This issue is a special one.

It marks the changing of the newsletter name, from ‘The Community’ to ‘The Collab’.

It more importantly signifies the start of a movement.

The Collab, short for Collaborative Growth, is where Fractionals and Brands Go-to-Market Collaboratively.

Fostering this connection is critical to the survival and success of SaaS companies in 2024 and beyond.

We are now in the age of Growth at the Lowest Costs.

And even VCs aren’t immune to it:

The only way out is through, together.

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Let’s dive into Collaborative Growth…

The Big Idea

The Collaborative Growth Manifesto

The go-to-market organization is shifting; even more than many realize.

We went from growing at all costs to sustainable growth to growing at the lowest costs possible.

This has led to a reduction in traditional C-level hires (re: CMOs) and the transition of good CMOs moving into CRO roles (for example: Latané Conant at 6sense) to have more accountability.

Yet, the average tenure of a revenue leader is 17 months. (Source: Pavilion)

Is it because the growth outpaces the role and skill necessary based on the company stage? The leader you need at Series A is different from the leader you need at Series D.

With the typical ramp of a CRO at 6 months, is it worth bringing on a full-time executive who might only be around another year or so? Not to mention, running the risk of not having the right skillset as the company continues to evolve.

This doesn’t even take into account the 6 months it could take to search for the right hire today (who probably won’t make it to tomorrow).

Part of growth at all costs gave runway to make a mistake with a wrong hire.

With growth at the lowest costs, you no longer have that luxury.

Founders are more cautious than ever with the types of roles they are filling.

That doesn’t mean they don’t need a sales leader or go-to-market leader, it’s just that they don’t have the luxury of budgeting for one and certainly not the luxury of making the wrong hire.

Historically, companies haven’t done well in hiring for these roles. And it’s becoming harder than ever.

At the growth at all costs phase when you have a need, you hire for the role.

When you make a mistake, you fire them.

In growth at the lowest cost when you have a need you hire a fractional (part-time C-level contractor)  because the risks to top and bottom-line growth are too high to hire the wrong full-time leader.

The rise of fractionals and former VPs / C-suites going in this direction is a reflection of the market.

In an era of growing at the lowest cost, the only way we can grow is collaboratively.

This is why we are passionate about the idea of Collaborative Growth.

The 2 resources below are forms to submit if you are a Go-to-Market Leader/ Fractional or if you’re submitting your startup to be featured in The Collab.

2 Resources:

I. Submit your Startup to be featured in The Collab:

II. Fractionals and GTM Leaders: submit yourselves to be featured in The Collab:

3 Collaborators

I. Lisa Kelly

Lisa specializes in helping rapidly growing SaaS companies succeed in achieving scalability, efficiency, and profitability. She’s an absolute all-star in everything revenue and sales operations. She’s previously held roles as SVP of Revenue Operations at Canto, VP of Global Sales Operations at GoTo, VP of Operations at CollectiveMedical, and SVP of Global Operations at Talkdesk, in addition to serving on advisory boards of Stella Connect and Nue. (LinkedIn)

II. David Maxey

David is a senior consultant at GTM Strategy Consulting, where he helps executives in SaaS businesses from 20-150MM in revenue to optimize their go-to-market strategy and operations. With over 10 years of experience in global sales, customer success, marketing, and finance, he has a. holistic and data-driven approach to solving complex business challenges and driving growth (LinkedIn)

III. Zoya Segelbacher

Zoya is a fractional sales enablement leader. She has built Uncapped as a sales training & enablement platform designed to bring more diversity into tech sales and improve rep retention by training sellers to succeed in B2B tech sales. (LinkedIn)

Thanks for reading!

Have any awesome folks you’d like to refer?

Reply to this email and let us know what you’d like to see more. And a big thank you to all who made it to this point.

Until next week,

Jared

3 ways I can help you scale your business with Collaboration:

1. Join RevGenius (free).

2. Introduction to fractionals to help your business scale (reply for intros).

3. Promote yourself in this newsletter + to my 40k personal following on LinkedIn (reply for rates).