Your Guide to Scaling in 2024: Essential Insights for Start-up Founders

Welcome to the latest edition of SaaSCentral, your monthly one-stop shop for SaaS startup news, hiring insights, and industry trends! In this issue, you’ll:

?? Discover cutting-edge GtM strategies guaranteed to propel your start-up forward in 2024.

? Prevent A* candidate dropouts by following these 5 rules to improve your candidate experience.

?? Learn how to identify GTM candidates with stellar pedigree.

State Of Play: GTM SaaS In 2024

The SaaS landscape is competitive: 80% of startups struggle to scale effectively.

Having a great product is just table stakes. To truly thrive in 2024, you need a winning go-to-market strategy.

Packed with expert insights from the likes of Parm Uppal (CRO & Investor, Luminary Cloud , DataRobot etc.) and GURO BAKKENG BERGAN (GM & VP, Fivetran , New Relic etc.), our latest blog will enable you to propel your startup’s success.

Click here to learn how you can implement GTM strategies to succeed in this new FY.

Identifying Candidates With Stellar Pedigree

How do you know if a GTM candidate has good pedigree?

When looking to hire in new regions, startups outside your field can be great talent pools. But as a SaaS founder, you have far too many things to do day-to-day to keep up with who’s hot and who’s not...

Here is how to look for “pedigree”:

Leadership – What is the leadership team's background? Have they successfully scaled/exited any famous SaaS vendors before?

VCs – Who are they? Do they have a successful track record with their PoCs? Are their past investments known for disrupting their industries?

Product – Is it strong? A* talent is motivated by working for SaaS startups with disruptive products. Find evidence of an award-winning product and social proof that supports their value proposition. Look for rewards, positive press, and strong customer testimonials.

By assessing these factors, you’ll gain a strong indication of which candidates could be quality additions to your startup.

To discover more about hiring as a founder in a new region, click the link below.

5 Basic Rules To Improve Your Candidate Experience

Candidates are far more likely to drop out during the later stages of interview processes. A common cause of this is poor candidate experience – something that can have a long-lasting negative impact on your brand.

Here are 5 basic rules that your hiring team needs to follow to dramatically improve your CX.

?? Clear Job Descriptions - Be clear and transparent about the role itself, salary/compensation plans, and what your ideal candidate profile looks like. The last thing a candidate wants is to spend 2/3 weeks of their time on an interview process, only to discover the role/salary isn't what they expected.

?? Make Job Applications Easy - Lengthy and complex applications can deter top candidates, so keep the process straightforward. According to HireDNA, 60% of salespeople ditch a job application if the process is too long or complex.

?? Respond To All Applicants - At the very least, acknowledge a candidate's application - they greatly appreciate this. Keep them updated on their application status, and inform them if you will/won't be progressing them.

??? Communicate - Everyone values clear communication. Be proactive, address questions and provide relevant information ahead of time. Know how your candidates like to be contacted (email/text etc) and use that method where you can.

?? Always Give Feedback - There is nothing worse than not knowing how an interview went. Give every candidate feedback (good and bad!) constructively so that they can reflect and learn. The sooner the better, but at the very least, share within 48 hours.