Hunters and Unicorns

SPECIAL EDITION - Spencer Tuttle - Sales Rep to CRO in 8 years!

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

Hunters + Unicorns Special Edition | Casey Ellis and Dave Gerry - Founder vs CEO, is 2 a crowd?

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.

Hunters + Unicorns | The Founders Edition - Pavel Dolezal #004

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:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Hands-on involvement from the leadership is seen as crucial for rapid adaptation in a rapidly changing environment.

9. Different methodologies like Agile, Six Sigma, and Lean are selectively applied based on the development stage and requirements.

10. 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.

Hunters + Unicorns | The Playbook Universe - Olli Krebs #0013

🎙️ 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.

2. Value of European Investors: European investors offer guidance and experience, beyond capital, to startups.

3. Cultural Adaptability: Sales strategies vary due to cultural differences, emphasizing adaptability and understanding local markets.

4. Sales Training: Sales training should emphasize mastering the craft and understanding the company's ethos.

5. 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.

6. Understanding 'Why': Emphasize understanding the 'why' behind methodologies, focusing on collaboration and individuality.

7. Sales Fundamentals: People buy from people; honesty and integrity are paramount in sales. Align with customer needs, provide solutions, and build strong relationships.

8. 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

Hunters + Unicorns | The Founders Edition - Anant Bhardwaj #003

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;

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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!

Hunters + Unicorns | The Founders Edition - Jeremy Burton EP002

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!

Hunters and Unicorns | The Founders Edition - Jyoti Bansal EP001

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!!

Hunters and Unicorns | The Playbook Universe - Dan Miller #012

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!

Hunters and Unicorns | The Playbook Universe - Chris Mahoney #011

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! 

Hunters and Unicorns | The Playbook Universe - Seth Olsen #010

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.