The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

Leo Widrich is the Founder & COO @ Buffer, the Simple and powerful social media scheduling, publishing & analytics. They have raised funding from some of the best including Scott and Cyan Banister, Hubspot's Dharmesh Shah, Hiten Shah and Eric Ries just to name a few. Now in today's talk with Leo he breaks down his and the Buffer teams Top 10 Learnings in Growing to 10m ARR.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• What are the 3 questions Leo asks his customers to understand them best? When is the right time to ask them? How should you follow up from this?
• How to experiment with weekly masterminds? How do masterminds work? When is the right time to do them? What is important to remember in entering a mastermind?
• How does Leo assess pricing structure? Why does he think it is important to experiment with different pricing? How do you do so without losing customers or trust?
• Why does Leo advise startup founders to get advice from mentors with conflicting opinions? Why is this important and how should a decision be reached?

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

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Leo Widrich

Leo Widrich is the Founder & COO @ Buffer, the Simple and powerful social media scheduling, publishing & analytics. They have raised funding from some of the best including Scott and Cyan Banister, Hubspot’s Dharmesh Shah, Hiten Shah and Eric Ries just to name a few. Now in today’s talk with Leo he breaks down his and the Buffer teams Top 10 Learnings in Growing to 10m ARR.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• What are the 3 questions Leo asks his customers to understand them best? When is the right time to ask them? How should you follow up from this?
• How to experiment with weekly masterminds? How do masterminds work? When is the right time to do them? What is important to remember in entering a mastermind?
• How does Leo assess pricing structure? Why does he think it is important to experiment with different pricing? How do you do so without losing customers or trust?
• Why does Leo advise startup founders to get advice from mentors with conflicting opinions? Why is this important and how should a decision be reached?

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

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Leo Widrich

John Barrows is essentially the Godfather of Sales. We often have VPs of Sales from tech titans on the show but who trains those VPs and sales reps to be the best in the world at sales? That is where John Barrows comes in, with clients including Dropbox, Box, Marketo, Twilio and many more, John has amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience allowing him to provide the most proactive sales tips and strategies to optimise the sales process. If you have not checked out his blog, that really is a must and can be found here.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• How did John make his way into the world of SaaS and more specifically sales optimisation?
• What are the key points all reps must cover in their first calls with new leads? Why is expectation setting so crucial?
• Why does John believe the best client to rep relationships are those that are equal? How can reps continue to provide value with every interaction?
• In the case of leads going dark, how can sales reps engage with the lead to ensure conversion? What words must be avoided and how should this conversation be structured?
• How can sales reps perfect the balance of being direct and being rude? How important is a summary email? What is the optimal structure and how should sales reps follow up on summary emails?

60 Second SaaStr

1. The most common question asked to John by VPs of Sales?
2. What are the benefits of Top Down prospecting?
3. Do execs need structure?

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

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

John Barrows

John Barrows is essentially the Godfather of Sales. We often have VPs of Sales from tech titans on the show but who trains those VPs and sales reps to be the best in the world at sales? That is where John Barrows comes in, with clients including Dropbox, Box, Marketo, Twilio and many more, John has amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience allowing him to provide the most proactive sales tips and strategies to optimise the sales process. If you have not checked out his blog, that really is a must and can be found here.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How did John make his way into the world of SaaS and more specifically sales optimisation?
• What are the key points all reps must cover in their first calls with new leads? Why is expectation setting so crucial?
• Why does John believe the best client to rep relationships are those that are equal? How can reps continue to provide value with every interaction?
• In the case of leads going dark, how can sales reps engage with the lead to ensure conversion? What words must be avoided and how should this conversation be structured?
• How can sales reps perfect the balance of being direct and being rude? How important is a summary email? What is the optimal structure and how should sales reps follow up on summary emails?

60 Second SaaStr

1. The most common question asked to John by VPs of Sales?
2. What are the benefits of Top Down prospecting?
3. Do execs need structure?

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

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

John Barrows

Michael Driscoll is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Metamarkets, the startup that provide interactive analytics for programmatic marketing. They have raised over $38m in VC funding from our good friends at Data Collective, Founder Collective, IA Ventures and more incredible investors. As for Michael, prior to Metamarkets, he started two other companies: Dataspora, a life science analytics company (acquired by Via Science in 2011), and CustomInk.com, an early pioneer in e-commerce. Fun fact: Michael is also a founding Partner of the previously mentioned VC fund, Data Collective.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• How did Michael make his way from data lover to Silicon Valley SaaS Founder?
• Why does Mike believe in the inherent value of customer focus and product focus? What are the measurable benefits of being so specialised?
• Why does Mike believe it is so hard to be a cost leader in software? What are the fundamental challenges? What role does open source play in this?
• How does Mike view the alignment of the sales and the engineering team? Is it possible to have a harmonious relationship between the two?
• What should SaaS startup founders look for in potential seed investors? How can they determine whether they have these qualities? What should they look at in particular?

60 Second SaaStr

• Mike's fave productivity tools?
• What most companies are doing wrong in their approach to data science?
• What does Mike know now that he wishes he had known at the start?

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

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Michael Driscoll

Michael Driscoll is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Metamarkets, the startup that provide interactive analytics for programmatic marketing. They have raised over $38m in VC funding from our good friends at Data Collective, Founder Collective, IA Ventures and more incredible investors. As for Michael, prior to Metamarkets, he started two other companies: Dataspora, a life science analytics company (acquired by Via Science in 2011), and CustomInk.com, an early pioneer in e-commerce. Fun fact: Michael is also a founding Partner of the previously mentioned VC fund, Data Collective.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How did Michael make his way from data lover to Silicon Valley SaaS Founder?
• Why does Mike believe in the inherent value of customer focus and product focus? What are the measurable benefits of being so specialised?
• Why does Mike believe it is so hard to be a cost leader in software? What are the fundamental challenges? What role does open source play in this?
• How does Mike view the alignment of the sales and the engineering team? Is it possible to have a harmonious relationship between the two?
• What should SaaS startup founders look for in potential seed investors? How can they determine whether they have these qualities? What should they look at in particular?

60 Second SaaStr

• Mike’s fave productivity tools?
• What most companies are doing wrong in their approach to data science?
• What does Mike know now that he wishes he had known at the start?

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

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Michael Driscoll

Auren Hoffman is best known for being the former CEO and Founder @ LiveRamp, the leading data onboarder that was acquired by Acxiom for $310m. Today's talk focuses on the 5 core lessons Auren took from that incredible journey with LiveRamp. Auren was also an angel investor and board member at BrightRoll, prior to it's $610m acquisition by Yahoo. Today, he is the CEO at SafeGraph, the startup that is unlocking the world's most powerful data so that machines and humans can answer some of society's toughest questions.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• What is Auren's thesis towards hiring all round athletes as opposed to position players? When do it make sense to do either? What stage of the company is right for which persona?
• What are the two different types of sales personas? At what type of company should you hire a relationship driven sales team and then what type of company for a product driven sales team?
• Why does Auren believe you should target a very small niche of the market? What are the benefits of such focus? How can you sell such a small market to VCs?
• How does Auren perceive the future of enterprise software? How has the rise of bottoms up sales affected the SaaS environment? How many more SaaS companies and buyers of SaaS are there today, compared to 10 years ago?

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

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Auren Hoffman

Algolia the robust search API that allows developers to integrate lightning fast, typo-tolerant search into their SaaS product. Out of the box, Algolia offers developers a powerful platform for building great search experiences. By owning the entire stack from engine to server, Algolia free up development teams to focus on adding intuitive search that delights users. This is perfect for existing search teams looking to spend less time on maintenance and infrastructure management and more time on user experience. For small SaaS teams, Algolia is a great investment on top of your existing stack that requires no specialist engineers. And you can learn more about how Algolia helps SaaS Scale Search and get started on their 14-day Free Trial at Algolia.com/SaaStrPodcast

Auren Hoffman is best known for being the former CEO and Founder @ LiveRamp, the leading data onboarder that was acquired by Acxiom for $310m. Today’s talk focuses on the 5 core lessons Auren took from that incredible journey with LiveRamp. Auren was also an angel investor and board member at BrightRoll, prior to it’s $610m acquisition by Yahoo. Today, he is the CEO at SafeGraph, the startup that is unlocking the world’s most powerful data so that machines and humans can answer some of society’s toughest questions.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• What is Auren’s thesis towards hiring all round athletes as opposed to position players? When do it make sense to do either? What stage of the company is right for which persona?
• What are the two different types of sales personas? At what type of company should you hire a relationship driven sales team and then what type of company for a product driven sales team?
• Why does Auren believe you should target a very small niche of the market? What are the benefits of such focus? How can you sell such a small market to VCs?
• How does Auren perceive the future of enterprise software? How has the rise of bottoms up sales affected the SaaS environment? How many more SaaS companies and buyers of SaaS are there today, compared to 10 years ago?

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

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

Auren Hoffman

Algolia the robust search API that allows developers to integrate lightning fast, typo-tolerant search into their SaaS product. Out of the box, Algolia offers developers a powerful platform for building great search experiences. By owning the entire stack from engine to server, Algolia free up development teams to focus on adding intuitive search that delights users. This is perfect for existing search teams looking to spend less time on maintenance and infrastructure management and more time on user experience. For small SaaS teams, Algolia is a great investment on top of your existing stack that requires no specialist engineers. And you can learn more about how Algolia helps SaaS Scale Search and get started on their 14-day Free Trial at Algolia.com/SaaStrPodcast

David Hassell is the founder and CEO of 15Five, the leading web-based employee feedback and alignment solution that is transforming the way employees and managers communicate. They have backing from the likes of Matrix Partners, Point Nine Capital and many more leading investors. As for David, he was named "The Most Connected Man You Don't Know in Silicon Valley" by Forbes Magazine, David has also been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Inc., Entrepreneur, Wired, Fast Company, and the Financial Post.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• How did David made his way into the world of SaaS and came to found 15Five?
• How does David view competition? How should founders view additional competition to their space? What is the right response? Why did David choose such a public and deliberate fight back against one competitive attempt?
• David has said before that is passionate about the meaning and purpose of the business vehicle. What does he mean by this? How does this affect his thinking toward management and organisational structure?
• What are the keys to creating a harmonized, incentivized and happy culture for your business? How scalable is this approach and how has David seen his approach alter and develop with the growth of the company?
• Why did David choose the more bootstrapped funding option over the traditional heavy reliance on VC funding? Which startups is this right for? How can founders know when is the right time to put the pedal to the metal?

60 Second SaaStr

1. David's fave productivity tools?
2. David's biggest mentor and how it came about?
3. What does David know now that he wishes he had known at the start?

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

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

David Hassell

David Hassell is the founder and CEO of 15Five, the leading web-based employee feedback and alignment solution that is transforming the way employees and managers communicate. They have backing from the likes of Matrix Partners, Point Nine Capital and many more leading investors. As for David, he was named "The Most Connected Man You Don't Know in Silicon Valley" by Forbes Magazine, David has also been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Inc., Entrepreneur, Wired, Fast Company, and the Financial Post.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How did David made his way into the world of SaaS and came to found 15Five?
• How does David view competition? How should founders view additional competition to their space? What is the right response? Why did David choose such a public and deliberate fight back against one competitive attempt?
• David has said before that is passionate about the meaning and purpose of the business vehicle. What does he mean by this? How does this affect his thinking toward management and organisational structure?
• What are the keys to creating a harmonized, incentivized and happy culture for your business? How scalable is this approach and how has David seen his approach alter and develop with the growth of the company?
• Why did David choose the more bootstrapped funding option over the traditional heavy reliance on VC funding? Which startups is this right for? How can founders know when is the right time to put the pedal to the metal?

60 Second SaaStr

1. David’s fave productivity tools?
2. David’s biggest mentor and how it came about?
3. What does David know now that he wishes he had known at the start?

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

Jason Lemkin

Harry Stebbings

SaaStr

David Hassell