A short excerpt of a YouTube video by Jason M. Lemkin where he recounts an anecdote with a top SaaS CEO about VPs. The core point: exceptional VPs sometimes go far beyond their formal job descriptions—acting almost like mini co‑founders—taking on extra ownership and impact beyond hitting standard functional metrics.
I remember I was with a few years ago I was with one of the top SaaS CEOs backstage at an event and we were talking about VPs and this is one of the great executives out there. And I asked how many of his VPs were truly great, like truly great. And he had a great insight for me. If you're truly lucky, half your VPs are so great that they do even more than their job. They do even more than the job, he said. It's hard enough to find a VP of Marketing that can hit the commit, a VP of Sales that can hit the number, a VP of engine engineering that can keep software production going, a VP of Product that actually knows the product, et cetera, et cetera. But if you're lucky, once in a while a VP will do more. They'll almost be like a MIDI co founder. They will care so much they will go far beyond their job. They'll do far more than just their job, which is hard enough.
