{"id":300628,"date":"2024-07-05T06:24:18","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T13:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/?p=300628"},"modified":"2024-07-07T11:23:14","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T18:23:14","slug":"top-10-founder-gtm-mistakes-with-saastr-founder-and-ceo-jason-lemkin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/top-10-founder-gtm-mistakes-with-saastr-founder-and-ceo-jason-lemkin\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 GTM Mistakes Founders Make Again \u2026 and Again with SaaStr\u2019s Jason Lemkin\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What are the biggest GTM mistakes founders make? At this year\u2019s SaaStr Europa, Jason Lemkin shared The Top 10 Mistakes Founders Make Again and Again. Some are decades-old problems, while others have emerged from this new world we\u2019re in. Let\u2019s jump right in.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7igT_vZGxsA?si=UaDf_u34Ufp4bc0f\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: SaaStr 747: Top 10 GTM Mistakes Founders Make Again \u2026 and Again with SaaStr\u2019s CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" data-src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/1uXSoLmLRA3UlnANai9SzK?si=298237840a8c49a7&#038;utm_source=oembed\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/click.pstmrk.it\/3s\/podsift.com%2Fsummary%2F5826%3Ftoken%3Dd526908e-8746-4163-9afd-31c5ad85bde3\/keCj\/xHW2AQ\/AQ\/5e4ab69f-d061-42be-86fa-b456cfbb33f1\/2\/DDLr4-hclz\">Key takeaways<\/a>:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Hiring the Right VP of Sales:<\/strong>\u00a0Ensure your VP of Sales is willing to sell and knows the product intimately. Avoid hiring those who are burnt out or unwilling to carry a bag. They must be able to demo the product effectively before starting.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Marketing Missteps:<\/strong>\u00a0Avoid hiring product marketers or brand experts when you need demand generation. Look for marketers who can generate leads and have a proven track record of hitting their marketing quotas.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Founder Involvement in Sales:<\/strong>\u00a0Founders should not completely step out of sales. Even with a great VP of Sales, founders should remain involved, especially in middle and closing stages of deals to leverage their product expertise and vision.<\/li>\n<li><strong>AI Feature Parity:<\/strong>\u00a0Ensure your product has AI feature parity with competitors. This is crucial for staying competitive, especially in enterprise sales. Evaluate if your CTO can handle the integration of AI into your product.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Profitability vs. Growth:<\/strong>\u00a0While profitability is important, growth is still the primary metric for venture capitalists and potential exits. Aim for T2D3 (triple, triple, double, double, double) growth to attract funding and achieve a successful exit.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Customer Success and Sales:<\/strong>\u00a0Be cautious about integrating customer success into sales. This can lead to weaponizing CS and negatively impact customer satisfaction. Ensure someone is dedicated to keeping customers happy without the pressure of sales targets.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cutting Marketing Budgets:<\/strong>\u00a0Cutting marketing budgets to zero can severely impact future growth. Instead, work with your marketing team to optimize and reduce spend without eliminating it entirely. Focus on long-term pipeline building rather than instant ROI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>GTM Mistake #1: Hiring A VP of Sales That Can\u2019t Sell or Demo the Product Themselves<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300638 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6180.jpeg?resize=600%2C332&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"332\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/332;\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300638\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6180.jpeg?resize=600%2C332&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"332\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>Mistake number one has always been an issue, and it\u2019s the number one reason startups struggle in today\u2019s world. They hire a VP of Sales who doesn\u2019t want to sell or learn the product. Jason has sat in on interviews with 50-100 VPs of Sales, and many of them don\u2019t even know what the product was in their 4th or 5th interview.<\/p>\n<p>If you go head-to-head with a competitor whose VP of Sales knows the product cold, you\u2019ll lose every deal. In the old days of having offices, before anyone in sales from the bottom to the top started, they had to crush a demo for you.<\/p>\n<p>You also don\u2019t want to hire a VP of Sales who won\u2019t carry a bag. In the old days, Jason wasn\u2019t sure if a VP of Sales needed to carry a bag. If you joined a startup at $2M and wanted to get to $6M with reps doing $400k, that VP of Sales would need to hire ten reps.<\/p>\n<p>There wouldn\u2019t be enough time for them to carry a bag for six months and hire those ten people. Today, he\u2019s 100% sure that your VP of Sales must be willing to carry a bag, and pitch your product.<\/p>\n<h2>GTM Mistake #2: A VP of Marketing Who Can\u2019t Do Demand Generation<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300637 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6181.jpeg?resize=600%2C332&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"332\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/332;\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300637\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6181.jpeg?resize=600%2C332&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"332\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>This is another founder GTM mistake that\u2019s been around for a while. In the old days, the wrong VP of Marketing hire was someone who would get blue pens with your logo on them. That\u2019s a field marketer, and you need someone who can do demand gen.<\/p>\n<p>There are so many great SaaS veterans today from great companies, so it\u2019s harder to determine which marketers know how to get you more leads. You don\u2019t want to hire a product marketer, a corporate marketer, or a strategist. Why?<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The product marketer doesn\u2019t make sense between $2M and $10M in revenue.<\/li>\n<li>The corporate marketer or brand expert doesn\u2019t make sense until you have a brand and everyone\u2019s heard of you. They don\u2019t do demand gen.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid the strategist at all costs. They don\u2019t understand marketing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>What you do want is someone who can share their commit. \u201cI got 123% of lead commit,\u201d or \u201cI hit 118% of my MQLs.\u201d The acronym doesn\u2019t matter. The best demand-gen marketers are machines who generate pipeline and brag about what they did.<\/p>\n<h2>GTM Mistake #3: Stepping Out Of Sales<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300636 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6182.jpeg?resize=600%2C330&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"330\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/330;\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300636\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6182.jpeg?resize=600%2C330&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"330\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>Founders often want to step out of sales after hiring a GTM team. They want to get back to product. Categories are more competitive today, not just because there are more vendors. Software is better, and AI makes it more so. 90% of the time, sales falls when a founder steps out of it.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, if you have an elite-level VP of Sales who has done it before, still wants to carry a bag, has used your product regularly, and checks every box, you can step out of sales. But in reality:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Can they demo better than you?<\/li>\n<li>Do they know the objections?<\/li>\n<li>Do they know the integrations?<\/li>\n<li>Do they understand how the API works?<\/li>\n<li>Do they know the competitive landscape better than you?<\/li>\n<li>Or why you lose?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>99% of the time, they probably don\u2019t. When you step out of sales, tough deals don\u2019t close. When you hire a great VP of Sales, they don\u2019t let you get out of sales. They just turn you into a middler.<\/p>\n<p>Any great VP of Sales will be a better opener and closer than you, but people still love talking to the CEO. So, they bring you into a deal, increasing the odds of that deal closing.<\/p>\n<h2>GTM Mistake #4: Cutting Marketing Budgets to Almost Nothing<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300635 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6183.jpeg?resize=600%2C332&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"332\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/332;\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300635\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6183.jpeg?resize=600%2C332&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"332\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>When growth comes up short, and you have a marketing budget of a few million, that\u2019s the first place that gets cut. No one wants to do layoffs, cut sales, or fire good engineers, so the marketing budget is the simplest thing left to attack.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of folks are cutting marketing spend to zero. When you cut sales, you\u2019re cutting your present. When you cut marketing, you\u2019re cutting your future.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of public SaaS companies are too efficient. They only focus on limited digital stuff with instant ROI, but you can\u2019t build pipeline that way. Almost everything in marketing will have a longer sales cycle than an inbound lead saying, \u201cI want to buy today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you have to cut, you have to cut. But if you can, find someone who knows how to build pipe, leads, and opportunities when times are tough, give them a budget, and trust them to force rank that spend. Don\u2019t cut it to zero.<\/p>\n<h2>GTM Mistake #5: Not Properly Jumping on the AI Bandwagon<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300634 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6184.jpeg?resize=600%2C331&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"331\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/331;\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300634\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6184.jpeg?resize=600%2C331&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"331\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>AI can be confusing in B2B because adding a lot of hallucinations into your app next week doesn\u2019t make it better, or you don\u2019t need to make text into cartoons. If you&#8217;re an asphalt company, you might not need AI to manage your projects. But there are two important things to understand here.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>AI is where all the budget is right now.<\/li>\n<li>This is where the competition is.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Whether you believe in AI or not, you must have AI feature parity, or you\u2019ll lose the deal every time. So, sit down with your team and have an honest conversation about what AI parity looks like in your space and if you have it.<\/p>\n<p>Also, determine whether you have the right CTO to handle these changes. To win, you have to hire hackers and tinkerers who love working on the bleeding edge of technology. If they aren\u2019t sure how to integrate AI into your product, ask if you need a new CTO.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t jump on the bandwagon in a meaningful way, your competitiveness will continue to decay.<\/p>\n<h2>GTM Mistake #6: Putting Profitability Above Growth<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300633 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6185.jpeg?resize=600%2C330&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"330\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/330;\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300633\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6185.jpeg?resize=600%2C330&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"330\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>We know this a little better than we did a couple of months ago, but social media and VCs are still sending the wrong message. In the broad world, many people believe profitability matters above all.<\/p>\n<p>You can\u2019t go public or be acquired on 10% growth. Hooray, you\u2019re profitable, but that\u2019s not the goal. For public companies, growth is still worth twice as much as profitability. For startups, it\u2019s probably 4-10x.<\/p>\n<p>And for startups, you still have to hit T2D2 or better to get funded: triple, triple, double, double. Some VCs may cut you some slack, but the goal of venture investing is to IPO within a decade.<\/p>\n<p>To IPO, you have to be doing at least $200M and growing 40%. What does it take to hit $200M, growing 40% in 10 years? You probably have to triple at a million to three and go from three to nine, nine to 18, and 18 to 36. Most startups don\u2019t do this.<\/p>\n<p>Today, you won\u2019t fail if you\u2019re not T2D2, and for venture capital, you can\u2019t burn $700M while doing it. You have to grow just as fast as in 2021 and burn less. Profitability isn\u2019t the end state for investing or an exit.<\/p>\n<h2>GTM Mistake #7: Hiring the Broken, the Bitter, and the Fractional<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300632 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6186.jpeg?resize=600%2C330&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"330\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/330;\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300632\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6186.jpeg?resize=600%2C330&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"330\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>There are too many folks today who are burnt out. You don\u2019t want a VP of Sales who isn\u2019t willing to travel, is too tired, wants to quit, or wants to be fractional with 11 clients. Sales is hard, and it can burn you out. Most people don\u2019t magically rebound after two years unless you\u2019re a founder or an Olympian.<\/p>\n<p>The transition from 2021 to 2023 was brutal. The world of 2021 lasted almost two years, so long we all thought it was the new normal. VCs thought everyone would be a unicorn and people raised insane capital.<\/p>\n<p>Sales is hard, and you have to hire folks who want to play the game for 48 minutes. You don\u2019t want people with three jobs who want to run a business on the side or be fractional for seven different companies.<\/p>\n<p>People are broken and angry because of the velocity of change, and you can\u2019t hire these people.<\/p>\n<h2>GTM Mistake #8: Hiring for the Logo<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300631 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6187.jpeg?resize=600%2C328&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"328\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/328;\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300631\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6187.jpeg?resize=600%2C328&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"328\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t hire for the logo. Founders have been making this mistake since SaaStr began. We all succumb to it. \u201cI got someone from Notion or Insider or Mailchimp.\u201d A first-time founder said they found the greatest person who said they were at HubSpot early. Early for them was $200M ARR.<\/p>\n<p>The simplest cheat code here is to put your hand over the LinkedIn job titles and ask yourself, \u201cWould I still hire this person if they didn\u2019t work at x company?\u201d The answer is no. Whatever you do, challenge people on your team to see if they\u2019re hiring someone based on a logo. Don\u2019t do it if there\u2019s any hesitation.<\/p>\n<h2>GTM Mistake #9: Looking for Instant ROI<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300630 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6188.jpeg?resize=600%2C327&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"327\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/327;\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300630\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6188.jpeg?resize=600%2C327&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"327\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t exist. People are cutting marketing expenses to nothing and cutting retreats. The bigger issue is that people spend all their time in free marketing to make up for it. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to do booths, joint marketing, or spend, but we\u2019ll do a podcast.\u201d Then, they proceed to spend three months planning a podcast, building a studio, getting the same guests everyone else has, and potentially wasting a lot of time.<\/p>\n<p>Building a podcast isn\u2019t a bad idea. Do 100 of anything, and you build something. But think about the soft cost, time, and energy of your six-figure employees building one podcast.<\/p>\n<p>Free marketing is great, but anything other than viral usually has a high soft cost. Free is not magical. Building pipeline takes time.<\/p>\n<h2>GTM Mistake #10: Eliminating True Customer Success<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300629 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6189.jpeg?resize=600%2C329&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"329\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/329;\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-300629\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6189.jpeg?resize=600%2C329&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"329\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>There is an operational tragedy in SaaS. As parts of the market came under stress and growth got harder, we did something wrong. Everyone raised prices without earning it. Slack did its first price increase in history. HubSpot did two after having almost the same pricing for a decade.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s one thing to launch a new addition with different functionality and integrations and raise the prices. But if you raise the price of a product three times with no change, people don\u2019t like that.<\/p>\n<p>People aren\u2019t as receptive to a cross-sell when you rip them off in the core one. If your product is cheap relative to value and great, and someone from the company calls and says, \u201cWe have another product we\u2019re launching.\u201dGreat! Only a handful of great, cheap, and trusted vendors exist.<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t want to push your existing customers to make up for the gap on new customers, so be attuned to this as a founder. The worst part of this was when we decided customer success should be part of sales.<\/p>\n<p>By having customer success report to sales, you weaponize them. Instead of one person in the company focusing on customer happiness, they\u2019re now focused on monetizing the base. So, whose job is it to make your top 20-30% of customers happy? Someone needs to be doing it.<\/p>\n<p><iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/presentation\/d\/e\/2PACX-1vRssKAvd5wpdJT2iYRwH9N5YUetissr4SQuxeVKal7169FFg-U42_cHB5RoXhXUdUT4FF0HGWjUK8Eb\/embed?start=false&amp;loop=false&amp;delayms=3000\" width=\"960\" height=\"569\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Summary:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Hire a VP of Sales that can sell or demo the product<\/li>\n<li>Hire a VP of Marketing who can do demand generation<\/li>\n<li>As a Founder or CEO, stay in sales<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t cut your marketing budgets to almost nothing<\/li>\n<li>Jump on the AI bandwagon in a meaningful way<\/li>\n<li>Prioritize growth<\/li>\n<li>Be cautious when hiring the broken, the bitter, and the fractional<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t hire for the logo<\/li>\n<li>ROI isn&#8217;t always instant, build pipeline<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t eliminate true customer success<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7igT_vZGxsA?si=UaDf_u34Ufp4bc0f\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: SaaStr 747: Top 10 GTM Mistakes Founders Make Again \u2026 and Again with SaaStr\u2019s CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" data-src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/1uXSoLmLRA3UlnANai9SzK?si=298237840a8c49a7&#038;utm_source=oembed\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are the biggest GTM mistakes founders make? SaaStr&#8217;s Founder and CEO Jason Lemkin shares the top 10 mistakes founders make again and again. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":300748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[]},"categories":[24898,31,37,29,30,3522,108,33,109,105,38],"tags":[11787,4954,18213,24940,12859,4784,3621,10711,5230,3607],"class_list":["post-300628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-blog-posts","category-customer-success","category-early","category-growth","category-leadership","category-marketing-topics","category-marketing-role","category-metrics-topics","category-sales-topics","category-sales-role","tag-b2b","tag-demand-gen","tag-growth","tag-gtm","tag-jason-lemkin","tag-marketing","tag-saas","tag-saastr-europa","tag-sales","tag-venture-capital"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/youtube-thumbnails-AI-9.jpg?fit=1000%2C563&quality=70&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5oib2-1gcQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_6180-600x332.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}