I first started this blog in 2016 with the goal to share some of my experiences growing SaaS revenue teams. I think the goal is the same, but I’ve changed quite a bit sense then and so hopefully SaaS enthusiasts, sales leaders and startups still find it interesting.

Sometimes it helps to know a bit about the people whose content you are reading. My name is Hass Johnson, Hass is short for Hassan, but most of my friends call me Hass and I invite you to do the same. I have over 10 years of experience helping to build SaaS sales teams as both an individual contributor and a sales leader. I’ve built and led new acquisition, growth and retention businesses. I started my career as a developer, with an undergrad degree in Computer Information Systems from Clark Atlanta University. My technology background has shaped my sales career in more ways than one. I went on to program at the Fortune 10 level at Ford Motor Company, until realizing that, while I loved tech, I was more passionate about working with people versus programs.

I left Ford to do my MBA at the University of Texas at Austin Mccombs School of Business, where I studied Entrepreneurship and Strategy. I studied abroad and lived in Brazil for six months, attending Fundação Getulio Vargas. During graduate school I co-founded my first startup, TrunkFest and joined DreamIt Ventures where I, unknowingly, further developed my desire for sales. My most formidable lessons around building revenue teams come from my time at Bigcommerce (IPO’d in 2020), Shopgate, Newgistics (acquired by Pitney Bowes in 2017), Kustomer (acquired by Facebook in 2020), and LogicMonitor.

From optimizing new outbound sales teams, to growing sales nearly 8x in less than a year, to leading a team of highly talented people working with Global Fortune 2000, IR 500 and Inc 500 companies, there are certain methods and approaches that have helped enable my success. However, above all of the methods, the common denominator was a group of highly talented individuals that decided to commit to excellence.