Hunters and Unicorns22 Maalis 2024

The Playbook Universe Episode 16 | Sam Costello - The North Star is the Customer

Sam Costello shares his career journey and insights on reinventing oneself to achieve success in sales and leadership roles spanning banking, top tech companies, and startups. Influenced by his father and grandfather's sales backgrounds, Sam earned a finance degree but ensured his first job involved sales. Early days working for his brother's landscaping business shaped Sam's customer-first mindset. This focus on customer success became central to his approach. A chance encounter opened Sam's eyes to tech sales. He pivoted to CA Technologies and learned enterprise software sales. Sam credits CA with providing his sales foundation. Major successes followed at Oracle, including a $30 million deal. But it was a conversation with that client's CIO that sparked Sam's interest in startups. He joined Perfecto Mobile and embraced mentorship from sales gurus Keith Butler and Rob Watson. Their MEDDIC mindset approach to sales transformed Sam's perspective to always focus on customer success. Sam stresses the importance of seeking feedback and remaining coachable to drive continual growth. Even today, he focuses on enabling his team. After Perfecto, Sam saw joining Harness and its mission as his next opportunity to make an impact. Though Sam remains dedicated to driving Harness's success, his broader purpose is helping people through work and philanthropy. He may start a foundation someday. For now, building something great at Harness motivates him. Key Takeaways: - Start with the customer's needs to drive success - Pivoting into new opportunities can unlock potential - Embrace mentorship from sales experts to evolve - Remain coachable and seek feedback to grow - Find purpose beyond your company's mission - Take risks to reinvent yourself throughout your career Sam's story provides inspiration for achieving success by putting customers first, leveraging mentorship, and continually reinventing your career. His insights apply to sales and beyond. It's a must watch!

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Jaksot(100)

If You Think Taking Time Off Means You Are Losing — This Conversation Will Change Your Mind

What happens when one of the most intense, competitive leaders in software sales finally decides to slow down? For Alex Patman, former CRO at Drata, stepping away from the game wasn't about losing hi...

9 Syys 1h 10min

From Terrible Manager to CEO — Here Is the Leadership Lesson That Changed Everything

What does it take to go from a Manager to a CEO—and become the kind of leader who helps others surpass you? In this episode of Hunters and Unicorns, Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne sit down with Christ...

26 Elo 1h 4min

The REAL Reason Your Sales Team Is Only Selling 25% of the Time — And What Fixes It

What separates a productive sales team from one buried in operational work? For Srinivas Bandi, it comes down to eliminating the endless toil that keeps sellers away from actually selling. In this epi...

20 Elo 1h 4min

This is why Every Company's Partner Strategy Is Broken From Day One

What separates a good partner strategy from a truly transformational one? For Akshay Rao and Tom Henderson, it comes down to one thing: turning partner strategy into real field execution. In this epis...

13 Elo 1h 15min

7x World Record Holder: Stop Chasing Motivation — Here Is the System That Actually Works

What if motivation is actually the thing holding you back? In this episode of Hunters and Unicorns, hosts Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne sit down with Sean Conway, an eight-time world record holder, e...

15 Heinä 1h 14min

Scaled MongoDB From $35M to $2B — Why He HATES the Word Playbook

What does it really take to scale a software company from $35M to $2B ARR? In this episode of Hunters & Unicorns, Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne sit down with Dan Barrett, SVP International at Figma a...

24 Kesä 56min

MongoDB Global VP: Why Everything You Know About Enterprise Sales Is Wrong in 2026

In this episode of Hunters & Unicorns, hosts Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne sit down with Olivier Zieleniecki, Global Vice President of Partners at MongoDB, to discuss why the future of enterprise sal...

17 Kesä 46min

How Do Elite Sales Leaders Actually Scale From $0 to $100M+?

In this episode, Peppa Wise, SVP of Go-To-Market at Multiverse, breaks down the real differences between scaling from 0 to 10 million, 10 to 100 million, and beyond. From early-stage hustle and chaos ...

27 Touko 55min