Version One Ventures

JUNE 13, 2013

It’s the age-old debate among start-up circles: which is more important to the success of a start-up: the strength of the sales/distribution strategy or the quality of the product? To be successful, a stand-alone company needs a top-notch product and a clever distribution/sales strategy. Today, it’s a different story.

Sales 144

Sales Product CTO Hire Sales Cycle 144

View from Seed

JUNE 13, 2019

Chewy sells tens of thousands of products from many 3rd party brands, as well as its own private label brands (though latter remains <10% of sales). Annual Net Sales By Customer Cohort. in 2018 and according to the discussion in the S-1 much of this improvement has been attributable to higher product gross margin.

Leadership 214

Leadership .Net Revenue Acquisition 214

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2013

One of the questions I’m most often asked by CEOs is how to hire sales people. I’ve also written extensively on sales and on which sales execs to hire and how to think about the different kinds of sales leaders. Call high, and get passed down or; B. It’s too strategic. ” Whatever this issue is.

Sales Cycle 375

Sales Cycle Sales Technical Review Campaign 375

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2010

This is part of my ongoing Sales & Marketing Series. In the first part of this post I talked about how sales in a startup is often evangelical , requires as consultative sale and needs constant adjustments based on customer feedback. We had 4 or 5 sales reps that had been around since the early days.

Sales 286

Sales PR Forecast Technical Review 286

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 13, 2018

CRM platforms are already firmly ensconced within the sales technology and strategies of most small and midsized businesses. Sales teams have been using their CRMs for basic, day-to-day-functions — such as managing customer information and tracking purchase history — for decades. Go mobile or go home.

Sales 124

Sales Non-Compete Mobile Cloud 124

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

Developing Important Entrepreneurial and Leadership Qualities written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. McGuinness is the co-founder and managing partner of Relationship Impact , a consulting firm focused on helping great leaders build great leadership teams. Marketing Podcast with Jack McGuinness. Podcast Transcript.

Leadership 86

Leadership Developer Cofounder Technical Review 86

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

In reality, too many choices actually dilutes customer interest in your existing market, and makes your job of production, marketing, and support much more complex. New entrepreneurs, especially technical ones, are excited by early adopters, and tend to focus on their feedback, which will always suggest more product features and options.

Technical Review 400

Technical Review Technical Cofounder Advisory Board Cofounder 400

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Defining the right business model requires the same diligence as designing the right product, but the approach and skills required are different.

Technical Review 220

Technical Review Advisory Board Software Review Business Model 220

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2022

Every startup lucky enough to get some traction gets to the point where they decide to hire some “regular employees” for sales, marketing, and administrative tasks. Then they are surprised to see productivity and creativity take a big dip. Sales will be the organization’s sole focus.” Again, you get what you demand and reward.

Startup 337

Startup Technical Review Employee Hiring 337

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2022

Mr. Everhart distills his leadership insights from many decades in one of the largest business-to-business marketing agencies, working with companies across the country. Rarely is there alignment between sales and marketing. Long sales cycles obscure beginning and end of costs. Outside partners and channel impacts are complex.

Acquisition 250

Acquisition Cost Customer Sales Cycle 250

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2021

Provide effective leadership. Remember that leadership is both upward, as well as downward to direct reports and employees. A good CEO provides leadership to the Board of Directors, company investors, and stockholders. In it, he says "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."

Exit Strategy 407

Exit Strategy Leadership Founder Networking 407

ConversionXL

JULY 22, 2020

Sales and marketing misalignment reduces revenue, lowers the quality of customer service, and can even dampen company culture. According to The B2B Lead , sales reps spend about 50% of their time prospecting unproductive deals—while missing 80% of the most qualified leads. Of course, it isn’t just your sales team that suffers.

Sales 90

Sales Cost Marketing Audience 90

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA. Having a methodology instead of just going on random sales visits helped force a bit of rigor and honesty amongst team members about how well or not we thought we were doing. The best sales meetings are discussions. Click here.

Sales 367

Sales Software Review Social Media Customer 367

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2020

You alone will never find enough hours in a day to keep with all the challenges of sales, support, and scaling the business, in addition to developing and delivering your solution. Actually, building and nurturing the right team is the hard part, requiring communication, hiring, and leadership.

Intellectual Property 432

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Technical Review Angel Investor 432

Hearpreneur

JUNE 9, 2019

Every leading position in business requires demonstration of diverse skills and leadership styles. Here’s how entrepreneurs and business owners lead their teams; #1- Servant leadership. As a leader, I operate with a servant leadership mentality, and I expect the same of the other leaders within my company. 3- Hands-on.

Leadership 94

Leadership Entrepreneur Employee Analytics 94

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 29, 2015

This past year I asked Don Faul to come and speak about Leadership and what he has learned in his career as a Special Forces marine, and senior executive at Google, Facebook, Pinterest and Athos. The following seeks to capture the essence of his conversation with this year’s Fellows: What is Leadership? Becoming a Great Leader.

Leadership 100

Leadership Software Engineering Silicon Valley Hiring 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

Eventually you need a VP of Product to handle your product roadmap, a CTO for engineering leadership and VPs of sales, marketing & biz dev. Leadership is actually quite difficult. Of if your VP Sales isn’t complaining about marketing she’s trying to get the function reporting to her.

CTO Hire 385

CTO Hire Entrepreneur Technical Review Leadership 385

YoungUpstarts

JULY 16, 2019

by Ryan Moore, Director of Client Management, Peak Sales Recruiting. When it’s time to hire a VP of Sales, there are a few common attributes you’re probably quick to look for. Relationship sales play a critical role in expansion—whether you’re entering an unfamiliar market or launching a new service or product.

Sales 113

Sales North America Marketing Hiring 113

Up and Running

APRIL 15, 2015

This is where the art of sales comes in. What exactly does sales have to do with leadership? If you ask me, sales has everything to do with leadership. This is something I discovered while leading my own sales team. Leadership and influence. This post will tell you how. Nothing more, nothing less.”.

Leadership 60

Leadership Sales Audience Employee 60

Austin Startup

JANUARY 20, 2021

From Amazon’s leadership principles : Speed matters in business. You are creating something from nothing, a product, a company, a dream. In the world of startups, the idea of speed is often mentioned alongside shipping products and executing company-wide sprints but rarely is it discussed explicitly within the function of Sales.

Sales 64

Sales Startup Sales Cycle Revenue 64

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

Having time to think about “leadership” at most startups feels like a luxury. So spending time thinking about what your leadership style is, whether it’s effective and what you could do to improve it can yield dividends. Here are some quick guidelines on what I think it takes to build a sense of leadership: 1.

Leadership 150

Leadership Southern California San Diego Hiring 150

Agile VC

JUNE 13, 2019

Chewy sells tens of thousands of products from many 3rd party brands, as well as its own private label brands (though latter remains <10% of sales). Annual Net Sales By Customer Cohort. in 2018 and according to the discussion in the S-1 much of this improvement has been attributable to higher product gross margin.

Leadership 100

Leadership .Net Revenue Acquisition 100

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 18, 2022

Why Great Leadership Starts With Open Hearted Conversations written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Instead, they discovered that these leaders help people unlock their creativity, purpose, and results by having conversations that make them feel productive, safe, and appreciated. They're good product designers.

Conversion 94

Conversion Leadership SMS Framework 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

Many passionate entrepreneurs fight to add more features into their new products and services, assuming that more function will make the solution more appealing to more customers. In reality, more features will more likely make the product confusing and less usable to all. Broad product offerings require too much infrastructure.

Startup 287

Startup Bandwidth Distribution Agile 287

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

Here, we’ll show you 6 tips on how to turn your website into a booming source of leads, enquiries and red hot sales. When potential customers visit your website, they’re looking to find out whether your products or services can help them with their problems. Make Sure Your Website Is Set Up To Sell. But that won’t be enough.

Sales 100

Sales Technical Review SEO B2B 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Does your business have a visible positive strategy, or do your customers and employees still see your primary focus as closing more sales and killing competitors? The right positive strategy is integral to claiming leadership as well as making it happen. When customers are excited, your team becomes more engaged and productive.

Sales 276

Sales Leadership Differentiation Global 276

Duct Tape Marketing

JULY 31, 2019

Overcoming Objections in Sales written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. On today’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Jeb Blount , author of 10 books on sales, leadership, and customer experience. Blount also advises leaders through his training programs, Sales Gravy and Innovate Knowledge.

Sales 64

Sales Cofounder Technical Review Leadership 64

YoungUpstarts

JULY 2, 2012

by Mike Staver, author of “ Leadership Isn’t For Cowards: How to Drive Performance by Challenging People and Confronting Problems ” It’s a tricky time to be a leader. You don’t have to be an out-and-out coward to let fear impact your leadership. By definition, all leaders “mess with people’s lives.”

Leadership 260

Leadership Employee Green Restful 260

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

Yet in this age when customers have a thousand alternatives, and are overwhelmed by a multitude of messages, sales efforts can make or break a business. In fact, I believe modern entrepreneurs need to be super sales people, in the most positive sense, to their team as well as customers. No pain usually means no sales.

Sales 120

Sales Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Technical Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2021

For example, early adopters may be easily sold, but new technology product success really hinges on adoption by certain demographics, perhaps more influenced by celebrities or mommy bloggers. The last thing you need in a startup is a false start, where you can’t deliver on a product change deadline, or a new marketing channel.

Metrics 387

Metrics Technical Review Leadership Framework 387

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

In his 17-year career, Rosenberg has developed key insights into the minds of CFOs and FP&A teams, with strengths in both customer-facing leadership and data analytics itself. The promotion signals the importance of product development for the company’s growth roadmap. . ” Product Focus. Prior Leader Moves On.

Hiring 172

Hiring Software Review Customer 172

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2020

Many passionate entrepreneurs fight to add more features into their new products and services, assuming that more function will make the solution more appealing to more customers. In reality, more features will more likely make the product confusing and less usable to all. Broad product offerings require too much infrastructure.

Startup 424

Startup Bandwidth Distribution Agile 424

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2023

Your standards for product quality, sales growth, and customer satisfaction must be documented and reviewed prior to results and performance reviews. Thus paying only for sales volume, when you desire high customer satisfaction, is not productive. Set the standards for good performance in each role.

Leadership 232

Leadership Employee Restful Sales 232

Occam's Razor

APRIL 15, 2019

When you do that much stuff, and you can measure almost everything… The result is that our ecosystem of data people are returning a lot more negative data when measuring performance of Marketing, Sales, User Experience and Customer Service. Four Negative Data Leadership Archetypes. Long-term…. : (. Paul Polman. A Plan for Action.

Leadership 79

Leadership Non-Compete Analytics Software Review 79

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 17, 2022

A great way to do this is through leadership development programs. Sales Team Leader. This blog post will give you an overview of everything you need to know about leadership development programs, including what they are, how they work, and the benefits they can bring to your business. What Is a Leadership Development Program?

Leadership 158

Leadership Programming Developer Employee 158

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 11, 2022

Whether your sales team is brand new and ready to break into the world or you’re still in the process of building your sales team, there are a few things you can keep in mind in order to lead the very best department possible! Learn more about sales team leadership with these tips… 1. Learn to Sell Before Hiring.

Sales 183

Sales Startup Leadership Hiring 183

Duct Tape Marketing

JUNE 1, 2023

Strategies For Successful Product Launches written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing Marketing Podcast with Mary Sheehan In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast , I interview Mary Sheehan. She is an accomplished product marketing leader who has held marketing leadership roles at Adobe, Google, and many startups.

Product 60

Product Framework Technical Review Cofounder 60