Gibbs Cullen

Hiring a Founding AE with 2-3 years of experience? Without clarity, face a great honeymoon but miserable marriage.  In a recent discussion with a coach of B2B sellers, she shared that the boom of 2020-2023 saw many sellers become order takers and lose their skills. The need to prospect went down and sellers working with eager buyers forgot how to create the momentum early in the sales process. Another trend is job openings for Founding AEs looking for 2-3 years of experience. This seems to be motivated by investor instructions to “keep things lean.” I’m all for lean, but make sure to look for some key AE traits to make sure you’re getting full value out of your precious cash. Simple things to look for: -Startup experience. Be extremely cautious of hiring sales reps who have only worked in enterprise companies. I hired a rep once who fit this profile who was talented at getting people on the phone but couldn’t build his own prospecting lists in salesforce given he was use to having someone do it for him. Not a good match. Ask for details around how they would setup their day to prospect, have they created their own decks, how would they run a POC, etc. Listen for the details and ask for examples. -Domain knowledge. Look for AEs who have sold to the ICPs you are targeting. If you have a product for developers, find someone who’s sold into that persona. If you have a RevOps tool, Marketing, etc. Ask for them to explain what’s unique about the persona they have experience with. -Company size experience. Early stage startups buy from each other. That’s part of the fun of a startup - the community and supporting each other. It’s a fast-paced transactional selling environment easily managed through PLG or an SMB sales motion. If you want to sell to enterprise, you need someone with that experience. It’s totally different momentum and skillset of navigating enterprise. Examples are powerful here. Ask them to describe a deal from start to finish and highlight what actions they took and who on their team was involved. Founders are busy. This list is simple and obvious but it will help you quickly screen for the skillset you need before you interview. I’d suggest even including questions on your job application. Looking at LinkedIn it seems each open role is getting hundreds of applicants within days so to save your sanity take an extra 10 min and include some open ended questions about this stuff on the submission form. Too many founders hire inexperienced sellers who are the wrong fit in terms of skillset -  prioritizing budget over effectiveness. As a result they hire someone who is cheap but does not perform. Think about other creative ways to hire an experienced sales executive or GTM leader and compensate more on commission percentage and equity than base salary. Al Rey and I are talking about this topic and other GTM challenges faced by Seed Founders at our event in June. Check it out here:

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The biggest mistake marketers are making with ABM? Jumping in before the GTM team is tightly aligned on ICP and the fit + intent signals that matter most. This often comes with additional problems: Letting Sales arbitrarily select target account lists —> we make it much harder on ourselves if we don’t use fit and intent signals to prioritize ICP accounts and prospects that are most likely to buy and get immediate value Spray and pray tactics —> high volume, transactional, low quality, generic outreach just results in your whole TAM blocking and unsubscribing ABM without rigorous data standards —> using dirty/outdated data to multi-thread, to show up everywhere for target accounts, to (gulp) automate any part of your ABM workflows = playing with fire Piping in a bunch of signals without a clear plan of action —> just creating distracting noise (results in wasted $$ and muted Slack channels) Teams taking action on random signals without GTM alignment/coordination = total chaos Sendoso is a direct mail and gifting platform, yes. But gifting is so much more than sending swag or gift cards in exchange for a meeting. It’s a high impact ABM art that helps revenue teams take timely personalized actions with the right people to deepen relationships, increase pipeline conversion rates and speed up deal cycles. To do this well, our team uses a variety of signals to select the right accounts and automate thoughtful, personalized engagement touchpoints across the entire customer journey, from segmented outbound marketing to sales interactions with ABM accounts and creative direct mail campaigns that deliver a delightful experience for buying committees. We’re obsessed with data quality/accuracy, and partnering with the best signal providers is crucial for us. I’m so excited about the UserGems 💎 Signal Platform announcement today! We’re loving their signal library and workflows. If you’re also obsessed with data-driven, account-focused marketing and thoughtfully automated workflows, they’re an amazing addition to the marketing stack.

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As an entrepreneur there's no greater reward than seeing customers and the market respond to what you've built. In the words of the inimitable Paul Graham of YC, it validates you're "making something people want." Our leadership rankings from Forrester and G2 highlight Clari's unique market vision, comprehensive platform, process expertise, and extensive ecosystem. The Forrester report also recognized our latest innovations like Clari Studio for flexibility and Clari Copilot with GenAI capabilities, providing virtual assistance and summarization. If you're not a Clari user, reach out and see why we're the go-to enterprise solution for driving predictable revenue and accelerating enterprise growth Download the Forrester Wave here: https://lnkd.in/g_YEYgs4  Check out the full G2 report here: https://lnkd.in/gnBw3APc

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