Some takeaways on growing a company to $1b/yr in revenue from @mark_rosner:
1) If you believe your product can accomplish a particular goal, you may need to dangle incentives to get ppl to just try it.
E.g.: maybe you even offer to pay your customer to get them to try it.
1) If you believe your product can accomplish a particular goal, you may need to dangle incentives to get ppl to just try it.
E.g.: maybe you even offer to pay your customer to get them to try it.
2) Hiring lots of people becomes a detriment. Whenever a startup touts how many ppl they have, he gets scared. Because ppl cause problems.
To the extent possible, refine processes & tech so you can make a lot of $$ per employee. For @AppLovin they only had a couple hundred ppl.
To the extent possible, refine processes & tech so you can make a lot of $$ per employee. For @AppLovin they only had a couple hundred ppl.
3) Try to "test" potential hires by structuring shorter term contracts. And you will know in the first month or two if someone is working out.
4) Velocity is impt in sales. The more touchpoints a salesperson has / follow ups / etc in a fast & compacted way, the better. Correlated with success in sales.
5) Can you sell if you are introverted? YES! Mark says he's an introvert, but it's less about charisma and wowing ppl and more about solving your customer need.
6) How do you get actionable feedback? Most customers don't delve into details:
If you're getting "nos", say, "I totally understand. This would be helpful for me for improving, if you have any feedback on what it would've taken to win your business - perhaps down the road?"
If you're getting "nos", say, "I totally understand. This would be helpful for me for improving, if you have any feedback on what it would've taken to win your business - perhaps down the road?"
7) With current customers, try to engage with them 1-2x per week so that you can constantly improve.
Don't go 2 months without having spoken to a customer.
Don't go 2 months without having spoken to a customer.
8) Can you pre-sell a prod that hasn't been built? Many customers don't want to buy or commit at that stage.
You can keep them warm with a bi-weekly newsletter w your progress. It's helpful to build that pipeline and do that efficiently. But may want to talk with them initially
You can keep them warm with a bi-weekly newsletter w your progress. It's helpful to build that pipeline and do that efficiently. But may want to talk with them initially
9) What is a good sales hierarchy?
In the early days, @AppLovin had no hierarchy. You want to keep your org as flat as possible for a long time.
I.e. have a sales slack channel & keep comms open. He gets nervous when there is hierarchy because hard to bubble up feedback
In the early days, @AppLovin had no hierarchy. You want to keep your org as flat as possible for a long time.
I.e. have a sales slack channel & keep comms open. He gets nervous when there is hierarchy because hard to bubble up feedback
10) In the early days, you want to have quicker feedback loops to improve the product and service.
12) Is it better to build a generalist tool or for a specific industry / vertical?
Usually the latter - you may want to try a few industries in the early days but it's usually much harder to support customers / cater marketing msgs to a lot of verticals
Usually the latter - you may want to try a few industries in the early days but it's usually much harder to support customers / cater marketing msgs to a lot of verticals
13) Follow ups: figure out how to get through. Could be pinging every 7 days. Could be finding a warm intro. Could be finding someone else in an org. Or could be "Hey I'm going to be in your city next Monday and maybe I can stop by?" (and then book a flight)
14) (cont) Follow up schedule should be aggressive but content / copy should be polite and friendly.
