The Revenue Formula

Why no one cares about CS (w/ Mallory Lee)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 07:30:00 +0100

Most teams obsess over new business and ignore the people already paying them. That blind spot is killing retention, bloating acquisition costs, and making growth harder than it needs to be.

In this episode, Toni sits down with Mallory Lee, a three time VP of Revenue Operations, to unpack why Customer Success is still treated like an afterthought and why that mindset breaks companies over time.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:35) - CS Teams are the Forgotten Child
(08:18) - The Customer Journey and Handoffs
(11:46) - Maintaining Customer Context
(22:02) - Product Usage Data and Signals
(26:30) - Building Trust Through Customer References
(32:17) - Identifying and Leveraging Power Users
(35:03) - Gamification and User Engagement
(38:14) - Systematizing Customer Loyalty
(42:38) - Financial Implications of Customer Retention
(44:24) - The Vicious Cycle of Churn
(51:31) - Final Thoughts

For 2026, Don’t do more - Do better (w/ Koen Stam from Personio)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 07:30:00 +0100

Most teams think the answer to growth is simple. Add more. More markets, more products, more layers, more plays. The layer cake approach.

It almost never works.

It adds complexity, drains focus, and breaks what was already working.

In this episode, Toni Holbein and Personio's Koen Stam talk about a better path. Instead of piling on new initiatives, fix the foundation. Improve the things that already drive revenue. Tighten ICP. Narrow focus. Sell better. Enable buyers. Strengthen the ecosystem around you. Document the process so the business does not depend on a few heroes.

Do less. Execute better.

This episode is brought to you by ZoomInfo, the Go-To-Market Intelligence Platform. ZoomInfo gives you high-quality B2B data and sales intelligence on in-market buyers across companies of all sizes, powered by AI-driven automation with integrated outreach tools to help your GTM teams build pipeline and close deals faster.

Check them out at zoominfo.com/revenue-formula

Want to work with us? Learn more: revformula.io

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:37) - Addressing the Great Pipeline Starvation
(07:22) - Challenges of the Layered Approach
(14:58) - Understanding Revenue Sources
(19:19) - Data-Driven Decision Making
(24:36) - The Parking Lot Exercise
(27:43) - Vanity in Expansion
(30:28) - Understanding Y our ICP
(31:43) - Building a Target List
(34:23) - Enabling Buyers
(38:51) - Leveraging Ecosystems
(43:55) - Process Over People
(48:35) - Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up

In Excel, Everyone Hits Quota (w/ Scott Domareck)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 07:30:00 +0100

Most misses in sales are baked into the plan before the year even starts.

In this episode, Toni talks with Scott Domareck, a four-time VP of Sales who’s been through every phase of growth, exit, and burnout imaginable. Together, they break down the hidden mistakes that ruin annual planning long before execution begins.

From massaged Excel spreadsheets to unrealistic ramp times and compounding assumptions that look great to investors but kill execution, they get real about what actually happens inside revenue planning season, and how to build a plan you can actually hit.

This episode is brought to you by Evergrowth — Their Agentic GTM Workspace enables revenue teams to collaborate and win with AI-powered teammates, breaking down silos and helping B2B teams grow smarter with fewer resources.

Want to work with us? Learn more: revformula.io

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:16) - The Reality of Planning Season
(07:22) - Transparency and Context in Planning
(13:12) - Compounding Effects in Sales Planning
(18:14) - Involvement of Go-to-Market Leadership
(25:29) - Trust and Executive Leadership
(28:43) - Top Mistakes in Hiring
(30:49) - Staggering for Supply and Demand
(34:02) - Challenges in Scaling and Execution
(41:04) - The Reality of Adding New Elements to the Plan
(43:34) - Risk Management and Buffers
(46:31) - Planning for Attrition and Unexpected Events
(49:13) - Final Thoughts and Future Discussions

Why most AI in your GTM is BS

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 07:30:00 +0100

AI in go-to-market is mostly bullshit.

In this episode, Toni talks with Koen Stam, a senior sales leader at Personio and creator of GTMOS. They break down where AI is actually helping in sales, marketing, and customer success, and where it’s falling apart.

They talk about why “AI SDRs” don’t live up to the pitch, why outbound emails generated by AI are useless without context, and why most teams don’t have the data or workflows to make AI perform. Koen shares how he uses AI at Personio for tasks like research, call prep, and churn prediction, and why the fundamentals still matter more than hype.

Visit Personio: https://www.personio.com/
Read Koen's Substack: https://koenstam.substack.com/
Learn more about Attive: attive.ai

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:04) - The Importance of Context in AI
(07:14) - Challenges in AI Implementation
(10:47) - AI and SEO
(14:56) - AI in Sales and SDRs
(23:06) - Proactive AI Assistance
(25:43) - Balancing Automation and Relevance
(28:10) - AI in Sales and Call Coaching
(31:35) - The Importance of Practical AI Applications
(41:28) - Proactive Churn Prediction with AI
(48:05) - Wrapping up

Why you shouldn't internationalize (w/ Shantanu & Koen from Personio)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 07:30:00 +0100

Everyone dreams about taking their company global. But most teams have no idea how hard it really is.

In this episode, Toni sits down with Shantanu and Koen from Personio to talk about why expanding into new markets can easily sink your go-to-market strategy. They’ve both helped companies like Gong, LinkedIn, and Personio grow across borders, and they’ve got the scars to prove it.

They dig into what founders get wrong about international expansion, how to tell if your product actually fits a new geography, and why “just translating the website” is never enough. You’ll hear how cultural nuances, regulations, and even small hiring decisions can make or break your success abroad.

Want to work with us? Learn more: revformula.io

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:57) - Common Mistakes in Expansion
(09:10) - Product Geo Fit
(11:59) - Localized Market Strategies
(19:25) - Cost and Investment in New Markets
(24:07) - Finding the Right International Leader
(25:53) - Practical Approaches to Market Entry
(32:07) - Viewing Expansion as a Bet
(34:51) - Team and Culture Considerations
(37:31) - Leadership Advice for International Expansion
(43:13) - Balancing Global and Local Needs
(47:24) - Navigating Complexity in International Operations

How to Hire Salespeople in 2025

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 07:30:00 +0200

Most companies still hire salespeople wrong in 2025.

They rely on resumes, gut feeling, and vague interviews instead of testing real skills. In this episode, Raul and Toni explain why that approach fails and how to replace it with a system that actually works.

They break down a practical process to identify what you really need, define the skills that matter, and test candidates in realistic scenarios. No fluff, no guesswork, just a repeatable way to hire people who can actually sell.

Check them out at zoominfo.com/revenue-formula

Want to work with us? Learn more: revformula.io

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:41) - Hiring is Broken
(07:09) - Basics of Effective Hiring
(12:35) - The Myth of the Perfect Candidate
(14:20) - Understand your Needs and Context
(16:56) - Time Pressure in Hiring
(22:02) - The Three Step Solution
(29:10) - Assessing Candidates: Interpretation
(30:16) - Assessing Candidates: Talking
(31:21) - Assessing Candidates: Showing
(32:53) - Assessing Candidates: Doing
(36:53) - Iterating on the Process
(39:57) - Roleplaying in Sales Hiring
(43:33) - Hiring Sales Leaders
(46:00) - Final Thoughts and Takeaways

How to Create a $5M ARR AE with AI

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 07:30:00 +0200

What does the future AE look like in the age of AI?

Toni and Raul break down how AI could transform sales productivity, reshape go-to-market structures, and create the $5M ARR AE. From hyper-optimized workflows to the rise of the “celebrity AE,” this episode explores three new models that redefine what top performance looks like.

Want to work with us? Learn more: revformula.io

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:00) - The 5M ARR AE with AI
(11:17) - Hyper Optimized Enterprise AE
(15:18) - AI-Assisted Sales Meetings
(19:04) - Maximizing Sales Efficiency
(20:50) - Salesperson as a High Performer
(22:01) - Factory Automation
(24:42) - The SMB Multitasker
(32:44) - The Celebrity AE
(35:29) - Influencer Crossovers in Sales
(39:00) - Wrapping up
(40:42) - Next Week: The 2025 Hiring Playbook

$1.2B ARR CRO on AI in GTM (w/ James Roth from ZoomInfo)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 07:30:00 +0200

James Roth, CRO at ZoomInfo, joins Toni to break down how AI is reshaping go-to-market. From the collapse of inbound demand to the rise of intelligent outbound, he explains how teams can stay efficient, use AI without the hype, and turn data into real impact.

We also talk about ZoomInfo’s $1.2B ARR growth, the myth of “AI-native” startups, and what go-to-market intelligence actually means in 2025.

Want to work with us? Learn more: revformula.io

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:38) - ZoomInfo's Growth and Public Perception
(06:45) - AI's Role Today
(10:04) - ZoomInfo's Approach to AI and Competition
(15:35) - Go-to-Market Intelligence Explained
(21:09) - Integration and Collaboration in the Industry
(26:01) - SEO Challenges and Market Impact
(28:45) - The Resurgence of Outbound Sales
(33:27) - AI's Role in Sales Efficiency
(39:46) - Leveraging AI for SMB Data
(46:39) - The Drive for Efficiency with New Tools
(53:10) - Next Week: $5M ARR per AE with AI

Chris Walker on why you should look for a new job

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0200

Feeling burned out or stuck in your job? Chris Walker says the real problem might not be your boss or your paycheck, it’s the frequency you operate in.

In this episode, he shares with Toni how trusting his intuition led him to sell Refine Labs and step away from the company he built, and why he believes we’re leaving the Information Era and entering a new “Frequency Era,” where your energy and mindset matter more than credentials or experience. Chris explains the six tiers of frequency, what it takes to move beyond stress and burnout, and how urgency and constant pressure can quietly pull a whole company into low-frequency habits.

Want to work with us? Learn more: revformula.io

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:56) - The Decision to Exit Refine Labs and What's Next
(11:09) - The Shift from Information Era to Frequency Era
(15:37) - What is Frequency?
(20:13) - Frequency Tiers and Personal Growth
(22:46) - Tier One: Recognizing the Illusion
(24:05) - Tier Two: Breaking the Illusion
(26:17) - Tier Three and Beyond: Energetic Mastery
(32:10) - Example: How You Relate to Time
(33:49) - Where Frequency meets Business
(37:06) - Defining Success Beyond Financial Metrics
(42:39) - The Power of Choice and Awareness
(44:13) - Examples of Different Company Frequencies
(46:54) - The Role of Urgency and Pressure
(51:19) - Impact of Venture Capital on Company Frequency
(55:16) - Leadership and Frequency Alignment
(01:05:45) - Final Thoughts and Personal Journey
(01:09:13) - Next Week: Zoominfo's James Roth on AI in Sales and Marketing

Stop Spamming, Do This Instead (w/ JB Daguené, CEO of Evergrowth)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0200

Automation and cheap data turned outbound into spam and Google’s new rules are shutting the door on mass email. AI only made the noise louder.

In this episode we break down how the predictable-revenue model collapsed, why reply rates keep falling, and why phone calls and research-driven outreach are proving more effective. JB Daguené, founder and CEO of Evergrowth, explains how his team uses AI digital colleagues to help sales teams start real conversations instead of just firing off sequences.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:05) - JB's Journey with Trustpilot
(04:04) - The Early Days of E-commerce and Customer-Centric Sales
(14:37) - The Impact of Predictable Revenue
(17:47) - The Rise of SDRs and Data Challenges
(18:53) - How did we get here?
(21:57) - Automation, AI and Pipeline Management
(24:40) - The SDR Playbook
(26:57) - Challenges with Tools and Silos
(29:17) - Google's Crackdown on Email Spam
(33:04) - The Resurgence of Phone Calls
(35:48) - Evergrowth's AI Tool
(37:58) - Understanding Agentic Workflows
(45:47) - Avoiding AI Hallucinations
(53:55) - Wrapping up
(55:51) - Next Week: Chris Walker on Frequency

The Health Routine to fix your Pipeline

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0200

Leaderrs rarely talk about their own health even though it drives every decision. Toni and Raul share their own experiences and what they learned from interviews with 17 founders and C-level leaders about mental and physical habits.

They dig into how stress, sleeplessness and company performance feed into each other, how common burnout and anxiety really are, and why so many leaders slip into drinking or other forms of self-medication without noticing.

(00:00) - Introduction
(06:45) - Mental sealth statistics among founders
(09:33) - Physical Health and Company Performance
(11:53) - Stress and sickness correlation
(16:17) - Do we self medicate too much?
(23:33) - Health routines of successful CEOs
(28:20) - Exercise routines
(30:32) - Challenges of maintaining health when you have kids
(34:19) - Health as a job responsibility for founders
(39:21) - Improving sleep quality
(44:04) - Diet and nutrition
(47:13) - Final thoughts
(48:50) - Next week: JB from Evergrowth on sales and automation

The Practical Guide to Piss Off Your Best Reps (w/ Antoine Fort, Co-founder & CEO of Qobra)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0200

Want to lose your best sales reps fast? Screw up their comp plan. In this episode, we sit down with Antoine Fort, CEO of Qobra, to dig into the classic mistakes that drive top performers out the door. We talk about why overcomplicated plans kill motivation, how underpaying top reps quietly drains revenue, and why immediacy and trust are non-negotiable if you want comp plans to work.

We also get into clawbacks, the mess of usage-based and outcome-based models, and what really happens when you ignore the value of your top reps. Antoine explains why accelerators, recognition, and clear career paths matter just as much as salary, and why forcing high performers into management usually blows up in your face.

(00:00) - Introduction
(00:54) - Antoine's Background and Qobra
(07:01) - Challenges in Sales Compensation
(10:49) - Simplicity in Compensation Plans
(14:16) - Immediacy and Trust in Sales Compensation
(18:57) - You're Underpaying Top Sales Reps
(30:31) - How to Keep Your Best Reps Happy
(39:26) - Commission on Renewing Customers
(41:18) - Retention Strategies for Sales Reps
(44:35) - Hiring New Reps: When and How
(46:02) - AI and Usage-Based Pricing Challenges
(01:00:39) - Differences in Commission Structures: US vs Europe
(01:04:32) - Next Week: Health & Mental Health for Founders

Conversation: What’s Overhyped and Underrated in Revenue today (w/ Todd Busler, CEO of Champify)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0200

AI SDRs, pipeline starvation, and overhyped tools dominate today’s revenue conversations. But how much of it actually works in practice?

Toni sits down with Todd Busler, CEO of Champify, to cut through the noise. They dig into the reality of AI in sales, the pressure to chase shiny tools, and why short-term thinking is breaking go-to-market strategy. Todd also shares the underestimated challenges of founding a company and where he sees real opportunities for growth.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:11) - Todd's Journey to Founding Champify
(06:48) - Challenges in Go-to-Market Strategies
(10:44) - The Reality of AI SDRs
(13:42) - Cost-Cutting with AI
(18:11) - Jason Lemkin's AI Insights
(21:14) - Overhyped Tools?
(26:45) - The Short-Term Pressure in Go-to-Market
(30:27) - Zombie Unicorns and Market Realities
(32:05) - Trends in Cold Calling and Power Dialers
(34:42) - The Rise of In-Person Events
(36:50) - Navigating the Confusing Tooling Landscape
(42:02) - The Challenges of Starting a Company
(47:18) - The Pressure of Venture Capital
(54:42) - Closing Thoughts
(56:00) - Next Week: Antoine Fort, CEO of Qobra

The Great Pipeline Starvation

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 07:30:00 +0200

Pipelines are drying up. AI hasn’t delivered the growth it promised. And the old playbooks like SEO and outbound just don’t work the way they used to. We call it the great pipeline starvation, and in this episode we break down what’s really happening, what it means for sales and marketing teams, and how companies are trying to adapt.

Want to work with us? Learn more: revformula.io

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:10) - Pipeline starvation
(05:22) - Breakout companies are dominating
(06:50) - The cost of lead gen
(15:54) - The role of AI in cost reduction
(20:18) - The future of sales and marketing automation
(27:10) - The impact of AI on job roles
(31:05) - The limitations of AI in growth
(35:21) - The augment Bucket: Enhancing roles
(39:36) - Zero waste GTM
(46:35) - Final thoughts
(47:27) - Next week: Todd Busler on the rev tech industry

What Video Games Taught Us About Fixing Companies: Levels

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 07:30:00 +0200

What do video games have to do with business growth? More than you think.

In this episode, Toni and Raul explain how their gaming past helps them spot company issues almost instantly. Using the idea of levels, just like in video games, they show why businesses get stuck, how to know what level your company is really on, and what it takes to move forward the right way.

Want to be a guest on the show? Learn more at revformula.io

(00:00) - Introduction
(06:53) - Levels Explained
(11:53) - Hiring the Right People at the Right Time
(16:41) - Strategic Roadmaps and Levels
(19:12) - Situational Dependency in Business Advice
(20:14) - CRM Implementation Challenges
(25:28) - The Importance of Process Maturity
(31:47) - Three Main Problems
(35:13) - Our Solution
(37:30) - Next Week: Zero Waste GTM

Trigger Warning: The Truth about AI and Remote Work

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 07:30:00 +0200

Remote work and AI promised to make us more productive. The data says otherwise.

In this episode, we unpack new research showing remote workers put in about two and a half hours less each day than office teams, and studies suggesting AI tools can weaken critical thinking and slow skill growth. We explore what happens when these trends collide, how they impact career development, and why leaders need to address the issue now.

Sources:

Never miss a new episode, join our newsletter on revenueformula.substack.com

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:25) - Research: Remote work is not working
(09:31) - Parkinson's Law of Productivity
(16:50) - Distractions in work environments
(17:48) - Remote work and career development
(24:01) - AI's impact on developers
(28:41) - Study: AI making us dumber?
(32:34) - The Future of Cognitive Functions
(40:59) - Final thoughts
(41:58) - Next week: What have we been working on?

Founder-Led Sales and Other Scary Transitions

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 07:30:00 +0200

In this episode, we talk about the messy shift from founder-led sales to something more scalable. A lot of teams trip up here. It's not just about hiring the right people, it's about whether the company is actually ready for them.

Early sales hires often fail because the structure, process, or timing is off. The conversation introduces the idea of level awareness, a way to figure out if your setup matches the stage you're in. The same problems tend to repeat, whether you're at $1M or $50M ARR.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:12) - Challenges in Founder-Led Sales
(05:36) - Diagnosing Founder-Led Sales Issues
(08:36) - Hiring Challenges and Misconceptions
(11:12) - Framework for Scaling Sales Teams
(13:39) - Levels of Sales Maturity
(19:20) - Defining Level One
(23:27) - Hiring for Stage Level Fit
(25:25) - Common Founder Regrets
(27:13) - Hiring Sales Leaders with Level Awareness
(34:53) - Challenges of Premature Scaling
(36:31) - Conclusion
(37:37) - Next Week: Is Remote Work & AI Making Us Less Productive?

Did AI Kill SEO? (with Sam Dunning from Breaking B2B)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 07:00:00 +0200

Did AI actually kill SEO? Or are recent traffic drops for sites like HubSpot a sign of something else entirely?

In this episode, we’re joined by Sam Dunning, founder of Breaking B2B and a leading expert on search strategy, to unpack what’s actually happening in the world of SEO. We talk about how AI overviews are changing the way people find information, and what it all means for marketers and revenue teams.

Sam shares when SEO still makes sense, when it doesn’t, and what to focus on if you want to drive real pipeline today. We also dive into AI-generated content, the role of brand in LLM-driven search, and how to build a practical keyword strategy that works in 2025.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:58) - Did AI kill SEO?
(06:17) - When SEO doesn't make sense
(10:05) - Does SEO still take forever to build?
(12:24) - Should we just generate AI content?
(15:39) - Buidling a Money Keyword Matrix
(22:20) - Who should own the matrix?
(24:45) - Quicker vs longer strategies
(29:07) - Old school SEO in a world of LLMs
(34:08) - Brand builders have a step up
(36:21) - Common LLM hacks
(43:00) - Measuring SEO in a world of LLMs
(48:24) - Nothing's changed. Everything's changed.
(50:29) - Wrapping up

No One Wants to Touch Pricing. Here's why You Should.

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 07:30:00 +0200

Nobody wants to touch pricing. It’s political, it’s messy, and if it goes wrong, everyone remembers who led the project. But here’s the thing—when it works, it really works.

In this episode, Toni and Raul talk about why pricing changes freak people out, what actually happens when you go through with them, and how even small tweaks can drive serious revenue. They’ve both run pricing projects that paid off big, and they’ve got the scars to prove it.

If pricing’s been on your to-do list forever but you keep punting it… this one’s for you.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:36) - The dread of pricing changes
(04:29) - Balancing new prices and losing customers
(05:53) - Lead pricing changes without losing your job
(08:55) - Who should own pricing changes?
(10:10) - Creating a pricing steering committee
(12:38) - Consultants in pricing projects
(17:00) - Are we over complicating it?
(19:44) - Churn and pricing relationship
(25:02) - The external and internal narrative
(29:47) - Phasing pricing changes
(31:10) - Pricing moves in PLG
(32:59) - Conclusion

Why weak Product-Market Fit is quietly destroying your Go-To-Market strategy (with Chris Tottman of Notion Capital)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 07:30:00 +0200

In this episode, we’re joined by Chris Tottman from Notion Capital. Before becoming a VC, Chris co-founded MessageLabs and helped grow it into a $700 million exit, so he’s seen the startup journey from both sides of the table.

We talk about what really happens when your product-market fit starts to slip—and why it quietly wrecks your entire go-to-market strategy. Sales start missing targets. Marketing can’t get traction. Churn creeps up. But most teams keep pushing forward without realizing the core problem is the product just doesn’t fit anymore.

(00:00) - Introduction
(09:55) - Common mistakes in Go-To-Market strategies
(19:54) - Identifying a VC case
(30:05) - Importance of Product Market Fit
(39:38) - Transitioning from VC to PE
(50:07) - Next week: pricing changes

Not All Consultants Are Worth It (Here’s How to Tell)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 07:30:00 +0200

Not all consultants are worth it. Some drive real impact. Others just burn your time and budget.

In this episode, Toni and Raul dive into how to tell the difference. They break down when it actually makes sense to bring in outside help, how to vet someone properly, and the biggest red flags to avoid.

You'll learn why consulting is a real skill, what good execution support looks like, and how to think about pricing and value.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:48) - Do you actually need consultants?
(05:22) - The consulting relationship with startups
(08:29) - Identifying red flags
(10:41) - The hammer people
(16:17) - Consulting is a skill
(21:14) - Consultants as challengers
(24:40) - Pricing and value in consulting
(30:06) - Execution and enablement
(33:38) - Summary
(35:45) - Next week: Chris Tottman on VCs

How Cliff Simon Drives Millions by Simply Showing Up

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 07:30:00 +0200

In a world of AI-generated noise and automated outreach, Cliff Simon has built a multi-million dollar business by doing something simple but rare: showing up in person.

In this episode, Cliff shares how he turned events, community dinners, and authentic relationships into a powerful go-to-market strategy. He breaks down why most event-based approaches fail, what it really means to play the long game, and how founders and revenue leaders can drive growth without relying on cold outreach.

Never miss a new episode! Join our newsletter at revenueformula.substack.com

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:53) - The Importance of In-Person
(06:01) - The Role of Pavilion
(08:08) - Building Relationships
(12:09) - Building for Long Term
(16:41) - Modern Networking Tactics
(21:58) - Evaluating Event Success
(24:57) - Common Misconceptions in Event Strategy
(26:34) - Effective Event Strategies
(31:39) - The Power of Personal Branding
(32:13) - Comparing Rev Ops Events
(36:28) - Next Week: What You Need to Know About Consultants

Think CEO life is easy? Here's what they're really dealing with

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 07:30:00 +0200

We sat down and unpacked the messy, unfiltered reality of being a startup CEO.

The kind no one tells you about. Not at panels. Not in TechCrunch puff pieces. And definitely not on LinkedIn.

This isn’t a “how I built this” highlight reel. It’s what actually happens when you’re juggling investors, layoffs, spin cycles, fundraising failures, and the kind of decisions that keep you up for months.

We dig into why CEO life is less “Davos and private jets” and more “burnout, pressure, and zero control.” What it’s like to be the person everyone expects answers from, even when you’re not sure yourself. And why founders need less hype—and way more empathy.

Never miss a new episode! Join our newsletter at revenueformula.substack.com

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:44) - Inside the minds of CEOs
(06:47) - Transparency and communication
(08:37) - Dealing with the worst problems
(09:51) - Limited control and influence
(10:59) - Fundraising challenges
(15:54) - Financial realities of CEOs
(24:57) - The emotional toll
(27:24) - Decision-making pressures
(37:16) - Final thoughts

How to not do outbound in 2025 (and what to do instead)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 07:00:00 +0200

Is outbound dead? Not exactly. But it is changing fast.

In this episode, Raul and Toni break down why the old outbound playbook is failing, where it still works, and how AI is reshaping the SDR role. We get into why brute force cold calls and emails are hitting their limits, why connect rates keep dropping, and where smart teams are still seeing success.

We also talk about the rise of “new world SDRs,” how AI tools are changing prospecting, and how to use spiffs to actually build skills, not just spike activity. If you lead a sales team or run outbound, this one’s for you.

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(00:00) - Introduction
(02:09) - Problems with the old world SDR approach
(12:31) - The role of SDRs in the age of AI
(16:15) - What should SDRs do now?
(25:26) - Using SPIFS to drive change
(36:09) - Conclusion and final thoughts
(37:25) - Up next: the real life of a CEO

We just leaked Jacco's new playbook. Here's what's inside.

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 07:00:00 +0200

We got our hands on Jacco van der Kooij’s latest GTM playbook.

The one he’s only been sharing behind closed doors at high-ticket, invite-only events. And yes, we’re leaking it.

This isn’t just a few new tactics. It’s a complete shift in how revenue leaders think about growth. No more chasing leads at all costs. No more funnels that fall apart at scale. Instead, it’s about turning your users into your biggest growth engine.

We dig into what’s changing, what companies like Notion and Snowflake are doing differently, and why this approach might be the healthiest way to grow in B2B right now.

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(00:00) - Introduction
(01:24) - Exploring the New Playbook
(08:04) - Activating Your User Base
(23:01) - The tiered users ecosystem
(29:43) - Cohort-Based Events
(36:56) - Human-Led Growth: The Power of Real Connections
(43:21) - The New Playbook: Integrating Sales and Success
(51:23) - Up next: The SDR Playbook

25% of SaaS Execs Are on the Bench. Here's Why.

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 07:00:00 +0200

Why are so many SaaS executives struggling to get hired?

In this episode, Raul and Toni dive deep into the surprising stat that 25% of Pavilion members—many of them seasoned SaaS execs—are currently “on the bench.” We explore what’s really going on in the market, how layoffs and short stints are damaging even top-tier CVs, and why CROs are applying for AE roles just to stay in the game.

We also talk mental health, the rise of “consulting” as a placeholder, and whether now might be the time to walk away from SaaS altogether. If you're a founder, CRO, or GTM leader, this one's for you.

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(00:00) - Introduction
(02:18) - 25% of Pavilion execs "on the bench"
(03:41) - The SaaS recession
(09:08) - Job hunting and mental health issues
(13:48) - Going into consulting
(18:26) - Leave tech behind?
(22:01) - Private equity and VC roles
(24:48) - Rethinking CV evaluations
(28:09) - Conclusion
(29:31) - Up next: Jacco's new playbook

$10M ARR per founder. No Employees. All Agents. (with Amos Bar-Joseph)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 27 May 2025 09:00:00 +0200

What if a company could hit $10M ARR per founder—with zero employees?

In this episode, Amos Bar-Joseph (CEO of Swan) joins Toni to break down their radical vision: scaling to $30M ARR with just three founders and an army of AI agents. They unpack what it really means to run an "autonomous business," why headcount isn't always the answer, and how AI is transforming go-to-market strategy from the inside out.

If you're a founder, CRO, or GTM leader, this one's for you.

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(00:00) - Introduction
(02:23) - Road to $30M ARR with AI
(05:11) - Orchestration over operation
(07:35) - Navigating AI and human jobs
(11:43) - Strategies for scaling with AI
(22:20) - The Second Wave of AI
(25:38) - What exactly is Swan?
(28:46) - The future of AI in business
(36:58) - The new AI playbook
(41:49) - Wrapping up
(42:19) - Up next: Unemployment in the GTM community

Burn the old playbook (With Jacco van der Kooij)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 20 May 2025 09:00:00 +0200

AI won’t fix your sales model if the foundation is broken. In this episode, Jacco van der Kooij explains why the old go-to-market playbook is collapsing—and what the new, AI-powered future actually looks like.

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(00:00) - Introduction
(02:32) - AI and the old playbook
(10:34) - The role of customers in growth
(25:56) - Human-Led Growth Powered by AI
(33:57) - AI Integration in Sales
(37:51) - The Future of AI in Business Operations
(46:09) - Wrapping up
(48:37) - On the next episode

What you need to know about AI SDRs

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 13 May 2025 09:00:00 +0200

Thinking about adding AI SDRs to your sales team? In this episode, we break down what actually works—and what doesn't—when implementing AI in your sales development process. From common onboarding mistakes to where AI truly shines (and stumbles), here’s what you need to know before you plug it in.

Articles mentioned in the episode:

11x CEO Hasan Sukkar steps down - https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/11x-ceo-hasan-sukkar-steps-down/
Artisan Raises $25M Series A - https://www.forbes.com/sites/dariashunina/2025/04/09/artisan-raises-25m-to-replace-repetitive-work-with-ai-employees/
11x.ai Review worth the hype? - https://saassalesdirector.medium.com/11x-ai-review-worth-the-hype-a33e89a9716f

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(00:00) - Introduction
(01:21) - Implementing AI SDRs
(03:51) - The state of AI SDR vendors
(05:58) - AI fatigue is real
(07:15) - The AI SDR in your funnel
(10:50) - Where the AI is actually better than your team
(13:03) - Onboarding and training AI
(20:04) - Project managing AI SDRs
(24:12) - Wrapping up

RevOps to VP? Here's why you're not getting promoted

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 06 May 2025 09:00:00 +0200

Why aren’t more RevOps leaders getting promoted to VP or CRO roles? In this episode, we break down the biggest career blockers holding Revenue Operations professionals back, from focusing too much on tooling to missing what execs actually care about.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:00) - RevOps not getting promoted?
(05:40) - What does the CRO want to hear?
(13:57) - Sales experience in RevOps
(16:39) - The importance of relationships
(21:03) - Taking on orphan teams
(24:04) - The RevOps leader
(27:53) - RevOps, AI and transformational change
(31:08) - Final advice

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How to build a $5M SaaS with 3 people and no VC funding (With Esben Friis-Jensen)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 09:00:00 +0200

After building a successful VC-backed company, Esben Friis-Jensen took a different path — bootstrapping his next SaaS startup to $5M ARR with just a team of 3.

In this episode, he shares why he turned down venture funding, how he built an efficient, product-led growth engine, and lessons on scaling smart without sacrificing ownership or speed.

(00:00) - Introduction
(00:32) - Meet Esben Friis-Jensen
(02:30) - The Decision to Bootstrap
(06:27) - Product-Led Growth Strategy
(11:25) - Competing in a Crowded Market
(18:54) - The Role of AI in Business Operations
(22:08) - Efficiency and Execution in Small Teams
(27:48) - Making Tough Decision
(31:17) - Revenue Metrics
(32:10) - Speed of Decisions
(38:43) - Challenges and Benefits of Founder-Led Companies
(40:49) - Joining a Bootstrapped Company

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Don’t Believe LinkedIn. Do This Instead.

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 21:11:15 +0200

If you're feeling anxious about AI. If LinkedIn's making you doubt your GTM. You need this episode.

We break down what’s real, what’s hype, and why boring execution still wins.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:51) - Don't believe the LinkedIn echo chamber
(06:42) - Understanding Business Fundamentals
(12:09) - Stop comparing yourself to AI companies
(14:28) - Growing without outside capital
(17:15) - The Importance of First Principles Thinking
(24:13) - Focus on your team
(30:08) - Conclusion

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Founders maze: A real look at a company in the making

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 06:49:00 +0200

No. This is not a tactical episode. But. You will get a real look inside of a company being created.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:01) - Scar tissue
(09:31) - Feedback and Market Research
(13:28) - AI in Data Analysis and Future Prospects
(16:06) - AI's Growing Influence in Business
(18:06) - Exploring New Data Sources
(19:05) - Challenges and Opportunities in AI Adoption
(20:07) - Pivoting to Product Marketing Managers
(21:50) - VC Inbounds and Funding Decisions
(23:02) - Mickel's Departure and Reflections
(25:05) - Breakthrough in Data Integration
(27:26) - Introducing the GTM Graph
(30:55) - Use Cases and Applications
(36:31) - Call to Action and Conclusion

This episode is brought to you by Everstage - the highest rated Sales Commissions Platform on G2, Gartner Peer Insights, Trustradius with over 2,000+ customer reviews. Some of their customers include leading brands like Diligent, Wiley, Trimble, Postman, Chargebee etc.,

You can go to https://www.everstage.com/revenue-formula to check out Everstage and mention Revenue Formula to unlock a personalized Sales Compensation Strategy Session with Everstage’s RevOps experts—crafted for enterprise teams to maximize performance.

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LinkedIn blueprint: How SDRs can book more meetings (with Morgan Ingram)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 08:24:25 +0200

If you're running outbound. If you're using SDRs. Or planning to. You've got to listen to this episode.

We got Morgan Ingram on the show, and he broke down his LinkedIn playbook to get replies at scale.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:18) - Outbound Marketing and Career Choices
(06:16) - Optimizing LinkedIn Profiles
(07:45) - Common Mistakes in Outbound Messaging
(11:34) - Effective LinkedIn Connection Strategies
(17:58) - Using Videos and Voice Notes in Outreach
(19:41) - Humanizing Your Outreach
(22:35) - The Challenges of SDRing Outbound
(23:00) - Essential Tools for Effective Sales
(26:33) - Creative Sales Tactics: The Alley Oop Play
(31:35) - Pipeline Development Strategies
(36:04) - The Role of LinkedIn in Modern Sales
(40:03) - The Future of Email in Sales

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Did Klarna really delete 1200 SaaS apps?

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 07:23:00 +0200

Over the last year or so, Klarna has been on a rampage to automate away. They've sliced tools, costs and staff. Begging the question...

Is this just a VC narrative or is there more than meets the eye?

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:44) - Klarna's Journey and Financials
(05:49) - AI's Role in Cost Reduction
(07:51) - Customer Service Innovations
(10:28) - Internal Knowledge Management
(13:47) - Introduction to Data Consolidation
(14:29) - Enterprise Search and Internal Tools
(15:20) - Klarna's Knowledge Graph and AI Integration
(16:38) - Deprecating Salesforce and Workflow Changes
(20:05) - HR and Employee Feedback Innovations
(25:51) - Build vs. Buy Debate

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Last week in software: 11x, Deel, Rippling & spy-bound

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 15:41:02 +0100

We had to record this unusual episode. In what feels like a single day, a year's worth of drama has unfolded in software.

It almost seems like John Oliver would talk about it. But since he's busy, we decided to do an episode for him on 11x and the chaos that's emerging.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:03) - Deel, Rippling and the spy
(05:35) - 11x
(08:13) - TechCrunch acquired
(09:33) - Fake Customers Controversy
(13:54) - Insane Churn Rates
(19:38) - Investor lawsuit? nope
(23:11) - Employees. Not happy.
(29:23) - Product Performance and Market Fit
(34:25) - Future Prospects and Challenges

Sources
Techcrunch on 11x
Hasan's post on X
AI SDR test

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Your guide to getting AEs to self-prospect (finally)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 09:07:26 +0100

Getting AEs to self-prospect is fun: AEs will complain, procrastinate, and straight up not do it.

In todays episode, we share some simple tricks to get account executives excited and motivated to self prospect (hint: it's about $).

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:12) - AI in Sales and Self Prospecting
(05:41) - Challenges of Self Prospecting
(07:57) - Incentives for Self Prospecting
(11:43) - Pipeline Generation and Commission Strategies
(16:53) - Navigating AE and SDR Roles
(17:43) - Impact of Self-Prospecting on Performance
(18:50) - Incentivizing Prospecting Targets
(23:01) - Team-Based Incentives and Collaboration
(26:33) - Testing and Adjusting Incentives
(28:34) - Simple and Effective Incentive Ideas
(29:52) - Visual and Tangible Incentives
(31:42) - Incentives for High-Value Deals

This episode is brought to you by Everstage - the highest-rated Sales Commissions Platform on G2, Gartner Peer Insights, Trustradius with over 2,000+ customer reviews. Some of their customers include leading brands like Diligent, Wiley, Trimble, Postman, Chargebee etc.,

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How to scale past $10M ARR and more (With Maja Voje)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 07:48:12 +0100

How to scale past $10M ARR. GTM Engineering. How AI is changing the game and much much more.

We got Maja Voje, also known as the GTM Strategist, to join us and share her thoughts on this and more.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:34) - Challenges in Scaling Beyond 10 Million
(03:30) - Inbound Marketing Struggles
(04:50) - Outbound and ABM Strategies
(07:05) - AI SDRs and Personalized Outreach
(11:52) - Navigating LinkedIn's Compliance Issues
(13:53) - Humanization vs. Automation in GTM
(19:21) - Adapting to AI in Product Market Fit
(21:54) - Revisiting Messaging and Pricing Strategies
(25:38) - Outcome-Based Pay in the Workforce
(26:33) - Understanding Value Metrics
(27:55) - Pricing Experiments and Strategies
(36:49) - Adopting AI in the Workforce

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The Red Bull playbook tech companies should steal

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 08:25:34 +0100

Usually, we share advanced analysis to run, cases of amazing tech companies, or something else.

Today, we're talking about an energy drink. Stay with us because this potent drink can teach tech a lot about advertising.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:26) - Energy Boosts and Red Bull
(14:29) - Red Bull's Media Empire
(17:34) - Examples of Media and Community Acquisitions
(19:15) - Red Bull's Endless Content Stream
(24:20) - Red Bull's Stratosphere Jump
(26:21) - Outrageous Marketing Stunts
(29:00) - Local and Grassroots Marketing Efforts
(31:57) - Takeaways for Software Companies
(32:21) - Creative Marketing Examples in Software

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Your guide to killing Zendesk (with Marty Kausas, co-founder & CEO at Pylon)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 08:41:18 +0100

If there's something we all love, it's to root for david beating goliath.

And right now, there's a small team doing just that. Pylon, led by Marty Kausas, is going head to head with Zendesk.

Naturally, we asked Marty to share their playbook.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:17) - The Motivation Behind Building Pylon
(01:52) - The Journey to Becoming A-List
(02:19) - Board Games and Strategic Thinking
(04:16) - Targeting a Massive Market
(09:46) - Building the First Product
(11:42) - Competing with Giants
(18:59) - Product Development and Marketing Strategies
(26:35) - Embracing a Heavy Debate Culture
(29:24) - Leveraging LinkedIn for Business Growth
(38:22) - Scaling Sales and Hiring Strategies
(42:31) - Navigating AI in Customer Support
(47:59) - Reflecting on Business Learnings and Future Plans

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Killed by AI: What's happening with Chegg

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 12:11:35 +0100

With every new technology, there's a Kodak.. or Nokia.. For AI, that company is Chegg - a publicly traded, once highflying edtech company.

We break down the story of Chegg, and distill four learnings for GTM leaders.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:02) - The Role of AI in Our Show
(05:34) - The Rise and Fall of Chegg
(07:59) - Chegg's Business Model and COVID-19 Impact
(13:44) - The ChatGPT Disruption
(16:39) - The Resilient Business: Surviving Disruption
(17:03) - AI's Impact on Incumbents
(18:33) - The Innovator's Dilemma
(20:29) - Opportunities for Change
(21:38) - AI Disruption in Various Industries
(24:05) - Strategies for Business Resilience
(26:15) - The Importance of Diversification
(27:50) - Facing the Reality of Disruption

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Your champion is probably fake (With Gal Aga)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 08:27:54 +0100

Your main contact is not your champion. You champion might not be an experienced buyer. And the list goes on.

The problem is: not getting this right can really hurt your ability to bring in newbiz revenue.

That's why we invited Gal Aga from Aligned. Not only did he post a kick-ass meme on this problem, but he also has worked extensively with AEs and run into this problem too often.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:56) - The Israeli Tech Ecosystem
(04:35) - Understanding the Role of a Champion
(08:15) - Champion Enablement Strategies
(13:27) - Multi-Threading in Sales
(18:08) - Executive Buy-In and Business Cases
(23:06) - Navigating Executive Involvement in Sales
(23:50) - Building Trust with Your Champion
(26:38) - Understanding Buyer Dynamics
(27:10) - The Role of Professional Buyers
(28:47) - Collaborative Decision Making
(29:15) - Avoiding Transactional Sales
(30:58) - Managing Internal and External Stakeholders
(31:38) - Modern Sales Strategies
(41:43) - The Future of Transactional Selling
(45:27) - Final Thoughts and Takeaways

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Don’t create another podcast: Lessons from 200 episodes

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 19:32:05 +0100

So we've crossed 200 episodes. And we felt like, as usual, doling out some advice - this time focused on the thing we spend a lot of time on... Podcasts. Specifcally this one.

If you've considered, or are constantly being suggested/told to do a podcast. This episode is for you. If not, maybe it'll just be fun to get a look under the hood. (and if nothing else? This episode also consist of non-work related conversation)

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:42) - Podcasting Journey and Milestones
(03:28) - Why You Shouldn't Start a Podcast
(04:07) - Challenges and Realities of Podcasting
(08:23) - The Effort Behind Consistent Content
(10:37) - Building Trust and Community
(16:58) - Reflecting on Past Guests
(17:33) - Becoming Part of the Creator Economy
(18:29) - Leveraging Influencer Partnerships
(19:59) - The Impact of Guest Episodes
(23:17) - Strategies for Growing the Audience
(24:29) - The Importance of Consistency
(28:31) - Effective Content Repurposing

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How pitch narrowed their ICP and accelerated growth (with Ulrik Bo Larsen)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 12:23:05 +0100

How's PLG different from outbound? We asked someone who's worked with both motions. And the interesting part?

They used a very simple trick to accelerate their PLG: Defining their ICP.

(00:00) - Introduction
(10:02) - Finding the ICP
(19:37) - Acquisition and Sales Strategy
(20:04) - Brand equity
(22:53) - Trigger for engaging
(25:55) - Self-Onboarding and Offboarding Dynamics
(28:44) - Outbound Strategies and AI-Enabled Lifecycle
(41:54) - Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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Growth envy: How Cursor got to $100M with 20 people

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 09:04:46 +0100

Growth envy. We've all been there. Another company just blows up in what feels like seconds.

Immediately you wonder, how could we achieve the same? Well, first step is understanding, and in this episode we break down the conditions that enabled Cursor to grow incredibly fast.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:20) - Cursor and 0-100
(05:09) - The Power of Top Funnel
(11:56) - The Future of Code Writing
(12:10) - Teleportation and Sales
(12:49) - Understanding the Funnel
(13:05) - The Simplicity of PLG
(14:45) - Developer Tools and Market Size
(19:02) - Freemium Models in Enterprise Sales
(23:09) - Challenges of Rapid Growth
(27:05) - Retention and Competition

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When unicorns become zombies (With Roee Hartuv)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 10:58:37 +0100

There are 1000s of privately held unicorns. But for many of them, they will truly struggle to make a meaningful exit.

We discuss why together with Roee.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:25) - Understanding Zombie Unicorns
(04:30) - The Rise and Fall of Valuations
(06:33) - VC Expectations and Company Growth
(12:01) - The Fragility of High Valuations
(15:17) - Current Market Trends and Valuations
(19:35) - The Rise of Zombie Unicorns
(20:18) - Down Rounds and Valuation Challenges
(20:51) - Future of Unicorns and IPOs
(26:48) - Impact on Revenue Leaders
(32:06) - Pricing and Packaging Strategies
(35:39) - Concluding Thoughts and Future Outlook

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Reporting to the CEO - here's what we've learned

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 12:15:54 +0100

Are you about to report to the CEO? Are you already?

In todays episode, we share our experience reporting to the CEO.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:51) - Our first CEO
(07:10) - Benefits and Challenges of Reporting to the CEO
(13:03) - Effective Communication and Management Strategies
(20:16) - Deliver 100% of your commits

This episode is brought to you by Fullcast, the only AI-powered platform that streamlines your entire sales lifecycle — from plan to pay. With modules like territory and quota management, routing, and capacity planning, Fullcast adapts to your unique needs — whether you need one solution or an all-in-one platform.

Ready to see the difference? Visit Fullcast.com and mention the Revenue Formula Podcast to unlock an exclusive premium gift, just for listeners!

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No more free trials (Chris Pasquier from Slite)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 07:47:00 +0100

Free trials don't work for AI products - so... what do you do?

That's what we asked Chris, CEO and founder of Slite.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:36) - Challenges in Selling AI
(04:53) - Introduction to Slite and Super
(06:31) - AI Implementation and Use Cases
(08:50) - Customer Onboarding and Trials
(10:15) - Why can't we just do freemium
(13:10) - Overcoming AI Adoption Barriers
(22:15) - Future of AI in Business

Ready to see the difference? Visit Fullcast.com and mention the Revenue Formula Podcast to unlock an exclusive premium gift, just for listeners!

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SaaS was dead last week, but now it's back.

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:52:02 +0100

Wrappers are dead. LLMs are dead. SaaS is dead. The application layer is dead.

It's moving pretty fast still in AI, and we thought it was time to take stock of what we know right now.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:03) - OpenAI's Superbowl Ad Breakdown
(02:29) - The Role of AI in Modern Life
(03:16) - Teasing Future Content
(03:50) - The Fast-Paced World of AI
(05:35) - Understanding GPT Wrappers
(07:40) - Hype vs. Reality in AI
(10:04) - The Evolution of Solutions
(14:22) - Consumer Perception of AI
(16:25) - AI's Role in Problem Solving
(17:47) - The Commoditization of AI
(18:50) - Cloud Providers and AI Models
(20:39) - The Future of AI Investment
(22:31) - Challenges in AI Implementation
(28:51) - Skepticism and Realities of AI

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You have no moat (With Bethany Stachenfeld)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:21:47 +0100

If 4 developers at a unicorn got a $1m check, could they copy your feature? Well, yes. We discussed why this question is stupid, and how to build true competitive advantages.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:11) - Remote Work and Team Dynamics
(02:47) - Exploring New Features and Innovations
(04:59) - Customer Experience and Building a Moat
(15:05) - Sticky Features and User Retention
(17:52) - Salesforce and the Challenges of Switching Providers
(18:34) - Bad Industry Practices and Network Effects
(19:38) - Building Ecosystem Benefits and Integrations
(20:38) - Strategic Partnerships and Preferred Partners
(23:34) - Customer Feedback and Product Development
(27:27) - Efficient Growth and Competitive Advantages
(33:23) - Outbound Marketing Strategies

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Sellers don't sell

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 13:34:20 +0100

If sellers aren't selling anymore.. What are they doing? and why are we paying them so much?

Find out in this episode.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:50) - Sales Insights and Changing Dynamics
(05:01) - The knowledge gap has reversed
(07:57) - Proof of Concept: Ensuring Solutions Work
(10:12) - The Role of Sellers in the New AI World
(11:40) - The Importance of Customer Feedback
(13:19) - Navigating the Buying Process
(15:59) - The Value of Sales Skills
(23:17) - Addressing Indecision in Sales

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Stacking outbound (With Maximus Greenwald)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 11:23:49 +0100

What can you learn from someone who's built a motion from scratch to scale?

That's what we discovered with Maximus, CEO and Co-founder of Warmly. He shares how they built outbound from nothing.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:05) - Building in Public
(06:41) - Firing Customers
(07:43) - Stacking Outbound
(10:54) - Zero to One: Lessons and Learnings
(19:08) - Dang outbound, it works!
(19:52) - Consistency in Email Campaigns
(20:34) - Profiles for Zero to One Phase
(21:30) - Commandos, Soldiers, and Policemen
(24:24) - Scaling Sales Processes
(25:15) - Layering in more channels
(27:54) - Hiring and Team Culture
(29:19) - Navigating Growth Challenges
(35:27) - AI in Sales and Marketing

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3 Signs your GTM is weak

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 11:58:01 +0100

Weaknesses are awesome. If you can identify them that is. We discuss three common GTM weaknesses and how you can identify them...

So you can start fixing them and getting better.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:23) - Parenting Challenges
(04:22) - Go-to-Market Strategies
(05:35) - 20-20 vision
(06:22) - 1: I'm just not motivated
(12:37) - You're a bad leader
(15:04) - It's products fault (of course)
(16:30) - Handling Bugs and Product Frustrations
(17:09) - Building a Billion Dollar Business
(22:17) - I'm not listening to you (the customer)
(26:24) - The Value of Qualitative Data

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Better unit economics, PLG + SLG and more (with Kevin McIntyre)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 13:42:54 +0100

How do you get CAC:PB below 12? How do you get reps to close 50% more ARR? By focusing on unit economics.

In this episode, we focus on that, merging PLG + SLG and more with Kevin McIntyre.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:24) - Why merge
(07:02) - Bringing together PLG and SLG
(10:24) - Challenges and Strategies Post-Merger
(13:38) - Focus on Unit Economics and Sales Efficiency
(32:40) - Where AI will assist
(38:01) - Reflections on CRO Tenure and Final Thoughts

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GTM Velocity: How to out-execute the competition

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 10:52:20 +0100

This is your quick guide to GTM velocity. We cover three simple areas you can focus on to accelerate your GTM — and outcompete your competition.

(00:00) - Introduction
(05:14) - Work Culture and Four-Hour Work Week
(07:23) - Go-to-Market Velocity Explained
(11:28) - High Tempo Testing and Experimentation
(13:11) - Defining Kill Criteria for Projects
(14:38) - Experimental Market Expansion Strategies
(15:40) - Simplifying for Speed and Learning
(18:34) - The Importance of Speed in Hiring
(24:01) - Optimizing Team Capacity
(27:47) - Effective Time Management and Meetings

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Time to fire the VP Sales? (With Raul Porojan)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 09:27:21 +0100

Is it time to fire the VP Sales? How do you know? How do you do it? Did s/he even get setup for success?

This and much more we discuss with Raul Porojan

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:50) - Firing the VP of Sales: Initial Thoughts
(04:49) - Challenges in Sales Leadership
(05:58) - Setting and Achieving Sales Quotas
(11:24) - Evaluating Sales Leadership Performance
(21:09) - When to Fire a Sales Leader
(24:41) - Final Considerations and Team Dynamics
(25:45) - Identifying the Real Problem
(26:35) - Deciding to Let Go of the VP
(27:00) - Handling the Transition
(28:06) - Founder Involvement in Sales
(29:22) - Bridging the Leadership Gap
(30:34) - Dealing with Team Dynamics
(33:25) - Internal Promotions
(39:02) - Avoiding Common Hiring Mistakes
(40:34) - Making the Right Hiring Decision

This episode is brought to you by by Fullcast, the only AI-powered platform that streamlines your entire sales lifecycle — from plan to pay. With modules like territory and quota management, routing, and capacity planning, Fullcast adapts to your unique needs — whether you need one solution or an all-in-one platform.

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The rise of the GTM engineer

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 10:21:12 +0100

There are <200 folks with the title "GTM Engineer" on LinkedIn. But somehow, this role gets discussed a lot.

And it's an interesting discussion - especially because we created a similar role at out previous startup, and it worked extremely well.

Not sure what the role does or why it matters? Then listen to this episode. We discuss

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:32) - Introducing the Go-to-Market Engineer Role
(08:57) - The role in practise
(20:49) - Where does the role sit?

This episode is brought to you by by Everstage - the highest rated Sales Commissions Platform on G2, Gartner Peer Insights, Trustradius with over 2,000+ customer reviews. Some of their customers include leading brands like Diligent, Wiley, Trimble, Postman, Chargebee etc.,

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Community led growth, don't do it (with Matthew Volm)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 11:21:01 +0100

Okay.. There's a few motions being covered plenty (inbound, outbound, plg etc.)

But there's this other thing called community led growth that hasn't been covered a lot -- so we decided to discuss it with someone who built a succesfull community.

And that's Matthew Volm, co-founder of RevOps Coop. We asked him to share, well, why you shouldn't do CLG.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:53) - How the community became a thing
(06:53) - Pivoting to Community Building
(12:34) - Challenges in Building a Community
(21:30) - Learning on the Job: The Challenges of Revenue Operations
(22:19) - The Impact of COVID-19 on RevOps
(22:46) - Building a Community for RevOps
(23:18) - Starting a Community: Key Considerations
(23:59) - The Importance of Niche Focus
(25:20) - Community-Led Growth: Success Stories
(26:49) - The ROI of Community Participation
(28:48) - Effective Community Engagement Strategies
(34:31) - The Role of AI and Human Connection in Communities
(38:01) - The Mindset for Building a Community
(41:20) - Customers and prospects

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5 things we hate about SaaS

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 10:42:10 +0100

Moats. Copycats.. The list goes on. There's a lot of reasons to hate being in SaaS.

We discuss the most common headaches in todays episode.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:22) - "It's so easy to copy us now"
(08:51) - Do you have a.. moat?
(16:00) - We need to be efficient
(18:55) - More pipeline, fewer deals
(21:47) - SaaS Selling to SaaS

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Why AI is eating software (with Jonathan Moss)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 09:54:23 +0100

Remember Salesforce and Seibel? Well. We're about to see a lot of similar things happen thanks to AI.

In today's episode, we discuss how AI is eating software - who's already being disrupted, and what a moat looks like now.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:47) - AI's Impact on Software
(08:34) - Understanding AI Agents
(13:50) - AI's Role in Business Processes
(18:16) - Challenges in AI Adoption
(25:19) - The Rise of AI in Software Development
(26:01) - The Importance of Smaller Models and Data
(28:12) - The Role of Memory in AI
(29:54) - Knowledge Graphs and Their Impact
(31:08) - Customer Success and AI
(33:12) - Navigating AI for Incumbents
(38:27) - The Future of AI-Driven Companies
(42:34) - Practical Tips for AI Integration

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5 mistakes that always breaks Q1

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 07:37:00 +0100

So Q1 is kicking off in hours, and most of you have already made a few mistakes.

We discuss the most common ones, and what you can do to fix them.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:23) - Preparing for Q1: Common Mistakes
(05:42) - Make no room for sales excuses
(06:35) - Setting Sales Targets and Comp Plans
(09:37) - Hiring is late... again
(13:05) - Maybe it's the right time now
(17:22) - January got screwed in Q4
(21:57) - People leave

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Advise for your career in 2025 (with Robin Daniels)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 07:21:00 +0100

Did you start reflecting over your next career steps? Whether it's about quitting, staying and growing -- we discuss all things career with Robin Daniels.

(00:00) - Robin Daniels
(06:54) - Energy and Initiative in Your Career
(11:33) - The Importance of Soft Skills
(12:35) - Evaluating Career Goals and Titles
(17:48) - Weekly Self-Assessment for Career Satisfaction
(20:04) - Impact of Work on Personal Life
(20:16) - Advice for Those Unhappy at Work
(20:42) - Introspection and Self-Reflection
(23:06) - The Role of Salary in Job Satisfaction
(24:48) - When is it time to... go?
(35:08) - When there's no room above

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Your guide to go-to-market trends in 2025

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 07:27:00 +0100

Will growth return? How will AI influence GTM?

There's so many questions as we near the end of 2024. In today's episode, we cover the key trends and predictions for 2025.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:21) - Go-to-Market Trends for 2025
(02:21) - But first: Will we see more growth next year?
(04:17) - AI's Impact on Sales and Hiring
(08:24) - More sales roles
(12:34) - The rise of AI agencies
(16:31) - GTM Engineers
(21:53) - Teams of 20 will beat teams of 200
(29:03) - Branding in the Age of AI
(33:44) - Conclusion and New Year Wishes

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From seats to outcomes: How AI is changing pricing (with Kyle Poyar)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 09:00:37 +0100

Because of AI, pricing models are changing fast - and they're not just disruptive to incumbents, but also to how teams operate.

With Kyle Poyar, we discuss new pricing models focused on outcomes and units of work - and what ramifications they come with.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:19) - The Evolution of SaaS Pricing
(06:04) - How AI is changing pricing
(09:31) - Challenges and Strategies in AI Pricing
(27:01) - Challenges for incumbents
(36:31) - It comes down to the CEO
(40:24) - Hybrid pricing
(42:18) - 2025 Predictions

Check out Kyle's article on the new pricing models here.

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$1M ARR Per FTE: How to get hyper efficient

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 07:58:49 +0100

What's a great ARR per FTE, and is it even realistic to get to $1M? And if you could, why should you?

This and more we discuss in todays episode.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:32) - Why $1 million, like really?
(06:46) - The Mindset Shift
(13:00) - What can we automate first?
(18:31) - Average quality of talent
(25:48) - Investing in Assets for Growth

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You need to know these GTM trends (with Chris Walker)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 08:00:37 +0100

2025 is around the corner - and we asked Chris Walker about his predictions for the next years. Will we see more efficiency? Growth? How will AI transform teams? And much much more.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:17) - Has anything changed?
(05:03) - Understanding the Core Problems
(07:06) - The C suite
(12:03) - Wrong KPIs
(14:40) - No, we aren't more efficient
(19:00) - AI and Market Efficiency
(22:03) - Building Customer-Centric Software
(24:12) - The Real Cost of Software and Market Growth
(24:52) - Predictions for Marketing Teams
(27:03) - Challenges in AI Adoption
(29:24) - Data's Role in AI and Marketing
(30:37) - Future Trends and Predictions
(34:40) - The Art and Science of Go-to-Market Strategy
(35:56) - RevOps and Go-to-Market Operations
(37:48) - Customer Success and Account Management
(40:51) - Key Ingredients for Success in 2025

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This is why your growth isn't picking up

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 08:18:07 +0100

There's been a bunch of change happening lately. And a lot of excuses to. It's time to accept the changes and adapt to (finally) start growing again.

(00:00) - Introduction
(05:47) - Growth and Market Dynamics
(10:59) - So what exactly has changed?
(11:23) - Changes in Buyer Behavior
(11:48) - The Rise of Buying Committees
(14:09) - Focus on Cost Reduction
(16:13) - The AI Buyer Emerges
(16:42) - AI's Rapid Improvement and Cost Efficiency
(19:39) - AI's Market Impact and Investment
(23:40) - Outcome-Based Pricing Models
(29:11) - The Future of AI in Business

This episode is brought to you by Fullcast - the only AI-powered platform that streamlines your entire sales lifecycle—from plan to pay. Loved by companies like Own, Degreed, Zones, Collibra, and more.

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The state of venture capital (with Peter Walker)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 09:15:06 +0100

Will the funding market screw you, or accelerate your plans?

In this episode, we talk with Peter Walker about funding and why it matters to GTM teams.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:04) - What commercial teams need to know
(05:44) - What does the market look like right now
(07:19) - Are IPOs still backed up?
(09:24) - Political landscape
(12:29) - Two paths during a downturn
(17:17) - Time Between Funding Rounds
(20:28) - The AI Hype Cycle
(27:31) - Startup Shutdowns
(30:54) - Down Rounds and Their Impact
(33:14) - Predictions for 2025

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Take advantage of this zero day exploit now

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 09:33:56 +0100

If you're the first to exploit a new opportunity, your advantage will only get bigger over time.

So, is there an exploit you can take advantage of? Find out in the episode.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:06) - Understanding Zero Day Exploits
(05:36) - E-commerce Evolution and SEO
(12:31) - The Rise of SaaS
(19:07) - AI in Go-to-Market Strategies
(29:39) - Encouraging AI Experimentation
(31:42) - Conclusion and Call to Action

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Why 70% of Sales Jobs Might Disappear (with Jacco van der Kooij)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 11:05:46 +0100

Have you read the phrase “AI won’t replace your job, but people who use AI will”? Well, that's not entirely true.

In today's episode, we discuss how AI is disrupting the entire GTM at the moment - and we discuss it with Jacco van der Kooij.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:24) - How AI is transforming GTM
(15:01) - AI: Volume, cost and... what's the last one?
(20:43) - Beyond talking leaflets
(26:04) - Agentic World and AI Sub-Agents
(30:13) - The First Mover Advantage
(35:09) - From shovel to excavator
(39:53) - The Three Storms
(45:16) - The Rise of Vertical SaaS
(53:11) - AI's Exponential Growth and Future Impact

References

"In 2025, AI won’t just assist salespeople – it will replace them.", Winning by Design
"Why and how AI is going to replace sales" (video), Jacco van der Kooij
AI share of search, Rand Fishkin

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The unfair advantage: Why every founder needs a brand

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 08:25:40 +0100

There's an unfair advantage some startups and companies have. It's a competitive advantage that can't be copied. And it's on you should build as early as possible - a founder brand.

In todays episode, we talk about our experience with building a founder brand, what we've learned from others and much much more.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:47) - Building a Founder Brand
(07:27) - You need this
(08:45) - Blank page problem
(11:11) - The Importance of Consistency
(15:28) - Distribution and Trust
(17:04) - The reason LinkedIn is interesting
(19:33) - The other option
(25:27) - What will you talk about

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How This AE Built a $1M Pipeline Through LinkedIn (With Laura Erdem)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 10:11:56 +0100

We've found a salesperson who's successfully sourcing 30% of her pipeline herself. How? Using LinkedIn.

Laura shares her playbook, giving you practical tips to get going and much more.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:27) - Welcome
(02:53) - Challenges of Traditional Outbound Sales
(05:07) - The Shift to Social Selling
(05:57) - "You're not Gartner"
(10:40) - How much pipeline? And how do you calculate it?
(16:57) - Building a Social Selling Playbook
(20:32) - Getting founder support
(23:19) - Who to get on the team
(24:42) - How do we get started
(26:39) - Figure out the who and the what
(28:41) - Forget the POV
(31:54) - And now, book a demo!
(37:06) - But that deal is mine..
(41:25) - Laura's secret tricks
(45:54) - Concluding Thoughts and Final Tips

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VCs hate services - here’s why SaaS shouldn't

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 10:36:40 +0100

Carta. HubSpot. Brandwatch. Rippling. These companies, and many others, offer services (even though VCs don't like it).

It's not about creating a services business, it's about using it to acquire, retain and grow customers. Here's what we get into:

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:08) - Why services aren't attractive
(04:54) - And why services are awesome
(11:46) - Services as an acquisition channel
(12:25) - First example: Carta
(16:34) - 2nd: Rippling
(21:24) - HubSpot's Onboarding

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This founder shares his churn problem (with Adam Robinson)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 10:21:51 +0100

Everyone talks openly about raising a new round or closing a massive deal. But churn, crickets. Except for one guy, Adam Robinson.

And he shares not only his churn problem, but how he solved it, how he's building a solid awareness engine and, how he built Rb2b.

(00:00) - Introduction
(07:02) - October 2022, the first LinkedIn post
(08:53) - Finding his voice
(11:15) - The first viral post
(13:51) - No product was decided yet
(16:05) - The product was not exciting...
(17:59) - 3 weeks after launch
(22:58) - The Impact of Transparency on Business
(23:49) - Churn: The thing people won't talk about (when it's bad)
(27:23) - Churn spiked to 15%
(29:49) - A few realizations
(36:37) - The strange issue
(45:05) - Confrontational Marketing
(48:10) - Final Thoughts and Farewell

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The new outbound playbook we used to book 500 meetings

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 07:51:49 +0100

Outbound is being declared dead every week. AI is ruining outbound. Every business struggle to get it to work. But, we managed to get it working (again).

In today's episode, we share the new playbook for outbound we used to book 500 meetings in just a few months, with 3 SDRs.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:38) - Where outbound started
(06:18) - AI SDRs
(09:29) - Text is dead
(11:22) - A different outreach
(15:06) - The one that worked
(16:45) - This won't scale
(20:00) - LinkedIn and Email Outreach
(22:11) - AI Integration in Outreach
(25:00) - Account Selection and Targeting
(30:12) - True sales and marketing collaboration

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Don't create a category, do this instead (with Kyle Coleman)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 12:14:00 +0100

Kyle is back on the show - this time we grill him on category creation, and finding a problem to market instead.

He should know, he saw a category and problem get created at Clari, and is running the playbook again at Copy.ai.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:45) - The TLDR of Kyle's presentation at Exit5
(03:27) - Are you differentiated?
(06:44) - How are you going to get the sale funded?
(09:42) - The stupid & simple questions to ask
(15:30) - Practical Implementation and Results
(18:55) - Am I the GTM bloat??
(23:18) - The Copy AI Pitch
(25:03) - Creating a Category Narrative
(26:23) - The Lightning Strike
(27:42) - Focusing on the Problem vs. Category
(30:24) - What changes in the day to day?
(32:33) - Lessons Learned at Clari
(38:59) - Connecting Positioning to Demand Generation
(43:01) - The AI Tailwinds

Sources & mentions

Brendan Huffords TL;DR of Kyle's presentation
Play bigger, Christopher Lochhead & the category pirates
Drive by ExitFive
Check the framework here

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3 Career Hacks You Should Know About

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 19:32:22 +0100

Here's two guys without a job doling out their top 3 career hacks. Don't worry, they had jobs when they used the hacks - and some of them they just observed.

But they had one thing in common: They worked. Give it a listen and use it to guide your teams or your own career trajectory.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:52) - 1: Chaos is a ladder
(10:47) - 2: He who controls the spice controls the universe
(11:39) - Own a number
(14:52) - Efficiency is a Superpower
(16:09) - If you can't own a number now, own this
(17:25) - Challenges and Strategies in RevOps
(20:50) - 3: Last person standing

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AI in Action: GTM use cases that work (with Andy Mowat)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:47:29 +0100

Do you need an AI strategy? Do AI SDRs work? And if they don’t, what does?

This and more we talk about with Andy Mowat

(00:00) - Introduction
(05:47) - RevOps vs GTM Ops and retitling
(11:10) - AI Usecases in the GTM
(12:18) - The main sales usecase
(14:15) - AI SDRs: Efficiency vs. Conversion
(19:02) - AI that actually works in sales
(23:06) - AI and data
(26:08) - Generative AI and Data Normalization
(30:05) - Future of AI in Business

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Growblocks is shutting down: here's what we've learned

Toni Hohlbein & Mikkel Plaehn — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 12:00:46 +0100

Growblocks is done, but we're continuing the podcast - so we thought we'd share some of the things we've learned along the way in this episode.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:43) - Growblocks shutting down
(03:36) - Why it didn't work
(04:36) - The people we were selling to
(07:56) - Internal Selling and Champion Challenges
(13:16) - Category Creation and Market Positioning
(15:50) - Impact of SaaS and AI on the Market
(19:55) - Consulting vs. Product Focus
(22:48) - Building Trust Through Branding
(26:24) - Effective Outbound Strategies
(28:29) - Future Plans and Show Continuation

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Here are two simple ways to reduce burn

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 09:00:00 +0200

Need to be more efficient in your GTM? Then it's time to get serious about your burn rate.

In this episode, Mikkel and Toni break down some tactics you can start now to get your finances in line.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:42) - Reducing Burn
(09:02) - Mastering Payment Terms for Cashflow
(12:07) - Strategic Pay Raises and Salary Bands
(14:32) - Effective Use of SPIFFs
(16:31) - Navigating Budget Challenges in Recruitment
(18:47) - Optimizing Sales Commissions and Performance
(23:12) - Balancing Owned, Earned, and Paid Marketing Channels
(27:28) - Reevaluating Tool Investments for Cost Efficiency

***

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🔔 LinkedIn: Toni / Mikkel

✉️ Newsletter: https://www.revletter.io/

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💬 Contact: podcast@growblocks.com

Are warrants a scam? Here’s what you need to know

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 09:00:00 +0200

Between bad leaver clauses, dilution and liquidation preferences, we're willing to bet most folks out there don't understand their warrants. And who can blame them?

In this episode, we break down the complexities of warrants in compensation packages and answer the question: Are they worth it? Or are they just a scam?

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:13) - Understanding Warrants: A Potential Scam?
(04:22) - Warrants as Compensation: Myths and Realities
(12:33) - The Complexities of Dilution and Liquidation Preference
(20:14) - Negotiation Strategies and Secondary Markets
(24:56) - Conclusion and Final Thoughts

***

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✉️ Newsletter: https://www.revletter.io/

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7 GTM problems everyone has, and how to fix them (with Eddie Reynolds)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 09:00:00 +0200

What if we told you there are 7 simple mistakes companies make over and over again?

From the misalignment between sales and marketing to the mishandling of inbound leads, Eddie Reynolds joins us to shed light on why these mistakes happen, and how to avoid them.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:16) - Transition to SaaS Companies Discussion
(05:10) - The Importance of a True Revenue Leader
(06:56) - Challenges in Marketing and Sales Alignment
(16:43) - Inbound Lead Routing Issues
(23:35) - Inbound vs Outbound Pipeline Expectations
(24:06) - Challenges with Quota Attainment
(24:15) - The Role of CFOs in Sales Planning
(24:36) - Understanding CFOs' Go-to-Market Knowledge
(25:13) - Importance of Accurate Sales Forecasting
(32:20) - Outbound Sales Strategies and Challenges
(37:14) - Aligning Inbound and Outbound Efforts
(39:55) - Navigating Dirty Data in Sales

***

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🔔 LinkedIn: Toni / Mikkel

✉️ Newsletter: https://www.revletter.io/

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💬 Contact: podcast@growblocks.com

To prevent burnout, this could be the answer

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 07:27:00 +0200

Do you recognize this in yourself or someone else: You're working hard. More than what's required. You're rxtremely busy, but at the end of the week, you're just not sure what you actually got done.

Yes, that really hurts. And eventually, you'll burn out. The solution? Getting productive as F...

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:29) - Stress, burnout and productivity
(08:06) - Keeping an inventory
(08:26) - Waiting for list
(10:54) - Fixing sleep with a list
(12:00) - A not to do list & the endless backlog
(14:47) - Weekly updates
(17:58) - Context Switching
(22:42) - Interruption
(25:52) - Take control of your calendar

***

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✉️ Newsletter: https://www.revletter.io/

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💬 Contact: podcast@growblocks.com

Starting a new job? Do these 3 things

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 09:19:38 +0200

Whether you're a new CRO, VP of Marketing, or RevOps, if you want to earn your title, you'll want to onboard quickly and drive results early. But that's usually easier said than done.

In this episode, we give you 3 things you should do when starting a new organization to bring value from day 1.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:09) - How to onboard yourself
(03:16) - Importance of Pre-Start Research
(04:55) - Triaging the Organization
(11:05) - Quick Wins and Early Impact
(18:28) - Building Relationships with the Team
(25:28) - Understanding Goals and Expectations
(28:51) - Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Do we have a tenure problem in tech?

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 08:28:54 +0200

Yes. Tenure for tech is relatively bad when comparing to other industries. But is that a problem? And if so, how do we fix it?

This and more we get into in todays episode

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:41) - After 3 years, half your team has moved one
(07:02) - Boomers, millenials and different tenures
(12:18) - The problem short tenure creates
(13:10) - Employee Acquisition Costs
(14:23) - The Hidden Costs of Recruitment
(15:42) - Onboarding and Ramp-Up Time
(17:53) - The Importance of Employee Tenure
(20:43) - Strategies to Increase Employee Retention
(23:14) - Analyzing Employee Churn

***

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✉️ Newsletter: https://www.revletter.io/

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💬 Contact: podcast@growblocks.com

How to build & replicate stellar sales teams (With Collin Cadmus)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 10:29:23 +0200

What does it take to build a succesful salesteam? And what does it take to replicate it? That's what we talk with Collin Cadmus about.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:08) - Sales Success and Product Quality
(09:28) - Identifying a Great Product
(14:54) - Building a Strong Sales Team
(20:55) - Replicating Successful Sales Teams
(21:36) - Setting Attainable Quotas
(22:12) - Incentivizing High Performance
(23:39) - Scaling Sales Teams Efficiently
(32:39) - Aligning Strategy with CFOs and Investors
(42:02) - Adapting to Market Conditions

***

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✉️ Newsletter: https://www.revletter.io/

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Is it time to merge inbound and outbound?

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 09:21:23 +0200

When folks run outbound, they eventually also run inbound. But should those motions really be separate? What would happen if they were merged? And what problems would it resolve?

This and more we discuss in todays episode

(00:00) - Introduction
(00:42) - Hunting Challenges and Reflections
(02:43) - Transition to Business Discussion
(02:59) - Outbound vs Inbound Marketing Debate
(03:42) - Month-End Process and Opportunity Review
(04:47) - Challenges in Marketing and Sales Collaboration
(06:12) - Revenue Attribution and Commission Issues
(10:16) - Strategies for Demand Generation
(10:56) - Combining Inbound and Outbound Efforts
(19:41) - Lead Scoring and SDR Integration
(26:22) - Final Thoughts and Conclusion

***

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✉️ Newsletter: https://www.revletter.io/

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💬 Contact: podcast@growblocks.com

Does your data have credibility issues? (With Lindsay Cordell)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 08:34:57 +0200

That's not the number I have. How did you calculate it? What field did you use!!?. Data promises amazing insights and great decision making.

But more often than not, we tend to not trust the data. That's why we talk about data trust with Lindsay.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:24) - Data Trust Issues
(03:56) - Common Data Quality Problems
(11:27) - Impact of Data Issues on Business
(14:57) - Manual Data Correction Challenges
(19:46) - Analyzing Opportunity Age in Salesforce
(21:10) - Handling Imperfections in Data
(22:32) - Outlier Management with Advanced Technology
(25:10) - Building Trust in Forecast Numbers
(27:45) - Creating a Common Language Across Departments
(38:51) - Eliminating Friction in Go-to-Market Teams
(41:44) - The Future of Data Trust and Technology

***

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✉️ Newsletter: https://www.revletter.io/

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💬 Contact: podcast@growblocks.com

Customer Success isn't a profit center - here's why

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 10:45:07 +0200

Yes, customer success should be a profit center. But for many companies, it's just not.

In this episode, we discuss why that's the case - and why it's not just a quick fix. We do share some tips to make it a profit center though.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:01) - Challenges in Customer Success
(05:18) - The Reality of Upselling
(08:22) - Cultural Differences in Sales
(11:37) - Strategies for Effective Upselling
(14:37) - Do you have GTM fit?
(24:13) - Real examples

***

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Creating a growth model for SaaS (with Anthony Enrico)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 07:43:00 +0200

The fastest growing companies use growth models. You probably already have one - but is it fully built out? Does it really work?

In this episode, we talk with Anthony who's build quite a few.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:43) - Diving into Growth Modeling
(11:39) - Challenges and Pitfalls in Growth Modeling
(16:08) - Understanding Pipeline Needs
(17:35) - Challenges in Planning and Execution
(19:49) - Involving the Right People in Growth Planning
(23:49) - Building a Comprehensive Growth Model
(27:01) - From Planning to Execution: OKRs and KPIs
(28:56) - Real-World Growth Model Case Studies
(39:41) - Final Thoughts and Takeaways

***

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✉️ Newsletter: https://www.revletter.io/

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GTM Inflation & the cost of doing nothing

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 08:19:28 +0200

Yes, inflation can be boring. No, you can't ignore it even in the GTM teams. We discuss what problems inflation is creating - and what to do about it.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:20) - SaaS and GTM inflation
(06:18) - Rising Costs and Business Adjustments
(09:57) - Understanding Value Pricing in SaaS
(11:00) - Check your T&Cs
(13:50) - Using Price Increase Wisely
(18:54) - Communicating Price Increases to Customers
(25:11) - Case Study: Effective Price Increase Strategies

Mentions

***

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Here's how AI is changing sales (With Kyle Coleman)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 07:49:00 +0200

Will AI replace your sales team? Can it? Should it? What is AI even? This and much more, we talk with Kyle Coleman about.

He's CMO at copy.ai, so he knows a thing or two about AI.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:38) - AI in Sales: Initial Thoughts
(03:26) - What's AI changing right now?
(04:30) - Challenges with AI SDRs
(07:24) - Future of AI in Sales
(14:07) - Account strategy plans with AI
(17:34) - Systematic Sales Process
(24:20) - Maximizing Sales Efficiency with AI
(24:59) - Getting Started with AI in Sales
(25:44) - Crafting Effective Emails with AI
(28:11) - Leveraging AI for Account Executives
(31:32) - AI in Customer Success
(36:09) - Pitfalls
(40:11) - The Role of Revenue Operations in AI Adoption
(42:12) - "This AI thing is not for me"

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

That's why Growblocks built the first RevOps platform that shows you your entire funnel, split by motions, segments and more - so you can find problems, the root-cause and identify solutions fast, all in the same platform.

***

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Challenger brands: Forcing people to pick a side

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 09:01:45 +0200

What does a SaaS company, an airline and an oatmilk company have in common? They're challenger brands. And it can be a pretty powerful strategy you can take as a brand.

We run through real examples and much more

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:10) - Challenger Brands... what is it?
(03:50) - Salesforce vs. Siebel: The Ultimate Challenger Brand
(09:55) - Salesforce's Guerrilla Marketing Tactics
(13:22) - Reflecting on Bold Marketing Ideas
(15:12) - The Power of Brand Exposure
(15:39) - Richard Branson's Guerrilla Advertising
(17:28) - Virgin's Creative Marketing Tactics
(19:00) - The Impact of Controversial Marketing
(23:35) - Oatly's Environmental Challenge
(26:54) - Drift's No Forms Movement

Sources

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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✉️ Newsletter: revenueletter.substack.com

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The New GTM Playbook (With Sid Kumar)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 08:11:00 +0200

The majority of revenue comes after the initial sales. A 5% lift in retention can lead to a 20-95% increase in revenue. But most companies neglect the customer side - so we need a new playbook.

That's exactly what we talked about with Sid Kumar, VP of GTM Strategy & Planning at Databricks.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:23) - Meet Sid
(03:05) - The Need for a New Go-to-Market Playbook
(03:17) - Defining a Connected Go-to-Market Strategy
(04:52) - Challenges in Customer Journey Mapping
(06:02) - Practical Steps for Creating a Unified Customer Journey
(12:28) - The Importance of Keeping It Simple
(16:48) - Adapting Go-to-Market Strategies for Different Segments
(17:34) - Diagnosing Revenue Leakage and Efficiency
(24:20) - Entering New Markets: Challenges and Missteps
(24:57) - Unpacking the New Playbook: Customer First Approach
(25:24) - Reframing Marketing and Sales Alignment
(27:14) - The Role of Customer Success in Go-To-Market Strategy
(30:50) - Breaking Down Organizational Silos
(38:42) - The Evolving Role of Revenue Operations
(42:30) - Always Planning: Adapting to Market Changes
(45:49) - Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Sources
Winning by Design, CS as a profit center
Hubspot & Pavilion RevOps survey

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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4 Reasons customers aren't expanding

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 15:28:18 +0200

If you're north of $5M ARR, 40% of new revenue should come from existing customers. Are you seeing enough revenue from expansion?

Even if you're getting expansion, maybe you can get more - we talk about a few ways to achieve it.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:34) - Why does expansion matter?
(05:45) - Challenges with Expansion
(08:19) - Strategies for Effective Expansion
(10:28) - Do you get the right customers and do they want more?
(19:14) - Add-Ons and Multi-Product Strategies
(26:45) - Customer Success and Resource Allocation
(28:34) - How many CSMs do you really need?

Mentions & Sources
Openview SaaS benchmarks
Elena Verna

***

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***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

Can RevOps lead sales? Well, this person does (with Ryan Milligan)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 08:33:08 +0200

Thought experiment: What would happen if you put RevOps in charge in sales? Well, we spoke Ryan from QuotaPath who started in RevOps, and now also runs sales.

And there's a few interesting learnings you shouldn't miss

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:30) - Meet Ryan
(02:02) - Transition from RevOps to Sales Leadership
(03:52) - What we think sales is and what it actually is
(06:35) - RevOps and Sales Alignment
(08:13) - Advice for RevOps Professionals
(12:49) - Sales Process and Deal Managemen
(22:07) - Quota Design and Sales Team Efficiency
(30:47) - Comp plans for CS?
(38:13) - Final Thoughts and Conclusion

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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The plan that kill teams

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 07:40:00 +0200

It's planning season again. The most agonizing process for GTM teams needing to plan their targets.

We discuss how b2b SaaS teams should go about it.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:34) - The Annual Plan: A Recipe for Disaster
(02:37) - The CFO owns it
(07:43) - The most important plan
(12:43) - Multi year planning
(18:30) - Resource Allocation: Balancing Headcount and Budget
(20:04) - Commercial & financial planning in parallel
(22:01) - Navigating Initiatives
(25:04) - Short-Term vs Long-Term
(28:52) - Get some friends in FP&A

***

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***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

Why PLG suck, and how to fix it (with Wes Bush)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 08:00:00 +0200

PLG sucks. Especially if you don't know what you're doing.

Too many people assume you just turn on the self-serve button and watch the money roll in. And they couldn't be more wrong.

In this episode, we talk with Wes Bush, Founder of ProductLed.com, about everything you need to know about PLG and what you need to do to run it right.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:18) - Introducing the Guest: Wes Bush
(03:05) - Diving into Product-Led Growth (PLG)
(05:16) - So why does it suck?
(08:43) - Solving for simplicity or complexity?
(14:32) - PLG in Different Business Stages
(19:57) - Pricing and Packaging in PLG
(21:19) - The Challenges of Implementing PLG
(21:43) - Strategic Shifts and Organizational Impact
(23:04) - Primary Go-to-Market Motion
(24:43) - Diagnosing PLG Struggles
(25:31) - What to Give Away for Free
(27:55) - Real-World Examples and Intentionality
(29:56) - Balancing PLG and Sales-Led Approaches
(32:07) - Commitment to PLG Strategy
(37:12) - Competing with PLG Competitors
(39:22) - Final Thoughts on PLG

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Do this before accepting a new job

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 07:49:00 +0200

Are you "on the bench" looking for a new job in b2b SaaS?. Not sure how to know if the next place is a fit for you?

We share a few things to ask, analyze and get in the process.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:02) - Navigating the Job Market
(02:29) - People on the bench
(06:26) - The first thing to think about
(09:02) - Pressure test the stats
(12:36) - Employer-Employee Fit
(16:05) - When is an impact expected?
(19:13) - Replacement hire?
(21:34) - Runway
(24:13) - Exit Package
(28:22) - Equity

***

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***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

3 Reasons reps don't make quota

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 07:51:00 +0200

Plenty of reps aren't making quota - but there are some very simple reasons why we see again and again and again.

We talk about the three reasons - and the best part? You can fix them.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:03) - Sales Challenges and Observations
(05:18) - Problem 1: Lots of MQLs that go no where
(16:21) - Problem 2: Wrong meetings booked
(19:42) - Defining Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
(21:58) - Problem 3: The AEs
(24:24) - The Importance of Accurate Sales Data
(29:08) - Conclusion

***

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***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

When volume won't cut it

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 07:48:00 +0200

There's a phase shift that happens to any b2b SaaS company. The shift away from volume to efficiency.

When is it time to shift, and how do you go about it? That's what we discuss.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:56) - Is volume still the thing?
(07:04) - Shifting Focus away
(13:00) - The Process
(16:40) - Budget Reallocation Strategies
(17:11) - Conversion Rate Optimization Techniques
(19:52) - Improving Demo Request Conversion
(21:11) - The Tools
(25:29) - The Skills

***

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***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

3 ways to stop indecision

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 07:31:00 +0200

You're not losing to competitors. You're losing to indecision, most often heard like this: "Sorry, it's not the right time. Let's reconnect".

And it's no surprise, layoffs, budget cuts and more has led to a fear of messing up. We discuss three ways to overcome indecision.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:26) - Sales Challenges and Indecision
(05:58) - Economic Impact on SaaS
(12:34) - So what can you do? Start small.
(16:22) - But won't my ACV take a hit?
(17:40) - Try Before You Buy: The Power of POCs
(19:54) - The Role of Technical Validation
(24:19) - Building Trust with Flexible Contracts

Sources:

***

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***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

Why BI Sucks

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 09:16:26 +0200

BI tools promised to solve the "data starved" teams, giving them access to make decisions. However, we see quite a few challenges that you should know.

That's why we dive into our experience with business intelligence.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:51) - The Challenges of BI Implementation
(05:52) - The High Costs of BI Tools and Expertise
(09:01) - The Importance of Consensus in BI Rollouts
(10:57) - Why even go for BI?
(13:17) - Analyzing Marketing Data
(17:23) - The Reality of BI Tools
(19:51) - Why BI Tools Fail Commercial Teams
(25:48) - The Opportunity for Improvement

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Hiring for the logo & other mistakes

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 09:45:55 +0200

It's time to talk about hiring for b2b SaaS. With the change from 'growth at all costs' to efficient growth, hiring is more important than ever.

In the episode, we get into

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:41) - Why talk about hiring?
(06:53) - It's time for the "suite and tie" folks
(12:51) - Testcases are kinda useless
(16:51) - What is it you're hiring for?
(22:08) - Get a local
(27:40) - Will you do the work?

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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🔔 LinkedIn: Toni / Mikkel

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Secrets to winning in hyper competitive markets

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 08:25:16 +0200

What can we learn from hyper competitive markets in SaaS? That's exactly what we asked in this episode. We get into the pitfalls and strategies you can use to do better against the competition.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:44) - Hyper compeitive markets
(06:12) - Pitfalls to watch out for
(10:18) - Disruption happens
(13:42) - What are folks gonna do?
(15:04) - Horizontal vs vertical SaaS
(19:05) - Outcompete on differentiation
(25:33) - Outcompete on GTM
(30:48) - Outcompete on cash

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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NPS can't predict churn

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 07:19:00 +0200

No, net promoter score can't predict churn. We cover the alternatives in todays episode

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:14) - What is NPS and why does it suck?
(10:22) - Predict & prevent churn
(11:02) - Signals
(16:13) - Customer vintages
(21:32) - The process

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Use this framework to run root cause analysis

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 08:28:34 +0200

Here's the method used by Toyota to run root cause analysis. It's called the 5M framework, and helps you look at problems from multiple angles - so you can prevent them from happening again.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:56) - How Toyota would run RCA
(04:50) - 5M overview
(06:22) - Manpower
(10:47) - Machinery
(14:03) - Material
(18:28) - Method
(23:13) - Measurement

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Why we think we need RevOps (and why we really need it)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 28 May 2024 08:12:15 +0200

We think we need RevOps because: Systems. Tools. Data.. And they all have merits, but, there's a few other yet very important reasons to bring RevOps on let alone have them in the first place.

Listen in and find out!

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:47) - Why do we need it?
(05:04) - "We gotta call someone"
(11:55) - When is a strategic focus even needed?
(16:44) - At some point it's a factory
(18:39) - This is why RevOps matters
(21:52) - When does the VP Finance get fired?
(26:19) - Take the information monopoly away from finance
(29:58) - Flag problems earlier

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Do you have one of these GTM problems?

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 21 May 2024 07:04:00 +0200

There's 3 GTM problems we see over and over again - and they can totally be avoided. Listen to the episode to learn if you've got one of the problems.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:09) - Calling out the problem
(05:14) - 1: Everyone secretly knows
(13:16) - 2: Acquisition is a mess
(17:40) - Contingency planning
(19:42) - 3: Blindsided by churn
(21:36) - Love the demo, hate the product
(23:00) - What now?

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Friction by design

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 14 May 2024 09:38:44 +0200

Focused on removing friction? In this episode we discuss when it might be worth it to add some friction instead.

(00:00) - Introduction
(08:36) - Just try creating one graph
(15:44) - Why is there no pricing page??
(23:35) - Support friction

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Here's how Koen Stam use AI for sales coaching

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 09 May 2024 07:38:00 +0200

Do you think this is an AI summary or not?: With AI tools, such as ChatGPT, sales teams can enhance coaching processes by creating personalized frameworks, generating data-driven insights, and fostering consistency for improved productivity and skill development.

It is... But anyway, that's pretty much what we discussed with Koen - he's been using AI to assist with coaching the team. Don't get us wrong, the AI doesn't do the coaching, it's enabling it.

In the episode, we get into:

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:53) - Meet Koen
(04:46) - Coaching, does it really matter?
(13:43) - Why coaching doesn't happen
(15:12) - How AI changes coaching
(21:20) - Coaching framework with AI
(25:58) - Top down does not work
(39:21) - 1 thing to leave with

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Rethinking comp plans

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 07 May 2024 07:39:00 +0200

We're using comp plans from the 80s, and there's some problems with that.

We discuss how SaaS has simply changed, and provide some important reflections you can use if you need to rethink your comp plans.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:26) - We still get lots of questions about this
(05:24) - Why everyone does comp plans
(08:25) - The purpose of what comp plans need to achieve has shifted
(14:25) - The person on the ground
(18:35) - Comp plans for multi product
(20:52) - Comp plans without supply

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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High velocity sales (with Frank Nardi)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 02 May 2024 07:39:00 +0200

Even if you don't run high velocity sales, there's much to learn from vendors who do.

We talked with Frank Nardi (CRO at Cin7) about how they manage short sales cycles and proactively manage their funnel.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:21) - Meet frank
(06:02) - Tuning the engine
(13:36) - Selling to SMB
(21:56) - Short cycles, short term?
(26:54) - Longer cycles impact capacity
(28:34) - Managing multiple points of failure
(32:29) - Efficient growth
(38:27) - Build leading indicators
(41:31) - Having plays ready

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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When deals die

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 07:26:00 +0200

Deals die. But more so today than previously. That's why we introduce a different analysis to understand why deals are dying - so you can fix it.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:02) - Why deals are harder
(04:46) - MEDDICC to diagnose performance
(07:34) - Champion
(11:12) - What's the pain?
(14:35) - From pain to metric
(17:29) - Who signs the deal?
(20:13) - How did they decide?
(25:04) - Turning it into an analysis
(27:24) - It's not strictly about the numbers

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Why RevOps is broken (with Jeff Ignacio)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 09:33:09 +0200

Is RevOps broken? And how do we fix it?

Together with Jeff, we get into a bunch of the challenging areas of Revenue Operations and some of the steps you can take to improve it.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:40) - Meet Jeff
(03:45) - Glorified GTM IT
(11:57) - Overinvesting
(18:13) - The go to market plan
(30:57) - Under- & overinvestment
(34:25) - Getting RevOps headcounts

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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4 Outbound Mistakes

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 07:31:00 +0200

Is outbound dead? And if not, what are the biggest mistakes we've seen?

That's exactly what we get into today

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:37) - "Outbound is dead? Bullshit."
(05:46) - Can you even run outbound?
(09:35) - What's changed?
(12:28) - Mistake 1: Outsourcing
(16:39) - Mistake 2: Not knowing the ideal talent profile
(20:43) - Mistake 3: Scaling at the wrong pace
(24:36) - Mistake 4: Not getting the balance right

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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WTF is PLS even? (with Jesus Requena, VP Marketing at Hex)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 09:00:38 +0200

What is PLS? When does it make sense to use it? How do you get started?

These are just a couple of the questions we asked Jesus who's been building PLG and PLS motions at Unity, Figma, Algolia and Hex.

(00:00) - Introduction
(00:57) - Meet Jesus
(04:35) - PLG at Unity
(05:45) - Solving a big problem
(12:12) - Is this the right motion?
(16:49) - Can you bring users to a pain state?
(21:18) - If it was a demo
(23:08) - It's about signals
(30:31) - Looking towards revenue
(33:14) - Qualification is the same
(36:39) - Narrowing your focus
(39:16) - Activating 10K accounts
(42:59) - Indicators of scale
(46:26) - Hard lessons

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Don’t have GTM visibility?

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 07:33:00 +0200

Everyone has a dashboard, a sheet, some reports - but still the number 1 problem we hear about? It's visibility into performance.

So we discussed the problem, and what you can do about it.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:16) - Why we get asked about visibility
(08:58) - The problem with visibility
(14:16) - Breaking down targets
(17:48) - Having foresight
(21:55) - The first step to build it
(27:04) - Test the model
(29:44) - No one does QBRs

You can find the CAC:Payback template here.

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Avoid this when scaling (with Mark Roberge, co-founder at Stage 2 Capital)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 08:54:03 +0200

There's a few patterns to avoid when scaling sales. We walk through them together with Mark Roberge.

(00:00) - Indtroduction
(03:48) - Meet Mark
(08:44) - The number 1 pattern of unnecessary failure
(11:16) - Getting the right pacing
(16:35) - Pushing back on the plan
(25:39) - Why do we misunderstand capacity?
(33:54) - The problem with commissions
(36:31) - The comp plan works against this goal
(40:12) - How do you comp on retention?
(42:38) - Find your leading indicators of retention
(44:10) - Pushback on retention compensation

Also, check out the science of scaling here.

Mark also did a presentation at SaaStr on common sales potholes, make sure to check it out.

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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RevOps needs to move

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 07:37:00 +0200

With everything that's happening, we discuss if it's time for RevOps to move away from the CRO.

We get into

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:29) - Is it time to move?
(08:30) - If the CRO doesn't get it..
(11:24) - Give CFO operational insights
(16:54) - Commercial FP&A?
(21:08) - The P&L of commercial
(23:54) - Zero helpful advise

You can find the CAC:Payback template here.

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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How Paddle scaled with outbound to $100M (With Harrison Rose)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 07:21:00 +0200

Paddle scaled with one motion: outbound. They were incredibly focused on one ICP, and ended up developing a three folded funnel.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:58) - Meet Harrison
(06:28) - Figuring out how to sell
(12:24) - How they scaled
(15:11) - Changing the target customer profile
(19:09) - Not running out of market
(25:27) - RevOps - the secret sauce
(32:01) - The three funnels
(41:04) - The messy journey

Check out the definitive guide to revenue architecture here.

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Making metrics matter

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 07:38:00 +0200

If you want to operate SaaS effectively - you need to know how metrics are constructed, and when to use them.

Sounds obvious, but many many folks struggle with this, so we walk through two simple frameworks.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:08) - Pain with metrics
(05:54) - The reality level
(10:16) - It takes time to move metrics
(14:58) - Metrics tree
(18:27) - Higher up, more actions
(21:07) - Don't just build what VCs want
(24:17) - The metric pyramid

Check out the definitive guide to revenue architecture here.

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Scale efficiently with RevOps (With Jeremey Donovan)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 07:08:00 +0100

We asked Jeremey: How does RevOps help businesses right now switching from growth at all costs to efficient growth?

We got into a bunch - how prospects are like fish. Will AI help?. A "moneyball" approach to hiring - and much much more.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:49) - Fish are like prospects
(04:49) - Meet Jeremey
(06:13) - What does efficient growth even mean?
(09:47) - Find your "on base percentage"
(19:03) - How does AI play in?
(25:09) - Reassessing outbound
(33:23) - LTV to CAC
(37:44) - System level thinking & infinite LTV
(41:13) - Takers of OTE
(43:40) - OTE inflation & right-sizing

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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To grow faster, talk with this team

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 07:49:00 +0100

We all want to grow faster, but there's a pretty important team to work with to do that - finance.

We get into how finance looks at the GTM and much much more

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:32) - Look at the cash being burned
(07:26) - Asset or liability
(11:29) - What it means for the GTM team
(13:32) - Not running out of money
(22:43) - What finance looks at
(27:08) - What does it mean for growth?

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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+$100M & how Outreach got there

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 08:38:57 +0100

A pivot. One motion - and relentless focus. That's just some of the ingredients Manny Medina shared on how Outreach grew to $100M and beyond.

In the episode we get into:

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:13) - Meet Manny
(03:45) - Outreach's first motion: Outbound
(09:30) - Outbound isn't dead
(12:22) - AI changing the outbound game
(16:14) - Scaling at 0, $10M and $100M
(19:59) - You don't scale to enterprise. You turn into an enterprise machine
(22:12) - Narrowing your ICP
(23:25) - Kicking in the inbound engine at $50M
(26:44) - A competitive category
(29:51) - Lessons from Outreach's internationalization strategy
(32:20) - Deciding to go multi-product
(39:11) - Final advice to get to $100M

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Do less = get more deals

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 07:34:00 +0100

Everything has been cut and more will be cut. Cost is more expensive, we need to be super efficient but we still want growth.

Phew.. What are we to do? Less, that's what.

In this episode, we walk through what you can do less of, and how it'll help you grow (faster).

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:37) - We're starting to do less
(05:47) - More deals with less
(08:18) - Reduce volume
(15:59) - Priotitizing accounts
(20:46) - Time & conversion rate
(27:47) - WGLL

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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The SaaS Reset and what's next (with Jacco van der Kooij)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 08:47:37 +0100

SaaS is being completely reset following the era of growth at all costs. But what's happening, how can you adapt and what's to come?

This is exactly what we discuss with Jacco van der Kooij, founder of Winning by Design.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:03) - Meet Jacco
(05:02) - Pricing is no longer sust nable
(07:51) - We're in a moment of change
(13:40) - Multiple transformations
(17:54) - AI as a disrupting force
(20:57) - The people
(24:13) - Changing buyer behaviour
(29:50) - SaaS is under enormous pressure
(32:35) - Who souledn't get scared?
(34:29) - What'll happen next?
(39:33) - The solution
(41:43) - Motions & the SaaS factory
(47:35) - There's a lag to metrics
(55:34) - Eventually, mature industries lead to factories
(01:01:46) - It's not the doom day

Check out his new book: Revenue Architecture.

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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Lowering payback isn't the problem

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 07:46:00 +0100

The one metric that shouldn't go up and to the right is CAC Payback, and it's doing exactly that.

Rather than trying to fix CAC, there's another solution.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:53) - CAC Payback
(05:59) - Look beyond CAC:PB
(09:13) - Drawback of CAC:LTV
(10:50) - How do you get there?
(15:00) - The other thing is product
(19:20) - What have you done for them lately?
(21:54) - Aligning newbiz and existing biz

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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How Synthesia blew past 50K customers (With Steffen Tjerrild, co-founder & COO/CFO)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 09:24:39 +0100

How do you get to this first million in revenue? And what does the journey past 10 look like? That's what Steffen from Synthesia shared with us.

In the episode, we got into:

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:28) - Meet Steffen
(03:47) - The backstory
(09:58) - The first million (service revenue)
(14:27) - The first first million (subscriptions)
(19:11) - Getting to $10M
(23:21) - Viral loop
(30:34) - Enterprise early

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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4 ways to fix NRR

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 07:34:00 +0100

It's no longer land and expand - it's land and maintain. But what can you realistically do to fix your NRR?

In this episode, we share 4 practical tips that'll help

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:27) - Expansion ladder
(11:32) - What have you done for them lately?
(16:38) - Involve the customer
(20:35) - Take a hit on newbiz MRR
(27:05) - Tripple down on succesful customers
(31:17) - Wrapup

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

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If your messaging sucks, listen to this (with Anthony Pierri, co-founder at Fletch)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 07:22:00 +0100

How often do you visit a SaaS website and have literally no clue what they do despite multiple attempts? We'll, that's a surefire way to decrease your overall performance.

So we invited Anthony from Fletch to help fix it - we focused on the difficulties especially surrounding being multi-product or segment.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:33) - Meet Anthony Pierri
(06:31) - Ugh messaging - why even bother?
(12:01) - It's not just about outcomes
(16:24) - Lead with one thing
(20:59) - The channel changer
(22:18) - Sell the suite
(23:43) - What do you want to be known for?
(27:53) - The problem with being visionary
(34:42) - How do you get it used?
(40:15) - Picking the usecase

How to build & scale outbound

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 07:23:00 +0100

Whether you're at $2, $10 or $20M ARR - if you want to add outbound as a motion, this episode is for you.

We dive into the sequence here:

(00:00) - Introduction
(05:55) - 0-$1M - Founder led
(09:55) - How to assess it
(12:29) - $1-2M - The first SDRs
(20:59) - $2-10M - Many SDRs
(28:51) - +$10M - The factory

Mentions
Sam Blond & Ashley Kelly discuss how to dominate outbound

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

Connect with us

🔔 LinkedIn: Toni / Mikkel

✉️ Email: podcast@growblocks.com

📺 Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@growblocks

100%+ growth YoY, here’s how Walnut run their GTM (With Catie Ivey, CRO at Walnut)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 08:51:15 +0100

How does a company scale after raising funds? And what changes are necessary to maintain a stellar go-to-market?

That and much more we discussed with Catie Ivey, CRO at Walnut.

(00:00) - Introduction
(00:48) - Meet Catie
(05:05) - The setup
(10:03) - Finding GTM fit
(15:38) - Scaling outbound
(18:07) - The rituals
(27:43) - The culture of problem solving
(30:54) - When you don't own marketing
(33:04) - A different sales process
(37:31) - Spending resources purposefully

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

CONNECT
Connect with us

🔔 LinkedIn: Toni / Mikkel

✉️ Email: podcast@growblocks.com

📺 Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@growblocks

This won't scale

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 08:14:09 +0100

There's a lot of things you couldn't scale - until today. In this episode we discuss how AI can remove some of your limiting beliefs and let you scale things that you couldn't before.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:27) - It's all focused on output
(08:01) - Quality increase for SDRs
(13:37) - Faster ramp
(20:04) - AEs: Ramp, training & research
(28:59) - What will happen to marketing?

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

CONNECT
Connect with us

🔔 LinkedIn: Toni / Mikkel

✉️ Email: podcast@growblocks.com

📺 Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@growblocks

4 Signs your GTM is broken

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 08:27:03 +0100

Is your GTM broken? What do you even look for? Why does it matter?

That's just some of the points we cover in this episode. Besides giving you four clear things to look out for - we also share some solutions. The outcome? You should see improved performance & efficiency.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:09) - The stakes
(08:35) - Disconnected operations
(10:20) - Reporting isn't aligned
(15:08) - No shared language
(22:03) - Disconnected execution
(33:28) - Wrapup

Mentions
David Sacks & Jason Lemkin at SaaStr
GTM consortium

***

This episode is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

CONNECT
Connect with us

🔔 LinkedIn: Toni / Mikkel

✉️ Email: podcast@growblocks.com

How to manage multiple GTMs in SaaS (With Dave Boyce)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 07:31:00 +0100

Is it time to add another GTM? Dave told us before recording "not until after $10M ARR". So of course, we discussed that and much more.

We went through the process of establishing different Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies - including the importance of testing and tailoring strategies to match audience behavior, considerations when transitioning from sales-led to product-led growth, and the significance of unit economics in assessing GTM fit.

Dave Boyce, a PLG and SaaS expert, shares his insights and experiences throughout the conversation.

Check out Dave's substack Product led GTM or follow him on LinkedIn.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:58) - Meet Dave Boyce
(05:20) - The downside of multiple motions
(10:13) - Sequence of events
(18:35) - Is it time? And how do we test?
(25:12) - From sales led to PLG and vice versa
(29:08) - Adding PLG to sales led
(31:46) - When to pull the plug
(38:29) - If it's broken, here's how to find a new one

***

This episode of The Revenue Formula is brought to you by Growblocks. Finding and fixing problems in your GTM shouldn't take weeks. It should happen instantly.

***

Connect with us

🔔 LinkedIn: Toni / Mikkel

✉️ Substack: Join +1,000 GTM professionals
💬 Email: podcast@growblocks.com

4 signs you're losing product-market fit

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 07:21:00 +0100

Even in good times, you're slowly falling out of PMF. Inspired by Jason Lemkin, we dive into the signs you need to watch out for, to avoid losing product-market fit.

Sure, you might have been hired after PMF was achieved - but it's still your problem, especially if you're in the go-to-market team.

In the episode, we get into:

(00:00) - TRF - 088 - 4 signs pmf is gone
(02:38) - Not just a founder issue
(06:09) - 1: Easy gets redefined
(12:00) - 2: The problem is gone
(17:08) - 3: Buyer behaviour change
(24:07) - 4: Willingness to pay

Shoutout to John Rougeux who captured the quote from Jason.

The top 1% of sales teams do this (with Kevin Dorsey, SVP of Sales & Partnerships at Bench)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 07:24:00 +0100

Here's the thing. Most content focus on what the top 1% of sales reps do. While that's great - we seek to understand what the top 1% of sales teams are doing.

How do they operate? How are they managed? This and more we discuss with Kevin "KD" Dorsey, SVP of Sales and Partnerships at Bench.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:51) - Meet Kevin KD Dorsey
(03:30) - Understanding the top 1% of reps
(06:25) - Creating a top 1% sales team
(09:47) - The four Ds
(16:59) - How to stack improvements
(20:54) - You can't outsource this
(25:00) - Supporting functions of a winning team
(28:47) - Script or no script?
(36:32) - Recognize behaviour, not just results

Make sure to check out KD's sales leadership accelerator.

Ask this before raising quotas

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 08:35:29 +0100

Thinking about raising quotas? Or being forced to? Then there's a couple of questions you need to ask yourself first.

Because if you can't answer them, you'll be in trouble when the sales team asks them.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:07) - Do we raise quotas
(08:30) - How do you even dare to raise quotas?
(10:52) - How many make quota?
(13:56) - What did the winning reps get to hit?
(16:10) - Where's the increased performance gonna come from?
(23:52) - I get more opps.. How are you gonna do that?
(25:42) - The one trick

Surprising insights from 2.5 IPOs (With Robin Daniels, CBPO at LMS365)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 08:37:54 +0100

What does it take to make it to IPO? What happens inside the company to the build up? Those were just some of the things we talked with Robin Daniels about. And he knows, because he's taken part in 2,5 IPOs.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:15) - Meet Robin
(02:17) - Meet Robin Daniels
(03:04) - 1 week out
(12:06) - 1 out of 100 went to IPO
(15:35) - Barrier to use
(23:26) - Box? You mean dropbox right?
(26:14) - How to deal with 'more is not enough'
(31:42) - Making room for greenfield ideas
(37:48) - 80,000 signups... how?
(41:46) - Short time frames matter
(44:16) - Characteristics of high performing teams

When nobody owns GTM

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 08:22:54 +0100

Who really owns GTM, and what are the symptoms when you don't really have someone leading it?

This and much more we discuss in todays episode

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:06) - Who owns your GTM?
(04:42) - The RevOps hype
(08:45) - Conequence 1: Marketing produced more low quality MQLs
(13:48) - Account management upsell
(15:03) - Who moved the cheese?
(19:09) - Who should own the GTM?
(25:51) - This is the responsibility

WTF is nearbound? (With Jill Rowley, GTM Advisor at Stage 2 Capital)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 07:36:00 +0100

What is Nearbound really? How can you use it, and should you?

Those are just some of the questions we asked Jill Rowley who's currently building this new category.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:15) - Meet Jill
(03:11) - How she stumbled into marketing automation
(05:27) - Social selling
(07:53) - Surround strategy
(11:29) - Nearbound.. What is it?
(16:03) - Not just about acquisition
(19:36) - What's changed?
(24:46) - The benefits of nearbound
(30:15) - Software is removing the friction

How to enter a new market (in a scrappy way)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 08:15:01 +0100

How do you expand to a new market? When is the time right? How do you not burn a ton of cash?

That's exactly what we discuss in todays episode

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:40) - Scrappy international
(04:04) - Why should you even cross the border?
(08:24) - Start with reps
(10:26) - Opening up locally
(14:04) - When is it time?
(20:53) - Finding arbitrage
(24:02) - It's never truly a TAM issue
(26:25) - Soft start

Returning to face-to-face (With Thomas Hansen, President of Amplitude)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 08:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down with Thomas Neergaard Hansen, President at Amplitude, to delve into the critical role of face-to-face interactions in today's customer-centric world.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:25) - Meet Thomas Hansen
(11:07) - People have forgotten about face-to-face
(17:58) - The customer-centric market motions
(32:59) - Build the process for face-to-face
(39:45) - Bill Gates and the most embarrassing moment of my career

Why your GTM needs a digital twin

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 09:16:51 +0100

How do the biggest engineering projects in the world avoid potential disasters? They create a digital replica to address problems before they become problems.

Stealing from the world of engineering, in this episode, we walk you through how you can create a digital twin of your GTM engine in order to help you focus on execution.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:13) - It starts with a twin
(07:26) - Applying a digital twin to business
(09:13) - What does the twin consist of?
(13:18) - Planning
(21:13) - Execution

5 types of ROI (With Sangram Vajre, Co-founder & CEO at GTM Partners)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 10:37:06 +0100

There are 5 kinds of ROI software provides - and understanding the difference is critical.

With Sangram, we discuss that and much more

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:32) - Say hello to Sangram Vajre
(04:48) - Buyers and ROI
(07:10) - 5 types of ROI
(10:41) - The ROI of slack
(17:36) - What ROI do we provide?
(21:18) - Changing ROI profile
(30:26) - ROI is not just a sales tool
(34:20) - Two kinds of people
(38:19) - Where do we invest the next dollar

Check out GTM Partners here.

3 signs sales is broken

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 07:14:00 +0100

Having talked with lots of companies, we're still being asked how to make sales work, or at least work better.

So today, we dive into the top 3 signs that sales is broken - and what you can do to fix it.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:53) - The signs
(05:08) - Trust and accountability
(11:22) - Commitment
(17:08) - Conflict
(27:00) - Bonus: Bowtie

Why marketing gets screwed

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 07:10:00 +0100

There are three ways marketing gets screwed - we discuss them all to help you unscrew marketing.

In the episode, we get into:

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:05) - 3 reasons marketing gets screwed
(03:21) - Your deal or my deal
(13:28) - Make marketing do everything
(24:38) - We need it now

New research: Did we lose GTM fit?

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 07:23:00 +0100

Our friends over at winning by design is about to drop new research - suggesting that we might just have lost GTM fit.

In todays episode, we discuss the research, and as usual what companies can do about it.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:49) - Loss of go-to-market fit?
(06:25) - Why did we lose it?
(15:52) - What do we do now?
(17:11) - Cut strategically
(22:30) - Run a GTM diagnostic
(27:12) - Improve in increments

You can find the research here.
Also check out David Spitz

Underdogs and perception (with Norman Rohr, VP Marketing at Capmo)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 09:23:20 +0100

Today we talk with Norman about two unconventional underdogs, Google and Uberall, and how they changed the perception.

We get into:

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:13) - Meet Norman
(07:20) - Google, the underdog
(11:25) - People didn't care about search, but..
(20:26) - Uberall - another underdog
(27:14) - Because of us or despite of us
(30:17) - Beyond one tactic
(32:58) - Getting buy-in
(38:26) - Finding the right profile

Sales reps spend just 28% of their time selling.. Or do they?

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 07:29:00 +0100

If sales reps only spend 1/3 of their time selling... What are they doing with their time? And how can you fix it?

Also.. Maybe people don't know what selling entails? Irregardless, we dive into:

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:56) - Just 30% of time spent on selling?!
(06:43) - Find out the status
(11:21) - Eleminate
(15:38) - Delegate
(23:27) - Simplify

Find the salesforce report on sales here.

5 takeaways from 2023

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 10:05:39 +0100

It's time to wrap the year - and what better way than to revisit some of the great conversations we've had with our guests.

In this episode, you'll hear:

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:43) - Sales forecasts suck
(06:32) - RevOps aren't system admins
(09:13) - Jacco van der Kooij: Recurring revenue
(12:58) - Chris Walker: You're gonna cheat
(17:42) - Kyle Poyar: Raise the prices
(23:34) - Chris Orlob: Quotas
(27:11) - Udi Ledergor: Brand.. it's not what you think

A better way to run your GTM

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 07:58:00 +0100

How do you get more predictive and more foresight? You make GTM forecasting a part of your rituals.

And that's exactly what we discuss in todays episode

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:42) - How to use a GTM forecast
(08:57) - Making it a ritual
(14:47) - Next quarter
(18:53) - Foresight in Marketing
(24:32) - A different view into sales
(29:20) - The forgotten child

How Pleo drives hypergrowth (with Arun Mani, CRO at Pleo)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 07:56:00 +0100

What does it look like inside the engine room of a hypergrowth company?

That's exactly what we discussed with Arun Mani, CRO at Pleo.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:43) - The atypical CRO
(04:40) - The pains of hypergrowth
(07:53) - Running a matrix Organization
(15:14) - Context switching
(17:26) - Managing the growth
(20:22) - The big problem: GTM execution
(32:11) - Believing in the goals

A "good enough" GTM isn't enough

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 07:38:00 +0100

Lots of succesfull companies were built on OK customers, an OK team and with an OK infrastructure. Today, that's not enough.

We cover the latest benchmarks from OpenView, and discuss what it means.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:49) - New benchmarks out - Execution is the problem
(05:00) - CAC:PB and ARR per FTE
(07:33) - Easy days are gone
(14:57) - Churn and burn
(22:38) - Teh People
(30:32) - Infrastructure

Assess your GTM (with Anders Sogaard, Head of Analytics at Growblocks)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 14:06:22 +0100

Whether you've just started annual planning now or are already done (lucky you) - you should consider running an assessment of your GTM.

It'll help you find problems you didn't even know about. That's why we brought in Anders who's done lots of those.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:35) - Meet Anders
(03:04) - What it is and why it matters
(08:14) - When do you do it?
(12:21) - What does an assessment consist of?
(20:59) - Effectiveness framework
(22:39) - Reset of GTM fit
(24:17) - A problem we didn't know of
(28:07) - What are the steps?
(34:32) - How do you deliver it?

Sales forecasts suck

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 08:24:57 +0100

Sales forecast have little to do with revenue growth. It's a great method for coaching and training - but not managing revenue growth.

We discuss the limitations - and what you can do instead to manage revenue.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:37) - The sales forecast
(05:49) - This is what the salesforecast is for
(08:21) - Tunnel vision
(11:56) - The GTM forecast
(17:00) - Building the GTM forecast
(20:11) - How do you put this together?
(25:05) - The rituals

Check out the bowtie post Toni mentioned here.

Driving change through RevOps (with Sandy Robinson, SVP of RevOps at Patra)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 10:16:37 +0100

When there's an endless to-do list and lots of requests, how do you prioritize changes to the business? And how do you get those changes done?

That's what we talked with Sandy Robinson (SVP of RevOps at Patra) about.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:52) - Meet Sandy
(13:35) - What was the purpose of RevOps?
(16:49) - Beneath the surface
(18:36) - Driving change
(21:44) - How do you manage change?
(26:16) - How do you know it worked?
(31:57) - How do you get to the solution?
(36:02) - Going up and down the hierachy
(42:05) - Communication is key

Check out her show RevOps unboxed

Beat and raise your targets

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 08:28:13 +0100

Ever wondered why some public tech companies beat target and raise guidance?

Today we talk about the practise to follow in order to build a plan you can beat - so you can raise target and build momentum.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:47) - It starts with targets
(07:30) - Confidence level and balance
(11:38) - Isn't it unambitious?
(13:33) - Give a different target to leadership
(18:53) - The plan for the rest
(25:16) - What goes on the dashboard?

PS: Check out the ebook, "this is what strategic RevOps looks like"

3 levers of customer growth (with Dan Steinman, Chief Evangelist at Gainsight)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 09:14:18 +0100

Hypergrowth comes from existing customers - and you have three growth levers to pull with customer success.

We talked with Dan Steinman, Chief Evangelist at Gainsight about those levers.

(00:00) - Introduction
(07:00) - How do you grow through your customer base?
(10:16) - Why don't we celebrate customer revenue?
(13:04) - A leap of faith
(16:47) - CS and PLG
(20:20) - Don't raise prices, reduce discounts
(24:43) - What's the role of the CSM?
(29:58) - How to upsell
(33:11) - CSMs and discovery
(39:00) - CSMs and commissions
(42:57) - The product and the price

Outbound is 3x harder

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 07:38:00 +0100

Outbound is 3x harder than it used to be.

We dig into what's happened, and what you can do to make it work.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:30) - Challenges with outbound right now
(04:39) - The most prevalent channel
(11:08) - What it means now
(15:29) - Get the message right
(19:06) - Let's cut it
(25:46) - Are you still a fit?

Sources
Pipeline from sales development (Ray Rike)
1000-1400 touchers per opp (Jeremy Donovan)

Pricing as a growth lever (With Kyle Poyar, Operating Partner @ OpenView)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 12:11:27 +0100

There's a growth lever you should know about: Pricing.

We geeked out on pricing with Kyle Poyar, Operating Partner at OpenView to lay out how you can grow through pricing.

In the episode, we got into 👇

(00:00) - Introduction
(10:41) - The scary growth lever
(17:42) - The steps to change pricing
(25:02) - Where do you anchor pricing?
(27:07) - How do you stick the landing?
(30:55) - What about the customers?
(36:26) - Avoid these mistakes
(39:50) - Pricing on the website?

Check out growth unhinged here.

PLG is just another motion

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 07:23:00 +0100

Product led growth (PLG) has been all the rage. But lately, a lot of things have happened in this space.

Airtable "ditched" PLG and Insight Partners published some interesting stats comparing PLG with non-PLG companies.

So today, we discussed PLG as another motion

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:39) - What's happened with PLG?
(11:56) - PLG.. just another motion?
(17:36) - Blending motions
(21:04) - PLG + Outbound

The path to VP RevOps (with Sowmya Srinivasan, VP of RevOps at HubSpot)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 09:22:39 +0200

What does the path to VP look like? What's the mindset, how do you impact the business - and what does strategy even look like?

We talked with Sowmya about her experience becoming a VP of Revenue Operations.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:55) - Sowmya's RevOps journey
(06:52) - What does it mean to have strategy in the title?
(09:09) - Unnoticed opportunities
(15:18) - The advantage of experience
(17:32) - Commercial or business background?
(21:52) - So how do you become strategic?
(27:04) - How do you go beyond tools?
(35:40) - A growth mindset

9 ways to build a moat

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 07:51:00 +0200

The most durable companies have built a strong moat around their business.

While many things can be copied, we dive into some of the things that aren't so easy to copy - giving you a competitive advantage.

(00:00) - Introduction
(03:45) - 1: Lock-in
(06:10) - 2: Complex implementation
(08:46) - 3: Integrations
(11:52) - 4: Increased usage
(17:04) - 5: Ecosystem
(20:51) - 6: Enterprise
(25:36) - 7: Brand
(28:08) - 8: Multiyear
(30:46) - 9: Economic moat

Why you need a plan you can beat (with Dave Kellogg, EIR at Balderton Capital)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 08:53:40 +0200

We grilled Dave Kellogg on planning in this episode.

We get into why you shouldn't get any surprises, why you need a plan you can beat - and how to approach building a solid plan for next year.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:15) - What sets great team apart right now
(06:03) - Are you up to par?
(10:02) - What can we learn from the dot com bust?
(15:32) - What's a good number?
(18:38) - Why you need to raise on an aggresive plan
(22:10) - Planning requires discipline
(27:04) - Assumptions
(32:41) - Getting ahead of plan
(34:12) - RevOps as the partner
(39:09) - Allocating resources
(44:07) - From plan to execution

You can find Dave's blog here.

4 Sales excuses to watch out for

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 08:26:33 +0200

Today we walk through the top 4 excuses Toni has heard (and used) when hitting target gets difficult.

While some are BS, a few actually reveal important insight.

Today we get into 👇

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:50) - They're just lazy
(10:09) - These opportunities are terrible...
(16:31) - These inbounds...
(20:56) - Just give me this one thing

How to build RevOps for hypergrowth (with Sean Lane, Founding Partner, Minot Light Consulting)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 08:00:00 +0200

From employee #75 to helping Drift become an over $1B valuation company, Sean Lane knows a thing or two about hypergrowth.

In this episode, we talk to Sean about his RevOps journey and how to create a strategic team in fast-growing companies.

Don't forget to listen to Operations with Sean Lane and check out his new company Minot Light Consulting.

(00:00) - Introduction
(00:42) - Meet Sean
(01:30) - How Sean got into RevOps
(07:09) - Expectations and misconceptions of RevOps
(09:41) - What does "Strategic" RevOps actually mean?
(15:59) - The fiscal year flip
(26:07) - Planning is hard
(33:22) - What does a high-growth RevOps team look like?
(36:06) - Talking with your peers
(41:52) - Wrapping up

Don't use benchmarks like this

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 08:03:00 +0200

Benchmarks are generally speaking not really helpful. And unfortunately, many are using them the wrong way - causing a lot of problems.

That's why we discussed benchmarks - and when it does make sense to use them (and how)

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:01) - Benchmarking
(06:40) - Misled by benchmark
(11:51) - People ratios
(16:40) - Pipeline coverage
(20:13) - Same metrics, different meaning
(22:25) - The only good thing

Cultivating an efficient GTM engine (with Sam Jacobs, Founder & CEO of Pavilion)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 08:22:57 +0200

How do you cultivate an efficient GTM engine? And what has Sam learned from building Pavilion and the community?

In the episode, we get into:

(00:00) - Introduction
(05:48) - Culture and challenges
(09:40) - The curated signs of an efficient gtm engine
(16:29) - AEs = more revenue?
(19:42) - Why sales gets all the love
(24:28) - Alignment
(30:48) - Free money created bad behaviour
(32:32) - Going broad vs specific (TAM)

You can check out GTM23 here and Pavilion here.

Buy software like this

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 08:26:30 +0200

Software is bad. It makes RevOps look like system admins. But also, software is also good. In fact, it's very much needed.

That's why we decided to cover how to approach buying software. In the episode, we cover:

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:51) - Buying software
(04:40) - Text book purchase
(10:30) - The wrong way to do it
(11:10) - Forcing function
(20:15) - Making the deal

Do this to lift sales performance (with Chris Orlob, CEO at pclub.io)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 08:46:24 +0200

What can you really do to lift the performance of your sales team?

That's exactly what we discussed with Chris Orlob, who was part of taking Gong from $200K to $200M in ARR.

In the episode, we get into:

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:44) - Why quota attainment is down
(06:06) - Why sales takes longer today
(08:32) - How do you solve the problem?
(10:48) - What does good look like?
(12:56) - Discovery: Understanding the need behind the need
(17:48) - Mutual action plan
(20:00) - Understanding intent
(25:37) - Dealing with finance and other stakholders
(30:39) - Making the case
(34:53) - Quota - raise or decrease?
(39:23) - Q5 deals

References:
Matt Green on quota attainment
Jacco van der Kooij on Solving underperformance
And of course pclub.io

The Biggest blindspot of revenue operators

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 08:29:00 +0200

There's a big blindspot in commercial teams. And it'll limit your ability to grow - it's your product.

Here's what we got into 👇

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:08) - Product market fit
(05:19) - The blind spot
(07:59) - Why it matters
(09:38) - The first question: Do I have product market fit?
(15:01) - Talking with authority
(16:38) - Product limited
(19:04) - When PMF is moving
(23:27) - Changing your own perception
(25:32) - Look with innocent eyes

Strategic Execution with RevOps (With Shantanu Shekhar, Sr Director GTM Ops @ Gong)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 07:50:00 +0200

While many wants to be strategic... the first step is understanding how to take a strategy to plan to execution.

That's exactly what we discussed with Shantanu, Senior Director of GTM Operations at Gong.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:35) - The path to RevOps
(06:55) - The Role of RevOps
(10:05) - Common misconceptions of RevOps
(13:06) - What does strategy really mean for RevOps?
(16:46) - Strategy in practise
(22:54) - First principles
(28:22) - Proactive vs Reactive
(31:21) - Compartmentalization
(36:18) - Practical advise to get strategic

Where hypergrowth comes from

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 07:44:00 +0200

Hypergrowth is fascinating - but where does it come from?

Hint: It's not sales, and it's not marketing. Find out in this episode.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:08) - Where does hypergrowth come from?
(05:37) - The forgotten child of GTM
(09:10) - When is it time to focus on customer experience?
(12:02) - Who's enabling CS?
(14:00) - Where's the most expensive headcount?
(17:24) - Reporting depth: Renewed or churned
(20:11) - What kind of software?
(21:17) - Bound by margin
(24:48) - What about the price?
(28:06) - Can we have some marketing?

Strategic Revenue Operations (With Mallory Lee, VP Operations at Nylas)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 08:33:36 +0200

What does strategic RevOps look like, and how do you manage revenue production from RevOps?

That’s exactly what we discussed with Mallory Lee, VP Operations at Nylas.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:09) - Meet Mallory
(02:48) - The difference between RevOps and unified RevOps
(07:34) - Being a Strategic RevOps professional
(11:32) - Weekly forecast meetings
(15:39) - One KPI
(21:34) - How do you get time to be strategic?
(24:40) - Priorities, problems & solutions
(27:44) - Pipeline council
(34:31) - How to become proactive
(38:09) - You can be the first person

4 things great teams do now

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 08:26:00 +0200

We've talked with a bunch of great folks. To help you improve GTM performance, we've distilled it into 4 things top teams are doing today.

And... we've added a bonus, so it's really 5.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:32) - What the great teams are doing
(03:35) - More AEs doesn't mean more deals
(08:31) - Unblend the funnel and optimize resource allocation
(13:43) - Focus on the skill level
(18:03) - The parking lot exercise
(23:59) - Continuous improvement

What unicorns know (with Pablo Dominguez, Operating Partner at Insight Partners)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 08:27:13 +0200

Can you do less to achieve more? How did Gainsight drastically improve onboarding time? And what do unicorns really know?

That's exactly what we talked with Pablo Dominguez about.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:15) - Continuous improvement
(14:36) - Efficiency as a competitive advantage
(16:08) - Cutting the salescycle in half
(19:51) - Going down market via efficiency
(26:21) - Finite resources, finite time and finite dollars
(29:15) - Who runs the process?
(31:43) - The importance of RevOps
(34:43) - Strategic RevOps

Check out the book what unicorns know here

The 2 things for your revenue plan

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 07:58:00 +0200

Don't start planning i February. You can start with a simple approach already now - and you'll just need two things.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:14) - Push for early planning
(08:06) - 2 Questions for the CFO
(12:55) - How many can you hire?
(15:03) - Tapping into FP&A
(18:17) - And when there's disagreement?
(24:53) - Wrapup

Revenue motions at scale (with Alina Vandenberghe, Co-founder & Co-CEO at Chili Piper)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 09:21:00 +0200

How do you orchestrate revenue motions at scale? And how do you successfully go from one to many motions?

This and more, we talked with Alina Vandenberghe (Co-founder & Co-CEO at Chili Piper) about.

(00:00) - Introduction
(06:33) - When a motion stops working
(08:34) - Going from motion to motions
(10:36) - Involving the team
(13:17) - The outbound motion
(17:59) - When was brand ready for outbound?
(20:38) - Remote + Outbound = ???
(27:07) - Getting motions to compound
(30:19) - Accounting for new motions in the plan
(37:59) - The 1 thing

Become unfireable

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 07:48:00 +0200

What does it take to become unfireable as a revenue leader?

We boiled it down to three things you should do (besides just hitting target)

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:27) - Who's usually at risk?
(05:48) - Are some roles more vulnerable?
(08:47) - What are the table stakes?
(10:12) - Keep a pulse on these 3 daily
(10:45) - How's this quarter looking?
(15:29) - And what about.. next quarter?
(20:31) - And what if both quarters aren't great?
(22:06) - And focus on the full year

From marketing plan to revenue plan (with Chris Walker, CEO at Refine Labs)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 08:10:36 +0200

It's time to rethink marketing planning. It needs to factor in revenue and not drown sales in dead-end leads.

Together with Chris Walker, we talked about the problems with planning and how to apply a business mindset to marketing planning.

(00:00) - Introduction
(04:07) - Planning in reverse
(05:34) - The first step - where do you capture demand?
(07:50) - Second step - Creating net new demand
(09:44) - Serial planning vs overall view
(14:06) - The hidden cost of waste
(15:40) - What $42 million in spend teaches us
(17:40) - Why we're still inefficient with leads
(23:33) - Optimal resource allocation
(28:13) - Growth goals drive wrong behaviours
(32:36) - What do you do about the delta?
(37:14) - RevOps is perfectly positioned

You can find Chris on LinkedIn or checkout Refine Labs here.

The trillion dollar problem: Revenue Leakage

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 08:06:36 +0200

Every year roughly $2 trillion goes away unnoticed for companies. It's called revenue leakage.

In this episode, we dive deeper into this massive opportunity:

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:38) - Revenue Leakage.. Cool... But what is it?
(04:32) - How big of a problem is revenue leakage?
(06:55) - Examples of revenue leakage
(10:24) - How do you prevent Revenue Leakage?
(11:49) - Time leakage
(14:50) - Revenue leakage from cost
(19:57) - The full revenue engine
(22:49) - What now?

Sources

1-5% of EBITDA flows unnoticed - E&Y
Sales & marketing efforts could be wasting $2 trillion - BCG
14.9% revenue leakage - Clari/Forrester

Why performance is down & what to do (With Jacco van der Kooij)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 08:14:00 +0200

You've seen the research, maybe the problems. Performance is down across the board.

In this episode, we talk with Jacco van der Kooij from Winning By Design about where we're coming from, what's change - and how to solve performance going forward.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:18) - Where is SaaS today?
(05:13) - Who do we blame?
(07:48) - Then everything got worse
(15:10) - Abusing PLG
(18:50) - What are we dealing with?
(21:51) - So.. What's changed?
(23:26) - Nothing has changed
(26:10) - Underperformance comes down to this
(30:27) - If you want to run a good revenue organization, do this
(35:42) - But.. We need to make an impact this quarter
(43:56) - To make an impact now.. do this
(49:31) - Wrapping up: The new game we're entering

Research paper mentioned: Solving underperformance: How to lift up the 40%
For more, check out WbD research here or their YouTube channel.

RevOps aren't system admins

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 08:19:00 +0200

Revenue Operations should do more than service commercial teams. Yet most struggle to articulate what strategic revops looks like.

That's exactly what we cover in this episode - how to become an advisor and actively help grow revenue, rather than just doing salesforce validation rules..

In the episode, we cover:

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:57) - Don't get blinded by software
(05:31) - Everyone struggles with articulating strategy
(07:30) - Start monitoring
(09:56) - 3 Thing RevOps should care about
(15:06) - Identifying and mitigating risks
(18:53) - Define the operating cadence
(23:41) - Revenue planning

Interested in checking out Growblocks? Take a look here.

Special: What you need to know about brand (With Udi Ledergor)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 11:13:50 +0200

Everyone agrees brand is important, but struggle to articulate why or even how to manage it.

That's why we brought on Udi Ledergor from Gong to share his insights from building the gong brand.

We get into:

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:29) - Why brands don't invest in branding
(03:37) - What does brand even mean?
(06:14) - Why even consider brand?
(09:36) - Creating a category
(15:48) - Brand at the early stages
(18:37) - Investing in big brand bets
(30:25) - How to handle budget and brand
(35:01) - What are the signals to pay attention to?
(37:44) - It's not enough to say "the CEO doesn't get marketing"

1 year in 30 min: 6 things you've missed

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 08:49:10 +0200

One year has passed, and maybe you've missed an episode or two. In this episode we've picked our 6 favorite takeaways and distilled them in a short 30 min episode.

This is what we covered:

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:56) - Quick review of year 1
(05:23) - 1: the 10% rule to double revenue
(08:57) - 2: CAC is useless
(12:08) - 3: Want sales consistenct? Try this
(18:19) - 4: 200 QBRs later, they're broken
(23:03) - 5: 1 thing to scale
(26:14) - 6: 5 efficiency plays you haven't thought of

Cash Cows and Stars: Allocate resources like this

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 08:30:00 +0200

What if you had $10 million to allocate in 2024? How do you know to spend that cash in the best possible way? Simple: act like a portfolio manager.

In this episode, we borrow lessons from Boston Consulting Group's Growth Share Matrix and show you how you can apply that to your revenue engine. After this, you'll never look at your GTM strategy the same way again.

Forget alignment, just agree on this

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 09:30:00 +0200

In this episode, we want you to forget all about the word alignment. Because even if you do achieve it, it won't drive growth on its own. Alignment should be an outcome, not a tactic.

In this episode, we explain why the classic concept of alignment is broken and what 3 things you should have your team focus agree on instead to drive efficiency.

If your target is at risk, listen to this

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 10:03:12 +0200

2/3 sales reps aren't completing quota.
Sales cycles are extending.
Win rates are down.

Yeah it's tough - that's why we cover what you can do to get back on track.

What we covered 👇

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:35) - The problems in SaaS
(05:05) - Only 2 out of 3 reps hit quota
(06:44) - We need an impact now
(07:28) - First step - do the analysis
(09:09) - Time is neglected
(12:09) - Where is the volume
(13:24) - The limitations of CAC Payback
(17:36) - Now what?
(20:00) - Help customers overcome indecision
(22:01) - An example
(25:39) - Another example
(28:32) - Find problems

Sources mentioned:
Solving underperformance by Winning by Design
Demand picking up a smidge by SaaStr
Decline in win rates by Jacco Van Der Kooij

NPS Sucks

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 08:19:00 +0200

Net promoter score is terrible - it's become useless for SaaS. We discuss the problems with it, and how to fix it.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:39) - The old framework: Net promoter score
(04:47) - The problem with NPS
(06:21) - It's self-correcting
(07:29) - A metric that can be gamed nicely
(09:35) - Promoter today, detractor tomorrow
(10:15) - A honeypot for promoters
(11:35) - Are the teams using it? And what is it needed for?
(11:56) - OK, NPS sucks. Now what?
(12:28) - If the focus is retention & satisfaction, listen here
(24:13) - For word of mouth - listen here

Also mentioned in this episode:

Earned Growth Rate from HBR
NPS isn't a leading indicator of churn from Gainsight

PS: NPS was developed in the 90s by Bain & Co -- before SaaS really came around.

Drive customer growth

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 07:38:00 +0200

The biggest growth lever you have? It's your customers. In this episode we talk about CSMs, incentives and 4 common expansion strategies.

(00:00) - Introduction
(02:17) - The CSM rule of thumb
(04:39) - It's decided then, this year we focus on our customers
(08:31) - The role of the CSM
(11:33) - 4+2 ways to drive expansions
(12:06) - Usage
(12:53) - Tiered
(13:31) - Add-on
(13:56) - Products
(14:14) - The add-on you can do today
(20:03) - The 2 bonus tricks
(21:27) - Track decisionmakers
(22:52) - Incentivizing CSMs

Special: Revenue Planning (With Ben Murray)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 08:13:00 +0200

We’ve been zinging finance a bit on the show. Today we decided to invite a SaaS CFO, Ben Murray.

We talked about how the two functions should create a solid revenue plan together - how to manage crazy ambitions and much more.

(00:00) - Introduction: Finance + RevOps
(03:52) - How the CFO sees RevOps
(05:22) - The focus is on sales and marketing
(07:09) - Getting operational
(08:32) - CFOs
(10:43) - What planning looks like
(15:02) - Hidden improvements
(24:22) - Driving the plan forward
(26:16) - Creating flexibility in the plan
(31:01) - Selling to the CFO
(33:16) - Making the case
(38:53) - Where should RevOps report to?

About Ben

Ben is a fractional CFO and founder of TheSaaSCFO.com and TheSaaSAcademy.com

Want more from Ben? Check out his newsletter here https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page

Pipeline coverage is worthless

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 07:54:00 +0200

You have a pipeline coverage ratio (PLC) of 10x. Is that good? Is it bad? Will you hit target? Will you team understand it?

The only thing you know for sure: It needs a winrate of 10% to work out.

But how do you use it operationally? Well.. It's pretty difficult. We dive into the problems with PLC in this episode.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:26) - Pipeline coverage isn't helpful
(11:53) - Pipeline coverage gets impacted so many ways
(13:47) - This is how you can use PLC
(16:33) - What's the alternative?
(22:15) - The "boring" answer
(24:06) - Unblended PLC

PS: Want a masters degree in B2B SaaS? Head over to the revenue letter.

Churn is dying, let’s save it

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 20 Jun 2023 10:34:04 +0200

You can calculate churn however you want. The problem? Churn as a metric will start to lose meaning.

Toni and Mikkel discuss the different options to make it useful.

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:58) - What churn was used for
(04:35) - The intention behind churn
(07:36) - Churn definitions from public companies
(10:46) - The most brutal churn
(12:42) - So what do you do with churn?
(18:43) - Collateral damage
(21:19) - Churn defined, now what?
(23:11) - Vintages of customers
(25:09) - Creating future churn
(26:45) - But.. How to improve it?

Sources
You can check how different companies report churn here (http://christophjanz.blogspot.com/2017/12/how-public-saas-companies-report-churn.html )
Watch Dave Kellogg's presentation on churn here.

Something you want us to cover? Drop us a note on podcast@growblocks.com

Want predictable revenue? This'll help

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 08:55:03 +0200

The most predictability businesses have for revenue is the forecast. But what are some other simple steps you can take to build more predictability on revenue?

Toni and Mikkel discuss non-magic steps you can take towards predictable revenue.

The industrialization of sales (05:09)
How to go about it (06:32)
Giving targets to your team (08:31)
Steer clear of magic (10:31)
The 10% rule (11:02)
Give quarterly targets (13:44)
Where will you add a buffer? (14:47)
How do you get to quarterly targets? (19:41)
Too much cushion? (21:33)
Focus on the 10 percenters (25:30)
The board and the plan (26:50)

Interested in GTM live? You can sign up here

Special: Leah Tharin on Modelling PLG

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 09:33:37 +0200

Product led growth is still all the rave. But is PLG right for you? How do you build the business case and how do you think about modeling it out?

We're not experts in PLG. Fortunately we brought on Leah Tharin who is to discuss it.

Here's what we covered:

First: Is PLG right for you? (07:54)
2 stages where you can implement PLG (09:54)
PLG is not about acquisition (11:08)
Can you easily explain your offering? (17:44)
Modelling PLG (21:02)
Product Qualified Accounts (30:57)
Operating cadence for PLG/PLS (40:04)

You can check out Leah here:

www.leahtharin.com + her linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahtharin/

Enjoy!

4 Steps to create data trust

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 07:22:00 +0200

"I don't have that number!"... "where did you get that data from?".. Ugh, so many objections to data, and the worst part? You get stuck chasing data perfection (which is an endless endeavour). Instead, follow this simple framework to create data trust.

And the best part? It's self validating over time.

In the episode, we discuss:

The problem with data (02:19)
Biases that break data (04:00)
How to build data trust (10:24)
First step: Go on a data diet (11:18)
Establish accountability for the numbers (17:45)
Pressure test the system (20:52)
Monitoring the data (22:42)
Expanding the data (25:31)
Wrapping up (31:03)

PS: No joke. Write a long review and get a book. Send a screenshot to podcast@growblocks.com

Want sales consistency? Try this

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 30 May 2023 14:54:22 +0200

If you want predictable revenue, you need sales consistency. Not a "backlog" quarter where 80% of deals close in the last two weeks.

That's pretty stressful - so we decided to share 3 ways you can work towards more consistency in your sales.

We covered:

The Unicorn of Sales: Consistency (01:47)
The 80% of sales efficiency (05:00)
#1 - Onboarding & offboarding (05:23)
#2 - It's all about opportunity supply & demand (12:44)
#3 - It's all about the mindset (24:24)
Bonus: Fix to consistency (28:42)

Interested in the revenue letter? You can join here: https://growblocks.com/revenueletter/

The best ways to screw up comp plans

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 23 May 2023 09:08:37 +0200

There are things that just shouldn't be in sales comp plans. And then there are things that definitely should be.

In this episode we talk about a simple approach to drive the right behaviour for you and the sales team.

Clawbacks (04:47)
Step functions (08:40)
Capped comp (10:42)
Cliffs (12:56)
Put this in your comp plans: Kickers (14:18)
Negative kickers or debuffs (18:28)
Contract length (18:40)
Free months (22:30)
Positive kickers aka buffs (23:24)
Sales rep consistency (23:32)
Intra Quarter Pacing (26:08)
Quarter over Quarter consistency (27:10)
The fifth quarter (28:50)
Double bubble (30:09)
Wrapping up (31:29)

You can check out GTM live here: www.growblocks.com/gtm-live/

Email us with questions at podcast@growblocks.com

CAC is useless

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 16 May 2023 07:53:00 +0200

CAC as a metric is pretty useless for operations. But why is that? And what should you do instead?

That's exactly what we cover in this episode

Introduction (01:38)
Very quickly: Defining CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) (02:41)
Keep it simple (05:47)
"CAC as a metric is pretty useless" (07:20)
CAC and Ratios (10:44)
Use CAC Payback instead (13:52)
CAC Payback Benchmarks (22:30)

You can check out the benchmarks mentioned here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Kjbt75NEPRjKK63pI_ULJokEL9L2kIf7/view?usp=share_link

3 GTM Aha Moments

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 09 May 2023 07:37:00 +0200

It seems so obvious once you've had an aha moment. Whatever you were doing before is just seen in a completely new light.

Unfortunately, we only get so many aha moments -- but fortunately we share 3 of Toni's biggest Aha moments around go-to-market in this episode.

Quick introduction (00:55)
1: More AEs = more revenue? (02:04)
2. Sales led motion on a €2-3K ACV? (11:59)
3. How does marketing work again? (19:29)
Episode wrap-up (26:53)

If you want to see the show, check it out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@growblocks/podcasts

Also mentioned, signup for the revenueletter here: https://growblocks.com/revenueletter/

200 QBRs later: They’re broken

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 02 May 2023 07:39:00 +0200

We've run more than 200 quarterly business reviews (QBRs), and we've realized something. They're broken.

Fortunately, we have a solution that improves them by a great deal. We're calling it QBRs 2.0 - listen in here.

You can check out the blogpost here: https://growblocks.com/blog/qbrs-are-broken/

If you're interested in GTM live, sign up here to get access: https://growblocks.com/gtm-live/

Making sales enablement unsuck

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 07:39:00 +0200

61% said sales enablement was useless on Bravado (yikes). While the community is very direct, there's a couple of reasons sales enablement doesn't succeed.

We talk about the problems, how to overcome them - and share one or two counter-intuitive approaches you can take.

Key points

The problems sales enablement can solve (04:08)
Why sales enablement matters (06:59)
It should be called revenue enablement, here's what they do (09:12)
What folks should you hire? (13:00)
Recruit your top rep to do coaching (15:41)
Sales enablement to actively participate in sales calls (27:55)
Wrapup (29:28)

If you want to see the show, check it out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@growblocks/podcasts

5 real examples of rapid experimentation

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 12:38:20 +0200

Don't just make big bets. Consider rapid experimentation to outpace the competition. We share 5 concrete examples, a process we've followed - all to enable you to conduct rapid experiments.

Small steps, big wins: Achieving radical outcomes

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 12:44:04 +0200

Formula 1 pitstops took 50 seconds, now it's down to 2. That's the power of continuous improvement, and it can be applied to SaaS.

4 letters to make better decisions, faster

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 07:33:00 +0200

Sales cycles are extending. Win rates are decreasing. How do you make decisions faster? With a simple framework.

Tools won't fix outbound, but this will

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 08:41:17 +0200

When outbound doesn't work, everyone looks to the tools and the processes. But there's something else that has a higher impact.

Exposed from S-1s: How unicorns create hypergrowth

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 07:47:00 +0100

In this episode we expose how unicorns such as Snowflake, Datadog and Asana drive hypergrowth. All revealed by reading their S-1s (IPO filings)

Agile Go-To-Market

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 14:59:16 +0100

What does an agile go-to-market look like for b2b SaaS? That's exactly what we discuss in this episode.

Hacking NRR: The Path to +120% NRR

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 15:12:42 +0100

Getting well beyond 120% NRR is no accident. It's all about GTM, and we break down a few cases in this episode.

Private Equity: Good vs Great GTM Execution

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 11:28:38 +0100

Great companies execute their GTM differently than good companies. In this episode, we share the exact differences from a private equity person we recently talked with.

How $100M companies hit revenue target

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 09:21:25 +0100

How do +$100M SaaS companies keep hitting their revenue target? We've talked with a few and share our findings in this episode.

What you don't know but your competitors do

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 10:05:00 +0100

Do your competitors know something you don't? Or are you actually smarter than they are?

In this week's episode, we talk about the proper way to watch your competition, what to consider, and when it doesn't matter at all.

Special EP: The untold story

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 10:15:00 +0100

On this special episode of The Revenue Formula, we go behind the minds of Growblocks and explain why we see revenue generation as a science, not an art.

Toni talks about what turned his perspective around, how long it took to get there, and how we envision modern revenue operators today.

Run your GTM like a relay race

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:12:00 +0100

With relay runners, each member's performance is critical if they win or lose. The same goes for your GTM teams.

In this week's episode, we talk about how to establish accountability in your revenue engine and how to get everyone working on the same team.

5 left field growth plays in a downturn

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 10:15:00 +0100

Winning by Design is predicting 2023 as "The largest revenue churn event in the history of SaaS." But just because we're in a downturn doesn't mean that you can't do anything about it.

In this episode, we break down 5 non-obvious plays you can attempt this year to stand out from the competition.

0 Friction, 0 Risk

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 10:15:00 +0100

Customers want an easy way to buy from you, so why are we making it harder for them? Between no prices on your website, fluffy product descriptions and no buy-now options, a lot of B2B's are putting up roadblocks.

In this episode, we examine the benefits of a 0 Friction 0 Risk purchasing journey, and how you can implement it into your funnel today.

5 efficiency plays you haven't thought of

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 10:17:00 +0100

It's 2023, and if you've been listening to everyone on social media, you'll know that you have to focus on efficiency this year.

But what does that actually mean? What can you actually do?

Don't let efficiencies be another buzzword this year. In this episode, we cut through the BS and give you 5 real ways you can drive efficiencies this year.

4 Go-to-market challenges

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 11:49:00 +0100

There are four common go to market challenges, they should be solved in an uncommon way.

How do you deal with discounts, partnership deals and more - those are just some of the common obstacles that you’ll encounter as you’re bringing your solution to market.

We discuss the logic you can use to solve them the best way possible.

All big decisions need this

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 08:21:00 +0100

Making a big decision requires you to not just make one decision, but many.

In this episode, we cover a simple approach to structure your decision making making sure you won't get stopped dead in your tracks a few months later when someone goes "I don't remember us agreeing to do that?".

Sales capacity models are broken

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 07:44:00 +0100

The capacity and the sales quota is only half the equation, there’s an entire part always being left out - and it’ll lead to you not being able to hit target.

So what is the other half? That’s what we get into in this episode.

Are you building an unachievable plan?

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 07:39:00 +0100

Is your plan unachievable? If you don't know, here are the things to watch out for + how to fix it.

Make this analysis for 2023

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 06:22:00 +0100

The budget always has one important line: Revenue. But behind that line you'll find very little detail.

If the plan is being made for 2023, we cover a simple analysis you should run to ensure the business can actually reach the targets desired.

No one makes this plan

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 08:49:00 +0100

There are four plans a business needs; Budget, people and product. But almost everyone forgets number 4: The revenue plan.

We’re fixing that in this episode but diving into what problems it’s causing for you, how to think about your engine and creating a revenue plan.

All models are broken (but some are useful)

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 09:11:00 +0100

We've talked about having a model to manage and execute revenue at b2b SaaS companies. But we've not really outlined how you build one.

We're fixing that in this episode as we get into how Toni build the first operating model for revenue, what dimensions were considered and how it was used. Hopefully it'll serve as inspiration for you to build your own model to manage revenue.

No one needs perfect data

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 10:18:06 +0100

Data quality. Clean data. Measure everything.

There's a lot of data available, and because it's very black and white, we tend to get stuck on the quality and cleanliness of the data. Can we even trust it?

We discuss why you don't need to chase perfect data to grow revenue - and at the same time when you really need to make sure you have solid data.

Not all things are repeatable

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 09:46:15 +0100

There's a difference between fastfood chains and Michelin star restaurants. One has repeatability allowing them to scale, the other doesn't.

Understanding the limitations of repeatability helps you pick the right initiatives as you seek to scale revenue at a b2b saas company. We discuss the common misconceptions around repeatability, and how you can make things repeatable allowing you to scale.

How to miss a quarter

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 08:48:37 +0200

If you’re ever gonna miss a quarter, you should do it the right way.

It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when. We discuss why companies usually miss, and what can be done to avoid a hard miss.

And if you have a hard miss… What you should consider next.

The real reason salesreps quit

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 09:28:32 +0200

Retaining your sales reps is the same as retaining your "quota on the street". If you can't retain sales reps, there's a good chance you'll struggle to scale.

In this episode we cover one of the foundational reasons why sales reps quit - and no, it doesn't come up in employee feedback surveys. We'll also cover what you can do to identify if you have the problem & fix it.

The secret benefits of removing discounts

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 10:31:01 +0200

Discounts is a common practise - that's why we discuss what benefits you can unlock by removing them altogether.

But.. Removing them flat out might be hard. Don't worry, we also cover what you can do instead to gain the same benefits a discount free future offers.

Why 95% already messed up next year

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 11:35:29 +0200

There are 4 things that might already now ruin your plan for next year. Even before you've started planning. We cover the four challenges, and what you can do about it to help land a plan you can deliver on.

Why you can't get rid of comp plans

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 15:54:13 +0200

It's very compelling to get rid of compensation plans theoretically. There's not a system that can be gamed, and research even show that it might not improve performance - but actually decrease it.

That's why we cover why you can't get rid of compensation plans, what challenges you'll face and how to avoid common pitfalls if you're building compensation plans for the first time.

Why 75% of scale-ups will have RevOps

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 10:16:44 +0200

Whether you already have RevOps or just thinking about it, you might want to put on your headphones and listen in.

We discuss why most b2b SaaS companies have or will have revenue operations by 2025. We get into how the team evolves with the business, how you can get more value from RevOps and succeed.

The 10% rule to double revenue

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 13:42:01 +0200

Did you know that 10x7 is not 70? It’s 100 - because of compounding interest. Rather than going for radical improvements or big projects, consider improving in increments across your funnel. This will reduce risk and your CFO will love you for it.

How we hit 12 quarters in a row

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 09:38:48 +0200

What’s the methodology we used to hit 12 quarters in a row? A loooot of hard work. We discussed how to set the right targets & plan, how to ensure relentless focus on execution and how that led to what we called ‘predictable revenue’.

Stop obsessing over forecasts

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 10:02:52 +0200

You can spend time creating the perfect and most accurate sales forecast, but what value is it really creating? Will you close more deals? Generate higher deal sizes? Not really.

You can only forecast accurately as far into the future as your sales cycle. Also, if it's being done to know whether people get commission, you're not creating actual value to the business.

What should you do instead? We're not gonna tell you in the description (sorry).... but listen in and get some very concrete examples and tips that create value for the business.

Never waste a good crisis

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 10:15:31 +0200

Whether the crisis is caused by the business itself or external factors - a crisis (depending on severity) can present some significant career opportunities. If you're in a squeeze where it's staying on a burning platform or jump into the water, the question becomes: Do you stay or leave the business? There are pros and cons of both options, and that's what we cover in this episode.

Setting ambitious targets you can hit

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 13:46:35 +0200

Can you clearly explain to your team how you can hit your target? If not, then you might want to listen to this episode. We discuss how to balance targets that are realistic and ambitious. We'll also cover how to close the gaps, what you can do to shift the conversation and ensure you have what's needed to hit.

Our favorite growth hack: QBRs

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 13:45:36 +0200

The growth hack no one talks about: Quarterly business reviews. Want to know why building a habit around business reviews will help you grow? Then this is an episode to listen to. We cover why they make you better, and how to run the first successful QBRs.

Outbound is dead, long live outbound

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 13:37:39 +0200

Outbound as we know it will never be the same. For buyers, a lot of tools have surfaced to help protect them from outbound reps. But the reps also get access to tools helping them play offense. In this episode, we talk about what's changed, why outbound is relevant and how it can be used today.

How to get better: Giving & receiving feedback

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 13:31:37 +0200

What on earth does feedback have to do with growing revenue? A lot - and in this episode we share some approaches to feedback we've taken - and how they help you get better as a team or as an individual. Also while we have your attention, please provide feedback on this episode by dropping a note to podcast@growblocks.com

Adding enterprise sales as a new motion

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 13:24:31 +0200

Thinking about adding enterprise sales as a new motion? Everyone wants that too, but there are some pitfalls - thankfully we discuss them in this episode. We cover when it makes sense, what you'll need in place and what will change (RFPs ring a bell?)

Putting revenue back into RevOps

Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 13:03:15 +0200

Why does RevOps exist, and how do they switch from busy work to business impact? In this episode we cover the evolution of RevOps and why they’re critical for the GTM teams. As a team, RevOps must focus on revenue by creating shared funnel metrics and running quarterly business reviews with the revenue driving teams. At the same time we cover the questions RevOps needs to be able to answer.

The 1 thing to scale

Growblocks — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 12:55:35 +0200

In this episode we talk about the unicorn path. You’ll need to find your way to the first $1M ARR. Whatever path you take, you need to make sure it’s repeatable. We’ve got a suggestion, consider two things: 1) The playing field - what are your options to reach your audience, and 2) the ceiling - how much scale is there, how repeatable is it? If you search for a direction, we discuss the common issues that’ll hold you back: Bias, measurability and mindset. PS: You’ll need to be patient and persistent.

Introducing The Revenue Formula

Growblocks — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 19:57:33 +0200

The Revenue Formula: A show for people obsessed with revenue and growth at b2b SaaS companies.