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Gated CEO on creating seamless on-boarding experiences

Mon, 22 May 2023 18:00:00 +0000

Podcast Summary

In this conversation with Andy Mowat, Co-Founder of Gated, he talks about Gated’s demand efficiency levers. Today, you’ll hear about his approach to demand efficiency, the custom Chrome extension that they built, focusing on all the surfaces and experiences, and driving creativity.

Prior to founding Gated, Andy served as the VP of GTM Operations and Growth Marketing at Culture Amp, the Senior Director of Customer Success Operations at Box, the VP of Business Operations at Upwork, and COO at Prialto.

Episode Outline

[02:43] What is Gated?

[04:46] Approaching demand efficiency.

[06:00] Working through all the surfaces.

[07:30] The custom Chrome extension.

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Dan Frohnen on channel mix, tracking, and structuring teams for success

Mon, 15 May 2023 14:30:00 +0000

Podcast Summary

In this conversation with Dan Frohnen, CMO at PicnicHealth, talks about Channel Mix. Today, you’ll hear about PicnicHealth’s channel mix, Dan’s approach to channel diversification, choosing when to invest in new channels, keeping teams organized and productive, and the most common pitfalls.

Prior to joining PicnicHealth, Dan served in numerous roles, including as the CMO of UpKeep, the CMO of Sendoso, the Executive VP of Marketing at Skedulo, and as VP of Global Demand Gen and Sales Development at Conga.

Episode Outline

[06:05] PicnicHealth’s diversified channel mix.

[07:27] Approaching channel diversification.

[09:17] Investing in new channels.

[11:01] Keeping teams organized.

[13:18] Common channel mix pitfalls.

[14:59] The selling motion

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6Sense CMO and GTM Champion Uses Flawless ABM and Lead Management Programs to Drive ROI

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 18:00:00 +0000

In this conversation with Latané Conant, CMO at 6sense, she talks about doing account-based marketing right. Today, you’ll hear about making demand centers more efficient, team structures at 6sense, ensuring an accurate source of truth, Latané’s most-used platforms, and the importance of saying ‘no’.

As CMO of 6sense, Latané is passionate about empowering marketing leaders with effective technology, predictive insights, and thought leadership so they can confidently lead their teams, company, and industry into the future. Prior to joining 6sense, Latané served as CMO and Sales Leader at Appirio. She also serves as a member of the Revenue Collective, and as Advisory Board Member for Mediafly and Atrium.

Episode Outline

[05:13] The best way to have an efficient demand center.

[08:06] How Latané has structured her teams.

[11:05] Ensuring an accurate source of truth.

[13:04] Platforms that Latané can’t live without.

[14:33] Marketing leaders who should be on the show.

[15:08] 6sense’s selling motion.

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Checkr VP of Marketing Uses Experimentation and Hypothesis-Driven Testing to Benchmark Regularly and Drive Demand Efficiency

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Podcast

In this conversation with Prachi Gore, VP of Marketing at Checkr, Inc, she talks about marketing and experimentation. Today, you’ll hear about Checkr’s lifecycle marketing, experimentation, how Checkr is set up for success, knowledge sharing, and some exciting areas of opportunity for the year ahead.

Prachi Gore is an accomplished marketing leader with over 15 years of experience in marketing and consulting. Prior to joining Checkr, Prachi served as the VP of Marketing at SmartRecruiters, Manager of Global Web Marketing at SunPower Corporation, and Consultant at Emerson Electric.

Episode Outline

[03:25] Lifecycle marketing as a driver for growth

[05:25] Lifecycle marketing metrics

[06:45] Experimentation

[09:50] Setting Checkr up for success

[11:24] Institutionalizing the learnings

[12:46] Areas of opportunity for the upcoming year

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Mutiny Head of Marketing Uses Revenue Orchestration To Transform Buyer Signals Into Buying Decisions

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 11:00:00 +0000

Podcast Summary

In this conversation with Ryan Narod, Head of Marketing at Mutiny, he talks about revenue orchestration. Today, you’ll hear about the strategies and tactics Ryan has used, orchestrating team structures, keeping the teams in sync, running regular experiments, approaching measurement, and what Ryan would’ve done differently.

Prior to joining Mutiny, Ryan has served in numerous marketing roles, including as the Product Marketing Manager at Google, and Head of Marketing at Radar, as well as serving as a contributor to TechCrunch and Advisor at AudiencePlus.

Episode Outline

[05:27] Strategies and tactics

[09:01] Orchestrating the team structure

[11:30] Keeping teams in sync

[13:33] Running experiments

[15:10] Measurement

[17:08] What would Ryan do differently?

[18:49] Mutiny’s motion

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UserGems Director of Demand Generation Leverages Universal Messaging Frameworks To Drive Demand To The Entire Buying Committee

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 14:00:00 +0000

Podcast Summary

In this conversation with Isaac Ware, Director of Demand Generation at UserGems, he talks about messaging. Today, you’ll hear about how UserGems prioritizes messaging, the transition into data-driven messaging, testing the evolution of their messaging, and Isaac’s three most essential pieces of tech.

Prior to joining UserGems, Isaac served in roles, including as the Director of Paid Media at Bear Fox Marketing. Isaac holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a minor in Marketing from Grand Canyon University.

Episode Outline

[08:59] Prioritizing messaging

[12:22] Transitioning to be more data-driven

[14:23] Their cadence for testing the messaging evolution

[15:36] Messaging that didn’t perform as expected

[16:54] Challenges in implementing the messaging matrix

[18:50] Three essential pieces of tech

[19:59] Isaac’s motion

[21:43] Episode recap

Connect with Isaac

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Superhuman Head Of Marketing Explains Why Customer Focus Plays Integral Role In Marketing

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 14:00:00 +0000

Podcast Summary

In this conversation with Seiyonne Suriyakumar, Head of Marketing at Superhuman, he talks about customer focus and growth. Today, you’ll hear about how Superhuman has operationalized customer focus, shifting to remote-first, their growth mechanisms, and the common things that traditional B2B’s get wrong with customer focus.

Prior to joining Superhuman, Seiyonne served as COO at Mobitor Corp., SM of Product Marketing at HelloSign, Director of Product Marketing at Dropbox, and as Limited Partner at GTMfund.

Episode Outline

[03:33] Things that Superhuman did well

[05:43] Customer focus

[08:07] Institutionalizing learnings at scale

[10:13] What keeps it all together?

[12:49] Why traditional B2B’s get customer focus wrong

[14:42] Building growth mechanisms to focus on expansion

[16:27] Emerging marketing and growth leaders

Former CMO of SalesLoft and Seasoned Industry Advisor Details The Sophisticated Ad Programs That Drive Demand Efficiency

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 14:00:00 +0000

Podcast Summary

In this conversation with Sydney Sloan, Executive-in-Residence at Scale Venture Partners, she talks about ad program sophistication. Today, you’ll hear about stage-appropriate sophistication, leveraging technology and tools, some of the most common timing mistakes, and the impacts of reaching certain levels of sophistication.

Prior to Scale Venture Partners, Sydney’s experience includes as a marketing services event specialist at Nestle SSA, Director of Strategic Customer Marketing & Sales Enablement at Adobe, Senior Director of Customer Experience at Jive Software, CMO at Alfresco, CMO at Salesloft, and Limited Partner at Stage 2 Capital.

Episode Outline

[05:06] Building sophistication into programs

[09:25] Leveraging tools and technology

[14:43] Common timing mistakes in adding sophistication

[17:48] The impact of reaching levels of sophistication

[19:41] Saleloft’s motion

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Webflow CMO Aligns Massive Marketing And Sales Teams To Drive Full-Funnel Performance

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 14:00:00 +0000

Podcast Summary

In this conversation with Shane Murphy-Reuter, CMO at Webflow, he talks about sales and marketing alignment. Today, you’ll hear about how Shane drives sales and marketing alignment, their campaign briefings, the importance of obsessing over little details, and the demand efficiency survey.

Shane also serves as advisor for Motion (Creative Analytics), Limited Partner at Stage 2 Capital, and Advisor at Sendoso. His previous roles include Head of Online Marketing at Paddy Power Betfair, VP of Marketing and North American Sales at AdRoll, SVP of Marketing at Intercom, and CMO at ZoomInfo.

Episode Outline

[06:50] How Shane is driving sales and marketing alignment

[09:00] The weekly meeting

[12:28] Campaign briefing

[19:24] Obsessing over the details

[23:46] The demand efficiency survey

[27:44] Episode recap

Shane’s Resources

100 Pipeline Plays

Join Our Slack

Connect with Shane

Shanemr.com

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Box CMO Uses Sales Enablement and Flawless Nurture Programs As The Levers To Reduce Cost To Acquire

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 14:30:00 +0000

Podcast Summary

In this conversation with Chris Koehler, CMO at Box, he talks about the sales and nurture programs at Box. Today, you’ll hear about Chris’s early priorities, how the teams at Box have been organized, applying Box’s learnings at product-led organizations, and how Chris stack ranks all the pieces within nurture.

Prior to joining Box, Chris served as the VP of Analytics at SunTrust Banks, Head of GTM and Product Marketing of Creative Cloud for Enterprise at Adobe, as a Board Member at CareerVillage.org, and Strategic Advisor at Grishin Robotics and Cresta.

Episode Outline

[05:42] Getting to this point of maturity

[07:09] Prioritizing in the beginning

[09:17] Keeping it all organized

[10:51] Organizing teams at Box

[14:35] Stack ranking the pieces within nurture

[16:06] Applying these learnings at product-led organizations

Connect with Chris

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Unpacking Demand Efficiency: The North Star Metric to Reduce CAC

Thu, 29 Dec 2022 17:19:12 +0000

Podcast Summary

In this conversation with Eli Rubel, CEO at Matter Made, he talks about the rebranding of the Best in Saas Podcast to Demand Efficiency. Today, you’ll hear about the podcast’s new direction and focus.

With over 15 years of marketing experience, Eli has served as a marketing advisor for companies like Dropbox, Hopin, G2, Calm for Business, Loom, and Productboard. Many other companies rely on Matter Made to smash their yearly growth targets through best-in-class Go-To-Market programs.

Eli Holds a degree in Leadership and Strategy from Harvard Business School.

Episode Outline

[00:55] Name change from Best in Saas to Demand Efficiency

[01:05] How do we do more with less?

[01:40] What does Demand Efficiency mean?

[02:20] Demand Efficiency as a North Star metric

[04:11] What does Demand Efficiency measure?

[05:43] Opportunities around Cost to Aquire (CAC)

[06:29] Season expectations

[07:04] Demand Efficiency Index

[07:55] Demand Efficiency Slack Community

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Matt Young, CEO of UserVoice on the aha moments of the customer journey to solve pain points

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 20:30:00 +0000

In this conversation with Matt Young, CEO at UserVoice, he talks about retention and product.

Today, you’ll hear about finding the a-ha moment, the customer journey, Matt’s top of mind thoughts around retention and product, the greater noise-to-signal in the industry today, the main problems Matt sees in companies doing user research, when and how to re-evaluate and recalibrate your value proposition, and the future of UserVoice.

As a leader in SaaS, product management, and product management, Matt has been challenging what it means to deliver great SaaS products for over 20 years. Prior to his current role as CEO of UserVoice, he served as VP of Engineering and President of UserVoice, as VP and CTO at Vodori, and as a Senior Analyst at Duke University. Since 2020, Matt has been a Product School Featured Speaker. Matt holds a BSc in Computer Science from Syracuse University and an MSc in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Episode Outline

[01:20] What’s most top of mind for Matt around retention and product?

[02:21] The a-ha moment and the customer journey

[05:35] Today’s greater noise-to-signal

[07:37] Re-evaluating and recalibrating on your value proposition

[09:27] Primary problems in companies’ user research

[12:13] UserVoice today and in the future

[14:48] Matt’s influential people

Matt’s Mentors

All the people he has wronged along the way.

Rahul Vohra

Connect with Matt

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LinkedIn (Matter Made)

LinkedIn (Elias Rubel, CEO, Matter Made)

The emergence of Chief Growth Officers with Will Hicklen of EasyWorkforce

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 16:00:00 +0000

In this conversation with Will Hicklen, Chief Growth Officer of EasyWorkForce, he talks about growth. Today, you’ll hear about the evolving Chief Growth Officer role, Will’s key principles, things that get Will excited about EasyWorkForce, emerging people marketplaces, and the ways that Will keeps himself sane and energized.

Will is a strategic growth specialist, a performance-driven innovator, HR tech expert, leader, and coach. Will holds a BA in Economics from Miami University.

Episode Outline

[01:00] The Chief Growth Officer role

[04:01] Will’s key principles

[09:05] Digital people marketplaces

[12:06] What has Will excited?

[14:16] How does Will keep himself sane?

[17:32] Matt’s inspirational people

Inspirational People

Matt’s dad

Joe Costello

Gary Trainor

Connect with Will

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LinkedIn (Elias Rubel, CEO, Matter Made)

LinkedIn (Matter Made)

Andrew Hahn breaks down some of the most common misconceptions in scaling high-performing sales orgs

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 19:30:00 +0000

In this conversation with Andrew Hahn, Advisor at Savor Lining, he talks about growth, marketing, and sales. Hear about Andrew’s thoughts on the marriage of sales and marketing, his sales methodology, the most common cracks in sales, and failures that lead to growth.

Episode Outline

[01:03] Introducing Andrew

[03:50] MQL’s are bullsh*t

[05:40] Andrew’s sales methodology

[08:10] Cracks in sales

[11:19] “People don’t buy from people they like”

[14:54] A failure that led to a moment of great growth

[17:53] How does Andrew keep his energy levels high?

[19:43] Andrew’s mentors

Andrew’s Mentors

His dad

His wife

LeBron James

Kobe Bryant

Connect with Andrew

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LinkedIn (Matter Made)

LinkedIn (Elias Rubel, CEO, Matter Made)

Kevin Marasco, CMO of Zenefits on the applications and automation of PLG

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 21:00:00 +0000

In this conversation with Kevin Marasco, CMO at Zenefits, he talks about growth and marketing. Hear about Zenefits’ pivot into a PLG motion, demand gen and organic channels, how Kevin shows up as his best self, and building a culture of experimentation.

Episode Outline

[01:39] The Zenefits journey

[05:19] The opportunity for a PLG motion

[09:29] Demand gen practices

[11:57] The shift to organic

[15:21] Experimentation

[16:46] What Kevin does to stay fresh

[20:12] Kevin’s motivational people

Connect with Kevin

Instagram

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LinkedIn (Elias Rubel, CEO, Matter Made)

LinkedIn (Matter Made)

Rashmi Gopinath, General Partner at B Capital Group on the current market and the rapid acceleration of digital marketing

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 21:00:00 +0000

In this conversation with Rashmi Gopinath, General Partner at B Capital Group, she talks about enterprise software trends and industry benchmarks. Hear about some of the metrics that are dipping, the companies that are transitioning from traditional sales to a sales-assist motion, and how Rashmi keeps herself engaged in the industry.

Episode Outline

[00:36] B Capital Group

[03:01] Surprises in the last 12 months

[06:09] New low metrics

[11:12] Traditional enterprises trying to be a PLG

[13:02] Transitioning from traditional sales to sales-assist

[16:48] What keeps Rashmi energized, interested, and engaged?

Connect with Rashmi

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LinkedIn (Matter Made)

LinkedIn (Elias Rubel, CEO, Matter Made)

Box CMO, Chris Koehler, on generalists vs specialists, and the transition to hybrid marketing

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:26] Chris’s background

[03:23] Thinking through customer journey

[05:19] Chris’s tactical tool chest

[07:35] What’s happening to events?

[12:32] Shifting to sales-assist and PLG

[15:56] Chris’s influential people

[18:45] How does Chris keep his head clear?

Connect with Chris

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LinkedIn (Matter Made)

LinkedIn (Elias Rubel, CEO, Matter Made)

Chris Byers on using M&A as a strategic lever for growth

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 18:11:21 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:26] About Formstack

[02:17] The first M&A

[04:33] Four more times

[07:14] Venture funding

[11:00] Chris’s lessons learned

[12:31] Chris’s influential people

Connect with Chris

Naman Khan, CMO of Zeplin, on his approach to building and scaling marketing orgs from the ground up

Tue, 19 Oct 2021 14:52:57 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:36] Naman’s background

[04:53] Interesting use cases of Zeplin

[07:11] Communicating Zeplin’s value

[10:57] Building early revenue teams

[15:54] Some unexpected challenges

[18:16] Naman’s influential people

[23:48] What does Naman do for fun?

Naman’s Inspirations

Yamini Rangan

Sara Varni

Connect with Naman

Rich Taylor, VP of Operations and COS at Qualio, on approaching conversations, measuring success, and the fundamentals

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 21:10:23 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:21] Rich’s background

[03:35] Lessons and strategies

[05:34] Approaching conversations and measuring success

[08:54] Grain

[11:44] Testing and hiring

[12:46] Interesting and new things that Rich wants to tinker with

[16:53] Know your fundamentals

[21:21] Rich’s influential people

Rich’s Inspirations

Jeff Wiss

Zack Urlocker

Rich’s brothers

Connect with Rich

KeyBanc Capital SaaS Performance Survey (PDF)

Former VP of Growth at Drift and Advisor to many, Guillaume “G” Cabane, on the mashup between Economic Market Dynamics and low-cost CAC strategies

Wed, 15 Sep 2021 22:15:26 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:09] G’s background

[01:36] Mashup between Economic Market Dynamics and low-cost CAC strategies

[07:00] G’s favorite examples of growth hacking

[14:26] What questions should listeners ask themselves?

[15:36] How does G stay sharp?

[20:42] G’s influential people

G’s Inspirations

Resources

Connect with G

Shane Murphy-Reuter, CMO of ZoomInfo, on the importance of setting your brand vision and the ‘Miley Moment’

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 14:23:40 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:42] The shift from single-market to multi-market

[04:36] The Miley moment

[10:50] Setting a brand vision well into the future

[13:10] What keeps Shane up at night?

[17:20] Shane’s inspiring people

[18:59] How does Shane stay balanced?

Shane’s Inspirations

Connect with Shane

Amy Guarino, VP of Ironclad, on shifting perspectives and advice to her younger self

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 14:34:30 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:26] Getting back to the new normal

[05:33] Amy’s advice to her younger self

[13:19] Shifting perspectives

[16:00] How does Amy stay fresh?

[20:43] Amy’s influential people

Amy’s Inspirations

Jen Tritz

Eric Lee

Tim Connors

Connect with Amy

Paramita Bhattacharya, CMO of Blurb, shares on leadership and lessons learned along the way

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 20:10:00 +0000

Podcast Summary

In this conversation with Paramita Bhattacharya, CMO of Blurb, she talks about her career roles at various organisations, being named one of the Top 40 Women Leaders in SaaS, and how she keeps herself sane outside of her work. Hear about how she prioritizes team building, how her background affects her work, and get her advice to her younger self.

Episode Outline

[00:29] One of the Top 50 Women Leaders in SaaS

[02:27] Shifting to a smaller organization

[07:28] Building her team

[09:11] How does her background in B2B, B2C, and eCommerce affect her work?

[11:42] Paramita’s advice to her younger self

[13:59] How does Paramita stay sane?

Connect with Paramita

Randy Frisch, CMO at Uberflip on how and when to think about category creation

Tue, 04 May 2021 18:26:59 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:26] Getting into category creation

[02:50] The Uberflip timeline

[05:22] Content marketing in 2012

[10:10] Other category names in the running

[13:23] The early list of must-have next steps

[16:26] The Uberflip Experience

[20:28] Looking to the future

[24:19] Inspiring people

Randy’s Inspirations

Peter Cresha

Mark McCloud

Jay Baer

Ann Handley

Connect with Randy

Uberflip

Sam Boonin, former VP Product Strategy at Zendesk on all things PLG and Product Marketing

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 18:34:26 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:50] Product marketing

[04:33] Avoiding the product marketing pitfall

[10:10] The quality of product marketing for trial-led sales assist companies

[13:27] Sam’s advice for young companies

[16:32] How does Sam maintain a life balance?

[20:09] Inspiring people

Sam’s Inspirations

People who are designing the life they love.

Connect with Sam

New Relic CMO Seema Kumar unpacks the myths of developer marketing and other strategies for hyper scale

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 20:38:31 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:04] Seema’s story

[07:30] Developer marketing

[13:18] Seema’s tool box of strategies

[16:18] Unpacking DE&I

[20:29] Seema’s advice

[22:17] How does Seema find her balance?

Connect with Seema

From $0-$80M ARR in 13 Months with Hopin CMO Anthony Kennada

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 22:55:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:25] Managing expectations

[03:09] Hopin’s numbers

[07:41] Capturing the opportunity

[11:31] The challenges of fast, effective growth

[14:07] Where is the market going?

[18:10] Anthony’s health

[22:08] How does Anthony unwind?

[25:28] Inspiring people

Anthony’s Inspirations

Nick Mehta

Connect with Anthony

Greg Strickland on how to be a good human, while hyper scaling in SaaS

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 09:00:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:04] How Greg got to where he is today

[03:20] The CEO whisperer

[05:51] Pivotal career moments

[08:26] Recurring themes

[11:25] Why some companies fail to implement

[13:50] Greg’s frequent rants

[17:09] Greg’s advice

[20:10] How does Greg unwind?

[21:44] Mentors and inspiring people

Greg’s Inspirations

Greg’s dad and wife

Everyone he’s ever worked with

Michael Butler

Connect with Greg

Johanna Fagerstedt, CMO of Quinyx, shares thoughts on organizing a globally-distributed team for success amidst an uncertain climate

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 19:56:34 +0000

Episode Outline

[00:23] Johanna’s background

[03:10] The perfect plan that had to change

[04:36] Building conviction quickly while testing

[05:44] Organizing a globally-distributed team for success

[06:46] Approaching the bigger picture

[13:45] Solidifying a plan and budget for 2021 with all the unknowns

[16:35] How has Johanna adapted her leadership style to empower teams through these times?

[18:11] Mentors and inspiring people

[19:31] How does Johanna unwind?

Johanna’s Inspirations

Erik Fjellborg

Connect with Johanna

Women in Revenue founding board members

Jennifer Dimas, CMO at Qumu Corporation and Co-founder of Women in Revenue on blending analytical and creative aspects of marketing

Wed, 31 Mar 2021 17:03:38 +0000

Episode Outline

[00:33] Women in Revenue

[03:43] Blending the Analytical and Creative sides of marketing

[07:16] Emphasising skillsets in the marketing mix

[08:46] How has the marketing mix changed recently?

[10:27] Running into challenges convincing executives

[12:14] Changing cadences

[15:12] Planning and budgeting with variable data

[19:11] What does Jennifer do to keep a balance?

[21:53] Jennifer’s mentors

Jennifer’s Inspirations

Heidi Melin

Mentorship Program members

Connect with Jennifer

QUMU

Women in Revenue

Chili Piper, Nicolas Vandenberghe on their GTM Strategy and building a durable remote culture

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 22:00:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[00:23] Nicolas’s background

[06:26] Approaching go-to-market with Chili Piper and KosmoTime

[10:42] Missteps and mistakes along the way

[15:12] Being remote before remote was cool, and decision memos

[22:46] The next big thing for Nicolas

[25:46] Mentors and inspiring people

Nicolas’s Inspirations

Connect with Nicolas

Chargebee CRO Adam Tesan and the Rise of RevOps

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 21:27:35 +0000

Episode Outline

[00:24] Catalyst for formalizing RevOps

[02:41] Figuring out the need to prioritise RevOps

[04:16] What does RevOps seem to you? (Clear your misunderstanding about RevOps)

[05:28] A methodology to success!

[10:10] When things don't go according to the plan……

[12:54] The tension between sales and marketing

[13:52] Overanalysing v/s execution

[15:46] How to keep your head clear?

[17:15] The colleagues of success

Connect with Adam

Check out Chargebee

OneLogin CMO and Co-Founder of Women in Revenue, Dayna Rothman, on building teams and a Will Smith & DJ Jazzy Jeff reunion

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 13:48:58 +0000

Episode Timeline:

1:07 What’s top of mind for Dayna today?

2:59 Has Dayna had to adapt her leadership style through this?

3:58 Significant changes that Dayna had to make

4:37 How Dayna manages Zoom fatigue right now

8:13 How Dayna’s leadership style has changed

14:33 Dayna’s favorite campaigns

18:43 Things that don’t go as Dayna envisioned but she learned something to be able to be better next time

24:18 What does Dayna do to keep her mind calm and be able to be clear and be effective

25:34 Mentors or peers who have influenced Dayna

Connect with Dayna:

Skilljar CEO and Co-Founder, Sandi Lin, on her evolution as a leader and lessons learned

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 22:10:00 +0000

Episode outline:

00:34 What does Skilljar do?

01:56 How skills have evolved over time and how Sandi has evolved as an engineer leading a company as CEO

07:45 The moment Sandi decided to pull back and bring in leadership, sales and marketing

10:55 Can Sandi pack them to revenue or is it some other qualitative factor?

16:58 What would Sandi avoid, when starting her next company?

21:37 What gets Sandi really jazzed about this next revenue sprint fresh capital in the bank

23:15 People that helped Sandi get to where she is today

Connect with Sandi

Co-founder and Partner of PeakSpan Capital, Matt Melymuka on patterns of success growth and failures

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 00:59:53 +0000

Episode Outline:

2:11 PeakSpan’s product market fit definition

3:50 Patterns of success growth and failures, on Matt’s perspective

7:50 Preferred industries based on how things play out

13:50 Talks about the whitespaces in tech or sales that is yet to see a company enter

16:33 Influences that helped shape Matt’s path and continue to inspire

18:52 Matt’s extracurricular activities

Matt’s Inspirations:

His wife

Carolina Kung of Frontline Ventures on accelerating the learning curve of early-stage founders and CEOs

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 04:25:51 +0000

Episode outline

[01:12] Introducing Carolina

[03:10] The most common mistakes Carolina sees companies making across the portfolio and advice she gives her clients

[06:16] The process for European companies that wish to expand into the United States

[07:40] How Carolina prioritizes hiring and hiring patterns in the United States versus Europe

[10:00] Lessons from companies Carolina has seen succeed

[12:00] How European companies can expand into the US for the first time

[13:35] Playbooks that Carolina has seen to be effective over the portfolio

[15:44] The importance and benefits of maximizing peer-to-peer learning and networking

[18:11] How COVID-19 has changed engagement between Carolina and the founders and CEOs she serves

[20:05] What gets Carolina excited about the future

Connect with Carolina

Forward Thinking Founders Podcast

6Sense CMO Latane Conant on earning the right to go big

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 22:09:53 +0000

Episode outline

[01:15] Latane’s background

[02:44] How Latane decides when to share her ideas

[05:37] “When you say yes to something, you say no to something else”: How Latane decides what to work on

[08:53] “You have to earn the right to go big”

[11:38] The importance of diversity and market representation on boards

[16:28] What Latane is currently working on

[20:15] Latane’s inspirational people

[24:10] How to participate in CMO Coffee Talk

[25:37] How Latane unwinds

Latane’s Inspirations

Kate Bullis

Connect with Latane

Kirti Dewan, VP of Marketing at BugSnag on the most successful campaigns this year and pivoting to online events

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 01:40:29 +0000

Episode outline

[01:18] Kirti’s background

[01:45] How Kirti developed work-life balance

[06:13] What Kirti learned from her consulting career and how she uses these lessons today

[10:35] Good habits that will positively impact your work

[12:32] How others respond to Kirti’s views on work-life balance

[13:13] 3 of Bugnsag’s best campaigns during the last 12 months and 3 that Kirti is excited about in the future

[17:22] How Bugsnag pivoted to online events and how successful they have been

[20:10] Kirti’s influences

Kirti’s Inspirations

Connect with Kirti

Sendoso CMO Daniel Frohnen on his team’s response to this year’s challenges and his advice for early stage companies.

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 13:37:31 +0000

Episode outline

[01:30] Daniel’s background

[03:39] How Daniel started out at Sendoso and what attracted him to the company

[04:50] How Sendoso adapted their business strategy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

[06:48] The three most effective ways Sendoso engaged their customers during the pandemic

[08:22] How Daniel approaches the challenge of keeping organized and keeping his teams aligned

[10:05] How Sendoso prioritizes ICP accounts

[11:40] How Daniel approaches partnership with the sales team

[12:54] The importance of taking the time to establish the proper framework as an early stage company

[15:22] The difference between Go-to-Market and Marketing

[16:50] Daniel’s favorite creative campaigns and what makes a good campaign

[20:07] What Daniel does outside of work to have fun

[22:00] Daniel’s mentors and inspirations

Daniel’s Inspirations

Gwen Bailey-Harbour

Curtis O’Keefe

Steve Rio

Maria Pergolino

Connect with Daniel

What’s it like reporting to a board with Marc Andreessen and John Chambers in a board room? In this episode with Matt Singer, CMO at OpenGov, we talk about marketing GovTech, and the evolving revenue landscape post-covid.

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 21:08:42 +0000

Episode outline

[01:09] Matt Singer’s background

[02:12] What it was like for Matt to transition to marketing to government and what makes it exciting

[04:44] How Matt responds to change and the importance of building and tracking brand awareness

[09:03] What it’s like to get to work with such prominent board members and some questions that have come up in meetings with the board

[11:10] The biggest new opportunities Matt sees for himself and his business over the next year

[14:04] The unique complexities involved in the sales cycle working with selling to governments

[18:00] Matt’s vision for his next couple of years and what success looks like for Matt at this point in his career

[20:40] What Matt likes to do outside of work

[21:46] Matt’s inspirational people

Matt’s Inspirations

Connect with Matt

Kevin Dorsey on Scaling Sales with Missionaries not Mercenaries

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 12:51:36 +0000

Kevin Dorsey, better known as KD is the VP of Inside Sales at Patient Pop inc. Kevin has built numerous teams from 0-150+ reps and revenues from 0-$750M (and counting). He’s a mentor and consultant for early, mid, and late-stage SaaS companies across the globe

Impartner Software CMO Kerry Desberg talks us through her professional journey and identifying profitable markets

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[02:00] Kerry’s background

[04:20] How Kerry has overcome challenges and made her company stand out

[08:05] How Kerry pivoted during the COVID-19 pandemic

[12:20] Kerry’s approach to changes in buyer behavior and identifying profitable markets

[15:10] The importance of having a marketing tech stack and what Kerry has in her marketing tech stack

[19:35] Why Kerry thinks the BDR should report to marketing instead of sales

[22:30] How Kerry unwinds

Connect with Kerry

Brian Kardon, the legendary valley CMO behind InVision, Eloqua, and Lattice shares his strategy for creating alignment between sales and marketing and building a balance between product-lead growth and traditional operations

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[00:25] Why you need to be familiar with Product Led Growth

[03:00] How Brian organizes funnels at InVision

[05:20] The importance of harmonizing messaging in improving the user experience

[06:00] How to create a culture of revenue

[12:50] Brian’s thoughts on unification of sales and marketing

[17:50] How to influence existing customers

[19:14] Brian’s inspirations

Brian’s Inspirations

Connect with Brian

Bootstrapping to $20M ARR and beyond with Vivek Bhaskaran

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[00:44] How and why Vivek founded QuestionPro with no venture capital

[03:59] Vivek’s decision making factors when it comes to his company

[07:40] How Vivek succeeded in secondary markets and made the decision to pursue them

[10:05] How to identify when an investment is paying off

[13:00] How Vivek approached his business endeavors and the decisions that led to where he is now

[15:55] What drives and keeps Vivek excited growing his business

[18:39] What gives Vivek energy outside of work

Connect with Vivek

Blog

From Microsoft leadership to startuplandia with Romi Mahajan

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[00:50] Romi’s shift from Microsoft to the startup space

[02:04] The transferable skills Romi gained from Microsoft and what he had to learn and unlearn

[04:23] Where Romi is at in his current company

[06:20] Why Romi’s company split off from their parent company to become an independent entity

[07:35] Romi’s growth thesis and how his thesis evolved as his company grew

[09:24] How Romi structured his shift from direct sales into channel selling

[11:54] The strategy that Romi’s company plans to formalize in the next few months

[13:38] How the Pacific Northwest startup community has changed

[17:40] How tech companies can become more involved in the communities that support them

[22:15] Romi’s favorite community projects and thoughts on how tech can help drive meaningful change

[25:12] Romi’s inspirations

Connect with Romi

Huckabuy Founder & CEO Geoff Atkinson on how we accomplished exponential growth at Overstock and what he’s up to with Huckabuy

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[00:45] Geoff’s background

[02:30] How Geoff grew SEO from zero to $300 million at Overstock.com

[04:18] The series of pivots that led to the idea for Huckabuy

[06:38] How to know when you have product/market fit and are ready to expand

[07:55] Mistakes Geoff made in his career that ultimately led to valuable lessons

[11:15] When and how Geoff shifted his focus with Huckabuy to achieve product/market fit

[13:00] What Geoff is prioritizing to scale his business

[15:00] How Geoff relaxes and gets out of his own head

[16:43] Geoff’s inspirations

Geoff’s Inspirations

Patrick Byrne

Warren Buffett

Connect with Geoff

Cracking Hubspot’s Playbook for Emerging Markets with Paul Rios

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:22] The importance of manufacturing your own luck

[07:25] How leaders can ramp and grow teams

[12:25] The state of LATAM for Hubspot today

[14:50] How companies can expand into emerging markets and what mistakes to avoid

[24:05] Paul’s inspirations

Paul’s Inspirations

Connect with Paul

Hubspot

Thiago Sa Freire, CRO at Chorus.ai, shares lessons learned throughout his career and thoughts on customer centricity

Wed, 30 Sep 2020 21:40:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[12:30] Lessons Thiago learned from door-to-door sales

[15:10] How Thiago developed his growth mindset

[18:30] The most influential people in Thiago’s career and what he learned from them

[23:50] What Thiago is most excited about at Chorus

[26:15] Thiago’s biggest challenge this year and where his focus is now

[30:35] Thiago’s prediction for the future of sales

[32:20] What Thiago does to blow off steam

Thiago’s Inspirations

Connect with Thiago

Chorus.ai

From 0-$12M ARR in 18 months with Jake Dunlap

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[00:36] Jake’s background

[02:50] How Jake scaled Glassdoor from 0 to almost 1M in MRR in under 16 months

[04:00] Some of Jake’s early pitfalls and how he learned from them

[08:28] Jake’s process for evaluating whether someone is a good fit for his team

[11:02] Why Jake started his own firm

[16:17] Don’t underinvest in process or infrastructure as you grow in scale

[18:15] How Jake unwinds

[18:44] How Jake works smart and efficiently

Jake’s Inspirations

Clark Beacom

Connect with Jake

Brett Plotzker, Co-founder and Chairman at Anagram, talks about the steps he took to grow Anagram to 3 million ARR quickly and raise 17M in funding

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[00:59] Failures that helped shape Brett’s success at Anagram

[03:13] What led to Brett founding Anagram

[06:00] When Brett realized he had product market fit and could begin to scale the business

[07:42] Subsequent steps after realizing they had a product that could sell

[10:10] What Brett would have done differently

[11:55] The importance of building out a referral network and advisory board

[13:50] Brett’s advice for startups

[15:50] Where Brett is at in his process of figuring out what’s next for him

Brett’s Inspirations

Dan Kurani

Hari Sundram

Andy Bromberg

Connect with Brett

Ahin Thomas, VP of Marketing at Backblaze, shares the unconventional ways he drives growth and why professional wrestling is America's purest form of storytelling

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:10] How Backblaze accomplishes 90% inbound

[06:00] The unconventional ways Ahin drove growth at Backblaze

[09:23] The challenges of content marketing

[12:27] Campaigns that did not pan out and what Ahin learned from them

[16:23] The importance of having a unique view of value to share

[19:20] How learning the mechanics of collaborative databases benefited Ahin’s career

[20:35] Why Ahin thinks professional wrestling is America’s most important art form and purest form of storytelling we have

Ahin’s Inspirations

Patrick Connolly

Vincent Kennedy Mcmahon

Connect with Ahin

Rob Brewster shares lessons from the early growth trenches at Salesforce, Twilio, and Eloqua and what can be applied to startups sprinting to $10M ARR

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 20:30:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[02:10] Most important lessons Rob has brought to GoFormz from former companies

[04:00] How Rob motivates people and the challenges that come with motivating others

[07:25] How Rob has been driving growth at GoFormz

[11:53] Examples of sales advice Rob has given to help companies grow

[17:50] The importance of understanding your customer base

[20:08] Rob’s personal professional goals

[21:30] How Rob unwinds

Rob’s Inspirations

Mark Bickerstaffe

Bobby Napiltonia

Marc Benioff

Connect with Rob

Evan Kohn on dialing the Inbound & Outbound growth mix at Pypestream

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 20:17:36 +0000

Episode Outline

[00:49] Evan’s background

[02:16] How Evan went from teaching to DOD consulting to SaaS startup

[05:34] How Pypestream stands out and proves what conversational AI can achieve to large enterprises

[11:19] The role of Chief Business Officer

[12:18] The biggest challenge Pypestream is facing this year

[15:15] Lessons Evan has learned on the way to where Pypestream is today

[17:51] Pypestream’s most and least successful campaigns

[22:30] How Evan unwinds

Evan’s Inspirations

Adrian Swinscoe

Helen Yu

Lucas Watson

Connect with Evan

Walter Roth of Moment Sales on how to apply an engineering mindset to sales, compassion, and truth

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 12:49:03 +0000

Podcast Outline

[00:48] Walter’s background

[04:16] Common themes and mistakes Walter notices among founding teams when he starts working with them

[05:40] What do First Principles mean in the context of sales?

[07:30] How to apply an engineering mindset to sales, compassion, and truth

[09:58] Becoming a better salesperson: The 3 W’s (Steve Browne)

[15:10] Usually the biggest obstacle is oneself

[23:36] How Walter unwinds

Connect with Walter

LeadCrunch CEO Olin Hyde on their unique pricing model and how it has helped them achieve industry-leading YoY growth.

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 13:17:52 +0000

Episode Outline

[00:10] Olin’s background

[01:14] How Olin knew when it was time to evolve between business models

[05:27] Two important things you need to know to get a good customer profile

[07:45] What Olin wishes he understood about starting a venture-backed company before starting LeadCrunch

[10:46] Why Olin chose not to run a subscription model

[18:19] How Olin unwinds

Olin’s Inspirations

Tom Peterson

Grady Burnett

Marv Langston

Connect with Olin

What did it take to grow Namely from $200k to 60M+ ARR? Michael Manne breaks down the learnings and advice he now gives to folks on their revenue journey.

Tue, 01 Sep 2020 10:27:31 +0000

Episode outline

[00:40] How Michael went from 200K to 6M in ARR at Namely

[03:26] The most challenging aspect of Michael’s first 6 months at Namely

[04:55] The most important actions to take in developing a pricing strategy

[07:54] The moment when Namely’s revenue motion and ICP fell into place

[09:30] What Michael learned from the impressive board he worked with at Namely

[11:24] Preconceptions Michael had and what he learned after experience

[15:14] What got Michael excited about working with Orculus

[16:58] Michael’s professional goals for the next 12 months

[19:00] How Michael unplugs and recharges

Michael’s Inspirations

Connect with Michael

Sydney Sloan, SalesLoft CMO, on marketing trends and customer centricity

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 10:09:35 +0000

Podcast Outline

[00:40] Sydney’s background

[01:00] Trends in marketing right now

[04:37] Gated versus ungated content in marketing

[05:59] How Sydney’s team makes the decision whether to gate and request demos

[10:10] How to know when to run an account-based strategy

[12:13] Essentials for Series A and Series B companies

[16:32] The role of CMO in increasing retention and how to ensure customer success

[21:18] Sydney’s plans for personal development

[24:21] How Sydney recharges

Sydney’s Inspirations

Connect with Sydney

Alex Bilmes [VP of Growth at Puppet] reflects on the growth that led to his first exit.

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 11:28:56 +0000

Podcast outline

[01:09] Alex’s background

[02:42] What Alex does in his role as VP of Growth at Puppet

[03:57] Lessons Alex has learned through his former positions that have influenced what he does at Puppet today

[06:03] Focus on product market fit before instrumenting telemetry and funnels

[07:00] How to know when you’ve over indexed and need to course correct

[08:23] Time with customers is important in the early stages

[13:22] Pros and cons to being somewhere small and being somewhere larger

[16:44] Why it’s important to know what you want and why

[19:00] How Alex unwinds

Alex’s Inspirations

Dave Hesch

Yvonne Wassenaar

Connect with Alex

Michelle Benfer, VP Sales at Hubspot, on hyperscale and creating a culture to drive revenue.

Thu, 20 Aug 2020 12:17:35 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:03] Michelle’s background

[03:12] Why you should make sure you have the demand to support your sales team before investing in the head count

[05:28] The importance of experimentation and stabilization

[07:15] The importance of cross functional partnerships and financial acumen

[09:21] How to make better decisions for your team and company.

[11:50] How to create culture within your company

[14:30] What’s next for Michelle

[17:11] How Michelle unplugs and maintains her energy

Connect with Michelle

Website

Lars Nilsson, fmr Cloudera Global VP of Sales, on a career full of learnings, mentorship, and gratitude.

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 11:09:23 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:25] The importance of mentorship and how to choose a mentor

[02:57] The second type of mentor

[04:56] Why you need to know how to ask for help and how asking for help will put you ahead

[08:20] Mentorship for underprivileged and underrepresented populations

[10:34] Prospecting and selling are two different skill sets

[14:54] How to use SalesSource

[17:20] Lars’s career, what he has learned, and his priorities now

Lars’ Inspirations

Dennis Lyandres

Sarah Brazier

Tom Reilly

Connect with Lars

Aditya Vempaty of Synthego on retention as a marketing-driven metric and a focus on customers instead of product

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 14:52:26 +0000

Podcast outline

[01:35] Aditya’s background

[03:20] What consumers care about more than your product

[05:35] Why companies need to identify the problems prospective customers are trying to solve

[08:45] Why retention is more important than acquisition

[10:48] The biggest lesson Aditya has learned in his career

[12:00] How Aditya builds trust with consumers through “problem marketing”

[13:35] Why building community is important and how Aditya builds community

[14:24] What it was like for Aditya to go from a SaaS product to biotechnology

[16:31] How Youtube will be leveraged more in a B2B perspective

Aditya’s Inspirations

Tiffany To

Brian Balfour

Connect with Aditya

Unpacking the Psychology of Success with Mike Lindstrom

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 12:45:17 +0000

Podcast Outline

[01:38] Mike’s background

[04:55] The secret sauce that many leaders of Fortune 500 companies don’t know about

[06:20] The one percenter mentality that takes companies to the next level

[08:00] The qualities and mindset of successful leaders

[09:27] Successful leaders understand the 3 elements: Mindset, language, and patterns

[10:35] Marketing leaders vs sales leaders

[11:00] What the most effective leaders across all niches have in common

[11:45] The relationship between mindset and strategy

[15:27] What you have to determine before you can talk strategy

[16:30] The two most important elements leaders should have

Mike’s Inspirations

Tony Robbins

Dan Lier

Chip Merlin

Connect with Mike

MikeLindstrom.com

What do the sales programs at Google, Salesforce, Okta, Box, and LinkedIn all have in common? John Barrows.

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 18:26:15 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] John’s background

[07:16] There's two types of companies and you can't have it both ways.

[10:13] How you're either a growth company or you're a lifestyle company

[11:18] What usually you going through your coaching process

[12:04] How to create an engine that consistently fills the pipeline with enough opportunities to flow through

[14:34] Segmenting roles and responsibilities and sales with kind of the inbound SDR

[16:35] How dumping shitty leads over to the sales team from marketing

[19:22] Why the sales and marketing divide for lead gen is where the biggest challenge

[20:19] What really leveraging artificial intelligence and leveraging real insights is

[21:30] How Google and Amazon and Facebook that know a lot about what the buyer's journey looks like

John's Inspirations:

Jeff Hoffman

Connect with John:

https://jbarrows.com

Make it Happen Mondays Podcast

Instagram

4x IPOs as CMO and countless Board Seats later, Carol Meyers digs into her secret sauce for sustainable growth

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 00:03:33 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Carol’s background

[07:16] Why people have to make trade offs with what they have available and also what's available in their neighborhoods

[10:13] How to wrap up with analytics as broad topics that might be the most productive

[11:18] The hardest lesson learned in your career thus far

[12:04] When you're small, usually marketing just kind of does whatever it wants

[14:34] Discount marketing and getting disillusioned

[16:35] Who's building their career and perhaps about to enter a big growth stage with the company

[19:22] It’s little easier to go from, serving smaller companies up to larger, as long as you do it with your eyes wide open about what that means

[20:19] Taking a product that's built for really large companies and trying to retrofit it to smaller companies is not easy.

[21:30] How you can assemble a team that has the right qualities

Carol's Inspirations:

Woody Benson

Connect with Carol:

Attorney turned sales executive, David Cain shares insights on thinking strategically about your customer base

Thu, 30 Jul 2020 01:42:39 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] David’s background

[07:16] Why he decided to focus on sales and then to become a sales manager and help with strategy at a management level

[10:13] How to wrap up with analytics as broad topics that might be the most productive

[11:18] The way having a strategy of some kind is really important, even if it fails to understand that it did fail and why failed and that you need to move somewhere else is really important

[12:04] Ask yourself, are you focusing on a certain industry and emphasizing a certain value proposition?

[14:34] What to focus on when thinking strategically about your customer base and the first customers

[16:35] On developing your strategy based on what you're seeing

[19:22] Frustration around pricing because it's such a key to either unlocking sales or blocking sales and the same goes for how marketing can help support.

[20:19] So many founders think they've got it but sometimes the right thing to do is actually to ask quite a bit more for what you're selling.

[24:30] People are totally willing to be honest, especially if your products adding a lot of value.

David's inspirations:

Jared Hansen

Christy Serrato

Nikhil Jhingan

Connect with David:

Richard Harris shares insights and lessons learned over his 20+ years of technology and SaaS experience

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 18:34:26 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Richard’s background

[07:16] Understand that early customers are buying that CEO's passion, that founder's passion

[10:13] Importance of getting a quote from the decision maker of the deployment

[11:18] Realize that your customers aren't fortune companies with big legal team

[12:04] “If you're a one to 10 million and you're going after a new customer, what's the first thing your potential customer is probably going to ask you about?”

[14:34] So everybody wants a discount, know that's going to happen and get your leverage

[16:35] Situation that they have a legal department they're just red lining for the sake of red line, they just know to eliminate everything. They don't really stop and read that.

[17:04] Success depends on how, how strong the marketing leader is in understanding sales.

[19:22] Importance to relearn and unlearn that process. Those who've taken that stronger leadership position accelerate faster.

[20:19] Why it is crucial to redefine product market fit and to re-onboard our entire organization to work from home.

Richard's inspirations:

Blake Hudson

Dickie Walsh

Lori Richardson

Connect with Richard:

The Harrison Consulting Group

Sean Sheppard of GrowthX on the importance of “Stage Fit” in SaaS growth

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 12:53:44 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Sean’s background

[07:16] Operational issues and then the other one had to do with just the fundamental shift

[10:13] Reason these companies were failing, had more to do with people and the behaviors of the people

[11:18] Realize that affiliation with a company who's been successful in that industry

[12:04] Hiring and supporting and developing and growing other humans

[14:34] If you think about things from a red, yellow, green perspective, you put people in a stoplight bucket

[16:35] Best fit based on their characteristics and attributes because the majority of the Academy students are adult learners. The true character of a person is not how you act in this life, but how you react.

[17:04] If you don't like something, you already know it. It's probably not going to continue to enjoy it.

[19:22] There's social responsibility, corporate responsibility, environmental responsibility, and personal responsibility.

[20:19] Starting over with the concept of what problems do my customers have right now that can really solve, and growth mindset is going to be more important.

Sean's Inspirations:

His father

Connect with Sean:

1517 Fund founder Danielle Strachman on venture capital success metrics and startup fire-fighting

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 11:54:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Danielle’s background

[07:16] How the whole petition process of a charter school is funded with public money. So you have to petition the state to let you do what you want to do in the district.

[10:13] Why starting a charter school in some ways is very much like starting a startup

[11:18] Understand that we're firefighters and we're all here to do whatever needs to get done because our building is constantly on fire especially in the first year of operations

[12:04] The most success metrics in venture are different than when you're trying to champion alternative education and giving

[14:34] Standard return metrics in venture and whether or not you're able to build something viable. The importance in keeping balance of those things

[16:35] Knowing that there's something really fascinating and kind of a Zen mindset about decision-making theory. You have to separate the outcome of your decision from the decision you make at the time

[19:22] Uncover why they're just not using the product that much, and what really want to see is that those pilot customers are insatiable

[20:19] What to do if something goes awry or they get fickle, when you're not sure who else to service in the market, it's hard to get that company to grow

[24:30] Getting the feedback loop between the founder, the engineering team, especially if they're using sort of like a dev group and the customers it's too disconnected

Danielle's Inspirations:

Connect with Danielle

Getting from $10M-$20M: Justin Gray shares applicable lessons learned driving high performance growth.

Thu, 16 Jul 2020 13:12:43 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Justin’s background

[07:16] Repeatable revenue engine and a marketing automation

[10:13] Reason these companies were failing, had more to do with people and the behaviors of the people

[11:18] Realize that affiliation with a company who's been successful in that industry

[12:04] Hiring and supporting and developing and growing other humans

[14:34] If you think about things from a red, yellow, green perspective, you put people in a stoplight bucket

[17:04] Systems that you put in place on a more tactical level to back into having that as a cultural.

[19:22] Ways that you're actually measuring the impact on their organization to better to define product market fit,

[20:19] How to measure metrics for north star of things like NPS

Justin's Inspirations:

Craig Rosenberg

Connect with Justin:

Hiring 400+ sales reps in one year, and the value of continually seeking feedback.

Mon, 13 Jul 2020 23:57:49 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Mandy’s background

[07:16] Discovering that running a company, it's evident it's an emotional business.

[10:13] Take time to really take a step back and use data as your foundation.

[11:18] While that looks great in a spreadsheet, it doesn't work in real life because until you have a process that's documented and that you can measure, and that is getting consistent results.

[12:04] Think deeply what needs to happen to hit your goal and direction you’re going to, based on what you have so far, make some assumptions on conversion, what type of pipeline you need, how many new opportunities

[14:34] Consider how many demos there, do they need to have a week or how many discovery calls depending on what type of sales cycle they are, how many discovery calls?

[16:35] Where is our product actually fit right now? And how are we going to attack that?

[17:04] Figuring out how to hold people accountable and then the second part was how to implement that correctly with the team

[19:22] The way to break the sales process into the four main categories

[20:19] Why Mandy really loves mentoring people and leading a team in house

Mandy's inspirations

Mark Roberge

Jeremy Liew

Connect with Mandy

Mandy Cole

PandaDoc CRO, Nate Gilmore on building teams to support the revenue triangle

Tue, 07 Jul 2020 18:31:08 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Nate’s background

[07:16] How does one focus on team building, service delivery, customer experience?

[10:13] The ability to build a revenue engine that works with the product engine.

[11:18] Understanding marketing and sales channels as your platforms

[12:04] What to look for inside of an eCommerce transaction funnel or inside of a marketplace

[14:34] What could also serve as instrumentation panel for success

[16:35] How to ensure strategic direction is implemented

[17:04] The art of balancing competing priorities

[19:22] Use empirical evidence to decide stages of your opportunity funnel.

[20:19] Moving from discovery of that into something predictable, repeatable, and scalable.

[23:19] Begin the experiment for the best customer experience

Nate's inspirations

Brian Balfour

Barret Foster

Damon Schechter

Connect with Nate

Legendary valley CMO, Meagen Eisenberg shares her reflections on leading growth at TripActions and MongoDB.

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 17:48:20 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Meagen’s background

[07:16] How leaders gravitate more towards fear to motivate and others gravitate towards love

[10:13] A good frame is the carrot and stick. Meagen is more of a carrot because that's how she responds. If she’s praised or rewarded, she want more of that. So she work even harder.

[11:18] How COVID changes things. We have to go online. We have to log in. We have to have security. We're remote. We have to collaborate all these different tools.

[12:04] Having success means assessing people, their process and their technology. Bring in a lot of technology because it gives the data needed and the visibility into what's working and what's not working and what we can do to be more efficient as a marketing organization.

[14:34] How to be effective and efficient and target the audience that you're going after. The future is full of technology.

[16:35] Tips in cutting costs and moving into a recession, we've got to be very careful on what technology becomes critical and not.

[17:04] Realize how many independent pieces of tech do you have in your stack right now,

[19:22] On gifting, you send someone a plant, they set it on their desk naturally. So one, it's hard to throw it away, but also it sits on their desk and they look at it and your brand sits there and others in the company see it, and then people will take pictures and they'll share it.

[20:19] You always have to improve the funnel. You always have to improve your messaging. You always have to, you know, get PR and respond.

Meagen's inspirations

Ben Horowitz

Connect with Meagen

Trip Actions

From high school arts teacher to a successful career leading B2B marketing teams, Jen Spencer shares her unique journey to the top

Fri, 03 Jul 2020 12:59:32 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Jen’s background

[07:16] What is takes to be able to developed and executed inbound lead generation and content marketing strategy

[10:13] The ability to supporting a channel of referral, reseller, co-branded, and white-labeled partners

[11:18] Why great communication leads to great partnership

[12:04] Methods in developing and executing an inbound demand generation strategy, raising brand and market awareness

[14:34] Habits to be great at sales and marketing that can never go wrong

[16:35] How to embrace a more diverse set of perspectives at the decision making table

[17:04] How Jen sees the trends in the future

[19:22] Use empirical evidence to decide what, what the best option is moving forward

[23:17] How to ensure there is right technical architecture, technical infrastructure to support these efforts

[26:28] The skills to know what the buying process is on their end

Jen's inspirations:

Trish Bertuzzi

Connect with Jen

SmartBug Blog

From G2 to HelpScout, Adam Goyette talks us through his approach to high performance growth

Thu, 02 Jul 2020 12:41:36 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Adam’s background

[07:16] His journey from minoring in advertising company to ending up in a company like G2

[10:13] How we learn best by getting our hands dirty

[11:18] The way his company helps in cutting through the noise of what marketers get all the time

[12:04] The culture in G2, where people leaving reviews or you're getting traffic to your profile or there's traffic to the category and people are comparing you against one of your competitors

[14:34] HelpScout is really trying to build a smart, sophisticated platform that helps helps customers and end users

[16:35] Advice to personalize mass amounts of emails to show like their own buyer intent data and emailed it directly

[17:04] The art of Facebook campaigns and how to optimize for it

[19:22] Practical way of being smart about the growth

[20:19] How to capitalize on new trends and marketing tactics

Adam's Inspirations

Godard Abel

Mike Conti

Connect with Adam

Andrew Ettinger took Pivotal from $0-$500M+ and now is the CRO at BigID

Mon, 29 Jun 2020 19:52:34 +0000

Episode Outline

[02:39] Andrew’s background

[04:16] Flexibility in mindset and not getting stuck in your ways

[08:13] Understanding that there's no problem with making mistakes. Learn and apply the lessons learned as you go forward.

[10:22] List of regulations from California

[11:18] On developing self awareness, self reflection, and deep introspection

[12:04] Technical evangelism and doing deep workshops that benefit the organization

[14:34] Privacy as a first class citizen and why that matters

[16:35] What works to instrument the workflows into production processes

[17:04] Navigating the turbulent waters of the enterprise

Andrew's Inspirations

Connect with Andrew

https://brianbalfour.com/

Former Hubspot VP of Growth, Brain Balfour, unpacks growth at Loom, Drift, and Pipefy

Wed, 24 Jun 2020 18:21:36 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Brian’s background

[07:16] ARR to aim for if you have a SaaS company

[10:13] The ability to develop a broader strategy

[11:18] Understanding growth loops

[12:04] Why people screw up their first growth hire

[14:34] Thoughts about custom internal tools

[16:35] How to ensure strategic direction is implemented

[17:04] The art of inbound marketing

[19:22] Use the playbook created by HubSpot to grow customers

[20:19] How to capitalize on new trends and marketing tactics

Brian's Inspirations

Russell Glass

Bangaly Kaba

Connect with Brian

Chris Combs of LinkSquares on the importance of getting the right people in the right seats

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 21:28:26 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Chris’s background

[07:16] What is takes to find product market fit

[10:13] What he learned was what success looked like

[11:18] Blueprint for entire future executive to impact

[12:04] Thinking about how a startup would scale

[14:34] Habits to be great at crossing the chasm

[16:35] Refuse to sort of sit and pontificate over like products and product

[17:04] How to find the right people and getting them in the right seats

[19:22] What was hugely valuable and formative for him

Chris' Inspirations

Advisory team at DraftKings and Carbonite

Connect with Chris

LinkSquares

This week we dive deep into FinTech SaaS with Logan Allin of FinVC

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 19:32:09 +0000

Episode Outline:

[04:39] Logan’s background

[07:16] What it takes to be able to capture value in the bull cycle

[10:13] What Logan looks for in early-stage SaaS companies

[11:18] LTV to CAC

[12:04] Why companies are failing to occupy the white space out there

[14:34] Habits to be great at sales and marketing that can never go wrong

[16:35] How to embrace a more diverse set of perspectives at the decision-making table

[17:04] How to provide business development support and connecting them into customers and distribution channel

[19:22] Use empirical evidence to decide what, what the best option is moving forward

[23:17] Regulatory frameworks and moving companies on the consumer side, cross border

[26:28] The skills to know what the buying process is on their end

Logan's Inspirations:

Carol Dweck

Marc Benioff

Larry Ellison

Connect with Logan:

Angela Jackson on her approach to investing through empirical evidence and diversity at the decision-making table

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 13:53:10 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Angela’s background

[07:16] How does sales and marketing operationalize their work

[10:13] The ability to be more creative and more agile with more of your execution moving forward.

[11:18] Early risk taking that you can model

[12:04] Technical founders who are creating product to solve kind of niche-y problems

[14:34] To be a good investor, you have to be willing to be wrong

[16:35] How to embrace a more diverse set of perspectives at the decision-making table

[17:04] Will she invest in purely technical co-founders?

[19:22] Use empirical evidence to decide what, what the best option is moving forward

Anglea's Inspirations:

Lucille Ball

Carol Burnett

her parents

Connect with Angela:

Portland Seed Fund

Revenue guru Matt Heinz on operationalizing growth mechanisms

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 14:40:08 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Matt’s background

[07:16] How does sales and marketing operationalize their work

[10:13] The ability to be more creative and more agile with more of your execution moving forward.

[11:18] How do you become an essential service?

[12:04] Why focusing on internal process improvement can really provide a strong ROI

[14:34] What CEO can do to improve that interchange between sales and marketing

[16:35] Some of the most common mistakes leaders make

[17:04] Be creative and unique with your approach to unique businesses

[19:22] Use empirical evidence to decide what, what the best option is moving forward

Matt's Inspirations:

Connect with Matt:

www.heinzmarketing.com

Facebook

Prolific entrepreneur and investor, Arjun Sethi on overcoming the challenges of scale

Thu, 28 May 2020 15:16:45 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Arjun’s background

[07:16] How grew up here in the Valley and a lot of my family was coming from all over the world

[10:13] How to judge whether it is math question vs communications question

[12:04] The journey into the SaaS business

[16:34] The process of seizing fabulous opportunity right now

[16:35] You only need to have a hundred customers and then you can scale something

[19:22] The challenge of scaling your first company

[27:04] Starting a company is hard. Finding the customers to pay you as hard

[30:18] His thoughts on the evolution of tech

Arjun's Inspirations:

Ryan Breslow

Marc Andreessen

Peter Thiel

Connect with Arjun

Jonathan Cowperthwaite

Acclaimed B2B marketing exec, Kasey Byrne, on avoiding marketing traps

Mon, 18 May 2020 17:34:07 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] How Kasey apply big picture thinking into her career

[07:16] The trap most marketers fall into

[10:13] How to judge whether it is math question vs communications question

[12:04] Steps in developing team spirit and energy

[16:34] The process of seizing fabulous opportunity right now

[16:35] Lessons from running large marketing campaigns and listening to contextual cues

[19:22] The importance of running a good referral marketing strategy

[27:04] How Al is like chiropractic for the marketing plan

Kasey’s Inspirations:

Contact Kasey

www.kaseybyrne.com

After years in the making, former HubSpot CRO, Mark Roberge unveils his new paradigm for product-market fit and the ebook to get you there

Mon, 18 May 2020 14:29:13 +0000

Episode OutlineEpisode Outline

[02:39] Mark’s experience in the HubSpot team

[07:16] Steps he used to achieve product-market fit

[11:13] Lead indicator of retention

[12:04] Steps in identifying leader and getting the economics right

[14:34] The process of getting prospects through the funnel

[16:35] Lessons from managing and onboarding people

[19:22] The importance of getting data through customer cohorts

Mark’s Inspirations:

John McMahon

David Skok

Brian Halligan

Connect with Mark

Alok Nandan of Emergent Ventures on the importance of identifying buyer pain in B2B SaaS

Fri, 15 May 2020 06:07:00 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] How Salesforce is applying AI and data science in their products

[07:16] Alok’s journey into independent consulting and helping early-stage founders

[11:13] How to bet on founders and help them succeed

[12:04] Steps in domain expertise and identify the pain point of the buyer

[14:34] The process of getting prospects through the funnel

[16:35] Lessons from the school of hard knocks

[19:22] The importance of a peer group of folks who are on a similar journey

Alok’s Inspirations:

Ankur Jain

Contact Alok

AngelList

scottleeseconsulting.com

Scott Leese on the importance of getting sales ops right in B2B SaaS before hyperscale

Mon, 11 May 2020 22:58:42 +0000

Episode Outline

[04:39] Having the mindset of hustling and outworking everybody

[06:16] The purpose of writing his new book

[10:10] How investing in sales operations help scale the company

[12:04] Thoughts on recruiting and training people

[14:34] The bias and mistakes founders usually make

[16:35] How to communicate to your prospects in a way that is relevant to their needs

[19:22] The regret of not having a sales mentor or business mentor

Scott's Inspirations

Connect with Scott

3x founder Neha Sampat on building and scaling impactful teams + how to survive a shark attack

Thu, 07 May 2020 21:10:10 +0000

Episode Outline

[01:39] How Neha’s face was on the Times Square

[04:46] Many talent people in community colleges

[07:10] How Neha embark on the path of leadership

[10:04] The most important part of selling

[15:34] On helping companies to grow

[17:35] Setting up the best practices and tools

[21:22] How to create inbound interest by word of mouth

[24:12] What sailing taught her about startups

[26:58] Thoughts on a bootstrapped company for the first 10 years

[29:01] On being a proponent of females in tech

Neha’s Inspirations:

Linnea Roberts from GingerBread Capital

Cindy Padnos from Illuminate Ventures

Contact Neha

http://www.nehasampat.com/

Olivier L'Abbe, former SVP of Sales at G2 on his sales leadership playbook.

Mon, 04 May 2020 22:13:09 +0000

Outline of this Episode

[01:39] Early lessons from Olivier L'Abbe’s journey in his career

[04:46] Evaluating the core skills to learn in a job

[07:10] How Olivier is adjusting to working from home

[10:04] On making the transition from the banking industry

[15:34] Tips to get prospects or customers to engage with you

[17:35] How to manage oneself effectively in personal space and work

[21:22] Creating predictability in your business

Olivier's Inspirations

Jacco van der Kooij from Winning By Design
Doug Campbell from Fliptop

Connect with Olivier

Hiten Shah cracks the code to 37 Signals Growth Playbook

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 20:00:00 +0000

Outline of this Episode

Content marketing - Hiten talks about the potential customer journey whether it's decisions around purchase or landscape of the product.
WebTraffic - FYI focuses on content that is specifically aligned with the audience.
The Audience - Hiten shares his experience on the selection and understanding of your audience.
Market research - FYI focuses on understanding the customer experience and sentiment analysis.
Channels - Hiten describes managing them and scoring channels.
Blog content - Hiten shares the importance of creating the structure and time needed to be put in before seeing results.

Hiten's Inspirations

Joel Gascoigne (Buffer)
Nathan Barry (Convertkit)
Matthew Kobach
Eric Yuan (Zoom)
Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson (Basecamp, previously 37Signals)

Connect with Hiten