SaaStr 761: How to Build Pipeline and GTM Alignment with Datadog's CMO Sara Varni
SaaStr 761: How to Build Pipeline and GTM Alignment with Datadog's CMO Sara Varni
Sara Varni, Datadog's CMO, shares how to build pipeline and create alignment across sales and marketing. The CMO role at Datadog covers the usual aspects of marketing, including product marketing, corporate communications, events, partnership marketing, and solutions marketing.
While these insights seem like pipeline 101, they aren't always implemented. Let's look at some quick facts about Sara's experience. She spent a decade at Salesforce before moving on to Twilio as CMO when they were at about $400M ARR with 30 sales reps. They had a healthy self-service motion, but growth was flattening.
About four years later, she joined Attentive as CMO, a late-stage startup in the SMS marketing space. Now, she's the CMO at Datadog. Each of these companies had different GTM motions.
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Hey everybody - thanks to the 10,000 of you who came out to SaaStr Annual. We had a blast and big news -- we'll be back in MAY of 2025. That's right, the SaaStr Annual will be a bit earlier next year, May 13-15 2025. We'll still be back in the same venue, in the SF bay area at the 40+ acre sprawling san mateo county events center. Grab your tickets at saastrannual.com with code jason50 for an extra discount on our very best pricing. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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This episode is sponsored by: Anrok
A question for SaaS finance leaders, do you know where your customers are? Anrok tracks where your sales are creating exposure, and automates tax calculation and filing worldwide. Built for high-growth software companies, Anrok protects your revenue and saves you time. Visit anrok.com/saastr to learn more.
SaaStr 575: The State of SaaS Marketing in 2022: Mutiny & SaaStr CMO Panel
The last few years have certainly tested marketers, but 2022 serves up a brand new array of challenges. Uncharted territory stretches ahead, but the unknown can also present opportunities for growth and greatness.
At Mutiny's The Second Lever digital conference, SaaStr Founder Jason Lemkin hosted a star-studded CMO panel featuring Salesforce President & CMO Sarah Franklin, Box CMO Chris Koehler, and Attentive CMO Sara Varni. In the eye-opening session, these marketing leaders discuss the market pulse, impactful branding, and strategies for the future.
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CMO Attentive, Sara Varni: Cold Beer and Cheeseburgers
B2B marketing powerhouse, Sara Varni joins this episode on her final day at Twilio to discuss her journey and what lies ahead as she steps into her new role as Chief Marketing Officer at Attentive. Sara demonstrates a stellar track record of marketing know-how and creativity and has a refreshing take on the ever-changing marketing landscape.
In this episode, Sara shares insight on what it means to speak to your audience and uses an example from her Twitter to show how products can market themselves. She reflects on her time at Salesforce and Twilio, discusses why it’s important for marketers to recharge, and explores how her disciplined mindset contributes to her success. Sara and Joubin also discuss their shared love of bowling and Sara shares her thoughts on joining Attentive at the beginning of its next phase of growth.
In this episode, we cover:
“The full slice of life at the bowling alley”: Sara and Joubin connect over their love for bowling. (04:26)
How Sara learned from her father’s disciplined mentality - and what it means to create a home for her children. (07:17)
Sara follows up on her tweet about product marketing - and she shares why her 10 years at Salesforce was “the best marketing training.” (15:14)
A look back at the marketing structural changes at Salesforce and Sara’s role as CMO - and a conversation about writing memorable copy and earning “the right to speak to your audience.” (26:14)
Sara’s insight on why managers play a key role in cultivating a motivated team - and her take on the balancing act of working remotely. (35:39)
Why it’s important for marketers to recharge and how that mindset led Sara from Salesforce to Twilio. (39:53)
Twilio’s aggressive customer-centric values and go-to-market approach - how Sara navigated her son’s autism diagnosis during that stressful time of her career and what gives her peace of mind. (48:31)
Advice Sara received from her career coach and the benefits of a consistent feedback loop for people at any stage in their career. (56:16)
Reflecting on Sara’s last day at Twilio and why she loves being a CMO. (01:02:49)
Links:
Connect with SaraLinkedIn
Twitter
Attentive
Connect with JoubinTwitter
LinkedIn
Email: gtmg@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
SaaStr 313: What The World's Largest SaaS Incumbents Taught Me About Founding & Scaling SaaS Businesses
Today we deep dive into what startups can learn from the large SaaS incumbents of today.
Sara Varni: CMO @ Twilio on her biggest takeaways from her time at Salesforce.
Erica Schultz: President of Field Operations @ Confluent on her biggest takeaways from her time at Oracle.
Whitney Bouck: COO @ Hellosign on her biggest takeaways from her time at Box.
Leyla Seka: Partner @ Operator Collective on her biggest takeaways from her time at Salesforce.
Ryan Bonnici: CMO @ G2 on his biggest takeaways from his time at Salesforce.
Ryan Barretto: SVP @ Sprout Social on his biggest takeaways from his time at Salesforce
Tien Tzuo: Founder & CEO @ Zuora on his biggest takeaways from his time at Salesforce.
Paul Albright: Board member @ Clarizen on his biggest takeaways from his time at SuccessFactors.
Jaleh Rezaei: Founder & CEO @ Mutiny on her biggest takeaways from her time at Gusto.
Eugenio Pace: Founder & CEO @ Auth0 on his biggest takeaways from his time at Microsoft.
Liat Bycel: VP @ Airtable on her biggest takeaways from her time at Twitter.
Mark Goldberg: Partner @ Index on his biggest takeaways from his time at Dropbox.
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
SaaStr 243: Twilio CMO Sara Varni on The 1 Question That Must Be Top Of Mind For All Marketers, The Truth About Enablement and How It Can Be Used Effectively & The Marketing Playbook, When To Use It vs Throw It Out Of The Window
Sara Varni is the CMO @ Twilio, the company building the future of communications allowing you to engage customers like never before on voice, SMS, WhatsApp or Video. Prior to their IPO in 2016, Twilio had raised over $250m in VC funding from some of the best in venture including USV, Bessemer, Salesforce and Techstars just to name a few. As for Sara, prior to Twilio she spent 10 years with Salesforce in numerous roles including SVP of Marketing for Salesforce's Sales Cloud and CMO @ Desk.com, among other roles. If that wasn't enough, Sara is also an advisor @ Anthos Capital.
In Today's Episode We Discuss:
How did Sara made her way into the world of SaaS and came to be one of the industry's leading CMOs with Twilio today? What were Sara's biggest takeaways from her 10 years at Salesforce seeing the incredible hyper-growth first hand?
What does Sara mean when she says, "you have to have a creative plan to get your message to market"? Does Sara really believe that there is a playbook when it comes to marketing? How does Sara determine when to throw the playbook out of the window? What resounding question do you always have to ask yourself when thinking messaging?
Messaging is very dependent on the customer being targeted, how does the messaging need to be different when targeting SMB vs enterprise? How does the creative plan to get the message to the target customer change dependent on SMB vs enterprise? Where does Sara see most people go wrong here?
Why does Sara so strongly believe in the power of customer stories? What makes the very best customer stories? What would Sara's advice be to someone who is wanting to start creating them? Where does Sara see so many people go wrong? What are Sara's tips for creating this alignment between the marketing team that make the stories and the sales team that sell them? Where are there often points of tension?
What does the very commonly used term, "enablement", really mean to Sara? Does it mean you can hire lower quality candidates and upgrade them? How does Sara distinguish between a stretch VP and a stretch too far? What questions does Sara find most revealing in the interview process?
60 Second SaaStr:
What does Sara know now that she wishes she had known at the beginning?
Who is crushing it in the world of SaaS marketing today?
What is the most common reason for the breakdown of an efficient funnel?
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
Sara Varni
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