Sara Varni (Chief Marketing Officer at Datadog) on SaaS Marketing Leadership

In our conversation, Sara Varni, Chief Marketing Officer of Datadog, reflects on her experiences with different growth stages at Twilio, Attentive, and Datadog, highlighting how she established crucial processes like pipeline councils and executed major ad campaigns. She unpacks some of the most common mistakes new CMOs make, emphasizing the importance of balancing swift changes with thoughtful analysis, and her advice on how best to navigate your first 90 days. Our conversation also examines the pros and cons of embracing evangelism in marketing, versus a more reality-based approach (and when to use which), how to tailor your marketing for different audiences, and much more. With a wealth of experience across top tech companies, Sara’s advice offers a valuable guide for anyone looking to navigate the complex world of SaaS marketing and leadership, so be sure to tune in!

• (00:00:25) Introducing Sara Varni.
• (00:00:43) Integrating product-led and sales-led growth motions.
• (00:02:31) Lessons on prioritizing sales-led growth.
• (00:04:14) Twilio’s approach: Helping rather than selling.
• (00:07:16) Marketing to different audiences.
• (00:09:08) Embracing evangelism as a marketer vs. a reality-based approach.
• (00:11:32) Finding the right balance between evangelism and reality.
• (00:13:57) Advice for your first 90 days as CMO.
• (00:17:59) Sara’s first 90 days at Twilio, Attentive, and Datadog.
• (00:23:46) Common mistakes new CMOs make (and how to avoid them).
• (00:25:48) Inspiring customer stories from Sara’s SaaS marketing career.
• (00:27:28) Sara’s favorite SaaS company homepage.
• (00:28:33) Why Tableau is Sara’s favorite enterprise tool.
• (00:29:25) Book recommendations from Sara.
• (00:31:31) Sara’s inspirational marketing leaders.
  

Featuring:

Sara Varni:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/saravarnibright/

Sunny Manivannan:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunnymanivannan/
Twitter - https://x.com/sunnymanivannan

References:

Datadog - https://www.datadoghq.com/

Attentive - https://www.attentive.com/

Twilio - https://www.twilio.com/en-us

Medtronic - https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/index.html
Tableau - https://www.tableau.com/

Demon Copperhead - https://www.amazon.co.za/Demon-Copperhead-Pulitzer-Prize-Winner/dp/0063251922

Denise Persson - https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisepersson/

Jamie Domenici - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdomenici/

Shannon Sullivan Duffy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonduffy/

Jeff Titterton - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefftitterton/

Follow us:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/peerbound-inc

Tune in:

Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peerbound-podcast/id1708825056

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GO3n6pATX10fkY8lgf3GX