The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

Tim Kopp, Tim is a Managing Partner with Hyde Park Venture Partners one of the leading early stage VCs in the Midwest. Prior to joining Hyde Park Venture Partners, Tim was the CMO of ExactTarget for 6+ years, leading a global team of nearly 300 amazing marketing leaders. Tim helped grow ExactTarget from $47M to $400M in revenue, through IPO, and ultimately to a $2.7B sale to Salesforce. He previously spent 10+ years in consumer marketing with P&G and Coca-Cola. You can follow his advice for startup executives and marketing leaders at his newly launched website:www.cmovc.com.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How Tim made his way into the world of B2B marketing and then made the transition into the world of venture?
• Why does Tim believe marketing in B2B is unbuilt and uninspired? What would Tim like to see change?
• What are SaaS CEO’s doing wrong with regards to organisation and scaling of their marketing team? What questions should they be asking?
• Why does the best B2B marketers come from the world of B2C? What makes them more effective than current B2B marketers?
• Why is ABM the most revolutionary thing to happen to marketing for the last decade? How can startups and CEOs integrate ABM into their current marketing forecasts?

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

Tim Kopp

Jim Stoneham is VP of Infrastructure Products @ New Relic and Jim joined New Relic when the company acquired Opsmatic, where he was co-founder and CEO. Prior to Opsmatic, Jim was CEO of Payvment, a social commerce platform for SMB sellers that was acquired by Intuit in early 2013. He joined Payvment from Yahoo, where he led Communities (Flickr, Answers, Groups, Delicious) as well as the integrations of Facebook and Twitter into Yahoo products. Prior to that, he spent several years building consumer products at Kodak and Apple. A huge thanks to Cindy Padnos @ Illuminate for making the introduction, without which this interview could not have happened.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• How Jim came to found Opsmatic and why he decided to sell to New Relic over other acquirers?
• Why does Jim have a preference toward hiring senior experienced individuals over young talent to the founding team?
• At what stage should startups look to bring on fresh, inexperienced candidates who are passionate for the job but in need of mentoring and guidance?
• Question From Cindy Padnos: John is a master of employee onboarding, so how does John look to onboard new employees in the most effective and fast manner?

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

Jim Stoneham

Jim Stoneham is VP of Infrastructure Products @ New Relic and Jim joined New Relic when the company acquired Opsmatic, where he was co-founder and CEO. Prior to Opsmatic, Jim was CEO of Payvment, a social commerce platform for SMB sellers that was acquired by Intuit in early 2013. He joined Payvment from Yahoo, where he led Communities (Flickr, Answers, Groups, Delicious) as well as the integrations of Facebook and Twitter into Yahoo products. Prior to that, he spent several years building consumer products at Kodak and Apple. A huge thanks to Cindy Padnos @ Illuminate for making the introduction, without which this interview could not have happened.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How Jim came to found Opsmatic and why he decided to sell to New Relic over other acquirers?
• Why does Jim have a preference toward hiring senior experienced individuals over young talent to the founding team?
• At what stage should startups look to bring on fresh, inexperienced candidates who are passionate for the job but in need of mentoring and guidance?
• Question From Cindy Padnos: John is a master of employee onboarding, so how does John look to onboard new employees in the most effective and fast manner?

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

Jim Stoneham

Chad Arimura is the Founder & CEO @ Iron.io, where he drives the team to build the world's best cloud infrastructure services. Now they do have some pretty sizeable clients including the likes of Google, Zenefits, Twitter, Whole Foods and they have the backing from the likes of Steve Anderson's Baseline Ventures, Bain Capital, Matt Ocko from Data Collective and our friends at Sapphire Ventures just to name a few and Prior to co-founding Iron.io, Chad was CIO and founder of AllDorm Inc., a collegiate media and marketing company that provided fundraisers and viral marketing campaigns for clients such as Volkswagen, Domino's Pizza, and Visa.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• How Chad came to found Iron.io ?
• With a complex product like Iron, how much of a role does education play in the onboarding process for prospective new clients?
• To what extent does content marketing play the dominant marketing function for Iron both in terms of educating customers and converting potential customers?
• How does Chad view the balance of much larger ACV clients with long sales cycles compared to SME's with smaller ticket sizes and shorter sales cycles?
• What are the challenges when selling to large corporates and CIO's in the traditional corporates?

60 Second SaaStr

1. What does Chad know now that he wish he had known at the beginning?
2. What is Chad's favourite reading material?
3. How does Chad deal with stress as a Founder & CEO?

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

Chad Arimura

Chad Arimura is the Founder & CEO @ Iron.io, where he drives the team to build the world's best cloud infrastructure services. Now they do have some pretty sizeable clients including the likes of Google, Zenefits, Twitter, Whole Foods and they have the backing from the likes of Steve Anderson’s Baseline Ventures, Bain Capital, Matt Ocko from Data Collective and our friends at Sapphire Ventures just to name a few and Prior to co-founding Iron.io, Chad was CIO and founder of AllDorm Inc., a collegiate media and marketing company that provided fundraisers and viral marketing campaigns for clients such as Volkswagen, Domino's Pizza, and Visa.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How Chad came to found Iron.io ?
• With a complex product like Iron, how much of a role does education play in the onboarding process for prospective new clients?
• To what extent does content marketing play the dominant marketing function for Iron both in terms of educating customers and converting potential customers?
• How does Chad view the balance of much larger ACV clients with long sales cycles compared to SME’s with smaller ticket sizes and shorter sales cycles?
• What are the challenges when selling to large corporates and CIO’s in the traditional corporates?

60 Second SaaStr

1. What does Chad know now that he wish he had known at the beginning?
2. What is Chad’s favourite reading material?
3. How does Chad deal with stress as a Founder & CEO?

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

Chad Arimura

Greg Sands is the Founder and Managing Partner of Costanoa Venture Capital. Prior to founding Costanoa Venture Capital, Greg was a Managing Director at Sutter Hill, where he was an early investor in the likes of Feedburner, AllBusiness, and Return Path just to name a few. Before Sutter Hill, Greg was the first hire at Netscape after its founding engineering team. As Netscape's 1st Product Manager, Greg wrote the initial business plan, coined the name Netscape, and created the SuiteSpot Business Unit, which he grew from zero to $150m in revenue. He also served as Manager of Business Development at Cisco where he architected a global channel management plan.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• How Greg made his way into the world of VC from Netscape?
• Why did Greg see the opportunity for an early stage B2B fund like Costanoa? Why did this fund not exist in B2B but was becoming popularised in B2C?
• To what extent does Greg agree SaaS investing is 'traction capital'? When investing pre metrics, what are the signs of promise Greg looks for?
• How does Greg assess product market fit? Why is customer segmentation and customer archetypes so important?
• What does Greg make of the 'full stack CEO'? Is it better to be specialised or jack of all trades? When is the right time to specialise?

60 Second SaaStr

1. Greenfield opportunity in SaaS?
2. Biggest advice to startup founders in SaaS?
3. Easier or harder to raise money now than before?

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

Greg Sands

Greg Sands is the Founder and Managing Partner of Costanoa Venture Capital. Prior to founding Costanoa Venture Capital, Greg was a Managing Director at Sutter Hill, where he was an early investor in the likes of Feedburner, AllBusiness, and Return Path just to name a few. Before Sutter Hill, Greg was the first hire at Netscape after its founding engineering team. As Netscape’s 1st Product Manager, Greg wrote the initial business plan, coined the name Netscape, and created the SuiteSpot Business Unit, which he grew from zero to $150m in revenue. He also served as Manager of Business Development at Cisco where he architected a global channel management plan.  

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How Greg made his way into the world of VC from Netscape?
• Why did Greg see the opportunity for an early stage B2B fund like Costanoa? Why did this fund not exist in B2B but was becoming popularised in B2C?
• To what extent does Greg agree SaaS investing is ‘traction capital’? When investing pre metrics, what are the signs of promise Greg looks for?
• How does Greg assess product market fit? Why is customer segmentation and customer archetypes so important?
• What does Greg make of the ‘full stack CEO’? Is it better to be specialised or jack of all trades? When is the right time to specialise?

60 Second SaaStr

1. Greenfield opportunity in SaaS?
2. Biggest advice to startup founders in SaaS?
3. Easier or harder to raise money now than before?

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

Greg Sands

Jon Herstein is the Senior Vice President of Customer Success at Box where Jon works to ensure that all of Box's Enterprise and Business customers are phenomenally successful. Jon has worked with some of the biggest names in the tech world, including Accenture, Informatica and most recently NetSuite, where he served as VP of Professional Services for North America and EMEA. Before NetSuite, Jon led the turnaround of Informatica's European consulting practice during a multi-year expatriate assignment, which eventually led to a 65% jump in revenue.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• How Jon made his way into the newly created category of customer success?
• How does Box define customer success and how does that impact their view and approach to the SaaS industry?
• Box has gone through the definition of private hypergrowth and is now in the next phase as a public company - how has that affected the CSM strategy?
• Box now have some very large accounts, how do you distinguish between the role of sales vs CS in large accounts? How do they partner to drive expansion?
• Jon is renowned for prioritizing career paths for his team, how does he accomplish this and balance this with wider operational and strategic goals of box?

60 Second SaaStr:

1. What's the most common question Jon hears from CSM leaders?
2. What's one innovative idea Jon has tested that might be shared with the audience, vis-a-vis Customer Success?
3. What do you know now that you wish you had know when you started?
4. The biggest mistake current saas companies are enacting with their CS process?

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

Jon Herstein

Jon Herstein is the Senior Vice President of Customer Success at Box where Jon works to ensure that all of Box's Enterprise and Business customers are phenomenally successful. Jon has worked with some of the biggest names in the tech world, including Accenture, Informatica and most recently NetSuite, where he served as VP of Professional Services for North America and EMEA. Before NetSuite, Jon led the turnaround of Informatica's European consulting practice during a multi-year expatriate assignment, which eventually led to a 65% jump in revenue.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

• How Jon made his way into the newly created category of customer success?
• How does Box define customer success and how does that impact their view and approach to the SaaS industry?
• Box has gone through the definition of private hypergrowth and is now in the next phase as a public company - how has that affected the CSM strategy?
• Box now have some very large accounts, how do you distinguish between the role of sales vs CS in large accounts? How do they partner to drive expansion?
• Jon is renowned for prioritizing career paths for his team, how does he accomplish this and balance this with wider operational and strategic goals of box?

60 Second SaaStr:

1. What's the most common question Jon hears from CSM leaders?
2. What's one innovative idea Jon has tested that might be shared with the audience, vis-a-vis Customer Success?
3. What do you know now that you wish you had know when you started?
4. The biggest mistake current saas companies are enacting with their CS process?

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

Jon Herstein

Kristen Koh Goldstein is the Co-Founder @ HireAthena, the on demand workforce specialising in accounting, HR and payroll. Prior to Hire Athena, Kristen was the Co-Founder @ Scalus, where she raised millions of dollars in venture capital from top VCs including Google Ventures and Sherpa Capital. Before that Kristen was the Co-Founder @ BackOps, the world's fastest growing back office solution. If you enjoy the show with Kristen today and would like to join Jason and I @ SaaStr Annual 2017 next year, then all you have to do is checkout SaaStr and buy your tickets for SaaStr Annual 2017.

In Today's Episode Kristin Discusses:

• Why it is that the faster you hire, the longer it takes to build your business? How to make the transition from a family to a village with your team?
• Why it is imperative to hire slowly and fire fast? How to communicate new hires to the existing team to ease onboarding friction?
• Why hiring outside of your circle is full of risks? What you can do to mitigate those risks?
• What happens when you wake up one day and realise you are the problem in your own business?
• What really is scaling with regards to the product? How important is product consistency in the scaling process?

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
• Kristen Koh Goldstein