From Vendorship to Partnership: Recent Episodes
Accord
From Vendorship to Partnership is a podcast by Accord, where we learn from high growth startups and leaders who are paving the future of B2B sales. Get insights into how the best sales & CS teams are scaling, and uncover strategies for building your repeatable, collaborative sales & onboarding motion.
In Season 2, Seller’s Journey, Accord’s CEO and Founder Ross Rich chats with top B2B sales leaders – diving deep into their experience building winning playbooks, scaling teams, and successfully partnering with customers.
This week, we're going into the archives to bring back our classic conversation with Cale Tully, VP of Enterprise & Mid-Market Sales at Sprout Social.
Drawing on his 11 years in leadership at Salesforce, Cale joins Ross to discuss three timeless tips for operationalizing deal excellence. They cover understanding the three 'whys' behind your prospect’s motivations, maintaining deal momentum through frequent communication, and calibrating deal risk to ensure success.
Some conversations are so foundational that they deserve an encore. That's why we're re-releasing one of our most popular episodes ever, a conversation that has stood the test of time.
Ross is joined by Kyle Norton, CRO at Owner. With more than a decade of sales leadership experience, Kyle breaks down the evergreen principles of building a high-performing sales machine. Together, they explore the immense value of documenting everything, the strategic power of conducting dry runs, and the essential structure required to scale a sales organization effectively.
Our guest for Episode 88 is Kunal Pandya, VP Global Revenue Enablement at Corsearch. With a career rooted in the tech industry, Kunal has worn many hats including as investor, founder, and senior leader. Prior to joining Corsearch, he held leadership roles at SAP, Taulia, and UserZoom.
In this episode, Ross and Kunal discuss data-driven enablement, exploring leadership and strategy and effective coaching in practice.
Our guest for Episode 87 is Dana Therrien, VP of Sales Performance Management, Anaplan. Dana began his career as a U.S. Army Officer in the Finance Corps, with his first assignment at NATO headquarters in Belgium, followed by a role in Army Intelligence in Washington, D.C. He later transitioned into finance and operations roles across various companies. He brings over 20 years of experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Dana discuss why an unapologetically decisive approach to GTM planning is the ultimate key to executing a fast start and winning the market.
If your big deals are stalling, John McMahon says it likely comes down to one mistake: confusing a coach with a champion.
We're re-releasing one of our most popular episodes ever with the legendary John McMahon, former CRO at iconic companies like PTC and Ariba and author of The Qualified Sales Leader. He joins Ross to deliver some famously direct truths about what it really takes to win.
This isn't about complex theories. It's about getting the fundamentals right. Here are three things you'll learn from John in this episode:
- The Coach vs. Champion Test: A coach gives you information, but a champion has influence and gets you to the economic buyer. Learn John's simple test to find out which one you really have.
- Make Fundamentals Muscle Memory: Reps can't listen if they're busy trying to remember the playbook. John explains how to turn your process into an instinct, freeing up reps to actually focus on navigating the deal.
- How to Compete Against Everyone: You're no longer just competing against other vendors. You're up against every other investment the CFO is reviewing. Learn how to ensure your champion is ready to fight for your business case.
Welcome to Season 3 of 10/10 GTM: The Podcast for Revenue Leaders!
Today, we’re taking you straight to the floor of RevOpsAF, where Ross chats with three senior leaders in Revenue Operations. Joining the conversation are Jeff Vanzant, Senior Director of RevOps at DailyPay, Matt Lauer, Director of RevOps at Consensus, and Tessa Whittaker, VP of RevOps at ZoomInfo.
After spending time with some of the world’s top GTM leaders, one consistent theme stood out: no matter how the function evolves, RevOps leadership is the force multiplier. It’s what drives GTMt alignment and revenue efficiency, especially across the famously strong personalities of marketing, sales, and executive teams.
We're bringing back some fan favorite episodes! This week, we're bringing back Nicole Brambila's interview from January 2024.
Nicole Brambila is the CRO at Medely. Nicole brings more than a decade of sales leadership experience to the conversation. Before Medely, Nicole worked at Deputy, Eventbrite, and LoopNet. In this episode, Ross and Nicole discuss how to operationalize deal excellence by being curious and intuitive, and following proven processes.
Our guest for Episode 82 is Sean Brophy, Head of Global Sales, Pigment. With over two decades of sales experience focused on data and analytics, Sean brings a wealth of knowledge to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Sean discuss Sean’s three vital focus areas that drive sales excellence — people, pipeline, and enablement. When these elements are refined and aligned, they create a circular effect that fuels fuel pipeline growth and ARR.
Welcome to Season 3 of 10/10 GTM: The Podcast for Revenue Leaders!
Our guest for Episode 81 is Eric Agnew, CRO, Ignitium. Over the past seven years, Eric has played a pivotal role in the company's growth, serving in key leadership positions including CRO, VP of Customer Success, and VP of Account-Based Marketing. With 10+ years of experience in sales and marketing, Eric brings a wealth of insight to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Eric discuss why your clients' success directly drives your own, how authenticity builds trust and long-term value in business relationships, and why the race to find and engage buyers first determines who wins in the market.
Our guest for Episode 80 is Taylor Jones, VP of Sales, CoLab Software. With over a decade of sales leadership experience, including roles at Salesforce, Zip Intake-to-Procedure, and as a Founder of BlackArrow, Taylor brings a sharp perspective on coaching, performance, and building high-performing sales teams.
In this episode, Ross and Taylor discuss the power of data-driven coaching, how to maximize the ROI of time, and what it takes to build a collaborative culture without ego.
With longer and more complex sales cycles, it’s harder than ever to capture and keep a prospects attention — let alone win in highly saturated, competitive markets. So the question is, how can organizations navigate these extended sales cycles and outperform their competitors?
In this fireside chat, Ross and Arnab Mishra, CEO of Xactly, discuss how to build a culture of excellence and win in competitive markets. Drawing on his extensive leadership experience, Arnab shares practical insights on defining the right behaviors, setting clear expectations, and maintaining an adaptive mindset.
Our guest for Episode 78 is Catie Ivey, Chief Revenue Officer at Walnut. Catie’s on a mission to empower the next generation of sellers and sales leaders, and she brings more than a decade of sales experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Catie discuss Catie’s three keys to drive execution excellence: taking a strength-based leadership approach, product-centric selling, and aligning your go to market teams.
In this panel discussion, we chat with Alina Vandenberghe, Co-CEO and Co-founder of Chili Piper, Kris Rudeegrapp, Co-CEO of Sendoso, and Evan Huck, CEO and Co-founder of UserEvidence, about what truly sets the best B2B SaaS companies apart. From building personal brands and unifying teams around a clear vision to navigating next-gen technology and AI, we explore how authenticity fuels GTM execution and drives lasting success.
Our guest for Episode 76 is Mike Murchison, the CEO and Co-founder of Ada, an AI customer service platform dedicated to making customer service extraordinary for everyone. He brings more than a decade of experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Mike discuss how to navigate buying and selling AI by understanding the problem you’re trying to solve.
Our guest for Episode 75 is Josh Solomon, VP Sales, Ask-AI. Before joining Ask-AI in 2023, Josh held leadership positions at Ada and BioConnect. He brings more than a decade of experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Josh discuss how you should be thinking about AI as a revenue leader. They explore the importance of zooming out, thinking medium term, and rebuilding your playbook with an AI-first approach.
What does it take to build a culture of excellence in 2025? From AI and other emerging technologies to building go-to-market teams from the ground up, it can be difficult to separate the signal from the noise.
In this panel discussion, we chat with James Roth, CRO at ZoomInfo; Matt DeLauro, President at SEON; and Kyle Norton, CRO at Owner.com, to explore how organizations can build and scale high-performing GTM teams.
Our guest for Episode 73 is Keith Jones, GTM Systems Lead, OpenAI. Keith is a college dropout turned “professional nerd and technologist.” Prior to joining OpenAI, he held leadership roles at Gartner, MURAL, and Zenput.
In this episode, Ross and Keith discuss how to be a good partner to your Systems team, the smartest ways to evaluate and buy technology, and how to balance the demands of finance with the needs of your customers.
Our guest for Episode 72 isKaranSingh, VP GTM Strategy, Revenue Operations & Enablement, LaunchDarkly. Before joining LaunchDarkly, Karan held senior leadership positions at Sapphire Ventures, Procore Technologies, and SalesSource, where he spearheaded major product rollouts and guided organizational growth.
In this episode, Ross and Karan discuss the importance of establishing consistent rituals and cadences, break down how to set and track SMART goals, and examine how technology can act as a force multiplier.
Our guest for Episode 71 is Robert Clarkson, CRO, Stripe. Robert brings decades of experience to the conversation. Prior to joining Stripe in 2023, he held leadership roles at Payoneer, PayPal, and American Express.
In this episode, Ross and Robert discuss why it’s crucial to understand that customers buy outcomes, not products. They also talk about how sales is a people business, and that to succeed, you need to understand not just the buyer, but also your buyer’s customers.
Finance teams are a goldmine of insights, holding everything from precise forecasting data to strategic cost-management know-how. By collaborating with finance early and often, sales teams can anticipate potential hurdles, optimize pricing strategies, and negotiate from a position of strength — ultimately closing more deals, quicker.
In this CFO panel, we invited two finance leaders — Danielle Cerisano, CFO at League, and Tyler Sloat, CFO and COO at Freshworks — to share how to scale operations and partner effectively with your finance department.
Our guest for Episode 69 is Chris Taylor, Founder and President, OneMove Advisory. Before launching his own company, Chris held leadership roles at Databricks, Hortonworks, and TIBCO. He brings more than 30 years of experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Chris share three tips for achieving execution excellence: structure, champion building, and teamwork.
Our guest for Episode 68 isAbe Smith, Chief of Global Field Sales Operations at Freshworks. Abe built his 30+ sales career working for high-growth B2B SaaS companies.
In this episode, Ross and Abe discuss how to balance the craft, passion, and professionalism of sales execution excellence with a tech-driven future.
Our guest for Episode 67 isChristian Kletzl, CEO of UserGems. Christian co-founded the company in 2018 alongside his twin brother, and since then, the UserGems team has been dedicated to helping companies build bigger pipelines, accelerate sales cycles, and close larger deals.
In this episode, Ross andChristian discuss how to drive execution excellence across the entire go to market organization — from BDRs to AEs and CSMs.
Our guest for Episode 66 is Kathleen Waid, a Fractional CRO working with companies like SilentEight, Themis, JUMO, Valid and Solo.one. Kathleen is a sales and revenue expert who brings more than two decades of experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Kathleen discuss the importance of accountability, empowerment, and measurement in driving execution excellence. They also explore how to motivate teams with clear comp incentives, and why understanding why customers buy and renew is crucial.
Our guest for Episode 65 is Ed Armishaw, Sales Director, ServiceNow. Before joining ServiceNow, Ed held leadership roles at Salesforce and Walkbase. He brings more than 18 years of experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Ed discuss three strategic tips for achieving execution excellence in enterprise sales. They explore the importance of leading as part of a team rather than being a lone wolf, establishing a strong point of view, and effectively telling your story to “get fish on the table.”
Our guest for Episode 64 is Jen Igartua, CEO at Go Nimbly. She spends her days helping high-growth companies craft frictionless, human-centered buying experiences, bringing over a decade of expertise to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Jen discuss how marketers can set reps up for success, why streamlining definitions matter, and the importance of foundational data.
Our guest for Episode 63 is Alina Vandenberghe, CEO at ChiliPiper. Alina is a serial entrepreneur with over two decades of experience. Prior to founding ChiliPiper in 2016, she held leadership positions at Sharecare, Pearson, and Bloomberg.
In this episode, Ross and Alina discuss how to build a more productive revenue organization with AI agents.
Our guest for Episode 62 is Jason Abrams, VP of Revenue Strategy at Plenful. Before joining Plenful in June of 2024, Jason held leadership positions at Spring Health, Color, and Lyra Health. He brings more than a decade of sales experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Jason discuss why it’s important to identify what works for your ideal customer profile (ICP), hire excellent reps, and maintain tight communication between your Sales, CS, and Product teams.
Our guest for Episode 61 is Andrew Dubowec, Chief Growth Officer at League. Before joining League in 2016, Andrew held leadership roles at Union Capital and North. He brings more than 15 years of experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Andrew discuss how to promote an “own it” culture, embrace growth as a team sport, and build a culture of transparency.
Our guest for Episode 60 is Shannon Hopkins, RVP, Enterprise Account Management at BetterUp. With over a decade of leadership experience at companies like League, Inc. and Salesforce, Shannon brings a wealth of insight and expertise to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Shannon discuss how to enhance manager effectiveness, support high-performing individuals, and promote overall team well-being.
Our guest for Episode 59 is Matt Braley, former CRO, InvoiceCloud. Rising through the ranks from AE to CRO, Matt spent over a decade with InvoiceCloud, driving its growth from $28M to $170M in ARR and playing a key role in its $4B IPO.
In this episode, Ross and Matt discuss why it’s important to cultivate a culture that embraces change, builds strategic alliances, and develops reps one skill at a time.
Welcome to Season 3 of 10/10 GTM: The Podcast for Revenue Leaders!
Our guest for Episode 58 is Colin Specter, SVP of Revenue at Orum. Before joining Orum five years ago, Colin led sales teams at Namely and brings over a decade of leadership experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Colin discuss why driving excellence in sales boils down to your attitude and activity, and how well you qualify your time.
Listen to the episode here, and get the key takeaways from our conversation below.
Our guest for Episode 57 is Dini Mehta, Executive in Residence at Peak XV Partners. Dini is a seasoned sales leader with more than 15 years of experience.
In this episode, Ross and Dini dive into the importance of building with principles and leading with values, strategies to optimize focus, and the balance between staying short-term paranoid and long-term optimistic.
Our guest for Episode 56 is Alex Kane, Enterprise Select Account Executive at Samsara. Alex has been with the company for nearly seven years, witnessing and contributing to its growth from a startup to a publicly traded company.
In this episode, Ross and Alex discuss the importance of building and maintaining a winning mindset, motivation, and storytelling in sales.
Our guest for Episode 55 is Nabeil Alazzam, Founder and CEO at Forma.ai. Before founding his company, Nabeil helped Fortune 500 companies optimize their sales compensation programs, an experience that inspired him to start Forma.ai in 2016.
In this episode, Ross and Nabeil discuss using sales as a growth lever, the importance of fair and transparent earning opportunities across the sales team, and how to ensure alignment between GTM teams.
In today's competitive B2B market, simply ‘having a sales process’ isn't enough.
If you don’t obsess over a value-based customer journey that translates from the C-suite down to day-to-day conversations in the field, you’ll miss targets.
To consistently win, the best leaders are driving a value-centric approach that makes it easy for front-line sellers and managers to build trust and strong relationships with potential customers.
Our guest for Episode 51 is Evan Seder, Head of Sales at Persona. Before joining Persona two years ago, Evan spent nearly five years at Stripe, where he was a founding member of the product sales organization.
In this episode, Ross and Evan discuss the importance of owning your week, writing things down, and taking agency over your work.
Our guest for Episode 51 is Alli Sitkiewicz, SVP of Sales at Built In. Alli joined Built In in 2015 as an Account Executive and steadily advanced from Director to VP, and now SVP. With over a decade of relevant experience, she brings valuable insights to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Alli discuss the importance of controlling the controllables, investing in your top performers, and strategies for building predictability into your operating cadence.
Our guest for Episode 50 is Andrew Johnston, Head of Sales at Superhuman. Before joining Superhuman, he held leadership roles at companies like Scale AI and Twilio. With over a decade of experience, Andrew brings valuable insights and expertise to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Andrew discuss strategies for moving upmarket, fostering creativity in sales, and building a culture of trust and transparency.
Our guest for Episode 49 is Asad Zaman, CEO at Sales Talent Agency. Asad has been with the Sales Talent Agency for over a decade and he’s also a Founding Member of Pavilion, the world’s leading private community for GTM leaders.
In this episode, Ross and Asad discuss the importance of putting in the work, raising the bar for hiring, and making product market fit (PMF) an ongoing concern.
Our guest for Episode 38 is Stevie Case, CRO at Vanta. Before joining Vanta, Stevie held leadership roles at Twilio and Visa. She brings more than 20 years of experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Stevie discuss the importance of inspecting what you expect, establishing clear ownership, and why creating a culture of problem solvers drives accountability and better outcomes.
Traditional product-centric sales tactics are no longer effective, especially given the diverse and strategic spending patterns of SMBs and enterprises on SaaS. 45% of SMBs spend $600,000 or less annually on SaaS, while 38% allocate between $600,000 and $2.4 million. On the other hand, 38% of enterprises spend between $2.4 million and $12 million annually, with 26% exceeding $12 million and 11% investing more than $60 million each year.
These numbers highlight how companies are becoming increasingly strategic and discerning in their SaaS investments. For enterprises, significant budgets indicate that they prioritize solutions aligning with their core initiatives and delivering clear ROI. This shift means that offerings not tied to top strategic goals are quickly deprioritized. As a result, value selling — where the focus is on demonstrating tangible business outcomes rather than just product features — has become more crucial than ever.
In this Masterclass, leaders from Freshworks, MongoDB, and Xactly reveal practical frameworks for selling remotely, hiring the right talent, and building a strong value selling culture.
Our guest for Episode 46 is Niki Phillips, Senior Director of Sales at Hootsuite. She brings more than a decade of sales experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Niki discuss why setting clear expectations, communicating on progress, and fostering an entrepreneurial culture are key strategies for driving execution excellence.
Our guest for Episode 45 is Kevin McIntyre, CRO at Dealfront.In this episode, Ross and Kevin discuss fostering a culture of communication and transparency, building solid management systems, and defining and strengthening go-to-market motions for lasting success in the B2B SaaS landscape.
Our guest for Episode 44 is Marina Golemis, SVP of North America Sales at ShipBob. Marina is a seasoned sales leader with over 15 years of experience.
In this episode, Ross and Marina discuss the importance of shaking things up, being strategic about the ‘get it done’ attitude, and delighting in what you don’t know.
Our guest for Episode 43 is Diana Kimball Berlin, Partner at Matrix. For over three years, Diana has been collaborating with former founders and company builders to lead Series A investments. With extensive experience as a board member, investor, and former VP of product, she brings a wealth of knowledge to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Diana discuss how to partner with product teams, present to executives, and impress VCs as a first-time leader.
Our guest for Episode 42 is Chris Calkin, VP of Revenue at Census. Chris brings more than a decade of sales and revenue leadership to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Chris discuss the importance of every team member providing both inputs and outputs, the necessity of confirming the desired outcome before each call, and the critical role of setting a go-live date while holding everyone accountable.
Our guest for Episode 41 is Emma Galler, VP of Sales at Formstack. Prior to joining Formstack, Emma held leadership roles at GRC, Built In, and Aerotek. She brings more than a decade of experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Emma discuss why driving execution excellence hinges on creating a winning culture, building a cadence around operational excellence, and understanding why having a strong pipeline solves all problems.
Our guest for Episode 40 is Kyle Coleman, CMO at Copy.ai. Kyle brings more than a decade of Sales and Marketing leadership experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Kyle discuss the importance of account POVs, contact POVs, and value proposition alignment with strategic initiatives. They explain how these elements are crucial for driving execution excellence across sales teams.
Our guest for Episode 39 is Jacco Van der Kooij, Founder of Winning by Design. He brings more than two decades of sales experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Jacco discuss why understanding growth, establishing effective go-to-market (GTM) processes, and maintaining discipline in execution are all key to successfully scaling your organization.
From 2022 to 2023, companies spent $101.8 billion training new and current employees. On average, it takes six months for most companies to reach the break even point for onboarding. The bottom line? Hiring and training employees is expensive. To succeed in today’s economy, organizations need to focus on building high-performing sales teams that stick around.
In this masterclass, leaders from Aiwyn, NetApp, and Matrix discuss how to create a winning culture, retain top performers, and up-level your team to achieve 10/10 performance. They cover how to:
- Define a high-performing sales team
- Build a winning sales culture that upholds GTM standards and retains top talent
- Implement proven strategies, tools, and training to cultivate A-players
Welcome to Season 3 of 10/10 GTM: The Podcast for Revenue Leaders!
Our guest for Episode 37 is Ryan Lazar, Country Manager Canada, Qualtrics. Before joining Qualtrics six years ago, Ryan held roles at CareerBuilder, Unisync Group, and Xerox. He brings more than 15 years of sales experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Ryan explore Ryan’s three strategies for achieving execution excellence. They discuss the importance of building an internal and external community, establishing consistency and clarity from the get-go, and practicing radical candor.
In today’s rapidly evolving world, security breaches are becoming more common. In order to build a sustainable business, organizations must make security a top priority. But for many organizations, this is easier said than done.
In this masterclass, leaders from SafeBase and HubSpot share insight into why security is a top priority, when it’s best to bring security into the conversation with customers and how to use it as a competitive advantage, and best practices for collaborating with security teams.
Our guest for Episode 35 is Jon Feldman, Vice President of Sales at anecdotes.ai. Jon is an award-winning VP who brings more than two decades of experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Jon discuss the importance of positioning, strategy over tactics, and developing effective leaders to drive execution excellence across sales and CS teams.
We're diving deep into the world of deal execution with the Modern Sales Pros. In their recent Mega SKO, Ross led a panel discussion featuring Chris Calkin, VP of Sales at Census, and Justin Bullock, VP Sales at Envoy.
Our guest for Episode 33 is Jeff Rosset, CEO at Sales Assembly. Jeff brings more than two decades of leadership experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Jeff discuss the critical role of data-driven decision making, the importance of building a system that works, and why continuous learning and skill development is crucial.
Our guest for this episode is Phil Dantas, Director of Sales at Clio. Phil brings more than a decade of sales experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Phil discuss why revenue leaders must define excellence, consistently role play and up skill their reps, and inspect expected outcomes.
Over $70B is spent annually up-leveling revenue teams. This begs the question: How much of this investment translates into tangible improvements for how account executives and customer success managers engage with prospects and customers?
In this masterclass, enablement leaders from Databricks, Teamwork, and Slack discuss how to assess whether your enablement investments are effectively bridging the gap between strategy and execution. They cover:
- How to adopt & enforce winning methodologies with rigor
- Rolling out new sales & cs processes that actually impact customer interactions
- Strategies to guarantee org-wide adoption of your proven best practices
Our guest for Episode 30 is David Priemer, Founder & Chief Sales Scientist at Cerebral Selling. David began his career as a research scientist before pivoting to sales. He brings more than 20 years of sales experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and David discuss why it’s important to nail the problem rather than jumping to solutions, the art of asking great discovery questions, and strategies to eliminate confirmation bias.
Our guest for Episode 29 is Paul Snelson, SVP of Global Sales at SysAid. Before joining SysAid, Paul held leadership roles at Meal Ticket, TouchBistro, and Salesforce. He brings more than two decades of experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Paul discuss why effort is not optional, the critical role of mutual plans, and the benefit of being the paranoid sales rep.
In an era marked by market volatility, bringing in new business has become increasingly challenging. With larger buying committees, extended deal cycles, and stricter budgets, the landscape of selling has evolved. To navigate the complexities of this new world, there’s one essential tool in your sales stack you can count on: the fundamentals.
In this masterclass, revenue leaders from SEON, Rev, and Sales Assembly share what sales teams need to do to close more deals in today’s challenging environment.
They cover:
- Core sales skills
- Building a culture of excellence
- Frequently overlooked sales skills
Welcome to Season 3 of 10/10 GTM: The Podcast for Revenue Leaders!
Our guest for Episode 27 is Peter Borkovich, SVP of Sales at Yotpo. With a wealth of experience spanning two decades, Peter has held leadership positions at InVision and Salesforce before joining Yotpo.
In this episode, Ross and Peter discuss the why behind deals, the 3 levels of a sale, and how to make it easier for buyers to buy and sellers to sell.
Our guest for Episode 26 is Chloe Stewart, Fractional CRO, and former CRO at Pilot.com. Chloe is an accomplished revenue leader who builds and executes GTM models for high-growth companies. She brings more than 15 years of sales experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Chloe discuss the importance of being someone customers want to buy from, the necessity of holding yourself accountable to outcomes and benchmarks, and why you have to be ruthless with qualification criteria.
Our guest for Episode 25 is Mark Wayland, CRO at Box. Before joining Box in 2019, Mark held leadership positions at Tanium, Salesforce, and Gartner, Inc. He brings more than three decades of experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Mark discuss the importance of codifying deal excellence, partnering with frontline managers, and implementing effective strategies to measure, celebrate, and course-correct sales initiatives.
Our guest for Episode 24 is Dan Wardle, VP of Sales at Noibu. Before joining Noibu, Dan held leadership positions at Vidyard, Salesforce, and Blackberry. He brings two decades of experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Dan discuss Dan’s top three tips for operationalizing deal excellence across revenue organizations. They explore the importance of ironing out next steps, establishing mutual action plans, and monitoring and enforcing multi-threading.
Our guest for Episode 23 is Dan Dal Degan, Co-founder of Talas. Dan brings 37 years of sales experience to the conversation, with more than two decades working specifically in SaaS.
In this episode, Ross and Dan discuss the critical factors for closing more deals, emphasizing the importance of establishing your ideal customer profile (ICP), conducting monthly seller training sessions, and hosting weekly reviews of inspirational sales stories.
Welcome to Season 3 of 10/10 GTM: The Podcast for Revenue Leaders!
Our guest for Episode 22 is Cale Tully, VP Enterprise & Mid-Market Sales, at Sprout Social. Prior to joining Sprout Social, Cale spent 11 years at Salesforce working in leadership roles.
In this episode, Ross and Cale discuss three tips for operationalizing deal excellence. These include understanding the three 'whys' behind your prospect’s motivations, maintaining deal momentum through frequent communication, and calibrating deal risk to ensure success.
In 2024, just showing up on calls and going through the motions won't cut it. To come out on top, you need to up your game with solid planning, thorough research, and flawless execution.
And the best way to do this consistently is by creating detailed account plans. These plans cover everything from researching company priorities to mapping out stakeholders, aligning with executives, and devising creative strategies.
In this masterclass, revenue leaders from Okta, Sailpoint, and Twilio share insight into how you can build account plans that arm your teams with the right information for their target accounts so they can land more meetings and win more deals.
Our guest for Episode 20 is Jen Allen-Knuth, Founder of DemandJen. Jen brings 18 years of sales experience to the conversation, and has worked at companies such as Challenger and Gartner.
In this episode, Ross and Jen discuss how to position products and problems to close deals. They explore strategies for territory prioritization and identifying problem fits, alongside techniques to guide prospects in rethinking their assumptions.
Our guest for Episode 19 is Beau Brooks, VP of Sales & CS at Teamwork. Beau brings more than a decade of experience to the table. Before Teamwork, he held leadership positions at Factorial HR, Formstack, and Signpost.
In this episode, Ross and Beau discuss why it’s necessary to review pain on all internal deals, make deal stage progression transparent, and run team-level calls.
Our guest for Episode 18 is Kyle Norton, CRO at Owner.com. Kyle is recognized as a top sales prospecting voice on LinkedIn. He brings more than a decade of sales leadership experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Kyle discuss the importance of documenting everything, conducting dry runs before key meetings, and why you need to have a structure in place to scale your sales org.
Our guest for Episode 17 is Nicole Brambila, CRO at Medely. Nicole brings more than a decade of sales leadership experience to the conversation. Before Medely, Nicole worked at Deputy, Eventbrite, and LoopNet.
In this episode, Ross and Nicole discuss how to operationalize deal excellence by being curious and intuitive, and following proven processes.
In this episode, Dustin and Ross discuss how to align incentive structures with business objectives that drive predictable, responsible, sustainable growth.
Our guest for Episode 15 is Doug Landis, Growth Partner at Emergence Capital. Doug specializes in capturing and creating GTM strategies for Emcap’s portfolio companies and the greater SaaS community. He brings a wealth of experience to the conversation and shares practical tips for how sellers can get better at closing and forecasting.
In this episode, Doug and Ross discuss why closing deals hinges on your ability to build consensus among stakeholders and align on a singular problem. They also explore the importance of identifying the ‘whys’ behind the deal and why what you don’t know will hurt you.
Our guest for Episode 14 is Jeff Benson, VP of Commercial Sales at enosix. Jeff brings more than two decades of experience leading global business growth in multiple regions and sectors, including Financial Services, Retail, and Regulated Industries.
In this episode, Jeff and Ross discuss why the best sellers and revenue leaders take extreme ownership, maintain an iterative sales playbook, and are always qualifying opportunities.
If you’re struggling to craft a compelling business case that will win the approval of even the most discerning CFOs, you’re not alone. In this challenging macroeconomic environment, financial decision makers are more critical than ever of new initiatives and their potential impact on the organization’s bottom line. With tighter budgets and increased scrutiny on every dollar spent, the pressure is on to present a case that is not only convincing but also backed by solid data and aligned with long-term strategic goals.
In this masterclass, finance, and revenue leaders from Ada, Webflow, and Own Company share insight into how to build a business case that addresses these concerns head-on, providing practical tips on how to demonstrate clear ROI, mitigate risks, and showcase how your initiative can drive sustainable growth and efficiency.
Finance is becoming more involved in deals as organizations shift away from growth at all costs, and focus on efficient growth.
In this masterclass, CFOs from Figma, Sprout Social, and Vena Solutions share their thoughts on why finance involvement has shifted over the past few years, how to engage with finance teams on deals, and why conviction is important.
Our guest for Episode 11 is Todd Caponi, an award-winning author of The Transparency Sale and The Transparent Sales Leader. Todd’s motto is ‘transparency sells better than perfection,’ and when he isn’t writing you can find him speaking and leading workshops for revenue leaders and teams.
In this episode, Ross talks to Todd about his coaching and leadership journey, the five F’s to follow, and why you should rethink what you measure and ask for.
Getting on-site with key decision-makers can mean the difference between closing a deal or losing it. Face-to-face interactions enable sales reps to develop human connections, uncover hidden insights, remove uncertainty in deals, and overcome hurdles. But building these relationships and earning the right to get on-site has its challenges.
In this masterclass, revenue leaders from Box, Sprout Social, and CapIntel share insight into how they earn face-to-face time with champions and decision-makers, and why it’s so important.
Our guest for Episode 9 is Tom Rowe, SVP of Sales at Chili Piper. Tom brings more than a decade of sales experience to the table. He’s worked at companies such as Caroo and Groupon, where he has held positions as an AE, Sales Manager, and VP.
In this episode, Ross talks to Todd about how to drive repeatability in the sales process by setting a firm agenda, always demoing on the first call, and never discounting.
Our guest for Episode 8 is John Barrows, Founder and CEO of JB Sales. With more than 25 years of experience, John’s mission is to enhance the performance of sales reps while elevating the sales profession.
In this episode, Ross talks to John about how to master the science of sales by mapping out the buying and selling process, confirming and controlling the conversation, and leveraging a shared agenda.
Our guest for Episode 6 is Nate Vogel, VP Global GTM Enablement at Gong. Nate brings more than two decades of sales experience to the conversation, with a background at Southwestern Advantage, Tableau, Salesforce, and Gong.
In this episode, Ross talks to Nate about how data drives insight into adoption and why it’s crucial to train leaders first. Nate brings more than three decades of sales experience to the conversation, with a background at Southwestern Advantage, Tableau, Salesforce, Gong, and now Databricks.
It’s not enough to just show up on calls, go through the motions, and expect to win deals in 2023. You need rigorous planning and deal strategy on every major account to tilt the odds in your favor… no matter how great your product or pitch might be.
This means deep research on company priorities, detailed stakeholder mapping, strong executive alignment, and creative plays to set your team up for success – AKA: account planning!
We talked to revenue leaders from Databricks, Anthropic, and Salesforce about this topic to get their top strategies for driving elite account planning across your sales team.
Our guest this week is Alison Elworthy, EVP of RevOps at HubSpot. Alison’s career at HubSpot spans 12 years, during which she has successfully held positions in marketing ops, global customer success, sales ops, and rev ops.
In this episode, Ross talks to Alison about why experience creates stronger frontline leaders, strategies for optimizing processes with a customer-centric focus, and tips for creating a strong partnership between rev ops and sales.
Leaders are investing in MEDDPICC, Challenger, and other proven sales methodologies – because nothing rivals a consistent winning framework on every opportunity. But too often, adoption is low and the investment goes to waste.
That’s why we hosted a masterclass with veteran revenue leaders Andee Harris (CEO at Challenger), Jeff Roy (Head of Sales at BioRender), and Jen Allen-Knuth (Community Growth at Lavender) diving into all things sales methodologies.
We covered:
- Why revenue leaders are investing in sales methodologies (despite tighter budgets)
- How to leverage proven frameworks to drive sales productivity
- What elite deal strategy looks like in 2023
This season, we talk to legendary leaders such as 5x CRO John McMahon and execs from 6Sense, JB Sales, Gong, and Chili Piper about how to drive consistent sales execution — leading to predictable forecasts (and better sleep).
Our guest this week is Sam Taylor, CRO at Endgame. Sam’s background is predominantly in sales, with experience at Dropbox, Quip, Salesforce, and Loom. But outside of the office, he prioritizes getting outdoors and spending time with his family.
In this episode,Ross talks to Sam about leadership, strategy, and execution within revenue orgs.
This season, we talk to legendary leaders such as 5x CRO John McMahon and execs from 6Sense, JB Sales, Gong, and Chili Piper about how to drive consistent sales execution – leading to predictable forecasts (and better sleep).
Our guest this week is John McMahon, former CRO and author of The Qualified Sales Leader. John’s background is equally as impressive as his book, with experience at multiple startups turned public software companies (PTC, GeoTel, Ariba, Bladelogic, BMC).
In this episode, John talks to Ross about simplicity in sales leadership, the importance of training and development, and the value of sales methodologies and process.
Our guest this week is Maura Brady, Head of Verticals at 6Sense. Maura brings more than a decade’s worth of sales wisdom to the conversation with experience at 6Sense, Medallia, Oracle Marketing Cloud and Responsys (Acquired by Oracle).
In this episode, Ross talks to Maura about her three tips to improve deal execution and the importance of “the meeting before the meeting.”
10/10 GTM is a podcast by Accord that dives into how B2Bs most successful Revenue Leaders win (no matter the product or market). Discover secrets from the best to achieve your repeatable revenue goals.
In this season, we talk to legendary leaders such as 5x CRO John McMahon, and execs from 6Sense, JB Sales, Chili Piper, and Hubspot about how to drive consistent sales execution — leading to predictable forecasts (& better sleep).
After an especially challenging 2022, sales leaders need a predictable path to hitting their 2023 revenue targets.
The key? A clearly defined sales methodology that ALL your reps can consistently follow.
In this masterclass for senior sales leaders, we covered how to maximize your reps’ productivity & drive repeatable revenue through your sales methodology – increasing your sales efficiency by implementing a proven process.
You’ll learn:
🔁 How to operationalize your MEDD(P)ICC methodology
💯 Tips for empowering your reps with a proven process
📈 Tactics for driving more revenue with fewer resources
Meet the experts:
- Pleasant Middelhof, Manager, New Business Sales at Rollworks – passionate educator turned sales leader; formerly at Outreach and Pendo
- Elizabeth Andrew, SaaS Sales Executive & Strategic Advisor – experienced advisor & 3x VP of Sales, formerly at Netomi, Skillsoft, Parley Pro & Dropbox
Want more B2B sales content, best practices & events like this? Check out our bi-weekly newsletter!
Our guest this week is David Barron, Global Director of Sales at HubSpot!
David’s background is a mix of product and sales – in his 8+ years at HubSpot, he went from sales, to launching Service Hub & Operations Hub on the product team, and back to sales, where he’s building a specialized global sales team to sell those products.
In this episode, he talks to Ross about how to build a strong sales team in 2023, the pros of team quotas, and more tactics for sellers & sales leaders.
In this episode, we're sharing a masterclass we hosted with leaders at CoachCRM, Elemy & Stripe – covering topics like:
- Optimizing every step of the buying journey to hit your goals
- Identifying & removing friction in your sales process
- Building a repeatable process around rep best practices
Meet the panelists:
- Cory Bray, Co-Founder at CoachCRM and ClozeLoop
- Trevor Clark, SVP Growth at Elemy
- Ryan Libster, Head of Enterprise Sales, East at Stripe
Want more B2B sales best practices like this? Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter: https://inaccord.com/from-vendorship-to-partnership#newsletter
Early in Josh’s career, he built a $1M book of business exclusively through cold calling and outbound selling. Later, he moved into sales leadership and led a 25-person BDR team at WalkMe, and now leads the Commercial Sales team at Lob. And in Josh’s spare time, he and four partners built SDRDefenders, a community of revenue professionals dedicated to elevating the role of SDRs, which was acquired by Pavilion in 2021.
Listen to the episode to hear Josh talk about why the bar for sellers is low today, how sales leaders can help raise it again, and his thoughts on where the future of B2B sales is headed.
Want more B2B sales best practices & content like this? Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter!
In this episode, we're sharing a masterclass we hosted with leaders at UserGems, Ashby, and Craft Ventures – covering topics like:
- How to drive more pipeline & deals through strong buyer relationships
- How to build close partnerships at every step of the customer journey
- Tactics for standardizing a buyer-first sales process across your team
Meet the panelists:
- Christian Kletzl, CEO & Co-Founder at UserGems – passionate about all things pipeline generation and revenue alignment
- Mike Marg, Partner at Craft Ventures – former seller & sales leader at Dropbox, Slack, and Clearbit
- Mike Clapson, VP of Sales at Ashby – previously helped scale Slack from $8M to over $800M+ in ARR
Want more B2B sales best practices like this? Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter: https://inaccord.com/from-vendorship-to-partnership#newsletter
Our guest this week is Eric Ortner, VP of Sales at Handle!
Eric started his career as an attorney, and didn’t imagine that his path would eventually lead him to the sales world instead. He found an opportunity selling legal technology, so he could draw on his law background while applying it in a different way. Now he has over a decade of experience in sales and is currently leading sales at Handle, a YC construction software startup.
Want more B2B sales content like this? Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter for insights from top sales leaders, events, and more!
Our Seller's Journey guest this week is Trent Dressel, Senior Account Executive at Qualtrics!
Trent started in software sales as an SDR, put in over 50,000 cold calls, and over the past 4+ years has moved up the ranks to his current role. He’s passionate about B2B sales and provides content and resources to other sellers via his LinkedIn, YouTube, website, and other social channels.
In this episode, he chats with Ross about his biggest lessons learned, advice for building strong buyer relationships, and his thoughts on the future of B2B sales.
Want more B2B sales content like this, including exclusive events & tactics from top sales leaders? Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter!
Our guest this week is Jonathan Press, Director of Strategic Accounts at Galley.
Jonathan definitely has one of the most interesting backgrounds of all the sales leaders we’ve talked to, with past experience as an actor, opera singer, and Paratrooper in the Israeli Defense Forces. But for the past four years, he’s helped lead sales and GTM at Galley, which helps food companies see the data behind their operations to empower them to make more profitable decisions.
He and Ross chat about aligning your sales team around a shared mission, partnering with buyers, and building repeatability into your playbook.
Want more B2B sales content like this? Subscribe to the bi-weekly From Vendorship to Partnership newsletter!
Our guest this week is Chuck Brotman, Co-Founder of Blueprint Expansion!
Chuck has been in sales and sales leadership roles for nearly 20 years, and pivoted his career to launch Blueprint Expansion in 2020 with the goal of helping companies recruit and hire exceptional GTM talent. He’s passionate about the problems Blueprint Expansion solves, especially for early stage startups, and chatted with Ross about how sales teams can up-level their hiring game.
Want more B2B sales content like this? Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter, From Vendorship to Partnership!
Welcome back to the From Vendorship to Partnership podcast, season 2 – Seller's Journey!
Our guest this week is Chris Bondarenko, VP of Sales - North America & APAC at Docebo.
He talked to Ross about trends in B2B sales, his experience in sales from small hyper-growth startups to an 800+ person org, and why creating an environment of constant learning is so important in sales.
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on new episodes and more B2B sales content like this!
In this episode, we're sharing a replay of a masterclass on how to manage up as a sales/revenue leader – featuring sales & revenue leaders
The panel dove into best practices for setting expectations and aligning with execs, tips for communicating and getting buy-in, and how to stand out to your leadership team as a sales manager or leader.
Meet the experts:
- Pete Kazanjy, CRO & Founder at Atrium – early stage SaaS GTM expert and author; founder of Modern Sales Pros (25k+ member community)
- Adam Boushie, CRO at Finix –experienced revenue leader with a background in global tech & small business ownership
- Belal Batrawy, Head of GTM at GTM Buddy – recognized top sales leader by Salesforce, Salesloft, Crunchbase, and AngelList
Want updates on events like this one? Subscribe to the bi-weekly From Vendorship to Partnership newsletter!
Mutual action plans (MAPs) are a no-brainer for your sales team if you’re looking to make the most of every deal – especially if your sales are complex and involve multiple stakeholders. When you proactively align with buyers on a clear path to a buying decision, deal velocity and win rates increase!
In this masterclass, we dive into what great MAPs look like, how to implement them across your sales team, and how to get your reps actually using MAPs consistently.
Featuring sales pros:
- Manuel Hartmann, CEO & Founder at SalesPlaybook – SalesPlaybook’s CEO & founder; worked with 200+ B2B entrepreneurs to help them accelerate their market traction
- Milena Kaul, VP of Sales at Atrium – experienced B2B sales leader; previously Senior Sales Director at Flock Safety and SalesLoft
- Christian Krause, AE at Salesforce – Account Executive partnering with Switzerland startups & VCs; sales advisor helping junior salespeople crush quotas
Want the key takeaways from this masterclass? Check out this blog on Mutual Action Plan best practices.
Welcome back to Season 2: Seller's Journey! Our guest this week is Nick Casale, Director of Sales at Sendoso.
Nick was an early sales hire at Talkdesk when his coworker, Kris Rudeegraap, began having success sending coffee gift cards to his customers and decided to start his own company. He talked Nick into joining him at Sendoso, and Nick became their first sales hire five years ago.
Since then, Nick’s seen Sendoso grow from a pre-seed company to raising their Series C round last year – and has seen himself grow from an AE to the Director of Sales. In this episode, he chats with Ross about how to start building your early sales process and the importance of knowledge transfer when your team begins scaling.
Want more content like this? Subscribe to the From Vendorship to Partnership newsletter for bi-monthly tactics, resources, and events for sales & revenue leaders: https://inaccord.com/from-vendorship-to-partnership#newsletter
Welcome back to the Seller's Journey! This week, we're talking to Conor Dragomanovich, Director of Commercial Sales at Productboard.
Conor joined Productboard in 2018 as a founding AE, and since then he's moved up to lead and scale the commercial sales team of 20+ AEs. He and Ross talked about common mistakes in startup sales, how to successfully partner with your reps, and future trends in B2B sales.
Want more content like this? Subscribe to the From Vendorship to Partnership newsletter for tactics from sales pros, info about upcoming masterclasses, and more resources for startup sales leaders today.
About Conor
Conor Dragomanovich is a Founding AE & Director of Commercial Sales at Productboard, an industry leading customer-driven product management system. Before Productboard, Conor was a Founding AE at Dealpath as well as a top performing rep at AppFolio. Before entering the world of Startups, Conor managed surf shops in Santa Barbara, CA.
It's our Customer Appreciation Week here at Accord, and since Stripe has been a big supporter of ours since the beginning, we couldn't think of a better episode to celebrate with.
Our guest this week is the incredible Jeanne DeWitt Grosser, Head of Americas Revenue & Growth at Stripe! Jeanne has helped build and lead the sales team at Stripe for 6+ years; previously, she led SMB and mid-market sales for GSuite at Google.
Listen to the episode to hear her take on common sales leader pitfalls to watch out for, who you should hire as your early sales reps, and other tactics for early stage sales teams.
To celebrate reaching 100+ paying customers at Accord, we're putting our amazing users in the spotlight. Check out this article to learn how we grew from 0 to 100+ customers in a year, and see how high-growth startups are winning & onboarding customers faster with Accord.
About Jeanne
Jeanne DeWitt Grosser has nearly 20 years of sales & GTM experience, and is currently the Head of Americas Revenue & Growth at Stripe, where she has spent 6+ years helping to build and lead sales. Previously, she was the CRO at Dialpad, and led SMB and mid-market sales in North America, Latin America, and the Japan & Asia Pacific regions for GSuite at Google.
Welcome back to the From Vendorship → Partnership podcast, Season 2: Seller’s Journey.
This week, we’re sharing a masterclass we held with a panel of top revenue leaders on how to maximize NRR – the new startup North Star!
We talked about best practices to action expansion opportunities & mitigate churn, who should own upsells & customer relationships, and NRR tactics for different sales motions.
Get key takeaways from the masterclass here!
Meet the experts:
Brian Reuter, Director of Account Management at Figma – 10+ years GTM experience across the customer journey in sales, marketing, and CS
Alex Heller, Head of Account Management at NYSHEX – 10+ years in sales & leadership at Flexport, Athena Health, etc.
Connor Fee, CRO at Shortcut – 10+ years GTM & leadership experience at Clearbit, Winning by Design, UserVoice, & more
Welcome back to the From Vendorship → Partnership podcast, Season 2: Seller’s Journey!
This week, we’re sharing a masterclass we held with a panel of veteran B2B sales leaders on how to hit your sales goals during a downturn.
We talked about making the most out of every lead and opportunity, managing timelines & stakeholders when budgets are tight, and positioning your product as a “need to have” in this challenging time for tech.
Get key takeaways from the masterclass here.
Meet the experts:
Renu Gupta, VP of Sales at Thrive – 15+ years sales leadership at Slack, Dropbox, Google, Cisco, etc.
Elizabeth Andrew, Head of Sales at Netomi – 10+ years sales & leadership experience at Skillsoft, Dropbox, Parley Pro, etc.
Jamie Wheeler, Head of Sales at MessageBird – 2 decades of experience (Twilio, Braze, Layer, etc) across sales, leadership, and founding startups
Mark Ripley is the VP of Sales at Mosaic, with 20+ years of sales and leadership experience. In this episode, he and Ross dive into how to effectively partner with customers and build better relationships by asking better questions during the sales process.
Want more content like this? Subscribe to the From Vendorship to Partnership newsletter for tactics from top startup sales leaders, invites to masterclasses, and more resources for high-growth B2B sales teams. Check out past editions and subscribe here!
About Mark Mark Ripley is the VP of Sales at Mosaic. Mark is a revenue leader with 20+ years of experience in SaaS and Cloud Computing Software, with a successful track record building, leading and scaling high performance sales teams that consistently surpass revenue goals and grow market share. He has a reputation for building a vibrant culture and cohesive teams, united by their collective motivation to achieve ambitious team goals.
Our guest this week is Jill Rowley! Jill has over two decades of experience in B2B SaaS: she was one of the first 100 employees at Salesforce and employee #13 at Eloqua, and joined Marketo 11 months before it was acquired by Adobe. Now, she advises startups as a GTM Advisor and Limited Partner at Stage 2 Capital.
In this episode, she and Ross dive into common startup sales mistakes, how to build deeper partnerships, and tactics for making your solution "stickier" in your customers' world.
Get episode summaries & subscribe to get more startup sales tactics here.
About Jill
Jill Rowley has 22 years in SaaS, the majority in MarTech. Born Sales, Bred Marketing, Bleed Customer. Early employee at Salesforce (first 100) and Eloqua (#13). Former Chief Marketing Evangelist at Marketo. Been through numerous acquisitions, including Oracle ($871 million), Cisco ($270 million), and Adobe ($4.75 billion). One of the first Social Selling evangelists and professional speakers on the topic. Investor and advisor at various B2B SaaS companies, including Stage 2 Capital, Guild Education, Vidyard, Terminus, and People.ai.
Welcome back to the From Vendorship → Partnership podcast, Season 2: Seller’s Journey!
Jared Robin is the CEO & Co-Founder of RevGenius, a community of 27,000 sales, marketing, rev ops, and CS professionals to get inspired, learn, and grow. Previously he worked in sales and leadership roles for 15+ years, including FedEx and various VC-backed startups.
Listen to hear Jared & Ross' conversation about partnering with customers, building RevGenius, and the future of B2B sales.
About Jared & RevGenius
Jared Robin is co-founder & CEO at RevGenius, Winner of Best International fashion Film Awards, homie of revenue professionals worldwide, and proud Ny'er.
RevGenius is a community of 27k sales, marketing, revops and cs professionals worldwide. Our mission is to bring inspiration and creativity to all revenue professionals. Before founding RevGenius, Jared spent 15+ years in various sales and leadership roles in both fortune 100 (FedEx) and early-stage VC-backed startups (Peter Thiel backed etc).
This week, we’re sharing a masterclass we held recently with an incredible panel of sales & CS leaders on how to use mutual action plans (MAPs) to win & expand more deals.
We talked about why every seller should be using MAPs to partner with buyers and get them to value quickly, so you can hit revenue targets and build long-term advocates for your product.
Get more takeaways from the masterclass here!
Meet the experts:
- Ryan Sydor, VP of Manufacturing, Automotive and Energy Sales at Salesforce – has ~2 decades of sales & leadership experience at Salesforce, Clio, & more
- Jocelyn Brown, Head of CS & Sales at Hypercontext – 15+ years managing high-performing sales & CS teams in B2B & SaaS
- Daniel Cacic, Enterprise Solutions Director at Kurios – B2B enterprise sales leader leading an early stage team of six in the EdTech space
Welcome back to the From Vendorship → Partnership podcast, Season 2: Seller’s Journey!
Our guest this week is Swapnil Shinde, CEO & Co-Founder of Zeni.
Zeni is an AI-powered startup bookkeeping and accounting service. Swapnil is a 3x founder and led Zeni’s sales for its first two years, closing over 100 customers single-handedly.
Swapnil chats with Ross about founder-led sales, what to look for in your first reps, and his top book recs for startup/sales leaders.
Want more content like this? Subscribe to the From Vendorship to Partnership newsletter! Every other Thursday, we'll share conversations with top sales leaders, invites to masterclasses & other events, and more. You can check out past editions here.
Welcome back to the From Vendorship → Partnership podcast, Season 2: Seller’s Journey!
This week, we’re sharing a “jam session” we held recently with Marissa Fuhrer, Senior Manager of Enterprise Sales at Figma.
Figma has built a winning sales-assisted motion on top of their PLG core to move up-market seemingly overnight. One of the secrets to their sales success? Making the most of every deal through buyer collaboration.
In this jam session, Ross talked to Marissa live on Zoom, and sales leaders had the chance to ask questions about collaborating with buyers and building a scalable, customer-first sales process.
If you want to watch the session instead, check it out on YouTube.
For more content like this, subscribe here to get podcast updates and the From Vendorship to Partnership newsletter!
About Marissa
Marissa Fuhrer is a Senior Sales Manager at Figma. Prior to Figma, Marissa spent a few years at Dropbox, Scoop and BrightEdge, where she helped lead sales efforts in the Education space as well as public companies around the US. In her free time, Marissa enjoys spending time with her 4 legged daughter, Winnie.
Welcome back to the From Vendorship → Partnership podcast, Season 2: Seller’s Journey!
Our guest this week is Clay Bentley, VP of Sales at Metadata.
Before joining Metadata two and a half years ago, Clay led sales at G2 Crowd for four years, and previously worked as an AE at several SF-area companies and startups. He told Ross: “Startups are my thing – they get me out of bed in the morning.”
Listen to the episode for insights & advice from Clay on common early stage sales mistakes, balancing priorities, and coaching your reps.
About Clay & Metadata
Clay is the VP of Sales at Metadata, and was formerly the VP of Sales at G2. His journey has taken him from SF → Chicago → Nashville, where he currently lives. Metadata automates paid campaign execution and strategy, eliminating manual and repetitive work for B2B Marketers.
Metadata is hiring! Check out their open roles here.
Welcome back to the From Vendorship → Partnership podcast, Season 2: Seller’s Journey!
Our guest this week is Christian Borrelli, VP of Global Sales at CaptivateIQ! Christian joined CaptivateIQ as one of the first employees, and has scaled the sales team to 100+ since then.
In this episode, Christian & Ross chat about the future of B2B startup sales, what most people get wrong about sales at startups, and using data to iterate on your sales process.
About Christian:
Christian Borrelli leads the sales organization at CaptivateIQ, the leader in commission management software. Prior to joining CaptivateIQ as one of its first employees and scaling the sales team to 100, Christian held finance and operations roles at Siemens, Cybereason, and EMC. He currently resides in Austin, TX.
Welcome back to the From Vendorship → Partnership podcast, Season 2: Seller’s Journey!
Our guest this week is Kevin Nothnagel, VP of Sales at Clockwise.
Kevin is a multi-time sales and revenue leader with a wealth of sales and PLG knowledge from his time at Dropbox, Productboard, and now growing the team at Clockwise. He and Ross talk about building playbooks, celebrating your losses, and other sales teams they look up to.
About Kevin and Clockwise:
Kevin Nothnagel is VP Sales at Clockwise, and previously built sales teams at Productboard, Facebook, and Dropbox. He joined Clockwise to build the sales team and help organizations everywhere find more Focus Time to be happy & productive at work. Clockwise automates many of the everyday chores of managing your team's calendars and is used by over 10,000 organizations such as Netflix, Atlassian, and Uber.
Welcome back to From Vendorship → Partnership, Season 2: Seller’s Journey!
Our guest this week is the one and only Mark Roberge: co-founder at Stage 2 Capital, author of the best-selling The Sales Acceleration Formula, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, and former CRO at HubSpot Sales.
To say the least, Mark has a ton of incredible sales insights to share (way more than we could cover in 20 minutes!)
Subscribe for more content like this, and check out the Stage 2 Capital Accelerator that Mark mentions in the episode.
About Mark:
Mark Roberge is Co-Founder at Stage 2 Capital, the first VC fund run and backed by go-to-market executives. He is also Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School. Prior to these roles, Mark served as Chief Revenue Officer at HubSpot where he scaled annualized revenue from $0 to $100 million and expanded his team from 1 to 450 employees. Mark is the author of the bestselling book, The Sales Acceleration Formula, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, Inc. Magazine, Boston Globe, TechCrunch, Harvard Business Review, and other major publications for his entrepreneurial ventures.
Welcome back to From Vendorship to Partnership, Season 2: Seller's Journey!
Today we have a special episode: we’re sharing a masterclass with former Stripe sales leaders (and Ross’ former colleagues!) who are now leading sales at other top orgs & startups:
- Ryan O’Holleran, Director of Enterprise Sales at Airwallex
- Geraud Gonzales, Director of US Partner Sales at PayPal
- Abby Westby, Head of Platforms at Parafin
They talked to Ross about their experience building and scaling the Stripe sales team together, tips for moving into leadership roles, and other advice for startup sales teams.
For more startup & sales content like this, subscribe to our email list at https://inaccord.com/from-vendorship-to-partnership
Becca Lindquist is the Head of Sales at dbt Labs, helping to 10x Enterprise revenue and grow the sales team from 3 to 20+ in the past year. She enjoys figuring out the sales and GTM motions in the early part of the startup journey, and talked to Ross about all things early stage sales in this week's episode.
Subscribe to From Vendorship to Partnership for more episodes like this!
Interested in learning directly from leaders who helped build & scale one of the most successful startup sales teams?
On Tuesday, April 12 at 2pm Eastern, we’re hosting a masterclass with former Stripe sales leaders (and Ross’ former colleagues):
- Ryan O’Holleran, Director of Enterprise Sales at Airwallex
- Geraud Gonzales, Director of US Partner Sales at Paypal
- Abby Westby, Head of Sales at Parafin
We’ll talk about their experience as AEs scaling the Stripe sales team together, and their advice & lessons learned when moving from sales rep roles → leadership roles.
Save your seat for the masterclass here!
Welcome to the first episode of Season 2: Seller’s Journey!
This season, our host and Accord CEO & Founder Ross Rich talks to startup sales leaders – diving deep into their experience building winning processes, coaching & scaling teams, and partnering with customers.
Our guest this episode is Andrew Bothwell, SVP of Sales and Success at Spekit. Andrew has been scaling sales teams for the past 17 years, and is a Salesforce, Zendesk, Talkdesk, and WalkMe alum.
He and Ross chat about common mistakes from startup sales leaders, how to approach building your sales team in today’s competitive job market, and the importance of having a growth & learning mindset.
Subscribe to From Vendorship to Partnership for more episodes like this!
In this bonus episode, we’re sharing a masterclass on How Today’s Revenue Leaders Win. Get tips from leaders at Figma, Metadata, and Scratchpad about successfully building & leading your sales org and collaborating cross-functionally. Get more takeaways from the masterclass: https://inaccord.com/blog-posts/advice-from-3-veteran-revenue-leaders-balancing-sales-marketing-cs-product
Season 2: Seller's Journey is launching next Wednesday, March 30! Subscribe to the podcast here or at https://inaccord.com/from-vendorship-to-partnership#podcast for the latest episodes and other startup & sales insights.
In this bonus episode, we’re sharing a masterclass on Selling to Modern B2B Buyers. Get practical tips and strategies for adapting to today’s shifting buyer expectations and creating a more transparent, collaborative sales process. Get more takeaways from the masterclass here.
Exciting news – Season 2: Seller's Journey is launching in 2 weeks, on Wednesday, March 30! Ross will talk to startup sales leaders – diving deep into their experience building winning processes, coaching & scaling teams, and partnering with customers.
Subscribe to get notified about Season 2 launch and the latest episodes!
In this bonus episode, we’re sharing a masterclass on Building a Repeatable Sales Process for Early Stage Startups. Get practical tips on documenting your sales process and coaching your team, from top startup sales leaders at Rampd, Northstar, and Balance.
Get more takeaways from the masterclass here and stay tuned for more info on season 2 coming soon!
We have a few special bonus episodes for you while we get ready to launch Season 2: Seller's Journey!
This week, we're sharing a masterclass on How to Win More Deals with Mutual Action Plans. Our panel includes expert sales trainers Skip Miller & Alice Heiman, plus Figma’s top Enterprise rep, Aaron Cramer. We talked about why every sales team should be using mutual action plans for their deals, and shared tips for how to get started.
Meet the Experts: Alice Heiman, Founder & Chief Sales Energizer
Starting her own company in 1997, Alice is nationally known for working with B2B companies that have exceptional growth potential to elevate their sales and increase their valuation.
Skip Miller, Expert Sales Trainer & Founder of M3 Learning
As President of M3 Learning, Skip has provided training to hundreds of companies in over 35 countries. He created M3 Learning to “make a salesperson better on each individual call.”
Aaron Cramer, Enterprise AE at Figma
As a founding member of the Figma sales team, Aaron has spent the last 3 years partnering with mid-market and enterprise customers to help them find value and be successful.
In this week’s episode, we’re changing things up a bit. Accord co-founder & CPO Ryan Rich interviews our host (and his brother) Ross about the key takeaways, lessons, and advice from our guests throughout Season One: Founder’s Journey.
Get the full roundup of founder advice on our blog: https://inaccord.com/from-vendorship-to-partnership/season-1-founders-journey-episode-13-season-recap
In the final founder interview of Season 1, Ross talks to Joe Garafalo, COO & Co-Founder of Mosaic! Listen for insights on Joe's founding story about building Mosaic, and his advice to his past self.
About Joe:
Joe is Co-Founder and COO of Mosaic, a software startup building the first Strategic Finance Platform. He began his career in the Big 4 with KPMG and went on to hold multiple leadership positions in finance at Palantir, Axoni, and Barkbox before founding Mosaic. Outside of work, Joe enjoys traveling, learning about capital markets and cryptocurrency, playing poker, and spending time with family and his dog, Coconut.
In this week’s episode of Founder’s Journey, Ross talks to Lauren Dai, COO & Co-Founder of Cocoon!
After spending 4+ years building the growth organization at Stripe, Lauren started Cocoon to help simplify the complicated financial problem of managing employee leave: from compliance & guidance to claims & payroll.
Learn about Lauren’s journey building Cocoon, including defining the problem to solve, winning their first 10 customers, and her relationship with co-founders Amber Feng & Mahima Chawla.
About Lauren:
Lauren is the COO & co-founder of Cocoon, the platform that makes managing employee leave instant, simple, and big-hearted for HR teams and employees alike. With Cocoon, employees can design their leave plan in private, notify HR when they’re ready, and rest easy knowing that all their paperwork will be submitted for them. Employers don’t have to lift a finger when it comes to compliance, claims, or payroll calculations. Prior to starting Cocoon, Lauren was integral to building the growth organization at Stripe.
In this week’s episode of the From Vendorship to Partnership podcast, Ross talks to Tyler Gaffney, CEO of ZenHub.
Tyler has spent more than a decade in and around startups, including running a consultancy to help early stage businesses figure out how to go to market. One of his clients was Axiom Zen, which had started ZenHub as an internal tool initially, but it ended up gaining a lot of organic traction and became its own business. Tyler was drawn to ZenHub’s exciting growth and leadership team, and was invited to join full-time as CEO about three years ago.
Listen to the full episode to hear about Tyler’s learnings from leading ZenHub and his advice to other founders, including paying attention to product-market fit over time, not falling into the trap of what you know best, and being willing to ask the tough questions.
About Tyler and ZenHub:
Tyler Gaffney is the CEO of ZenHub, Founder of Entrepid Partners, and former VP of Sales at WePay.
ZenHub enables software teams at startups and scaleups to build better code, faster by providing a developer-friendly productivity management platform. ZenHub is the leading team productivity management suite in GitHub and is trusted by teams at over 6,900 companies and open source projects to help them work together to ship great code.
In this week’s episode of Founder’s Journey, Ross talks to Bar Geron, co-founder of Balance, the B2B eCommerce checkout platform.
Bar met his now co-founder, Yoni Shuster, when they were both working at PayPal. Since he wanted to learn how to build things, Bar began (and ended) a couple of startups before he and Yoni landed on the concept that would become Balance – with the goal of turning the online B2B payment experience from painful to delightful.
Listen to the full episode to hear about Bar’s insights and advice, including the importance of relationships between your founding team, getting it right before you scale & add new channels, and feeling comfortable with thinking long-term.
About Bar:
Bar Geron is co-founder & CEO at Balance, YCombinator alum, and a proud Israeli. 🇮🇱 Balance was built to make B2B payment awesome for the B2B eCom space. Prior to Balance, Bar founded Q.AI, a data infrastructure company to solve bottlenecks to see a physician, and spent 4+ years in fintech including PayPal and high-growth startups.
In this week’s episode of From Vendorship to Partnership, Ross talks to Lisa Wallace, co-founder of Assemble.
Assemble is a compensation management platform that enables companies to make strategic, equitable compensation decisions. Lisa started her career at a couple early-stage cybersecurity startups, where she and her now co-founder, Enrique Esclusa, were struck by how difficult it was to manage compensation even at a small company, and to ensure that everyone was being compensated fairly. That led them down the path to starting Assemble together.
Listen to the full episode to hear about Lisa’s journey with Assemble.
About Lisa:
Lisa Wallace is a Co-Founder of Assemble. Assemble is a compensation management platform that helps companies make systematic compensation decisions to attract, motivate, and retain employees while eliminating inequitable pay. Prior to founding Assemble, Lisa served on the executive team of Abnormal Security where she was the first business leadership hire. She started her career as the first business hire at Expanse (acquired by Palo Alto Networks) and holds a B.S. from Stanford University.
In this week’s episode of From Vendorship to Partnership, Ross talks to Job van der Voort, CEO and co-founder of Remote.
A neuroscientist in his past life, Job eventually landed as VP of Product at GitLab, which was ahead of the game in working fully remotely. He experienced firsthand the challenges that come with hiring employees around the world, and that led to him launching Remote as a solution.
Listen to the full episode to hear about Remote’s fast growth and Job’s learnings along the way.
In this week’s episode of From Vendorship to Partnership, Ross talks to Kris Rudeegraap, CEO & co-founder of Sendoso.
During his time as a salesperson at Talkdesk, Kris wanted to differentiate himself when building rapport with prospects and customers. He’d send handwritten notes and quirky gifts from Amazon, and his prospects loved it – but it wasn’t scalable. So he set about building a solution himself. Sendoso is now the leading sending platform and integrates with dozens of marketing, sales, and operations tools.
Listen to learn about Kris’ journey building and scaling Sendoso, including:
- Validating the MVP
- How he got his first “real” customers
- The importance of recruiting early
In this week’s episode of From Vendorship to Partnership, Ross talks to Gil Allouche, the founder of Metadata!
As a software engineer turned data-driven B2B marketer, Gil’s technical background fueled his idea of using AI and data to laser-target marketing. After sharing the concept with a group of CMOs who then all wanted to work with him, Gil knew he was onto something. He officially changed his LinkedIn title to “Founder” and Metadata was born!
Watch the full episode to learn:
- The importance of building & selling in tandem
- Why founders should sell
- Metadata’s growth & what comes next
In this episode of From Vendorship to Partnership podcast, Ross interviews Pete Kazanjy, Founder of Atrium, a data-driven sales management platform that empowers sales managers to improve team performance.
After Pete’s previous startup was acquired he assumed going to a larger company that they’d have sales and GTM processes fine-tuned and instrumented, but realized that wasn’t the case. After many conversations he realized the problem was widespread: there wasn’t an easy way to use data to build a scalable GTM process. There was too much math and manual setup required, and sales leaders were relying on sales ops or other departments to collect that data. With passion for early stage GTM, he started Atrium.
In this episode Pete and Ross chat about:
- How to win your first 10 customers and the importance of customer interviews
- Tips and resources for great customer discovery and building a customer advisory board
- The problem with NPS and looking at product usage to help provide a more holistic view of customer experience
In episode 3 of the From Vendorship to Partnership podcast, Ross interviews Alexa Grabell, CEO and Co-founder of Pocus, a product-led sales platform. Pocus helps sales teams harness product usage data without relying on engineering, so they can prioritize the best opportunities.
Alexa saw a need for something like Pocus while leading sales strategy & operations at DataMiner, where she built DIY solutions internally to provide sales with the data they needed. Then, while at Stanford’s business school, she dove deep into the customer discovery process, and Pocus was born.
This is a great episode for very early-stage founders or those who are just getting started with their idea! Alexa and Ross discuss:
- The importance of customer discovery
- How to prioritize what you build
- Those critical early hires
- Enjoying the journey, not just the milestones
In this very first episode of the Vendorship to Partnership, Ross interviews Scratchpad CEO and Co-Founder Pouyan Salehi. A serial entrepreneur, Pouyan draws on his deep expertise sharing what he’s learned from starting two companies creating software for sales teams. Pouyan and Ross cover a wide range of topics about the world of building a B2B SaaS company:
✔ How Scratchpad sourced their first batch of customers
✔ Why they opted measure user market fit before product market fit (and the difference)
✔ The evolution and nuances of product market fit
✔ Transitioning from doing everything yourself to letting go and working ON the business
In the second episode of the From Vendorship to Partnership podcast, Ross interviews Reprise Co-CEO and Co-Founder Bryan Stevenson.
Throughout Bryan’s two decades of experience as a software engineer, leader, and co-founder at several startups, he struggled with the same problem: a disconnect between what is needed to sell a product and what is needed to actually satisfy customers. So he started Reprise, a tool that enables sales and marketing teams to easily create interactive demos and product tours.
Now, a year and a half into the Reprise journey, Bryan and Ross talk about:
- Identifying the right early objectives for your startup
- Obsessing over finding product-market fit
- What’s happening at fast-growing Reprise
- Advice to Bryan’s younger self (maybe he shouldn’t have shut down that startup…)