Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin @jasonlk Twitter profile

Pinned Tweet

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

2 months

June 4-5 LONDON!! 2024 3,500+ of The Best in SaaS and Cloud CEO @Gong CEO @synthesiaIO GM @NotionHQ GM @Mailchimp CMO @Box CMO @Amplitude_HQ SVP @Braze CCO @Cloudflare CPO @dashlane CRO @brexHQ CRO @useinsider Founder @snyksec 20VC @HarryStebbings ' ...…

4

3

77

Last Seen Profiles

@t_kelly15

@CoachJackieHuff

@rob_lindquist

@Bears__Nation

@MartinaRosemann

@DaemenImpact

@johnnyberona

@MaryLowe501

@_teionna

@an_dv__

@dawgsmusik

@alanazi_samar

@bearsfan9023

@stw_pdg

@DrJasonLeong

@coach_DMD

@yumoen

@kedyyanasisedyy

@Penelope295

@nvalles22

@itsAmayaHaley

@TeamRadeecal

@MatrixAxak

@lloydlewisII2

@reece_omarion2

@stw_pdg

@TigrHockey

@Kyl3Molett

@tengojohn

@ink_lang

@iam_mystiquee

@shadeofacat_

@AlArabiya_Bn

@Gizli_ensest_tu

@gecusel

@ericka_nanco

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

8 months

The new CEO of Starbucks insisted on starting as a barista for 6 months He called together his inherited management team for an offsite None knew how to make an espresso

103

586

8K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

First time reporting to a CEO? 3 simple things to learn: - admit your mistakes. CEOs make even more of them. They get it. - end excuses. Those don't work anymore. - when you bring up a problem, make sure you also bring a solution. Do just this, you'll excel.

72

933

5K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

What I learned from 5 weeks in Beijing + Shanghai: - startup creation + velocity dwarfs anything in SF - no one in China I met is remotely worried about U.S. or possibly even cares - access to capital is crazy - scale feels about 20x of SF - endless energy - not SV jaded

Scott Kupor

@skupor

6 years

Mike Moritz memo to Silicon Valley startups: You are lazy (compared to China) via @FT

63

253

631

122

1K

4K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

Spouse teams don't work - Eventbrite Solo founders don't work - Zoom Need to move to SF - Shopify Winner takes all - Marketo Remind me the other rules again

106

807

3K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

Tough lesson for CEOs to learn: You have to treat Great employees differently from Good ones Great ones want their careers enabled, want you to have their back, and want no politics. That's about it. Let them run. Good ones want many other, varied things. And need much more.

50

1K

3K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

You think startups are about a great idea But in the end they are about being great at recruiting

50

831

3K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

A tough week So, Dear @elonmusk , thank you for creating and building cars that help save the environment and make my drive 100x less stressful (autopilot) thank you for the dream of taking us to mars and putting the building blocks in place today

41

220

3K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

To be a great CEO, You have to enjoy telling certain stories over and over again Sometimes 100s of times

86

361

3K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

Stuff I've lost interest in as i got Older: - pro sports. faux tension - cars. who cares - fancy dinners. gout-in-waiting - fancy house. what's point Stuff I care more about: - helping others' careers - working with amazing CEOs - doing stuff truly at scale - family time

57

305

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

2 years

You can't build a company on top of a Chrome plug-in See, e.g., Grammerly at $13B You can't build a company as a Gmail plug-in See, e.g., Calendly at $3B You can't build a company on top of Shopify See, e.g., Klaviyo at $9.5B

58

250

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

1 year

Just got back from 3 hours at Well Fargo. To reactivate a dormant bus account. I am tagged a VIP account and yet: - Supervisor had to approve everything - No wires over $100,000 - 5 days to clear a check - Told to “do it online instead” after 2 hours This is why SVB existed

267

115

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

4 years

If the CEO doesn't seem at least a little bit intense, Join a different start-up

59

241

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

Founders notice everything. Every bug, Every screwed up deal, Every employee that didn't give it their all, Everything every competitor does, Every moment that ever mattered. Everything that matters. Just make sure you keep most of it to yourself.

45

415

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

Don't send a resume to a CEO Send the CEO an email with 3 things you could own at their startup -- and how and why 10%-90% chance you get hired

41

245

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

CEOs should hold themselves to a higher standard Do not drink at work, do not drink at work events If you even suspect it's inappropriate, it is If someone tells something that makes them uncomfortable, change it. Today You are not an ordinary employee You are the CEO

43

325

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

First timer's guide to working directly with a CEO: 1. Meet your deadlines. 2. Be positive. 3. Raise your hand for help. 4. Be transparent and don't hide stuff. That is it.

24

376

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

1 year

I "retired" twice Each time after I sold my startup I got in shape, picked up a hobby or two But then each time I learned I was only truly happy when building So in 2023, well ... Here's To The Builders And remember, that it's supposed to be hard

56

107

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

The jobs that will take your career the farthest often have the most imperfect definitions The ones perfectly defined, also often have well-defined ceilings

14

494

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Your top performers will take on a lot of responsibilties not in their job description when they see critical gaps That doesn't mean they want to be responsible for all of them forever, though Don't make them be

14

344

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Start-ups Hardest part, in the end: building a great team. And it never ends. Best-est part, in the end: working with a great team. A shared journey for life.

12

366

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

Your VCs aren't the boss. They should work for you. But 10 ideas to keep them calmer, happier -- and on your side: 1-/ Respond to emails. You don't need to take their suggestions. But do reply. 2-/ Send out monthly updates, and quickly. Instills confidence.

20

371

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

4 years

Try this exercise as CEO: * Create brand new email account * Fire up Incognito Then .. * Sign up for your app from scratch, slowly * Click on support * Try full onboarding * Read wiki * Try each feature anew * Use it on Android You'll find so many things you .. can't believe

30

259

2K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

how to do VC right: 1-/ find one Dropbox, lead Seed + A 2-/ wait 10 years 3-/ make $2,500,000,000 Call it a day

23

279

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

Do not join a startup of < 50 employees if you are smart but lazy That combo has its place. It just needs to be on a large team. And not in a position of ownership.

34

176

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

If you want a job somewhere in tech Just reach out to whomever you want to work for with a great email Everyone is hiring today. Everyone.

24

204

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

No idea where any founder I've invested in went to college

42

191

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

First-time managers often focus on getting junior hires in that will work for them, and whose comp fits in a careful, tiered schema Then later you learn you just want hire the best possible people Especially people that are better and more experienced than you

24

325

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Folks will generally do between 30% and 300% of what is in their job description The folks at the high end of the range often don't ask for raises and promotions Make sure they get them

15

212

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

If you obsess about something every day for 4-5 years, you'll get pretty darn good at it by then Push on, founders, push on

15

338

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

2 years

Thinking of a joining a startup for the first time? A quick guide on training and onboarding: 1-10 Employees: Nonexistent 11-20 Employees: Terrible 20-40 Employees: Some If worried, Then join something larger

91

143

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

The best employees their first week point out something that could be done better ... And ask if they could own it / fix it / improve it Like almost always

15

223

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

VP Sales, CEO, Top AE, CMO

22

54

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

4 years

Black founders: I don't do that many investments a year (I am a slow+quiet investor), but please email me your decks and pitches: jason @saastrfund .com I will try to only meet/Zoom with black founders in June

63

344

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

4 years

Founders have an incredibly annoying attention-to-detail * They see every typo * Notice every time anyone is late * Catch 10,000 bugs * Remember every time anyone said they'd do something It's not that they don't have anything better to do It's just, start-ups die otherwise

35

290

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

How founders pick their VCs: Series E: price Series D: price Series C: price+brand Series B: price+brand+illusion of help Series A: brand+possible help+price Seed: many reasons

30

260

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

Send your boss a weekly email update of what you are working on, and also, to anyone you indirectly report to Without fail, every week This will bail you out so, so many times

35

246

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

10 Things That Would Have Helped Me Go From $1m to $10m Faster with Less Stress: 1/ Spending less time fixing things, more time recruiting senior folks to own them 2/ Hiring a full-time head of biz dev once I had a few key partners 3/ Getting on more jets

19

239

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

1 year

One serious way to help mitigate fraud as a VC: Always Talk To The CTO Yes, CTOs can mislead, too But they tend to be worse at it. And often are brutally direct. Every VC talks to the CEO. So few talk to the CTO.

56

98

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Those that invested super early believed in you Those that invested later believed in your company Those that invested much later believed in your market

11

334

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

Secret to Getting Ahead in Startups: Be an owner Be a leader Fill gaps Be positive Truly do your best Ask for help when need it Be OK if the lines are little grey Learn to hire Learn to hire people better than you Learn to be a manager Bring people together

16

314

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

Want to work for a particular startup? Just email the CEO with why If the email is good -- they >will< read it (Also note it truly doesn't matter if there is a job description on the website. A great CEO will find a place for anyone great.)

27

193

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

I’ve interviewed 100s of VP of marketing candidates over years and I can tell you one thing — it’s >easy< to spot the ones that won’t work out And yet, CEOs hire them again and again Here are my Top 10 Interview Questions to make sure you don't hire the wrong VPM: ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

24

137

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

A tough skill as CEO is to celebrate half victories You need to learn how The team needs more wins than you do

16

201

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Stay at least 1 year to learn Stay at least 2 years to grow Stay at least 3 years to count Stay at least 4 years to run a big part of the place

21

221

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

One of the best bits of advice ever, I got in my first job: Email your manager a status update every week Among other benefits, they are now on the hook for knowing ...

22

175

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Which co-founder should be CEO? Whomever is most willing: - To do the fundraising. For real - To be point person on all key dramas - To be the fall person when big mistakes are made - To recruit the VPs no one else can - To be the one blamed by the board - To get on jets

20

201

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

4 years

Who's speaking at 2020 CEO Box CEO Airtable CEO Zoom CEO Pagerduty CEO Front CEO Okta CEO Salesforce Marketing Cloud CEO StackOverflow CEO Pagerduty COO Github COO Squarespace CTO Intuit CTO Gusto CIO Adobe CEO Gitlab CEO Superhuman COO Cloudflare

69

117

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

VC funds need about $2B in “exits” for each $50m they raise Why? True average ownership of 10% fully-diluted x $2B = $200m. That’s 4x “gross” $50m or just about good enough today. So raise a $300m fund, you need about $12B in exits. Or better.

45

180

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

New manager challenges, in rough order: - learning to manage anybody - learning to manage folks who aren't like you - learning to manage folks not like they are your friends - learning to hire people better than you then - learning to hire people far more experienced than you

27

183

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

9 months

Wow Klaviyo is a new record for Founder-CEO ownership at IPO: 38.1% Edges out Atlassian co-founders just a smidge who were at 37.7% (although Atlassian co-founders together owned more and are still #1 ) Really helps to burn almost nothing on the way to IPO (just $15m)…

44

128

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

If you are doing something that hasn't really been done before, smart people will think: * it won't work * it is too unimportant * it is too small * it is just a feature * it is minor Just make sure your skin is a few mm thicker, that's all

22

224

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Specialists are great, and it's natural to want to hire them, especially in areas new to you But often, an A+ generalist can pick it all up in 90 days anyways Most of the time, that's a better call

25

233

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Shopify IPO'd in 2015 at $1b valuation Today it is worth $40b

18

132

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

The sign of true product-market fit: You succeed even with terrible sales and marketing

24

202

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

As you scale, you likely will experience: - co-founders that let you down - investors that throw you under a bus - partners that let you down - much better funded competitors - key team members that need to move on Hard not to blame them, or use an excuse. But no point.

15

184

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

If we are in bubble, Why is Twilio growing 81% at $1,000,000,000 in ARR And why is Zoom growing 110% at $450,000,000 in ARR Just sayin'

45

129

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

The CEO in a startup probably won't ask you to do too many things if you aren't her direct report When she does though, try to do them She probably won't say anything if you don't. But she won't forget. It is sort of a mini-test to see if you can be an owner.

22

196

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Been investing for 5.5 years. I have returned almost no capital, but have lead 1 round from seed investor->unicorn, 1 more coming shortly, and another hopefully a bit later in year. So I have at least learned some things. Here are my learnings for New GPs/Managers, fwiw:

21

177

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

2 years

Some startups I funded on a cold email: Talkdesk, worth $10B Today Algolia, worth $2.25B Today Salesloft, Vista at $2.3B Pipedrive, acquired for $1.5B Look, worry less and just send the email folks

49

92

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

1 year

"I mean, dad, no one could find a decent CFO in 2021. No one."

13

47

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Things you don't think >really< matter in the early days: 1. culture 2. brand 3. customer visits 4. continuous recruiting All that matters after $10m ARR: 1. culture 2. brand 3. customer visits 4. continuous recruiting

11

249

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Secrets To Getting Ahead, #14 : Most people are lazy This includes really smart people

14

135

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

Reasons I've lost money investing, or had mediocre outcome: - founder wars - CEO misled on metrics - CEO ignored zero cash date What didn't stop unicorn outcomes: - one terrible year - bigger competitors - taking a long time

29

120

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Most CEOs do not have "15 minutes to get on the phone" Most CEOs WILL read your email if it looks like it will help their company Make that email truly awesome instead of asking for 15 minutes See what happens

18

164

994

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

Early in my career, I was constantly surprised CEOs gave me a shot Now looking back, I get it I wanted success for their startups just as much as they did You gotta hire those people

15

91

995

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

if you ask for the meeting, either: - go to their offices, or - go to their offices, or - offer to go their offices, or - just go to their offices

21

132

989

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

9 months

Founders never get “too senior” to do the actual work They’ll always do it, Day 1 or Day 1000 This is often why we struggle with VPs that won’t. And make mishires here. We just assume they will.

52

132

998

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

Reporting to the CEO can sound great But usually it also means zero training and instant responsibility, and the ability to truly own things immediately If that's too much, report to someone else

12

171

985

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

2 years

Top advantages to being a first mover: - No roadmap - Tiny market - Customers aren’t sure - Limited legitimacy - Never budgeted - VCs don’t get it - Many VPs don’t get it - Tiny TAM at first - Seems minor to many - Why wasn’t it already done if it’s so important It’s great

51

146

1K

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

4 years

If the company is doing reasonably well And your boss is a good boss And your team is a good team Then any other job is likely worse

14

161

979

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Founders are builders I have been stressed a lot Worried a ton Almost failed thrice But only depressed when I wasn't building

20

141

967

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

Freshworks has just filed to IPO at $400,000,000 in ARR, growing an incredible 49% (!) It's one of the first of a wave of India-U.S. global hybrid SaaS companies to IPO 5 Interesting Learnings: ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

9

131

962

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

Things you think are hard to recover from: - Losing a top customer - Not getting VC funding - Competitor winning key deal Things that are actually hard to recover from: - Wrong co-founder - Wrong key VP hire - Wrong largest VC

21

152

960

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

C-level: own & execute an entire strategy VP: own & execute an entire core KPI Director: own & hire an entire team and their number if you ask for the title ...

7

188

947

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

True managers attribute almost every win to someone on their team, And every loss to themselves. If you see the opposite behavior, you don’t have a real VP for that role yet.

15

239

940

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

In startups, the folks at the top work the hardest Often not the case in bigger companies One reason startups aren't for everyone

17

134

931

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

If you are truly, really committed to excellence. I mean deeply. Many people will not really want to work with you. Push on.

37

156

937

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

Thing you have to do at $0.1m, but also at $1m, $10m, $100m, and $1b ARR: - getting on jets to visit customers, prospects + partners - spending 20%+ of your time recruiting - figuring out how heck to make this year's stretch plan - competing w/folks with more resources than you

6

218

933

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

Real founders never quit

63

112

931

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

2 years

The hardest part of all of this isn't shipping code Or winning the deal Or raising capital It's getting really, really good at recruiting

48

97

935

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

If you get a speaking opp at a Big Event, i know you want to talk about your product But I can tell you w/tons of data, it will be panned Instead, be an inspirational leader, and share your hard-learned lessons That will get you more leads ... and better showcase your company.

17

168

925

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

Before you look down on sales, or criticize it as a function See if you can stomach 49 No's before getting a Yes

23

243

913

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Raw start-up: I'll do everything myself Seed: let's find some Upworkers to help Series A: we need some scrappy VPs that will still do the work Series B: I need 6 people on my team or it can't be done

25

167

913

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

If you are in a start-up and unhappy in your job, you can - move on gracefully - quit - sulk - complain to others or maybe - go talk to the CEO, tell her you believe in the company but are struggling to find your niche maybe she can just fix it

14

147

902

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

2 years

A lot of people just don't really want to work that hard Just not being one of them already gives you an edge

34

152

910

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

If you've gotten a business to $10m, $20m, $50m, $100m before, you know how to do it again: - First, Magic. Get 10-100 customers to buy a product they have never heard of and don't need. - Second, Love. Find co-founders that truly great and that are on the same journey.

13

156

883

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

2 years

Shopify is now worth $200B+ It IPO'd in 2015 at $1.2B Your daily reminder to #golong

19

95

891

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

There are days I wonder if we almost have enough software Then you get out into the real world, and you see how terrible software is in so many industries And you see in so many enterprises, they are still running on ancient systems And you realize there is plenty of room

23

124

890

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

How hard it is (1-10) To start a company: 1 To find great co-founders: 8 To get 10 Unaffiliated Customers: 6 To get to $1m ARR: 8 To get to $1m ARR, growing > 10% a month: 9 To go $1m-$10m ARR: 7.5

23

164

887

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

How hard being a VC is: 9. Only can make money if hunt, find, source and close very, very best deals. Every single year. Need 2-3 Unicorns + Decacorns every fund _____________ How hard being founder is: 95 [The scale was 1-100]

23

118

888

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

#1 sign of a great employee: they do something super cool that matters that they weren't asked to do

11

229

883

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

The simplest way to sell more, for a customer from $500-$50,000: Sell faster. - Simplify your contract - Get the contract out within 15 minutes of the call - Don't create review in legal - Make pricing simple & fair - Don't force someone to talk to a BDR if they don't want to

20

191

881

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

First time managers will usually build pretty junior teams. Usually fine for first batch of hires. But the real art is learning how to hire great folks more experienced than you. To work for you. That is the true test.

12

116

880

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

Was at an event the other day when a CEO from Harvard talked about "going to school in Boston". Dude, this is Silicon Valley Get over it If you didn't found Stripe at 19, i just don't care

42

67

875

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

The impact of 1 truly great hire never ceases to amaze me The impact of 2 truly great hires, sometimes you almost have a brand new company

30

98

885

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

Sometimes I think the hardest part of startups is patience

19

171

863

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

All your top employees are getting hit up by 4+ recruiters a week with at least somewhat interesting positions, often with top brand companies Just good to remember

12

159

872

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

3 years

The point of a pre-Seed round is to go to market The point of a Seed round is to prove out initial product-market fit And ... The point of a Series A is to build out an awesome 1.0 management team Spend it there

31

120

871

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

5 years

A KPI with multiple owners, Is a KPI with no owners.

17

154

866

Jason ✨🇬🇧SaaStr LDN June 4-5✨ Lemkin

@jasonlk

6 years

Google Drive is an absolutely excellent product with native integration with Google Docs, Suite, etc. And Dropbox is worth $14,000,000,000 and is at about $1.7 billion in ARR still growing almost 30% Just good to remember when competition brings your down

18

164

851