Wondering how you stack up? Try the new SaaStr VC Pitch Deck Analyzer. We’ll share how you stack up against 4,000 other start-ups. And we’ll provide you honest and confidential feedback on how to do better. Try it here -> saastr.ai/pitch-deck-analyze…

A VP mis-hire is always tough. A VP Sales mis-hire can set you back a year in sales. A VP Marketing mis-hire can lead you down massive time and money ratholes that don’t get you any more customers. But, I'm 100% sure that the worst mis-hire is CTO / VP Engineering.  By far. Because it becomes the death of innovation. I've seen this fact pattern or some variant thereof so many times: * Founder CEO + CTO * CTO gets start-up to $5m, $10m, $20m but just "can't scale" * VP of Engineering or CTO from Big Tech Company hired * Everyone chooses the Nice Candidate * The Nice Candidate never codes, never learns the code base, never gets the magic * The Nice Candidate hires a bunch of engineers under them that aren't great and never know the customers or the why At first, things seem better. Things are more organized under The Nice VP of Engineering. There are a lot more discussions. Fewer erratic changes. Releases are smoother. And ... innovation just ends. This VP of Eng / CTO never knows the magic, the why, or the how. And the competition pulls ahead. And even worse, the founding CTO often either leaves or disengages. And the magic is lost. Even at Adobe Sign / EchoSign, my last start-up, my co-founder and CTO is still at Adobe. Why? Because they know even at $200m+ ARR they still need him. He wrote all the original code base, and the original magic. They don't need him for everything. But when they need him -- they really need him. Even today. 👔 I have a rule: never hire a CTO that wears a suit (or tie). It's always a sign they are selling up, rather than being a hacker. You need a hacker at the head of engineering. Maybe forever. 🔟 / 🔟 And whatever you do, when the time comes to hire an outside VP Eng / CTO, try to make sure you and your co-founder both are 100% aligned they are a 10/10. An epic hacker and engineer, not just a manager. Managers are a dime a dozen today. And they can't win in engineering in a world that is more competitive than ever. When I see this happening, I fight. I fight to help the founders see it. I go down with the fight. Because when you hire a VP Eng / CTO that isn't a 10, it's the day your start-up starts to die. The other VPs, if you make a mis-hire, you can recover. But 2 years of no more innovation? I don't know if most of us can fight our way back from that.

See you at SaaStr AI London December 1-2! Join 2,500 of the best in B2B and AI to learn what's actually working - not just the hype. 1.5 days of tactical sessions, real metrics, and the founders and execs who are genuinely scaling with AI. From OpenAI to Fin, from Clay to Artisan, from Wiz to Databricks, and so much more!

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There are some sales magicians out there, don't get me wrong. The ones that can conjure sales out of thin air. I've met maybe ... 3. Possibly 6. Everyone else really, one way or another, is an order taker. And your job as CEO is to bring in the orders

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Finding a truly epic cofounder Having a truly insanely great partner At work or at home It's pretty rare Never let 'em go

📰 Top AI+B2B News - Sat, Nov 8 saastr.ai/news Top Stories: 1. Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Spindle AI 2. 1Password Surpasses $400M ARR and Expands Executive Team 3. 'Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary Top SaaStr Articles: 1. When Competitors Come Calling: 6 Questions That Will Help 2. SaaStr AI App of the Week: Dust – Build Custom AI Agents 3. The Top AI Agent Sessions at SaaStr AI London: Learn How to Read more: saastr.ai/news

Captain Obvious statement, but 996 isn’t about the founders Most founders work some version of 996 in the early years. I always did. Mostly, I still do. That’s nothing new. You don’t win as a founder if you don’t obsess close to 24x7. It’s about a message to anyone joining as to expectations.

The new SaaStr AI VC Matchmaking tool has already made 183 VC intros in its first 2 weeks Try it here -> saastr.ai/vc-matchmaking

10 Reasons You Need to Be at SaaStrLondon.com December 1-2 This is it. The moment where AI stops being a buzzword and becomes your unfair competitive advantage. SaaStr AI London is bringing together 2,500 of the sharpest B2B operators and the companies actually scaling with AI. Here's why you need to be there: 1. OpenAI's GTM Playbook - Learn how they went from $0 to $500M ARR faster than almost anyone in software history. 2. Stop Wasting Money on AI SDRs - 98% of companies deploy AI SDRs wrong. Learn what the 2% crushing it are doing differently. 3. Wiz's $12B Playbook - See how they went from $0 to $12B valuation in 5 years using AI in product and GTM. 4. Intercom's All-In AI Bet - Their CPO shares what worked and what didn't going all-in on Fin, their AI agent. 5. Support as a Profit Center - Companies are going from $2M cost centers to $500K profit centers in 8 months using AI. 6. Clay's AI-Powered GTM - The exact playbook top teams use to personalize outreach at scale and accelerate pipeline. 7. Real Hyper-Personalization - Create genuinely 1:1 experiences for thousands of prospects. 3-5x conversion improvements. 8. 20+ AI Agents Deployed - I'm sharing how we went from 0 to 20+ agents generating $1.5M in revenue at SaaStr. 9. AI Orchestration Blueprint - Connect lead routing, deal coaching, and pipeline forecasting so every rep performs like your top 10%. 10. Network with 2,500 Operators Actually Doing It - Connect with B2B operators deploying AI in production and generating real revenue. Two days. Tactical workshops. OpenAI, Fin, Clay, Artisan, Wiz, Databricks, Intercom sharing their playbooks. The companies mastering AI deployment in Q4 2025 will dominate 2026. Are you leading or catching up? See you at SaaStr AI London December 1-2! Join 2,500 of the best in B2B and AI to learn what's actually working - not just the hype. From OpenAI to Fin, from Clay to Artisan, from Wiz to Databricks, and so much more!

Should there be a "HubStr?" HubSpot + SaaStr? Maybe! This mockup took me 12 seconds to create. Not 12 hours. Not 12 days. 12 seconds. I used Alloy.app - an AI prototyping tool built specifically for Product Managers who want to prototype with their real product, directly from the browser. No generic app builders. No waiting on devs. Just dream it, describe it in plain English, and ship it. Try it!

"If you haven't captured any AI budget for your start-up yet, your team failed. They had all of 2025 You had to grow faster due to AI in 2025. Twilio, Mongo, Snowflake, startups like WorkOS and RevenueCat all did. The budget was there." with @rodriscoll @HarryStebbings + me

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Founders: "Woe is me" is the absolute worst message to the team in tougher teams "It's my fault" is OK but it doesn't even help much "Here's the plan" is what people want to hear

2,500+ of the best in AI + GTM come to LONDON on Dec 1-2!! It's SaaStr AI LDN!! - How to Deploy AI SDRs that work - How AI Agents Can Really Qualify Your Leads - How to Nail AI Customer Support - How to Clone Yourself with AI - How to Do 70%+ of RevOps with AI and top execs + founders from OpenAI, Clay, Intercom/Fin, Tines, Anthropic, Artisan, Qualified and so much more!! SaaStrLondon.com 2025 Dec 1-2!!

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And try all the FREE SaaStr AI VC tools here -> saastr.ai/ai-vc

One interesting think about vibe coding on @Replit is I can do things with it I in theory could do with other tools, maybe better -- but I don't have time or skills to learn those tools. For example, I wanted to run a multivariant test on two homepages for SaaStr Ai. Yes, if I had someone on my team to do this in an app designed to do that, that would be better. But I vibe'd it myself so it would just get done. Far better than putting it off for "later" when I had non-existant time to find a vendor, qualify a vendor, talk to sales even, etc.