maximus greenwald

There are two main things we did to give ourselves more runway with Harlow while bootstrapping the business: 1. Cut costs so that we operate at break-even, which extends our business runway infinitely to give us more time to do focused tests to figure out PMF and which growth channels will work for us. 2. Brought on consulting clients so we could make money, which extends our personal runway infinitely by allowing us to feel more safe and comfortable while building. How are my other bootstrapped founders making it work?

9

2 Kommentare

267 NYC sellers signed up to meet in-person mañana. So here are 4+2 tricks to meet cool people at events: === 4 DURING THE EVENT === 1️⃣ Play musical chairs because you won't click with everyone. 2️⃣ Join conversations by tapping one person in. 3️⃣ Being interested in other people > trying to be interesting. 4️⃣ Click with 1 person? Go find a third friend on the floor. === 2 AFTER THE EVENT === 5️⃣ Do 1:1 dinners with the folks where it clicked. 6️⃣ Pull 3 friends from those dinners together. That's a crew. Oh, and put yourself out there by signing up, duh. Come meet your four favorite goons (me, Vin Matano, Jason Bay, and Nick Cegelski), because I can't freaking wait to meet all the amazing sales reps and leaders in this city: https://lnkd.in/ghR27Zis You can thank our friends at Demandbase for the sweeeeet venue. (And you can thank me for my graphic design skills.) #sales

66

16 Kommentare

Co-founders can be overrated.  Having a co-founder can bring a ton to the table, but it can also be a disaster of significant proportions. Disagreements happen. Goals change. Businesses pivot. And when things go south, they can really go south. Where I've seen it work? If you have clear alignment on core values.   This is the case almost 100% of the time. My co-founder at my first SaaS startup and I were in lock step as a result of being in full alignment on value system. It created stability. As I gear up for my next startup, I and my new business partner front loaded our discovery with a focus on value identification and alignment. I'd add it was something I was extremely conscious of before 'jumping in bed'. It was for him too. Take the necessary time to understand each other.  Dig deep. Have that inform fit. Its values, in my opinion, that will carry you through the inevitable tough times that litter the startup journey. Go in, eyes wide open. And stay grounded with shared values. Happy Monday, ya’ll.

52

25 Kommentare

Worked on 2 cos. in the last 2 years that raised $100M+. One big, often overlooked thing stands out: *Founder-market fit like you wouldn’t believe.* Everyone talks product-market fit, but this one’s just as important: How uniquely qualified is the founder to solve the problem and blow the competition away? In both cases, there were founder “unfair advantages” like I hadn’t ever seen. When looking to join or invest in a startup, don’t sleep on founder-market fit.

21

3 Kommentare

She helped Slack go from $100M - $700M ARR then  go public. Previously at Google and now currently advising high-growth SaaS startups like Miro, Loom, ServiceNow, Holly Chen is a GTM force. In the latest episode of The GTM Podcast, Holly and I got to break down her journey in tech and notably branding, pricing and customer success for AI startups. We cover: -Strategies for AI startups to differentiate, drive retention, and optimize pricing -The importance of strong branding and concrete use cases for AI market penetration -Evolving customer success models to maximize value in AI deployments -Transitioning from sales-led to product-led growth and key considerations -The rising role of influencer marketing in B2B and how to leverage it effectively -etc etc Have a listen wherever you 🎧 to your pods.

30

4 Kommentare

I recently talked with Paz Yanover, VP of Product at Amplication, about creating and managing effective docs. Here is his developer docs success formula (check 1st comment): In this interview, Paz shares his formula to creating developer docs that drive product adoption. You'll learn: - The important role docs plays in support and attracting devs - Tips for balancing technical accuracy with user-friendliness in your docs - Strategies for effective collaboration between technical writers and product teams Check the first comment for the full interview. --- Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow Derick Ruiz for more.

19

1 Kommentar

We made the list! I've worked for some really friggin' big companies, but there's something about the energy that comes with building something NEW. I love being included on this list for two reasons: 1) It's good to be loved. 2) This list is about GTM, not sales. GTM is to sales what a truck is to an engine. Sales absolutely turns the crank, but without the wheels, steering column, and driver, it's just an explosion in a box (unless you drive electric, but I digress). Sweep is about enabling a better GTM, which means bringing together marketing, sales, service, and back office to enable people to engage better with customers. I've been pushing that rope for more than a decade, and it's fun to see the market finally start to PULL.

7

1 Kommentar

Calendly is a $3B call scheduling app, but it didn't start that way: Attempt 1: Dating app [FAILED ❌] Attempt 2: Selling projectors [FAILED ❌] Attempt 3: Selling grills [FAILED ❌] Attempt 4: Calendar app [SUCCESS ✅] Lesson: Stay true to your startup journey, not the idea. #startup

1.087

51 Kommentare

Awesome chat this week on the show. My favorite quote: "Being an SDR Sucks. It's like being in rookie ball sitting in a clubhouse with cockroaches around you, but..." The "but" is where the magic is for this career path. But... - You learn critical skills that will serve you the rest of your career. - You learn critical skills that will serve you the rest of your PERSONAL life. - You get foundationally prepared to become a FULL CYCLE sales pro. - You earn the right to carry a quota and bring customers through the entire process - not just the part of getting their attention. The numbers do not lie. A career in sales offers the highest earning potential of any out there with the lowest barrier to entry. The price of admission is resilience, discipline, coachability, and a growth mindset. The outcome can be life changing, but its earned not given. Incredible conversation on this week's episode of Merchants of Change with former Major Leaguer Shane Peterson about his journey through baseball, the transition, and now his sales career. Absolute required listening... #AllGasNoBrakes #DialedIn

67

8 Kommentare

Well said, Jen Abel. And even beyond these ARR guardrails, startups often instinctively throw in enterprise and SMB as dual strategies. Or direct and PLG. Outbound and channel. And more! #startup #sales #GTM #SMB #channel #enterprise #PLG #directsales

12

3 Kommentare

We’re hosting a webinar on cross-functional collaboration with distributed teams this Wednesday. You can RSVP using the link in the comments! We’re co-hosting with Jessica Wolf, founder of Skye and Rohan Verma, executive coach with 15+ years of technology experience at companies ranging from LinkedIn to Dropbox. I was prepping for the Marco Experiences portion of the content for the webinar. Immediately I thought of some of the amazing cross-functional collaboration that’s been taking place between some of our team members. Alexandra Brown recently told me that she’s the happiest she’s been at Marco in nearly 4 years because of some of the amazing experiences she's had recently working with team members from different orgs. I figured we’d have our team share their experience next Wednesday. One of my favorite things about startups is that you get to bring together people with very different backgrounds focused on the same goals: - Alexandra Brown leads our supply efforts and has a background in hospitality and lives in Boston - Weller Miranda is a senior software engineer and lives in Brazil - Hanna Vieregg is a product and operations manager and is new to product but is crushing it so far and lives in SF They’re working on several new features on the supply side (launching soon 🤫) and a new Guest UX / attendee landing page that. Taking something with many manual components, mapping out how to build it into a product, and executing it requires great collaboration. But the “how” is equally important. They’ve worked together with respect, active listening, and a desire to learn from one another. It’s amazing what you can get done with mutual respect and a desire to solve interesting problems. We’d love for you to join us this Wendesday! #futureofwork #remotework #employeeexperience

23

1 Kommentar

This is the future of creator <> brand partnerships Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) announced he was joining Ridge as their Chief Creator Partner and an equity investor and Board Member. A big move for him and a monster move from Ridge. If don’t you know Marques, he’s massive on tech YouTube, one of the OGs of the space and a mover of culture. Seemingly, he could build any brand he wanted from scratch. So why partner with Ridge? Focus. We live in an era where most creators want to grow a huge audience and then build their own brands from scratch. And while there are a few massive examples (Prime, Happy Dad, Feastables, Chamberlain Coffee), it is much harder than it looks. Attempting this is often a major distraction away from what’s compounding best already, content. By joining up with Ridge, MKBHD unlocks unlimited production capacity, a world class marketing machine, and the brand scaffolding that’s strong but flexible. It’s like handing him a rocket that’s already built and asking him to fly it. To me, this is just the start of these joint venture style creator partnerships. Rather than build something completely from scratch, creators will come in help put their fingerprints on existing players. I think this is a great deal on both sides, what do you think? If you run a brand and make to make better short-form videos that convert into sales, I built a free course/community for you and your marketing team. Here’s an invite: https://lnkd.in/ezW4FAvq #youtube #creator #marketing #influencer #brand

25

1 Kommentar

The Exit Five community has 35% more engagement than the average community on Circle. • We have 38% monthly active users (MAU) in our paid community, which would make us one of the highest engaged communities on Circle based on their benchmark data for communities of our size. • We have 3,496 members; the average MAU for Circle communities with 1000 - 5000 members is 28%. It's a great stat. BUT: • I care more about the monthly active user number than specific "engagement" on posts. • Posts in our community will never get hundreds of likes and comments like this LinkedIn post. Because it's about helping other members, not how many people liked or commented on a given post. • A post from a member could get 1-2 comments - and help one of our members get unstuck at work, or find the answer they've been after for weeks; or use the search function and find a post about ABM from 8 months ago to help answer a question from their CEO. I love this quote a member told Dan (our COO) a few weeks ago: "It's like LinkedIn on steroids but better because people aren't trying to drive engagement on here. They are commenting & posting because they genuinely want to help or get help with their marketing problems."

82

31 Kommentare

F*** is my favorite four-letter F-word. F*** = Free...obviously. 😏 Speaking of free, here's something I'm really excited about. Over at RevOps Co-op, we've got not one, but TWO complimentary RevOpsAF conference passes to give away courtesy of our friends at Enlyft. 🎁 Maybe you're a revenue operator in between gigs who wants to expand your network? 🤝 Or an employed RevOps pro who wants to attend #RevOpsAF 2024 in San Diego but your company isn't able to sponsor you? If this sounds like you then throw the 🙋 emoji in the comments and DM me to toss your name in the literal raffle hat. Sound like someone you know? Tag 'em on this post and have them do the same! Big shout out to Michael Schultz and Phil Gray from Enlyft for making this happen. ❤️ PS - learn more about RevOpsAF 2024 at revopsaf(dot)com #revops #revenueoperations #salesops #salesoperations #marketingops #marketingoperations #mops

33

16 Kommentare

Want to build a sales team that consistently exceeds its targets? 🎯 In the latest podcast episode of Building Elite Sales Teams, I had the privilege of interviewing Adam Aarons, a seasoned sales leader who has led companies like Okta from startup to IPO. 🚀 Adam shared his two pillars for building a high-performing sales team: Operations and Enablement. 🏗️ Adam dives deep into how these two pillars work together to create an execution engine that drives extraordinary results. 📈 Want to learn more about how to build a sales process that's repeatable and scalable? Listen to the full interview and discover Adam's insights on: 🎯 Getting early warning signals when your sales plan isn't working 🚨 🎯 The difference between a champion and a coach in a deal 🏆 🎯 How to hire the right sales talent 🤝 #SalesLeadership #OperationsAndEnablement #BuildingEliteSalesTeams

11

3 Kommentare

Slack is about to level up a ton of CS teams out there! Let me show you what I mean 👇 Here's a little problem we have in CS: Whenever we have to collaborate with other teammates/teams, things get even more hectic. ⚠️ We're managing the project in one place. ⚠️ We're communicating using siloed channels like emails, ad hoc calls, and DMs. ⚠️ All of the documents/information related to the project live in about 5 places. So, naturally, things start falling through the cracks. Tasks don't get completed, information is missing, and communication is so slooooww. The results? Delayed work, missed opportunities, and sometimes a very frustrated customer on the other end. That's why when I saw Slack's latest product release, I was pumped 🤩 Task Lists are an absolute game-changer if we really want them to be. Check out the carousel below for 3 CS workflows you can optimize using this feature! And if you're in CS and currently using Slack now to optimize your work, I'd love to hear about your setup – let me know in the comments! #customersuccess #slack #accountmanagement

121

15 Kommentare

CS teams NEED to start "managing up" with execs and the board by talking about REVENUE. Yes, you can keep talking about sentiment and feelings, but start with the $. Don't lead with churn- Bottom-line-focused execs don't like that headline, so you need to tell the story better. An informal poll had CS teams owning over 50% of the revenue of many SaaS companies. Lead with this and have it be your first talking point. From there you will be able to get more things done with other departments, as your requests will be revenue-focused Need to get a Customer Success Platform as you scale? Point to revenue and the potential to lose revenue without efficiencies Need to hire more to prevent burnout? Point to Revenue potential with renewals and upsells Talk in the language your execs and board want to hear.

44

13 Kommentare

Most DTC founders second-guess their decisions because they don’t know how those decisions will impact their cash position. “If I double down on this campaign, will I be able to buy inventory next month?” “Can I afford to hire someone to help me with website design?” Very reasonable questions, but the answers are hard to find when you rely on spreadsheets and have 100 other things to do. Using Viable, founders can easily forecast cash flow and understand what investments they can make without risking the business. #cashflow #dtc #ecommerce

9

1 Kommentar