024 min

SaaStr 377: Hashicorp CEO Dave McJannet on Scaling Remote Teams; What Breaks and When, How To Successfully Execute Multi-Product Strategies and How Leadership Style Evolves with Company Stage

Dave McJannet is the CEO @ Hashicorp, one of the fastest-growing enterprise companies of our time providing consistent workflows to provision, secure, connect and run any infrastructure for any application. To date, the company has raised $349M in funding from some of the best in the business including Bessemer, Redpoint, True Ventures, IVP, Mayfield, TCV and GGV to name a few. As for David, prior to Hashicorp, he held some incredible roles including VP Marketing at Github and Hortonworks, Senio...

Sep 23, 202030 min

SaaStr 376: 10 Mistakes the CEO of ZoomInfo Made on His Journey to IPO with Henry Schuck, CEO @ ZoomInfo and Jason Lemkin, CEO @ SaaStr (Part 2)

In part two, ZoomInfo founder and CEO Henry Schuck shares how he built a business from scratch and grew it into one of the most successful IPOs of the 21st century—and what it was really like...the good, the bad, and most of all, the ugly. He reflects on where he went wrong, what he would do differently, and how to avoid making the same mistakes he did. This episode is an excerpt from Jason and Henry’s session at SaaStr Annual @ Home. Full video: https://youtu.be/WKODWISCL7A Transcript of this p...

Sep 18, 202035 min

SaaStr 374: 10 Mistakes the CEO of ZoomInfo Made on His Journey to IPO with Henry Schuck, CEO @ ZoomInfo and Jason Lemkin, CEO @ SaaStr (Part 1)

ZoomInfo founder and CEO Henry Schuck shares how he built a business from scratch and grew it into one of the most successful IPOs of the 21st century—and what it was really like...the good, the bad, and most of all, the ugly. He reflects on where he went wrong, what he would do differently, and how to avoid making the same mistakes he did. This episode is an excerpt from Jason and Henry’s session at SaaStr Annual @ Home. Full video: https://youtu.be/WKODWISCL7A Podcast transcript: https://www.s...

Sep 11, 202030 min

SaaStr 373: The State of the Cloud 2020, The COVID Beneficiaries Edition with Byron Deeter and Elliott Robinson of Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer's 5th Annual State of the Cloud Report returns for a definitive look at the cloud industry today. Byron Deeter and Elliott Robinson, partners at Bessemer Venture Partners, offer macro trends in the public and private cloud markets, strategic advice to cloud founders, and insights into why entrepreneurs should feel auspicious about the future. This episode is an excerpt from a session at SaaStr Annual @ Home. Full video: https://youtu.be/WrGhD0qaIow Podcast transcript: https://www.saastr...

Sep 10, 202025 min

SaaStr 372: Sales Kick-Off Week: How To Prepare, How To Structure, How To Organise Content, How To Keep Teams Engaged with Latane Conant, CMO @ 6Sense

Latane Conant is the Chief Marketing Officer at 6Sense , the company that allows you to achieve predictable revenue growth by identifying accounts looking for your solution, prioritise efforts and then engage the right way. To date, the company has raised $120M in financing from Battery Ventures, Insight, Venrock, Costanoa, Bain Capital and Salesforce Ventures to name a few. As for Latane, before 6Sense she was CMO and sales leader at Appirio where she drove 5X more effective field marketing pro...

Sep 08, 202028 min

SaaStr 371: Learning from the Lows, How Mailchimp Navigated Economic Uncertainty with Ben Chestnut, CEO @ Mailchimp and Jason Lemkin, CEO and Founder @ SaaStr

It’s no secret that businesses today are struggling with an unpredictable economy. In this session, Mailchimp Co-founder and CEO Ben Chestnut will share the story of Mailchimp’s founding amidst—and despite—the dot-com bubble burst, and how the company navigated a number of inflection points in the first 10 years of its founding. This episode is an excerpt from Jason and Ben’s session at SaaStr Annual @ Home. Full video: https://youtu.be/LfLZzakn2r0 Podcast transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saas...

Sep 04, 202024 min

SaaStr 370: Automation, The Digital Transformation Accelerator with Jennifer Tejada, CEO @ PagerDuty

As organizations race to achieve relevance and a competitive edge in the digital era, automation is fueling the fight. Join PagerDuty’s CEO, Jennifer Tejada, as she discusses the need for agility and innovation and how automation is aiding adaptability and allowing enterprises to surge ahead. This episode is an excerpt from a session at SaaStr Summit: Enterprise. Full video: https://youtu.be/7mHQotsErWc Podcast transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcasts-for-the-week-with-jennifer-tejada-...

Sep 04, 202021 min

SaaStr 369: How to Hire an A-Player VP Sales and Scale Your Team with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin and the Co-founder and CEO of HireSweet, Robin Choy

In today’s SaaStr Insider episode, SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin and the Co-founder and CEO of HireSweet, Robin Choy, share their experiences building and scaling their companies. Today's SaaStr insider originally aired on A-Players, a new podcast that teaches you how to hire, retain, and train top performers for your team! You can listen to A-Players on Anchor.fm, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Read the full transcript on our blog: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcasts-for-...

Aug 28, 202034 min

SaaStr 368: 5 Insights for Consumerization of the Enterprise with Scott Belsky, CPO and EVP @ Adobe Creative Cloud

Success in the Enterprise means ensuring consumerization is a part of your strategy. Scott Belsky, CPO, EVP of Creative Cloud at Adobe will explore key tactics to focus on the user experience. This episode is an excerpt from a session at SaaStr Summit: Enterprise. Full video: https://youtu.be/FPMKXanghWM Podcast transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcasts-for-the-week-with-scott-belsky-robin-choy-and-jason-lemkin/

Aug 27, 202026 min
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