In this episode, Steli and Hiten answer the questions they received from the readers of their ebook From 0 to 1,000 Customers and Beyond. Steli and Hiten give practical advice about marketing, engagement, and how to prioritize feedback from your customers. They also provide you the links to the podcasts their ebook was inspired by and you can connect with them personally to receive the ebook. Jump in on this discussion of how to grow your customer base!

00:04 – Today’s episode is about answering questions from those who read the ebook, From 0 to 1,000 Customers and Beyond

02:56 – Hiten suggests you pick one you can easily monetize

05:27 – What are the some of the best practices to move free trial customers to fully paid accounts?

05:55 – Get your customers engaged during the trial period

08:03 – Where would you place your marketing bet if you have limited funds?

08:25 – Steli is critical of the mindset of people wanting to launch big, but only have limited funds

10:30 – What feedback do you prioritize for a tool that you developed? What is a good sample size?

11:20 – 15 might be enough for a sample if the feedback is positive and there is a pattern in what they are saying

14:26 – When should you start the marketing campaign?

15:00 – Hiten says it depends on whether you are ready for more customers or not

17:20 – Steli says there will be a second episode as there are a lot of questions

030: How to Get Your First 10 Customers

048: How to Get from 10 to 100 Customers for your Startup

156: How to Grow From 100 to 1000 B2B Customers

088: Beyond 1000 Customers – How to Expand in New Industries and Countries

17:59 – E-mail Steli or Hiten for a copy of the book or for any questions

3 Key Points:

Customer engagement is a vital part of your marketing strategy.

Steli Efti: Hello everybody, this is Steli Efti.

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah.

Steli Efti: In today's episode of the Start Up Chat we're going to talk about the questions that you guys had after you read our newest e-book which is the going From 0 to 1,000 Customers & Beyond. For those of you out there that didn't get a chance to read the book or get their hands on it, just shoot me an email: [email protected], and I’ll send you the e-book, and you can take a look at it. It basically was based on four episodes of the podcast that we had recorded. The first one was How to Get Your First Customer,

In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about sales hiring. Salespeople require a specific skillset that may be difficult to quantify and assess from a hiring perspective. Sometimes, it’s best to just see them perform. But, as this is not always possible, listen to find out what you should be looking for in a salesperson and the key indicators that can point you to a great, potential candidate for your team.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:38 – Hiten says sales hiring is an interesting process

3 Key Points:

There’s no way you can know if a person is good in sales unless you see them work.

Resources Mentioned:

The Sales Hiring Playbook – Steli’s book regarding sales hiring

Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti.

Hiten Shah: And this is Hin Shah, and today ... what we're going to talk about is Sales Hiring. It's probably going to be me, be me rapid-fire asking Stali many questions I can, because I know he's still a knowledge on this topic.

Steli Efti: Let's go.

Hiten Shah: First of all, on the sales side ... I've hired sales people ... it's definitely been an interesting process, scaling a sales team is also an interesting process. Mostly because it's a lot different than hiring marketing in my experience. I'll start off with the first question on my mind, which is: how do you know that sales person is any good?

Steli Efti: Yeah. That's probably the number one question I get when it comes to hiring sales people.

Hiten Shah: Awesome.

In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about making the crucial step from hiring the first person to join your team to scaling it up to 10 people. They talk candidly about the hiring process and the importance of knowing—as best as you can—who you’re asking to join the team. Steli and Hiten also give advice on what positions to hire, the importance of networking, and how to convince people to join your startup.

00:05 – Today’s topic is about the crucial phase of having hired your first employee to scaling your team to 10 people

03:23 – That is the person that I would want to talk to

04:33 – It is not advisable to put up a job post

09:58 – You have to ask yourself why this senior person is interested in the job

10:50 – You want creative producers

12:23 – You hustle, go to events and make some friends

14:33 – All businesses are about relationship

18:05 – This can slow you down

19:44 – You need to sell your first 10 hires your company

20:48 – It would be more convincing for Paul Grant to tell them about the startup than us telling them about it

22:03 – Take your time, it is a process, do not hire the first person you see unless you really know them and have worked with them before

In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about the challenges that come with hiring that first full-time employee for your startup. They share their views regarding salary, equity, and giving out titles as well as the key attributes that make a GREAT first hire. Steli and Hiten also recommend reading stories from the perspective of the first employees—providing that alternative view that is different from the founders.

00:06 – Today’s show is about how to make the first crucial hire for your startup

02:47 – There are caveats, like an software engineer—especially if you don’t know how to code

03:35 – The three options would be marketing, sales, and customer support for first hires

04:12 – Usually admin tasks are needed if there are already a lot of employees

04:30 – Do not hire any of those roles if you have not done it

04:42 – You have to have an idea of what is needed before you make a hire

06:43 – You do not want to make a mistake in making crucial hires

06:48 – If you are feeling tired and really want to hire someone, do not settle for the first person that comes along

07:04 – Small start-ups are not easy and watch out for your employee being too rigid

07:16 – First hires may be too rigid—sticking to the tasks they were first assigned

07:45 – You are looking for someone who can think and work like a founder: one who is entrepreneurial, resourceful, and can stand up to other founders and have ownership over the whole business

08:57 – They are the ones who did not or are not able to take the risk

10:30 – They are somebody who just does not know they have entrepreneurial skills

13:15 – Picking somebody you do not know is more risky

14:09 – A  problem with first hires is the expectation of salary, equity, and titles

16:43 – Titles are important because it influences how one does their job

18:09 – Founders are those who are there from the inception of the business and have invested a lot of time and money

In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about the process of hiring marketing people. They are two things they look for in potential marketers and Steli and Hiten show you how to assess for both traits. They also share a few tips from the marketer’s side so that those looking for a job are not only prepared, but competitive.

00:03 – Today’s show is about how to hire marketing people

01:58 – Hiring individual contributors, people who are “doing the work”

02:39 – Regardless of who the marketer is, they really need to understand marketing

04:43 – Creativity versus analysis

05:18 – A lot of marketers are creative—it can come from within themselves, from brainstorming with others, or from understanding customers

06:20 – There is no right answer here

06:55 – For the analytical side, just show them analytics

07:14 – Try to understand how they would measure in optimals

07:37 – If you are hiring a senior marketer, expect them to understand the data more thoroughly and in greater detail

11:18 – If you are a marketer, you better know how to market yourself all the time

11:44 – Lars Lofgren started as a marketing analyst and is now the head of growth at “I Will Teach You to be Rich”

11:56 – His resume shows all his accolades while at Kissmetrics

12:38 – Ask them why they did certain things on their social media

13:41 – One to two pages on what we should be doing about email marketing

In this episode, Steli and Hiten debate which is best: self serve or non self serve SaaS applications. Technology has evolved the business transaction to a point where salespeople have become redundant, but is automated sales the best way or do consumers still need that human interaction? Tune in to the discussion as Steli and Hiten lay out the pros and cons of both applications and the most important factors to consider as you choose your sales model.  

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:35 – Self serve SaaS applications: the customer signs up for trial and later subscribes on their own

3 Key Points:

Your customers will ultimately decide the process you need to subscribe to—whether it be a self serve or a full service SaaS.

[0:00:00]

Steli Efti: Hey this is Steli Efti. And this is Hiten Shah. Today's episode of the startup chat we're gonna talk about self serve versus non self serve in sas. Alright? So here's for those who might not know the definitions just to make sure we have, yeah, no confusion in the you know there's sass applications out there where the customer can sign up for a trial and then decide to upgrade put in their payment information and buy the product, all on their own, quote unquote. On their own, right? and we can challenge how the self serve, the self serve model really is, but they do that basically without a salesperson needing to reach out and sell them and get their credit card information push them to buy the product. So thats one model and then the other model is where you have an actual sales process or a sales person reach out communicate trial user, reach out to the salesperson,

In this episode, Steli and Hiten tackle the topic of work ethic and how your team needs to be aligned. Having a collective team ethic results in an ability to get things done and establishes a smooth workflow, but misalignments can be disruptive. Listen as Steli and Hiten discuss their own work ethic and where it came from. They also delve into the very reasons why it is worth it for YOU to make sure you and your team’s ethics match!

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:27 – Today’s episode is inspired by a tweet Hiten posted on Twitter

3 Key Points:

It’s difficult to move forward without your team being aligned.

Resources Mentioned:

Hiten’s tweet – https://twitter.com/hnshah/status/815069438269476864

Hiten: Hi, this is Hiten Shah.

Steli: And this is Steli Efti. And in today’s episode of The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about work ethic. And this was inspired by a tweet you posted recently Hiten, that got a lot of responses. And that I thought was super fascinating, something that I’d love to kind of unpack with you on the podcast. Why don’t you – do you have the tweet in front of you? Why don’t you read us the tweet first?

Hiten: Yeah. I'll read the tweet. It got a pretty good response and it was interesting. So this was on December 30th, and what I wrote was, “Your own work ethic and that of the people around you need to match. If they don’t it will make it harder to get alignment.” And I know we've talked about alignment probably quite a bit now,

In this episode, Steli and Hiten discuss the reasons why startups shouldn’t be treated like a baby. People tend to treat their startup or business as their baby and end up growing an unhealthy attachment to it. According to Steli and Hiten, going down this “emotional path” results in poor decision making and an inability to act when it’s time to end the business. Listen to find out the dangers of growing too attached to your startup and some alternative ways to think of your business that can result in a healthier mindset.  

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:30 – Steli introduces today’s topic: the reasons why your startup isn’t your baby and why you shouldn’t say or think it is

3 Key Points:

People create a false sense of attachment to their startups, clouding their ability to make sound judgments calls.

Resources Mentioned:

The Startup Chat: Episode 029 Attachment vs. Commitment

[0:00:00]

Steli Efti: Everybody. Cool. Okay, so. Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti

[0:00:05]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah

[0:00:07]

Steli Efti: I mean today's episode we're gonna talk about all the reasons why your startup isn't your baby and why you shouldn't say your startup is your baby or a big kid. Now this is something that's kind of one of your pet peeves, right. If you talk to a founder and they think or say that their startup is like their baby, it usually pisses you off.

[0:00:27]

Hiten Shah: Yeah, I mean the other day I'm working with an engineer, a new engineer, and he was like I'm birthing this thing. And that also pissed me off even more. But you know this engineer doesn't have any kids so, I don't think he really understands what that looks like or feels or whatever you wan...

In this episode, Steli and Hiten share a story of an anonymous founder who was in a sticky situation with his investors. Landing investors can be very encouraging for a startup; however, it is knowing the RIGHT deal for your company that makes the all the difference. Steli and Hiten remind us of the red flags we need to consider before saying “yes” to that investment and the importance of separating emotion with sound judgment when it comes down to decision time.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:49 – Today’s episode is based on a story of a founder who asked Steli for advice

3 Key Points:

Don’t put yourself into a deal that can compromise your whole business, even if the amount offered is a generous investment.

Resources Mentioned:

Episode 17 – The Art of Quitting

[0:00:01]

Steli Efti: Hey, everyone. This is Steli Efti.

[0:00:03]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. Today, as we do sometimes with our podcast and this recording,

In this episode, Steli and Hiten discuss the topic of angel investors. Not all entrepreneurs are able to bootstrap a business and may need the help of outside investors. Listen as Steli and Hiten discuss both sides of the relationship—how you can find the RIGHT angel investors and what great angel investors look for in their founders. Find out how you can get the investment you need without having to sacrifice yourself or your business.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:36 – An angel investor is an individual who helps fund a business

3 Key Points:

Keep building relationships – it can bridge you to an investor.

[0:00:00]

Steli Efti: All right. Hey this is Steli Efti.

[0:00:03]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah.

[0:00:06]

Steli Efti: In today's episode of we're going to talk about how to raise money successful from angel investors. First of all, Hiten, I'm pretty sure that our audience is fairly educated but still, a quick definition on what makes somebody an angel investor?

[0:00:22]

Hiten Shah: Yeah, usually an angel investor is someone who writes a check as an individual. They don't have a partnership. They're just one individual writing a check. Now, some people who are one individual, individuals writing checks have a small fund. Let's say a five, 10, 20, maybe even 30 million dollar fund themselves. Some people are just writing checks that are sort of personal. Many times I've done that. I don't know if you've done that ever. It's my own capital and I invest it.