Articles by Jason Lemkin
How would you structure a sales team to get you from $10s to $100 millions in revenue?Jason provides a ton of tactical tips on how to structure a sales team at $10m in ARR: • He recommends hiring an experienced VP of Sales to structure the sales team as the company approaches $10 million in ARR. Doing it yourself is too complicated. • As the company grows past 10 reps, they will need a Director of Sales to manage every 8-12 salespeople and SDRs. • The company will need a VP of Sales to manage every 30-50 sales reps. As the team grows past 100 reps, they will need multiple VPs. • The company should segment sales into Small, Medium, and Large customers as they approach $10 million in ARR. • The company should open local offices in other geographies once that area reaches $1-2 million in revenue. • The company will likely need 1 Sales Engineer for every 8-10 sales reps to support the technical side. • The company will need a Sales Ops/Enablement professional for every 30-50 salespeople to manage training, onboarding, territories, and compensation plans.
- I Was Wrong. NPS is A Great Core Metric.
Jason explains the three reasons he used to distrust NPS, but then changed his mind for a variety of reasons: it keeps companies honest, is good-enough for predicting churn, works on a relative basis across an industry, and it builds confidence.
- The Power and Honesty in a L4M Model. Build One Now.
Jason explains how many financial models are too rosy, and that a model that is constantly updated based on the trailing last four months can be highly accurate and predictive.
- Why We’re All Ready for a CRO or COO Earlier These Days
Jason explains why his thinking on when to hire a COO or CRO has changed. Previously he thought it was unnecessary until $40m in ARR, but now he thinks it can be appropriate at $5-$10m in ARR.
- 7 Simple Tips to Being a (Much) Better First Time Manager
Jason gives tips on management that relate to your boss and mentors: don't make excuses, get a mentor, ask for help, thrive on criticism.
- 10 Ways to Build a Moat in SaaS
After previously believing it is hard to have a moat as a SaaS company, Jason now believes at least 10 types exist: 1. Brand 2. Data 3. Structured Data 4. Partners + Ecosystem 5. Integrations 6. Agencies and Implementation Partners 7. Long-Term Contracts 8. Using Massive Amounts of Capital To Play In Every Segment 9. “Most Enterprise” Vendor 10. No Contract At All