What if motivation is actually the thing holding you back? In this episode of Hunters and Unicorns, hosts Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne sit down with Sean Conway, an eight-time world record holder, extreme endurance athlete, keynote speaker, and performance coach—to unpack the mindset behind sustained high performance. Sean explains why motivation is an unreliable energy source, how world-class performers build systems instead of relying on willpower, and why consistency always beats intensity over the long run.

From breaking endurance records to coaching high performers, he shares practical lessons that apply just as much to software sales, leadership, and business as they do to elite sport. In this episode:

Why motivation is overrated
The system that creates consistent performance
How to build discipline that lasts
Lessons from breaking eight world records
Why ordinary people can achieve extraordinary results
Endurance principles every sales leader should know
How to perform under pressure without burning out
Building habits that outperform talent

Subscribe for more conversations with the world's top founders, operators, and GTM leaders sharing the playbooks behind exceptional performance.

With thanks to our sponsor Aurasell AI.

HuntersAndUnicorns #SeanConway #SalesLeadership #Performance #Motivation #Discipline #SystemsThinking #Sales #Leadership #highperformance

0:00 — Trailer

1:17 — Introduction & Sponsor

3:01 — How Many World Records

7:49 — Elite vs Average Iron Man Time

9:20 — Was He Always Innately Motivated

12:50 — Was He a Sporty Kid

15:00 — Why Has He Been Able to Achieve This

16:55 — Community Within the Pillars

24:44 — From a Low Point to an Audacious Goal

31:55 — Practical Implementation of the Plan

36:28 — Getting Up Every Morning for 105 Days

39:33 — The Power of Having a Plan

41:24 — Factoring in Distractions and Life

43:18 — Mentally Dealing With Derailed Plans

44:25 — Was There a Point He Wanted to Quit

47:20 — End Goal vs Breaking It Into Segments

49:30 — Being Present in the Now

51:47 — Parallels to Business and Sales

56:50 — Motivation Levels Through the Journey

1:01:37 — Work Outside of Endurance

1:03:39 — What He Looks for in Coaching Clients

1:12:23 — Closing

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What does it really take to scale a software company from $35M to $2B ARR? In this episode of Hunters & Unicorns, Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne sit down with Dan Barrett, SVP International at Figma and former MongoDB leader, to unpack the lessons behind one of SaaS's most remarkable growth stories.

Dan shares why he hates the word "playbook," how MongoDB evolved through multiple sales transformations, and why the best leaders focus on developing people—not following a rigid process. The conversation explores authenticity in leadership, building high-performance teams, scaling PLG and enterprise sales motions, customer success, AI's impact on software sales, and the leadership lessons that helped Dan grow from a first-time manager into one of the industry's most respected sales leaders.

In this episode:

• Scaling MongoDB from $35M to $2B ARR

• Why Dan hates the term "playbook"

• The leadership epiphany that changed his career

• Building trust without fear or intimidation

• PLG vs enterprise sales models

• What great sales organizations do differently

• How to develop future sales leaders

• Why authenticity is a leadership superpower

• AI, SaaS, and the future of enterprise sales Subscribe for more conversations with the leaders building the next generation of SaaS companies.

HuntersAndUnicorns #DanBarrett #Figma #MongoDB #SalesLeadership #SaaS #EnterpriseSales #PLG #CustomerSuccess #b2bsales

Timestamps:

0:00 — Trailer

1:02 — Introduction & Sponsor

1:56 — Welcome Dan Barrett

2:35 — Dan's Career & the Epiphany Moment

9:00 — Pressure Before the Epiphany

10:02 — QBRs With John McMahon

11:50 — Fighting for Space to Change

13:37 — From MongoDB to Figma

17:21 — Where PLG Goes Wrong

19:00 — Rethinking the Playbook

23:55 — Learning What Works at Figma

31:46 — Playbook vs Authenticity

33:32 — Moving Into Customer Success

38:06 — Knowing When to Leave MongoDB

41:00 — Sustaining Energy for Nearly a Decade

43:31 — Hunters & Unicorns Origin Story

48:21 — Will Salespeople Survive AI

51:20 — The Future of Figma

54:03 — Closing

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In this episode of Hunters & Unicorns, hosts Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne sit down with Olivier Zieleniecki, Global Vice President of Partners at MongoDB, to discuss why the future of enterprise sales will be built around partnerships, ecosystems, and AI.

As cloud marketplaces, hyperscalers, and AI continue reshaping how software is bought and sold, Olivier explains why traditional sales frameworks are no longer enough on their own. The next generation of sales leaders must learn how to leverage partner ecosystems, build strategic alliances, and create value beyond a single product or transaction. Drawing on nearly 20 years of enterprise software experience, Olivier shares how MongoDB scaled through partner-led growth, why partnerships are becoming a force multiplier for revenue, and what future CROs need to master to stay relevant in the AI era.

In this episode:

• How AI is changing enterprise sales

• Why partnerships are becoming critical to growth

• The evolution of partner-led revenue

• How hyperscalers changed software buying

• What great enterprise sellers do differently

• Why future CROs must understand ecosystems

• Strategic partnerships vs transactional selling

• Building long-term customer value in the AI era

• The future of software go-to-market

About Olivier Zieleniecki: Olivier Zieleniecki is the Global Vice President of Partners at MongoDB, leading the company's worldwide partner ecosystem strategy. Over the course of his career, he has helped scale enterprise software organizations while building strategic partnerships that drive long-term growth.

About Hunters & Unicorns: Hunters & Unicorns explores the strategies, leadership lessons, and growth playbooks behind the world's most successful software companies through conversations with elite founders, operators, and GTM leaders.

With thanks to our sponsors Aurasell.

Timestamps:

0:00 — Trailer

1:20 — Introduction

3:10 — How Software Selling Is Changing

5:12 — How Hyperscalers & AI Are Reshaping the Landscape

7:50 — How Partner Complexity in Deals Has Changed

10:24 — Olivier's Career Journey Into Channel

13:57 — Why These Choices Are Setting Him Up for CRO

15:25 — Strategic vs Sourcing — What's the Difference

17:50 — How to Measure Partner Impact & Influence

19:20 — How Enterprise Sellers Should Work With Partners

21:30 — What Sellers Are Getting Wrong With Partners

23:15 — What Best Practice Actually Looks Like

27:43 — Has the Partner Team Ratio Changed at MongoDB

28:58 — How AI Is Impacting the Partner Ecosystem

30:57 — How AI Channel Strategy Differs From Cloud Alliances

32:40 — Will Classic Sales Principles Survive the AI Era

34:44 — The Guiding Principle Behind the Wizard of Oz Nickname

36:54 — How Partner Landscapes Differ Globally

38:31 — Biggest Predictions for Channel by 2030

40:35 — Tools to Track & Measure Partner Success

43:23 — Should Channel Become a Letter in MEDPIC

44:26 — Closing

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In this episode, Peppa Wise, SVP of Go-To-Market at Multiverse, breaks down the real differences between scaling from 0 to 10 million, 10 to 100 million, and beyond. From early-stage hustle and chaos to building scalable systems, leadership teams, and world-class sales processes, this conversation is packed with lessons most operators only learn the hard way.

Peppa shares the painful mistakes that shaped her leadership journey, including the year Multiverse fell behind on productive capacity, why hiring the wrong people can quietly destroy growth, and why great leaders must learn to balance accountability with empathy.

The conversation also explores AI, workforce transformation, leadership psychology, sales rigor, emotional resilience, and why Multiverse believes the future of work depends on helping companies actually adopt AI — not just buy new tools.

If you're building a startup, leading a sales team, scaling a company, or trying to become a better leader, this episode is full of hard-earned insights you can apply immediately.

With thanks to our sponsors Aurasell.

Timestamps:

0:00 — Trailer
1:18 — Introduction & Guest Overview
2:59 — What Separates the 0-10, 10-100 & 100M+ Stages
4:48 — Early Learnings & What to Overcome in the 0-10 Journey
7:00 — What Leadership Looks Like at 0-10
8:58 — Reflecting on Your 0-10 Self & Mistakes Made
10:24 — How Mentorship Fuelled Evolution Through Each Stage
13:01 — Is It Okay to Specialize in One Stage
15:38 — What Is Your Long-Term Ambition
17:12 — Have You Changed as a Person Through This Journey
19:46 — How to Coach Leaders Being Inauthentic
21:16 — Were There Any Real Career Low Points
24:26 — What Does Maniacal Productive Capacity Mean
25:57 — What Signals Show Someone Is Ready to Promote
28:38 — Where People Go Wrong With Productive Capacity
33:10 — How to Manage Emotion Under Pressure
37:54 — What Separates First From Second Line Leaders
40:13 — Do You Hire People Similar to Yourself
42:32 — What Changes Has Donn Driven in Year One
45:45 — What Excites You Most About This Next Phase
48:13 — Why Multiverse Is Still the Destination
49:46 — Common Misconceptions About Multiverse
51:17 — Closing & Final Thoughts

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What does it really take to scale a sales team inside a billion-dollar company without losing culture, performance, and leadership quality along the way?

In this episode, Peppa Wise and Euan Blair break down the real playbook behind scaling one of the fastest-growing teams in the UK. From the chaos of the 0 to 10 million stage to building sustainable systems at scale, this conversation dives deep into leadership, hiring, productive capacity, mentorship, sales culture, and the lessons most founders only learn after painful mistakes. Peppa shares her journey from one of the early hires at Multiverse to leading a 120+ person go-to-market organization, while Euan opens up about building a mission-driven company during one of the biggest shifts in the future of work and AI.

The episode also explores: - Why most companies fail when scaling teams - The leadership traits that matter most in hypergrowth - Why top performers don’t always become great leaders - The hidden cost of hiring the wrong people - How elite sales organizations maintain standards while scaling fast - The role AI will play in reshaping workforce productivity - Why culture and mentorship become even more important at scale If you're a founder, sales leader, startup operator, or anyone building inside a fast-growing company, this episode is packed with lessons you rarely hear shared this openly. With thanks to our sponsors, Aurasell.

Timestamps:

0:00 — Trailer

1:03 — Introduction & Guest Overview

2:18 — Peppa's Role at Multiverse

3:02 — How Peppa Ended Up at Multiverse

9:18 — Early Interactions & What That Dynamic Was Like

11:58 — The Transition From SaaS to Services

13:11 — Were You All In From Day One

15:27 — When Did You Start Seeing Proof in the Numbers

17:37 — Were You Ever Intimidated Bringing In Great Talent

19:34 — How the Relationship Between Peppa & Euan Evolved

23:02 — Bringing Donn Into the Business

26:55 — What Donn Brings to Peppa Personally

29:42 — Was Don's Impact Felt Instantly or Gradually

32:50 — How a Visionary Founder Stays Grounded

35:40 — What Excites You Most About the Next Few Years

39:02 — What Could Stop Multiverse From Being Successful

40:38 — Fine-Tuning Direction or Focused on Execution

41:58 — Why Multiverse Is the Right Place to Join Right Now

47:32 — Closing & Final Thoughts

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What does the future of hiring, leadership, and company building actually look like in the age of AI?

In this episode, Rhys Hughes, Executive Talent Partner at GV, joins us for a fascinating deep dive into the battle for talent happening inside the world’s fastest-growing AI companies. From billion-dollar compensation packages and the rise of vertical AI startups to what founders are really looking for in executives, this conversation pulls back the curtain on how the next generation of iconic companies are being built.

We explore the reality of scaling in today’s market. Why velocity has become one of the defining traits of elite founders, how culture is becoming more important than compensation, and why networking and relationship-building are now critical career advantages in an AI-driven world.

Rhys also shares incredible insight into what’s happening inside the venture ecosystem at GV, where the biggest opportunities are emerging across AI, robotics, life sciences, frontier tech, and enterprise software — alongside the major risks and bottlenecks founders are navigating in real time.

If you're interested in AI, startups, venture capital, hiring, go-to-market strategy, or the future of work, this is an episode you don’t want to miss.

Timestamps:

0:00 — Trailer

1:30 — Introduction & Guest Overview

2:29 — The Battle for Talent in the AI Era

4:36 — Profound Differences in This New Market

6:39 — How Organizations Are Attracting Talent & How Candidates Are Choosing

9:20 — How to Evaluate a Strong Equity Package

11:41 — Are New Comp Models Like Anthropic's Driving the Right Behaviours

14:36 — How Founders Are Approaching Go-to-Market in the AI Era

17:30 — How Does a Company Stand Out

21:44 — What Velocity Really Means & Why It Matters

23:05 — What Rhys Is Seeing From Founders Right Now

26:12 — Rogue Founders: GV's Red Lines & What They Look For

29:17 — Why Building VC Talent Relationships Is Non-Negotiable

36:19 — What Sectors & Trends GV Is Most Excited About

38:14 — Specific AI Trends Shaping GV's Investment Thesis

42:50 — Biggest Bottlenecks That Could Slow Everything Down

44:29 — How GTM Talent Should Get on the Radar of Top Portfolio Companies

47:50 — The Biggest Mistakes People Make Choosing the Wrong Company

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From Downing Street to Disrupting the Future of Work! What does it really take to build a $500M+ company that’s reshaping how the world learns and works?

In this episode, Euan Blair, Founder & CEO of Multiverse, joins us for a candid, high-energy conversation on building a mission-driven business that actually scales. From reimagining apprenticeships as a global workforce revolution to breaking down the science behind elite B2B sales, this episode is packed with insights most founders never hear. We dive into the reality of the journey. Key hires, tough mistakes, and the inflection points that change everything, alongside a powerful perspective on AI and why it will either transform or disrupt the future of work as we know it. If you're interested in startups, sales, AI, or building something that truly matters, this is one you don’t want to miss!

With thanks to our sponsors Aurasell.

Timestamps:

0:00 — Trailer

0:54 — Euan Blair Introduction

01:49 — Sponsor: Aurasell

03:07 — Why Euan Chose Founding Over Politics & Finance

05:11 — Was Being a Founder Always the Plan

07:36 — Shaping the Vision & Early Surroundings

09:00 — Why VCs Invested in Multiverse

11:10 — Preparing for First Fundraise

12:34 — Life After Getting the Money

14:20 — Jeremy: The Game-Changing Hire

22:44 — Building the First Sales Team

26:10 — Tough Learnings & Biggest Mistakes

28:30 — Moments of Self-Doubt as a Founder

30:36 — What Really Motivates Euan

33:55 — AI & Workforce Displacement

36:04 — Why Euan Appointed Don D'Arcy's

40:22 — Keeping Pace with AI Change

42:32 — How the CEO Role Is Evolving

43:50 — Multiverse vs Typical SaaS Model

46:00 — What It Takes to Succeed Here

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Today we sit down with Doug May, SVP of Productivity at Harness, to discuss one of the most critical yet overlooked aspects of a healthy organization: Sales Productivity. Doug has had an illustrious career at elite organizations including Datadog and Databricks, and he brings that expertise to Harness, where he has cut ramp time in half and increased per-rep contribution by 43%.

We explore the "F1 engineering team" analogy of GTM support, why productivity metrics are the ultimate indicator of a company’s health, and the specific questions every candidate should ask to de-risk their next career move.

🙌 Thanks To Our Sponsor! Aurasell AI: https://www.aurasell.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - In this episode

02:44 – What is Sales Productivity Strategy?

04:00 – The F1 Analogy

05:15 – Measuring Every Step of the Process

07:45 – Cutting Ramp Time in Half at Harness

09:05 – Optimizing the Hiring Profile

12:02 – How Investors Use Productivity as a Health Signal

13:57 – Questions to Ask During Recruiting

18:23 – Benchmarks for Rep Attainment

20:00 – The Six Secrets of Excellence

25:34 – Productivity Leadership and the CRO

31:12 – Understanding CAC and Scalability

42:45 – The 5X Win Rate Improvement

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

The F1 Engineering Team Approach: Doug views the productivity function as the engineering team behind an F1 driver. Elite sellers are the drivers, but they shouldn't be dropped into any car. A world-class productivity strategy provides the fuel (pipeline), the GPS (RevOps), and the tools to optimize every contributor's horsepower to ensure they reach "elite" status.

De-Risk Your Career with Data: Candidates should scrutinize an organization’s health through productivity metrics, not just OTE. Key indicators include ramp time (e.g., 7 months vs. 15 months), the percentage of ramped reps achieving quota, and average deal size. If a CEO does not list sales productivity as one of their top three success metrics, it is a sign that the organization may view sales as a cost center rather than an investment engine.

Decision Velocity is Critical for Growth: In a high-growth environment, waiting to make decisions is not an option. Doug highlights the concept of one-way vs. two-way doors: identifying which decisions are reversible so the team can maintain high velocity. This agility allows an organization to respond to data in real-time and win the competitive race.

💬 Notable Quotes

"We are basically there to optimize the horsepower of every single seller in the organization." "Any change is incremental until you pile them on top of each other."

"If sales productivity is not one of [the top three metrics], I should probably walk away." "Great talent... can make hay in any field if they’re supported properly."

"You have to be willing to do the hard, hard stuff."

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse #salesproductivity

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In this episode, we sit down with Anish Agarwal, CEO and Co-founder of Traversal, for a deep dive into the substance behind the AI noise. Anish, a former Columbia professor and researcher in causal AI, shares his unique journey from academia to founding an organization disrupting the site reliability engineering (SRE) and observability space.

We explore the critical difference between "AI wrappers" and companies building genuine infrastructure, the emergence of the "Forward Deployed Engineer" in the sales pod, and how to identify technical moats in a world where models are rapidly evolving.

🙌 Thanks To Our Sponsor! Aurasell AI: https://www.aurasell.ai 🏹

Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro 01:53 – Traversal: the AI Site Reliability Engineer

03:14 – AI Wrappers vs. AI Native

04:58 – The Importance of a Technical Moat

07:27 – Human Error and Data Scarcity

08:56 – From Experimental Budgets to Production Reality

14:42 – The Rise of the "Forward Deployed Engineer"

22:50 – From PhD to Founder 34:50 – Rethinking the Observability Stack

💥 3 Biggest Lessons: A Technical Moat Lives in Infrastructure and Data: Anish argues that a sustainable AI company must be an infrastructure and data company at its core. If your value is purely in prompt engineering or simple workflows, model companies (like OpenAI) will eventually "eat" those features. A true moat is developed through context engineering—managing petabytes of data in a way that is consumable for LLMs—and functioning on systems elements haven't been trained on, such as private observability logs.

Target Workflows Where Humans Are "Bad": When assessing the longevity of an AI solution, look at the tasks it automates. If a human is already good at the task, data for that workflow is easily collected and fed into public models, making the solution easy to replicate. The most defensible AI companies solve superhuman problems—tasks humans are inherently bad at or data types (like time-series logs) that are not publicly available for training.

The Chasm Between Pilot and Production: We are entering a phase where the "experimental AI budget" is drying up. Winners in the next two years will be companies that can connect their year-long pilots to hard labor or software spend. This requires tight technical scoping and a "pre-sales mindset" that lasts long after the initial check is signed to ensure the product survives the first renewal cycle.

💬 Notable Quotes

"As much as we’ve been an AI company, we’ve been an infrastructure and data company."

"If you are creating prompts or simple workflows, the models will just keep eating those up."

"The un-sexy part of AI—how you actually deploy this and comply with regulation—that is what is now maturing."

"Sales is a first-class citizen in the company... a less good product can win if you have the right team to bring it to market."

"I’ve become a student of sales... it eventually becomes a systems engineering problem."

🙌 Thanks for listening!

This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Oli Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro.

If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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Today we tackle the noise surrounding the AI movement with Paul Klein, CEO and Founder of Browserbase. With a career spanning early-stage Twilio to raising $70 million in under two years for his own infrastructure startup, Paul brings much-needed critical thinking to the "AI bubble" debate.

We explore the bridge between old-world sales principles and modern, developer-first GTM strategies. Paul breaks down why Product-Led Growth (PLG) should be viewed as a pipeline engine rather than just a revenue machine and explains the power of the "Logo Flywheel" in creating executive FOMO.

🙌 Thanks To Our Sponsor! Aurasell AI: https://www.aurasell.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro

02:20 - AI Bubble: Hype vs. Genuine Technology Value

05:19 - Building the "Logo Flywheel"

08:42 - Raising $70M in 2 Years

10:15 - Infrastructure Power

11:13 - PLG as a Lead Engine

19:15 - Selling Inspiration, Not Just Problems

32:14 - From Twilio to Browserbase

36:00 - Building a Generational Company

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

Bring Critical Thinking to the AI Wave: While technology is creating real value, Paul warns against blindly buying into the financing hype. He emphasizes that both sellers and buyers must look for sustainable business models and long-term viability. Success in the AI era requires a "critical eye" to separate genuine innovation from experimental revenue that may not renew.

The "Logo Flywheel" is the Ultimate De-Risk: For infrastructure companies, social proof is invaluable. Executives often make decisions based on FOMO (fear of missing out), looking for established logos to validate their choice. By landing high-profile customers early, you create a flywheel effect that makes subsequent sales easier and de-risks the purchase for the next executive buyer.

PLG and Sales are Not a False Dichotomy: Paul challenges the idea that you must choose between being a PLG company or a sales-led company. Instead, use PLG as a lead engine. Letting developers self-serve allows them to "try on" the software like a jacket, while the sales team focuses on high-value "graduation" opportunities—converting active users into enterprise-level champions.

💬 Notable Quotes

"We need to bring critical thinking to the AI bubble and the AI wave."

"If you can get these great logos that inspire other companies, it's going to be much easier to sell."

"Developers... want to try it on. You don’t just buy a jacket without trying it on."

"You have to think a lot more like an angel investor or a VC than like a salesperson."

"First move is often lose... someone can copy everything... but they won’t get the 10,000 hours of customer understanding."

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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Today we sit down with John Lack, Global Head of Sales Development at Airtable, to demystify the world of software sales as a profession. John breaks down the immense rewards of the industry—from earning six figures right out of college as a successful BDR to mastering the "autonomy, mastery, and purpose" of high-level tech sales.

We explore why the BDR role is the most critical time in a career for building foundational grit and why 90% of AE struggles stem from poor front-end pipeline generation. John also shares his own unconventional journey, starting as a BDR at age 30 and scaling teams through massive growth phases at Oracle and MongoDB.

🙌 Thanks To Our Sponsor! Aurasell AI: https://www.aurasell.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro

01:53 - Software Sales as a High-Trajectory Profession

03:48 - The Six-Figure Entry: SDR/BDR Realities

06:47 - Why PG Sets You Free

10:27 - Grit and Resilience: Pushing the Boulder

16:51 - How to Assess the Right Organization 20:25 - Uncommon Investment in Development

33:28 - John’s Story: Starting as a BDR at 30

43:32 - The AE and BDR Partnership Dynamics

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

Pipeline Generation is the Foundation of Success: Most Account Executives who struggle do so because they lack consistent pipeline generation skills from the front half of the sales process. The BDR role is not just a stepping stone; it is where you learn the "meat and potatoes" of sales—doing the gritty work in the dark, from cold calls to disqualification, that eventually sets a field seller apart.

Seek "Uncommon Investment" in Development: When interviewing, candidates must challenge organizations on their training programs. A high-quality program can clearly articulate its methodology (Learn, Practice, Do), validates skills through real-world application, and provides double the industry standard of coaching time—dedicating specific hours to both pipeline strategy and individual skill development.

Habits Determine Your Fate: Success in sales is fueled by a consistent "operating rhythm" and discipline. Resilience—the ability to view 70,000+ cold calls as a way to learn rather than just experiencing rejection—and the discipline to maintain consistent prospecting habits are what ultimately determine a leader's career trajectory.

💬 Notable Quotes

"You can easily make six figures right out of college as a successful BDR and it just goes up from there".

"PG is life. It sets you free".

"You don't determine your fate. You determine your habits and your habits ultimately play a huge part in determining your fate".

"I made somewhere in the neighborhood of 70,000 plus cold calls in my life... that teaches you a certain level of resilience".

"There is no AI without APIs... AI is not going to have that first conversation and really do phenomenal qualification".

🙌 Thanks for listening!

This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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In this episode, we welcome Joe Eskenazi, CRO at Kong, to discuss the critical transition from an elite salesperson to a top-tier business leader. Joe shares how he bypassed the typical "salesperson" label by treating every interaction as a business consultancy, fueled by a concurrent MBA and an early career in sports broadcasting.

We dive deep into the reality of the CRO role—orchestrating cross-functional ecosystems rather than just closing deals—and the personal journey of managing high-intensity burnout. Joe also offers powerful advice on finding an authentic leadership voice and why organizations must prioritize leadership training to protect their talent.

🙌 Thanks To Our Sponsor! Aurasell AI: https://www.aurasell.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro

01:57 - The Reputation and Rise of a CRO

03:39 - Viewing Sales as Business Optimization

06:47 - The Calling Card for Success

13:50 - The Cross-Functional Ecosystem

19:30 - The Strength and Weakness of Intensity

25:00 - Navigating Burnout

33:14 - The Kobe Bryant Lesson

42:34 - Finding Your Own Voice

46:36 - The Era of AI Governance and APIs

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

Be a Business Leader, Not a Sales Leader: To reach the executive level, you must shift your mindset from selling products to solving strategic business challenges. Joe argues that a true business leader drives cross-functional alignment and won't do "bad deals" just for a commission because they are focused on the long-term health of the organization.

You Can’t Outwork the Job: High-performers often fall into the trap of trying to out-hustle every problem, which inevitably leads to burnout. True leadership requires ruthless prioritization, mental resilience practices like breathwork or cold plunging, and recognizing that your effectiveness is compromised if you neglect your health or family.

Never Compromise the Standard: Influenced by mentors like Cedric Pech and Luca Lazzaron, Joe believes in maintaining an unshakeable standard of excellence. He uses the "Touch the Line" philosophy to remind leaders that shortcutting small details eventually leads to personal and professional erosion.

💬 Notable Quotes "Find your voice. Find out who you are as a leader". "I tell AEs who become leaders, you can't outwork the job. Just know that". "I realized that I love what I'm doing because I love to help businesses optimize and transform". "Preparation was always my calling card... I absolutely have a big fear of failure". "There’s no AI without APIs... we like to be the picks and shovels leading to the gold".

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro.

If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

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In this episode, we sit down with Carl Mattsson, VP & GM EMEA at Kong, to discuss one of the most remarkable scaling journeys in the industry. Carl joined Kong when it was at just $1M ARR in the EMEA market and has since spearheaded its growth to nearly $100M ARR. We explore the unique sales principles that shaped the organization, the "heart surrounded by science" culture, and how Carl navigated the transition from a single-product company to a dominant AI-governance platform. Carl also shares the incredible story of a founder’s personal commitment that kept him at the company during a critical turning point.

🙌 Thanks To Our Sponsor! Aurasell AI: https://www.aurasell.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - intro

02:30 - Joining Kong at $1M ARR

04:34 - Pivoting from Family to Team Culture

07:42 - Hiring for Character over Industry Experience

17:22 - The Open Source to Enterprise Transition

22:31 - The Pasta Story: A Founder's Commitment

31:46 - Kong’s Role as the AI Governance Layer

50:39 - Scaling Careers in 4-Year Increments

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

Hire Character, Teach Technology: In the early stages of a high-growth startup, it is more effective to hire for sales character and drive than for specific industry knowledge. Carl emphasizes that while API technology can be taught, the innate curiosity and grit required to traverse from developers to the C-suite cannot be coached. Heart Surrounded by Science: While many elite sales organizations focus 99% on "science" (metrics and process), Carl advocates for a culture of kindness over niceness. This means having the "heart" to challenge each other uncomfortably and care for the human, while using "science" to provide the repeatable structure needed for scale. The "Because Of" Journey: Carl encourages leaders and reps to seek out roles where their personal contribution leaves a visible mark on the company's trajectory. Success in a "because of you" environment sharpens a salesperson more than a fully-oiled machine, preparing them for the highest levels of business leadership.

💬 Notable Quotes

"Our culture should be: we’re not going to be nice every day, but we’re going to be kind".

"I can teach it (the playbook), but I can't teach you character".

"If you're in something you believe in... I don't tend to pick up the phone, even when great people like you call in". "We put the customers first, the company second, and ourselves last".

"I look at my career in four-year increments... that’s always helped me be pretty focused about where I need to go and learn".

🙌 Thanks for listening!

This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Oli Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel! 🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com Twitter: / huntersun1corns Instagram: / huntersandunicorns Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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In this episode, we welcome Steve Rog, CRO at Cyera, one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the world.

Steve opens up about his journey from a technical networking background to becoming a high-impact leader in cybersecurity. We unpick how he landed one of the industry's most sought-after CRO roles and why Cyera’s culture of humility and teamwork keeps them winning.

Steve shares profound lessons on seeking out mentors, the critical importance of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) in delivery, and why he views leadership as a responsibility to help others reach their "ceiling".

🙌 Thanks To Our Sponsor! Aurasell AI: https://www.aurasell.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered 00:00 - In this episode

01:53 - Landing the Industry's Hottest Role

02:45 - Culture: No One is Bigger Than the Team

05:02 - The Science Behind the Playbook

06:45 - The Debt of Gratitude: Seek Mentors

13:05 - Overcoming Early Career Insecurity

35:57 - EQ: Why the Way You Deliver Matters

39:15 - A Turning Point: When My Boss Joined Me

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

EQ is About Delivery, Not Softness: Emotional Intelligence isn't just about being "likable"; it's about the strategic delivery of information. Steve emphasizes that the way a leader delivers good or bad news determines how it is received and acted upon, requiring the leader to put themselves in the other person's shoes.

Authentic Leadership is Altruistic: The most authentic form of leadership is surrounding yourself with people better than you and not being insecure about having "weapons" on your team. Steve attributes his success to Cyera's altruistic culture, where teams prioritize the customer first, the company second, and themselves last.

Active Mentorship Drives Careers: You cannot wait for an introduction; you must proactively seek out mentors and ask for help. Steve advocates for paying this forward by investing in everyone from BDRs upward, ensuring team members have the guidance they need to navigate "highs and lows" without entering a tailspin.

💬 Notable Quotes

"I love seeing the team win. I love seeing career progression and I love the thought that I'm helping people achieve their career goals".

"No one person is bigger than the team".

"Measure six times, cut once. It's the philosophy across the company".

"You almost have to have imposter syndrome to go figure it out". "You can't coach charisma, you can't coach likability... and you can't really coach desire".

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Oli Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro.

If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

SEO Tags: Steve Rog, Cyera, CRO, Sales Leadership, Cybersecurity, Servant Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Mentorship, GTM Strategy, Force Management, Career Progression, Software Sales, Hunters & Unicorns

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Jason Eubanks is back to answer the question every revenue leader is asking: Will AI kill sales jobs or make great sellers unstoppable?

He drops hard stats (91% of B2B teams missed quota, top 25 % drive 80% of revenue at 11× productivity) and explains why AI is a superpower for elite performers, a wake-up call for the bottom quartile, and a complete game-changer for SDR outreach, buyer trust, and hiring. If you lead a sales org, this 35-minute conversation is required listening. 🙌

Thanks to Our Sponsor! Aurasell AI

The first AI-native GTM platform: https://aurasell.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro & Jason returns

01:38 - AI: replace or superpower?

03:07 - Top 25% dominate revenue

04:38 - 91% teams miss quota

09:40 - AI’s impact on SDRs

12:46 - Outreach volume vs buyer fatigue

16:52 - Human trust + real-time signals

25:14 - Hiring for the AI era

28:25 - Will AI make sellers lazy?

31:12 - Keeping top talent engaged

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

AI Widens the Performance Gap Top 25 % already produce 11× more — AI will make them unstoppable while exposing under-performers.
Bottom Quartile Must Adapt Fast If you don’t aggressively adopt AI tools, you’ll fall further behind as others 2–4× their productivity.
Hire Character, Teach Skills Work ethic and engagement can’t be automated — get these right and AI turns good sellers into great ones.

💬 Notable Quotes “AI will be a superpower… it will unlock new levels of productivity that allow your top sellers to become even more productive.” “91 % of all B2B sales teams didn’t hit their revenue targets.” “80 % of the revenue was generated by only 25 % of the sellers.” “I don’t buy that AI makes sellers lazy — laziness exists for other reasons.”

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In this episode, we talk to Jason Eubanks, CEO and Co-founder of Aurasell (our brand NEW Sponsor!), about his transition from a 20-year go-to-market operator to a builder and founder.

Jason shares the exact moment he became obsessed with solving a major product problem, the complexity and low productivity caused by massive tool sprawl (over 20 products) and unintentional data silos in the go-to-market stack. He details the crucial steps of founding Aurasell: partnering with a complementary CTO, validating the huge market problem (estimating over $1 billion in services spend), and securing a significant seed round to build the world's first AI-native CRM platform focused on customer-problem-centric design.

🙌 Thanks To Our Sponsor!

Aurasell AI: https://www.aurasell.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

01:36 - Founder Journey & Co-Founders

03:24 - From Operator to 3:15 a.m. Spark

05:00 - VC Detour & Market Gap

07:42 - Tool Sprawl & Unified AI Context

11:22 - Mapping the Problem to $30M Seed

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

The Spark of Product Obsession: Jason’s 20-year career as a CRO never led him to chase founding a company—until he woke up obsessing over a core product problem firsthand: the low productivity and operational cost caused by 20+ disconnected tools in the go-to-market stack.

Tool Sprawl Handicaps AI: The reliance on 20+ legacy SaaS products unintentionally creates data silos where crucial contextual metadata lives, rather than the core CRM. When companies try to "sprinkle" AI on this brittle structure, they severely handicap the potential for high-quality automation.

The Opportunity is in AI Native: To maximize productivity and solve the tool sprawl problem, the necessary solution is a single, AI-native platform built with a unified logic layer. This approach moves beyond small "AI tricks" to actionable automation that frees expensive sellers to attack the market.

💬 Notable Quotes

"I don't wake up at 3 in the morning and obsess over product. And then one day I did wake up at 3:15 in the morning obsessing over a product problem."

"I think it's important to make sure that your co-founding partners are complementary in skill set, like Minded and Alind on the problem."

"On average, every dollar of software you spend, historically has carried with it $3 of services." "The problem... is that those sellers are being asked to interface with... the contextual awareness that allows us to use AI to automate with high quality outcomes, often that contextual awareness lives in the metadata."

🙌 Thanks for listening!

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Twitter: / huntersun1corns

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SEO Tags: Jason Eubanks, Aurasell, AI Native CRM, Founder Journey, CRO to CEO, Tool Sprawl, Data Silos, Sales Productivity, GTM Platform, Seed Round, Co-founder, Venture Partner #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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In this episode of the Great Leaders UK series, we welcome Emma Maslen, author, angel investor, and founder of inspir'em. Emma draws on her successful career in large organizations like SAP and BMC to discuss the crucial difference between theoretical playbooks and their real-world, behavioral application. She stresses that the playbook is a framework to drive curiosity and risk mitigation, not a tick-box exercise. Emma also shares why networking is a constant professional necessity, detailing the common mistakes people make and how leaders can intentionally build their networks to gain knowledge and accelerate their careers. 🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors! PGAI: https://www.getpg.ai Selr: https://selr.ai 🏹 Key Topics Covered 01:40 - What's inspir'em? 03:06 - It's about curiosity, not checklists 04:36 - The flaw of the "100% Med-Pic score" 06:50 - Why the playbook can't be a preach 11:09 - Leaders not present during sales training 12:05 - Verbalizing questions and intentionally 14:13 - Customizing the discovery process 16:48 - Discovery is a Two-Way Dating Process 18:05 - Career Shift from corporate MD 25:37 - The Power of Networking 30:50 - Good vs. Bad Networking 35:51 - Networking for internal success. 41:05 - The value of community 51:37 - The value of coaching 💥 3 Biggest Lessons: The Playbook is a Framework for Curiosity, Not a Checklist: When Meddic, Med-PICC, or any framework becomes a mere tick-box exercise, it becomes pointless. It should instead function as a tool to continuously drive curiosity, expose risks in your pipeline, and prompt deeper questions. Winning Requires Leadership Buy-In (Not Dictation): Sales training fails when executives and leaders see it as something "done to the sales team," often not even attending the training themselves. Successful adoption requires the playbook to be a dialogue driven by empathy and shared accountability. Networking is a Professional Must (Not Just a Job Hunt): Many people only realize they have a networking problem when they desperately need a new job or advice. Good networking is about proactive investment: focusing on who you can help, giving back to the network, and making small, specific asks to gain knowledge, not just taking. 💬 Notable Quotes "There are still a lot of organizations out there that think Meddpicc is something to be done to the sales team." "If it's become a tick box exercise, you might as well just get rid of it because it becomes pointless." "It should be a framework to drive curiosity." "People feel like networking is about finding another job rather than being better at your current job." "I once said to him, why are you mentoring me because I'm like here and you're here and he said, because you've got a whole different perspective." 🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel! 🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com Twitter: / huntersun1corns Instagram: / huntersandunicorns Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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In this episode of Great Leaders UK, we are joined by Julia Weimer, Director of Solution Engineering UKI at Wiz, to discuss the critical, often underutilized role of pre-sales in driving elite sales execution.

Julia shares her unique journey from Security Analyst in a SOC to leading a high-performing SE team , emphasizing why Sales Engineers must be viewed as equal business partners to Account Executives, not just technical support. She walks us through the importance of symbiotic relationships , leveraging structure like MEDDIC , and the power of empowering SEs to build technical champions.

🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors!

PG AI: https://www.getpg.ai

Selr: https://selr.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

02:40 - SE/AE Relationships that Lead to Failure

05:27 - The Ideal SE Profile

07:40 - SEs as Deal Realists

11:50 - Driving Cross-Functional Alignment

16:15 - Nurturing Talent: Teaching Sales Methodology

23:45 - From SOC to SE: The Biggest Career Risk

27:57 - Diversity in Tech

39:17 - Recruiting Priorities

41:23 - The Motherhood/Career Balance

42:18 - Hiring for Entrepreneurial Mindset in SEs

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

The SE Superpower is Reality: The sales engineer's superpower is the ability to look into the reality of an opportunity and be a realist about its progression. This means SEs must be empowered to act as the credible technical person and trusted advisor in the room.

Structure the Sales Instincts: For many technically inclined SEs, the sales aspect is not natural. Leaders must provide structure (like teaching MEDDIC) and enablement to help SEs embrace sales methodology as a new skill set.

Symbiosis Drives Success: Amazing things happen when sales and pre-sales embrace a symbiotic relationship and work together. This partnership ensures accountability where neither the AE nor the SE is left with an uneven workload, helping to avoid deals from falling "out of whack".

💬 Notable Quotes "Sales engineering should always be treated as an equal partner to sales." "It was probably the biggest career risk that I've ever taken." "The balance is what I seek, and if you can find people that are really great with their people's skills and relatable... and also really like to solve problems. It's a perfect blend of both." "If you give us that type of platform and that type of respect in an opportunity, then the world is our oyster." "I really find that the sales engineering role is this gem of a role for those of us who are a little bit introverted, we really like tech and our skill sets are with the tech."

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In this episode of the Playbook Universe, we speak with Kristian Kamber, CEO and co-founder of SPLX AI, about his journey from elite sales roles at AppDynamics and ZScaler to launching his own AI security startup. Kristian shares the inner drive and lessons learned, from a family restaurant business to the high-stakes world of Silicon Valley playbooks, that prepared him to lead a fast-moving, deeply technical company. He reveals the critical steps in finding the right technical co-founder, securing investment, and achieving product-market fit by listening intently to customers. This is essential listening for any sales professional considering the leap into entrepreneurship.

🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors!

PG AI: https://www.getpg.ai

Selr: https://selr.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro

02:17 - The Inner Motivation to Be a Founder

03:44 - The Hard Decision: Leaving a Sales Career

04:47 - The Co-Founder Hunt and Validation

06:07 - Using Sales Skills to Vet an Idea

08:55 - The Turning Point: Securing Initial Investment

11:46 - The CEO Upskilling Curve: Investor Relations

15:28 - Sales Mindset as a Competitive Advantage

17:01 - Product Pivot: Listening to the Customer

20:19 - SPLX AI's Funding and Growth Timeline

24:30 - Evolving the CEO Role: From Sales to Strategy

27:38 - Hiring A-Players for an Early-Stage Startup

30:00 - The Unconventional Sales Mindset in the US

38:05 - The Importance of Moving Fast in Your Career

40:40 - Building Champions Outside Your Geo

47:49 - The 90-Day Product Innovation Cycle

50:46 - Advice for Aspiring Founders

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

The Best Founder is the Best Salesperson: A founder must be the best salesperson in the company, constantly selling to customers, investors, partners, and potential hires. Sales experience provides a crucial competitive advantage in validating the product, building trust, and driving aggressive motion.

Finding a Co-Founder is Non-Negotiable: A sales-focused founder must pair with a deeply technical co-founder to balance skills and gain investor confidence. Kristian used his sales network and deep discovery skills to rigorously vet his co-founder's technical genius and commitment to the idea.

Master the Market, Not Just the Playbook: While sales playbooks are essential, true success in a fast-moving market like AI security requires listening to customers and being willing to pivot immediately. Kristian's team shifted their product focus after realizing the European market wasn't ready, proving that market adoption dictates the product roadmap.

💬 Notable Quotes "I'm super coachable when it comes to things I don't know, but I'm super strict about things I'm 100% I know how to do it." "I knew I need to find the right co-founder who knows how to build a tech so I can do with him the business because I know what I can't do." "You should thank God you made your co-founder. That was the turning point for me. I said, wow." "I knew I need to sell before I even have a product." "The biggest job of an early stage founder is getting term sheets. It's the biggest job."

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Koutis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

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In this episode of East Coast Elite, we unpack the remarkable career journey of David Goodmark, VP of Sales at Wiz, a story that serves as a masterclass in strategic career building.

Dave shares how he consistently prioritized mentorship and skill acquisition over title or compensation, knowingly taking roles as an Individual Contributor (IC) after being a leader just to learn from the best in the industry. He discusses the power of the Playbook culture, the concept of reciprocal accountability that fosters deep team trust, and the importance of "earning your way in" to elite networks. This is a must-listen for anyone looking to scale their career by following great leaders and building an unshakeable skill set.

🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors!

PG:AI: https://www.getpg.ai

Selr: https://selr.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro

02:09 - Sales Career Launched by Mentorship

04:44 - The Shift to Software Sales

10:48 - Earning Your Way In: The Playbook

17:19 - Stepping Back: Leader to IC at AppD

23:20 - The Long Game: Mike's Mentorship

33:10 - Inspection vs. Inspiration

35:06 - The Two-Sided Champion Equation

40:48 - The Wiz Turnaround Story

51:00 - Advice for Aspiring Sales Leaders

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

Follow the Leader, Not the Title: The most critical career decisions involve prioritizing who you work for a great leader and mentor, over a higher title, more money, or better short-term comfort. Dave consistently took an IC role after being a leader just to acquire a stronger, more teachable skill set from elite organizations.

Master the Two-Sided Account: Career success and gaining champions is a two-sided equation. You must continuously add value (make deposits) to the professional relationships you rely on, and not merely withdraw favors. You can't draw from an account that has no deposits.

Culture Needs Candor and Accountability: A highly effective sales culture operates with reciprocal accountability. The relationship must be honest and direct enough to allow for candid feedback (like being treated as siblings), which ultimately drives the mission faster.

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes "You could be a not great leader and have amazing people and do okay. And you could be the best leader on the planet Earth and have really bad people and you're going to be in trouble." "It doesn't matter how little you think someone might know about what they're trying to teach you... If you could try to take one thing away from these interactions..." "When you do treat each other, almost like you are siblings... It actually kind of creates a welcoming environment and atmosphere which only helps us get towards the mission faster when we're working and when we're building." "What your title is doesn't matter... build a skill set that teaches you how to do something to the point where you are consciously understanding of it." "You can't withdraw from an account that has no deposits in it."

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In this episode of the East Coast Elite series, we sit down with Nakul Mandan, founder and partner at Audacious Ventures, to discuss his unique approach to early-stage investing.

After an 18-year career, Nakul discovered a powerful differentiator: an in-house playbook for recruiting exceptional talent and building scalable sales engines. He shares how his experience with a legendary sales leader transformed his investment philosophy, leading him to double down on "founder quality" and "10x individual contributors". We dive into tangible advice for founders on everything from identifying an urgent problem to solve to knowing when to hire their first sales team. Nakul also provides invaluable guidance for salespeople and execs looking to break into the world of venture capital.

🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors!

PG:AI: https://www.getpg.ai

Selr: https://selr.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro & Background

02:16 - The Audacious Ventures Thesis

04:30 - A Sales Legend's Impact

06:14 - The Genesis of Audacious

10:48 - Founder, Market, Urgency

14:40 - Coaching Founder-Led Sales

18:57 - The Repeatable Pipeline

20:51 - When to Hire Your First Sellers

24:20 - The Hands-On VC Advantage

27:40 - The Sales Comp Sticker Shock

29:34 - Good vs. Great in Recruiting

36:15 - How Reps Evaluate Startups

43:29 - Evaluating Equity Packages

48:36 - Double Trigger Vesting Explained

50:20 - Hiring Your First Sales Leader

56:31 - The Hybrid Sales Role

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

Prioritize a Founder's Quality Over the Idea: The single biggest ingredient for startup success is the founder's ability to be a "force of nature" and attract other exceptional people. A great team can pivot and solve problems, but a great idea with a mediocre team is far less likely to succeed.

The Problem Must Be Urgent: When evaluating an idea, ask if it solves an urgent problem for the buyer, not just an important one. People only pay for solutions to problems that they need to solve right now, and this urgency is a key indicator of a large, scalable market opportunity.

Recruiting is Relentless: The difference between a "good" hire and a "great" hire is massive. Founders and VCs must be relentless in their pursuit of "10x" talent, a person who is in the 99th percentile of their profession. This requires deep back-channeling, a focus on recruiting as a core competency, and a willingness to pay for top-tier talent.

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes "People don't solve important but not urgent problems. People solve important and urgent problems". "The single biggest ingredient to startup success is the density of exceptional people in a company". "No VC can help you get to product market fit. But if you can get to product market fit, beyond that, there are some... frameworks that you can apply to build a scalable sales engine". "If you don't have an ICP, you're probably not ready for sellers". "I would argue that the difference between good and great is the same as the difference between good and absolutely horrible. It's light and day".

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In this episode of the East Coast Elite series, we sit down with Madina Burkov, VP of Global Sales Development at Harness, to break down everything you need to know about starting a career in tech sales as a Sales Development Representative (SDR).

Madina shares insights into the essential skills for success, how to assess if a company's SDR program is right for you, and the critical role SDRs play in generating pipeline and driving revenue. We also discuss practical advice on how to stand out during the application process, the importance of a growth mindset, and why the "gift of the gab" isn't the only path to a successful sales career. 🏹

Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro

01:48 - Madina’s role and the purpose of an SDR

03:36 - How SDRs partner with Account Executives

06:22 - Key metrics for measuring SDR success

08:03 - What to look for when joining a tech sales company

09:13 - The essential qualities of a successful SDR

11:02 - Why sales is a skill that can be learned

14:49 - How deep an SDR needs to understand the technology

16:06 - Enablement and ongoing training for SDRs

19:20 - The SDR role in a long-term sales career

22:59 - Handling rejection

33:07 - Choosing startup vs. established organization

40:51 - The value of being proactive in your job search

47:43 - The benefits of working in an office vs. remote

51:51 - How to stand out when applying for an SDR role

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

Sales is a Learned Skill: Don't be discouraged if you don't have the "gift of the gab." Sales is a skill that can be learned and taught through practice and a strong growth mindset. The ability to be curious, ask good questions, and be coachable are key attributes for success.

Quality Over Quantity: As an SDR, your focus should be on the quality of the meetings you book, not just the sheer number of them. High-quality meetings that turn into qualified opportunities are what AEs and sales leaders truly care about, and wasting an AE's time can damage your reputation within the company.

Be Proactive: To break into the tech sales industry, especially as a new applicant, you must be proactive. Don't just submit an application and wait. Do your research on the company and its challenges, and then use LinkedIn to find and reach out to the hiring manager and other SDRs. This demonstrates your ability to do the job and helps you stand out from other candidates.

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes "The SDR role in tech sales... it's not for everyone, it's a grind, it's a tough, tough job". "You have to be genuinely interested in the product and what it is in the space as well in order to do well, otherwise it's going to be really, really tough". "Usually an executive or a person would get hundreds of emails and really only a handful of phone calls". "Being proactive... that's the key... and not just submitting an application and waiting for somebody to get back to you". "What do you think is going to really set you up for success, right? And what kind of organization is going to allow you to be successful?". #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse #EastCoastElite

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In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Amber Selking, a high-performance coach with a Ph.D. in Applied Sports Psychology. Dr. Selking works with elite athletes, executives, and organizations to help them achieve their best.

She's the mental performance coach for LSU football and the Chief Culture Officer at Lipper, a global manufacturing company. Amber unpacks the science behind high performance, explaining how thoughts, emotions, and mindset directly impact physical and professional success. We dive into practical strategies like mental rehearsal, self-talk, and reframing failure, offering actionable advice for anyone in a high-pressure environment.

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro & background

03:00 - The core science of human high performance

08:00 - The impact of mental rehearsal on the brain

12:30 - Mental performance for high-pressure professionals

16:30 - Understanding the power of self-talk

22:30 - How to apply self-talk and mental drills

28:00 - The power of breathwork in high-stress situations

35:00 - A new perspective on setbacks and failure

43:30 - The importance of mindset in leadership

49:30 - The difference between positive and productive thinking

51:30 - Building a championship mindset

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

Thoughts Are Electrical Signals: Our thoughts are not just ephemeral ideas; they are real electrical signals that influence our emotions, physical state, and ultimately, our performance. To perform at a high level, you must take control of your self-talk and choose productive thoughts over unproductive ones.

Mindsets Are Bicep Curls for the Brain: Just as repeated exercises build muscle, repeated thoughts build mindsets. These mindsets act like filters on your brain, shaping how you perceive and respond to challenges. By intentionally practicing certain thoughts, you can build a "championship mindset" to handle pressure and setbacks effectively.

Embrace Failure as First Attempt In Learning: In high performance, failure isn't a sign of weakness—it's a form of data. By changing your mindset to view setbacks as valuable information, you can focus on rapid recovery and iteration rather than emotional volatility. This approach allows you to learn from your mistakes and quickly get back to the next play.

🙌 Thanks for listening!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes "I help people deliver their best when their best is needed... I teach science." "The brain doesn't know the difference between what's real and what's imagined. So mental rehearsal actually builds talent at the neurological level." "Winning's hard, guys... And mental performance isn't about the sunshine and roses of thinking everything's wonderful, but rather trying to drive the consistency that it takes to deliver your best when your best is needed." "What starts the process? ...Thoughts. Who controls your thoughts? ...We do." "In terms of our mindset, F-A-I-L, it simply stands for First Attempt In Learning." Tags: #highperformance #performancecoaching #huntersandunicorns

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In this episode of the East Coast Elite series, we sit down with Liam Mulcahy, Operating Partner at Kleiner Perkins.

Having worked with over 100 startups, from first-ever sales rep to operating partner, Liam shares his unfiltered playbook for success in the chaotic world of early-stage companies. We cover how to identify the right opportunities, what a founder-led sales motion looks like, the red flags to watch for in an interview, and the mindset needed to thrive in a high-risk, high-reward environment. Liam also shares his famous cardboard cutout story that landed him a job at MongoDB, a company he helped take public.

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro

01:53 - The Operating Partner Role at KP

05:18 - From Mongo to VC

09:34 - The Cardboard Cutout Story

11:53 - Product-Out vs. Customer-In

13:30 - Intrinsic Motivation for Startups

17:39 - The "Revenue-Generating PM"

19:53 - Qualifying a Startup as a Rep

23:26 - The Player-Coach Myth

27:49 - Scaling a Sales Team with Pods

30:34 - Evaluating Pre-Revenue Companies

35:22 - Finding the Right Company

40:30 - Red Flags when Interviewing Founders

48:09 - Faster Enterprise Buying Cycles

50:13 - The Future of Sales and AI

55:16 - The Value of Sales Training

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

The DNA of a Founder: Look for founders who see sales as a first-class citizen and have a high emotional resonance with the problem they are solving, not just a homework assignment from a board.

The "Player-Coach" Myth: The idea of a single person acting as both a top rep and a team leader is a "misnomer" that often leads to failure at an early-stage startup. It's better to hire great reps first, and then bring in a leader once the sales motion is proven.

Bet on Yourself: The best early-stage hires have an intrinsic motivation to prove they can succeed in a chaotic environment. They are not just looking for a prestigious role but for a chance to build something from the ground up. 🙌

Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes "What is the condition where a company would be so desperate and in pain they'd want what we have? And if that's the case, will they pay us anything?". "I bought a cardboard cutout of myself... It just said, can you see me working here?". "If I'm going to hire you as a founding sales rep, I need you to walk through the door on day one as a great sales rep. I can't have to enable you to do the actual function.". "The best early stage hires I've made is they're like revenue-generating product managers.". "If you ask me in 10 years, there're going to be more or less salespeople, I'd say less... the markets are getting exponentially larger... and the models are getting better, faster to be able to do full jobs.".

softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse #EastCoastElite

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In this episode of The Playbook Universe, we sit down with Paul Cap, Chief Revenue Officer at MongoDB, to explore the core leadership principles and sales execution strategies that have driven one of the most explosive growth stories in tech. Paul shares his personal path from finance into sales, the pivotal mindset shifts that helped him lead at scale, and the mission-first approach that keeps MongoDB thriving. We dive into building high-performance teams, the early indicators of future CRO talent, and what separates great companies from the rest. Whether you're a first-line manager or a seasoned sales leader, this conversation delivers hard-earned lessons from the frontlines. 🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors! PG AI: https://www.getpg.ai Selr: https://selr.ai 🏹 Key Topics Covered: 00:00 Intro 02:20 From Finance to Tech Sales 06:03 Lessons from 10+ Years at MongoDB 11:41 How to Spot Future CROs 16:32 Navigating Risk and Scaling with Vision 21:40 Coaching the Next Generation 27:15 Pressure, Competition, and Mental Agility 34:00 Culture and Character in Hypergrowth 40:28 Aligning Vision with Execution 47:10 Mission-Driven Leadership 52:40 The Real Role of a CRO 💥 3 Biggest Lessons: Longevity at a hypergrowth company comes from aligning with its evolving mission — not just meeting KPIs. Great CROs are developed early. The best ones were already overperforming as frontline reps. Culture isn’t built top-down — it’s reinforced daily by how leaders show up and how teams respond to pressure. 🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel! 🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns: Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com Twitter: / huntersun1corns Instagram: / huntersandunicorns Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog 💬 Notable Quotes: “Your job as a CRO is to turn strategy into execution — at scale.” “You don’t just hire top talent, you cultivate it from within.” “Sales isn’t just a function. When done right, it becomes a culture.” #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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In this episode of the East Coase Elite series, we sit down with Yotam Segev, co-founder and CEO of Cyera, to explore the incredible journey of building a cybersecurity unicorn. From the early days of a "B-minus" idea, Yotam shares how a relentless focus on customer feedback, not internal opinions, became the company’s compass.

He reveals the difficult but essential pivot from founder-led sales to building a world-class team, the qualities he looks for in top-tier sellers, curiosity, paranoia, and hunger and the mindset that propelled Cyera to nearly $100M ARR and a $6B valuation in just four years.

🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors! PGAI: https://www.getpg.ai & Selr: https://selr.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro

01:55 - From the military to founding Cyera

05:30 - Why *** is the only compass that matters

08:02 - How top salespeople act

09:16 - The importance of a humble approach

12:22 - The hardest part of the early stages

16:01 - Validating a hypothesis with "dollars"

20:00 - The impact of moving to the U.S.

20:31 - From founder-led sales to building the first team

29:19 - The market transition

32:39 - The three characteristics of a great seller

37:05 - The balance between a playbook and excitement

40:02 - The importance of energy and mindset

49:43 - The core dynamic of the co-founder relationship

52:17 - Cyera's North Sta

54:47 - Why top talent should join Cyera

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

Your Compass is the Customer: Your opinions don't matter; building a great product means constantly listening to and learning from your customers' pain points.

Sales is a Team Sport: In an early-stage company, a founder must stay engaged in the sales process to build trust, as a salesperson alone can't provide the same assurance.

Mindset is Everything: The difference between an average and exceptional performer is often their attitude. Bring energy, curiosity, and a relentless drive to everything you do.

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes "Your idea sounds like a B-minus and that's a compliment. We're investing in the team, and if the customers tell us they want to buy that, we'll build it". "We don't build products according to those opinions. Maybe your mother. We build products according to the customers with a very attentive view to the customers' pain and to the guidance they're providing us". "A company only exists, the oxygen for a company is business. It's a net new ARR. That's the oxygen for these companies that we're all playing in". "The journey itself is the price. And it's not a full lack of ambition. Like we want to take over the world if we could and we're walking towards it". "The best sellers... are curious, genuinely interested, caring about the customers, the challenges, the pains, what they're trying to accomplish, why they're trying to accomplish it, why have they not accomplished it yet again and again and again".

softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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In this episode of the East Coast Elite series, we sit down with Austin Stefani, CRO at DBT Labs, to discuss his career journey from EMC to his current role.

austin shares his fundamental principles for sales leadership, emphasizing the importance of making every individual on the team successful.

We learn about his focus on skill acquisition, the value of learning from challenges, and why empathy is crucial for both employees and customers. Austin breaks down his "playbook" for problem identification and how to apply it at various stages of a company's growth, from building a sales process and managing pipeline to scaling international teams.

🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors!

PGAI: https://www.getpg.ai

Seller: https://selr.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro

00:58 - Flipping the org chart upside down

01:48 - The fundamental principles of sales

05:00 - Focusing on productivity

07:13 - Using frameworks for problem identification

09:17 - Translating a sales mindset to a leadership role

12:48 - Skill training and retention

18:56 - The benefits of non-linear career progression

24:00 - Learning through setbacks and hard times

32:27 - Why Austin chose to leave Rubrik for DBT

35:35 - Empathy as a core leadership trait

41:31 - The biggest challenges and learnings as a CRO

43:35 - The advantages of in-house company culture

49:55 - The playbook as a blueprint

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

Flipping the Org Chart: Leaders are overhead, and their primary job is to make every individual sales rep successful.

Embrace the Hard Times: The only way to get through tough situations is through them, which is how you acquire new skills and become more resilient.

Playbooks are Blueprints: A playbook is a framework for problem identification, not a step-by-step instruction manual to be applied universally.

🙌 Thanks for listening!

This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro

If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunico...

Twitter: / huntersun1corns

Instagram: / huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunico...

💬 Notable Quotes

"If you're in one job and you just go the next job and the job after that and you're just learning from people that are exactly like you, there's only so much skill that you can get."

"Productivity is like the most important metric and everything services that."

"The leaders that do that really well will be able to grow with the company."

"I think it's a blueprint, not an instruction manual."

"Trust is generated by the quality of the questions you ask. The amount of try it next time like try talking... If somebody comes and asks you... 'I need some advice or can I pick your brain', next time somebody says that try saying nothing but questions about 10 minutes into this. The person will reach across the table, grab your arm and say, 'Oh my gosh, you solved my problem.' And they'll leave and you'll just be like, 'I didn't say a word.'"

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In this episode of the East Coast Elite series, we sit down with Brian Trowbridge, VP of Sales at FireHydrant, to explore the brutal truths of startup life.

From making high-stakes decisions with limited runway to navigating board dynamics and founder alignment, Brian unpacks what it really takes to succeed in an early-stage company.

We dive deep into how he evaluated FireHydrant before joining, what he looks for in founders and boards, and how sales leaders should think about burn rate, valuations, and growth expectations. If you're in sales and considering a startup role, this episode is a must-watch.

🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors!

PG AI: https://www.getpg.ai

Selr: https://selr.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 - Intro

01:00 - Startup chaos

05:00 From Startup Grind to Scalable Sales

09:17 The Hardest Hiring Lessons

13:46 Selling Without a Playbook

18:24 Coaching Reps to Think Critically

22:40 Building Repeatable Pipeline

29:03 Staying Grounded as a Sales Leader

35:17 Career Advice for Aspiring CROs

42:00 The Power of Humility in Leadership

50:30 The Role of Curiosity and Grit

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

Chaos is a Feature, Not a Bug: Embrace early-stage ambiguity—true sales leadership is forged in unpredictability.

Hiring is Everything: The reps you bring on will define your success. Make every hire count.

Ask the Bigger Questions: Scaling isn’t just tactics—it’s teaching your team how to think.

🙌 Thanks for listening!

This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro

If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: / huntersun1corns

Instagram: / huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes

“If you have a mediocre RD, avoid it. I would even avoid a good company if I didn’t have a good RD.”

“You’re not just asking ‘did I make my number?’ You’re asking: does this company even exist in 12 months?”

“There’s no bigger mistake than hiring the wrong person—it costs you a year.”

“Some founders just burn through VPs. You need to know that before you join.”

“You’re wearing a hundred hats and trying to hit growth targets with minimal runway. It’s not for everyone.”

Tags #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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In this episode of East Coast Elite, Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne sit down with Martin Mao, co-founder and CEO of Chronosphere.

From his early days at Uber to founding one of the most disruptive startups in observability, Martin shares what it takes to navigate uncertainty, build conviction, and win at scale. We dive into the mindset shifts behind leaving a tech giant to build something bold, how Martin sees the future of observability, and what it means to lead with clarity in a rapidly evolving market. If you're a founder, engineer, or operator seeking real insights from a builder at the top, this one’s for you.

Key Topics Covered

00:00 Intro

02:10 What Makes a Strong Founder

04:48 Why Martin Left Uber

09:22 Founding Chronosphere

13:41 Competing with Industry Giants

19:05 The Startup Learning Curve

26:38 Early GTM Decisions

33:20 Scaling with Intent

39:40 Balancing Vision and Feedback

46:14 Leadership Lessons in Hypergrowth

50:12 What’s Next for Chronosphere 52:49 Closing Reflections

3 Biggest Lessons

Leaving comfort for conviction: Martin’s leap from Uber shows that bold moves start with internal clarity, not external certainty.

Product-market fit is just the beginning: Real traction comes from execution, team culture, and continuous iteration.

Disruption requires ruthless focus: Be crystal clear on who you serve and why your product matters—then say no to everything else.

Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: / huntersun1corns

Instagram: / huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

Notable Quotes “You don’t need to have all the answers before you start.” “It’s not about being better—it’s about being different in a meaningful way.” “Startups work when you're solving real pain, not just building cool tech.”

This episode is sponsored by SELR & PG:ai

softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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In this episode of Hunters & Unicorns, East Coast Elite, we sit down with Brian McCarthy, President of Global Revenue and Field Operations at Rubrik. With a remarkable track record scaling high-performing teams and navigating through IPOs, Brian shares the foundational principles that shaped his leadership, putting people first, leading with love, and building structures that drive consistent performance. We explore how Brian transitioned from star seller to visionary leader, how he earned unshakeable team loyalty, and why systems like WANs can revolutionize your sales coaching. If you're serious about leading at scale with integrity, this is a must-watch.

🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors!

PG AI: https://www.getpg.ai

Selr: https://selr.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 – Intro & First Sales Job

04:20 – Choosing Leadership Over Sales

08:00 – WANs: Coaching with Metrics

12:10 – Building Loyalty Through Care

16:15 – Sales vs. Leadership Thinking

21:00 – IPO Learnings & Pressure

26:10 – Territory, Quota & Fairness

31:25 – Love-Driven Leadership

36:20 – Hiring for Intellect & Agility

42:05 – Structuring First-Line Teams

48:40 – Closing Advice & Reflections

💥 3 Biggest Lessons

Real leadership is people-first – Helping someone grow, even if it means leaving your team, is true leadership.
Structure drives consistency – Weekly Activity Numbers (WANs) give both clarity and accountability to teams.
Love creates loyalty – When leaders genuinely will the best for their people, performance naturally follows.

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro.

If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes “If this is better for you and your family, leave. I will help you get promoted.” “You either really care about people and their development, or you don’t.” “Love is willing the best for others—and that’s how I lead.”

softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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In this episode of Sales SOS, Hunters & Unicorns co-founders Ollie and Simon go head-to-head on one of the most misunderstood, yet business-critical skills in sales leadership: how to consistently hire A-players. Drawing from two decades of experience working with the world's most elite sales teams, we break down the true mindset, mechanics, and strategy behind world-class recruitment — and why most leaders are getting it completely wrong. What we cover:

Why the super-rep mindset is killing your team-building potential
The 3 stages of a winning recruitment process: Pipeline. Discovery. Close.
The 3 WHYs vs the 3 WHY NOTs — the ultimate framework to avoid dropouts
Feedback loops, debrief sessions, and how to control the narrative between interviews
Why you should never make an offer unless you know they’ll say yes
Backchanneling: how the best CROs use it to recruit like assassins — and how to avoid blowing it up

Whether you're a first-time hiring manager or a seasoned VP, this is your playbook for hiring without luck or guesswork.

🔗 Subscribe & Connect If this episode resonated, drop a comment, like the video, and hit subscribe. We’re here to help you build teams that win.

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After 200+ episodes and thousands of hours with the world’s top SaaS sales leaders, Hunters & Unicorns presents Sales SOS raw, practical conversations that dive deep into the mindset, strategies, and frameworks behind elite career growth in tech sales.

In this episode, Hunters and Unicorns very own Simon and Ollie answer four critical questions every ambitious sales professional should be asking:

What’s the common thread among top-tier CROs? Discover the power of “Career Champions” and why no one gets to the top alone.
Why are you being overlooked for promotions? It’s not always about performance. We unpack how alignment, visibility, and internal champions dictate career momentum.
How do you position yourself as the irresistible first pick? We share hard-earned insights into how the best salespeople get fast-tracked for leadership roles.
How do you break the glass ceiling — and stay there? From skill mastery to the right strategic choices, we talk about what it really takes to go all the way.

This episode is for ambitious AEs, aspiring leaders, and current managers ready to level up with clarity, intent, and strategy. If this episode hit home, don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe. We drop practical gold every week.

SaaSSales #CROCareer #TechSalesLeadership #SalesSOS #HuntersAndUnicorns

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In this episode of Hunters & Unicorns, Great Leaders UK, we sit down with Marina Ayton, VP UK&I at Wiz and co-author of The Female Sales Leader, to explore her remarkable journey from first-line to second-line leadership and back again.

Marina shares hard-won lessons on building and recruiting world-class teams, navigating rapid promotions, overcoming imposter syndrome, leveraging EQ alongside IQ, and championing diversity in sales. Whether you’re an aspiring sales leader or a seasoned executive, Marina’s playbook offers actionable insights to elevate your career and drive lasting impact.

🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors!

PG AI: https://www.getpg.ai

Selr: https://selr.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 – Intro & Career Beginnings

01:30 – Transitioning from first line to VP

06:00 – Building the First Enterprise Team

12:00 – Transition to Major Deals Leadership

18:00 – Stepping into Second-Line Role

24:00 – Crafting Vision & Enabling Teams

30:00 – When to Step Back & Pivot

36:00 – Imposter Syndrome as Superpower

42:00 – EQ vs. IQ in Modern Sales

48:00 – Writing The Female Sales Leader

54:00 – Reflections & Future Outlook

💥 3 Biggest Lessons

Embrace Humility & Listen First – Early listening builds credibility; understand before imposing change.
Leverage EQ to Drive Trust – Emotional intelligence is irreplaceable; it underpins long-term partnerships and diverse teams.
Purposeful Career Moves – Stepping back into roles refines understanding of where you add value at scale.

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this deep dive, please like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes “Imposter syndrome can be a superpower if you let it drive you to earn your seat at the table.” “Leaders must give teams the tools to imagine the art of the possible.” “EQ is never replaceable by AI; it’s what builds genuine partnerships.” #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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In this episode of Great Leaders UK, we sit down with Alice Carlisle, VP UK&I at Wiz, to uncover how she rose from first-line leader to one of the most sought-after roles in the cybersecurity industry.

From taking a struggling ZScaler team and transforming it in under three quarters, to embodying Wiz’s values of confidence and humility, Alice’s journey is proof that authenticity and unrelenting work ethic drive lasting impact. She delves into the hard lessons of leading through fear-based tactics early in her career, learning the Force Management Playbook at AppDynamics, and then applying it to close LogicMonitor’s largest deal ever. Ultimately, we focus on how Alice builds culture, leading by example, caring genuinely for people, and creating internal champions, so that teams win together, not just as individuals.

Whether you’re scaling a hyper-growth sales org, building a new culture, or simply looking to be a better human in leadership, Alice’s playbook is packed with actionable insights on driving growth through customer success and winning with authenticity.

🙌 Thanks to our Sponsors!

PG AI: https://www.getpg.ai

Selr: https://selr.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 – Intro

05:00 – Why Alice Was Chosen for Wiz

10:00 – Wiz Values: Humility & Authenticity

15:00 – Leadership Evolution: Leading Without Fear

20:00 – Early Work Ethic & Foundations

25:00 – Learning the Playbook at AppDynamics

30:00 – Applying Playbook at LogicMonitor

35:00 – Career Pivots & Decision to Join Zscaler

40:00 – Turning Around the Zscaler Team

45:00 – Building Culture & Final Reflections

💥 3 Biggest Lessons

Authenticity Over Authority – Leading by fear alienates; leading by genuine care and humility builds lasting loyalty.

Learn & Apply Fast – When you join a Playbook organization, absorb everything like a sponge and execute immediately – that’s how you prove its value.

Culture Eats Strategy – Even in hyper-growth, small ritualistic acts (e.g., cleaning up after yourself) set the tone for accountability, trust, and team unity.

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro If you enjoyed this deep episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes “People see through it as much as you might think they don’t. You have to genuinely care.” “Being right is not very valuable. It’s more important to be valuable than be right.” “The most important thing for me is I genuinely give a shit about people more than anything.”

softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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The Brutal Truth About Scaling Customer Success, w/ Natasha Evans Today we’re joined by Natasha Evans, VP of Customer Growth at Hook. Natasha shares the raw reality of going from chaos to clarity while building the customer success function inside a hypergrowth rocketship.We dive deep into the strategic thinking and tough decisions that shaped her journey—from running toward the fire in Saleslofts' early days to scaling operations and rebuilding customer teams at Hook. Natasha unpacks what it really takes to align customer growth with revenue in today’s high-velocity SaaS environment.

If you're navigating messy growth, operational debt, or building CS from scratch, this conversation is packed with hard-earned insights.

🙌 Thanks to our Sponsors!

PG AI: https://www.getpg.aiSelr: https://selr.ai🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 – Intro
03:43 – Natasha's evolving career
05:50 – Building with No Playbook
08:43 – When Your Org Chart Fails
12:41 – Driving Revenue from CS
16:00 – Rebuilding Customer Success at Hook
22:10 – Scaling Fast Without Losing Focus
27:45 – Coaching vs. Commanding
32:12 – Mistakes That Made Her Better
36:30 – What Growth Looks Like Now

💥 3 Biggest Lessons* Running toward chaos is how you earn your seat. The people who grow fast are the ones who face the hardest problems first. * Customer growth must be tied to revenue. Fluffy CS doesn’t survive—alignment with GTM is critical. * Rebuilding is part of scaling. You often have to break what you built to keep growing the right way.🙌 Thanks for listening!This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel! * 🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns * Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com * Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns * Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns * Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog * 💬 Notable Quotes
“Run towards the fire. The hardest problems are where growth comes from.” “Customer success has to earn the right to be there. You tie it to revenue or it dies.” “Sometimes you scale by breaking everything and starting over.”

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From MongoDB to Founder: How Deirdre Spillane bet on Herself

Description
In this episode of The Playbook Universe, we sit down with Deirdre Spillane, co-founder of Selr.ai and former sales leader at MongoDB and Segment. She shares her incredible journey—from building high-performing teams in one of the most feared sales orgs in tech, to stepping into the unknown and launching her own company.

We dive into the power of coaching, the danger of drowning in data, and why understanding the “why” behind people’s actions is everything. If you're in sales, leadership, or considering your next bold career move—this is your playbook.

🙌 Thanks to our Sponsors!
PG AI: https://www.getpg.ai
Selr: https://selr.ai

🏹 Key Topics Covered
00:00 - Intro
01:54 - From Oracle to MongoDB
04:01 - Learning from Carlos Delatorre
06:58 - ICP and Hard Lessons in Fit
08:44 - Coaching Is About Trust
11:14 - How to Truly Meet People Where They Are
13:19 - Building Intentional Sales Teams
15:01 - Diversity of Thought in Sales
17:38 - Data Overload in Sales Leadership
21:19 - Tracking the Right Metrics
24:10 - Aligning Personal Why with Business Goals
27:03 - Grit, Motivation & Early Indicators of Success
30:49 - What Seller Actually Does
34:42 - Founder Life vs Sales Leader Life
36:59 - Why Coaching Is Her Life's Work

💥 3 Biggest Lessons

Trust Before Tactics: Effective coaching doesn't begin with playbooks—it starts by understanding and trusting your people.
Data Isn’t Insight: Sales orgs today are flooded with metrics, but the true game-changers are conversion points and coaching conversations.
Your 'Why' Is the Multiplier: Aligning your personal drive with business objectives creates clarity, resilience, and momentum.

🙌 Thanks for listening!
This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro
If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns
Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns
Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Borrow these quotes from Deirdre!

“Once you get this opportunity, you take it with both hands… and you leave nothing on the field.”
“You’ve got to meet people where they are—that’s where the trust builds.”
“We don't lack data—we lack the right coaching to make sense of it.”
“Being gritty is more important than being gifted.”

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They Told Her Not to Work in Sales — She Proved Them ALL WRONGDescription

In this episode of The Playbook Universe, we sit down with Libby Derbyshire, Sales Director at ComplyAdvantage, whose transformation journey is nothing short of extraordinary.From selling boat party tickets in Ibiza to leading with data and empathy at some of the UK’s fastest-growing startups, Libby shares the pivotal moment that changed everything — and the power of combining gut instinct with hard analytics.

We explore her early experiences in sales, how Jeremy Duggan and Steve McCluskey shaped her development, what it means to build inclusive teams, and how she balances motherhood with high-performance leadership.

Raw, inspiring, and deeply insightful, this is a masterclass in becoming more than the sum of your parts.

🙌 Thanks to our Sponsors!

PG AI: https://www.getpg.aiSelr: https://selr.ai🏹 Key Topics Covered* 00:00 – Intro * 00:39 – From Hard Work to Data-Driven Execution * 03:01 – Learning to See the Patterns * 06:03 – Becoming a Convert to the Playbook * 08:17 – How Libby Leads Today * 11:40 – Data vs. People: Earning Buy-In * 14:38 – The ‘Cookie Cutter’ Myth * 16:20 – Libby’s Unconventional Start in Sales * 21:40 – Navigating Pregnancy, Leadership & Career Decisions * 24:00 – Female Leadership & Real-World Challenges * 27:00 – Imposter Syndrome and Identity at Work * 30:00 – Balancing Motherhood and Ambition * 34:00 – The Mission Behind ComplyAdvantage * 38:00 – Values, Priorities & Why This Role Was the Right Move 💥 3 Biggest Lessons1. Data doesn’t replace instinct — it amplifies it: Libby learned that great leadership isn't about abandoning your gut; it’s about backing it up with data that tells the real story.
2. Authenticity scales, imitation doesn’t: Early on, Libby tried to imitate powerful leaders, but real growth came when she embraced her own leadership voice.
3. Support isn’t just nice — it’s strategic: From Jeremy Duggan’s belief in young talent to Luke Rogers’ immediate support during Libby’s second pregnancy, backing people fully brings out their best.
🙌 Thanks for listening!This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!
🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns * Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com * Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns * Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns * Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Borrow These Quotes From Libby! "That was the day the lights went on for me." "If I’m not getting value from data, why would I expect my reps to?" "You can’t separate yourself from your values — they show up in every meeting." "More was more. I learned that early, selling in Ibiza." "I won’t put my family on hold anymore — I know my priorities." Tags (SEO)* Libby Derbyshire, sales leadership, ComplyAdvantage, Jeremy Duggan, female sales leaders, data-driven sales, sales playbook, Hunters and Unicorns, The Playbook Universe, sales transformation, motherhood and career, female empowerment, B2B sales podcast, sales manager advice, sales coaching, tech sales UK, revenue leadership, leadership podcast UK * #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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In this new episode of Hunters & Unicorns, we sit down with Shakira Talbot, the Group Vice President at ServiceNow, for one of the most inspiring conversations we've ever had.

From growing up in foster care to leading revenue responsibility for over $10B at one of the most influential enterprise software companies, Shakira’s story is a masterclass in grit, champion building, and unapologetic ambition. She shares how she developed her tenacity, why she dropped out of university, and how she found her path through selling timeshares at 14 to leading massive enterprise deals. We dive deep into her early influences, her playbook for high-performance sales leadership, and what truly drives her to never settle. This is not just about sales. It’s about identity, impact, and proving you belong—on your own terms.

Thanks to our Sponsors! PG AI: https://www.getpg.ai Selr: https://selr.ai 🏹

Key Topics Covered

00:00 In this episode...

01:25 Intro and backstory

03:24 Why she never wanted to be like her boss

06:33 Getting recruited by Jeremy Duggan

11:22 Champion-building as a life skill

15:01 Her biggest deal (and what it taught her)

19:47 What makes a great sales leader

24:08 Owning your ambition unapologetically

28:34 From maternity policy to mindset shifts

31:10 Advice to her younger self

💥 3 Biggest Lessons

Champion-building isn’t just for sales – It’s how you win people over in life and career, especially when you come from a non-traditional background.

Authenticity scales – Shakira’s leadership works because she leads as herself, not as a copy of what leadership is “supposed” to look like.

You don’t need to be perfect to be powerful – She’s made mistakes, changed direction, and still kept rising—all while carrying massive responsibilities at home and work.

Thanks for listening!

This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes from Shak! "I didn’t want to be a psychologist. I wanted to sell stuff." "You don’t have a deal until you have a champion who passes the test." "I am the only provider in my house. That’s the role we’ve landed on. So I have a duty of care to make it work." "I’m not going to pretend to be something I’m not to make people comfortable." "Would I change things? Yeah—I would’ve done it sooner."

softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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In this episode of THE PLAYBOOK UNIVERSE, we sit down with legendary CRO Dan Fougere, a pivotal force behind FOUR $1B IPOs.

From engineering roots to building elite go-to-market engines, Dan unpacks the battle-tested frameworks that turned great ideas into generational companies. He shares hard-won lessons from PTC, BladeLogic, Medallia, and Datadog—including how to scale a sales org, recruit world-class talent, and align GTM with visionary founders.

Whether you're a startup founder, CRO, or early-stage sales leader, this is a masterclass you don’t want to miss. Dan also reveals the make-or-break mindset shifts that helped him navigate adversity, imposter syndrome, and the constant pressure of building under extreme constraints.

This episode is packed with insights you simply won’t find in any sales playbook. 🙌 Thanks to our Sponsors! PG AI: https://www.getpg.ai Selr: https://selr.ai 🏹

Key Topics Covered

00:00 Intro 02:00 Dan’s 4 IPO Journey

06:45 Why Mentorship Mattered Most

12:00 Building Datadog’s GTM from Scratch

19:30 When Founders Should Hire a CRO

26:00 Go-to-Market Mistakes Startups Keep Making

32:00 The Wrong Way to Hire Sales Leaders

36:30 Datadog’s Hardest Challenges

42:00 Leading Through Pressure & Burnout

48:00 The Power of Having Great Mentors

💥 3 Biggest Lessons

Your job as CRO is to make the CEO successful. Leadership alignment and trust are the ultimate foundations for scalable growth.
Play the long game—optimize for learning, not short-term comp. Dan’s biggest career leaps came from choosing mentorship over money.
Don’t break what’s working—build what doesn’t exist. Great GTM leaders complement product momentum by filling strategic gaps, not overhauling systems.

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns:

🌐 Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

🐦 Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

📸 Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

📝 Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Borrow These Quotes from Dan!

🗣 “My job as a CRO is to make the CEO successful. Period.”

🗣 “Great sales orgs win even with an average product. That’s the secret.”

🗣 “Don’t try to fix what’s already working—go build what doesn’t exist.”

softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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In this episode of RAW STORIES LIVE, we sit down with Jennifer Ortegón, Enterprise Account Executive at Harness, to hear how she saved a major account on the verge of churn. With an RFP already in motion and a competitor lined up to replace them, everything was stacked against her.

Jennifer had to dig deep, rebuild trust, and take a bold approach. From gathering data to relentless preparation, she and her team refused to back down, showing up day after day until they changed the game.

This is a masterclass in resilience, strategic thinking, and leadership in high-stakes sales.

🏹 Key Topics Covered:

00:00 Intro

1:15 A crushing loss

4:16 The account no one wanted

8:03 The turning point

10:52 Winning back trust

12:46 The emotional moment

14:38 Lessons in resilience

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

🔥 Data is power – Understanding real usage data gave Jennifer the leverage to turn the deal around.

🔥 Trust is earned through action – Showing up consistently and demonstrating commitment made all the difference.

🔥 Own the problem, own the solution – Jennifer refused to let go, took full ownership, and transformed a losing situation into a victory.

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Koutis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro.

If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🔗 Episode’s Links:

Jennifer Ortegon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferortegon/

Harness Website: https://www.harness.com

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns:

🌐 Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

🐦 Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

📸 Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

📝 Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes: "This will be different." – Brian Johnson "We just kept showing up every day until we won the deal." – Jennifer Ortegon

rawstorieslive #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns

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In this episode of RAW STORIES LIVE, we sit down with Josh Bey, VP of West & APJ at Obsidian Security, as he shares the gripping story of how he turned a seemingly unwinnable deal into a game-changing success.

Facing financial pressure & personal life challenges, Josh breaks down the emotional investment, strategic pivots, and relentless determination that ultimately secured a massive win. This episode dives deep into the importance of resilience, the power of champion-building, and the art of navigating high-stakes negotiations.

🏹 Key Topics Covered:

00:00 - Intro

02:19 - A Scrappy Patch & an Unproven Market

05:11 - The Deal No One Believed In

07:08 - The Pivotal Meeting

08:59 - The Missing ‘Why Now’

10:32 - Finding the Real Champion

11:38 - Everyone Gave Up, But I Had No Choice

13:29 - The Biggest Lesson in Deal Making

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

1️⃣ Emotional investment can blind you – A deal isn’t real until you align it with the customer’s true business drivers. Personal stakes don’t equal urgency for the buyer.

2️⃣ The "why now" follows the "why anything" – If your deal lacks a compelling reason for change, there is no urgency. Customers must see value beyond just your product.

3️⃣ The real champion is the one who benefits the most – Look beyond those who like your solution. The real decision-maker is the one who gains money, a promotion, or influence. 🙌

Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🔗 Episode's Links:

🔹 Connect with Josh Bey – https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabey/

🔹 Learn more about Obsidian Security – https://www.obsidiansecurity.com/

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns:

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes: 📢 "If you don’t have a strong enough ‘why anything,’ you’ll never get a ‘why now.’” – Josh Bay 📢 "Customers don’t care about your fiscal year or personal stakes. They care about their business needs." 📢 "Find the champion who has something to gain—more money, a promotion, or expanded control."

rawstorieslive #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns

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In this episode of RAW STORIES LIVE, we sit down with John Behm, VP of Enterprise Sales at Harness, and a seasoned sales leader with a track record of building elite sales teams.

John shares his journey from the early days in sales to leading high-performing teams, diving deep into the mindset, strategies, and lessons that drive success. Whether you're a sales professional or a leader looking to elevate your team's performance, this episode is packed with raw insights and practical advice you won’t want to miss.

🏹 Key Topics Covered:

00:00 Intro

02:10 John's First Role in Sales

05:45 Learning from Early Mistakes

09:20 The Key Traits of High-Performing Sales Leaders

12:35 How to Build and Scale an Elite Sales Team

15:50 Takeaways

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

1️⃣ Success Starts with the Right People – John emphasizes that recruiting and developing the right talent is the foundation of any high-performing sales team. Skills can be taught, but mindset and drive are critical.

2️⃣ Leadership is About Empowerment – Effective sales leaders don’t just manage; they inspire, coach, and create an environment where their teams can thrive. John shares how he fosters a culture of accountability and excellence.

3️⃣ Adaptability is Key to Scaling – As organizations grow, sales strategies must evolve. John discusses how flexibility, data-driven decisions, and continuous learning are essential for long-term success.

🔗 Episode's Links:

John Behm on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-behm-75935120/ Harness Website: https://www.harness.com

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns:

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes: "Great sales teams aren’t built overnight; they’re built with intention, process, and the right people." "The best leaders don’t just push results; they develop people." "Sales success is about consistency—show up, do the work, and keep improving."

rawstorieslive #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns

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In this episode of RAW STORIES LIVE, we sit down with Hillary Unis, an account executive at Harness with a wealth of experience navigating high-stakes deals and driving impactful results.

Hillary shares her journey through the challenges of enterprise sales, her approach to building trust with clients, and how she stays resilient in the face of adversity. This conversation is packed with actionable insights for sales leaders and anyone looking to elevate their game. Hillary also discusses the importance of aligning personal values with professional goals, strategies for standing out in competitive markets, and how to lead with authenticity. Her passion for empowering others shines through in every story she shares. Whether you’re in sales, management, or simply interested in hearing a candid and inspiring journey, this episode has something for everyone.

🏹 Key Topics Covered

00:00 Intro

02:12 Breaking Barriers and Building Trust

05:30 Handling Setbacks with Resilience

08:40 Strategies for Standing Out in Competitive Markets

11:20 Aligning Values with Professional Goals

15:10 Leadership Lessons and Empowering Teams

💥 3 Biggest Lessons

Resilience Leads to Growth: Hillary highlights how setbacks are opportunities to learn and grow, emphasizing the value of persistence in sales.
Authenticity Builds Trust: Success comes from being genuine and aligning your values with your professional goals.
Leadership Is About Empowerment: Great leaders focus on uplifting their teams and fostering an environment where everyone thrives.

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro.

If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🔗 Episode's Links:

Hillary Unis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hillary-unis/ Harness Website: https://www.harness.com

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns:

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes "Trust is the foundation of every successful deal. Without it, you have nothing." – Hillary Unis "The best leaders empower their teams to achieve greatness together." – Hillary Unis #rawstorieslive #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns

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In this episode of RAW STORIES LIVE, we sit down with Rush Williams, Area VP at Impact.com, about his journey to secure a $15 million deal with Amazon from a mere $300k start.

Rush discusses the initial six months of no progress, highlighting the frustration of dealing with a giant like Amazon. Rush shares his strategic shift, focusing on research, pinpointing the right Amazon unit, and refining his pitch. Despite setbacks, he made a bold move by renting a restaurant near Amazon's secretive office, which finally got him noticed by key players, including Gur Kimchi, leading to a critical meeting, and a $15 deal down the road.

🏹 Key Topics Covered:

00:00 - Intro

01:13 - Rush’s Initial Struggles with Amazon

02:00 - Turning the Situation Around

03:36 - The Role of Belief in Success

06:14 - Getting Amazon’s Attention

07:36 - THAT Email from Bezos’ Lieutenant

10:50 - Securing 15 Minutes with Amazon

11:17 - The Most Important 15 Minutes of His Career

13:00 - Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

14:25 - Cultivating Long-Term Client Relationships

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

Persistence Pays Off: Even after early setbacks, keep adapting your approach and pursuing opportunities.
Think Outside the Box: Use creative tactics (like hosting events) to catch the attention of major clients.
Understand the Client's Needs: Align your strategy with the long-term goals and evolving needs of your client to create lasting partnerships.

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🔗 Episode's Links:

Rush Williams on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rush-williams-64a5127a/ Impact.com Website: https://www.impact.com

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns:

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes: “It’s not about the rejection; it’s about learning from it and staying committed.” “The biggest deals are made by understanding the client’s vision and being a part of their growth.” “Sometimes, you need to be creative and unconventional to break through the noise.”

rawstorieslive #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns

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In this episode of RAW STORIES LIVE, Lori Lipscomb shares her incredible journey in sales at Codeium.

From early struggles to breakthroughs, she reveals how a single cold call worth $50,000 became the turning point in her career. Lori discusses the challenges she faced along the way, the lessons she learned, and the mindset shift that helped her close the deal of a lifetime. In a field dominated by competition and high stakes, Lori’s story is a testament to the power of resilience and persistence. She opens up about the emotional rollercoaster of sales, from missing out on big deals to hitting that one major win. Lori also dives into the personal growth that comes from taking ownership of your success.

Tune in to hear more about how Lori turned obstacles into opportunities and how you can apply these lessons to your own career. Whether you're in sales or another field, this episode offers valuable insights on overcoming setbacks and staying determined in the pursuit of success.

🏹 Key Topics Covered:

00:00 Intro

01:11 Early Challenges in Sales

02:35 Missing the Big Deal: Turning Point

04:52 Mindset Shift: Owning Your Success

06:36 The $50K Cold Call

08:24 Building Resilience Through Results

💥 3 Biggest Lessons:

Lesson 1: Embrace Setbacks as Stepping Stones: Lori’s journey shows that each setback, even the ones that seem like failures, can be an important learning experience. Rather than being discouraged, it’s about embracing those moments as growth opportunities that set you up for greater success.

Lesson 2: Persistence Pays Off in Sales: Lori emphasizes that in sales, persistence is everything. Success doesn’t happen overnight, but through consistent effort, you will eventually break through. It’s the repeated actions that build momentum and create opportunities.

Lesson 3: Mindset Shifts Unlock Greater Success: Lori’s story highlights how changing your perspective and taking ownership of your journey can radically transform your outcomes. By shifting from a reactive to a proactive mindset, you empower yourself to take charge of your career trajectory.

🙌 Thanks for listening!

This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro.

If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🔗 Episode's Links:

Lori Lipscomb on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-lipscomb/

Codeium's Website: https//www.codeium.com

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns:

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes: “Every ‘no’ was just one step closer to the ‘yes’ that really mattered.” “The mindset shift was crucial — owning your own success rather than waiting for others to hand it to you.”

rawstorieslive #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns

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In this episode of RAW STORIES LIVE, we sit down with Andreas Stange, a strategic account executive at Grafana, to uncover the story behind his first eight-figure deal and seven-figure paycheck.

From immense personal stakes to relentless belief in his solution, Andreas shares how he transformed a potential failure into a life-changing success. Discover the strategies, mindset, and lessons that turned a €16,000 bank balance into a groundbreaking achievement for Andreas and his company.

🎓 Key Topics Covered:

00:00 Intro

00:48 Managing Pressure and Preparation

04:19 From LinkedIn Message to Closing the Deal 06:12 Building Champions and Gaining Buy-In

08:21 Overcoming Roadblocks and Creating Opportunities

12:46 Worldwide Travelling to Close a Deal 16:04 The Big Win: Receiving the Life-Changing Call

🔑 Biggest Lessons from the Episode:

Mindset and Routine: Success starts with a disciplined routine and an unshakable belief in your ability to close the deal.
Relentless Preparation: Understand every detail about your stakeholders and tailor your approach to build trust and connection.
Collaborative Execution: Big wins require teamwork; orchestrate resources effectively to tackle large-scale deals.
Resilience Through Adversity: Turn setbacks into opportunities and maintain a long-term vision for success.

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🔗 Episode's Links:

Grafana: https://grafana.com

Connect with Andreas Stanger on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreasprofile/

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns:

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

🔔 Notable Quotes: "Discipline and belief are the foundation for winning big." "If I don’t close this deal, no one will." "It takes a village to close transformational deals."

rawstorieslive #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns

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In this episode of RAW STORIES LIVE, we sit down with Tim Moxness, VP of Sales at Tessell, to discuss how he turned career setbacks into monumental success.

From facing rejection and disillusionment to achieving 302% of his sales quota, Tim’s story is a testament to perseverance, mindset shifts, and relentless focus. Discover the strategies that helped Tim overcome challenges, reframe his approach to sales, and close over $10M in deals in a single year.

This episode is PACKED with actionable insights for anyone looking to elevate their career and redefine success.

Key Topics Covered:

00:00 Intro

01:11 Early Challenges in Sales

02:35 Missing the Big Deal: Turning Point

04:52 Mindset Shift: Owning Your Success

06:36 The Cold Call That Changed Everything

08:24 Building Resilience Through Results

🔑 Biggest Lessons from This Episode:

Own Your Success: Success isn’t handed to you. Embrace accountability and take control of your career trajectory.
Ask Tough Questions: Don’t shy away from testing champions and qualifying opportunities rigorously.
Resilience Wins: When setbacks arise, double down on effort and focus to bounce back stronger.
Trust the Process: Results may take time, but consistency and persistence always pay off.

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro

If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🔗 Episode's Links: Tim Moxness on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/example Tesl website: http://tesl.com

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns:

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes: "No one is going to waste my time." "Ask for the business stone cold—don’t assume the deal will close itself." "Turn disillusionment into drive and watch what happens." #rawstorieslive #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns

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In this episode of "RAW STORIES LIVE," we sit down with Michelle Bove, AVP East at Wiz, to discuss her incredible journey in software sales.

Michelle shares how she turned rejection into motivation, built relationships that transformed her career, and mastered the balance between the art and science of selling. Discover her innovative strategies for breaking into accounts, winning deals, and connecting with clients on a personal level. Michelle’s passion for her craft is a masterclass in grit, creativity, and perseverance.

🏹 Key Topics Covered:

00:00 Intro

01:06 Starting with a Challenging Patch

03:29 Turning Rejection Into Motivation

07:18 Mastering the Art and Science of Sales

11:03 Building Relationships That Transform Careers

15:39 Grit, Determination, and Going the Extra Mile

🔑 Biggest Lessons from This Episode:

Rejection Fuels Growth: Embrace setbacks as opportunities to learn and grow. Every rejection gets you closer to success.
Art + Science of Selling: A strong sales process is essential, but personal connection and creativity are what truly win deals.
Build Relationships Beyond Business: Treat clients like friends; understand their goals, motivations, and challenges to create lasting partnerships.
Go the Extra Mile: Stand out by doing what others won’t—whether it’s delivering sandwiches, baking cookies, or finding innovative ways to connect.

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro

If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel!

🔗 Episode's Links:

Michelle Bove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-bove-8b79a224/

Wiz website: http://wiz.io 🦄

Connect with Hunters & Unicorns:

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns

Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns

Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

💬 Notable Quotes: "People ultimately buy from people." "A strong sales process is the foundation, but art is everything." "Go meet your clients, get to know them personally and professionally."

rawstorieslive #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns

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In this episode of 'RAW STORIES LIVE' we sit down with David Habibian, VP of Channel and Alliances at Rubrik. David shares the story of his greatest career challenge—facing a seemingly insurmountable quota—and how his focus on temperament and ownership became the foundation for his leadership success. From massive wins to lessons learned through failure, David reveals the single most important trait for thriving in leadership, even in the midst of crisis and chaos. 🏹 Key Topics Covered: 00:00 Intro 00:43 Overcoming Career Failure 02:16 The Most Important Trait in Leadership 06:54 Learning from Career Setbacks 10:35 Mobilizing Teams Around Common Goals 13:28 Staying Calm in Chaos 14:11 Lessons from “Ride of a Lifetime” ⚡️ Main Lessons: 1. Temperament Is Key in Leadership: Remaining calm, focused, and composed during times of chaos and crisis is a vital trait for effective leadership. It earns trust and inspires teams to follow your lead, even in difficult situations. 2. Ownership Drives Success: Taking full responsibility for outcomes—whether they’re wins or failures—demonstrates accountability and earns respect. Ownership creates a foundation for rallying teams around common goals. 3. Failure Is a Stepping Stone: Career setbacks can lead to significant growth. David’s biggest failure became the moment his leadership potential was recognized, proving that resilience and reflection turn obstacles into opportunities. 4. Mobilizing Teams Around a Shared Vision: Leadership isn’t about individual effort but aligning resources and inspiring collaboration across teams to achieve ambitious objectives. 🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel! 🔗 Episode's Links: David Habibian on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/example Rubrik website: http://rubrik.com 🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns: Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog 💬 Notable Quotes: "Leadership isn’t about the wins; it’s about who follows you in chaos." "Poise and ownership are the foundation of great leadership." "Stay calm, stay focused, and trust the process."

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In this insightful episode of Hunters & Unicorns, Simon and Ollie sit down with Zahir Abdelouhab, SVP EMEA at Navan, to discuss first-line leadership—the toughest role in software sales. Zahir shares his personal journey, the challenges he faced, and the lessons he learned to thrive as a first-line leader. This is his playbook. 🎓 Key Topics Covered:

00:00 Intro
01:25 Why First-Line Leadership Is the Hardest Role
03:49 Challenges in Transitioning to Leadership
06:01 From Super Sales to People-Centric Leadership
10:52 Embracing Failure
15:32 Developing a Unique Leadership Style
20:23 The Key to Building High-Performing Teams
25:55 Choosing the Right Company for Career Growth
27:45 Navigating Career Milestones and Staying Competitive

🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and edited by our friends at VideoScale.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel! 🔗 Episode's Links:

Zahir on LinkedIn: / example
Navan website: http://navan.com

🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns:

Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com
Twitter: / huntersun1corns
Instagram: / huntersandunicorns
Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog

🔔 Notable Quotes:

"Leadership isn't about results; it's about developing people."
"Slow down, focus on people, and the results will come naturally."
"You don’t choose when you're ready—your performance speaks for itself."

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In this engaging conversation, Varun Mohan, CEO and Co Founder of Codeium, shares his journey of building a unicorn AI company in just three and half years.

He discusses the importance of having fun in business, the challenges of navigating the startup landscape, and the critical role of sales strategy and market fit.

Varun emphasizes the future of AI and its impact on software development, as well as Codeium's vision to revolutionize the industry. He also highlights the significance of cultural principles, lean operations, and personal motivation in driving success.

Key Takeaways

Having fun is essential in business.
Codeium achieved unicorn status in three years.
Intellectual honesty is vital for startups.
A product must solve real pain for customers.
ROI is crucial for AI products.
Running lean is important for sustainability.
It's more valuable to be adaptable than to be right.
Personal motivation drives success in startups.
Surrounding yourself with smarter people is key.

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In this conversation, Simon and Ollie interview Michael Musselman, the VP of Channel and Alliances at Astronomer. They discuss the evolving landscape of channel sales and partnerships, particularly in the context of cloud service providers like AWS, Google, and Azure. Michael shares his insights on building successful partnerships, the importance of understanding the partner's business, and the need for a give-and-take relationship. He also emphasizes the value of aligning with the market trends and leveraging the power of the cloud service providers.

Overall, the conversation highlights the importance of effective channel strategies in driving business growth. In this conversation, Michael Musselman discusses the importance of leveraging the channel and partner strategy to scale revenue for startups. He emphasizes the need to build relationships with cloud service providers and other strategic partners to generate qualified pipeline and close deals faster. Musselman introduces the concept of the 5 C's (Co-sell, Co-build, Co-market, Consumption, and Champions) as a framework for evaluating and developing successful partnerships. He also highlights the growing influence of cloud service providers in the software sales market and the need for companies to adapt to this trend.

Key Takeaways:

• Building successful partnerships requires understanding the partner's business and adding value to their operations.

• The evolving market trends indicate that every business is becoming a technology or software business, and cloud service providers play a crucial role in this transformation.

• Effective channel strategies involve aligning with market trends, leveraging the power of cloud service providers, and nurturing strong relationships with partners.

• Balancing the give-and-take relationship in partnerships is essential, where adding value to the partner's business should come before asking for favors.

• The channel sales role requires individuals with attributes like an entrepreneurial spirit, curiosity, and a growth mindset. Leveraging the channel and partner strategy can have a significant impact on the size and speed of deals.

• Building relationships with cloud service providers and strategic partners is crucial for generating qualified pipeline and closing deals faster.

• The 5 C's (Co-sell, Co-build, Co-market, Consumption, and Champions) provide a framework for evaluating and developing successful partnerships.

• Cloud service providers are playing an increasingly influential role in the software sales market, and companies need to adapt to this trend.

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Gardner Johnson discusses his experiences and challenges in building successful channel ecosystems. He shares his journey from direct sales to the channel and how he developed a playbook for repeatable and scalable channel success.

Gardner emphasizes the importance of data and metrics in understanding partner performance and driving success. He also highlights the need for buy-in from the entire go-to-market organization and the value that a well-executed partner ecosystem can bring. The hiring criteria for partner managers are similar to those for account managers, focusing on intelligence, entrepreneurship, and a sense of urgency.

In this conversation, Gardner and the hosts discuss the qualities and skills required for success in partner management roles. They highlight the importance of drive, coachability, and experience in building successful partnerships. They also explore the challenges of convincing AEs to transition into partner roles and the need to check ego and take a backseat in sales campaigns. The conversation delves into the critical role of champion building in partner management and the need to build champions both internally and externally. They also discuss the evolving role of the channel in the changing buyer landscape and the emergence of marketplaces. Gardner shares his insights on why the channel is becoming more important and the potential for a channel-first approach. The conversation concludes with Gardner discussing his new role at Codeium and the exciting opportunities in leveraging AI and large language models to solve specific business problems.

Key Takeaways

• Building a successful channel ecosystem requires buy-in from the entire go-to-market organization.

• Data and metrics are crucial in understanding partner performance and driving success.

• A well-executed partner ecosystem can bring significant value to an organization.

• The hiring criteria for partner managers are similar to those for account managers, focusing on intelligence, entrepreneurship, and a sense of urgency. Drive, coachability, and experience are key qualities for success in partner management roles.

• Convincing AEs to transition into partner roles can be a challenge, as it requires checking ego and taking a backseat in sales campaigns.

• Champion building is crucial in partner management, both internally and externally.

• Enablement plays a critical role in building successful partner ecosystems.

• The channel is becoming more important due to the emergence of marketplaces and changing buyer behaviors.

• AI and large language models offer opportunities to solve specific business problems and drive meaningful business value.

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Ghazal Asif Fahadi, VP of Channels, Alliances, and Inside Sales at Rubrik, shares her expertise on the importance of channel partnerships in software sales. She highlights two primary reasons why companies often get the channel playbook wrong: inadequate measurement of channel impact and working with too many partners.

Ghazal emphasizes that companies often fail to track the incremental contribution of the channel to the business, leading to mistrust and self-sourcing of deals. To address this, she recommends measuring the deals that are sourced by partners and approved by reps to ensure accurate tracking. This approach will enable companies to understand the channel's true impact and make data-driven decisions.

Ghazal advises companies to highly qualify their partners, commit to a few strategic partners, and invest in them instead of trying to work with a large number of partners. This strategic approach will allow companies to build stronger relationships, improve focus, and increase accountability. Ghazal attributes the failure of the conventional channel playbook to the lack of understanding of the channel's true impact, particularly among software companies. She notes that many large technology companies that have grown up in the hardware industry may not fully comprehend the importance of measuring channel contributions. This gap in understanding can lead to misguided strategies and ineffective channel partnerships. Ghazal shares a personal anecdote about a turning point at AppDynamics, where they realized the need to establish leading indicators for their channel partners. These leading indicators would help track progress, ensure accountability, and provide a more sales-organization-like approach to the channel.

Rubrik has implemented a set of leading indicators to measure the performance of their channel partners, including:

Deal registration: The number of deal registrations submitted by partners
Deal registration conversion: The conversion rate of deal registrations into opportunities
Opportunity conversion: The conversion rate of opportunities into closed deals
Save the Data: A group of people who learn about the chaos caused by cyber attacks and attend events that generate pipeline
Account mapping: Research and identification of high-potential accounts
Propensity to buy: Researching and identifying accounts with a higher likelihood of purchasing the company's technology

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The Importance of Channel Sales and Leveraging Partnerships Tom Henderson, VP of Worldwide Channel at Wiz, delves into the world of channel sales and provides valuable insights on how to implement a successful channel go-to-market strategy. As someone who has spent years working in the channel sales ecosystem, Tom shares his personal experiences and expertise, highlighting the misconceptions and strategies that companies often overlook. According to Tom, many playbook companies struggle to effectively leverage the channel due to a lack of understanding of how to build a channel sales motion. He attributes this to a focus on direct sales and neglecting the importance of building relationships with partners. Tom emphasizes the need for a channel-forward approach, where companies prioritize building trust and relationships with partners to generate revenue. Tom highlights the numerous benefits of leveraging the channel, including reduced rep ramp time, bigger deal sizes, and faster deal cycles. He also mentions the importance of pipeline generation and marrying it with channel sales. Tom suggests that companies should focus on understanding what their partners do well and building champions, as this is key to successful deal-making. The podcast stresses the importance of building trust and relationships with partners to generate revenue. Tom emphasizes the need for executives to provide sponsorship and support, as well as for companies to spend time with partners and build trust. This trust is essential for partners to generate revenue and for companies to achieve their goals. Tom emphasizes the importance of executive sponsorship and building champions at the executive level to help reps become more productive. He suggests that having a business partner mindset is essential for success, and that companies like Pure Storage have demonstrated this by making their channel person a business partner of the second-line manager. The podcast also discusses the importance of having a playbook and structure to make the most of the channel's potential. Tom has developed a playbook that has evolved through his different jobs and companies, and emphasizes the importance of getting reps productive and having good RD enablement. Tom speaks about building a team with a mix of experienced sales reps and people who have run their own companies. He emphasizes the importance of molding each person's growth and development, and suggests that it's not necessary to hire people with 10,000 hours of experience, but rather those who are curious and have good DNA. Tom's playbook is quite prescribed, but he emphasizes that it can be adjusted to fit the channel by moving a few parts. He suggests that having a business partner mindset and a clear structure is essential for success in the channel.

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Summary of Arturo Marin's Transformation Journey: From Salesperson to Successful Leader

Early Career Challenges

Arturo Marin, the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) of cast.ai, shares his remarkable transformation journey from being a talented salesperson to a successful leader. In the early stages of his career, Marin reflects on his time at SAP, where he was initially successful due to his "take-charge" personality. However, his inability to accept feedback and criticism from others led to a significant issue - his entire team quit. This critical moment forced Marin to realize the importance of adaptability and humility in leadership.

Mentorship and Growth

Marin's awakening was a turning point in his career. He met his first mentor, Bob Ranaldi, at PTC, who taught him the value of selling by emphasizing the importance of process, prioritizing transparency, and adapting to new challenges. Marin was initially hesitant to learn from Ranaldi but eventually developed the skills to lead and retain top talent, resulting in increased revenue. Marin's growth continued under the guidance of another mentor, Helio Samora, who instilled in him the responsibility that comes with leadership. Samora encouraged Marin to take on leadership roles, which ultimately led to his appointment as the director of Latin America.

Leadership Roles and Success

Marin's success in Latin America caught the attention of Jason Eubanks, who approached him to lead the Latin America team for Meraki, a Cisco acquisition. Despite initial hesitation, Marin took on the challenge and led the team to success. Throughout his journey, Marin credits his mentors for providing valuable guidance and support, which helped him evolve into a high-potential CRO. His mentors, including Helio and Bob, taught him the importance of following a process, prioritizing transparency, and adapting to new challenges.

Key Takeaways and Insights

Marin's story highlights several critical factors that contributed to his success in sales and leadership:

Mentorship: Marin emphasizes the importance of choosing leaders and mentors who can guide and mentor young salespeople, providing valuable advice and feedback.
Continuous Learning: Marin believes that being open to learning from others, asking for help, and surrounding themselves with people who are better than them have been critical to their success.
Adaptability: Marin's ability to adapt to new challenges and learn from his mistakes has been instrumental in his growth as a leader.
Diversity: Marin's experience with diverse mentors and leadership styles has taught him the value of embracing different approaches, which has greatly benefited his development as a leader.

In conclusion, Arturo Marin's transformation journey from a talented salesperson to a successful leader serves as a testament to the power of mentorship, diversity, and continuous learning. His story provides valuable insights for those looking to build a successful career in sales and leadership.

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Finding Product-Market Fit and Building a Successful Company

Laurent Gil, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of cast.ai, shares his insights on finding product-market fit and how it drives organizational success. Discover how elite sales, combined with product-market fit, create a successful company.

Journey as an Entrepreneur

Laurent recounts his entrepreneurial journey, from his 2005 startup using facial recognition technology acquired by Google to founding a cybersecurity company leveraging GPUs for machine learning. Learn how he overcame skepticism and demonstrated the potential of facial recognition, paving the way for digital sharing and social media.

From Idea to Success

Laurent emphasizes that commercial viability comes from solving real problems, not just building cool products. He underscores the importance of understanding issues and developing effective solutions.

Cast AI: Optimizing Cloud Costs

Laurent's company, Cast AI, tackles the problem of cloud over-provisioning, where 87% of machine utilization is wasted. Cast AI's engine dynamically adjusts resources in real-time to optimize costs, especially for applications with variable user traffic.

Key Insights

Over-provisioning wastes 87% of machine utilization.
Cast AI dynamically adjusts cloud resources to optimize costs.
Beneficial for applications with variable user traffic.

Case Study: Bank Client

Learn how a bank client used Cast AI to scale compute resources based on user activity, minimizing waste and reducing costs during off-peak hours.

Challenges in Selecting Machine Types

Laurent discusses the difficulty of choosing the right machine type from numerous options. Cast AI automates this process, selecting the most efficient machine based on real-time usage and cloud provider availability.

Traction and Scalability

Discover how Cast AI developed its technology with a California client, optimized their compute resources, and gained traction with other clients, becoming a scalable solution for cloud optimization.

Actionable Insights

Understand and solve real problems.
Optimize cloud costs to reduce waste.
Utilize technology like Cast AI for real-time resource adjustment.

Laurent's experiences offer valuable lessons for entrepreneurs and tech professionals on finding product-market fit and building successful companies.

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The Journey of a Founding Entrepreneur: Leveraging Experience and Data to Build a Successful E-commerce Solution Background and Motivation Eli Finkelshteyn, CEO and founder of Constructor, has a background in computational linguistics and data science, which led him to work in search technology. His experience in search algorithms and his observation of e-commerce companies re-reinventing the wheel sparked the idea to build a specialized search solution for e-commerce. The Founding Journey Finkelshteyn saved for years and gained industry understanding before starting his company. He spent three months building the product before starting testing in different environments. The early stages of the business were a rollercoaster, but he remained driven to prove the value of his solution. Product-Market Fit and ROI The company's goal is to provide a search technology that ecommerce businesses can use to improve their customer experience and increase revenue. Finkelshteyn emphasizes the importance of finding product-market fit, creating a compelling event that customers need, and mapping that to a clear return on investment. Case Study: Solving a Problem for a Client The company's co-founder shares the story of how they founded their company by solving a problem for a client. The company started by solving a problem for an e-commerce company, focusing on metrics that the business cared about, such as revenue, conversions, and profit. The product improved the search functionality for the client, leading to a 2% increase in conversions and a significant return on investment. Overcoming Sales Challenges Eli emphasizes how the focus was on building a product that solved a problem which in turn enabled them to rely on the data to speak for itself. They would convince a customer to try their product and demonstrate the value of their product by showcasing the results in the customer's own data. Revenue Growth and Partnerships The company has seen significant growth, with data showing that they are generating an additional $10-20 million in revenue due to their product. The speaker notes that they are working with big companies and that even a small percentage lift in revenue can result in significant gains. The company has also partnered with Bernd Mahrlein, a respected expert in the field, to improve their marketing and sales approach. Unique Sales Process The company's sales process is focused on providing proof to customers within their own data before they pay. They use a unique process that involves installing two lines of JavaScript on a customer's website to collect anonymized clickstream data. This data is then used to identify areas where the customer's product discovery is falling down and where customers are not finding what they are looking for. Actionable Insights 1. Focus on data-driven decision making: Rely on your product's capabilities to speak for themselves, rather than relying solely on sales and marketing efforts. 2. Focus on solving a specific problem: Identify a specific problem that your product solves and tailor your marketing and sales efforts to that specific need. 3. Collaborate with industry experts: Partner with respected experts in your field to improve your marketing and sales approach. 4. Focus on ROI: Emphasize the clear return on investment that your product provides to customers. By following these actionable insights, entrepreneurs can learn from Eli Finkelshteyn's journey and gain valuable insights into building a successful e-commerce solution.

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Unleashing Leadership Potential: Insights from Mike Earnest, VP of Worldwide Sales at Wiz As the VP of Worldwide Sales at Wiz, Mike Earnest has achieved unparalleled success, rising from a sales representative to a leadership role in just 4-5 years. His journey is a testament to the power of hard work, dedication, and a profound understanding of what drives sales. In this article, we'll delve into Mike's insights on leadership, sales, and management, exploring the essential principles that have fueled his success. Understanding Customer Pain Points: The Key to Unlocking Success Mike's approach to sales is centered around understanding customer pain points. Rather than focusing on features and functionalities, he emphasizes the importance of identifying and addressing the underlying issues that impact a company's bottom line. This empathetic approach has allowed him to build strong relationships with clients and drive meaningful sales. Building a High-Performing Sales Team: The Earnest Formula Mike's leadership philosophy is built around the concept of "inspect and improve." He emphasizes the importance of setting high standards and continually evaluating and refining processes to achieve excellence. He also believes that leaders must "earn the right" to inspect by aligning their goals with the organization's objectives. The Art of Coaching Conversations: Empowering Team Members Effective coaching conversations are critical to Mike's leadership approach. He encourages leaders to focus on progress, solutions, and improvement rather than criticism or blame. By doing so, leaders can empower team members to take ownership and drive results. The Power of Accountability: Setting and Tracking Goals Mike stresses the importance of setting goals and holding team members accountable for achieving them. By working together to establish clear objectives, leaders can ensure that everyone is aligned and working towards the same goal. People Matter: The Importance of Human Relationships In an era of automation and technology, Mike believes that human relationships remain essential. Leaders should prioritize communication, empathy, and understanding to foster a culture of collaboration and trust. Leadership by Example: Setting a High Standard Mike emphasizes the importance of leadership by example. Effective leaders set a high standard and inspire others to do the same. By modeling the behaviors and values they wish to see in their team members, leaders can cultivate a culture of excellence. The Role of Data: Informing Decisions and Driving Success In a large organization, data and metrics play a crucial role in decision-making. Mike advocates for using data to inform decisions, continually evaluating progress, and making adjustments as needed. A Personal Approach to Leadership Mike believes that leaders should rely on real-time feedback and collaboration to drive success. By fostering open communication and empowering team members, leaders can create an environment that fosters creativity, innovation, and growth. In conclusion, Mike Earnest's leadership philosophy is built upon a foundation of empathy, understanding, and empowerment. By focusing on customer pain points, building a high-performing sales team, and leveraging data to inform decisions, he has achieved remarkable success. As leaders, we can learn valuable lessons from his approach, applying these principles to drive our own leadership journeys.

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Developing World-Class Talent: Leadership Lessons from Carlos Delatorre CRO at Harness

Carlos is a successful serial entrepreneur who has scaled multiple companies from $100 million to $1 billion in revenue through his focus on developing talent. In this podcast interview, he shares his journey and philosophy around nurturing grit, commitment and embracing mistakes.

Carlos' Talent Development Philosophy Carlos reflects on nurturing talent over decades by spotlighting strengths and developing people beyond their current roles. He discusses specific examples like Jessica Roman and Matt McClernand who he challenged outside of their experience, furthering their leadership abilities. Carlos emphasizes the importance of grit, commitment to excellence and learning from failures.

Evaluating Growth Opportunities Carlos looks for "angry markets" with differentiated products and scalable, aligned teams when evaluating opportunities. He chose Harness due to the massive potential in automating developer workflows and its product-led growth model.

Prioritizing Inclusive Cultures Carlos evolved to prioritize developing talent and building inclusive cultures. He organizes teams like internal startups to drive rapid innovation.

Insights on Scaling to $1B Revenue Carlos shares that scaling 10x requires optimizing processes through data-driven priorities and leveraging strategic channels like hyperscalers to accelerate growth.

In closing, Carlos' enduring passion and infectious energy for developing world-class teams shine through. His lessons offer a blueprint for leadership and sustained success.

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Developing World-Class Talent: Leadership Lessons from Carlos Delatorre CRO at Harness

Prioritizing Inclusive Cultures Carlos evolved to prioritize developing talent and building inclusive cultures. He organizes teams like internal startups to drive rapid innovation.

In closing, Carlos' enduring passion and infectious energy for developing world-class teams shine through. His lessons offer a blueprint for leadership and sustained success.

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Proven Career Journey in International Business

The podcast episode profiles Josh Reiner, current VP of EMEA at SaaS company Wiz. He discusses his career path, having started at BMC where he was part of a reverse takeover by BladeLogic. Josh then transitioned to roles at AppDynamics and Zscaler, learning valuable lessons about collaboration under executives like Dally Rajic.

Establishing Clear Goals and Optimizing Processes

As the leader of Zscaler's UK team, Josh emphasized the importance of having a shared vision. Their goal was to gain 3 million users on the platform. To work as one global organization, he optimized handoffs between teams through open communication and incremental weekly improvements. By publishing regular updates on progress, the entire company remained aligned.

Driving Accountability and Continual Learning

Josh stresses that frequent coaching sessions and publishing performance metrics kept employees accountable to goals. This also supported continual self-improvement. He looks for candidates willing to learn when hiring and prioritizes diversity to foster new perspectives in teams.

In Summary

Through empathetic leadership, Josh achieved significant growth while unifying remote functions. His insights offer a blueprint for maximizing collaboration across borders and building high-performing global organizations.

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Sam Costello shares his career journey and insights on reinventing oneself to achieve success in sales and leadership roles spanning banking, top tech companies, and startups. Influenced by his father and grandfather's sales backgrounds, Sam earned a finance degree but ensured his first job involved sales. Early days working for his brother's landscaping business shaped Sam's customer-first mindset. This focus on customer success became central to his approach. A chance encounter opened Sam's eyes to tech sales. He pivoted to CA Technologies and learned enterprise software sales. Sam credits CA with providing his sales foundation. Major successes followed at Oracle, including a $30 million deal. But it was a conversation with that client's CIO that sparked Sam's interest in startups. He joined Perfecto Mobile and embraced mentorship from sales gurus Keith Butler and Rob Watson. Their MEDDIC mindset approach to sales transformed Sam's perspective to always focus on customer success. Sam stresses the importance of seeking feedback and remaining coachable to drive continual growth. Even today, he focuses on enabling his team. After Perfecto, Sam saw joining Harness and its mission as his next opportunity to make an impact. Though Sam remains dedicated to driving Harness's success, his broader purpose is helping people through work and philanthropy. He may start a foundation someday. For now, building something great at Harness motivates him. Key Takeaways: - Start with the customer's needs to drive success - Pivoting into new opportunities can unlock potential - Embrace mentorship from sales experts to evolve - Remain coachable and seek feedback to grow - Find purpose beyond your company's mission - Take risks to reinvent yourself throughout your career Sam's story provides inspiration for achieving success by putting customers first, leveraging mentorship, and continually reinventing your career. His insights apply to sales and beyond. It's a must watch!

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The conversation between Ollie, Simon, and Rick covers the evolving landscape of sales enablement and its crucial role in driving revenue growth. Rick emphasizes the need for sales teams to adapt to changes in technology and buyer behaviour, leveraging data and insights effectively to succeed in a competitive market. He discusses the productive capacity model, highlighting key components such as hiring, onboarding, pipeline generation, conversion, and customer expansion. Rick also shares insights into Rev-Logic's approach to providing revenue enablement as a service, leveraging technology and industry expertise to drive sales effectiveness. Throughout the conversation, there's an emphasis on the importance of continuous learning and collaboration within the sales community to stay ahead in a rapidly changing environment. The discussion concludes with reflections on the impact of enablement in driving predictable and repeatable success in sales and the value of learning from industry experts and peers through platforms like podcasts. Overall, the conversation provides valuable insights into the critical role of enablement in driving sales success and supporting continuous learning and adaptation within sales organizations.

Key Takeaways from the Entire Podcast:

Introduction and Background: Rick Kickert, co-founder of Rev-Logic, brings extensive experience in revenue enablement, having worked with influential leaders such as Dali Rajic. Simon and Ollie, introduce Rick, highlighting his energy and promise for an insightful discussion.
Enablement Dynamics: Enablement is defined as aligning with business goals and integrating them into the company's DNA. Rick's journey from a buyer to an enablement expert was driven by the opportunity to expand his skill set and professional network.
Sales Evolution: The focus should shift towards buyer enablement, adapting to changing buying behaviors, leveraging technology, and emphasizing product-led growth to provide unique and context-rich communication.
Enablement's Role: Establishing robust enablement programs, even in early-stage organizations, is crucial for scalability and long-term success. Continuous evaluation and adaptation are necessary to maintain productivity and reduce attrition.
The Formula for Success: Rick emphasizes making the go-to-market team as productive as possible to achieve revenue goals. The productive capacity model includes hiring, onboarding, pipeline generation, conversion, and customer expansion or consumption.
Rev-Logic's Approach: Rev-Logic aims to provide revenue enablement as a service, leveraging experienced operators in the field to help companies achieve their revenue goals. Continuous learning and collaboration within the sales community are emphasized for shared knowledge and insights.

Overall, the podcast provides valuable insights into the critical role of enablement in driving predictable and repeatable success in sales, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and collaboration within the sales community.

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In the dynamic landscape of leadership, individuals like Alex Varel, CRO at Multiverse, stand as beacons of innovation and purpose-driven growth. In a recent podcast hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, Alex shared profound insights garnered from his extensive career journey, highlighting pivotal moments, the significance of recruiting suitable individuals, and the art of maintaining a pulse on operations, especially in his role as a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Evolution of Leadership Playbook Alex's journey unfolds against the backdrop of a rapidly evolving leadership playbook. With notable stints as GVP at Zscaler and mentorship under Carlos Delatorre at MongoDB, Alex embodies the ethos of progressive leadership, driven by a blend of resilience, adaptability, and a relentless pursuit of excellence. Navigating Remote Work Realities The discussion delved into the transformative impact of COVID-19 on work dynamics, underscoring the need for leadership to provide support amidst challenging times. The transition to remote work has necessitated a re-evaluation of traditional approaches, emphasizing trust, autonomy, and the ability to maintain productivity amidst distractions. Old Guard vs. New Guard Leadership Exploring the dichotomy between traditional and modern leadership methodologies, Alex emphasized enduring principles of hard work and adaptability. However, he also underscored the importance of purpose-driven leadership, aligning personal objectives with broader societal contributions. Recruitment as a Game-Changer A pivotal moment in Alex's journey came with a realization of the criticality of recruiting and identifying the right talent. His interview approach focuses on establishing connections and delving into candidates' formative years to understand their motivations—a philosophy anchored in prioritizing intangibles like drive and coachability over experience. Multiverse's Path to Success At Multiverse, Alex champions a culture of excellence and inclusivity, driven by a shared commitment to achieving significant commercial outcomes while making a positive impact on the world. With audacious growth plans and a focus on talent recruitment and nurturing, Multiverse stands poised to redefine workforce transformation. Conclusion: Redefining Leadership Excellence In conclusion, Alex Varel's journey epitomizes the evolution of leadership in an ever-changing world. With a focus on purpose-driven growth, talent recruitment, and a relentless pursuit of excellence, Alex and Multiverse are poised to leave an indelible mark on the world of leadership and workforce transformation.

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Join us in this engaging podcast featuring Spencer Tuttle, Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) of Redis, as he shares his remarkable career journey and imparts invaluable insights into the art of building and scaling organizations. Spencer takes us on a journey through his career, starting with his early days at BMC and later advancing into leadership roles at AppDynamics. Key takeaways from this segment include Spencer's emphasis on mastering each role he undertook. He underscores the importance of learning from exceptional leaders and peers at every career stage, amalgamating their wisdom to forge his unique approach. Spencer's transition to AppDynamics is explored, wherein he unveils his attraction to the company, driven by its exceptional team and the boundless potential of its technology. The evolution of the sales playbook, especially within the context of subscription software, is also a focal point of discussion. The episode delves into Spencer's perspective on pressure, drawing from his experiences at BMC. He articulates how embracing pressure can be a privilege and offers sage advice on taking personal accountability and delivering results. Spencer's journey into first-line leadership is unveiled, where he lays out the critical importance of transparency, team-building, and nurturing a culture that fosters growth and enablement. Alignment between organizational culture and individual expectations is another crucial theme, offering profound insights for both budding and seasoned professionals. Join us for this enlightening exploration of Spencer Tuttle's remarkable career journey and the profound wisdom he has gathered along the way. This podcast series offers a wealth of knowledge on mastering roles, transitioning to leadership, and navigating the dynamic world of business, all delivered by a seasoned expert with a wealth of experience. Don't miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights into building and growing successful organizations

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In this Special Edition episode from Hunters and Unicorns, we're treated to an engaging chat with Casey Ellis (Founder) and Dave Gerry (CEO) from the innovative cybersecurity company Bugcrowd. Casey, the pioneering brain behind Bugcrowd, takes us from his days of cracking codes to building a platform that empowers the good-guy hackers. Dave brings his rich tapestry of cybersecurity experiences to the table, painting a picture of how his past roles carved the path to his CEO position.

The duo dive into the story of how Bugcrowd transitioned from its founder-focused roots to a broader leadership horizon, unpacking the wins and hurdles of growing a company. Their camaraderie is a testament to how trust, respect, and diverse strengths can forge a strong leadership bond.

They also peel back the curtain on the art of cybersecurity sales, shedding light on the intricate dance of pitching to top security chiefs and the journey from the sales floor to the corner office. Both Casey and Dave are champions for cultivating a team spirit and a culture where everyone pulls together.

Looking ahead, Bugcrowd's blueprint is all about upscaling the business, pushing the growth pedal to the metal, and branching out into untapped territories—all while honing their message to showcase their full suite of cyber-defenses beyond just bug bounties. It's clear that for Bugcrowd, the future's not just bright; it's groundbreaking.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns; The Founders Edition. Today we welcome Pavel Dolezal, CEO and co-founder of Keboola. Our anticipation is high to learn more about the remarkable initiatives they are pursuing. Pavel's story is quite unique; although many companies typically originate from the West Coast or places like Tel Aviv, Kaboola's roots trace back to Eastern Europe. Join us as we delve into the beginnings and shed light on the evolving market dynamics, highlighting the emergence of companies like Keboola from that particular region.

Key Takeaways:

Pavel recounts his entrepreneurial journey, highlighting three ventures, including internet portals in the late nineties. He emphasizes the need for venturing beyond local borders and seeking co-founders with aligned moral and ethical values for a long-term commitment, emphasizing the importance of building a client-focused company.
The co-founder selection process involved identifying co-founders with a shared vision and technical capabilities. The motivation for founding Keboola stemmed from a desire to simplify data usage for businesses by integrating and orchestrating tools in a modern data stack.
Pavel emphasizes the need for hands-on understanding through customer interactions and initial implementations, debunking the idea of a sophisticated framework for startups. The two approaches to startup initiation are outlined, either addressing a specific problem within a familiar vertical or identifying a broader market need.
Initial efforts focused on reaching out, organizing events, and engaging with potential customers. Key customer, Tomas Chopra, provided crucial insights and challenged them to simplify complex processes for end-users.
They recognized a niche in retail, combining physical and virtual elements, and further explored industries like fast-food operations and banking. The validation process involved focusing on customers with large CRM and logistics systems.
They tested and refined their hypotheses, targeting different market segments and industries to understand market positioning. Bootstrapping helped in building a strong culture and a committed team, allowing them to adapt and scale when the time was right.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the digital transformation, aligning with their market positioning. They emphasized the importance of understanding when to sell a finished product versus involving customers in the product development journey.
Hands-on involvement from the leadership is seen as crucial for rapid adaptation in a rapidly changing environment.
Different methodologies like Agile, Six Sigma, and Lean are selectively applied based on the development stage and requirements.
Olli Krebs, Keboola’s advisor, helped them refine their deal lifecycle and introduced a structured approach to evaluating deals, improving efficiency. They realized the importance of understanding who excels in what aspect and how to effectively utilize individual strengths within the team.

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🎙️ Insights from Olli Krebs: Navigating 30 Years in Sales 🌟

In our latest Playbook Universe episode, we had the privilege of speaking with Olli Krebs, a sales veteran with three decades of experience. During this time, he achieved notable milestones including 15 President's Club recognitions, involvement in five acquisitions, participation in one IPO, and membership in two Chairman's Strategic Advisory Council (SAC) circles. Notably, Olli was an integral part of the initial Blade Logic crew and was among the earliest hires in the European market.

Here are some key takeaways from this enlightening conversation:

1️. European Expansion: European software and SaaS companies are making waves in the US market, challenging Silicon Valley's dominance. Innovation hubs are emerging across Europe, fostering tech growth.

Value of European Investors: European investors offer guidance and experience, beyond capital, to startups.
Cultural Adaptability: Sales strategies vary due to cultural differences, emphasizing adaptability and understanding local markets.
Sales Training: Sales training should emphasize mastering the craft and understanding the company's ethos.
Managerial Transition: Transitioning from an individual contributor to a manager requires a delicate balance of relationships and authority. It's complex, requiring guidance and coaching to lead effectively.
Understanding 'Why': Emphasize understanding the 'why' behind methodologies, focusing on collaboration and individuality.
Sales Fundamentals: People buy from people; honesty and integrity are paramount in sales. Align with customer needs, provide solutions, and build strong relationships.
Key Traits: Confidence and adaptability are vital for sales professionals, especially in dynamic markets like cryptocurrency.

Olli's wisdom underscores, that sales, at its core, is about understanding customer needs, offering solutions, and building lasting connections. It's a journey of evolution, from traditional relationship-focused sales to a consultative approach, especially for enterprise solutions. Success lies in embracing change, upholding ethics, and embodying confidence. Thank you, Olli, for these invaluable insights! 🚀 #SalesLeadership #BusinessInsights #HuntersAndUnicorns

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The Hunters and Unicorns session with Anant Bhardwaj, Founder and CEO of Instabase unveiled an extraordinary journey, starting from humble beginnings to becoming the visionary founder of a groundbreaking AI company, Instabase.

The emphasis on developing applications around real-world use cases struck a chord, highlighting the need to identify broader relevance beyond a specific scenario for achieving impactful market fit.

Key Takeaways;

Early Life and Education: Grew up in a rural part of India called Nalanda, Bihar, without modern amenities. Initially struggled adjusting to a city environment due to a shift in language and educational medium to English.
Career Aspirations: Initially wanted to join the Army like family members but was rejected due to colour blindness. Had an interest in literature, poetry, and writing but was discouraged from pursuing it as a career.
Academic Journey: Accidentally got into computer science during college in India and discovered a passion for programming. Moved to the US for a master's at Stanford but felt pressure to start a company during this time. Pursued research projects at MIT, one of which was Data Hub, exploring abstracting complex data for diverse applications. Faced challenges with visa status and legal issues but was supported by MIT during this period.
Formation of Databricks: Founded Databricks without a clear commercial application but had an academic focus initially. Initially targeted academia, providing free products to professors and students at various universities.
Discovery of Commercial Use: Identified a commercial use case with companies like Zenefits and Lending Club needing data extraction from diverse sources like PDFs and images.
Product Development and Market Fit: Iterated the product based on market needs and feedback, eventually finding a product-market fit in data extraction and analysis for various industries. Emphasized a fearless and experimental approach to adapt to new opportunities and discover viable product uses.
Key Advice from Martin Casado: "Use cases precede the product; product precedes the platform; platform precedes the ecosystem." Don't build a product without understanding the use case it solves. Don't build a platform without a real product. A platform allows value creation by someone other than the creator.
Discovery of Product-Market Fit: Understand the key drivers and drags for customers; drivers are critical to why they buy. Find the one or two core drivers that make customers want to buy your product. Prioritize features that cater to these key drivers and address critical pain points.
Approach to Product Development: Engage in parallel experimentation to find both the use cases and the right product. Engage early customers to help validate and define the product, ensuring it addresses their needs. Focus on problems applicable across a wide range of industries to have a broad market impact.
Building a Platform: Allow customers to create value by building their own apps on your platform. Separate the product from custom services and prioritize building a scalable product. Be open to iterating and adjusting the product based on customer feedback and use cases.
Ecosystem Building: Move towards creating an ecosystem by enabling third-party developers to build on the platform. Aim for apps built by one entity to be usable and valuable for another, promoting a broader ecosystem.
Early Growth and Funding: Achieved significant growth from $250k to $5 million in a year, gaining investor interest. Raised funding at a $1 billion valuation in 2019 due to perceived strong product-market fit.
Challenges in Scaling Sales: Initially, sales were handled by the founder, but transitioning to a sales team required careful planning. Incorrect hiring and lack of understanding of sales dynamics led to a wasted year in scaling sales.
Building an Effective Sales Team: Hiring salespeople requires careful consideration of ramp-up times, quotas, and net new revenue targets. Defined sales process stages: first meeting, technical deep dive, proof of value, success criteria, business value, commercial and pricing, legal.
Sales Process and Experimentation: Focused on identifying and repeating successful use cases to drive sales effectively. Employed a small growth team for experimentation and exploration of new use cases and verticals. Launched a self-serve product (iHub) to understand the market, not focusing on specific deal sizes initially.
Sales Velocity and Incentives: Emphasized velocity of feedback and signal collection over deal size to learn from a larger customer base. Experimenting with sales team incentives to encourage high-velocity growth and learning from a diverse customer set.

Episode 3 of 'The Founders Edition' is not to be missed!

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Welcome to Episode 2 of Hunters and Unicorns: The Founders Edition.

Navigating the Fierce Terrain of Competitive Markets. Join us as we dive deep into the world of disrupting highly competitive markets with Jeremy Burton, the dynamic CEO of Observe Inc., a pioneering startup backed by Sutter Hill Ventures that's reshaping the Observability landscape. Jeremy joined at the inception of Observe Inc., under the mentorship of industry luminary Mike Speiser.

Observe Inc. embarks on a formidable mission: challenging established giants in the SaaS arena.

In this episode, we explore:

🚀 Strategies for Disrupting Established Markets

🛠️ Prioritizing Product Development for Mass Appeal

🌟 Winning Customers Before Your Product is Fully Cooked

🤝 The Interplay Between Sales and Marketing, plus Making Your First Marketing Hire

Jeremy Burton, a celebrated executive once hailed by Forbes as one of the world's leading CMOs, brings a wealth of experience. His illustrious career includes roles such as "Entrepreneur In Residence" at Sutter Hill Ventures, CMO at Dell Technologies, President at EMC, President + CEO at Serena Software, and Group President at Symantec. Jeremy also lends his expertise as a board member at Snowflake and serves on the Advisory Board for the McLaren Group.

Get ready to unravel the technology-value conundrum and discover how a seasoned campaigner successfully transitions to embrace the founder's grind. Jeremy answers these burning questions and more in this exhilarating episode, brought to you by Hunters and Unicorns as part of The Founders Edition. Don't miss out!

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns: The Founders Edition.

Today we welcome Jyoti Bansal!

Key takeaways from this episode are:

How AppDynamics became the industry blueprint for sales execution best practice.
The relationship between Product Market Fit and Sales Motion.
Appointing the right advisors at the right times is imperative for scalability.
Understanding the evolution of the sales process as you approach $10m in sales.

Jyoti Bansal is a multi-unicorn founder, currently the founder and CEO of two high-growth technology companies: Harness and Traceable AI. In addition to running Harness and Traceable, Jyoti is highly involved in developing the next generation of technology companies through mentorship and investment.

In 2017 he launched BIG Labs and in 2018 co-founded VC firm Unusual Ventures with John Vrionis. The firm currently has more than $1 billion under management. Jyoti shares his incredible journey with us. His passion for the highest calibre of sales execution is profound and he reflects on the lessons he’s learned from his own advisors – industry titans; Dev Ittycheria, John McMahon, Dali Rajic, Jeremy Duggan and Joe Sexton.

Jyoti candidly opens up about his own awakening regarding giving sales the same parity as product strength. He also delves into why slowing down in order to forecast correctly is crucial to onward success and cadence. In this episode, Jyoti discusses:

How the Business Value Assessment was a game changer for AppDynamics
How to stimulate customer affinity - The importance and limitations of founder lead sales
Why Business Value Realisation is the true metric for sustained success
When to adopt a top-down sales approach vs down-top, vs the “sandwich” strategy

This podcast is full to the brim of insight, honesty and undeniable tenacity. How do you identify a good seller? When’s the right time to appoint a CRO? Is the rolodex enough anymore for a salesperson?

Jyoti answers these questions and many many more in the first edition of The Founders Edition, bought to you by Hunters and Unicorns. Don’t miss it!!

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns: The Playbook Universe. Today we welcome Dan Miller! Key takeaways from this episode are: • What it took to close a deal worth just short of $100m • Why he never missed his number • Why allies and mentors in GTM community are essential Dan Miller is a GTM Advisor at Loft Lab sand Observable, focusing on revenue strategies. In this Hunters and Unicorns podcast, Dan reflects on his career-defining moments at prestigious companies such as Splunk, Nimble Storage, Sumo Logic and SignalFX. He shares his experience when transitioning from an IC to a Leadership role and the challenges he faced. Dan is a force of nature within the playbook space. His list of achievements is extensive and includes; • Exceeding 100% every year • Closed the larges deal in Splunk’s history • Exposed to the playbooks of both John McMahon and Mark Cranny We loved understanding more from Dan about identifying early-stage companies and the right strategies needed for implementation. How can champions really be identified consistently? What are the real impactful metrics when it comes to sales? Dan shares with us his insight pertaining to sales as a science as opposed to an art. He also shares the inspirational story of Mark Cranney and his journey including competing with the Bladelogic team at Opsware and driving a $1.6 billion sale to HP. Dan gives us real insight to the SignalFX story! This episode is not to be missed!

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns: The Playbook Universe.

We’re here to showcase leaders within the Playbook Community and explore their formulas for success.

We aim to uncover:

Why the ICE formula is imperative.
The criticality of the Economic Buyer.
How to elevate your Execution whether that be selling consumer side or enterprise software.

Today we are joined by Chris Mahoney, SVP for the Worldwide Sales Team at LaunchDarkly.

In this Hunters and Unicorns podcast, Chris shares his professional journey with us including examples of his application of the Playbook.

He also discusses how he’s building the global sales team at LaunchDarkly with rapid scale. You don’t want to miss this exciting episode with one the industry’s titans!

Chris has consistently operated within the elite playbook space, with experiences at prestigious companies including ServiceNow, BMC Software and Phase 1.

Amongst his plethora of achievements, he was the most successful Solution Sales leader at ServiceNow, he lead the first product line from under $50M to more than $1B, scaled teams from less than 10 to over 650 and helped grow the market capital from £12B to a staggering $125B.

Whilst at BMC, Chris built the number one performing sales team globally and at Phase 1, he went through 27 mergers and acquisitions in consumer software.

Prior to enterprise software, Chris spent 10 years in consumer software working in operations and sales.

Under strong leadership and immersing himself in absorbing as much knowledge as possible, Chris navigated the enterprise software space with cadence and agility.

He thrived in learning not just the solutions but also the processes. Chris discusses with us the role of the Beginner’s Mindset and how maintaining a strong degree of curiosity throughout your career will directly contribute to success.

Chris also discusses times in his career where the focus was not on performance and numbers, but in fact on character and drive.

Hunters and Unicorns loved hearing about Chris’ formidable career, accented with pivotal conversations with the likes of A-players such as Tom Schmidt, John Donahoe, Frank Slootman, Andy Byron, Keith Butler and Bill McDermott.

Make sure you tune in!

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns: The Playbook Universe. We’re here to showcase leaders within the Playbook Community and explore their formulas for success.

We aim to uncover:

• Strategic Pipeline Principles

• Lessons derived from the Customer Engagement Model

• The role of Culture. How does an environment which nurtures learning directly facilitate tangible success?

Today we are joined by Seth Olsen, Country Manager for the Northern European region for MicroStrategy. His role includes leading GTM teams for six countries with focussed disciplines including sales, marketing, partner and business development. Seth champions the MEDDPICC playbook and also focuses on PG and net-new focus.

In this Hunters and Unicorns podcast, Seth reflects on his pinnacle moments at high calibre playbook-centric companies such as MicroStrategy, Snowflake and Birst. Don’t miss it! Seth is a renowned and proven leader, with successes as both an individual contributor and as a senior leader.

When discussing his journey as an Account Executive, Seth shares with us his average attainment of over 200%, including his best year which saw him achieve over 470% of his target. Seth also touches upon closing large seven-figure deals - The largest in excess of $4M!

As a Senior Leader, Seth discusses how he rebuilt an underperforming region - over just three quarters, he transformed the results from 30% of the quarterly achievement to 210%. The period of transition between being a SDR for EMEA to being a Leader for the EMEA and APAC regions was a space for exponential learning and growth for Seth. He shares his lessons regarding people strategy, business tactics, quotas and targets whilst also making an impact on peoples’ careers.

Seth also discusses his quest for operating in an environment where he can continuously learn more. Amidst numerous seven-figure deals, it was his thirst for knowledge that kept propelling forward his phenomenal career. In this insightful episode, Seth discusses what the future looks like for him at MicroStrategy. From a product perspective, with new products released moments ago to more coming out imminently, to their evolved GTM global strategy, Seth discusses the sophisticated style MicroStrategy will continue to add huge value to their clients moving forward.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns: The Playbook Universe.

We’re here to showcase leaders within the Playbook Community and explore their formulas for success.

We aim to uncover:

· How to apply an enterprise playbook motion to product lead and viral lead growth strategies

· Working with second time founders

· How science and nurture can generate world class high performing sales teams

Today we are joined by Jason Eubanks, CRO of Harness.

In this episode, we explore Jason’s astronomical career trajectory, from a first line leader to a CRO in just ten years. We also get invaluable insight into Harness’ formula for success. Since it was founded six years ago, Harness has seen phenomenal valuation growth of over 1000%.

His first exposure to the Playbook goes back to BMC, where under the leadership of John McMahon and his formidable leaders, he experienced profound impact on every aspect of his career. Jason shares how he was able to apply his learning within Meraki which went onto be acquired by Cisco. He shares the importance of adaptability to the go-to-market rhythm he inherited and company culture.

Jason talks about the alignment of the sales leadership and the business executives, the collaboration to work with founders with established go-to-market operating rhythms, and how an investment in sales enables scale at pace.

Jason places huge significance on iterating feedback along the way with his teams and why the early alignment of big goals is crucial to a harmonious and successful working dynamic. From a conversation about trust with John McMahon early on in his career to his current working relationship with Jyoti – CEO and Founder of Harness, Jason shares with us the conversations which accented his professional journey.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns: The Playbook Universe. We’re here to showcase leaders within the Playbook Community and explore their formulas for success. We aim to uncover: · The Importance of value selling within the sales motion · How to focus more on real growth · The skills required to excel in the sales space Today we are joined by Pete Agresta, CRO at Nasuni. Pete is responsible for growing and scaling the revenue-generating organization for Nasuni including worldwide Sales and Solution Engineering, Channel Sales and Strategic Business Development. His notable achievements include being Vice President of Enterprise Sales, Americas for Pure Storage. Whilst there, Pete led a team that more than doubled the business to over $1B during his 4-year tenure. Prior to that, he was CRO for LookingGlass Cyber, where he helped recapitalize the company, acquired and commercialized a threat intel platform, and grew the business over 50%. In this Hunters and Unicorns episode, Pete shares with us his journey including the earlier stages where he spent a decade with Cisco Systems, which was pivotal in his career. He recalls fondly working closely with John Chambers and on some of the largest deals within the space at the time. As CEO of the company at the time, John’s influence on Pete was hugely significant. Stemming from his inherent curiosity, Pete also shared his chapter whereby he embarked on a career in Wall Street and how he transferred his sales skills into this different domain. Upon his return to the GTM space, Pete thrived at LookingGlass and then transitioned to Pure Storage. Pete shares with us the enterprise and business solutions lessons learned along the way. In this exciting episode, Pete also discusses the fantastic opportunity which presented itself with Nasuni and how his role contributes to the company innovating and disrupting the market.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns: The Playbook Universe. We’re here to showcase leaders within the Playbook Community and explore their formulas for success.

We aim to uncover:

· The Evolution of the Playbook

· Leading indicators that are proven in SaaS to create sustained success

· The changing landscape of sales cycles

Today we are joined by Chris Singletary, RVP-East at Coralogix. In this episode, we dive into Chris’ impressive sales career which began after his time with the US military – an experience which has shaped him profoundly. Chris has worked at many industry powerhouses including; Oracle, Opsware, BMC, Cisco, AppDynamics, Lacework and Coralogix. His career trajectory has always been aligned to the Playbook community – join us in listening to his experience and lessons learned! Chris shares with us his perspective on the Playbook Mindset and MEDDIC principles – at a time where buyers and sellers’ needs may have changed, the principles of the Playbook Mindset still ring true today. On the theme of today’s changing landscape, Chris also shares the challenges involved with remote working, the ever-evolving length of sales cycles and how to curate successful sales executions in today’s market for the individual, team and organisation. Chris places huge importance on empathy and making genuine connections within the sales space. He also shares the characteristics of strong leaders. At what point does support and guidance become rigid oversight? How does accountability feed directly into account progression? Chris also discusses the importance of leaders spending time with their reps to nurture progression not revenue. Chris distils the core principles of identifying pain and hunting for champions. As a keen advocate of following the playbook fundamentals, Chris also shares why research is a critical pillar in the sales process. He shares his insight in how to launch a great sales campaign. Understanding what’s changed in this software sales space, as well as what still stands strong, Chris offers views and phenomenal insight into the Playbook universe.

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Welcome to Dear Future CRO, bought to you by GrowthQ and Culture Crunch. We’re here to showcase leaders within the tech space and explore their guiding principles for future leaders. Today we are joined by Kelly O. Kay, Co-founder of the Sales Officer practice at Heidrick & Struggles, specialising in sales leadership roles within the tech space. As a thought leader featured in numerous prestigious publications such as Forbes and The Wall Street Journal, we’re thrilled to understand Kelly’s insight on the ever-evolving role of the CRO. He shares how the current economic climate has impacted demand for the CRO as well as which relationships are critical for the successful CRO. Kelly also shares tangible tips for progressing your career – from interview tips, best practice and lessons learned. His insight truly transcends all industry parameters and will help our viewers whether or not they’re on the CRO path.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns: The Playbook Universe.  

We’re here to showcase leaders within the Playbook Community and explore their formulas for success. We aim to uncover: 

·         How best to optimise sales within EMEA for scaling companies

·         The role of self-awareness when driving your own career trajectory

·         Why amplifying strong leadership over management is critical to success.

Today we are joined by Philip van der Wilt, Senior Vice President and General Manager, EMEA, Samsara.

In this episode, Philip shares his inspiring professional journey. From a sales role in the Netherlands, to phenomenal success on the international platform.

He shares his insight on how the current economic climate, similar to the financial downturns in the past, will inevitably lead to future opportunities. Philip’s time at Data Domain ignited his passion for implementing European strategy to success. Whilst at CommVault,

Philip further developed his leadership skills, identifying the gulf between a good leader as opposed to a good manager.

Philip’s perspective on seeing challenges as opportunities to develop rather than opposed to isolated problems to solve, is incredibly thought provoking.

Philip discusses his experience at ServiceNow. From understanding the importance of cross-functionality for scaling, to understanding when to expand your product portfolio.

Now at Samsara, he shares with us his vision, mission and purpose.

Throughout the discussion, Philip talks to us about the role of self-awareness throughout the successes and learning points which have peppered his illustrious career. Make sure you tune in!

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Welcome to Dear Future CRO, bought to you by GrowthQ and Culture Crunch. We’re here to showcase leaders within the tech space and explore their guiding principles for future leaders. Today we are joined by Carolyn Henry, VP CMO of Americas Regional Marketing at Intel Corporation. We explore Carolyn’s exponential career trajectory within the tech marketing space. Although she began her professional journey with a liberal arts foundation, Carolyn made the decision after working for a VC firm to return to grad school and qualify in Technical Communications. She explains that a career in STEM can begin slightly later but can still demonstrate exponential cadence. Carolyn discusses her time with IBM where she really learnt the importance of marketers working in synergy with the selling partners. She shares her perspective on the role of empathy for marketers aiming to grow these successful partnerships and scale their careers. Now in a senior leadership position at Intel, Carolyn’s gives us invaluable insight into Intel’s formula for success regarding diverse hires and propelling forward underrepresented minorities for leadership. She also discusses her unwavering passion for marketing – specifically reaching new audiences and connecting generations. Carolyn also talks about the ‘Marketing Wheel’ – a spectrum of different disciplines, areas of focus and wide-ranging skill sets which fall under the marketing umbrella. She shares with us her perspective on the huge significance of mentoring, sponsoring and structured job rotations in contributing to positive business culture and individual career growth.

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Welcome to Dear Future CRO, bought to you by GrowthQ and Culture Crunch. We’re here to showcase leaders and thought innovators within the tech and sales space and explore their guiding principles for future leaders.

Today we are joined by Dr Molly Maloof, physician, entrepreneur, university lecturer and best-selling author. Working with a plethora of individuals and entities including executives from the VC and tech space, Dr Molly shares with us her insights regarding optimizing high performing individuals and teams via healthy best practices. She addresses the topic of burnout head on – an issue which is very much on the rise amongst sales professionals and executive leaders. From a psychological perspective, Dr Molly addresses the correlation between a safe psychological work environment and strong engagement with tangible results. Does remote working impact our need for human connection? Do we prioritise money over the mission? Dr Molly discusses these key points and shares more insights from her new book “The Spark Factor”.

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The team at Hunters and Unicorns is excited to announce their pop-up podcast collaboration bought to you by Culture Crunch and GrowthQ. Titled ‘Dear Future CRO’, we talk to dynamic and diverse sales leaders and listen to their advice for tomorrow’s CROs.

“Dear Future CRO, first, take bold risks on yourself and others. Second, be careful whose toes you step on today, they may be attached to the person you end up having to kiss tomorrow. Third, take each opportunity to learn, not only about the technical stuff but about the individuals and people you're working with because ultimately, we're in this game to be with other people, not to be with products or profit.”

Today we are joined by Elaine Mason, Senior Vice President of Purpose Strategy and Innovation at Cisco, to talk about her incredible career journey and how the chapters of her diverse experience and background in organisational development and change management have led her to her current role powering an inclusive culture at Cisco.

Listen to discover which aspects of Elaine’s journey provided the foundations for her upward career trajectory as well as vital strategies for progression in sales leadership roles as she speaks from her own experience on the benefits of creating a strong culture of sponsorship, mentorship, coaching and peer-to-peer connections within SaaS organizations.

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Dear Future CRO - A Culture Crunch and GrowthQ collaboration

Join the GrowthQ Community: www.growthq.co

“Dream big. Take risks. And most importantly, be authentic to yourself.”

Today we are joined by, Debbie McClure, Vice President of Sales at Americas at Dropbox to discuss her incredible 30-year career trajectory from Sales Executive to Sales Leader.

Listen to this episode to discover Debbie’s experiences and personal journey through the ranks as she enlightens us with strategies for establishing a strong and sustainable career in sales and offers her advice on mentorship, sponsorship, skill translation, and the importance of diversity of perspective in today’s sales environment. Sharing both her triumphs and mistakes with our audience today, Debbie pays forward the mentorship she has received in her own career to support the next generation of revenue leaders.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns: The Playbook Universe.

We’re here to showcase leaders within the Playbook Community and explore their formulas for success. We aim to uncover:

· What their non-negotiables were in propelling forward their career

· The importance of dynamic hiring

· The most effective methodologies utilised when scaling successful teams

Today we are joined by Marina Ayton, Regional Director for the Majors UK + Ireland for Zscaler. In this episode, we explore Marina’s formula for success both as an IC and as a leader. The last eight years have seen Marina surpassing 200% of her target consistently year or year and inspiring her teams to all hit the President’s club criteria.

Marina shares the importance of thinking BIG for her own ambitions and to that of her teams, and why challenging the status quo is imperative when driving your own career within the software sales space at any level. Whilst serving as a Regional Manager for AppDynamics during Cisco’s acquisition, Marina shares her professional experience and the importance of adaptability and agility.

Now at Zscaler, she discusses how hiring diverse teams, focussing on tenacity and revisiting the company vision with the team contributes to her success in building world class sales forces. Marina’s ability to articulate the importance of creating the right work environment where teammates feel safe to fail, illustrates why she and her team will keep on succeeding. This podcast uncovers how best to utilise the formidable playbook community network.

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The team at Hunters and Unicorns is excited to announce their pop-up podcast collaboration bought to you by Culture Crunch and GrowthQ.

Titled ‘Dear Future CRO’, we talk to dynamic and diverse sales leaders and listen to their advice for tomorrow’s CROs.

“Dear future CRO, your job is to create and lead cross-functional teams focused on revenue generation and that is a role that will always be evolving. And because of the rapidity of that evolution, more than any other leader, I would encourage you to invest in yourself and your teams by bolstering transferrable skills, which measurably bolster culture and strengthen financial performance because these skills encourage people to be better performers, hands down and predictably.”

Today we are joined by Kat Salazar, CEO & Founder at weThink, to talk about her incredible career journey and how her unique life experiences led her to identify a huge problem with traditional approaches to education and inspired her to start weThink, an intelligence software platform built to help people and organizations thrive in team-based environments.

Listen to discover how transferable skills directly impact the bottom line of every company and learn strategies for identifying the skills that optimize the way people learn and perform in teams. With advice to present and future revenue leaders on how to recognise and engage with soft skills to create better career progression and placement for employees, Kat shares her unique tactics for galvanising office culture, increasing employee performance and propelling sales teams forward.

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Hunters and Unicorns Productions

Dear Future CRO - A Culture Crunch and GrowthQ collaboration

Join the GrowthQ Community: www.growthq.co

“Remember that you're a CRO because you were a great sales leader and being a great sales leader is the first priority of the CRO. Don't forget the things about sales leadership that are important - building high performance teams, giving great sales coaching to the sales leaders, and talking to the customers of your organization. You are the top salesperson in the organization with access to every customer and every top salesperson so take advantage and understand what's working in your organization and what's not.”

Today we are joined by Larry Satterfield, retired Sales Leader at Jazz Networks, to talk about his professional career from learning the sales playbook back in the eighties, to becoming the Sales VP for companies like Dell, Tanberg, and Cisco. Leading with the philosophy of “lift as you climb”, Larry has solidified the science behind sales growth and competitiveness and is currently coaching CEOs and CROs across the industry, consistently creating opportunities and sponsors for the next generation of future revenue leaders to shine. Join in to listen to Larry’s expert opinion on how to transition from sales to leadership as well the value of mentorship and sponsorship, and what it can do for your company. Sharing his strategies for increasing diversity and minimising unconscious bias in the hiring process, Larry talks about his personal journey from the bottom to the top and offers valuable advice to young professionals looking to get into leadership positions.

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The team at Hunters and Unicorns is excited to announce their pop-up podcast collaboration bought to you by Culture Crunch and GrowthQ.

Titled ‘Dear Future CRO’, we talk to dynamic and diverse sales leaders and listen to their advice for tomorrow’s CROs.

“Dear future CRO, think about how you are contributing to building quality teams, investing in talent, investing in people's development, thinking about what it is that you need from your team of people, your leaders, your individual contributors to deliver on the result that you have because when you think about it in that concept, you'll do different things on a daily basis than you would if you're only thinking about your responsibility to deliver.”

Today we are joined by Paula Hansen, President and Chief Revenue Officer at Alteryx. With over 25 years of experience in SaaS, we discuss Paula’s incredible career trajectory, including her transition from engineering into sales in the early years of her career and how she married her passion for knowledge in the technology space with interpersonal skills to forge a clear path to her current role.

Listen to this episode to discover Paula’s experiences and personal journey through the ranks as she enlightens us with strategies for establishing a successful career in sales and offers her advice on how to cultivate mutually beneficial mentorship relationships, develop new sponsorship opportunities, remove unconscious bias across interview panels and nurture diversity of perspective in today’s sales environment.

Sharing tactics and tips on how to scale your leadership career, Paula offers real-life examples from within the walls of world-class organisations to support and accelerate the careers of next generation revenue leaders.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns: The Sales Leaders Playbook.

We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement.

By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:

Why engagement is critical
The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion
How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by Hash Basu-Choudhuri, General Manager of EMEA at Cribl. In this episode, we discuss Hash’s history in the observability industry, his experiences as first man on the ground opening up EMEA operations at Cribl, and the business plan he executed against to introduce the 18-month-old startup to a brand-new market and territory in 2021.

“Credibility, integrity, and trustworthiness are three things that I think will always stand you in good stead, whether you're in this business or any other business and I've never compromised on those three. You say what you're going to do and do what you're going to say. That's number one. Number two, it's the team, it's never about one man, it's about working together in unison and then, let’s be honest, it’s about the product.”

Taking us from the early days of cutting his teeth at Sybase – to joining Splunk in the middle of an economic crisis in 2008 – through to his current adventure at Cribl and the entrepreneurial drive that led him to this role, Hash opens our eyes to the change mindset required to succeed in the fast-paced Observability sector as we discuss the benefits of his deep technical background and the key drivers that push him to accept new challenges and continually reinvent himself in different areas of business.

With a variety of tools and techniques for propelling an upward career trajectory in the tech space, listen to this podcast to discover the foundations that enabled Hash to accomplish success as well as his strategies for building sustainable, repeatable, and high growth business.

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LIFE WORK ALIGNMENT | Culture Crunch - Corean Canty

Welcome to Culture Crunch.

We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement. By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:

Why engagement is critical

The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion

How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by Corean Canty, Executive Coach, Workplace Well-being Expert, and Former COO with over 20 years of experience in the Media and Marketing space, to discuss her thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out why we need to place wellbeing at the centre of our organisations to attract and retain top talent, bring out the best in our employees and maximise business outcomes.

“Good company culture is life centred. We hear a lot about people first and human first and I am very much aligned with that but one thing I've recognized over many years is that, whether you're selling a product or a service, all businesses are in service of life, yet the people in the businesses usually end up last on the list.”

Whilst many assume that wellbeing is a "soft" issue and not a management problem to solve, Corean draws our attention to the impact of the pandemic on company culture and how it created a power shift from employer to employee and a new perspective of wellness in the workplace. Thanks to the pandemic, employees are now in the driving seat and employers need to be flexible, listen and talk to their people, and identify how to make their organisation a more appealing place to join and stay.

Citing the U.S. Surgeon General’s new guidance around strengthening workplace well-being, Corean takes a deep dive into why mental health and comprehensive wellbeing strategies need to be a top priority in contemporary workplaces and offers advice to leaders on how to create space for feedback and collaboration with their workforce to drive change, increase retention and positively impact performance.

In relation to her experience of hyper growth industries specifically, Corean highlights the need for business owners to address the “pace and pain gap” and harness the power of pause - the pressure to hit financial numbers may tempt many leaders to focus only on the balance sheet, but Corean believes that the key to peak performance is, paradoxically, a long and restful pause. She encourages leaders in organizations large and small to embrace the cyclical nature of business growth and incorporate time for reflection into their strategy to avoid burnout, diminishing returns and employee attrition.

With a variety of tools and techniques to help you transform your workplace culture, listen to this podcast to discover Corean’s strategies for supporting and facilitating a contemporary workforce, diminishing unconscious bias, and increasing productivity through communication, understanding and flexibility.

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Welcome to Culture Crunch.

Why engagement is critical
The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion
How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by Harsha Jalihal, Chief people officer of MongoDB, to discuss her thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out why we need to focus on the human element in this age of technology to increase productivity, reduce attrition and create better business outcomes.

“Every business problem in any company boils down to human behaviours. It's why so many CEOs and C level execs talk about how much time they spend dealing with people issues. Especially here at a MongoDB, we've got all the other raw material - we've got a great product, we've got a great business model, we've got all the things we need to run a successful business - when problems arise, it always boils down to human behaviour and that understanding of human behaviour is what we bring to the table. My goal is to get managers to learn how to do that well so they can then make decisions more independently and not rely on HR to tell them what to do.”

Sharing key leadership lessons with us in this interview, Harsha explains the ongoing cultural challenges being faced by organisations in the tech space due to the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic. She describes how the melding of people's personal and professional lives has resulted in the development of a new leadership paradigm and emphasizes that the skills required for a future in tech are actually human skills: e.g. communication, empathy and cognitive thinking. As technology continues to change at an accelerated pace, Harsha believes that the key to good company culture is educating leaders and managers to understand human behaviour and set the tone from the top down. Outlining how high growth environments can have both positive and negative impacts on company culture, Harsha offers advice to forward thinking leaders on how to embrace change whilst preserving core company values.

“A lot of leaders, particularly in companies they have built or seen grow from ground up, tend to want to protect the culture, sometimes at all costs, and that's not necessarily a good thing. For me, it’s not about protecting it, it's about keeping the conversation about culture front and centre in your business strategy conversations.” With a variety of tools and techniques to help you transform your workplace culture, listen to discover Harsha’s future-proofed solutions to increasing revenue and productivity by bringing culture and core values to the centre of your business conversations.

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Welcome to Culture Crunch.

Why engagement is critical

The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion

How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by Jenny Kang, talent partner at Battery Ventures, to discuss her thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a dispersed digital world and find out how leaders can move beyond ticking the diversity checkbox and ensure they are achieving their goals of elevating DEI and creating better workplaces.

“I think that most companies that have a true commitment to diversity and inclusion understand that diverse workforces and diversity of thought and experiences lead to more innovation, stronger company culture, higher retention, and better business outcomes. But I think that we still need to hone that message correctly and we still have work to do to engage the market in the right way in terms of how we approach candidates and how we position these values.”

These days, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are at the forefront of hiring conversations, however, while many businesses are working toward equity and inclusion, minorities continue to face challenges in the tech industry. As someone from a diverse background who has transitioned into tech from a seemingly unrelated industry (before starting her career in executive recruiting, Jenny was a defence attorney), Jenny has first-hand experience of how the unique perspectives and experiences brought to the table by a diverse workforce can generate product innovation, better decision making, and stronger teams.

Offering strategies and tangible steps for business leaders across the tech landscape, Jenny talks us through how to drive real inclusion and diversity by redefining hiring profiles, taking a multithreaded approach to recruitment and being openminded to people from non-traditional backgrounds. Emphasising the need for authentic communication and genuine commitment to core company values, Jenny’s number one tip for leaders across all industries is that in order to infiltrate company culture, demonstrate a genuine commitment to DEI, and introduce new behaviours, change must come from the top-down.

Listen to discover how to demonstrate DEI mindfulness in your hiring process and why promoting these values throughout your organization is the only way forward. Jenny provides vital advice to help you connect and engage with a dispersed workforce as well as a variety of tools and techniques to help you transform your workplace culture and propel business growth.

The information contained herein is based solely on the opinion of Jenny Kang. This material is provided for educational purposes to cover industry or sector trends, and it is not, and may not be relied on in any manner as, legal, tax or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by Battery Ventures or any other Battery entity.

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“I had a pretty good sense of how to build and run teams successfully, but the MongoDB experience helped me see how granular that process can be, how you can recruit, develop, and execute on a day-to-day basis based on the playbook that can really unlock fantastic results. I spent about three years at MongoDB under their leadership and it propels the way I look at running sales organizations and most importantly driving great business outcomes for companies.”  - Marjorie Janiewicz Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies.   In this special edition series The 33 CXOs we investigate the greatest success story in the history of software sales. Discover how thirty-three sales execs from one organisation, BladeLogic, became CXOs in the world’s 100 fastest growing technology companies. We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most prolific sales leaders in the industry.  Today we are joined by Marjorie Janiewicz, Chief Revenue Officer at Foursquare. In this interview, we discuss Marjorie’s evolving mission and vision as she leads Foursquare’s global go-to-market strategy as well as her incredible career trajectory working with word-class innovative software companies and how she has risen through the ranks to become the deeply respected enterprise software sales leader that she is today. “The playbook we've been talking about in practice is an enterprise playbook. It is designed to extract bigger business value, to justify premium. So as a CRO deploying the playbook to attack very large accounts in financial services, retail, all the way to sales cycles in government public sector, I think the playbook had given me the foundation to understand the steps in the sales process, how I think about how customers are buying, and how I think about mapping our sales motion to it. The playbook gave me the foundation and empowered me to know that I could do this.” Marjorie learnt and mastered the playbook under the tutelage of Dev Ittycheria and Carlos Delatorre during her time at MongoDB. We discuss the incredible impact that MongoDB had on Marjorie’s career and how the ground breaking methodology and principles of change management gave her the blueprint she needed to channel her appetite for disruption into a successful career leading transformational SaaS initiatives. Offering advice and guidance to current and future leaders, Marjorie discusses the key challenges facing tech businesses today and highlights how the ongoing evolution of the playbook has provided business owners with more visibility and tracking capability than ever before. Providing strategies and guidance on how to lean into the methodology during times of change, Marjorie also puts forwards her views on the topic of inclusion and diversity in the tech space and draws our attention the playbook’s capacity for unlocking the talent pool via training and enablement and accelerating the career paths of diverse individuals. “Sales is a profession, like anything, it's a craft you can master, and I think more than ever, thinking about the economy and the world we live in, it’s just a wonderful place for anyone that has smarts, hunger, and an appetite to excel.” In this vodcast you will discover:  Marjorie’s journey to embracing change - how the playbook provided foundations for Marjorie to become a well-rounded CRO The fundamental mechanics of the playbook and how to adapt the methodology to fit different industries and customer profiles Diversity and inclusion – the playbook’s capacity to unlock the talent pool The effects of the current recession on the software market and what changes we should look out for With over twenty years of international software and SaaS sales experience, Marjorie is a true builder. Her customer first orientation and collaborative approach to scaling has enabled her to bring different organizations together towards one sales motion, deliver value to customers, and drive ongoing improvement. We discuss Marjorie’s journey to embracing change as well as her plans for the future and excitement for the next phase of growth at Foursquare. This wide-ranging discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:

Why engagement is critical

The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion

How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by Go-to-Market Strategy and Operations leader Eugenia Chiang, to discuss her thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out how a work environment centred around diversity, equity and inclusion can inspire teams, improve recruitment and retention of talent, and foster innovation.

“Through acceptance, you can gain awareness so you can drive change in behaviour. Companies with tangible DEI practices are more likely to have higher performing teams and better company results. Furthermore, much of the changing behaviour in society also aligns with tech's ethos in challenging status quo and creating a better future for all of us, and that's another way where tech can also play a role in that societal change as well.”

Providing eye-opening statistics and examples relating to racial and gender discrimination in the workplace, Eugenia draws our attention to the need for cultural evolution in the SaaS sector and offers tangible steps for business leaders to start embracing a DEI growth mindset. With over fifteen years of experience in leading diverse teams and defining organisational vision across high profile, high growth companies in the tech space, Eugenia has witnessed first-hand the challenges associated with protecting and propelling DEI in this ever evolving fast-paced sector.

Whilst the competitiveness and high-performance of this industry naturally lends itself to an acute focus on company culture, Eugenia reminds us that improving DEI is not a one-day task and that in order to create positive cultural changes, we need to address our own deep-rooted biases, outlook and habits before trying to impact societal or systemic issues.

With a variety of tools and techniques to help you transform your workplace culture, listen to this podcast to discover Eugenia’s strategies for creating a sense of community and belonging in your workplace, whilst inspiring your team and peers to achieve their full potential. The work may be challenging at times, but the rewards—both for business and for your employee culture—are well worth the effort.

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Discover how thirty-three sales execs from one organisation, BladeLogic, became CXOs in the world’s 100 fastest growing technology companies. We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most prolific sales leaders in the industry. In this episode we sit down with Graham Moreno, Regional Vice President, Central, Southeast, and LatAm at Grafana Labs to take a look back at his incredible career trajectory and discuss how his early indoctrination in the Playbook community at MongoDB shaped and influenced his leadership style today, enabling him to recognise the huge opportunity presented by Grafana Labs and play an incremental role in scaling this company from 30 to 1000 employees in just three and a half years.

“They had almost $5 million in revenue. No salespeople, no customer success people, it was a team of very extraordinarily talented engineers and I just remember sitting at a bar with Raj and saying, " I think there's the opportunity to do something really amazing here." And he was like, "I do too, but I'm not a sales guy." After a couple of months, I joined and it's really been incredible.”

Founded in 2014 by Raj Dutt, Torkel Ödegaard and Anthony Woods, Grafana Labs has not only experienced overwhelming growth in recent years, it has also been recognized for the second year in a row as one of America’s best start-up employers.

We ask Graham to guide us through his experience of scaling the hiring process from the bottom up at Grafana Labs and how he implemented structure in the early stages of development using the foundations of Playbook methodology to create a successful growth strategy based on both repetition and continual evolution.

Offering advice and guidance to current and future leaders, Graham insists that it’s not only the Playbook but the people and culture of Grafana Labs — which fosters transparency, autonomy, and accountability — that has proven to be the cornerstone of the company. No matter how big the organization gets or how fast it scales, leaders are dedicated to prioritising culture above revenue, staying true to company values and building long lasting relationships to improve communication and cultivate trust and respect. “With experience and maturity, I have learned to communicate a lot more effectively because as we've gotten bigger, it is so important that even if you disagree, you're able to do it in a way that is opening up a productive conversation and I don't think I was always awesome at that early on. I've had an opportunity to evolve - if you look at the most effective selling teams at Mongo and Grafana, it's the teams where customer success, engineering, and marketing are all onboard and working together and there's a really good environment in terms of how we're sharing knowledge and what we're able to bring to our customers as a result.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

The framework that enabled Graham to scale the Grafana Labs workforce from 30 to 1000 employees in record time

How to maintain high performance throughout your career by surrounding yourself with astonishing talent and learning to accept feedback

How to scale the hiring process through periods of rapid growth How to protect the culture of an organisation as it scales Graham Moreno understands exactly

How to build a sales force to stand the test of time.

We discuss key challenges and accomplishments from Graham’s journey at Grafana Labs and what he believes to be the core ingredients needed for a company to reach unicorn status. This wide-ranging discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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Welcome to Culture Crunch. We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement. By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:

Why engagement is critical
The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion
How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by Chelsea Krakowski, innovator of people at AuditBoard, to discuss her thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out how a work environment centred around communication, feedback and core company values can inspire teams, deliver customer success, and foster innovation.

“We make hundreds of decisions every single day from the way that we choose to bring ourselves to work in the morning, the approach to the work, the communications, and also those really big decisions. It's all of it. I hope that that framing it through that mindset empowers individuals who may not feel like decision makers, to know that they're having a meaningful impact on shaping the culture - if everyone's shaping the culture, it creates an accountability and a responsibility for everyone to be making decisions every day that help move the culture in the direction that we want it to go.”

Throughout her career, Chelsea has helped to scale global organizations and transform them from the inside out by unleashing the potential of their employees. In this podcast, she offers advice to forward-thinking leaders on the importance of developing a human-centred culture that treats employees as valued individuals who are respected, empowered, and trusted. As technology continues to change at an accelerated pace, Chelsea offers a holistic look at creating a desirable workplace culture and highlights the need for innovation and transformation of culture-building strategies in modern tech organisations.

Whilst leaders play a vital role in defining the culture they want for their company; Chelsea explains how workplace culture is the result of everyone's behaviour. She has witnessed first-hand how participation drives a strong sense of ownership and encourages leaders in this space to ask for continuous feedback from their teams, welcome new ideas from employees and embrace failure to create an environment of open communication, inclusivity, and progression. With a variety of tools and techniques to help you transform your workplace culture, listen to discover Chelsea’s future-proofed solutions to grow revenue, engage remote teams, and innovate the people space.

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Welcome to Culture Crunch.

We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement.

By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:

Why engagement is critical
The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion
How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by John Germinario, Senior Director, Head of People at PebblePost, to discuss his thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out how creating a culture that is centred around collaboration and cross-functional interaction can improve the workplace environment and lead to increased performance and retention.

“The best company cultures are ones where people feel like they can be collaborative at all levels of the organization. At a smaller organization it's a bit easier, but even at a larger organization when an entry-level person can rub elbows with the CFO and people feel like they're heard not only from a professional, but a personal perspective, I think that allows all of us to feel a level of family.”

Having previously served as Director, Human Resources at The Avon Company, now part of LG H&H Americas, John understands how to support rapid business growth via people programs. Bringing over 10 years of HR experience to our discussion today, he describes the strong relationship between culture and recruitment that comes into play during employee sourcing, selection, and retention and highlights the need for evolution and leadership development in order to overcome key corporate culture challenges facing employers in the tech space.

John witnesses first-hand how the culture around tech is changing as employee expectations evolve and has seen how a widespread, inclusive mindset and a more flexible approach to leadership can start by simply listening to employees, responding to their feedback, and making them feel heard. The tech industry is all about moving fast, testing everything, and innovating with the times. John believes that it is now essential for tech companies to apply that same work ethic to boost their cultures and processes to retain and attract talent.

The best investment you can make for your company is an investment in your team. Listen to discover John’s strategies for empowering leaders and improving company culture. Learn how to develop your hiring process by throwing outdated credentials out the door and expanding the talent pool to actively participate in inclusive recruitment and positively impact your growth rates.

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SPONSORSHIP AND ADVOCACY | Culture Crunch - Dalton Van Hatcher

Welcome to Culture Crunch.

Why engagement is critical

The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion

How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by Dalton Van Hatcher, Chief Customer Officer at Felux and co-founder of Us in Technology, to discuss his thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out why creating a culture that is centred around diversity and inclusion can improve the workplace environment and radically increase performance.

“It starts with diversity of mindset. Having people from different walks of life and different experiences is a big part of that. Diversity is not just about race, it's not about skin colour, it's not about gender, it's beyond that, it's about diversity of mindset. So having people from lots of different walks of life is going to help you be creative and overcome better challenges.”

Dalton started his career under the leadership of the legendary John McMahon and Dev Ittycheria as an SDR at BladeLogic. As an early employee, he helped build several multi-billion-dollar businesses and high-performance growth functions including IPOs at BladeLogic, Sumo Logic, and Fuze. He is now a board advisor for several tech companies and has helped Co-found a DEI Platform: Us in Technology helping underrepresented talent get into Tech. Addressing the massive pipeline problem of diversity and gender gap in tech, Dalton discusses the need for more understanding around the practices and the barriers that minorities and underrepresented communities face and how his company, Us in Technology, is working to close this gap whilst simultaneously coaching organizations to see past potential unintentional discrimination in their hiring practices.

Whilst many companies are now being more intentional about ramping up their diversity and inclusion efforts, Dalton highlights key challenges preventing leaders from deepening their candidacy pool and achieving their goals. He provides guidelines for companies to consider when developing a successful workplace diversity and inclusion strategy and offers advice to senior leaders on the importance of externally increasing awareness by reaching out to marginalized communities as well as internally nurturing new workforces through their career progression and adhering to individual needs to enable people with varied skillsets to succeed.

“Diverse teams outperform homogenous teams by 30%, so this is a business problem, it's not just a societal problem.”

Listen to discover Dalton’s strategies on how to build and lead a diverse team in the tech industry and why driving DEI transformation is mission critical to early-stage start-ups. Learn how to develop your hiring process, deepen your talent pool, and actively participate in inclusive recruitment to positively impact your company culture and growth rates.

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INNOVATION AND THE FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP | Culture Crunch - Ni'coel Stark

Welcome to Culture Crunch.

We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement.

By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:

Why engagement is critical

The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion

How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by Ni’coel Stark, Organizational Systems Officer and Decision Intelligence Coach, to discuss her thoughts on the key human challenges connected to working in a highly innovative tech environment and how to improve company culture in line with technological advancement through innovation of current workplace systems.

“The biggest problem that companies have is when their brands do not match who they are because brands tend to be descriptions of values and principles yet who they are as humans inside a company are not that. Company culture is simply when we match who we say we are, and I think that that requires a human centeredness that is above the product or service that we are providing. Who we are as a company in business is equally or more important than what we produce.”

Ni'coel's professional life focuses on relationships and technology that power the future of culture, human systems, and innovation. As a thought leader in this space, she recognizes the importance of authenticity in relation to company values and has witnessed the human cost associated with the widening gap between product innovation and cultural evolution. Having observed a dramatic rise in anxiety amongst employees in the tech sector in recent years, Ni’coel believes that current workplace systems need to be updated to enable employees to adapt to new circumstances propelled by science and technology. Challenging leaders to rethink the way they are building their companies, especially in terms of communication and constructing an authentic brand identity, Ni’coel puts forward three philosophical pillars designed to progress organisational and operational systems and drive cultural development in the workplace from a more holistic standpoint. Reflecting on the key challenges associated with merging technology with the human experience, Ni’coel offers a variety of tools and techniques to help you empower your employees, build trust, and transform your workplace culture. Listen to discover how to leverage intelligence within your ecosystem and achieve the positive culture you envision for your team by putting your people at the centre of your organisation.

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In this story session we cover:  

Examples of Kyle’s data driven strategy to early procurement
How to use data tracking to create repeatability and streamline your sales strategy
Why expansion deals take less time to secure than land deals
Kyle’s multi-threaded approach to prospecting in a consumption-based world

Today we are joined by Kyle Kearns, regional sales director at Starburst, for a Hunters and Unicorns exclusive.

Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen to discover more on how to adapt your mindset and apply Kyle’s strategies to real business scenarios – learn tactics and best practices for improving accountability within your ecosystem and how to use data collection to help your team accelerate and land deals. “Are you on the mission?”

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission. 20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.

Today we are joined by Kyle Kearns, Regional Sales Director at Starburst. In this interview, why he is so passionate about data collection and accountability in this ever evolving, consumption-based marketplace and what it takes to thrive in this environment.

“I review my business for the previous week and the week ahead. How many new business meetings have I got set up for that week? What are the key impact meetings that I've got set up for that week? Collecting that data becomes important, particularly when you start to land deals six - nine months in. When you start to land these enterprise accounts, you can reflect on that data and then you can understand, how many meetings did it take to land that organization? How many partners were involved as a result of this?”

Kyle elaborates on the complexity of closing deals in pre-IPO tech companies and explains the operating rhythm and constant analysis required to effectively track data in the early stages of growth to create a blueprint for repeatable success. With advice for both reps and managers on how to use research and smart prospecting to close deals, Kyle offers tips and insights on the power of data and how you can use it to help you stay in control of your position in the deal cycle, prioritise your time and increase your efficiency. Kyle talks on his chosen topic of ‘Accountability’ and why he believes that it is the key to success, especially in pre-IPO tech companies. With an abundance of experience as ‘first man on the ground' in early-stage technology companies, Kyle offers his advice to individuals considering a role at pre-IPO tech organisations. He explains Listen to our story session to discover more on how to adapt your mindset and apply Kyle’s strategies to real business scenarios – learn tactics and best practices for improving accountability within your ecosystem and how to use data collection to help your team accelerate and land deals.

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Welcome to Culture Crunch.

We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement.

By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:

Why engagement is critical
The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion
How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by Susan Whittemore, Revenue Operations Leader at TeamPay, to discuss her thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out why creating a culture that values mental health can improve the workplace environment and lead to increased performance from employees and teams.

“There is a cost to a bad culture. A lot of times we don't see it, we don't measure it, we don't put it on that balance sheet, but there is a performance tax that takes place when you have a rogue culture. If there is on the surface, a sense of belonging, but then behind closed doors individuals are feeling isolated, you're not going to get the optimum performance that you hired them originally for – this is happening with organizations that are spending so much time, energy, and money hiring, and yet they're losing their employees 6-12 months later.”

With an extensive background in analytical thought leadership, Susan has experienced first-hand how a toxic workplace culture can be the best predictor of employee attrition, particularly in the tech sector. With a focus on data-driven solutions and innovation, technology companies have a tendency to put products above all else when it comes to creating meaningful change, sometimes to the detriment of their employees. Susan puts forward pivotal strategies for today’s leaders on how to create a more synchronised and cohesive work environment. She offers tangible steps on how to develop a positive people-first culture and retain A Player talent by aligning your organisation, facilitating communication between all revenue-generating teams, and taking time to understand what drives people both professionally and personally.

Reflecting on the challenges behind us and how to position yourself for the future, Susan illuminates the path forwards and identifies simple and inexpensive measures you can take today to empower your employees, build trust, and transform your workplace culture. Listen to discover how to put people at the centre of your organisation to create a work environment that not only reflects the core mission and values of your company but also allows you to continually improve and scale at a faster, more predictable rate.

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In this story session we cover:  

How to beat competition using the Value Framework
Recent examples of how David has used the Value Framework to win transformational deals
Examples from David’s past of how not using the value framework has led to failure Strategies that will help you test whether your champion is ready to sell on your behalf.

Today we are joined by David Boyle, Strategic Accounts leader at Aware, for a Hunters and Unicorns exclusive.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission. 20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes. We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery. Today we are joined by David Boyle, Strategic Accounts leader at Aware. In this interview, David presents his understanding of The Value Framework and how to use it as a powerful tool to grow your sales organization. David explains the key characteristics of the Value Framework and its capacity to help you articulate the worth and differentiation of your products in a way that has meaning to your buyers. He talks us through how a well-defined sales messaging strategy can be implemented not only by reps, but also by managers and leaders to provide consistency and increase your chances of success through mutual understanding and shared hypothesis. “You’ve got to slow down. You're really making sure you're not misunderstanding each other, and you’ve got to really dig in as to the implications of not doing anything. It's how voracious and aggressive you are at qualifying and making sure that the hypothesis becomes a shared hypothesis and if you get agreement on this document, and if you're the scribe, you're in control of things.” Giving examples from his own experience, David elaborates on how to use the Value Framework to solidify alignment with your buyer and establish a strong data-driven foundation for all phases of the customer journey. He also emphasises the importance of highlighting potential career progression opportunities for your champion during the qualification stage as well as the company-wide benefits that would result from investment in your solution. With advice for both reps and managers on how to leverage the Value Framework, David offers tips, insights, and tools to help you develop your persona-based messaging, align your business outcomes with your customer’s pain points, and drive more successful sales cycles. Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply David’s strategies to real business scenarios – learn tactics and best practices for developing value-focused messaging and aligning your sales organization with the Value Framework to create sophisticated, metric-based business cases that will increase trust in your solution and improve your close rates.

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Welcome to Culture Crunch.

We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement.

By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:

Why engagement is critical
The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion
How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players

Today we are joined by Jennie Byrne, physician leader, brain and behaviour specialist, entrepreneur, and author, to discuss her interpretation of a healthy workplace culture and find out how an understanding of human psychology and behaviour can give us the tools we need to thrive in a digital world.

“We spend a lot of time and effort thinking about operations and technology in business settings and we spend so much time on that without accounting for the human side of things, that we end up wasting our time. You could spend years optimizing operations, but if you're not accounting for the human side, it's just a waste of time.”

In her new book, Work Smart: Use Your Brain and Behaviour to Master the Future of Work, Jennie describes how the human brain and behaviour work and how this translates to a business environment. She describes the implications on mental health related to a lack of consideration for the human condition in the tech space and how we must understand human nature to create positive change within our organizations.

Sharing her own story of being more authentic to herself and to others, dissolving the boundary between her personal and professional being, Jennie pinpoints that the future of work will be more focussed on being better people than about having the best technology.

“I think people in leadership should really focus on equity, whether that's gender equity, racial equity, socioeconomic equity, I really do believe that if we can get equity at the leadership level, it can quickly start to translate into equity at other levels.”

As a founding member of CHIEF, a private network focused on connecting and supporting women executive leaders, Jennie is passionate about empowering women in leadership. She shares her views with us on role models within the female leadership landscape and offers mentorship advice to women in business looking to strengthen their skills, magnify their influence, and pave the way to bring others with them.

Whether you are an employee, manager, or leader, listen in to discover how to drive cultural cohesion and a forward-thinking mentality into your workplace and learn how a better understanding of behavioural health can help us all improve communication, maximize efficiency, and move forward faster.

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Today we are joined by Thea Mayes, Major Account Executive at Snowflake, the Data Cloud company.

Thea shares how her background in Olympic lifting helps her achieve consistent results. We explore the importance of finding balance with personal accountability and leveraging you your team to propel success.

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Today we are joined by Andy Whyte, author, host, and founder of MEDDICC.com.

We explore the fundamentals and dispel the misconceptions of MEDDICC to help you achieve consistent results. A must listen from the author of one of the most important books written on MEDDICC best practices.

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In this story session we cover: 

Partnering with Cloud Service Providers

– Why it matters

Game changing examples of how to re-engage with customers and close deals by aligning with Cloud Service Providers
The evolution of Cloud Services and why you should transition to a cloud first model

– or risk getting left behind

Today we are joined by Michael Musselman, Senior Director of Technology & Strategic Alliances at Lacework, the data-driven security platform for the cloud. Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen discover how to apply Mike’s strategies for transacting on Marketplace to real life scenarios and learn preparation tactics and best practices for aligning with a Cloud Service Provider to scale your business.

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In this story session we cover:

Ceire’s journey to the top and why she needed to understand her success in order to transition into a leadership
How starting at the bottom at AppDynampics shaped Ceire as an empathetic leader and enabled her to help others following a similar path
Ceire’s advice to people entering SaaS from both MEDDIC and non-MEDDIC backgrounds

Today we are joined by Ceire McQuaid, Regional Vice President UK&I at DataRobot, for a Hunters and Unicorns exclusive.

Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen to discover how to apply Ceire’s strategies to real business scenarios and learn about the opportunities and skillset you should expect to develop when you join a MEDDIC company, with tactics, tips and best practices for finding the right MEDDIC organisation for you.

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In this story session we cover:  

How to pivot from business level conversations to transformational execution
The importance of mindset, belief system and creating audacious goals to successfully execute big deals
Tactics for securing EB sponsorship and the transformational impact that results from it

Today we are joined by Stuart Simmons, Regional Director of Financial Services at Snowflake, for a Hunters and Unicorns exclusive.

Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen to discover real business examples of how Stuart’s approach to sales execution has generated transformational results and learn how to apply his strategies and adapt your own belief system to navigate a successful future career in SaaS.

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In this story session we cover:    

Taking command of your business and understanding your success to survive interview scrutiny
How nailing the interview process paves the way for a bright future
The cost of a bad hire and the long game of recruitment

Today we are joined by Ryan Precious, VP of Sales at Rockset, for a Hunters and Unicorns exclusive.  Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen discover how to apply Ryan’s interview strategies to real life scenarios and learn preparation tactics and best practices for showcasing your “A Player” characteristics to leave a lasting impression on hiring managers and CEOs in the playbook community.

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In this story session we cover:   - Real life examples of how aiming for your “why” can result in career transformation - How to increase motivation and focus in your workplace by honing in on individual goals and objectives - Mike’s personal “why” and how finding his purpose enabled him to unlock his best life Today we are joined by Mike Earnest, Area Vice President at Zscaler. Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen to discover how to adapt your mindset and apply Mike’s strategies to real business scenarios - learn tactics and best practices for using goal setting to motivate and inspire your team to achieve their career aspirations.

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In this story session we cover:

What it means to be coachable and how to enhance your training to increase your team’s success rates.
Examples of employee transformations that have resulted from overcoming egos and improving coachability.
How to develop a growth mindset to increase your coachability and grow as a person.

Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen to discover how to apply Florian’s strategies to real business scenarios and learn tactics, tips, and best practices for changing employee behaviour, overcoming challenging situations and reinforcing coachability from the top down at your company.

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Hunters and Unicorns - 202020 Mastery Mission - Part 2 - The Stories - Kirk Giddens

In this story session we cover:   

Why you need to do your research if you want to engage customers

How to use Kirk’s multi-threaded methods to provoke a conversation and find your champion

How to develop a bullet proof mindset, get over rejection fast and learn from your losses

Today we are joined by Kirk Giddens, Vice President, Mid-Market Sales North America at TripActions.    Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen to discover how to apply Kirk’s Pipeline Generation strategies to real life prospecting scenarios, and learn preparation tactics, research tips, and best practices to prepare for future growth at your company.

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Out Now – Episode 12/20 - @Espen Sjaavic 

In this story session we cover: 

The power of internal champions and how to know when you have one
How to develop your champion building skillset
Why you need to make your champion the hero

Today we are joined by Espen Sjaavic, Senior Regional Vice President at Zscaler. 

Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen to discover Espen’s champion-building methodology and learn tips and best practices for identifying and developing sales champions that have the power and influence you need to drive change and close deals.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission. 

20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes. 

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery. 

Today we are joined by Andy Whyte, enterprise sales leader, author of MEDDICC, and founder of the leading resource for enterprise sellers, MEDDIC.com. In this interview, Andy explains what salespeople commonly get wrong with sales qualification and why nobody ever regrets qualifying out of opportunities, but so few people do it enough.

“We're really focused on qualification, but we work so hard to get opportunities that there's almost a reluctance to qualify out. One of the things I learned earlier in my career was if you go to qualify out, only good things happen.”

Andy discusses how sales qualification is often misunderstood as being a checkbox exercise, or even worse, it is used to qualify 'Can this customer buy', rather than 'Does my solution provide enough value to my customer'. He goes on to address the common misconceptions around MEDDIC and explains the origins of the framework and how to use it more efficiently and effectively to qualify deals and generate a clear path to success. With over fifteen years of experience working in SaaS and helping organizations improve their sales velocity, Andy offers his tips on how to view your qualification strategy through your customers eyes and leverage the proven MEDDIC methodology in your sales cycles so that you can articulate and quantify pain, demonstrate the value of your sales solution, and ultimately accomplish a perfect “mutual qualification”. Presenting strategies and best practices on how to successfully implement MEDDIC and navigate qualification, Andy helps us to understand how to stay ahead of complex deals by adopting the “MEDDIC mindset” and focussing on the three pillars of sales - value, stakeholders, and process.

Listen to our story session to discover how to apply Andy’s strategies to real business scenarios and learn tactics for using MEDDIC to execute your customer interactions with more purpose, achieve better results and reap the rewards of having a well-qualified pipeline of opportunities.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.

20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.

Today we are joined by Thea Mayes, Major Accounts Executive at Snowflake.

In this interview, we discuss Thea’s experiences as a former Olympian weightlifter and how she transitioned into tech sales. We explore the importance of self-belief in sport and its application to the world of sales as we delve into her journey to the top as a high-level, competitive athlete and how it prepared her with the essential characteristics needed to win in the field of sales.

“Even though Olympic lifting is an individual sport, you're always training as part of a team, and that's very much the same in sales. You compete against your team; however, you're competing against yourself the most. You use your team to help you move on - if you think someone's doing better than you, or you are doing better than them, you use that conflict to get better.”

As a top athlete, Thea intrinsically enjoys competition and has, through dedication to regimented training and self-development, cultivated a mindset to achieve excellence, making her well-equipped to stand out in deeply competitive environments. She explains how, just like elite athletes, great salespeople continually push themselves to meet increasingly ambitious goals and aim to outperform themselves and their peers to reach the next benchmark.

“In boxing, you learn your combos, you go to training, you get faster, you get lighter, you get quicker, but if I wasn't eating correctly, or showing up every day, twice a day, I wasn't going to get better. It's the same thing with MEDDIC. There is a framework and every time that you go back to that framework you should be adding more to it and getting better at it.”

Having recently transitioned to a Playbook company, Thea offers her tips on how to choose the best coaches and organisations to work for as well as how to overcome adversity and treat setbacks as speed bumps rather than stop signs. She believes that discipline is the secret to success in both sports and SaaS and explains the importance of consistency, organisation, and preparation if you want to scale a career in either of these industries.

Listen to our story session to discover how to apply Thea’s strategies to real life scenarios and learn how to adopt the mindset and apply the discipline of a top performing athlete to improve your sales performance.

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In this story session we cover:

• What it takes to thrive and survive in a high growth, high demanding, high excellence organization like Lacework

• The importance of doing your homework and leveraging people in your network to gain true understanding of a company

• Choosing the right company to work for and how to spot signs of validation

• How to develop an adaptable mindset and why this is a prerequisite for survival in tech

Today we are joined by Bernd Maehrlein, Vice President Central & Eastern Europe at Lacework, for a Hunters and Unicorns exclusive. Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen New to the 202020 Mastery Mission – Check out this blog for more information

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In this story session we cover:

• Game changing examples of saving deals by aligning with Economic Buyers

• How to view technology from the Economic Buyer’s perspective to win deals

• How to connect problems to technology to avoid champion train wrecks

Today we are joined by Keith Butler, Chief Revenue Officer at Observe Inc, for a Hunters and Unicorns exclusive.

“People will follow you if they believe that you can take them somewhere they can't get by themselves - that is champion building. The customer will see that this person can help them solve a problem and they can't do it without them.”

Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen discover how to apply Keith’s methodologies to real life business scenarios and learn preparation tactics, research tips, and best practices to prepare for your next meeting with an Economic Buyer.

“Are you on the mission?”

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In this story session we cover: 

The benefits of a non-linear career trajectory and why you should stop fixating on your next title
How to know when the time is right to take a step up and challenge yourself in your career
Mentorship – what does mentorship look like and what to expect from a mentor
Finding your authentic self as a female in SaaS

Today we are joined Lauren Ball, VP Commercial Sales at Auditboard. We discuss her exemplary resilience and experiences as a female leader in SaaS and the importance of finding your “Why” in order to succeed in this environment. Highlighting the limitations of chasing titles, Lauren helps us to understand the benefits of a non-linear career trajectory in this industry and explains how her “lateral” journey to the top exposed her to opportunities that prepared her for future leadership roles.

“We're so focused on the title that we lose sight of all the credentials that we're gaining on our CV or resume, or even just life skills. The idea that titles translate to money is absolutely not true. They can translate to more money but have to be successful in the role to earn the money in sales. You have to find a role that you can thrive in.

Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen to discover Lauren’s advice on how to navigate your long-term SaaS career trajectory with authenticity – learn how to articulate your “Why?” and shift your perspective to begin fulfilling both your personal and professional goals.

New to the 202020 Mastery Mission – Check out this blog for more information

“Are you on the mission?” 

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In this story session we cover:

-How to set up a two-way interaction and use your time most effectively in discovery.

-Why you need to become a value expert.

-How to use discovery to recognise a “no win” situation for your customer and know when to move on.

Today we are joined by VP Sales at Sutter Hill’s next rocket ship, Observe Inc. Sharing key insights and experiences from his career, Rob explains the science behind the success of his win-win approach and how to use it to yield deeper client relationships, lead successful negotiations and achieve great results in sales. 

“By slowing down a little bit and not just taking the bait and following the client, a little bit of courageous pushback can result in a huge transformational deal.”

Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting, listen to discover how Rob’s strategies have led to success in real business scenarios and learn tactics, tips, and best practices for creating win-win situations in your business. New to the 202020 Mastery Mission

– Check out this blog for more information

“Are you on the mission?”

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.  

20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.  

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.  

Today we are joined by Stuart Simmons, RVP Northern Europe at Lacework.

In this interview, Stuart discusses the attitudes and belief systems that underpin consistently high achievement in sales, and how anyone in sales can use this knowledge to help their business grow. Regarded as a fearless executioner, Stuart elaborates on how his experience inside the industry has enabled him to view senior level individuals through a different lens and shape his sales strategy from a new perspective.

“It's about mindset and it's the compass by which you execute an account. If you start with that belief system on day one, the hardest thing then is to execute with discipline against that every single day, because invariably you come up with a great vision and strategy but because it's set against big hairy audacious goals, it’s not going to come easy. You have to apply rigor, governance and discipline every day and have an unwavering focus and belief system.”

In a world where customers are infinitely more sophisticated than ever before, Stuart provides key preparation techniques to help you elevate yourself and articulate value, especially within larger accounts, and explains the importance of “thinking big” and attaching yourself to board level initiatives to drive impact and attract attention from C-suite execs.

Stuart believes that audacious goals drive action and talks us through the importance of consistent communication and how to set a bold vision and execution strategy for your customer from day one to enable growth and inspire the creation of solutions beyond expectation.

Sharing key insights and advice on how to accelerate execution in big accounts, Stuart talks us through his strategies for success and tactics you can use to make a good first impression, maximise your chances of qualification and remain focussed on your ultimate objective.

Listen to our story session to discover real business examples of how Stuart’s approach to sales has generated transformational results and learn how to apply his strategies and adapt your own belief system to navigate a successful future career in technology.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.

20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.

Today we are joined by Mike Musselman, Senior Director of Technology & Strategic Alliances at Lacework, the data-driven security platform for the cloud.

Leading Lacework's ecosystem of strategic relationships with cloud service providers and other independent software vendors for activities around co-sell, co-build, and co-marketing activities, Mike is well equipped to introduce us to the next chapter in technology sales – how to scale your business by aligning your technology, ecosystem, and sales playbook with the three major cloud service providers.

Mike explains the evolutions that are driving ecosystem development and the huge levels of opportunity attached to the emerging trend of aligning a cloud infrastructure to your business strategy.

I look at us being built on Amazon Web Services, then I look at them having hundreds of thousands of customers and us having less than 100 customers. The opportunity and the theory is - if I could ever make that partner bring business or accelerate our pipeline, then that makes us a multi-billion dollar company pretty fast, so every day, that’s what myself and my larger extended global team are aiming for.

By now, most organisations have moved some aspect of their business to the cloud. The inherent benefits of cloud computing are clear to them, but many may not understand how to accelerate their pipeline and customer base with the leverage of the cloud service providers.

Sharing tips and tricks from his experiences getting started and transacting on Marketplaces, Mike explains how to kick start your relationship with a cloud provider, build teams around “goal alignment”, and the importance of understanding your position in the ecosystem and nurturing relationships inside and outside of your own organisation.

Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Mike’s strategies to real business scenarios and learn tactics, tips, and best practices for aligning with a cloud provider to scale your business.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission. 20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes. We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery. Today we are joined by Ceire McQuaid, Regional Vice President UK&I at DataRobot. In this interview, Ceire shares her knowledge on the evolution of MEDDIC from its inception at PTC through to the thousands of enterprise sales organisations that have gone on to embrace it. With so many voices and opinions talking about MEDDIC, and every organisation leveraging the methodology in a unique way, many candidates entering this space find themselves confused about which variation to align with and which company to join. Shedding light on this topic and demystifying the methodology, Ceire talks us through the different variations of the MEDDIC community, unpicks common misconceptions and helps us understand how to tap into the playbook network and “find your MEDDIC home”. “For individual contributors, I want you to go away and challenge yourself on what good looks like for you as a person and your life. I want you to do your research, have conversations and when you make that commitment, knowingly make that commitment as an investment in your career, not just for one year or a quick pay cheque, it needs to be the investment to learn this, to grow and develop because it will set up the rest of your career. Treat it like the biggest deal you've ever done in your life.” Sharing key insights and experiences from her own career, Ceire explains the four categories of MEDDIC and how the maturity of an organisation can hugely affect process adoption and change the conversation. She emphasises the importance of aligning individual skillsets and personality types to the right MEDDIC environment to secure career progression and offers advice and valuable interview techniques to help candidates understand a company’s principles of leadership from the outset and gauge whether this aligns with their career progression goals. Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Ceire’s strategies to real business scenarios and learn tactics, tips and best practices for finding the right MEDDIC organisation for you.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission. 20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes. We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery. Today we are joined by Ryan Precious, VP of Sales at Rockset, the real-time indexing database that enables companies to build data applications at cloud scale. In this interview, Ryan shares his wisdom with us on the subject of interviews, the do’s and the don’ts, and how to nail the recruitment process from beginning to end. “Everything's a test, from your prep email to your follow up to your interactions with your peers - every little part of your entire interview process is absolutely a test.” Giving us inside tips on how to impress hiring managers to not only secure your dream job but also enter a company with momentum, Ryan explains how presenting yourself with a strong interview can actually accelerate your development throughout an organisation before you have even set foot in the door. With preparation, mindset and ICCE as fundamental pillars of his hiring criteria, Ryan advises that past performance is considered a measure of future performance. He encourages candidates not to overlook the importance of their CV as a means to accurately represent their body of work and recommends tackling interviews like sales cycles, viewing the entire process as a microcosm of the role they are applying for. Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Ryan’s interview strategies to real life scenarios and learn preparation tactics, research tips, and best practices for showcasing your “A Player” characteristics to leave a lasting impression on hiring managers and CEOs in the playbook community.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission. 

20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes. 

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery. 

Today we are joined by Mike Earnest, Area Vice President at zero trust cybersecurity leader, Zscaler. 

In this episode, Mike talks on his chosen topic of ‘Finding The “Why?”’ and why, in the fastest-growing, fastest-changing and possibly most demanding career sector, he is so passionate about inspiring his reps, teams and entire ecosystem to discover and keep sight of their personal and professional motivations.

“It really helps to renter and refocus on what we're doing and why we doing it and then build a path towards accomplishing those things and doing all the little things right along the way that help you realise that dream.”

Mike elaborates on the power of purpose and the strategies he uses to help his teams stay on track of their mindset and ultimate goals in order to become more capable of pursuing the things that give them fulfilment. He also strongly believes in the importance of learning from mistakes and celebrating the journey to achieving your “Why?”.

With advice for both reps and managers on how to operate differently, Mike offers tips and insights around how to implement a goal setting philosophy into every day interactions, using the “Why?” as a point of reference for all actions and decisions to allow for measured progress and definite, tangible achievement.

Listen to our story session to discover more on how to adapt your mindset and apply Mike’s strategies to real business scenarios – learn tactics and best practices for how to improve communication within your ecosystem and how to use goal setting to motivate and inspire your team to achieve better results.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 202020 Mastery Mission.

20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.

Today we are joined by Florian Baeuml, VP EMEA South at Zscaler, the market leader in cloud-native network security.

In episode 9, Florian talks on the key Playbook theme of Coachability and the fundamental importance of developing and inspiring this character trait throughout his career.

As someone who was reluctant to accept advice in the early days of his career, Florian reflects on the negative consequences of having a “coachability blind spot” and explains how his transition of focus from relationships and emotion to improving business outcomes enabled him to accept guidance from his leaders and align with both personal and professional goals.

“Why is he spending so much time with me on that? Why is he giving such specific topics and guidance to me? Is it because he wants to bully me? Or is he actually interested in the positive outcome that could be achieved?” When I stepped back and kept my emotions out, I thought, “Maybe it's the second thing.”

Offering our listeners advice on how to cultivate a coachability mindset, Florian discusses the science behind making new behaviours automatic and highlights the potential in all of us to reach new levels of success through self-reflection and a willingness to learn.

Sharing key insights and experiences from his own career, Florian shares his thoughts on leadership and explains how to create the right environment for feedback to drive positive outcomes and inspire and motivate your team.

Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Florian’s strategies to real business scenarios and learn tactics, tips, and best practices for changing employee behaviour, overcoming challenging situations and reinforcing coachability from the top down.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.

20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.

Today we are joined by Kirk Giddens, Vice President, Mid Market Sales North America at TripActions, the fastest-growing travel management platform disrupting the 1.5 trillion corporate travel industry.

In episode 8, Kirk shares his wisdom with us on the subject of pipeline generation and discusses the challenges associated with this integral part of the sales cycle.

“Take it seriously, but not too seriously. There will be times where someone on the other end of the phone will really ruin your day. There's an emotional side to it where if you're human, you'll probably feel it, and actually, if you're not feeling it, you're probably not doing enough Pipeline Generation.”

With a wide variety of experience in sales, Kirk shares his unique prospecting methodology and gives us some inside tips on how to nail your sales pitch and make an instant impact on potential clients. He explains how adopting a bullet-proof mindset, applying research, and taking a fact-based approach can arm you with all the information you require to start a conversation, combat objections, and ask questions that will lead to demos.

Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Kirk’s strategies to real life prospecting scenarios, and learn preparation tactics, research tips, and best practices to prepare for future growth at your company.

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In episode 7, we ask Espen to share more with us on his chosen topic of Sales Champions and the power they have to shape and transform your career.

“If you have a Champion from the beginning, it's like you're driving somewhere, and you have a co-pilot guiding you to where you need to go. It's a top priority. When you create a visible opportunity, you need to make sure that you understand who the Champion should be and then have a plan to build them.”

Without a solid Sales Champion, understanding your client’s pain and accessing the key decision makers becomes much more difficult. Great salespeople know this and actively look for allies within their prospects whom they can nurture to become Champions. However, the question is, how do you find a Champion, and, more importantly, how do you convince them to support you? Offering you unique access to his extraordinary experience and knowledge on this topic, Espen discusses his own strategies for finding and building Champions from the moment a lead turns into a visible opportunity and gives you the tools you need to proactively drive your deals forwards, beat your competitors, and lay foundations for your future career trajectory. Giving an in-depth explanation on how to identify, test and leverage Champions that can guide you through the buying process, Espen shares his multi-dimensional tactics for entering the sales process at various levels and explains the different modes of communication required to access key decision makers within an organisation and build a solid base for your deal. Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Espen’s Champion-building strategies to real life scenarios and learn tips and best practices for identifying and developing Sales Champions that have the power and influence to drive change and help close deals.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.

20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.

Today we are joined by Bernd Mahrlein, Vice President Central & Eastern Europe at Lacework, the data-driven security platform for the cloud.

In episode 6, Bernd shares his wisdom with us on what it really takes to be the ‘first man on the ground’ in a new territory and offers his strategic advice to individuals who are about to take this career defining step for the first time.

“Things change constantly. You need to realize the things you can change and the things that you cannot. If you cannot change it, simply put a check mark behind it, leave it to the side and make sure it doesn't emotionally get a hold of you in any way and focus on the things you can influence.”

As an experienced SaaS leader, Bernd knows how to build a unicorn from the ground up and carry the burden of success or failure on his shoulders. With in-depth insight into the reality of a ‘first man on the ground’ role, Bernd discusses how to lead with transparency and shares his tactics for validating new opportunities, managing extreme pressure, and adapting to unforeseen challenges and constantly evolving success measures.

Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Bernd’s strategies to real life business scenarios, and learn preparation tactics, research tips, and practices to best prepare for a ‘first man on the ground’ role.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.

20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.

Today we are joined by Bart Van De Burgt, Regional Vice President, Benelux & Nordics at Zscaler, the leading cloud security company.

In episode 5, Bart shares his wisdom on how to perfect the discovery stage of the sales process. We discuss best practices and practical tips to ensure the discovery process helps you and your prospective customer realise pain, opportunity and a reason to work together.

“Transformational deals start with change, but change is hard - people don't want to change. If you want to force a change, you first need to help people understand why change needs to happen. What's wrong with the situation that you're in and why is it broken? What are the negative consequences that arise from where you are today?”

Everyone in SaaS understands discovery to be the first part of their sales process but in terms of mindset, Bart explains how discovery should continue throughout the entire sales cycle. He provides three fundamental stages and methodologies to help you navigate your sale and align your business outcomes with your customer’s pain points to cultivate better sales conversations and improved win rates.

“Deals are won and lost in Discovery.”

Sharing personal experiences and tips on the art of great discovery, Bart teaches us how to slow down the sales cycle, trust in the process and “sell change” in order to build prospect interest, move opportunities forward and open doors to high-level business stakeholders.

Listen to our story session to discover real life case studies and more on how to apply Bart’s methodologies to everyday business scenarios and learn preparation tactics, research tips, and best practices to prepare for your next discovery meeting.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.  

20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.  

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.  

Today we are joined by Lauren Ball, VP Commercial Sales at Auditboard, the leading cloud-based platform transforming audit, risk, and compliance management.

In episode 4, we chat with Lauren about how to navigate your career as a female in the technology industry and the importance of finding your “Why?” in order to progress in both your personal and professional life.

“You have to believe in yourself, you have to be authentic and know you because if you don't know you, you're not going to be able to be successful in whatever it is you're trying to accomplish and just like we learned with the playbook, you’ve got to ask, why?”

Describing the playbook as a “guardrail” and “the biggest gift I’ve been given in my career”, Lauren explains how adopting playbook structures and processes transformed her career and enabled her to adapt to ever-evolving customer needs and succeed in a fast-developing technology landscape. She identifies some of the typical challenges that female workers run into in male-dominated industries and offers her advice on how to find your voice, overcome imposter syndrome and stay true to your authentic self, whilst adhering to playbook methodologies.

Discussing her hands-on, team-oriented management style, Lauren provides guidance to the next generation on the importance of self-belief and how to accelerate your career in technology by understanding your “Why?” and setting attainable goals for the present that directly relate to your future aspirations.

Sharing key insights and experiences from her own career, Lauren embodies transparency and openly shares her story to help others "find a way".

Listen to our story session to discover more on Lauren’s extraordinary career trajectory, how to apply her strategies to real business scenarios and learn tactics, tips, and best practices for navigating your future career in technology.

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.

20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.

Today we are joined by Rob Watson, VP Sales at Sutter Hill’s next rocket ship, Observe Inc.

In episode 3, Rob talks about how to set up a framework for win-win buyer and seller relationships and how to navigate the sales process and beyond with this at the forefront of your mind.

“Technology companies sell by leading with the solutions, but truly transformational deals can only be secured when you find a win for your client and a win for your company.”

Rob discusses the importance of the discovery process and the need for salespeople to adopt a win-win philosophy so that they can leapfrog beyond a traditional, resistant, or guarded interaction, break down trust barriers and truly connect as business partners.

In order to move away from transactional selling and create a value-based relationship with customers that continues to evolve and grow, it is vital to find the intersection between the win for your company and the win for your client. It is not enough to simply sell your solution, you need to connect the dots and solve problems by offering measurable, tangible value that your customers can continue to invest in. If you want to make transformational deals happen, you need to listen and use empathy as your fuel for success.

Sharing key insights and experiences from his own career, Rob explains the science behind the success of his win-win approach and how to use it to yield deeper client relationships, lead successful negotiations and achieve great results in sales.

Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Rob’s strategies to real business scenarios and learn tactics, tips, and best practices for creating win-win situations in your business.

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Hunters and Unicorns - 202020 Mastery Mission - Keith Butler

Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.

20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.

Today we are joined by Keith Butler, Chief Revenue Officer at Sutter Hill Venture’s next rocket ship enterprise, Observe Inc.

In episode 2, Keith shares his wisdom with us on the subject of Economic Buyers and why, despite the rise in product-led sales, it is still mission-critical to meet with the ultimate decision maker early on in your sales process.

“Consider yourself a problem solver versus a flogger of technology. Your job is to help your customer and your champion win and solve problems. If you're going to solve a problem effectively, you’ve got to get to the person that owns the problem. So, if you want to be efficient with your time, if you want to understand where you can win and where you're going to lose, get to the economic buyer as fast as possible.”

In recent years, there has been a radical shift in the way people use and buy software and there is no doubt that product-led growth is here to stay. However, when it comes to SaaS companies, Keith believes that ignoring more traditional acquisition tactics could lead to disaster. His experience has shown him that to differentiate and get deals over the line, the best sellers in the world are still the ones that connect real business pain to technology and focus on aligning with the Economic Buyer’s criteria through “hard dollar savings”.

Helping you navigate this pivotal aspect of the sales cycle, Keith uncovers his “4 essential questions” to structure your Economic Buyer meeting around and reveals the strategies used by his sales teams to validate deals, improve efficiency, and increase close rates.

Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Keith’s methodologies to real life scenarios and learn preparation tactics, research tips, and best practices to prepare for your next Economic Buyer meeting.

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In this story session we cover:

An example of John Kaplan nailing a first customer meeting
An example of John Kaplan “crashing and burning” in a first customer meeting
Why preparation is key and how to use John’s Principles to execute first customer meetings effectively

Today we are joined by John Kaplan, President, Co-founder, & Managing Partner at Force Management. Revealing "real world" techniques, tales and insights from his 20+year career in sales, John breaks down his fundamental sales strategies to help prepare you for your next sales call and ensure you stand out from the competition.

“We closed with revised required capabilities because we wanted them to be more specific, which would be valuable for them, and valuable for us. The economic buyer stopped us in the middle and said, "Hey, one question." I said, "Sure, go ahead." They said, "Are you going to teach our people how to sell like this?" And I said, "Absolutely." And that was it.”

Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting, listen to discover how to apply John’s 3 “Ps” mantra to real business scenarios and learn key steps for warming up cold sales conversations and turning prospects into active opportunities your business.  

New to the 202020 Mastery Mission – Check out this blog for more information – https://www.somuchsoap.com/the-202020-mastery-mission/

“Are you on the mission?”

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Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.  

20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.  

We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.  

Today we are joined by John Kaplan, President, Co-founder, & Managing Partner at Force Management. John has over 20 years of executive experience in sales, leadership, and execution, specializing in corporate sales strategy and performance management. Before co-founding Force, he was SVP of International Sales Operations for PTC, a leading software developer for content, product life cycle management.

In this interview, John runs through best practices for conducting effective first meetings in today’s vastly altered SaaS landscape. From warming up cold calls and overcoming “Seller Deficit Disorder” to accessing pain and using his highly effective “Three P’s” mantra to prepare for every interaction, John Kaplan covers it all.

“When I reach out to them, they're going to go, “Why is this person calling me?” Purpose. Second, “What do they want from me?” Process. Third is, “What's in it for me? What's the benefit? What's the payoff?” I find that the people that are prepared minimally with just that, have a much better way to stand in the moment of truth and consider what the other person's reaction's going to be.”

Preparing for a deal is critical but preparing others for your sales call can also have equal impacts on your success. Highlighting some of the most common mistakes he sees with salespeople and the discovery process, John educates us on how not to approach initial conversations and offers our listeners advice on how to use great discovery questions during execution to understand positive business outcomes, access real pain and then articulate what you’ve learned back to the customer to demonstrate the value and differentiation of your solution.

“The more I tell them they have a problem, the more they're going to resist me, but the more I ask them discovery questions that make them stand in their moment of pain, they're going to convince themselves they have a problem.”

Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting, we break down the best tips to prepare and practice for your next sales call. John Kaplan shares the preparation tactics he uses and teaches to accomplish critical meeting goals and achieve success in his deals.

Listen to our story session to discover more advice from John on the topic of first meetings and first impressions as he delves deeper into his personal experiences with cold calling during his early days of selling and “real world" examples and insights from his 20+ year career in SaaS.

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“I go to work every day with the purpose of having a positive impact on people's lives and careers. I want to look back after Lacework and say I had a positive impact on the employees at the company, I had a positive impact on the outcomes of our customers and what they wanted and we had a positive impact in the market, and I could have a positive impact in creating a legacy of the best cloud security company in the world - that's what we're trying to build here.”  - Andy Byron

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies. In this special edition series The 33 CXOs we investigate the greatest success story in the history of software sales. Discover how thirty-three sales execs from one organisation, BladeLogic, became CXOs in the world’s 100 fastest growing technology companies. We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most prolific sales leaders in the industry. Episode 17 features Andy Byron, President at Lacework. Byron originally had his sights set on a career as a professional baseballer before he entered into SaaS sales. His competitive nature and innate drive to “aim for the top and execute against a plan” enabled him to excel in the sporting world, but his ability to recognise his own strengths and weaknesses led him to follow a different path and adapt his skills to software sales. Since making the transition to tech in 2004, Andy has developed a reputation as an outstanding leader with a track record of go-to-market success with innovative, fast growth start-up companies, building and managing successful sales teams for organizations including VeriCenter, BladeLogic, BMC Software, Aveksa, Fuse, Cybereason and CRV. He is now leading the sales and marketing teams for Lacework, driving their mission to be the global standard in cloud security with a personal objective to enable talent and create a legacy for himself. “Early on in my career it was about making money, then it became about, how can I show that I can lead people? At this point in my career it's about, how can I create a legacy where when I look back, a lot of people can say, "Hey, Byron was a fair leader, maybe not the easiest person to work for, but he was fair, and he enabled me to do things that I never thought I could do in my career." Accustomed to instant success in his sporting career, it took Andy a while to master the subtleties of selling technology and adapt to a new level of endurance and persistence in the SaaS arena. When he joined BladeLogic, he was surrounded by people that “pushed each other every day to be the best that they could be” and with John McMahon as his mentor, Andy became a student of the game, relentlessly focussed on four key areas that were to become the pillars of his playbook - recruiting and retainment, training and enablement, pipeline and territory management and accurate forecasting. The implementation of these playbook elements along with his unique leadership style centred around purposeful interaction and an open mindset propelled Andy’s career forward and paved the way for his remarkable success in this industry. “I have to make sure that everything aligns to one strategy and one goal. I also make sure all those things align to product and engineering and what our goals are financially. It's more than just making sure we hit the number every quarter, it's making sure we hit the number, but all the other pieces are aligned to the company hitting the number as well.” In this vodcast you will discover: The parallels between sports and sales – how Andy’s professional baseball career laid the foundations for his sales career. The importance of knowledge and an open mindset - why Andy chose to work for people over companies in the early days of his career. Change Management – what it is and how it is used to transform companies. The evolvement of Andy’s playbook – how strategy and experience has enabled Andy to keep breaking the glass ceiling. Andy Byron understands exactly how to build a first-class sales and marketing team. We discuss his extraordinary career journey from Individual Contributor to President and how his focus has changed over the years. Offering advice for next generation sales leaders, we delve into playbooks, legendary leadership, and ask Andy what key ingredients he thinks are needed for a company to reach unicorn status. This wide-ranging discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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You 100% join a leader; you join a person. If you join an average company with an amazing leader, you're going to have a great experience. If you join a great company with a bad leader, that's not going to work. Often, younger generations think in terms of market share and market potential which are still very important factors, but they forget the most basic things - who is the person on the other side?”  - Cedric Pech

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies.

In this special edition series The 33 CXOs we investigate the greatest success story in the history of software sales. Discover how thirty-three sales execs from one organisation, BladeLogic, became CXOs in the world’s 100 fastest growing technology companies. We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most prolific sales leaders in the industry.

Episode 23 features Cedric Pech, CRO of MongoDB. With over 20 years of sales leadership experience, Cedric has a track record of building high-performance sales organizations that deliver strong and consistent results. Prior to MongoDB, he led worldwide sales at Fuze, an enterprise global cloud communications and collaboration software platform. He has also held senior sales leadership roles for four different software companies, including three publicly traded companies - BladeLogic, BMC, and BazaarVoice.

Cedric first joined MongoDB in 2017 to lead Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) sales and was promoted to CRO in 2019. Since then, he has continued to drive exceptional growth for the company, expanding into new markets, implementing new processes, and scaling formidable sales teams that have generated billions of dollars in revenue.

“There is no greatness without pain but there is fairness and attention to the people – I don’t treat them like cash machines who are just there to produce software. I'm not in the software business, I'm 100% in the people business. My job is to help people fulfil their dreams.”

Cedric is committed to the development of his people and dedicated to creating a nurturing environment for employees so that they can develop their skillset and thrive both as part of the teams at MongoDB and throughout their careers. His aim is to build confidence in a new generation of sales leaders by offering well-defined paths for career growth, open feedback and a culture of learning and development. In terms of how to succeed in building a great sales organization in the software business, Cedric believes in the importance of being consistent, disciplined, following the sales process, and, above all, creating a sense of purpose.

“Keep reminding people why we are building the ship in the first place - keep reminding them that one day we are going to be sailing on the ocean and it's going to be fun. Remind them of the vision that you embarked on together and reinforce it - a sense of mission in the team is really, really important.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

· An insight into the continuing growth and exciting future for MongoDB.

· What motivates Cedric to succeed and how Carlo Carpenelli shaped him as a leader.

· How to scale your career in SAAS and the importance of great leadership, especially in the early days.

· How use the playbook as a tool to motivate high performing teams and build a healthy culture of development.

· How to build solid foundations for a successful career in SAAS.

Cedric Pech knows how to build a legendary sales organization. His incredible success in this industry is a testament to his values and unique approach to developing people. To him, MongoDB is more than just a job, it is a call of vocation, a playground for innovators and an opportunity to mould exceptional leaders who will lead the disruption of the database market, empower developers and transform the industry. In this discussion we cover all of this and more as we delve into Cedric’s past and his experiences in the software sales arena. For anyone with a passion for the technology space or an interest in sales strategy, this interview is essential listening and offers an invaluable insight into how to succeed in this industry.

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“I want to codify every element of selling into a formula that is so flawless that any intelligent, coachable individual regardless of their experience can thrive. I want to dispel this art into such a science that I can create an elite sales force without having to hire lions - just brilliant, determined people that can learn.”  - Luke Rogers

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies. In this special edition series The 33 CXOs we investigate the greatest success story in the history of software sales. Discover how thirty-three sales execs from one organisation, BladeLogic, became CXOs in the world’s 100 fastest growing technology companies. We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most prolific sales leaders in the industry. Episode 1 features Luke Rogers, VP of Sales at Instabase. Luke founded his first company at the age of 15. Selling computers online, Luke grew the business from zero to a quarter of a million turnover annually before he had even finished high school and experienced such explosive growth that he was able to leave home and fund his own university education. His degree in artificial intelligence and cybernetics combined with over a decade of enterprise sales experience has equipped Luke with a rich technical and business skill set. He believes that experience is the least important quality when building an elite go to market team and has dedicated his career to teaching sales as a science and diversifying the tech landscape through empowering and recruiting new voices into sales. Prior to joining Instabase, Luke was part of the team that helped take AppDynamics from $100M to a $3.7bn sale to Cisco in just four years. His current role at Instabase not only unlocks the next phase of growth for Luke, but also provides an opportunity for him to pay it forward and help change the lives of his teams and customers. “If you make it simple and merit based then people will thrive and if you give them the right training and the right mentoring, people can achieve things that they didn't think were possible. That's what happened to me.” After university, Luke worked for two of the largest tech companies on the planet, Cisco and IBM, but his hunger for growth, continuous learning, and making an impact led him to seek new opportunities in an environment that would challenge him to do better every day. He knew what he was looking for and when he met Jeremy Duggan, VP of Silicon Valley’s newest “unicorn”, AppDynamics, he knew had found it. Although Luke had never sold software before, his confidence, determination and “do whatever it takes” mentality shone through and secured him a role that would transform his career. With an industry veteran as his mentor and in an environment where “everyone was running as fast as they possibly could”, Luke “left his bags at the door” and became a disciple of Jeremy’s playbook, following the process exactly, learning it and living it better than anyone else. He received the training and enablement he needed to develop and become a master of his craft and learnt lessons in entrepreneurship that changed his life. Luke developed into the inspirational leader he is today, committed to supporting and progressing his teams whilst maintaining and developing a culture of respect, excellence, and diversity. “If we keep fishing in the same ponds, we're going to keep hiring the same people and end up with the same types of teams, and the same types of leaders, but it's new leaders that come from those different backgrounds that are diverse - they're the ones that are going to change things because they'll hire different people and then everything will change. That's what we need to do and that is important to me.” In this vodcast you will discover: The framework that enabled Luke to transition from having zero software sales experience to leading and managing teams and closing $10 million deals. What motivates Luke to succeed and how Jeremy’s belief in him has shaped him as a leader. How Luke has maintained high performance throughout his career – his personal drive and future mission. Luke’s role as VP of Sales at Instabase and what he looks for when hiring. Luke Rogers is dedicated to creating and developing a new generation of sales legends and adding meaningful value to people and organizations in a methodical and disciplined way. As his incredible career journey continues to reshape and take new turns, we cannot wait to see the next phase of his growth. We discuss all of this and more in this insightful and inspiring discussion – a special opportunity for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space to gain valuable insight into this industry.

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“You have to know who you are as a person and you have to know what your strengths and weaknesses are. When you're in a leadership position you cannot take on the personality of someone else because people see through that. Learn how to be yourself. Be curious, be open to learning from others and have everyone else's interest in mind. If you take care of other people, they'll take care of you.”  - Paul McGrath

Episode 16 features Paul McGrath, Vice President Central at Snowflake. Paul has over 20 years of experience in managing and leading sales teams in the software industry, but his professional career actually started in the U.S. Army. After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, McGrath transitioned into a sales role at Eastman Kodak Company and was recruited by PTC where he mastered the art of aggressive selling and laid the foundations for a truly remarkable career. Rising through the ranks at an impressive pace, Paul has since worked for tech heavyweights including BladeLogic, BMC, Bazaarvoice, AppDynamics and is currently in command of the record shattering teams at Snowflake, making history on the New York Stock Exchange as the largest software company to IPO in the U.S., ever. “When you're an individual contributor in the software sales game you just worry about yourself. When you become a leader, you've got to put yourself in the back seat. You've got a responsibility to your team and I was well aware of that because of my experience in the military as a leader and then at PTC.” In 2004 Paul joined BladeLogic as a Regional Director and hit the ground running. He had resilience, experience and the fundamental skills required to succeed at selling unique technology at a rapidly developing software company. Having focused on numbers and productivity at any expense at PTC, Paul already had a results-driven mindset but with John McMahon at the helm of BladeLogic, investing in training and placing a premium on good leadership, Paul discovered a new approach. McMahon was establishing a new culture centred around the development of people - leaders taking care of their people, making them better and holding them accountable. Surrounded A payers and “loving the hell out of it” Paul built enduring relationships, learnt the importance of working in partnership with his team and developed into a talented, humble leader. “If you're a hiring manager and you look for people that bring something to the table that you don't have, your life becomes so much easier. The biggest mistake that young leaders make is that they lack humility. If they look at hiring someone better than them, they might be worried that this person might outshine them, but I think nothing could be further from the truth.” In this vodcast you will discover: The pillars of Paul’s playbook and his journey to becoming a leader How to identify, recruit and enable good talent The importance of humility and learning from others What attracted Paul to Snowflake and why this is a truly remarkable company to work for Paul McGrath knows what it takes to launch and lead sales organizations. He has a unique eye for talent and is passionate about building innovative, diverse teams with big ambitions. We discuss his upward trajectory from military roots to record breaking IPOs and find out what advice he would give to the next generation of leaders looking to create their own network and ecosystem of accomplishment. This insightful discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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“It comes down to the people in my belief and that is certainly no disrespect to the technology, but it doesn't sell itself. Big enterprises have so many options to solve their problems and there's a lot of mixed messages out there. I'm passionate about doing anything I can to help find and develop the hunters of the world, and the unicorns are a fun journey to be a part of.”  - Richard Rivera

Episode 20 features Richard Rivera, Chief Revenue Officer at Vibes. Over the past two decades, Rivera has established a significant track record of success building and scaling multiple disruptive technologies and cloud-based SaaS businesses. He has held prominent revenue-generating leadership roles at firms such as Medallia, Monetate, Dialpad, Fuze, BMC Software and BladeLogic. During Rivera’s tenure, these tech companies have seen 200%+ average revenue spikes during their early to mid-stage growth phases. Richard is now elevating the vision, mission and identity of Vibes, the Gartner Leader in mobile engagement and taking this technology pioneer into its next phase of hyper growth. “I wasn't then and nor am I now a technologist. I'm just not that into it. For me, it was leaning into what I do - I came from a football and teaching background so I would just teach, and I would really pay attention to the individuals that I was working with. I got introduced to the concept of a champion and I knew that champion had to have criteria that aligned to my unique value proposition and differentiation, so I knew early on that it was about selling to people.” When Richard joined BladeLogic under the leadership of John McMahon, he was able to optimise his potential for the first time in his career. As a Sales Rep for leading edge software with zero passion for technology, he relied on his experience as a teacher and coach and connected with the simplicity of a strategy that focused on people and building champions. Even though he says he “wasn't the best salesperson on the planet and certainly not the best one in that salesforce,” he found a way to survive by connecting with the people he was selling to, having an open mindset, and learning from the elite sellers surrounding him. His dedication to the playbook, deep understanding of the concept of productivity and passion for operational excellence has enabled Richard to drive alignment and commitment throughout his career whilst developing and inspiring his teams, colleagues, and customers. “Leadership is establishing a vision of what good looks like, a plan of how they get there, and then developing them towards the plan, and then inspiring them every day. If you're only thinking about winning the next deal and you're not really passionate about serving the people on your team and making them better, your motivation is going to affect your habits and behaviours. Your mindset is what drives your habits and behaviours and if your mindset's not right for leadership, then your habits and behaviours will make a negative impact on your team.” In this vodcast you will discover: How a background in sports and teaching paved the way for Richard’s success in SaaS Sales. How the MEDDIC framework enabled Richard to transition from sales rep to CRO and beyond. Recruitment - what key traits Richard looks for in interviewees. Why Richard chose to return to operating after starting his own consultancy business and why he chose Vibes. In terms of the journey to becoming a successful growth company, Richard’s world begins and ends with people. His passion is for more than just sales execution, he believes that “if you expect something out of a leader you've got to train and coach it up,” and he is devoted to doing just that. He has taken risks, made mistakes and had a lot of success in his career due to his incredible ability to learn and evolve. We discuss the core pillars of Richard’s playbook, how a 15-minute interview with McMahon changed his whole life and ask him to answer our all-important question: does the hunter make the unicorn? This deep dive into the world of SaaS Sales from the perspective of proven growth technology executive with more than 20 years of experience is an absolute must for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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“How do we activate people's greatness? That’s what it’s all about. So many have it inside of them, but it hasn't come out. It's our job to develop the hell out of them and truly make them great. They signed up, they took a chance, now what are we going to do to make them great? If you focus on that and have the playbook in place - that's how you make something magical.” – Tom Schmit

Episode 21 features Tom Schmit, Chief Revenue Officer at AuditBoard. Schmit is a SaaS master with extensive leadership experience in customer acquisition and retention at fast-growing enterprise software companies. Prior to AuditBoard, Tom served as Chief Revenue Officer for AppDynamics where he led and scaled a global team of over one thousand people and was instrumental in driving annual recurring revenue growth from less than $50M to more than $500M. Before his tenure at AppDynamics, Tom rose through BMC's sales leadership ranks over 5 years post the acquisition of BladeLogic, where he was originally introduced to the art and science of enterprise platform sales. In January 2021, Tom “followed his passion” and joined the executive team at AuditBoard to help scale and unlock the full potential of their customer-first sales approach. Building on an already successful model, Tom intends to drive evolution as the platform’s products and solutions continue to expand, using his expertise to enhance customer value and relationships and create a “legendary” company. “What is your why? It's amazing what you can get out when you lead with that - you build this relationship with your team where it's so much bigger than just the deal and everything that we talk about in the playbook which is really critical, but now there's this emotional attachment that when they're having success, it's based on something bigger than that. If you don't have that connection, I think you're a dying breed as a leader. I don't think it matters what playbook you have.”

Schmit’s natural sales ability was apparent before he joined BladeLogic but John McMahon’s commitment to the development of his teams, training and MEDDIC gave Tom the compass he needed to understand why he had been so successful in the past and how to develop his skills to transition into leadership roles. Tom became a student of the sales process and learnt how to build top-performing teams by focussing on recruitment and development— critical capabilities required for his future positions leading world-class enterprise sales organizations through rapid growth. “It's more than just accepting who you are, it's finding your own style and your own way to inspire and develop. Be authentic, be real, be vulnerable. It's not about being perfect, just truly own it. I think that's so critical especially in today's day and age. People don't have time for bullshit.” In this vodcast you will discover: What it takes to be a leader in the SaaS industry How to develop a team of selfless high performers by unlocking the “why?” How the MEDDIC framework gave Tom the compass he needed to transition from sales to leadership The secrets to Tom’s success and his current mission at AuditBoard Tom Schmit is a builder of top-performing teams. His reputation for generating strong sustained revenue growth while scaling teams is a testament to the unique energy he brings to leadership which is fuelled by his passion for recruiting talented individuals, developing them and witnessing their success. We discuss the highs and lows of Tom’s experiences in this fast-paced industry and find out what key ingredients are required in this day and age to build a unicorn. This insightful discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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“I was never a six-foot, four-point shooter, I always played a lot of sports and was good at the sports that I played, but at the end of the day I was a grinder. You put me in something, and I will grind my way out of it and figure it out and work as hard if not harder than anybody to make it successful.” - Vance Loiselle

Episode 19 features Vance Loiselle, President & CEO Propertybase. Vance is an accomplished enterprise software leader with more than 20 years of experience building high-tech companies into market leaders. As co-founder of BladeLogic, he helped lead the company from an idea and initial funding to IPO and subsequent $900 million acquisition by BMC Software. After BMC Software acquired BladeLogic in 2008, he remained with the company for four years serving in various executive positions, including Worldwide Vice President of Global Services, sales operations, field marketing and software consulting. After BMC, Loiselle was president and CEO of Sumo Logic, leading the company from launch through multiple years of hyper-growth in employees, customers, and revenue. In 2017, he made the transition into real estate, joining Boston Logic as President and Chief Executive Officer and becoming responsible for driving company strategy and expansion. Now, categorised as a “Software Champion,” Loiselle is applying his vast experience in cloud, data analytics and machine learning software companies to Propertybase, driving growth, and enabling brokers, teams and agents to embrace technology at an accelerated rate. “Not all of the companies that I've been affiliated with had a great product and great sales. We used both of those things, the product that we were building coupled with trying to figure out how to get even a sliver of the John McMahon playbook into what we were doing. You learn a lot, but boy it was great to fall back on the playbook that I had learned at BladeLogic. Hiring John McMahon to lead the BladeLogic sale force marked the beginning of a new era of progression and accomplishment for Vance and the entire BladeLogic team. Witnessing John and Dev Ittycheria’s absolute confidence in a playbook centred around number-driven sales strategies and a dedication to the success of others, Vance discovered the “science to sales,” and learnt how to adapt and develop the proven formula to achieve huge success in his career thereafter. Since co-founding BladeLogic, where he gained a deep understanding of how to address application and infrastructure problems at large scale, Vance has developed a unique skill set. He has impeccable instincts and a proven track record in taking a compelling technology that solves the biggest enterprise problems and transforming it into a high-growth company primed for rapid expansion. “The same things that I learned at BladeLogic and the playbook I apply here, everything from, how do you recruit folks? How do you enable and train them? How do you move on from decisions quickly? How do you make sure you put your team ahead of yourself when you're coaching and figure out what their personal wins are? I apply all that stuff here with both people that I've worked with in the past and new people that I have in the organization.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

The genesis of BladeLogic – a behind-the-scenes story from the co-founder.

John McMahon’s influence - how he transformed BladeLogic with his playbook and mindset.

The pillars of Vance’s playbook. How and why Vance transitioned into the real estate industry and what the future holds. Vance has deep experience in not only founding and growing start-up technology companies but running large-scale enterprise businesses and building unicorns. We discuss the genesis of BladeLogic and Vance’s incredible journey through the SaaS landscape from his initial indoctrination at Andersen Consulting to management and leadership roles, through to his current position as President and CEO of the leading software provider to the real estate industry. This is a truly inspirational conversation for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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“The lesson I've learned the hard way is that the only way you build a great business is by marrying a great product with a great distribution channel. That's essentially what we did at BladeLogic and that's what we're trying to do at MongoDB and when I look at all the great software companies, I can't think of one who doesn't have those two elements.”  - Dev Ittycheria

In reference to his earlier career, Dev discusses experiencing imposter syndrome, feeling “caught in a trap of trying to portray that you’re on top of everything” and his inspiring realisation that vulnerability can actually be strength, not a weakness. “You don't need to have the answers to everything, you just need to be able to ask good questions and surround yourself with good people.” Dev accredits his astounding success to having a learning mindset and to the incredible teams and mentors who have helped shape his management philosophy over the years, especially Steve Walski and John McMahon. He is a true believer in the importance of building trust across an organization and creating a strong culture of communication by providing a safe space for teams to discuss, experiment, and give candid feedback. As a leader, he understands that people mirror how he behaves and is therefore very intentional about the values he sets and creating a meritocratic environment in order to attract and retain great people.

“I consider myself almost like the conductor of an orchestra. I don't really make the music, I don't even necessarily write the music, but I make sure that all the different people in the orchestra work well together and that together, we make beautiful music.”

In this vodcast you will discover: Dev’s reflection on the success and impact of BladeLogic How Dev manages the huge pressure and decision processes attached to the role of CEO How to recruit the right people and lead by influence, not fear Dev’s operating rhythm – how he views his role and is able to focus on the right areas MongoDB’s powerful position in the evolving digital world Dev Ittycheria is an inspiration for all concerned in today's transformational environment of business technology. As the visionary founder behind BladeLogic, he has immense pride for the achievements of his teams and mentors both past and present and continues to redefine great leadership at MongoDB by aiming to create a “company for the ages” by putting a foundation in place so that the company can continue to soar even in his absence. We discuss Dev’s path into tech, leadership and investing, and gain a unique insight into the behind-the-scenes journey of a company from start-up to unicorn status. This one-off discussion has been a true honour for us and is essential listening for anyone with an interest in sales strategy, as well as a passion for the technology space.

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“Great leaders make great teams. There are great sales reps in the world, and they are absolutely a key component, but they work for great leaders - you need great leadership to build great teams.”  - Adam Aarons

Episode 18 features Adam Aarons, Independent Field Operations Executive, Advisor and Investor. A software-as-a-service veteran, Adam has spent his career focused on the deployment of cloud infrastructure, SaaS, and enterprise solutions and has over 20 years of experience in this industry. He started out selling knives for Cutco Cutlery in the 90’s where he immediately discovered his flair for process-driven sales and became a “student of the game”. It was during a Cutco sales pitch to John McMahon’s wife that Adam’s unique ability to sell caught the attention of the legendary sales leader himself - John purchased the “Homemaker + Set” and offered him a job on the spot. Determined to finish college, Adam turned him down but pledged that if ever John were to call in the future, he would go. After great success at Cutco, John McMahon hired Adam as a Sales Representative at PTC where he was a consistent top revenue producer and over-achiever. He then went on to hold leadership positions at Agile Software, OpenPages, BladeLogic, BMC Software (where revenues under his purview grew more than 300 percent) and later joined Okta, Inc. where he served as Chief Revenue Officer and grew revenue from $1 million to more than $300 million, eventually leading the team through an IPO in March 2017. Now in an advisory role at Classy.org, Adam is enjoying doing exactly what he loves - building great sales organizations and doing great things for the world in the process. “I like to make things simple. The beauty of what I bring to the enterprise is, I have a way to simplify the sale. I do that through figuring out the fastest, best, easiest ways to sell into an organization, and then map that to a sales process and refine it. It's an ever-growing, breathing thing, and as you scale, you have to grow and change with that process.” Under John McMahon’s mentorship at PTC, Adam learnt the playbook and followed the processes as part of a team, “High tides raise all boats” and there were no mercenaries – everyone worked together for the good of the company and Adam thrived in a competitive environment centred around meritocracy and overachieving. He devoted himself to the “tried and true” methodologies, learnt the “recipe” to great success and began to apply it wherever he went, building processes around it, finding ways to apply it to the masses, and using it to scale businesses at an unprecedented rate. “The ticket is expensive to play in this game. It's a high bar and you have to be fully dedicated to it. You didn't just say these things to your team, you lived it, because you have to lead from the front, and it has to be authentic. You ask people to do extraordinary things and it takes extraordinary people to be successful in these roles. You have to be willing to lead from the front to do that.” In this vodcast you will discover: How Adam worked his way up from selling knives to becoming a leader and advisor for world-leading organisations. How the environment and culture at PTC shaped Adam’s career. Adam’s Playbook elements– a breakdown of the key pillars that have enabled his success in the industry. Making sacrifices to be successful – how to get the work-life balance right when you’re fully dedicated to your role. With a mantra of, “Be the very best we can be as a team”, Adam leads from the front with a willingness to grow and change. He is part of a “movement” of people who were together because they wanted to do great things and his incredible career and current position in life is a testament to that. We discuss Adam’s deep experience in this cut-throat industry, his enduring commitment to playbook, and ask, “Does the hunter make the unicorn?” This extensive discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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In the Presales Edition of The 33 CXOs we explore the crucial role of the presales organisation in what is regarded as the greatest success story in software sales.

When John McMahon took over as the Head of Sales within BladeLogic, he had a clear vision to create a sales and presales organisation that was in complete unison. What transpired became a sales rhythm which remains the golden standard for best practice within the most successful technology companies in the world.

The effects of a value-driven, technical sales function transcended the boundaries of presales. The playbook has helped trailblaze best practice within Customer Success, Value Engineering, Professional Services and even Product Management.

We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most talented technical sales leaders in the industry who are driving the technology companies of the future.

Episode 4 features Phil Pergola, Global Customer Success Leader for Success 360 at VMWare Success 360. Phil started his career as a Senior Consultant at Accenture and was originally introduced to some of the future leaders of BladeLogic when he moved to become Director and Solutions Architect at Eggrock Partners in 1999. Proving himself in this role, he stood out as a key player who could assist and add value to a pioneering SaaS start-up and was approached to join the founding team at BladeLogic in 2002 as DirectorHead of Client Services. From there began Phil’s upward career trajectory of strategic transitions and professional advancements that have led him to become the accomplished enterprise software leader that he is today.

“At the end of the day, what I’ve found in my career is that diversity of experience is huge because every role that I go to, I'm even better because of the diverse experience that I've had and the perspective that I can bring to those roles.”

With a process-centric mindset and a background in enterprise SaaS, Phil already had many of the foundational skills he needed to tackle challenges and solve problems whilst simultaneously building Professional Services and Support divisions at a start-up experiencing huge growth. However, a new era of innovation within the software space transpired as a result of the thought leaders at BladeLogic. In order to succeed in his role there, Phil needed to develop new skills. Under the leadership of Steve Strachan and John McMahon, Phil learnt and mastered the sales playbook. He was not only taught how to sell and scale a global organisation, but also how to incorporate this methodology into his practice areas, enabling him to take his professional development to a new level.

“It's one thing to read a book on methodologies but it's another thing to experience it and really learn how to apply it. You don't learn how to drive a car by reading a manual. You learn to drive a car through hours of experience and making mistakes, and I think the experience of working with those leaders was profound in my ability to not only apply that, but also refine my craft.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

How MEDDIC methodologies can enhance your career in Professional Services or Customer Success
How Phil is defining the Customer Success playbook for the next generation
Phil’s role at VMWare and the importance of Customer Success to subscription and SaaS business
The role of diversity in delivering a positive experience for customers

Phil Pergola understands exactly how to drive positive business outcomes across the entire customer lifecycle. His diverse background of engagement with the expansion and development of systems and processes in world-class SaaS organisations is a testament to his versatility and readiness to constantly adapt. We discuss the pillars of Phil’s playbook, what advice he would give to anyone considering a role in Customer Success and find out which technology or area of innovation he thinks is going to have the biggest impact on business in the next decade. This in-depth discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for making customers successful withthe technology space.

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In the Presales Edition of The 33 CXOs we explore the crucial role of the presales organisation in what is regarded as the greatest success story in software sales.

We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most talented technical sales leaders in the industry who are driving the technology companies of the future.

Episode 10 features Tim Fessenden, President at Propertybase. Tim has over 20 years of SaaS and enterprise software experience and a proven track record of effective leadership at fast-moving, global SaaS-based software companies. Prior to joining Propertybase, Tim was Vice President of Products at Yottaa, a SaaS-eCommerce acceleration platform, and previously held senior positions including General Manager at BMC Software, and Director of Sales Engineering & Product Management at BladeLogic. Tim originally joined the founders of BladeLogic in 2001 to grow a services practice but quickly transitioned to become a key player in the development of their initial product and customer base. His professional achievements and career progression have led him to become the versatile leader that he is today, driving the next stage of development at the world’s leading real estate software platform.

“I never thought of myself as a technologist. I thought of myself as an intelligent businessperson looking at large macroeconomic shifts and figuring out who were going to be the winners and who were going to be the losers. I saw technology as a clear tailwind in the market, so I said, how do I get there? I never had any training in technology, I just identified that that was the place I wanted to live and breathe.”

With an innate ability to look at situations through a macroscopic lens, as well always engaging with the customer experience, Tim was already practicing some of the key principles of John Kaplan’s value framework even before being introduced to a physical playbook. Therefore, when the extensive training and methodologies were implemented at BladeLogic, Tim naturally stepped into a leadership position. Owning the roadmap and being able to communicate the WHY behind what was being built allowed Tim to train, enable and strategically position sales engineers to execute the product strategy and generate revenue faster than ever before. He understood the importance of technical depth through the sales process and became a translation engine, bridging communication gaps between all functions and building the foundations for his future career.

“A lot of people have a myopic view of just the part that impacts them, but we all know that it's a continuum - if you push in one area, it's going to pop in the other. It’s all interconnected. A discussion around pain ultimately needs to translate to something actionable on the back end and vice versa, if something is innovative on the backend, you need to make sure that that message gets out on the front end. That translation engine is the number one thing I hang my hat on and the most important thing that's attributed to my success.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

Building BladeLogic from the ground up – Tim’s experiences in the early days of product development
The key personality traits that enable transition from presales into management and leadership
The transformative effect of the playbook and how this propelled Tim’s career into leadership
How to scale an organisation by leading with the WHY

Fluent in the language of value, Tim Fessenden is a strategic leader who knows from experience what it takes to build a sales machine to grow revenue. With a mindset attuned to innovation, Tim has learnt the value of customer engagement and his playbook reflects his primary focus on the WHY - what are we doing here and why will people buy? We discuss his journey through the ranks from Software Consultant to President at Propertybase and find out which area of innovation he thinks will have the biggest impact on business over the next decade. A wide-ranging discussion steeped in valuable advice, this episode is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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In the Presales Edition of The 33 CXOs we explore the crucial role of the presales organisation in what is regarded as the greatest success story in software sales.

When John McMahon took the reins at BladeLogic, he had a clear vision to create a sales and presales organisation that was in complete unison. What transpired became a sales rhythm which remains the gold standard for best practice within the most successful technology companies in the world.

We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most talented technical sales leaders in the industry who are driving the technology companies of the future.

Episode 7 features Diwakar Prabhakar, Vice President of Solutions Consulting at Sprinklr. With over 20 years of experience scaling diverse teams for high growth companies in the SaaS industry, Diwakar is a presales powerhouse. Working with global software leaders including BladeLogic, BMC, Medallia and AppDynamics, Diwakar has built an impressive career portfolio and has continually developed his skills to progress from unpacking boxes as a Customer Support Engineer straight out of college, to using his experience and credibility to drive and evolve business as Vice President of Solutions Consulting at the world’s leading Customer Experience Management platform.

“Revenue is a really good indicator of how well the company and the product is doing. I would almost say that the technology is secondary. It's about the value that you can deliver, but the real proof is, are they willing to write the cheque? I think the revenue, the value and the technology are all of equal importance.”

With enough IP operations experience to let the customer know "I've been in your shoes before", Diwakar brought an abundance of credibility and experience when he joined the BladeLogic pre-sales org. He was skilled in his field and confident in the product, but he soon realised that it was going to take more than a technological solution to win deals. For customers to buy the BladeLogic product in higher quantities, Diwakar recognised the need for enhancing the sales approach. Following the high-profile appointments of Steve Strachan and John McMahon, the thorough implementation of the MEDDIC framework began. At this point he realised “the process around selling the technology is more important than the technology itself.” Diwakar witnessed a huge upward trajectory from his continuously improving ability to communicate value, find pain points and build champions. He attached himself to critical business needs and has continued to trust, develop and adapt these core playbook principles throughout his career. This has enabled him to drive revenue and scale organisations at an astonishing rate.

“It's the drive, the desire to learn, the ability to take risks and being honest with yourself about what you know and what you don't know. No one at Medallia ever confused me for a subject matter expert. Every one of those 85 SEs that I hired knew more about the industry than I did. I learned from them and I wasn't embarrassed to admit that I didn't know much about the industry. So, be honest about what you don't know and willing to put in the effort, I think goes a long way.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

The early days of BladeLogic - how the playbook transformed the company and defined Diwakar’s career
How to adjust the playbook to fit new organisations and industries
Diwakar’s transparent approach to recruitment and advice for anyone entering the world of pre-sales
The vital importance of a strong relationship between sales and pre-sales

Leading with transparency and integrity, Diwakar Prabhakar is an expert in building high performing, adaptable presales teams that can drive revenue in an industry that continues to innovate at an ever-increasing pace. We discuss his career path, lessons he has learnt, his recruitment strategy and ask him what area of technology or innovation he thinks will have the biggest impact on business over the next decade. This insightful discussion brings a new perspective to our understanding of pre-sales and is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for technology.

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In the Presales Edition of The 33 CXOs we explore the crucial role of the presales organisation in what is regarded as the greatest success story in software sales.

We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most talented technical sales leaders in the industry who are driving the technology companies of the future.

Episode 2 features Frank Lamprea, Sales Engineering Leader at ThoughtSpot. Frank started his journey into presales at BladeLogic in 2006, having originally built his career in the end-user space. His adaptability, deep-rooted passion for technology and profound insight into the customer experience gave him the raw materials he needed to enter and evolve in a pioneering, high-growth, aggressive software space, and subsequently launch an incredible career trajectory. With a consistent focus on progression and “sharpening the sword”, Frank has continued to excel in this field, climbing the ranks as part of world class sales teams. He has played key roles in the growth of market leaders including BMC, AppDynamics and most recently, ThoughtSpot.

“Most successful presales people have an interesting mix of skills that makes them who they are. You need that mix of technical expertise and a good set of soft skills, communication skills, savviness with the business and an ability to build champions and connect with people.”

In a powerful sales organization built on rigor and methodology, and surrounded by like-minded individuals, Frank wanted to win. He recognised that the only marker for success in this industry is performance. His technical expertise already equipped him with the skills required to make it as an engineer, but the training and ground-breaking approach to presales enablement at BladeLogic added new dimensions to the role. This enabled him to optimise and expand his skills, establishing foundations to support his development into the multifaceted leader he is today.

“There are two ways that sales engineers are categorized - you're either a tool or you're a partner. Unfortunately, a lot of companies treat sales engineers as a tool. I've always strived to have it be a partnership of equals and I think big part of why we would win at BladeLogic is that we maximized the value of the resources that we had by developing relationships like that and by not letting somebody be idle when they could be contributing.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

Which aspects of MEDDIC are most beneficial in presales
The mindset and methodology required to build and scale high-performance pre-sales teams
Hiring right - the importance of recruitment and how to find the right people for your company
How to prepare for a change of rank or position

Frank Lamprea believes in building a culture that adapts positively to continuous change and innovation. He is a leader with a fierce work ethic and an unwavering commitment to learning, evolving and remaining at the forefront of the technology landscape. Through thought leadership and creative problem solving, he has created an enviable track record of success stories. Find out Frank’s views on which area of innovation is going to have the biggest impact on business over the next 10 years, as we talk about the mechanics of his playbook and what advice he would give to anyone aspiring to succeed in presales. This insightful discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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In the Presales Edition of The 33 CXOs we explore the crucial role of the presales organisation in what is regarded as the greatest success story in software sales.

We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most talented technical sales leaders in the industry who are driving the technology companies of the future.

Episode 5 features Damon Miller, Senior Vice President of Field Technical Operations at Lacework. Originally drawn to a career in tech due to his innate inclination to “tinker” and through a passion for understanding the way things work, Damon started out in the software industry as an IT Administrator. His mindset and unique skillset would pave the way for an upward trajectory in the enterprise software space. He joined the founding team at BladeLogic in 2001 as a Sales Engineering Manager Engineer and has since scaled his career in numerous high profile leadership roles. He has taken key positions in start-ups such as CloudSwitch, Sumo Logic, CloudHealth and is now thrilled to have recently “come home” to Lacework.

“I've had the good fortune of being in touch with people who have demonstrated an ability to identify growth opportunities, . I’m very fortunate in that regard. It's tough to time the market, but you can take an educated guess, put your trust in people that have succeeded in the past and who are willing to work hard for you and with you. That's what I've always tried to do, and it's worked out well.”

The unpredictability and excitement of the start-up came as second nature to Damon, whilst his hands-on technical experience enabled him to add value and offer guidance to the dynamic BladeLogic team. However, in order to increase product sales, the team required further direction. Under the leadership of Steve Strachan and John McMahon, methodologies and processes were created and moulded, that enabled the business to scale at an unprecedented rate. With support from his mentors, Damon was given the freedom to innovate his role, push boundaries and develop his own strategies to evolve as a leader.

“Lead with compassion and heart as much as fist and operate with urgency. If you feel something is nagging you, don't wait, just take care of it, because this industry is a game of inches and that tiny little difference might will make a huge impact later in ways that you might not realize.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

How the MEDDIC methodology enabled Damon to develop as a presales leader
The challenges of building a presales team in the early days – Damon’s non-traditional approach to recruitment
What key character traits are required for a career in presales
Damon’s role at Lacework – a new era with the old team.

Damon Miller has an innate knowledge of how to drive team success. From the very beginning, he has operated like a shareholder as opposed to an employee. His success in the industry is a testament to his dedication, passion and instinctive desire to “figure things out”. We discuss Damon’s career progression from BladeLogic to Lacework, his advice for anyone entering the tech industry and find out which area of technology he believes will have the biggest impact on business in the next decade. This insightful discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales and presales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the software industry.

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In the Presales Edition of The 33 CXOs we explore the crucial role of the presales organisation in what is regarded as the greatest success story in software sales.

We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most talented technical sales leaders in the industry who are driving the technology companies of the future.

Episode 1 features Sahir Azam, Chief Product Officer at MongoDB. Sahir has extensive experience in product management, marketing, sales, presales engineering, and corporate strategy. This has culminated in a remarkable track record of success at both start-ups and PLCs within the enterprise software space.

Sahir had no experience in presales prior to embarking on a career at BladeLogic in 2006, but his character, coachability and passion for sales methodologies equipped him with the essential skills needed to win. His mindset enabled him to smoothly integrate with a high energy start-up team, that only accepted the highest standards. Taking on one of the most versatile roles in the business, Sahir mastered the presales skillset early, and since then his career trajectory has been truly remarkable. Sahir is now responsible for product management, product marketing, design, across the MongoDB portfolio and has led MongoDB’s transformation into to a cloud-first company.

“I was lucky, because of mentors, I was able to realize what my strength was relatively early in my career and put emphasis and energy into making that stronger. In my case, it's the combination of business and technical.”

Sahir thrived in an environment that enabled him to have a strategic impact and leverage his rare blend of technical and business skills. Historically, the presales function had been primarily technical, but BladeLogic’s integrated approach brought teams together through culture, methodology, accountability and most importantly, a united competitiveness and determination to be incredibly successful. A new era was born; one that would set global standards and impact the future landscape of SaaS sales forever.

“Presales was a partner as opposed to just a resource you use for technical help, and that culture was foundational because of how complicated the product was. There was a mutual respect going on there, and you needed both sides of the coin, the technical sellers and the business sellers together to make a really amazing deal happen.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

The essential skills required for a career in presales
The importance of MEDDIC and the role of presales in the sales process
The vital link between technology and business fluidity
How to scale your career in presales

Sahir is now as much a business leader as a technical leader. His ambition and ability to combine these two skillsets have propelled his career forward and reflect his innate ability to stay focussed, impact business value and constantly evaluate how to elevate to the next level. We discuss Sahir’s experiences in this constantly evolving industry, his playbook, and the core ingredients needed to succeed in SaaS presales. This thought-provoking discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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In the Presales Edition of The 33 CXOs we explore the crucial role of the presales organisation in what is regarded as the greatest success story in software sales.

We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most talented technical sales leaders in the industry who are driving the technology companies of the future.

Episode 3 features James Hollinger, VP of Pre-Sales Engineering at Domino Data Labs. James was one of the founding members of the BladeLogic software engineering team. He joined the company in 2001 during the early start-up phase and was instrumental in designing and building their product from the ground up. He then transitioned into pre-sales, and at this point, James’ career began to scale at an extraordinary pace. Positioned at the forefront of the SaaS world, his increasing expertise and ability to communicate value, led him to senior management roles at the likes of BMC, Sumo Logic and Mesosphere. This exposed him to systems and people that continuously expanded his focus and presented opportunities that have enabled his progression from sales engineer through to leader and mentor.

“People might think of the sales engineers as just geeks who want to be doing technology and that's actually not the case. Sales engineers want to win. We want to close business and we want to make money. We are salespeople first and foremost.”

As a skilled software developer with a natural talent for articulating technology and value, James transitioned smoothly into the notoriously competitive SaaS sales arena, surrounded by intelligent A-Player “Bulldogs.” His background in building automation tools for operations and data centres gave him a unique insight into problems that needed to be solved in the industry, but the leadership and mentoring he received at BladeLogic enabled him to excel in his role. He became an integral cog in the BladeLogic sales machine and used ground-breaking methodology and processes to close deals at an enviable rate.

“I think of the playbook like a golf swing. The more unnatural it feels, the more it's actually going to work. It's not intuitive, you're going to have to fight your instincts and there's nothing harder for a salesperson to do than “qual out a deal”. You have to make unnatural decisions and that comes down to your coach. If you have a swing coach who is showing you when to make changes, it might feel unnatural, but if you do 70 swings, then another 70 tomorrow etc, the next thing you know, it starts feeling more and more natural. It’s the same thing from the sales methodology perspective.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

How to scale you career in presales
How MEDDIC enabled James to transition from sales engineer to manager, director and beyond
What raw materials are needed to make a great presales engineer
James’ playbook - how presales plugs in to the sales organization as a whole

Programmed to win, James is an exceptional leader with a unique ability to define and execute growth strategy. He has a maniacal focus on developing the right processes, behaviours and methodologies to drive revenue and customer value. His enthusiasm to continue to learn and remain at the forefront of cutting-edge technology is inspirational for anyone aspiring to succeed in this ever-advancing industry. We discuss the role and potential prospects for presales engineers, past, present and future and ask James what area of innovation he thinks is going to have the biggest impact on business in the next 10 years. This motivating discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in a presales career, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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In the Presales Edition of The 33 CXOs we explore the crucial role of the presales organisation in what is regarded as the greatest success story in software sales.

We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most talented technical sales leaders in the industry who are driving the technology companies of the future.

Episode 6 features Mike Lupiani, Director of Enterprise Sales Engineering at Sumo Logic. After spending his childhood learning about technology and helping customers with their IT problems at his family’s computer businesses in New York, Mike began his professional career in technology as a Senior Consultant at IBM. After honing his business skills and gaining insight into large company operations, Mike was sought out by the industry pioneers at BladeLogic and transitioned to become a member of their “well-oiled” pre-sales machine in 2007. With the knowledge and experience required to withstand the BMC acquisition, and subsequently thrive in a growing organisation, Mike’s career took an upward trajectory. He left BMC as a Principal Software Consultant in 2015 and joined Sumo Logic to fulfil his aspirations to build teams of his own and become the diverse and talented leader he is today.

“One of the things that I learned very early was, if there's a job that needs to be done to make the POC successful, to make the demo work, to make the product better, and you sit around and wait for somebody else to do it, you might not win. You're not going to get where you need to go if you rely on somebody else for aspects that are within your control.”

During his time at BladeLogic and BMC, Mike discovered the methodologies and processes that he needed to succeed in a hugely competitive industry. With John McMahon at the helm, he learnt how to sell value to customers and become an all-purpose technical solution to problems in an environment that was innovating at lightning speed. Mike’s unique combination of skills and hands-on experience have allowed him to transition through the ranks and become a mentor who leads from a position of credibility.

“First you had to be able to explain the product, then you needed to be able to demonstrate it, then you needed to be able to prove that it worked to the customer. I've seen people try to teach others how to do something that they haven't done enough of themselves and it never clicks the same as talking to somebody that you know has truly done it already and is speaking from their experience.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

The raw materials needed to make a great presales engineer
What key skills are required to move into management from a presales position
How MEDDIC can help you develop your skills and move up the career ladder
The future of presales - Mike’s playbook and advice for anyone considering a career in this industry

Mike Lupiani’s career sets the precedent for a new generation of presales engineers. His accomplishments in this industry are a testament to his work ethic, technical expertise and ability to evolve to meet clients’ ever-changing needs. We discuss his experiences in different roles at BladeLogic, BMC and Sumo Logic and ask him what technology or area of innovation he thinks will have the biggest impact on business over the next decade. This extensive discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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In the Presales Edition of The 33 CXOs we explore the crucial role of the presales organisation in what is regarded as the greatest success story in software sales.

We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most talented technical sales leaders in the industry who are driving the technology companies of the future.

Episode 9 features Seong Park, Senior Vice President, Customer Success & Field Engineering at ThoughtSpot. Seong first embarked on a career in tech in the early 90’s, taking a position at The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, where he proudly built their first career site. From there he developed his technical skillset in Developer and DBA roles, established himself in the field and joined BladeLogic in 2004 as their 10th Application Engineer. Having mastered the art of presales, Seong went on to play an instrumental role in growing revenue from $30 million to $300+ million at MongoDB, building out their technical presales, business value consulting, product marketing and developer teams and is now leading ThoughtSpot’s global Presales, Customer Success, Professional Services and Business Value Consulting functions to help organizations get the most value from search and AI-driven analytics.

“You need to be able to shut up and listen. There is also a core skill around being able to story tell through a demo and whether you're presenting, doing a demonstration, a proof of concept or some type of validation, you're weaving a story. It took me time to really understand that there's an art and science to these things.”

Seong had a passion for learning and a high degree of curiosity with the concept of an “interconnected mesh of computers and people”. His innate ability to marry technology and business made him an ideal candidate to execute BladeLogic’s pioneering methodology-driven sales strategy and with John McMahon at the helm, galvanizing the sales team and setting forward with discipline, accountability, and a playbook that worked, Seong learnt the core concepts and philosophies that he needed to scale his career. His ability to evolve, intuitively adapt and learn from his colleagues and mentors as their “partner in crime” led to continual professional recognition and subsequent advancement into high-octane management and leadership roles.

“ThoughtSpot is a great opportunity for me to be able to craft the customer journey and own it end to end. Ultimately, we want to make sure we can live true to the promise of what we've sold a customer because if we talk about champions, they will fight for us and sell for us when we're not there. It's our duty and obligation to give them the evidence of the return on their investment on what they've championed us for.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

Defining the presales playbook at BladeLogic and its influence over the SaaS world that we live in today
How to build a successful presales organization
The criteria needed to transition from presales into leadership
The secrets to Seong’s continual career progression and advice for aspiring presales individuals

Seong Park is a phenomenal communicator with a unique ability to articulate a vision that resonates both internally within a company as well as externally with customers. Motivated by a “fear of failure” and a determination to excel at his craft, Seong leads with integrity and has spent his career continuously setting the bar higher for execution excellence. We discuss Seong’s remarkable career progression in the SaaS industry, gain insight into the presales landscape past and present and find out which area of innovation Seong believes will have the biggest impact on business in the next decade. A thoroughly enjoyable, eye-opening insight into the world of pre-sales, this episode is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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In the Presales Edition of The 33 CXOs we explore the crucial role of the presales organisation in what is regarded as the greatest success story in software sales.

We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most talented technical sales leaders in the industry who are driving the technology companies of the future.

Episode 10 features Benjamin Cefalo, Director of Product Management at MongoDB. Ben’s career in IT began in the late 90’s when his passion for technology and “fixing people’s problems” led him to take a job at a local manufacturing company in his hometown of Arlington Vermont. Gaining vast experience in SaaS, Database, and Automation roles since then, Ben’s career has taken an upward trajectory. He joined BladeLogic as a Senior Consultant in 2006 and continued his development following the BMC acquisition, becoming the Lead Product Manager for Server and Database Automation. Prior to joining MongoDB, Ben spent 5 years at VMware and launched the first organically developed SaaS application in the company’s history. He has developed skills in a diverse spectrum of roles from System Administrator to Engineer, Technical Support to Software Consultant, Post-sales to Pre-sales, and is now responsible for Product Management across the entire MongoDB portfolio.

“You have to have customer empathy to be able to design good products. You can do all the research you want; you can get the metrics, know what the success criteria is, but until you can really put yourself into the customer's shoes and feel their pain, you're not going to develop a good product. I think we do a really good job of that at MongoDB.”

After joining BladeLogic, Ben knew that building and selling software was where he wanted to be. He was determined to grow his career and recognised the value in experiencing different points of view across the organisation. This helped him learn, pivot and advance into leadership roles. Whether it was working hands-on to support customers, implementing a product, or articulating value and solving pain, Ben realised that the key to success was learning the language of MEDDIC and using it as an internal communication tool. Once he had mastered the methodology, Ben became a vital component in the BladeLogic sales engine and quickly made a smooth transition into product management. This allowed him to explore a more creative role and make a huge impact in the industry. He went on to direct teams at world leading tech organisations from a position of experience and credibility.

“One of the key things I look for when I'm interviewing product managers is where they sit today on the spectrum and whether I can get them there. If someone has the willingness to be comfortable with ambiguity, I can mentor them to be successful in that spectrum. It's not so much that I'm looking for that perfect person on day one, it's about, can I get them there?”

In this vodcast you will discover:

How a background in Presales laid foundations for Ben’s career in Product Management
How to build a symbiotic relationship between Presales and Sales
What attracted Ben to Product Management and what key capabilities and attributes the role demands
The core pillars of Ben’s Playbook and the evolving role of MEDDIC in world leading software organisations

The ultimate team player, Ben Cefalo is a skilled leader and communicator with a natural ability to not only pivot between technical and business contexts, but to also constantly adapt to the “moving target” that is software. With a passion and excitement for what the future holds in this ever-evolving landscape, we discuss how a value driven culture of collaboration is the driving force behind MongoDB’s success and how Ben’s experiences have shaped his values as a leader. Providing a unique insight into the SaaS industry from a vast array of perspectives, this extensive discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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“Going into BMC, that’s a Harvard Business School case study and I would title it, Speed Boat Takes Over Aircraft Carrier.”  - Mark Musselman

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies.

Episode 15 features Mark Musselman, Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Vapor IO. With over 20 years of experience at both early stage and mature organisations, Mark is in his element building and leading enterprise sales teams and company partnerships. Referring to himself as a “sucker for bleeding edge,” Mark has seen huge success both inside and outside of the software sales arena. Forever striving to be the best at whatever he puts his mind to, he has achieved some amazing feats from IPOs to becoming an esteemed breakbeat DJ and starting his own record label, Momu.

“John called me ‘the workhorse’ because he knew I was always out with the customer; I was always out there. Then he started calling me ‘the artist’ because I would come up with interesting ways to try and get deals done or ways to be relevant to the champion and their business.”

Mark’s success is without doubt a testament to his work ethic and unique personality. He is smart, competitive and gravitates towards problems that need to be solved. These crucial character traits laid a solid foundation when it came to joining the sales team at BladeLogic and learning the playbook from John McMahon. Once he knew the rules of the game, Mark had everything he needed to conquer this notoriously aggressive sales environment.

“You really need to be thinking about training, training, training, whether it's yourself that needs it or your team that needs it, and it needs to be iterative and constant so that you're audible ready and prepared at all times. It's not just product training, it's training on how to run the methodology and run the playbooks - it's both.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

The early years of tech - behind the scenes of BladeLogic and the BMC takeover
How to survive in the technology industry without becoming a robot
The importance of good competition amongst your peers
Why you should recruit athletes over experience

Mark Musselman understands what it takes to succeed in this industry. He knows the key to increasing revenue and how to build proactive sales teams that dominate with maths and science, but his natural creativity and passion for technology has given him an upper hand. We discuss Mark’s love for this industry, his management style and the unique strategies he uses to help close deals faster. An entertaining insight into the world of a true hunter, this discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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Available as podcasts on our Spotify and iTunes channel;

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/hunters-unicorns/id1535460339

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5DeTa0QE0WZ1OkX3KX82mh?si=foC9FDrbRMGVGjW4MCBocQ

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies.

Episode 12 features Paul Cant, Vice President EMEA at BMC Software. Paul has more than 20 years of experience in sales leadership, building and leading high-performance teams and designing and implementing world-class business plans and programmes to drive innovation and sustainable growth.

Paul started his software career in 1996 at PTC. He was seeking a solution that was disrupting the market and with a reputation for setting the bar high, PTC fit his criteria. Since then, Paul has transitioned through the ranks, holding senior sales and management roles at BladeLogic, Ascential Software and, after initially joining BMC as a sales manager in 2008, he has been on quite the journey to earn his current position in leadership.

“I'd had the PTC experience, Ascential experience, BladeLogic experience, so yes, I could have gone and looked for another one of those type of experiences, but I think that investing in my own leadership brand and in creating my own legacy was the opportunity that BMC gave me and has given me. Rather than jumping around, it was important for me to invest in BMC.”

Paul learnt and mastered the playbook at PTC and accredits his outstanding career progression to his beginnings at this iconic company. His thirst for knowledge and determination to succeed saw Paul transition from a Sales Rep to a VP as he witnessed first-hand the fundamental importance of sales methodology, innovation, recruitment and carrying weight as a team in a “hire and fire” environment. He developed an insight into this industry and created a set of career progression criteria for himself that he still depends on and uses to propel the careers of his people at BMC to this day.

“We spend a lot of time here talking about culture and we are committed to the development of great salespeople. If you've got the right makeup of intelligence, character, coachability, experience, then you can be very successful here and build a very, very good career. Around 85% of all of the leaders here come from ICs, so we certainly have a meritocracy and there is opportunity for people to progress their careers - we're investing hundreds of millions of dollars into innovating our solutions which we've done over the past 40 years, but no more so than just recently. There are some really exciting developments.”

In this podcast you will discover:

What raw materials you need to be recruited by an iconic software company like BMC
The value of studying the playbooks
A background in engagement models and how to use MEDDIC to measure and drive analytics
How to keep progressing in your sales career

Paul is passionate and excited about the future of BMC and the self-development culture that has been established there. He is dedicated to ensuring that his employees can thrive within the company’s framework and is committed to finding and growing the future leaders of this innovative organisation.

Paul’s aim is to make an impact wherever he goes and his loyalty to BMC is a testament to how this company continues to transform and grow. Discussing his journey through the ranks of these world-class sales organisations, we listen to Paul’s view on the topic of what it takes for a company to reach unicorn status as he reveals what he has witnessed to be the key contributing factors to this phenomenon. This wide-ranging discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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“Once you're a part of a championship team with A-players, great products, great leaders and great cultures, it's very hard to go backwards. We were lucky. We were in the right place at the right time, but we worked hard. Once you’ve been a part of that, you're always trying to build it better. That's what we tried to do it at Force Management. We didn't want to try to do another PTC, we wanted to do something greater than PTC. I'm not saying we've done that, but that was our mentality. - John Kaplan 

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies.  

In this special edition series The 33 CxOs we investigate the greatest success story in the history of software sales. Discover how thirty-three sales execs from one organisation, BladeLogic, became CXOs in the world’s 100 fastest growing technology companies. We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most prolific sales leaders in the industry. 

Episode 12 features John Kaplan, president and co-founder of the most influential sales training organisation in the world - Force Management. John has over 20 years of executive experience in sales, leadership, and execution, specialising in corporate sales strategy and performance management. Before Force Management, John was SVP of International Sales Operations for PTC, the fastest growing software company in the history of the planet that went from zero to a billion dollars in less than 10 years. Today, we are honoured to discuss with John his spectacular career trajectory, including how he left his 10-year role at Xerox in 1996 to “sprint” into a managerial position at PTC and go on to become the inspirational consultant, presenter and facilitator that he is today.  

“I was a college athlete. I did really well at Xerox, and I was really confident in my skills. Then I went to PTC and I was just in awe of the environment. Everybody was an A-player. It reminded me of when I went to Boise State in my freshman year. You show up and you're like, ‘I'm fast, I'm strong, I'm a good hitter’, and then you realise that everybody is fast and strong and a good hitter. The people at PTC  were just incredibly smart, talented, committed, wise beyond their years.” 

Recruiting high-potential, driven individuals and indoctrinating them with the proven methodologies is a keystone of the McMahon playbook. John Kaplan and Grant Wilson had an insatiable passion for conceptualising the teachings, with the view of empowering future generations to learn the way. Opportune and essential, this was the genesis of Force Management. 

John Kaplan talks about their continued quest to understand the common traits of successful organisations. They aim to align the vision of the business at the top to the “three-foot conversations” on the field. We explore the best practices that are conducive to the operating rhythm and cadence of hyper-performance.   

Trusted by leading brands such as Snowflake, MongoDB, RSA, Segment, Okta and many more, John provides an insight into the methods they teach which have established them as a trusted enabler for the playbook companies. 

“I was on an airplane commuting and I looked around the plane and thought, “These people look awful, they are hating life.” I'm like, “God, I hope I don't look like that.” I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw my reflection and I'm like, "Oh my God, I look like that!" I took out a napkin and a pen, and thought, “What's missing on this plane?” What was missing was passion. So, I wrote down in a circle in the middle of the cocktail napkin, "Passion." I said, "Okay, what am I passionate about?" I started to write it down, and I was really passionate about coaching and developing people … Force Management was actually sketched out on a napkin!” 

In this podcast you will discover: 

The inspiration behind Force Management
The four essential questions you need to be aligned with for high-performance
How to build your sales process around your customers buying process.
Natural resting states when assessing suitability

John Kaplan gives a unique account of how to drive organisational alignment, increase revenue, and deliver transformation. Eighteen years ago, Force Management was born out of the passion for growing and developing sales forces. He now works with some of the most influential companies in the world, helping them to understand their business, and stay engaged in the process to ensure their success.  

John talks us through his journey from the early days to the present moment and tells us exactly what he thinks it takes to build a modern-day unicorn. This extensive discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, anyone with a passion for the high growth technology space and the MEDDICC playbook. 

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Available as podcasts on our Spotify and iTunes channel;

iTunes:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/hunters-unicorns/id1535460339

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/5DeTa0QE0WZ1OkX3KX82mh?si=foC9FDrbRMGVGjW4MCBocQ

“I love doing this. I love building sales teams. What do I want? I want to build a big company so that we can have great customer success and we can go win together, that's what it's about.” - Keith Butler

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies.

Episode 14 features Keith Butler, Chief Revenue Officer at Observe, Inc. Keith unintentionally embarked on a career in the sales arena in 1995 when he graduated from college and was offered a job selling copiers at Xerox. This unplanned trajectory soon led him into roles that were well suited to his highly competitive nature and love of winning. After honing his skills in this aggressive sales environment, Keith was recruited by PTC and from there, his career soared. He now has over 20 years of experience building and leading highly effective teams in the SaaS industry and has worked for some of the most iconic companies in the business including BladeLogic and BMC. Prior to his current role at Observe, Keith served as CRO at Perfecto and was also instrumental in the growth of RSA Aveksa as VP Americas Sales.

“You've got to be open to learn new things all the time even though you think you're pretty good. I thought I was good coming into Xerox, and then I thought I was good at PTC, and then I thought I was good at BladeLogic, and every time, I'm learning more, it continues to happen to me now. You've got to dig in, get into details and all of a sudden you'll get a skillset that you can use to help and teach others.”

Surrounded by great leaders, Keith thrived in an environment where he could learn. He had the discipline and desire required to master the playbook and soon came to realize the significance of “the bowels of the details” in terms of sales methodology and processes. He gained vital knowledge and developed essential skills in the early days of his career that would enable him to make a smooth transition to the next level, evolve the playbook in accordance with his own philosophies and make an impact as a leader himself.

I realized that when I led people, I could make sales teams do things they couldn't do before. I didn't really know why; I just knew that that was something I was good at and I got a lot of energy from it.

In this podcast you will discover:

• The fundamental importance of understanding the MEDDIC framework

• The value in being open to learning and developing new skills

• The parallels between sports and sales and the impact of a great leadership

• The key ingredients required to build a winning sales team

Motivated and excited by building, leading and working with highly effective sales teams, Keith Butler continues to set standards and make an impact in this challenging and dynamic industry. We discuss his love for leadership, winning and watching people grow as he talks us through his experiences and tells us what he thinks it takes for a business to reach unicorn status and why Sutter Hill is a great company to work for. This wide-ranging discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space

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“I think it's really important when you're leading or building a sales organization to pay attention to the nuances of the sale and modify the playbook to meet the growth strategy of the business. There is no cookie cutter. There are no shortcuts. There are elements that stay static, but adapting with agility has helped me contribute to building and growing these companies.” – Scott Sinatra

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies.

Episode 11 features Scott Sinatra, an accomplished CRO, investor, advisor and mentor with over 20 years of experience leading and building word-class enterprise software sales teams.

Scott’s SaaS career began at PTC in the 1990s. After reading an article in Forbes Magazine about their “elite team of sales athletes capturing the market,” he was instantly attracted to this challenging industry and the opportunity to be surrounded by a next level sales force that he could learn from. He took a job as an Individual Contributor so that he could learn the ropes and master the science of selling and since then, his career has taken an upward trajectory. He went on to hold senior sales leadership positions at Bladelogic (IPO 2007) and BMC Software (acquired Bladelogic 2008). He also served as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Glassdoor and was, until very recently, leading global expansion at Glint as Vice President of EMEA.

“I’ve been managing teams since I was 28 but what I didn't know going into PTC was how to sell software. It wouldn't have been appropriate to put me in a management position at PTC right away, and I was fine with that. Let me go and learn some new skills, let me learn what software is all about, and then potentially from there, I move up and through the organization. That was my mindset, and it was absolutely the right thing for them to do, and the perfect thing for me to go through at that time.”

With a determination to learn and grow, Scott mastered the playbook at PTC. He rolled up his sleeves and “got dirty” doing deals in order to acquire the vital knowledge and “scar tissue” he needed to succeed in the software sales industry. He witnessed first-hand how the implementation of methodologies, coupled with the right team of people could turn a stagnant company into a growth engine and he used his experiences to further progress in his career and form a unique leadership style of his own.

“You can't just take a playbook and plop it into a situation without adjustment. You have to be able to use it to the benefit of making strong decisions about people, growth strategies and targets. I was able to implement the playbook, with tweaks, to grow fast and consistent at both Glassdoor ($1M to $20M in 18 months, eventual exit) and Glint ($0 to exit in less than 5 years). Those outcomes had everything to do with execution and the playbook was the foundation.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

How to use MEDDIC as a compass
The importance of creating actionable feedback
How to use “the walkaway” strategy to test whether you have a champion
Why it is important to adapt and change to new situations

Scott’s unique insight and experiences in this industry have enabled him to build teams of exceptional skill and achievement. He believes that building companies is a team sport and is passionate about culture, asking questions and gaining feedback to find out what is driving his people. Scott’s playbook is a reflection of his ability to adapt to the everchanging landscape of tech and his dedication to the wellbeing of his teammates.

We discuss Scott’s incredible career journey from IC to VP and find out what he thinks it takes for a company to reach unicorn status. This wide-ranging discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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Available as podcasts on our Spotify and iTunes channel; iTunes:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/hunters-unicorns/id1535460339

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/5DeTa0QE0WZ1OkX3KX82mh?si=foC9FDrbRMGVGjW4MCBocQ

“My motivation has evolved over time. Early in my career, it was a fear of being poor and a guilt for the sacrifices that my family made. Towards the middle stages, it was an ambition to see what I could achieve. Now, I get satisfaction from seeing others realise their potential.” Carlos Delatorre

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies.

Episode 11 features Carlos Delatorre, Chief Revenue Officer at TripActions, the fastest growing travel management company in history. With nearly 25 years of experience in the SaaS space, Carlos has developed a reputation for building and leading sales teams that ultimately dominate their industries and marketplace. Carlos realised the potential of software in the early 90’s and decided that instead of selling medical supplies, he would start a sales career at PTC. Now a software industry veteran, Carlos has experience in building sales teams at some of the most elite companies in the world including BMC Software, BladeLogic, IMlogic, MongoDB and Oblix.

“I was conflicted about joining BladeLogic because my alternatives were bigger roles. John did a good job of helping me appreciate the value of being developed by him. He sold himself and during that recruitment process, he helped me see the value of having a great boss and ultimately that's what I bet on and he was right. It was a fantastic experience and lots of great things happened as a result. I'm very thankful to him for convincing me to take that role because on paper, it wasn't obvious at the time.”

Under the tutelage of John McMahon, Carlos began to evolve and tune in to a MEDDIC mindset. Instead of building facades to mask issues, he learnt how to zero in on problems and use the playbook to implement logical programmatic processes, put plans in place and overcome obstacles relating to deals, individuals, teams, and entire organisations. As “more of a scientist than an artist,” he was already a process-oriented individual who could naturally grasp methodology and think in terms of KPI’s and metrics, but his time at BladeLogic allowed him to deepen his analytical abilities and discover the blueprint to becoming a leader himself.

“What I learned at BladeLogic and what I learned from John goes much deeper than analysing a given deal. It's analysing an individual and their innate capabilities, analysing their skills and making real decisions about, are they in the right role? Are they in the right company? If those two things fit, then what is the priority of skill gaps that they have? And therefore, we can build a program to make this person successful?”

In this podcast you will discover:

• Who is Carlos Delatorre and TripActions?

• The advantages of having John McMahon as a coach

• How to hire individuals with the right innate capabilities and skills

• How to break the glass ceiling

Carlos is an outstanding sales executive who consistently delivers excellent results. His unique ability to innovate and systematically solve problems has never been more crucial than in recent times. Hit hard by new restrictions, one of the largest casualties of the coronavirus pandemic is the travel sector but, true to character, Carlos has risen to the challenge. Encouraging companies to “take advantage of the downtime to optimize their travel program and how they manage payments and expense reporting,” TripActions has actually managed to increase revenue, sign on new customers and thrive in these uncertain times by innovating from a product perspective.

Carlos understands products and technology and has a rare ability to translate that into matching what customers are looking for. We discuss a scientific approach to sales in this fast-paced, challenging environment and find out what core ingredients a company needs to reach unicorn status in the ever-evolving tech landscape. This wide-ranging discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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Available as podcasts on our Spotify and iTunes channel; iTunes:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/hunters-unicorns/id1535460339 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5DeTa0QE0WZ1OkX3KX82mh?si=foC9FDrbRMGVGjW4MCBocQ

“Our goal is to make people very, very successful and then create huge enterprise value along the way. That's the goal. There is recruitment as a process, there’s focus on personal development, there's real focus on competition, and yes, we have the six-step playbook and the value framework, but ultimately if you don't make those guys and girls successful, you haven't got a company.” – Andy Sadler

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies.

Episode 9 features Andy Sadler, GM EMEA at Imply. With a long history in enterprise B2B SaaS, Andy’s track record speaks for itself. He knows exactly what it takes to build world class teams and businesses from scratch and has earned a reputation for himself as a strong leader with incredible ability when it comes to ramping the footprint of advanced SaaS companies while simultaneously boosting revenue.

Like many of the CXO’s being interviewed for this series, Andy’s drive and determination to win has enabled him to excel at two seemingly unrelated careers. He started out as a professional footballer playing for clubs in the UK and saw great success on this trajectory, but a change of circumstances led him to transfer his skills to a role in the technology space. Since then, he has soared through the ranks in leadership positions at PTC, Ascential Software, Bladelogic, BMC Software, Artesian Solutions and more recently leading the charge for EMEA market domination at SignalFx.

“Competition is a big one because if you haven't got a competitor, you haven't really got a market and if you don't know how you're going to win or why you're losing, I don't know how you're going to get better. One of the reasons I've loved being in software sales from being in football is, there's no difference. 90% of the game is done on a whiteboard. 10% of the game is how you play and that's exactly what we do.”

Currently on a mission at Imply to create the most revered and feared go-to-market team in EMEA, Andy has spent his career learning from elite sales leaders and improving his knowledge and skillset every step of the way. He is a huge believer in the importance of adapting to change and has a passion for learning which has led him to evolve and realign the time honoured ‘PTC playbook’ to ensure success and beat the competition in the cloud era.

In addition to improving his own skills, Andy has a passion and enthusiasm for his teams that is rarely seen. A true visionary when it comes to the science of sales, Andy is dedicated to training and uses his wealth of experience and knowledge to develop his people and offer them career progression. One of the core pillars of his playbook is “recruitment as a process” as he believes in the fundamental importance of hiring the right people and then investing in their development.

In this Podcast you will discover:

• The 3 elements of Andy’s Playbook – how he has adapted the methodologies for the new era

• The common key character traits of CXOs and highly successful salespeople

• How he went from a fearless sales guy to a high performing leader

Andy’s competitive spirit has led him down a truly inspirational career path, one that we can all learn a lot from. His time at PTC and BladeLogic enabled him to master the playbook in a culture of fear which verified his ability to survive and thrive in a high-pressure environment. However, today we discuss how Andy’s thirst for knowledge and improvement has led him to evolve his own leadership style and create a winning, competitive culture based on expectation and development- it's okay to fail as long as you know why you failed.

We give you an insight into Andy’s experiences in this industry, how sales tactics have evolved since the early days and how to survive in the technology space today. This discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in MEDDIC based methodologies, sales leadership as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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Hunters + Unicorns: The 33 CxOs - Bill Strogis 008

“My mission is not to build a fiefdom. I'm not trying to build the biggest company possible. I'm trying to build a successful company. I'm trying to build a go-to-market team that will scale smartly, will get the channel up and running, will do all the right things and I want this to be my exit, my swan song, my lasting legacy. ” – Bill Strogis

“I want to surround myself with people that are excellent and that force me to be even better - you want to spend time around people that are wired that way. You find yourself wanting to be surrounded by people that, when things get hard, don't curl up in a ball. Instead, they rub some dirt on it, and they go, "Let's go figure this out." And you want to be surrounded by people that have that mentality, because it just fuels you.”

Bill has been surrounded by exceptional people throughout his career. He learnt the rules of the playbook from the best, John McMahon, and he knows how to run it, refine it and break the ceiling of ambitious growth goals. His tendency toward companies who disrupt with their leading-edge technologies and solve problems with real impact can be attributed to his highly competitive nature and strong desire to succeed. However, his leadership approach is collaborative. From his teams, he calls for commitment, not compliance and leads from a position of genuine eagerness to propel the people that work for him and help them to be more successful.

“The people that work for me are afraid of not being successful because they're driven and they don't want to disappoint their families, and they don't want to disappoint themselves. I think they also don't want to disappoint me, but they don't fear me in that way. Fear isn't the motivator. I think fear of failure is a motivator for them, and I think that I do a really good job in making sure the people who work for me know that I genuinely care. I give a shit.”

In this vodcast you will discover: MEDDIC - what it is, how to use it and why it is so important The common traits of CXOs and highly successful salespeople An insight into the early stages of this tough industry and what the future looks like for the next generation The key characteristics that are being recruited for in this industry Bill has come a very long way since his time at BMC, but that ‘go kick everybody's ass’ vibe that he observed and adopted there has served him well. Motivated by opportunities to build something the way that it should be built, Bill has spent his career blazing new paths for enterprise software and has seen huge success. He knows how to survive and thrive in this industry and shares his advice with us as we discuss his approach to building sales teams and what is needed for a company to reach unicorn status. An insight into the past, present and future of this industry, this discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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Hunters + Unicorns: The 33 CxOs - The John McMahon Interview

Episode 3 features software sales royalty and the legend behind the playbook, John McMahon himself. Currently sitting on the board of directors for software unicorns including Snowflake and Cybereason, John is most recognised for his disciplined approach as a sales leader, running hugely successful global sales teams throughout his career including, GeoTel, BladeLogic, BMC and PTC, which he scaled from $100M to $1B in revenue.  

“I knew what the playbook should be, so if you didn't like my playbook, you could ask me to leave. You have to have the confidence to know that what you're doing is right and it's in the best interest of not just me, but the people that came over from BladeLogic and the people at BMC that want to grow and get promoted and make money and be somebody.” 

As one of the most prominent leaders in all of enterprise software sales, John is not only a sales master, he is a guy that people would “run through a wall for,” a mentor dedicated to propelling the careers of his people, enabling them to win and creating a culture of pride and accomplishment for his teams. 

“I think you have to believe that if you want to get what you want, you have to help everybody else get what they want and you have to have their best interests at heart. When you can help people get to the next level and they step up because you saw something in them that they didn't see in themselves, they're not going anywhere.”

In this vodcast you will discover: How to scale and organisation - the rules of the game. The rules of MEDDIC – a step by step walk-through of the framework. How to recruit a winning sales team. How to break the glass ceiling. John McMahon knows how to build and lead world-class sales teams. He talks us through how to use number-driven sales strategies to scale and develop organisations as we discuss his commitment to the playbook and his dedication to the success of others as key contributors to his legacy as one of the most successful and influential people in the software industry. This extensive discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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Hunters + Unicorns: The 33 CxOs - Brian Blond 001

Episode 1 features Brian Blond, Managing Director at Sutter Hill Ventures. At 34 years of age, Brian was one of the youngest Chief Revenue Officers ever hired in Silicon Valley. Brian has developed a reputation for building unicorns such as Virtrue, Tealium and ThroughtSpot. Having mastered the art of scaling businesses he is now leading the board level agenda of sales strategy with portfolio companies such as Snowflake, PureStorage and Vera. Brian had learnt and mastered the playbook under the tutelage of John McMahon during his time at BladeLogic. The DNA required to be successful is validated by his background in competitive swimming. Brian has the character traits required for success; he just needed the right strategy. Once he discovered the blueprint, his career has taken a trajectory that would not otherwise be possible.

“There's plenty of great sales-people all over the place that have failed once they go into management. Without BladeLogic and without John, I'm not doing what I'm doing today.”

In this Podcast you will discover: • How the MEDDIC framework enabled him to transition from sales rep to sales manager and beyond • What raw material are needed to make a great sales team • The intensity of the John McMahon interview, his influence, and his legacy. • How to break the glass ceiling Brian Blond understands exactly how to build a sales machine to grow revenue. We discuss the core ingredients for a company to reach unicorn status. This wide-ranging discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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Hunters + Unicorns: The 33 CxOs - Anthony Palladino 002

“I  don't  want to win and have someone else lose. We win as a team and that's something that is super important to me and that kind of competitiveness was a really strong element of the DNA and approach at BladeLogic for sure."

After a modest start to his career selling knives, Anthony transitioned into the software space and began his trajectory to becoming a sales leader in this field. During his time at BladeLogic, under guidance of John McMahon, the self-proclaimed ‘born salesman’ was able to fine tune his inherent capabilities for strategic sales methodology and establish his own unique approach to leadership.

“I'm  not a yeller, I'm not a screamer and I'm never going to be that.  I'm  pretty intense  but being able to learn what good operating principles were at BMC and BladeLogic and then being able to convert that into my style to make me the best leader is what's helped a lot.”

In this podcast you will discover: How to use the MEDDIC framework. How to recruit to build a successful sales team. How to build champions and scale. The influence of John McMahon’s playbook on the software industry. Anthony knows how to build results-driven, efficient sales teams whilst driving business transformation and growth. We discuss the commonalities among all CXOs in this industry and discover which style of leadership propels the strongest growth rates. This insightful interview is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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Hunters + Unicorns: The 33 CxOs - Patrick Ball 004

“I think leaders are leaders. I think a lot of that is just innate. If I took Bob Ladouceur and put him in charge of BladeLogic sales, would he have been successful? I 100% agree with that. If I took McMahon and put him in as a high school football coach, I 100% think he would be as successful.” - Patrick Ball

Episode 4 features Patrick Ball, Chief Revenue Officer at Privitar. After initially embarking on a career in commercial real estate, Patrick was drawn to the activity and potential upside of software sales. Starting out as an SDR, Patrick’s competitive nature made him the perfect fit for this aggressive sales environment and he quickly rose through the ranks to hold sales leadership positions at BMC and Moxie Software. From there, he went on to lead sales for the Western Region at Cloudera, scaling the organisation 5X during his four years with the company and more recently, he served as SVP of Worldwide Sales at NextLabs. With 22 years of experience and three IPOs under his belt, few careers have seen the success and progression of Patrick’s.

“I'm a builder. Privitar's my seventh start-up. I've been fortunate to have been through three IPOs so I've seen it before, that's what I enjoy doing. I got bored at BMC, when it's a two, three-billion-dollar company, it's too big, I want to have more of an influence.”

Patrick thrives in an environment where he can implement change and develop, that is intrinsic to his DNA, but when it comes to his leadership methods, he gives credit to two key mentors: Bob Ladouceur (his high school football coach) and John McMahon. The combination of competitive sports training and methodological sales strategies has enabled Patrick to become an expert in his field and create his own playbook for success centred around building and scaling sales organizations. His goal is to create a seamless revenue machine and take his organisation to the next level by recruiting top notch AEs and coachable SDRs. Recruiting the right SDRs who have the potential to excel in their role and later transition into a closing role sets up any sales organization for scale. Patrick continually invests in his team’s development to ensure short, medium, and long-term success.

“MEDDIC is an over-used term now but it's still fundamental to my playbook. I've tried to take things to the next level. Recruitment is number one. I see the SDR team as my future stars, that's my farm league to go be field reps, and if I'm doing my job right, training and growing, I can segment that market and build capacity within my field team and I've trained them, it's not coming from the outside."

In this podcast you will discover: • The importance building a world class SDR organization • How to recruit high performing AEs • How to implement MEDDIC and take it to the next level • How to train, innovate and gain respect from your team Having worked with the elite of elite in this industry, Patrick knows what it takes to build a winning sales team and uses his experiences to shape his own teams in a unique way. He started his career at entry level but had the raw materials needed to climb the ladder of SaaS Sales with the help of some exceptional mentors. Now, as a mentor himself, he leads from accountability and bases his recruitment model on a new approach to SDRs, transforming what was traditionally a tactical support role into a far more capable and strategic resource that is crucial to the growth of his companies. This extensive discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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“Do you need to be a specialist in something to sell it? No. You need to know how to sell, learn what that product can do for a customer, and then apply the playbook, and you can be successful.”  - Mauro Trione

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies.

Episode 6 features Mauro Trione, RVP Sales - Southern EMEA at Delphix. With a background of huge success in the enterprise IT field, Mauro has built a strong reputation for himself as an outstanding professional leader. He started his career in sales and channel roles for PTC, EMC, BladeLogic and BMC and unsurprisingly went on to meet extreme success, becoming VP Sales at Bazaarvoice and going on to join Delphix as a Regional Sales Director in 2014, rising through the ranks once again to become VP Sales, developing and driving growth for business.

Described as the fastest man in technology due to his background as a racing car driver, Mauro is a competitor with natural ambition. Having won the Italian Championship in Touring Cars before even embarking on a career with PTC, Mauro knew nothing about selling software before he entered into this tough sales environment, but he had all of the attributes, skills, and raw materials needed to make it in this industry.

“I'm a sales guy. You can call us VPs, managers, etc, but we are sales people, we want to be able to completely control what we do. As a race car driver, I like to control things because if you don't control your car and your car drives you, you're fucked!”

Described by McMahon as “one of the most incredible sales people in the world,” Mauro is a truly talented communicator and an out of the box thinker. His innate determination and drive enabled him to transition through the ranks at BMC, but he gives credit to the PTC management, especially John McMahon, for putting together a structure that enabled him to learn how to become successful in this industry by following a specific process. 

“It doesn't matter how you refer to it, if you come from PTC or EMC, you’ll have great examples of successful people, and if you ask them, “Did you apply MEDDIC?” They would say, “What is MEDDIC?” But if you go back and try to understand what they have done and do reverse engineering on how they manage activity; they will tell you that they did the same thing that we did.”

In this vodcast you will discover:

The parallels between race car driving and software sales
The importance of playbooks and training for a rapid transition into technology and success in this industry
How to use MEDDIC strategies and champions to close deals
How to transition into managerial roles

Mauro Trione knows how to lead with passion and drive maximum revenue for his teams. We discuss his spectacular achievements in this formally unfamiliar territory, the role of training and playbooks and what has caused his work ethic to evolve over time. Giving you an insight into the mindset of an extraordinary athlete, this interview is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

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Hunters + Unicorns: The 33 CxOs - Jeff Lortz 005

Episode 5 features Jeff Lortz, Chief Operating Officer at TOMIA. Jeff started his career in the U.S. Navy as a line officer operating nuclear power plants but his path has taken some unpredicted turns since then, leading him to become the accomplished Senior Executive he is today. With more than 25 years of success in the technology, software, and SaaS industries, Jeff explains how he “stumbled” into hi tech with no marketable skills or capabilities at all, and worked his way up to arrive at his current destination driving strategy, business planning and go-to-market business processing at the fourth largest software company in the world.

“I started out as just a billable consultant on a team implementing the technology with customers. By the time I left, I was a Senior Vice President, I had over 600 people working for me around the world, 150 million dollars’ worth of revenue responsibility and all from knowing sort of nothing, coming in.”

Transitioning from SVP Global Services at PTC, to VP Professional Services at BladeLogic and then VP of Global Services at BMC, Jeff has witnessed first-hand the opportunities and processes involved in the huge success of these organisations. He took his lead from the stand-out members of these extraordinary teams, in particular John McMahon, and his military background enabled him to thrive in these highly competitive cultures, adopt the playbook and subsequently learn everything he needed to know about how to rapidly scale a company.

“I think there was a belief among everyone involved that it was totally doable again in other circumstances and should be taken forward for the rest of their careers. It just became a club that everybody knows the initiation rights to, everybody knows what the rules are, and you're allowed to go off in your own business and use it as a base line and tweak it and change it to whatever suits the situation.”

In this podcast you will discover: Effective growth strategies for a building a business The role of a COO and what it takes to be a manager in the software industry The importance of a winning culture and how to create it How to use playbooks to scale a company With a proven history as a results-driven, strategic leader, Jeff Lortz has had an incredible career and has learnt from experience how to build a business from the ground up. We discuss his vast knowledge on this industry, past to present, and his unique approach to leadership. Offering inspiration, motivation and advice on how to build foundations with methodologies and strategies, this in-depth interview is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.

Hunters and Unicorns: Recent Episodes