SaaStr 773: CRO Confidential: Moving Beyond Traditional Sales, Clay CEO & Co-Founder Kareem Amin on the Future of AI-Driven Growth CRO Confidential podcast host Sam Blond chats with the CEO and co-founder of Clay, Kareem Amin, about two major topics: The evolution of Go-To-Market systems: where we are today with the incorporation of AI, and where we’re headed. How Clay approaches GTM itself and how they’ve realized their level of success in such a short amount of time. They also dive into how Cl...
Nov 08, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 772: What Really Matters in SaaS in 2025 with Jason Lemkin and Dave Kellogg In this episode, SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin and Dave Kellogg, Executive in Residence at Balderton Capital (+ SaaStr fan favorite) share what really matters in SaaS for 2025. We delve into 5 key topics in SaaS and cloud for 2025, discussing the future of AI in B2B, strategic pricing changes, the impact of moving customer success to sales, and the state of private equity deals. Dave provides a unique perspe...
Nov 06, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 771: The Top Marketing Strategies for 2025 Growth with the CMOs of Snowflake, LinkedIn, and Carta Right now is one of the hardest times of the year for marketers. Most CMOs will be heads down wrapping up a year-end assessment and figuring out what to pitch for next year’s budgetary spend to drive revenue, all while navigating an ever-changing environment of inconsistent metrics, lower conversion rates, and a rapid rate of change with the adoption of AI in SaaS. A CMO panel consisting of t...
Nov 01, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 770: How to Avoid a Bad VC Investor with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin In our latest episode, SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin delves into 11 ways you can identify bad investors before signing a term sheet. Use this 11-part test to avoid common pitfalls: Do reference checks Ask if they write second or third checks See how many control they want Figure out their long-term goals Ask about the lows too Ask about outside CEOS What was their worst investment? Ask what CEO they're a fa...
Oct 30, 2024•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 769: The State of SaaS Go-to-Market with Theory Ventures General Partner Tomasz Tunguz Join us in this insightful episode as seasoned venture capitalist Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner at Theory Ventures shares transformative insights on the current landscape of SaaS Go-To-Market. Six months ago, security was the number one prohibition preventing businesses and software companies from buying AI. Today it's ROI. In this episode, Tomasz shares nine observations from a Go-To-Market survey The...
Oct 25, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 768: Approaching Half a Million Customers: How to Win in SMB with BILL CEO and Founder René Lacerte Join our in-depth exploration of Bill.com's remarkable evolution, from BILL CEO and Founder René Lacerte and SaaStr CEO and founder Jason Lemkin. Tune in as they share how BILL has reached half a million customers and $1.3B in revenue. Together, Jason and René discuss: How to sell to multiple stakeholders as a SaaS platform Going long and BILL's 20+ year journey to $1B Creating a Moat How t...
Oct 23, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 767: The Future of AI in SaaS Sales with Henry Schuck, CEO of ZoomInfo and SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin joined ZoomInfo's Season 2 of its ZI Labs Podcast as the opening guest alongside ZoomInfo CEO Henry Schuck. Along with co-host Ben Salzman, Jason and Henry discuss the transformative power of AI within SaaS and the evolving dynamics that are reshaping the landscape of software as a service. Together they explore the intricacies of scaling SaaS companies, including the...
Oct 18, 2024•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 765: The Bar Has Gone Up. The Era of HyperFunctional SaaS is Here with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin In this comprehensive episode, SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin explains why the era of hyper-functional SaaS is here, and how it's reshaping the landscape of SaaS companies. Key topics include the critical role of AI and automation in meeting rising customer expectations and the imperative for tech companies to develop multi-product strategies to sustain growth. We explore how co...
Oct 16, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 764: State of the Cloud 2024: The Cloud AI Era with Bessemer Venture Partners, Anthropic, Jasper, Abridge and EvenUp Bessemer Venture Partners is committing $1 billion in capital to back AI-native companies and founders at the bleeding edge. Sameer Dholakia, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners speaks with Julia Chapin, COO at Abridge, Kate Jensen, Head of Revenue at Anthropic, Rami Karabibar, CEO and founder at EvenUp, and Timothy Young, CEO at Jasper, on the impacts of AI on the State o...
Oct 11, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 763: The Secrets to Selling and Scaling in Vertical SaaS with Slice's CRO Loren Padelford Loren Padelford, CRO of Slice and previously SVP and GM of Shopify Plus, does a deep dive with the SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin on the top learnings selling to SMBs and within Vertical SaaS. The conversation dives into Slice's approach of helping independent pizzerias by offering integrated software and services, comparing it to the approach of Domino's. Lauren offers lessons learned during hi...
Oct 09, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 762: How to Build a Product Customers Love and Drive Nearly $1B in Revenue Along the Way with Klaviyo CEO Andrew Bialecki and SaaStr CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin Klaviyo is the most awesome SaaS company you don't know enough about yet. :) Join SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin and Klaviyo CEO and Co-Founder, Andrew Bialecki as they discuss Klaviyo's rise as a leading marketing and customer data platform for B2C businesses. Discover the strategies behind its growth, the challenges faced...
Oct 04, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 761: How to Build Pipeline and GTM Alignment with Datadog’s CMO Sara Varni Sara Varni, Datadog ‘s CMO, shares how to build pipeline and create alignment across sales and marketing. The CMO role at Datadog covers the usual aspects of marketing, including product marketing, corporate communications, events, partnership marketing, and solutions marketing. While these insights seem like pipeline 101, they aren’t always implemented. Let’s look at some quick facts about Sara’s experience. She s...
Oct 02, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 760: CRO Confidential: Rippling’s Top 3 Growth Tactics for Driving Revenue at Scale with Rippling CRO Matt Plank and Former CRO at Brex Sam Blond At this year’s SaaStr Annual, Rippling’s CRO, Matt Plank, chats with Sam Blond, host of the SaaStr CRO Confidential and former CRO at Brex, about Rippling’s top 3 growth tactics, which have led to the Rippling becoming a $14B company with several hundred million of ARR. A few years ago, Matt was making cold calls from CEO Parker Conrad’s basemen...
Sep 27, 2024•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 759: 5 Metrics that Matter When Raising Your SaaS Series A and Series B Round with Christoph Janz, Partner at Point Nine Capital What data and metrics do you need to convince SaaS investors you’re in good shape and aligned with what they care about? Christoph Janz, Partner at Point Nine Capital, shares 5 key insights during this year’s SaaStr Annual. These metrics are more targeted to those preparing for a Series A or B round and could make the difference between an excited-to-invest-in-y...
Sep 25, 2024•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 758: Avoid These Common Founder Mistakes to Hire a Great VP of Sales in 2024 with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin In this episode of the official SaaStr podcast, we delve into the common pitfalls founders encounter when hiring a VP of Sales. SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin kicked off the SaaStr Annual by reflecting on twelve years of hiring lessons, sharing critical insights into why sales leaders fail and how founders can avoid these mistakes. The discussion covers the importance...
Sep 20, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 757: 10 Cheat Codes I Learned While Scaling to $400M with Yext and Roam Founder Howard Lerman Dive into a unique and tactical journey with Howard Lerman, Founder at Roam, sharing unconventional yet effective strategies drawn from personal experiences and notable figures like John Lennon. Learn the importance of mastering storytelling, the art of live demos, the controversial take on one-on-one meetings, and the benefits of Sunday night executive meetings. Discover how leveraging your cap ...
Aug 31, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 756: From Challenges and Churn to Triumph - How to Deliver Exceptional Customer Support at Scale with Monday.com's VP of Customer Experience In this episode of the Official SaaStr Podcast, Natalie Margolin, VP of Customer Experience at monday.com, shares her journey and strategies for enhancing customer experience in a rapidly growing company. From tackling challenges of scale, implementing AI and chatbots, to ensuring customer satisfaction and building an expert support team, Natalie exp...
Aug 14, 2024•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 755: How to Optimize Sales Performance, SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin Answers Your Top SaaS Sales Questions In this episode, we dive into the intricacies of effective sales check-ins, best practices for managing remote teams, and the essential strategies for hiring and ramping up sales leadership. Jason Lemkin answers audience questions, covers why Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) are becoming obsolete, the significance of measuring sales team activities, and the critical importance of ensurin...
Aug 09, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 754: 7 Things the Best Sales Reps Get Right and 8 Ways the Rest Make Things Worse with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin Join Jason Lemkin, in this insightful episode as he dives deep into distinguishing the best sales reps from the rest. Jason outlines seven key traits that make sales reps successful, such as understanding customer problems, facilitating product demos, and being honest about competition. He also discusses common pitfalls that mediocre sales reps fall into, including pl...
Aug 06, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 753: Unveiling the 2024 CRO Playbook, How to Navigate A Shifting Sales Environment with Salesloft's CRO Mark Niemiec In this insightful podcast, Mark Niemiec, the CRO of SalesLoft, shares his strategic approach and key lessons learned since joining the company in February. Drawing from his extensive experience at Salesforce and Cisco, Mark discusses the challenges and opportunities that come with onboarding as a new CRO, especially in dynamic market conditions. He emphasizes the importanc...
Jul 26, 2024•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 752: 9 Signs a Startup Isn’t Going to Make It with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin SaaStr Founder and CEO, Jason Lemkin sat down to discuss 9 signs a startup isn’t going to make it. We all know, we’re living in strange times. A lot of AI companies are growing 500% a year and exploding A lot of public leaders are struggling Some unicorns are doing incredibly well, while others have stalled and are growing at zero Founders are struggling with how to deal with these changes, and VCs and ...
Jul 24, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 751: How to Use AI-Powered Marketing to Get More Leads and Customers with Guillaume Cabane of HyperGrowth Partners As a marketing leader, how do you use today’s AI platforms and tools to become more efficient? Guillaume Cabane, Co-Founder and General Partner at HyperGrowth Partners and ex-head of marketing at Drift, Gorgias and Segment, shares how you can win with AI in outbound, SEO, and paid. AI was good a year or two ago, but its quality was less than that of a human. There was less co...
Jul 19, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 750: What it Takes to Get Funded in 2024 with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin What it really takes to raise venture capital today, in 2024 Stress in System Why Everyone Seems to be Chasing AI Where the Decacorns Are Databricks and Canva What a "Fund Returner" is in Venture Capital How a $2B and a $100m VC Fund Make Money What a Top Decile Startup Looks Like and Much More!! SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet. Join us in 2024 at: SaaStr Annual: Sept. 10-12 in t...
Jul 17, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 749: The Lost Podcast Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, and Jason Lemkin, CEO of SaaStr, in 2013: "Thinking About $1 Billion in ARR" Hey, everybody at SaaStr, we didn't realize until a Twitter exchange the other day that we have a lost SaaStr podcast for real. Just when SaaStr was getting going in January 2013, SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin went out and went to Box's offices and interviewed Aaron Levie CEO and Co-founder of Box. This was over a decade ago now and it was lost. We recorded it ...
Jul 12, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 748: Fundraising During A Downturn, Advice for Hiring in 2024 and Much More with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin To close out SaaStr Europa 2024, Jason Lemkin, SaaStr CEO and Founder took the stage to answer the audience's most burning questions. AMA’s with Jason are wildly popular for his expertise and no-holds-barred delivery. Jason give his advice on the following topics: Hiring in 2024 Running PLG and Enterprise GTM at the same time How to Categorize Revenue for VCs Are Marketing ...
Jul 10, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 747: Top 10 GTM Mistakes Founders Make Again … and Again with SaaStr’s CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin What are the biggest GTM mistakes founders make? SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin shares The Top 10 Mistakes Founders Make Again and Again. Some are decades-old problems, while others have emerged from this new world we’re in. Let’s jump right in. Hire a VP of Sales that can sell or demo the product Hire a VP of Marketing who can do demand generation As a Founder or CEO, stay in sales Do...
Jul 05, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 746: What’s Really Happening in Venture Capital Today with Redpoint Ventures Managing Director Logan Bartlett There are a lot of haves and have-nots in the software industry today. Some companies have more people throwing money at them than they know what to do with, and others are struggling to raise any money at all. Logan Bartlett, Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures, shares their yearly “State of the Market” report to understand what is and isn’t happening in venture capital today....
Jul 03, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 745: Mastering SaaS Sales Hiring, Customer Retention, and Growth with OpenAI, Retool, and 20VC Dominic Grill, Head of Technical Success at OpenAI, and Eleanor Dorfman, Head of Sales at Retool, answer some of the most pressing questions from Harry Stebbings, Founder at 20VC, about mastering the customer lifecycle, how roles and motions in sales and post-sales have changed, the role of AI in sales, and some of the biggest lessons learned at these hyper-growth companies. --------------------...
Jun 28, 2024•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 744: A Tale of 3 Worlds: Where SaaS, Cloud, and AI are in 2024 with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin What's the theme and current trends in SaaS, Cloud and AI now that we're midway through 2024? SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin reflects on the SaaS industry's journey over the past several years, particularly focusing on the challenges and growth seen in 2022 and 2023. Despite economic ups and downs and the gloom and doom on social media, companies like Canva and Netskope are thrivin...
Jun 26, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast SaaStr 743: 9 Easy Sales Concepts So Many Get Wrong with Sam Blond, Former CRO Brex Sam Blond, the former CRO at Brex with 15 years in tech sales, took the stage at SaaStr Europa 2024 to share nine easy sales concepts that so many get wrong. Sam got his first job in tech sales as an SDR for Jason Lemkin’s company, EchoSign, which later sold to Adobe and launched his career. These nine sales concepts, when done correctly, will greatly improve your sales and sales teams: Don’t Outsource Recruiting...
Jun 21, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
