Sid Kumar’s Post

Snowflakes's Phenomenal GTM Success David Spitz talks about Snowflake’s financial number since going public. Snowflake has always been best in class in multiple areas. However, their GTM market numbers as Sptiz says “This really is just an “exaggerated version” of everyone else!”. These are indisputably good numbers:  32% growth (from net new revenue)  131% NRR,  27% FCF,  187% GTM Spend (which is defined as GTM Spend Ratio = S&M ÷ Net New ARR).  As Slootman retires, it is hard to find anything wrong (except he potentially did not garner enough GenAI hype) with the business from a GTM perspective.

What can we learn from Databricks’ brilliant GTM execution? With their Data & AI Summit right around the corner, I thought it'd be a good idea to dig into their success to see what we can learn... In 2023, Databricks reached +$1.5B run rate on >50% growth! (All in the midst of some not so fun macro stuff I might add.) Sacra analyzed Databricks' revenue, valuation, and business model to uncover the secrets behind its staggering success. (Article link in the first comment) Here’s the TL;DR: Key Strategy: Dual-faceted GTM. They combine bottom-up tactics with traditional enterprise sales strategies. Their ace in the hole? They know exactly when to engage customers in their journey. 1) Bottom-Up Sales Databricks starts with a free forever community edition, just a slice of their full suite. When usage patterns spike, these leads graduate to the sales team. That’s how half of their leads are generated. They also offer a self-service model. Anyone can start a free trial with just a card swipe, no sales rep is needed, complemented by free training to get users up and running. 2) Enterprise Sales: When pitching to CIOs, Databricks leverages endorsements from data scientists and engineers already using their platform, dramatically shortening the sales cycle. Among its peers, Databricks has one of the largest sales teams supporting its enterprise motion (check the data in the picture below). Lessons learned here: *you’ve heard me say this before* The commercial market you choose not only defines your business—it also shapes your GTM efforts. To win, align your go-to-market strategy with the specific commercial frameworks you offer. Understand your customers, invest in their journey, and develop a commercial model that deeply resonates and aligns with how they prefer to buy. You know what else Databricks is great at? Hiring customer-facing talent with an high degree of technical acumen. You can't sell what you can't teach! P.S. Need help hiring GTM talent for Data, AI/ML, Compute, and Cloud Infra? DM me. We've assisted successful early-stage startups (backed by Insight Partners, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, GV, Accel, and more) in finding A+ hires.

Yesterday, Snowflake partnered with Notion Capital's Claire Walker & Stephen Millard to host an insightful workshop focused on addressing the key challenges encountered by rapidly growing startups. Leading the workshop was Snowflake's legendary VP of World Wide Cloud Sales Marc Wendling. Here are three pivotal takeaways worth highlighting: 1. Unified Messaging ✍ : It's crucial to maintain consistent product messaging across your organization. If your team members can't convey a unified message, it becomes difficult for customers to grasp the value of your platform. 2. Land & Expand Strategy 📈 : Embrace the idea of securing smaller initial deals and implement a robust onboarding strategy to facilitate quicker adoption. The aim is to leverage these initial deals as stepping stones toward larger upsells in the future. Aligned Incentives 💰 : Ensure that your sales compensation plans are in sync with the company's Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and overarching vision. Sales representatives are driven by incentives, so aligning compensation plans with company goals is paramount. An important thank you to all the Notion Portfolio companies for their participation and engagement throughout the workshop! Amit Puri (Bound), Guy Adams (DataOps.live), Justin Mullen (DataOps.live), Amirhossein Malekzadeh (Forest Admin), Mahdi Shariff (雷锋), Jacques de Haes (Protex AI), Christopher Nathan (Vortexa), Tanmaiyii Rao

Happening tomorrow! Elevate your marketing approach with Zeta & Snowflake! 🚀 Join our live demo to: 🔍 Bridge the gap between plentiful data and rare insights. 🤝 Explore how Zeta and Snowflake supercharge the Zeta Marketing Platform. 💡 Gain valuable strategies from Andy Lezon, GVP of Global Partnerships and Alliances at Zeta, for mastering customer acquisition, growth, and retention. #MarketingInnovation #ZetaMarketingPlatform

Happening tomorrow! Elevate your marketing approach with Zeta & Snowflake! 🚀 Join our live demo to: 🔍 Bridge the gap between plentiful data and rare insights. 🤝 Explore how Zeta and Snowflake supercharge the Zeta Marketing Platform. 💡 Gain valuable strategies from Andy Lezon, GVP of Global Partnerships and Alliances at Zeta, for mastering customer acquisition, growth, and retention. #MarketingInnovation #ZetaMarketingPlatform

🗣️ Virtual Event -- Happening tomorrow!!! Elevate your marketing approach with Zeta & Snowflake! 🚀 Join our live demo to: 🔍 Bridge the gap between plentiful data and rare insights. 🤝 Explore how Zeta and Snowflake supercharge the Zeta Marketing Platform. 💡 Gain valuable strategies from Andy Lezon, GVP of Global Partnerships and Alliances at Zeta, for mastering customer acquisition, growth, and retention. #MarketingInnovation #ZetaMarketingPlatform

Boost your marketing strategy with Zeta & Snowflake! 🚀 Dive into our live demo and: 🔍 Bridge the gap between plentiful data and rare insights. 🤝 Explore how Zeta and Snowflake supercharge the Zeta Marketing Platform. 💡 Gain valuable strategies from Andy Lezon, GVP of Global Partnerships and Alliances at Zeta, for mastering customer acquisition, growth, and retention. #MarketingInnovation #ZetaMarketingPlatform

Boost your marketing strategy with Zeta & Snowflake! 🚀 Dive into our live demo and: 🔍 Bridge the gap between plentiful data and rare insights. 🤝 Explore how Zeta and Snowflake supercharge the Zeta Marketing Platform. 💡 Gain valuable strategies from Andy Lezon, GVP of Global Partnerships and Alliances at Zeta, for mastering customer acquisition, growth, and retention. #MarketingInnovation #ZetaMarketingPlatform

Last week, Max Cameron told me I look too much like a sales person when I wear a blazer and t-shirt. Gearing up for Snowflake's Data Cloud Summit this morning, I donned the blazer again, even though I know it'll scare people away since they often don't want to talk to sales folks. Why? If people are still willing to talk to me even though I look like a scary sales person, I can be more confident that ATLAS is solving a real problem and that we've nailed our messaging. (This is the same thinking underlying Jessica Livingston's advice for early startups to focus on sales, not marketing.) If the conversations fall flat, I can drop the blazer, which makes discovery-style conversations easier since folks won't be too scared to chat. Finding PMF is about operating in these two different modes at conferences and everywhere else.

Last week I was at Snowflake's User Conference in SF and here are my biggest partnership takeaways: - There are hundreds of professional service and SaaS businesses trying to partner with Snowflake which creates lots of noise for the customer - Most SMEs at the conference can name at max 5 but rarely how they work together to deliver more value - Almost everyone is trying to talk about the next big thing - Gen AI - but neglecting other "less sexy" parts of their business - There is limitless opportunity in co-marketing strategies with synergistic partners but few businesses are prioritizing them - Most partners are still focusing their marketing on "catch all" messaging instead of being more refined I'm sure more will come to mind as I continue to reflect, but the TLDR for me last week was this: There is SO much opportunity for improvement in partnering motions and SO much value to be extracted from partnering smarter. I did overhear a tremendous amount of excitement in this arena over these types of conversations but the magic is in the follow through. Looking forward to seeing everyone I met succeed! Thanks again to the crew at Snowflake for hosting such a well run conference. #leadwithvalue #snowflakesummit