Russ Fraden
CEO, DynamicSignal · 1 appearance on the record.
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Russ Fradin is the CEO of DynamicSignal. He speaks on executive leadership and managing the dynamics between CEOs and sales leadership following funding rounds.
11statements → 0claims → 0claims resolved → 3.91/5average certainty → 2.64/5average debate potential →
2 opinions · 8 insights · 1 disclosure · every statement was checked. none of them is a claim the record can settle: opinions, insights and disclosures never carry an assessment.
Everything Russ Fraden said on the Official SaaStr Podcast that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →
Fraden: 50% of the fastest-growing SaaS companies turned out to be garbage
“I bet if you went back over the last five years and looked at the top three or four companies in each of those five years that were at that point in time the fastest growing SaaS companies in history, I bet a solid 50% of those companies turned out to be garba…”
Fraden: Average Customers Reveal More About Flaws Than Top Accounts
“If you're not spending your time with your average customer and figuring out, you know, why is this particular customer nowhere near as big as this other bank I mentioned earlier? It's, on paper, it's the same size. Why isn't that really happening, and what ar…”
Fraden: Early-stage enterprise SaaS CEOs must be primary product sellers
“If you're not one of the primary sellers for your company's product in the early days, to me you have no business starting and running the company”
Fraden: Free enterprise pilots and logos mean nothing for early startups
“And they'll show me all these cool logos and all these great pilots they have going on. They've given away for free. And I tend to think those don't mean anything.”
Fraden: SaaS startups are better off growing slower to ensure high LTV
“You're much better off Growing a little slower if you're going to actually ensure that you have very high LTV.”
Fraden: CEOs should fire executives who block direct communication with subordinates
“It's very important to have the relationship with anybody who reports to you that there's no issue with you having one-on-one conversations with folks that work for them on their team. And if you have insecure leaders that are worried about people under them t…”
Fraden: Selling And Coding Are The Only Startup Jobs Before Series B
“I, to me, I feel very strongly that until you've well past raising a Series B, really the only two jobs in the company are selling and coding.”
Fraden: Series B CEOs should still spend half their time with customers
“And to me, when you get into your B, it's still important as a CEO to spend half your time with your customers, with your existing customers, with your prospects.”
Fraden: Enterprise SaaS CEOs must daily track closed sales and customer satisfaction
“And by the way, if you're an enterprise SaaS CEO who doesn't spend part of your day thinking about what new sales came in, and does it, is anybody angry with you that day, you're doing a bad job. That, other than the early building days.”
Fraden: Sales VPs Must Personally Close Enterprise Deals Under $200M ARR
“At any company under a couple hundred million in ARR, your VP of sales should be someone you're very proud to fly in to meet with the CIO of Nestle to help close the deal. And if they don't want to do that, they're a bad fit.”
Appearances (1)
| Episode | Date | Speaking time |
|---|---|---|
| How the Relationship Changes Between CEO and VP Sales After Funding | Dec 20, 2017 | 17m |