The Latest from SaaStr: 8 Signs a New VP Won’t Work Out. And 3 Things Not to Worry So Much About.

THE LATEST FROM SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin  · Monday, July 25, 2022 | Hiring, Leadership

Hiring a VP that doesn’t work out is tough. As hard as it is to really find even 1 great VP candidate you believe in … when in doubt, slow it down.

Because you know what’s even tougher? Keeping him or her on for more than a few months when it just isn’t going to work. Because the damage compounds. 

DEAR SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin · Monday, July 25, 2022 | Early

First, let’s note that most successful SaaS startups do not have equal founder splits.

It's almost here - SaaStr Annual 2022.

We're taking over the Bay Area Sept 13-15 for the world's largest SaaS and Cloud community gathering. 

With 3 days of tactical content, workshops, networking, and limitless opportunities to connect with CEOs, Founders, VCs and Revenue Leaders - this will be the biggest, most networking focused SaaStr Annual yet. 

ICYMI

By Amanda Beaty · Sunday, July 24, 2022 | Blog Posts

Each week, we round up our most popular content so you can catch up on anything you may have missed. Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos!

SAAS PRICING

By Amanda Beaty · Monday, July 25, 2022 | SaaS Product Pricing

SaaS pricing can be overwhelming when there are unlimited paths and opportunities that exist. Even though most companies acknowledge its importance, SaaS founders often choose a simplistic approach to pricing—that is, if they don’t choose to ignore it altogether. Many perceive pricing to be complicated and intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. 

FastSpring’s VP Product, Strategy, and General Manager of IQ, Kurt Smith, explores evidence-based principles to help SaaS companies avoid common pricing mistakes without getting lost in analysis and data.

DEAR SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin · Sunday, July 24, 2022 | Growth

The chances are fairly low. But once you raise venture capital especially, it’s something to at least understand better.

First, let’s step back.

HIRING

By Jason Lemkin · Saturday, July 23, 2022 | Early, Hiring

I’ve now worked with or invested in ~30 successful start-ups beyond my own companies and I’ve watched a lot of VP hire train wrecks.

Probably the most common is “the wrong VP of Sales”.  We’ve talked about that for 6+ years on SaaStr, and we’ll keep talking about it.  Hiring someone for the wrong stage, wrong ACV/deal size, or a VP of Sales that is a stretch too far.

But the #2 mistake with VP hiring, and maybe the #1 reason VPs lose their job, is priority dis-alignment.  Most especially for VPs of Marketing, although also for all other roles. 

DEAR SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin · Saturday, July 23, 2022 | Human Resources, Leadership

While there is no legal definition for CTO or bright line between CTO and VPE, I’d suggest a start-up CTO really only has to do a few things — which are very hard.

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