Peter Ahn’s Post

Customers buy to solve problems. A reminder to people who say enterprise sales, "is all about the relationship." 🤡 No it's not. Customers don't need professional visitors. They need people to solve problems for them. And if salespeople can do that then MAYBE a relationship or friendship will evolve. But not the other way around. If you liked this learning lesson - here's something else that can help you. Check out my book which is a collection of short stories and learnings from 28 years of building sales teams at tech startups. It covers topics such as hiring, training, coaching, & leading sales teams at startups. There's even a free sample. https://buff.ly/3wBKtiR

🚀 Scaling to $100M in revenue might seem like a huge task, but Sam Blond, who led Brex from $1M to hundreds of millions, has some great tips! Let's dig into what we can learn from him! Sam suggests focusing on two main things: creative demand generation and hiring the right people. 1. Creative Demand Generation: - Think outside the box to find new customers. For example, offering free trials or partnering with other companies can help get more people interested in your product. 2. Hiring Discipline: - Building a strong team is really important. Make sure to hire people who not only have the right skills but also fit well with your company culture. Quality over quantity! Sam's experience shows that with smart marketing strategies and a solid team, your company can grow by leaps and bounds! Curious to learn more? GTMNow provides insights from industry experts like Sam Blond to help businesses achieve their growth goals. Check out their latest posts to get more tips and strategies for scaling your own company! 🌟 #BusinessGrowth #Leadership #SalesStrategy #GTMNow #StartupTips Regards, Selcuk Aslantas RSS: https://buff.ly/3WHFszZ

I get contacted with exciting ideas on an almost daily basis. It takes a lot to make me sit up & take notice. Back in April ‘23 Pete Crosby contacted me with a killer idea that really made me sit up. 'I’m putting together a dream team, Pete said, a C-level SWAT team of some of the most respected SaaS operators on the planet. I want you on board'. I am proud to say that the idea becomes reality today with the launch of Revelesco. SaaS leadership teams don’t know what they don’t know, and there’s barely time to learn. The number of failures continues to be way too high. Success demands best in class advice, coaching & strategic support so that they don’t just survive, but win. Revelesco accompanies start-ups & scale-ups  through an in-depth, step-by-step process which digs deep into each component of their Whole Revenue Strategy in order to deliver extraordinary growth outcomes.

 Our Whole Revenue Strategy deep-dives are action oriented & deliver extraordinary results: increased predictability, tighter focus, ACV uplift, increased win rates, decreased sales cycles, more ICP opportunities; and a host of other critical metrics. I am incredibly proud to be part of this incredible team led by the brilliant Pete Crosby and @emilyassender. Take a look at the rest of the team at the link in the comments and let us know if you want to chat.

Growing up in the 70s and 80s, Jackie Chan 🌟 became a symbol of hard work, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to his craft. As SaaS founders, we see a reflection of our journey in his. The challenges and setbacks he faced, much like the ones shown in the video I shared, mirror the unique failures we encounter in the tech world. 🎬 Jackie’s ability to remember and learn from each injury to avoid past mistakes is something we aim to emulate in our approach to software development. This mindset of fearless learning and adaptation is crucial for us. 🚀 What really strikes me about Jackie is the strong team dynamic he nurtures. Every stunt, much like our projects, relies on seamless teamwork and deep trust. Even when things go wrong, his confidence in his team’s support is something we aspire to replicate in our SaaS teams. 🤝 Together, let's continue to learn and evolve. Every challenge we overcome is a stepping stone to greater success. 💪 #Leadership #Teamwork #Resilience #StartupLife #Saas #Founder #Preskale

Over two decades in the industry, I've led revenue teams through various growth stages, from startups to established firms like Iterable, GoTo, and Spiff (acquired by Salesforce). I've repeatedly built high-performing teams and driven sustainable growth. Finding the right people is super hard, and my experience has given me a unique perspective on what makes a successful revenue leader, especially for early-stage companies. Let's talk if you're a founder looking to hire your first GTM leader. Finding the right people is crucial, and my experience could help you identify the perfect leader to drive your vision forward. Together, we can turn your goals......into achievements! thecatalyst.io

The SCALERR Methodology defined It doesn’t matter whether you’re a startup trying to close a Seed round... Or a Unicorn pushing for a NASDAQ listing... All scale is, is a simple formula 🧪🔭⚗️ ✅ Recruit the right people ✅ Use the right GTM So what is 'recruiting the right people'? 🔥 Hiring people with the right skill set 🔥 Joining for the right reasons 🔥 Who level you up as a business What is the right GTM? 🔥 Simple, success leaves clues 🔥 What is the GTM used by other successful businesses within your category 🔥 Who are the revenue leaders who know how to deploy that GTM If you recruit the right team, and use the right GTM for growth = expansion becomes a breeze #expansion #growthmindset

Yesterday, we hosted India's first SDR Leaders meet-up. I'd like to thank all the participants Nikhil Vandana Aathira Manish Vivek Dileep who spent 3 hours brainstorming different challenges faced by different startups, and leaders while managing an SDR team. You'll see the insights in the upcoming weeks. Did I say we spent three hours? :D For the first meet-up, we wanted to keep it small. But now, let's make this a recurring thing. We'd now host these meet-ups every quarter probably after your QBRs :) You'll see the event details soon on the School of SDR page. Please note that this meet-up is only for SDR Leaders. I'd like to thank SpotDraft and Akshay Doshi for letting us use their office space. Truly appreciated. #sales #sdrleader

📔 You ever have a day when you just happen to take a lot of notes? 👋 That was me today. I talked with 5 incredible sales leaders that made me think more than I normally do about sales, marketing and what success looks like. One thing from Greg Costigan (he / him) was this simple framework that he implements with his teams as they prep for calls. Give. Get. Goal. We're going to unpackage that even more when we walk again later this month, but just as Gary Vaynerchuk says, you have to give give give before you ask. I don't know what your give is, but if you don't know you should! People have so much to give, no matter the role or the audience. It could be internal, it could be for customers, it could be for your network, but if you're not giving, how can expect to be getting? I know a great framework when I see one. 3 words long... even better. #sales #marketing #startup #networking

Building a product 📲 is different from building an organization 👩👩👧👧 and a lot of founders are still unaware of that! ⚡ A lot of first-time founders are superhumans - focusing heads down on their clients, listening to their issues, building a robust problem and giving back to them for tests - spinning that flywheel, my dears - in the search of the ultimate Product-Market Fit (PMF), some calling it segment. Results? 📈 The journey from 0 to $1-3M ARR often stems from strong product-market fit. Revenue growth is the proof of the product’s strength and understanding of customers' needs. 💔 However, the second largest issue (after finding PMF) is when you want to scale. You need to start moving away from building a product to building an organization. Founders will need to build Culture, Processes, Strategic planning, vision, mission and the list goes on! Without it, the team reaching a 30-50 pax size will just be lost and start moving in different directions! However, one too many times, founders forget it and just ask their teams to "do more" - the old good ways, Sherlock! And that's when things start to break - that's why only 13% of startups reach $10M ARR within 10 years of business. 🙉 My advice? The best way is to surround yourself with great advisors, a tenured COO or a great Chief of Staff to run your company. Without it, it will feel like a nightmare during day-time. What do you think? #saas #leadership #business #sales #ceo #founder

I see this pattern consistently repeat itself in start ups. You find product market fit 🎉 Great, time to start selling! You start scaling your founder led sales motion with 3 reps. Things seem to be working so you add 4 more reps and a sales leader! Everyone seems to be crushing it. 🔥 You think “Yay we made it. We have a repeatable revenue engine” 🎉 You hire 5 more reps and another manager as it’s time to scale again ✅ But this time, somehow none of them are ramping as expected. Oh, and your existing team of 7 reps aren’t doing well either.. 🤔 huh?! It must be the VP of sales. We need a new one that’s seen the next stage of growth. 🤔 And the cycle continues… In a growing startup, the only truth is — **what works today will mostly likely break tomorrow** 🔑 🔑 🔑 Scaling a 7 person team is drastically different than scaling a 30 person team vs a 150 person team. 📈 And the best time to make big changes like bringing in experienced leaders (as advisors or full time execs) is when things are going well aka **BEFORE** the slowdown happens. ✅ 1️⃣ Embrace paranoia when things are going well (and stay close to the details) 2️⃣ Have the courage to do the hard thing that works for the business but may not work for specific people 3️⃣ Focus on avoiding issues vs solving them (PS: The number of reps could look different in every case based on your industry, quality of your PMF, ACV etc but the pattern is similar) #startupgrowth #revenuegrowth #startup #founders #salesleadership