Saga VC

Saga Ventures

This Week in Startups/May 15, 2024/58m

Max Altman & Ben Braverman chart Saga VC's maiden voyage with Mark Suster | E1948

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Mercury - Mercury is the fintech startups use for banking* and all their financial workflows. Paying bills, staying in control of company spend, and closing the books doesn't need to be so complex — that's why Mercury powers it all from the one thing every business needs: the bank account. Join 200K startups who use Mercury to operate at their best at http://mercury.com *Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC. NetSuite - The number one cloud financial system, bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR, into ONE platform. Giving you ONE source of truth. By popular demand, NetSuite has extended its one-of-a-kind flexible financing program for a few more weeks! Head to http://www.NetSuite.com/twist Curotec - Are you one of those companies that knows you need to be using AI, but you're not even sure where to start? Well, then, you need Curotec. They are AI experts, and they're offering TWiST listeners an AI Strategy Roadmap tailored to your business for $5000. That's 50% off the normal cost just for telling them we sent you. Check out http://www.curotec.com/twist and get $5000 off! * Today's show: Max Altman and Ben Braverman of Saga VC join guest host Mark Suster to discuss building up Saga VC’s maiden voyage fund (2:23), the advantage of witnessing “great” at the top of the industry (21:14), praise for Saga VC’s Thomson Nguyen (52:59), and more! * Timestamps: (0:00) Max Altman and Ben Braverman of Saga VC join guest host Mark Suster. (2:23) Building up Saga VC’s maiden voyage fund. (7:48) Saga VC’s reason to live and uniqueness. (9:48) Mercury - Join 200K startups who use Mercury to operate at their best at https://mercury.com (11:22) What Ben Braverman brings to Saga VC. (13:17) Ben speaks about what he learned working with Ryan Peterson at Flexport. (15:12) Max’s background that brought him to Saga and lessons he learned from Parker Conrad (19:58) NetSuite. By popular demand, NetSuite has extended its one-of-a-kind flexible financing program for a few more weeks! Head to http://www.NetSuite.com/twist (21:14) The advantage of witnessing “great” at the top of the industry. (25:54) The X-Factor in strong leaders and founders. (29:16) Curotec - Check out http://www.curotec.com/twist (30:27) Unique advantages Max and Ben on the foray into venture. (44:01) What Saga VC looks for in AI companies to fund. (52:59) Praise for Saga VC’s Thomson Nguyen in his absence. * Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp * Check out Saga VC website: https://www.sagavc.com/ Check out Saga VC on X: https://twitter.com/Saga_Ventures * Follow Max: X: https://twitter.com/maxaltman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxhaltman/ * Follow Ben: X: https://twitter.com/braveben LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-braverman-a1120314/ * Follow Thomson: X: https://twitter.com/itsthomson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randomforest/ * Follow Mark: X: https://twitter.com/msuster LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marksuster/ * Thank you to our partners: (9:48)Mercury - Join 200K startups who use Mercury to operate at their best at https://mercury.com (19:58) NetSuite. By popular demand, NetSuite has extended its one-of-a-kind flexible financing program for a few more weeks! Head to http://www.NetSuite.com/twist (29:16) Curotec - Check out http://www.curotec.com/twist and get $5000 off * Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis * Follow TWiST: Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups * Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

Max Altman

Co-Founder & General Partner

Saga Ventures

Co-Founder & General Partner

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors/Jan 27, 2023/41m

SaaStr 629: CRO Confidential: Sales Recruitment in 2023 For Candidates and Hiring Managers With Flexport's Ben Braverman

As the past few years have demonstrated, it's wise to expect the unexpected, especially when it comes to hiring. In particular, hiring for your sales team is critical in an uncertain economic outlook. Additionally, sales professionals looking for a new role should choose their next company wisely. In this edition of CRO Confidential, Sam Blond, Partner at Founders Fund and former CRO at Brex, discusses the current SaaS sales landscape and tips for hiring in 2023 with guest Ben Braverman, Head of Flexport Fund and former Flexport CRO and CCO. Video: https://youtu.be/oONsrUYsQtw Want to join the SaaStr community? We're the 🌎largest community for B2B software. Subscribe for weekly updates: https://www.saastr.com/subscribeform Twitter: https://twitter.com/saastr LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2724976 Quora Group: https://www.quora.com/q/cloud Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaaStr/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saastr/ Our North American Event: https://bit.ly/2OXeAYh Our European Event: https://bit.ly/2OZTad8

Co-Founder & General Partner

Grit/Oct 10, 2022/1h 19m

#107 Founding CRO at Flexport, Ben Braverman: The Power of Genuine Curiosity

“Everyone excellent at their craft starts from a place of deep insecurity,” says Flexport’s founding CRO Ben Braverman. People are “slow-burning fireworks,” he explains, and we need time to learn how to do anything well. If you lie to yourself, you won’t ever improve; but if you admit the truth and approach people who know more with genuine curiosity and enthusiasm, Ben says, you’ll be able to level up faster and do things you never could before. In this episode, Ben and Joubin discuss giving speeches without prep, soliciting negative feedback, genuine curiosity, dropping out of college, valuing your experience, embracing Buddhism, outside dogs vs. inside dogs, hiring with enthusiasm, “Goldilocks companies,” the secondary sales paradox, the value of exercise, building an outbound sales machine, “natural” sellers vs. fast learners, and the warning signs that 2021 venture funding was “off.” In this episode, we cover: Being yourself and the pressure to be someone else in business (08:23) What Flexport does and how it cracked a low-tech industry (15:36) The advice Ben would give to his younger self: Enjoy the ride (21:09) How he became the founding CRO of Flexport (26:43) Turning on sales and hiring Justin Schafer (31:25) Growing from thousands in revenue to $3.3 billion (36:59) The trade-offs of always being on the road (40:41) Personal growth in the face of exponential product growth (45:30) Product-led growth and the magic of list construction (50:36) The unique way Flexport sales managers earn equity (53:29) How to spot the next Ben Braverman (57:26) The connection between excellence and insecurity (01:03:00) Going from operating to investing and the long window of venture (01:05:43) How and why both Ben and Flexport’s founding CEO Ryan Petersen stepped aside and passed the baton (01:12:08) Links: Connect with BenTwitter LinkedIn Connect with JoubinTwitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Co-Founder & General Partner

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors/Apr 3, 2019/39m

SaaStr 222: Flexport CRO Ben Braverman on Why It Is Total Horseshit That The Best Sellers Don't Make Good Managers, Why Specialisation Does Not Lead To The Best Customer Experience & Scaling Revenue From $18k MRR in 2014 to a $472m Year In 2018

Ben Braverman is the CRO @ Flexport, one of the world's fastest growing startups combining technology, infrastructure and expertise, to build the operating system for global trade. To date they have $1.35Bn in funding from some of the biggest and best in the business including Softbank's Vision Fund, Founders Fund, DST, Susa Ventures and Y Combinator, just to name a few. As for Ben, he spearheads global sales and go to market teams. Prior to Flexport, Ben helped drive two high-growth companies to successful acquisitions: URX (acquired by Pinterest) and Heyzap (acquired by Fyber). In Today's Episode We Discuss: How Ben made his way into the world of startups and came to be CRO of one of the world's fastest growing startups in the form of Flexport? Why does Ben fundamentally disagree with the specialisation of roles within SaaS companies? What does he believes this does to the customer journey and relationship? How should one thing about role segmentation and allocation of accounts with this in mind? Where does Ben see many people going wrong here? Why does Ben believe it is "total horseshit to say the best sellers don't make the best managers"? What must founders try and figure out before hiring their sales leader? What are the leading indicators that suggest a sales rep has the ability to be a sales manager? How does Ben determine between a stretch VP and a stretch too far? What does Ben mean when he says, "there are 3 distinct buckets of sales management"? What are they and what is their relationship between one another? Why does Ben believe one does not need sales management in the early days? What is the best way to train reps and determine payback period fast? Why does Ben believe sales ops is the most underappreciated role in the valley? 60 Second SaaStr: What does Ben know now that he wishes she had known at the beginning? What is the optimal relationship between CRO and CEO? What does Ben believe in SaaS that most around his disbelieve? Read the full transcript on our blog. If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Ben Braverman

Co-Founder & General Partner