SaaStr 807: Snowflake's CEO on the AI Data Cloud, Partner Strategy, and What’s Next

It is a huge honour to welcome, Mamoon Hamid, Partner @ Social Capital. One of the world's best performing funds with investments in the likes of Slack, Box, Intercom, Yammer and many more incredible companies. Prior to joining Social Mamoon was a Partner at US Venture Partners (USVP) and in today's show we discuss: How Mamoon made his way into the world of investing and VC? What were Mamoon's biggest takeaways from seeing the rocketship growth of the likes of Slack and Box? What were their challenges faced? What is the distinct value proposition of Social over other VC funds? How do you look to differentiate? What has been the effect of the rise of the bottoms up sales apprcach and what role will this play in the future for selling to enterprise clients? Which company will be the first to make a million on Slack?  In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear: Biggest challenge facing Mamoon and Social Capital? Mamoon's favourite SaaS resource? Biggest piece of advice to SaaS founders? 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 Mamoon Hamid

18 Mar 201619min

I am thrilled to welcome, Shardul Shah, Partner @ Index Ventures to the show today. Shardul is the sole member of the Index team to have worked in all Index's offices around the world in Geneva, London and SF. Now in SF, Shardul focuses on security, software and infrastructure with investments in the likes of Squarespace, DropBox and Adaloom, just to name a few.  Discussed In Today's Show: How Shardul made his unorthodox approach into investing? What Shardul really looks for in early stage SaaS products when investing? Why is reducing time distance to value so important for a SaaS product? How can startups effectively sell to CSO's in this new wave of cyber security? What are the risks and flaws of the open source community?  How can enterprise SaaS products create true customer stickiness? In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear: What is Shardul most concerned about in the SaaS space? Shardul's favourite SaaS resource:  Which public markets SaaS companies is Shardul most impressed with? 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 Shardul Shah

15 Mar 201621min

Joining us today, I am thrilled to welcome, Mark Geene, CEO @ Cloud Elements the cloud API integration service that uses uniform APIs to connect your application with entire categories of services. Prior to joining Cloud Elements, Mark has had over 20 years experience in the industry including executive roles with IBM and Oracle and in today's show with we discuss: What was the origin story behind Cloud Elements and how Mark became CEO? What does it take for a company to transition from a 50 person company to a 500 person company? How does Mark apply lean startup methodology to SaaS? When is the right time to really invest in sales and marketing? Does the lack of SaaS exits greater than $500m concern Mark?  Why have we seen the rise of the API economy and what does the future hold? In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear: What lesson has Mark learnt recently that changes the way he works? Mark's favourite SaaS resource? Vertical vs platform SaaS play? 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 Mark Geene

2 Mar 201626min

Joining us today, I am thrilled to welcome, Andy Lark, CMO at Xero, the world's fast growing SaaS company making accounting software beautiful. Prior to joining Xero, Andy work with the likes of Dell, Sun Microsystems and The CommonWealth Bank Of Australia and in today's show with Andy we discuss: How Andy came to be CMO at the world's fastest growing SaaS company? How Andy structures his team? What does Andy make of the expansion of the traditional marketing role? How to approach branding with regards to competitors? How did Tiago choose his investors?  What are the main differences of the old enterprise world compared to selling SaaS to SME's today? In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear: What lesson has Andy learnt recently that changes the way he works? Andy's favourite SaaS resource? How does Andy approach the issue of work life balance? 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 Andy Lark

2 Mar 201627min

Welcome to Episode 1 of The Official Saastr Podcast, the show will delve behind the scenes of the latest and greatest SaaS rocketships talking to the founders and operators themselves. We will also be chatting with the investors and VCs funding these hyper growth companies to reveal their tactics and strategies when it comes to deciding whether to invest.  To celebrate, we have a very special guest: Tiago Paiva. Tiago is the CEO and Co-Founder of Talkdesk, the world's leading browser -based call center software solution and in today's show with Tiago we discuss: The Origin Story For TalkDesk How Tiago achieved $3m in Sales without spending a $ on marketing When is the right time to hire your VP of Sales?  How important is it for SaaS startups and founders to be in SF? How did Tiago choose his investors?  In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear: The biggest challenge Tiago has faced to date? Tiago's favourite SaaS resource? What role is the hardest to fill in a SaaS organisation? 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 Tiago Paiva

2 Mar 201624min