Categories: Podcasts
This month's Revenue Builders Podcast guests shared the kind of lessons you can only learn from experience. From startups to enterprise, these leaders have failed and iterated to find what works - and they joined John Kaplan and John McMahon to share the wealth. Dig in below for stories about founding and scaling startups, growing as a sales leader, hiring and implementing new product models, and establishing a winning sales discipline.
We publish two episodes per week, sharing lessons for leaders at all stages of their careers. Make sure to subscribe to the Revenue Builders podcast on your favorite podcast player, so you never miss an episode.
May Featured Episodes:
Scars of Knowledge from a Serial Entrepreneur with Sean Burke
Duration: 1 hr 4 min
Topic:
In this episode, John McMahon and John Kaplan feature guest Sean Burke, a seven-time CXO. From 1990 to 1994, Sean was a salesperson and loved every minute of it (he broke records, built amazing client relationships, and put hundreds of thousands of miles on his Honda Accord). From 1994 to 2018, Sean co-founded and helped grow nine early-stage companies. Seven of these nine companies successfully exited for over $600M. During these years, Sean learned about mergers & acquisitions, product-market fit, managing cash flow, evangelical sales, raising funds, making & losing millions, how to creatively accomplish much with very little $, and much more. The discussion includes key sales lessons from Mark Cuban, emphasizing the importance of trust and helping in sales, and strategies for creating trust with clients. The hosts also delve into the intricacies of forecasting, deal qualification, and managing sales cycles, with a focus on understanding customer needs and aligning sales strategies accordingly. The conversation provides actionable advice for sales leaders on improving sales performance, structuring deals, and leveraging data for better forecasting and pipeline management.
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When You Should Focus on PLG with Alex Bilmes
Duration: 13 min
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In this curated episode of the Revenue Builders Podcast, John McMahon and John Kaplan dive into when to focus on product-led growth. John McMahon and John Kaplan discuss product-led growth (PLG) with Alex Bilmes, the founder and CEO of Endgame. They explore the types of products that are well-suited for PLG and those that may not be a good fit. Alex explains that products that are easy to use, provide immediate value to the user, have a short time to value, and have a low price are ideal for PLG. However, more transformative products that require organizational change and have larger deal sizes may require a sales process to facilitate adoption. Alex also shares insights on how to determine if PLG is a good fit for a product and the questions to ask before implementing a PLG strategy.
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Moving Into Sales Leadership Roles
Duration: 22 min
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This episode brings you three segments that cover sales leadership transitions. We discuss making the jump from rep to first line manager with Tammy Sexton, the Chief Revenue Officer at Skyflow; the jump to second line manager with Carl Cross, CRO at Alkami; and then walking in as a new CRO with Terry Trip CRO at Tines.
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Cold Calling and Objections with Leslie Venetz
Duration: 8 min
Topic:
In this curated episode of the Revenue Builders Podcast, John McMahon and John Kaplan engage in a dynamic conversation with Leslie Venetz, an expert in outbound sales strategies. Leslie delves into the art of cold calling and objection handling, drawing from her extensive experience. She shares invaluable insights into common objections, the psychology behind them, and practical strategies for navigating them effectively. Discover how curiosity, conversation, and conclusion form the pillars of successful cold calls, and learn actionable techniques to empower your sales team.
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Why I Shut Down My Startup with Guilherme Stetelle Martins
Duration: 1 hr 1 min
Topic:
Guilherme Stetelle Martins is an engineer turned software sales professional. He’s been in Software Sales his entire career from BDR to Enterprise AE. He’s also had a lot of failures that have taught him a lot about life and business, including his company he founded and shut down in early 2024. He also writes frequently about business, life and his projects on LinkedIn.
Guilherme joins John McMahon and John Kaplan to discuss his experience as a startup founder and the lessons he learned from shutting down his company. Guilherme shares his journey from being an engineer to entering the world of software sales. He explains why he decided to start his own company and the challenges he faced along the way. The conversation dives into the importance of timing, the energy required to be an entrepreneur, and the distinction between being a patriot and a mercenary. Guilherme emphasizes the need for self-reflection and understanding one's own motivations and limitations.
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The Right Hire for Customer Success with Dan Barrett
Duration: 9 min
Topic:
In this curated episode of the Revenue Builders Podcast, John McMahon and John Kaplan are joined by Dan Barrett, Executive Vice President of Customers at MongoDB. Dan shares his journey of evolving MongoDB’s customer success strategy from a reactive to a proactive approach. He discusses the importance of hiring the right profiles, implementing disciplined processes, and understanding the nuanced root causes of customer churn. This conversation is a must-listen for anyone involved in customer success or looking to enhance their customer-centric strategies.
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Driving Consistency as You Scale with Joe Young
Duration: 8 min
Topic:
Dan Barrett is the Senior Vice President of Customer Success at MongoDB, with an extensive background in sales including IBM, Q Associates, Symantec, and ServiceNow. In this episode, Dan discusses his transition from sales to customer success and the importance of aligning sales and customer success teams. Dan shares insights on reducing churn, proactive customer success strategies, and the changing expectations of customers in a consumption-driven world. He emphasizes the need for measuring and demonstrating the impact of customer success and the role of customer success in driving business outcomes. Dan also highlights the significance of cultivating advocates and engaging economic buyers throughout the customer journey.
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Behind the Deal: Engaging the Economic Buyer Part II
Duration: 6 min
Topic:
Carl Froggett and Joe Lynch are back for the second part of their conversation on engaging the Economic Buyer. Before they were colleagues at Deep Instinct, Joe sold to Carl when he was a CIO at Citi. Carl shares his extensive experience as an economic buyer in tech deals. The conversation is a valuable one for sellers who are trying to engage the economic buyer, particularly in the information security space.
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Never Miss an Episode
We publish new episodes every week. Download, listen and share them with your teams. If there's a topic you want us to cover, email us. You can subscribe to our podcast on all the major streaming platforms.
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