CRO DataStax, Harry Ault: The Three Steps to a Successful Tech Company Turnaround
Grit14 Jun 2021

CRO DataStax, Harry Ault: The Three Steps to a Successful Tech Company Turnaround

Growing up in a farm town in Pennsylvania with a population of just 183 people, Harry Ault had big career aspirations.


After working for CitiGroup in management positions, Harry built a successful career as a sales leader in the tech industry. As a go-to-market guru, Harry now serves as the Chief Revenue Officer of DataStax, a data management company.


On this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Harry talk about Harry’s three steps to a technology company turnaround, transitioning from legacy revenue to SaaS subscription revenue, and the importance for salespeople to demonstrate their product.


In this episode, we cover:

  • Harry's experience moving to Australia for a job in his early 20s — and the importance of seeking out new learning opportunities. (3:49)
  • Adapting to change: The relationship between curiosity, taking ownership, and grit. (8:18)
  • Learning from failure and the galvanizing impact of company cultures. (12:10)
  • Changing company strategy, go-to-market, and external perception: Harry's three steps for a tech company turnaround. (17:46)
  • 'Make change in hours': The benefits of fostering a non-hierarchical, mission-oriented company culture — and the importance of listening to customer feedback. (21:31)
  • Transitioning from legacy to SaaS: Why DataStax separated its SaaS sales team from the organization that works with its legacy customers. (26:38)
  • 'Elevating our sales capability': Growing a successful SaaS go-to-market strategy by focusing on product demonstration and partnering with customers. (31:07)
  • Communicating a product's value to a customer by personalizing a hands-on demonstration as a salesperson. (38:22)
  • How Harry defines the word grit. (42:41)


Links:

Episoder(281)

From Idea To Impact: How Gamma Is Redefining Presentations | Grant Lee

From Idea To Impact: How Gamma Is Redefining Presentations | Grant Lee

Make your product irresistible, and everything else will follow.That’s the philosophy of Grant Lee, co-founder and CEO of Gamma, an AI design platform with an 'anti-PowerPoint approach', used by over ...

13 Okt 20251h 10min

Leadership Lessons From Snowflake’s Sales & Marketing Duo | Chris Degnan and Denise Persson

Leadership Lessons From Snowflake’s Sales & Marketing Duo | Chris Degnan and Denise Persson

Scaling a business globally comes down to leaders who align teams and drive them forward together.Snowflake serves over 12,000 customers, and early executives Chris Degnan and Denise Persson share how...

6 Okt 20251h 23min

The Man Who Builds for the Decade Ahead | Founder of Google X, Waymo, and Udacity

The Man Who Builds for the Decade Ahead | Founder of Google X, Waymo, and Udacity

What does it take to reinvent entire industries, over and over again?This week on Grit, Sebastian Thrun, the “godfather” of self-driving cars and massive open online courses, reflects on a career push...

29 Sep 20251h 13min

How WordPress Became a Web Giant | Automattic Founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg

How WordPress Became a Web Giant | Automattic Founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg

What kind of founder builds a billion-dollar company around something anyone can use for free? Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, joins Joubin Mirzadegan to reflect on two ...

22 Sep 20251h 10min

The Central Nervous System for Modern Business | Confluent CEO Jay Kreps

The Central Nervous System for Modern Business | Confluent CEO Jay Kreps

The apps and websites we use every day depend on systems most of us never see.Jay Kreps joins Joubin Mirzadegan to share how Confluent became the ‘central nervous system’ for companies like Expedia an...

15 Sep 20251h 17min

Airtable’s AI Reboot with CEO Howie Liu

Airtable’s AI Reboot with CEO Howie Liu

Can a no-code giant reinvent itself in the AI-native era?This week on Grit, Airtable CEO Howie Liu shares what it means to “refound” a company, how speed comes from tearing up old playbooks, and why c...

8 Sep 20251h 7min

Inside the Mind of the World’s Most Optimistic CEO

Inside the Mind of the World’s Most Optimistic CEO

For Bill McDermott, work has never been just a job.On this Labor Day rerun of Grit, first published Jan 9, 2023, the ServiceNow CEO reflects on what he learned from his earliest jobs and how he carrie...

1 Sep 20251h 9min

How Dropbox Beat Big Tech in the Cloud Wars

How Dropbox Beat Big Tech in the Cloud Wars

How do you win when your competitors are the biggest companies in the world?This week on Grit, Dropbox co-founder and CEO Drew Houston retraces the path from a bus-stop prototype to competing head-on ...

25 Aug 20251h 32min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
pengesnakk
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
finansredaksjonen
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
pengepodden-2
utbytte
rss-sunn-okonomi
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
liberal-halvtime
lederpodden
rss-markedspuls-2
lederskap-nhhs-podkast-om-ledelse
rss-investering-gjort-enkelt