VP hiring breakdown for SaaS startups

News, insights and updates from the team at Bloom Equity Partners

Founders & Friends, Happy Friday!

We are back at it again with another Weekly Bloom. Thanks for stopping by and tuning in.  Let’s get into it 🔥

Favorites from the Ecosystem

Investors👇…..

Romeen Sheth @RomeenSheth

I’ve invested a few million over the last 5 years into 50+ startups. I've had some wins but made a LOT of mistakes. Of all the things not to do - there's one mistake that stands out above the others. In this thread I’ll break down what that mistake is and how you can avoid it:

Henri Pierre-Jacques @hpierrejacques

🧵 How do I calculate Total Addressable Market (TAM)? A key question VCs must answer to determine the penetration needed to reach a certain level of revenue to return the fund Many do a top down approach, when a bottoms up approach is needed Analysis 👉🏽 docsend.com/view/e439jvmjw…

Founders👇…..

Andrew Gazdecki @agazdecki

Your job as a startup founder is to hire builders first then scalers second. Pretty simple.

Shahed Khan @_shahedk

Most mental health advice for founders is overly generic. I had a discussion with a few great founders to discuss their personal experiences & tactics they've implemented for working on their mental health. 11 insights from that conversation:

Operators👇….

Teddy Mitrosilis @TMitrosilis

Short-term pleasures: • fame • money • status • power • recognition Long-term pleasures: • becoming excellent • doing meaningful work • building something great • helping people get better • knowing you made an impact Play long-term games.

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Hiring plan for SaaS Startups

Are you a founder or operator of an early-stage startup and unsure when to invest in the right talent? Jason Lemkin @SaaStr gave an insightful breakdown of the ‘ideal vp hiring plan for most SaaS companies’. It’s a great read and we suggest that you check it out. Here’s a quick rundown of the plan:

1. Try to hire your vp of marketing as early as $20k MRR. Investing in someone who can drive demand generation early can be very valuable for reaching your growth targets.

2. Look to hire your first vp of sales for around $1M ARR. You should not be hiring a vp of sales before you have two sales reps hitting their quotas consistently.

3. Hire a VP of customer success by $2m-$3m ARR. You can try to manage customer success at the beginning with a few cs reps.

   You’ll want $500k-$1m in ARR per CSM coverage, and as you come up on $2m-$3m, that’s just not enough coverage with a few CSM you are sort of half-managing yourself. 

4. VP of product should be hired by $4m-$5m ARR. It’s important to have someone full-time before your product gets complex.

5. Look to hire a vp of eng by $8m-$10m ARR or even earlier. This hire will play a crucial role in hiring devs 10-100 as this can be a struggle for CTOs and founders.

   

   source: https://www.saastr.com/order-hire-management-team/

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What We’re Reading and Listening To…

📚 Sieva Kozinsky's due diligence checklist

📚 The Two Types of Sales in SaaS

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News from the Industry: deals, deals, and more deals 💰

Avalara to go private in $8.4 bln deal with Vista

Carlyle CEO’s sudden exit puts the private equity giant back at square zero

Tiger, CDPQ join US$105m round for software firm CleverTap

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End Note 🔚

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About Bloom Equity Partners

Bloom Equity Partners is a lower mid-market software-focused private equity firm, leveraging deep operational and commercial experience to create enduring market value for the benefit of our investors, founders, and their companies.