Decoding Sales

🇰🇷 🇯🇵 Korean and Japanese founders are some of the most brilliant founders out there and this weekend I had the chance to be in the presence of their greatness. As part of connecting with the one-hour community (because Korea and Japan are 1 hour away from each other) I gave a talk on Authentic Sales and what it means to emit a genuine approach to sales when building your startup. It’s a topic that I speak on and is core to my coaching practice but ironically I’ve grappled with authenticity my entire life. Being both Korean and American brought with it multiple identity crises and insecurities that led me to obsess over how to phrase things within the English language. Constantly practicing phrasing was my way of attempting to show up as polished as my full American peers and leaders. That insecurity ultimately catalyzed a skill around phraseology that I coach my clients on. And so during my talk I shared some of the phrases I use to convey what I think are the three most important skills to have in founder-led sales: ✨ Genuine trust & credibility: Simple phrases like "I've thought about this problem for a long time" can convey expertise and intentionality around starting your company. 🧠 A vision that goes beyond where the product is today: Phrases like "We believe that over the next few years things will be done fundamentally differently" breathe confidence into an idea that may be slightly before its time. 👂 Active listening skills: Phrase like "As you mentioned in the beginning of the call" show that you were truly listening to every word your prospect was uttering. While simple and seemingly obvious on the surface, practicing these phrases as well as what comes before and after can mean the difference between an engaging, polished conversation vs. one that feels overly focused on just product features. Thank you TaeYong Kim, Datz Daito, Hannah Hyo Bin Lee, and Kiyo Kobayashi for building such a strong inter-country alliance and thank you Mitsumasa Kiyohara for hosting this event at the Digital Garage offices. Grateful to have also met my fellow speakers who are all rockstars within their own industries: so awesome to connect Kojin Oshiba, Sungwon Lim, and Kaz Tamai! What communities are giving you energy and how are you showing-up authentically? #koreanfounders #japanesefounders #asianfounders #enterprisesales #startups #community

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for our Founders-Led Sales Lunch & Learn with Peter Ahn! Peter Ahn is a seasoned sales coach, speaker, and host of the Decoding Sales podcast, with over 16 years of experience across both enterprises and startups, including Google, Dropbox, Slack, Front App, and Streak. Today, he leverages his extensive expertise to empower aspiring founders and entrepreneurs through impactful coaching and dynamic speaking engagements. It was a fantastic session full of practical insights and strategies on how startups can win as the underdog in today’s competitive market. Our key takeaways from the event were: 💛 Genuineness and Transparency Matter: At the heart of every deal is a relationship. When challenges arise, trust and honesty help both parties navigate through tough times. Remember, people buy from people—authenticity goes a long way. ✍ Prioritize What Works: Your product doesn’t need every feature to be a blockbuster. Focus on the aspects that deliver the most value and set clear expectations. When you nail what really matters, everything else will follow. 🏅 Leverage the Underdog Advantage: In a crowded market, standing out can be tough. But by embracing your unique strengths—whether it’s agility, innovation, or building deeper relationships—you can consistently win, even against larger competitors. To stay updated on future 25madison events, sign up for our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e2KzUDrr

“I'm not trying to sell them. I'm really trying to help coach them on how they can solve their problem.” - Tido Carriero, Founder & CEO of Koala. As Tido explains in episode 39 of Decoding Sales, adopting a support mindset for sales calls can help your selling motion feel more authentic. Especially for founders who have obsessed over the problem they solve, bringing their expertise into a first call, along with a helpful attitude, can help change the dynamics of what a traditional sales call may feel like. Alex Allain and I had an absolute blast reconnecting with one of our dear friends and former colleagues from Dropbox, Tido Carriero. We all worked together on the business platform and it was an honor to work with two of the most brilliant technical minds in Silicon Valley. Now the founder and CEO of Koala, Tido has taken his eng & product expertise from places like Facebook, Dropbox, and Segment to build an end-to-end pipeline generation engine for SDRs, BDRs, and AEs. Tido’s openness to sharing all of the founder-led obstacles he’s experienced while growing Koala makes this a must-listen to episode! During our discussion Tido, Alex, and I dive into: 🐨 Early challenges Tido faced learning to sell Koala during the early days ❓ When is the right time to shift from founder-led sales to sales led sales? 🏗 Hiring “builders” to lead GTM in the early days 💡 How to think about “jobs to be done” when building out GTM JD’s 📈 How to master and think through demand generation and demand capture when going outbound Don’t miss episode 39 of Decoding Sales! (link in comments) #founderledsales #techsales #authenticsales

Back in 2012, I joined a little startup called Dropbox. Upon joining, I recruited my smartest friend and the person who taught me to code -- Alex Allain -- to join the mission. (He wasn't deterred by small life changes like a cross-country move from Boston to SF.) When we joined, it was very clear what we needed to build: a B2B version of Dropbox. We worked closely with our incredible early Sales team to spec it out. One early seller who really stood out was Peter Ahn (pronounced: "Party On"). Peter taught us so much about the very unfamiliar world of Sales, what features we needed to build to turn "Dropbox for Teams" into "Dropbox for Enterprise" and how he would sell it. The rest is history - it turned into the $1B+ ARR run-rate business line! Since then, Alex and Peter went on to start an awesome podcast: Decoding Sales. I was absolutely honored to be the first guest ever on the pod - thanks so much for having me! 🔈 Check out the episode: https://lnkd.in/gwUQtiba PS The work Peter does to help founders find their authentic sales voice resonates so deeply with what my journey has been over the past few years as an engineer-turned-seller; if you're a founder and fear sales as much as I did, I highly recommend working with him!

“I'm not trying to sell them. I'm really trying to help coach them on how they can solve their problem.” - Tido Carriero, Founder & CEO of Koala. As Tido explains in episode 39 of Decoding Sales, adopting a support mindset for sales calls can help your selling motion feel more authentic. Especially for founders who have obsessed over the problem they solve, bringing their expertise into a first call, along with a helpful attitude, can help change the dynamics of what a traditional sales call may feel like. Alex Allain and I had an absolute blast reconnecting with one of our dear friends and former colleagues from Dropbox, Tido Carriero. We all worked together on the business platform and it was an honor to work with two of the most brilliant technical minds in Silicon Valley. Now the founder and CEO of Koala, Tido has taken his eng & product expertise from places like Facebook, Dropbox, and Segment to build an end-to-end pipeline generation engine for SDRs, BDRs, and AEs. Tido’s openness to sharing all of the founder-led obstacles he’s experienced while growing Koala makes this a must-listen to episode! During our discussion Tido, Alex, and I dive into: 🐨 Early challenges Tido faced learning to sell Koala during the early days ❓ When is the right time to shift from founder-led sales to sales led sales? 🏗 Hiring “builders” to lead GTM in the early days 💡 How to think about “jobs to be done” when building out GTM JD’s 📈 How to master and think through demand generation and demand capture when going outbound Don’t miss episode 39 of Decoding Sales! (link in comments) #founderledsales #techsales #authenticsales

If you're a founder / sales person striving to sell your product, listen up. EO STUDIO has partnered with Peter Ahn, the veteran sales coach, to offer our first comprehensive online sales school. Peter is a sales coach who shaped enterprise sales at Google, Dropbox, and Figma, brings his battle-tested methodology to help founders and sales professionals master authentic, high-impact selling. 🚀 Peter's track record speaks volumes: - Led Dropbox's first enterprise sales initiatives - Closed Dropbox's first 10 major enterprise deals - Helped coach Figma on sales when they were 20 employees - Coached 100+ startups including Elicit, Bezi, and Twingate 📚 The program includes: - 4 on-demand video courses crafted from Peter's decade of experience - Clear, actionable frameworks for technical and enterprise sales - Focus on authentic relationship-building and value-first approach 🎯 Optional Masters Track: - Get personalized, asynchronous feedback directly from Peter on your specific sales challenges and opportunities. Ready to transform your sales approach? Join us to learn from one of Silicon Valley's most respected sales coaches. Learn more 👉 https://lnkd.in/gVpU3gj4 #StartupSales #EnterpriseSales #TechSales #SalesCoach

Confession : Back when I was just starting to work on sales this May, I was convinced that I had to 'sound/look more American' in order to gain familiarity and trust from our potential partners. EO STUDIO is now watched by 350K+ subscribers worldwide, and less than 4% of our viewership comes from Korea, where our team comes from. I was afraid this Korean identity would distance our team from people who watch our content, and I chose to not reveal this when I could. That is until I met Peter Ahn, whose very first emphasis in his sales coaching philosophy is to own your identity and use that as a superpower. He said,  "The first thing is that I truly believe that your identity and experiences are your superpowers, your unique culture values, and the way that you look at the world should play a direct role in how you do sales." This has had a lasting impact on me as I navigate the often intimidating tech industry. Focusing on being myself, building a relationship based on genuine interactions, and truly being excited for what I do has been the powerhouse of all my efforts at EO. I'm over the moon about the launch of 🚀 Peter Ahn Sales School, the first of many comprehensive online learning courses to come in the next months. In July, Peter flew over to San Francisco and we filmed the 4 courses to help founders and newcomers to sales (like me) unlock their sales growth. He was much too ready, so all we had to do was get set, and shoot! EO STUDIO worked on the editing and packaging of the content and it is now available online. I have to say that this has been one of the most practical, resourceful educational content I have encountered in sales. If you're a founder, or a salesperson trying to level up your game, I strongly suggest that you check this out. [Peter Ahn X EO] New Schooll Sales for Startups 👉 https://lnkd.in/gp3dtAuY Join before Nov. 16th and get 20% Off on all courses. #StartupSales #Sales #TechSales

I’d love it if more Asian sellers and business leaders were given the opportunity to tell their stories. We’ve been here all along, working hard and driving revenue for the companies we’ve devoted so much of our energy to. It’s why I’m so grateful to TaeYong Kim, Hannah Hyo Bin Lee and the entire EO STUDIO team for elevating the stories where our community’s grit and passion intersect with tech success. Thank you Taeyong for taking a genuine interest in my story. And thank you for amplifying the message around authentic, transparent selling techniques that is breathing confidence into this next generation of startup leaders. The nobility in sales is coming back, one genuine relationship at a time. Check out the interview here: https://lnkd.in/gNHfGHpt #authenticsales #techsales #enterprisesales

개쩌는 세일즈 강의 하나 론칭했습니다. 감히 한국인으로서 미국 Tech, enterprise sales의 최고라고 말할 수 있는, 영업의 전설 Peter Ahn과 세일즈 강의를 론칭했습니다. Peter Ahn의 커리어는 구글부터 시작해서 다양한데, 가장 주목할 만한 건 드롭박스가 엔터프라이즈 세일즈를 시작할 때 들어가서 NBC와 $2M+(약 30억 원) 딜을 따내면서 드롭박스의 엔터프라이즈 세일즈의 큰 성공을 만든 것입니다. 이후 Slack 등에서 일하다가 세일즈 코치로서 Figma, Twingate, Bezi 등의 GTM, sales에 큰 영향을 미쳤습니다. 강의는 100% 영어로 진행이 되는데, 세일즈 방법론도 좋지만 미국에서 세일즈를 효과적으로 하기 위한 영어 표현들부터 가격 협상 방법론까지 꼭 필요한 내용들을 자세히 다룹니다. Master Class student로 신청하시면 Peter에게 프로덕트 데모, 미팅 방식에 대한 코칭을 받을 수 있습니다. 그냥 미국에서 세일즈 하시면 들으세요. 저희 EO 글로벌팀도 Peter 도움 받아서 미국에서 BEP 만들었습니다. 개인적으로 컨설팅이나 1:1 코칭 원하시면 저에게 연락주시면 연결드리겠습니다. 강의 링크 바로가기 https://lnkd.in/gaNbRxhx

I’m so grateful for the high energy people in my life. This week I got to hang out with two of them in-person and I’m heading into the weekend full of joy and gratitude. Sara Remsen took a bet on my Sales Sprint bootcamp without ever having met me. Since then, from opposite coasts, we’ve developed a strong coaching bond and she’s truly embodied what it means to sell authentically. Her sales style is one of confident empathy and she's a master storyteller ushering-in an impressive product in Melodi that’s changing the quality of AI in a way no other technology can. Appreciate you Sara and excited to continue working together! Boris de Souza is a loyal listener of Decoding Sales, a podcast where Alex Allain and I discuss the art and science of sales and how it relates to business and life. When we first started recording Decoding Sales, I had no clue if anyone would tune-in, but meeting technical founders like Boris who appreciate logical, authentic and "calm" (as he coined it) approaches to sales gives me the inspiration and motivation to keep going. Thank you Boris for spreading the word on how sales is evolving and can’t wait to see you and Streamlined continue to crush it! Are you spending time with the high energy people in your life? #authenticsales #fridayperspective #gratitude #startupsales