The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders

Latest Episodes:

SaaStr 298: Podium CEO Eric Rea on Scaling Outside Silicon Valley: Going from $0 to $60M ARR in 4 Years Jan 09, 2020

Show notes

Startup success is not exclusive to Silicon Valley. With more companies launching and thriving outside of Silicon Valley, regions such as 'Silicon Slopes' in Utah and 'Silicon Alley' in New York City are gaining traction within the startup scene. Podium, an interaction management platform for local businesses, was founded in Utah and grew from five employees in 2015 to more than 300 in 2019 to become one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in the United States. In just four years, Podium has raised almost $100 million, with annual recurring revenue increasing to almost $60 million. Eric Rea, CEO of Podium, will share how he grew the company he launched from his spare bedroom into one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in the country.

Find the video and full transcript on our blog.

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SaaStr 297: Why Channel Partnerships Can Be The Biggest Accelerant To Your Business, How To Hire for Channel Partnerships and The Biggest Mistakes SaaS Founders Make In The Early Days with Bob Moore, Founder & CEO @ Crossbeam Jan 06, 2020

Show notes

Bob Moore is the Founder & CEO @ Crossbeam, the startup that helps companies find overlapping prospects and customers while keeping the rest of their data private and secure. To date Bob has raised over $15m with Crossbeam from friends of the show including Andy @ Uncork, Matt @ Firstmark, Bill @ First Round and Matt @ Salesforce Ventures, to name a few. Prior to Crossbeam, Bob founded Stitched, a powerful ETL service built for developers that was acquired by Talend in 2018. Before that Bob co-founded RJ Metrics, where he built a global base of online retailers leading to their acquisition by Magento Commerce in 2016.

In Today's Episode We Discuss:

How Bob made his way into the world of SaaS and came to found Crossbeam?
As an entrepreneur, Bob has previously said, "no one is coming to save you". What did he mean by this? What were the core mistakes that he made with RJ Metrics? Is it the responsibility of the board to course correct at this early stage? How does Bob determine whether to be visionary and determined vs realising when something is not working?
Does Bob agree with the notion that channel sales have completely died in the world of SaaS? Why is this? What are the drivers of it's death? How important is it to own the entire customer journey? At what scale does that become impossible? In terms of replacement, what does Bob believe will be the emerging trends in SaaS Go To Market that will replace it?
How does Bob think about when is the right time to hire a Head of Partnerships? In the early days, partnerships can be a distraction, how does Bob determine between right and wrong when determining whether to engage in a partnership? Where do most startups go wrong both in hiring for partnerships and in the engagements themselves?

Bob's 60 Second SaaStr:

What is the hardest element of Bob's role with Crossbeam today?
What does Bob believe that most around him disbelieve?
What does Bob know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning?

Read the transcript on our blog.

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

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SaaStr 296: Cloudflare Head of Products Jen Taylor on 5 Steps to Launching a Product Jan 02, 2020

Show notes

The vision of exceeding sales, establishing credibility and successfully launching a product is no small task, especially when striving for that perfect introduction into the world of consumers. With so many articles, investors, and outside opinions, the true, simple tasks of launching can get lost in the noise. In this session, Jen Taylor, Head of Products at Cloudflare, will share her expertise and teach you to forget the noise, stick to the basics, and use 5 easy steps to turn that idea into a reality.

Find the video and full transcript on our blog.

SaaStr 295: Most Downloaded VC Episode of 2019 with Tom Tunguz, General Partner @ Redpoint Ventures Dec 30, 2019

Show notes

This interview originally aired as Episode 213 on February 26, 2019.

Tom Tunguz is General Partner @ Redpoint Ventures, the venture fund with a portfolio including the likes of Stripe, Netflix, Zuora, Hashicorp and Juniper Networks just to name a few. As for Tom, he joined Redpoint in 2008 and has since led investments in Kustomer, Looker, Expensify and Gremlin all prior guests on the show I hasten to add. He is also the co-author of Winning with Data: exploring the cultural changes big data brings to business. Tom has also been named on the Forbes Midas Brink list. Before joining Redpoint, Tomasz was the product manager for Google's AdSense social-media products and AdSense internationalization.

In Today's Episode We Discuss:

How Tom made his way from creating software with his father in Brazil to being GP and forefront figure in the SaaS investment community as a GP at Redpoint today?
Annual contracts: To what extent do annual contracts dominate today? How does this differ when comparing enterprise to SMB? Why does Tom think in the early days one should be wary of signing too many multi-year contracts? What are the dangers there? How does Tom think about calculating churn when it comes to multi-year contracts?
What were the findings on what good looks like when it comes to logo retention? How does this differ when comparing SMB to enterprise? What were the commonalities of leading indicators of churn? Is it fair to always surmise that when serving SMB one will always have a higher rate of churn? What is the right way to conduct a churn analysis?
Assisted vs unassisted: What does Tom believe are the leading benchmarks for both? How does this differ when comparing SMB to enterprise? How does the impact of a salesperson change the conversion rate? What time frame from SAL to closed lead suggests product market fit? What one question must all founders be asking in the sales process?
How does Tom think about constructing comp plans the right way today? How should comp plans differ when comparing AEs to customer success? Where should the responsibility for upsell lie, customer success or sales? Should sales commission be paid on renewals?

Tom's 60 Second SaaStr:

What does Tom know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning?
What is Tom's favourite book and why?
What is Tom's most recent investment and why did he say yes?

Read the transcript on our blog.

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

SaaStr 294: Egnyte CCO Rajesh Ram on Land, Expand, Explode: How to Win the Long-Game in SaaS Dec 26, 2019

Show notes

The SaaS business model has risen to popularity for many reasons - it's fast-paced, creates residual revenue streams, and well, the multiples are strong. However, while many are flocking to reap the benefits of the SaaS model, truly understanding how it works sustaining success over time is not as easy as some make it look. Rajesh is going to walk you through the key elements of winning the long game in SaaS - how to win customers, how to create long-term relationships, and how to avoid churn. He will also provide insights on the differences between commercial and enterprise customers and the key metrics to keep an eye on as you grow your business.

Find the video and full transcript on our blog.

SaaStr 293: OpenView Partner Ashley Smith on Using Product Led Growth as an Indicator for Investment Dec 19, 2019

Show notes

Congratulations you've built a product that's proven itself in the marketplace! So how can you leverage that product's success to obtain the valuation and funding you need to scale? Ashley Smith, Venture Partner at OpenView will provide insight on what investors are looking for in product metrics and growth indicators so you can capitalize on your product's story for funding.

Find the video and full transcript on our blog.

SaaStr 292: Most Downloaded Founder Episode of 2019 with Manny Medina, Founder & CEO @ Outreach Dec 16, 2019

Show notes

This interview originally aired as Episode 229 on April 29, 2019.

Manny Medina is the Founder & CEO @ Outreach, the market leading sales engagement platform that turns your team into a revenue driving machine. To date, Manny has raised over $114m in funding from some great people including friends of the show in the form of Alex Clayton @ Spark, Mayfield, Trinity Ventures and DFJ Growth, just to name a few. Prior to founding Outreach, Manny spent 7 years with Microsoft where he ran the Latin America and Canada business development group for Microsoft's emerging mobile division, representing $50M of yearly revenue. Befofe that Manny was a Senior Product Manager @ Amazon where he engineered the compensation system for Amazon Associates and Web-Services which accounts for 15% of Amazon's traffic.

In Today's Episode We Discuss:

How Manny made his way to found the leader in sales engagement from product management at Amazon and Business Development @ Microsoft.
How does Manny fundamentally approach managing top of funnel? What are the 2 big dangers of not managing it aggressively? What can be done to ensure not only full but high quality top of funnel?
Why does Manny believe it is so important to track pipeline coverage as one of your core metrics? What does good look like when it comes to pipeline coverage? How does this change if you are creating vs in an existing market? How does Manny think about specialisation within the sales function? Why are SDR's 99% of the time not able to carry leads to completion?
How does Manny think about quota construction today? Does Manny err on the side of setting high to be ambitious or setting low to increase confidence? How can managers really empower their reps to be aggressive in hitting their quota and exceeding it? How does Manny think about resource allocation on the individual rep level? What is sufficient? What is excessive?
Does Manny believe that the founder should always be responsible for selling their product at one moment in time? How did Manny sell the first $1m in ARR simply through walking the streets of SOMA and selling door-to-door? What were his biggest lessons from doing this? Why does Manny believe that you should not have a VP before $5m?

60 Second SaaStr:

What does Manny know now that he wishes he had known in the beginning?
What does the future of sales prospecting look like to Manny?
What would Manny like to change about the world of SaaS today?

Read the transcript on our blog.

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

SaaStr 291: LucidChart CEO Karl Sun on Top Lessons Learned From Our Best and Worst Marketing Experiments Dec 12, 2019

Show notes

Lucidchart has been recognized as one of the most mature Product Lead Growth business models in the market, driving over 700,000 registrations per month, combined with a hyper-efficient B2B business model. It didn't happen by accident. It happened through experimentation: from extensive A/B testing (with over 500 marketing tests completed in 2018), to testing crazy brand videos (which have garnered over 200 million views and was named the only ad campaign that truly mattered in 2018 by Adweek), to constant iteration and expansion of the business model. Experimental marketing brings together the science and art of marketing, allowing for creativity that drives results. It's an essential skill in the toolkit of the modern marketer, and one that's easy to get started with, no matter your company scale. Key Takeaways: - Discover how to start or extend your marketing experimentation. - Learn how marketing experimentation can apply across funnels, brands, and business models. - Get tips on how to build a culture of experimentation that fosters creativity and drives business results.

Find the video and full transcript on our blog.

SaaStr 290: How To Sell To CIOs Successfully; Discounting, Freemium, Trials, Multi-Year Contracts, Transparency on Product Roadmap; The Ultimate Guide with Yousuf Khan, Serial CIO, Startup & VC Advisor Dec 09, 2019

Show notes

Yousuf Khan is a serial CIO, start-up and VC advisor. Most recently Yousuf was the CIO & VP of Customer Success @ Moveworks, the advanced AI built for enterprise providing automatic resolution of IT issues. During his time at the company, they raised over $108m from Lightspeed, ICONIQ, Kleiner, Sapphire and Bain Capital. Pre Moveworks, Yousuf was CIO @ Pure Storage during their period of hypergrowth both as a private and public company. Finally, before Pure, Yousuf's first role in the valley was with Qualys again as CIO where he owned the entire global IT budget.

In Today's Episode We Discuss:

How Yousuf made his way from the UK to the valley and how that led to his becoming one of the leading CIOs today in the rising prominence of CIOs in enterprise?
How open and can transparent can CEOs be with CIOs? Do CIOs know the state of early-stage companies in terms of their cash situation, fundraising etc? Does that ever put them off buying? What is the right tone and temperament to take with those CIOs in the first meetings? How does Yousuf advise founders on quality or quantity of logos in the early days?
How does Yousuf advise CEOs approach CIOs when it comes to discounting? Do they make a difference to the buying decision of the CIO really? Should founders offer discounts in exchange for customer testimonials? How can CEOs provide alternative forms of social validity to other CIOs in the ecosystem, other than case studies?
How does Yousuf advise founders approach CIOs when it comes to multi-year deals? Does the mindset of the CIO change when the deal is paid upfront? How should the founders position that? When it comes to implementation, how important is time to value in the mind of the CIO? What is the worst thing a founder can do when discussing implementation?

Yousuf's 60 Second SaaStr:

What separates good from great when it comes to CIOs?
What makes the best board members?
What are Yousuf's biggest strengths and weaknesses?

Read the transcript on our blog.

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:

SaaStr 289: Salesloft CEO Kyle Porter, Zoom Head of Sales Ops Hilary Headlee and FireEye VP of WW Commercial SalesChristina Foley on 7 Key Tips & Tricks to Getting More Revenue Per AE Dec 05, 2019

Show notes

Salesloft CEO Kyle Porter, Zoom Head of Sales Ops Hilary Headlee and Fireeye VP of WW Sales Christina Foley share the seven tips and tricks to getting more revenue per AE.

This episode is an excerpt of a SaaStr Annual 2019 session. You can see the full video on our YouTube channel.

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