000 - Introducing the SalesFounders Podcast

Entrepreneurs need to constantly be thinking about lead sources and profitable strategies to generate customers. In spite of so many overpriced lead strategies, the most powerful and often underutilized lead source is your own expertise. My guest this week is Brian Horn, a best-selling author, investor and entrepreneur who helps professionals leverage their knowledge to gain authority status and national media exposure. On this episode, we explore the strategies of thought leadership and how entrepreneurs can convert their expertise into scalable revenue. Visit https://salesfounders.com/007-thought-leadership-funnel/ for more information.

18 Apr 201732min

What does a venture capitalist look for in a winning startup? How does an entrepreneur know when it's time to scale? In this episode of SalesFounders, we explore the playbook of venture capitalist, Paul Ahlstrom, and take a deeper dive into his book, Nail it Then Scale it. Paul shares 4 key strategies that every startup must understand: What is a minimum feature set? How do I validate my solution? What is my go to market strategy? and Why VC's have no interest in your business plan. Do you know what it takes to build a scalable startup? Join us and find out! Talking Points MINIMUM FEATURE SET Understanding the difference between Minimum Viable Product and Minimum Feature Set Start with the features that solve the customer problem. What is the process to accomplish that. Focus on the feature set that is most compelling to the customer. NAILING THE GO TO MARKET STRATEGY Level 1 - You and your company - what are the things that I can do with my company to go satisfy that customer? Level 2 - Partners - Who are the people that are on the same side of the table as me wanting to sell that customer. Level 3 - Influencers - Boundary Spanners - both sides of the line - the people that are the glue of the industry - analysts and guru’s, press and media - key influencers in the space. Don’t go there till 1 and 2 are figured out. Level 4 - Advertising and Marketing - This is a branding exercise - the whole industry should scream your name - Customers can validate but they cannot innovate - Paul Ahlstrom NAILING THE BUSINESS MODEL Getting the essence of the model figured out before you have too much infrastructure is important. It get’s harder to adapt the bigger you get.   The truth about business plans - a big fat guess Getting into the business model competition - Hypothesis - requires the big idea canvas Go into the field and start having a conversation around this. Discover and uncover the value exchange. Sensitivity analysis - When we have the interjection around 15 minutes, that would be good to narrate something different into it. CROSSING THE CHASM What he didn’t know was the step-by-step process That’s been my mission - how do we increase the startup pace How do we increase the speed of doing things right more DISRUPTING POVERTY One of my life missions is to disrupt poverty Global corruption index (see below) Global poverty index map Intangible wealth - effective government and trust and effective judicial systems. It’s what we enjoy in America.   So how do you transport or create that wealth in other countries.   Paul Ahlstrom is a co-founder and managing director of Alta Ventures, an early-stage venture fund and co-author of Nail it Then Scale it. For more than 30 years, Paul has operated on both sides of the table as a venture-backed entrepreneur (founder of Knowlix, sold to Peregrine Systems, sold to HP) and as an investor. To date, he has raised over $1B and directly invested over $500M in more than 125 startup companies. He earned his BA in communications from Brigham Young University and an honorary doctorate from the Netanya Academic College in Israel.

11 Apr 201734min

Entrepreneurs are often fascinated with the idea of disruption. The reason is obvious - it is typically associated with entrepreneurs who have defeated a giant, and/or redefined an industry. The reality is that disruption is arguably the most difficult and risky approach to entrepreneurship.  My guest this week, Andrew Weinreich, is an expert when it comes to the topic of disruption. Andrew founded SixDegrees (the first social networking platform) and is the "father" of social networking. Andrew joins SalesFounders to share his views on innovation and how he has founded multiple companies that all have one thing in common - massive disruption. Andrew Weinreich is a serial entrepreneur, social networking pioneer, and active presence in NYC’s Silicon Alley for 2 decades. To date, he’s founded 7 startups and has been awarded 2 software patents. Since 2013, he has sold 2 businesses, including Xtify to IBM, while advising 5 tech startups. He is currently the co-founder and Chairman of Indicative, a data analytics startup.

4 Apr 201737min

In the world of enterprise software, Clint Carlos is an anomaly. Unlike the majority of startups who take on funding, Clint has mastered the art of bootstrapping. In this episode, we discuss mentorship and 2 key lessons that have defined Clint's approach to entrepreneurship. Then Clint also opens the doors to the enterprise SaaS solution Ampt, and shares the system he's used to organically grow Ampt by 3000% in 3 years. "No venture is real until somebody sells something." 2 Key Mentor Lessons: 1. No venture is real, until someone in it sells something.  It’s never too early to try and start selling, whatever it is. 2. You just never know what you can actually get until you ask for it.  You may be able to command a much higher value than originally assessed.  Be bold, and take chances. Approaching Sales: If you look at sales simply as facilitating problem solving and engaging in value exchange to that end, it’ll never be a daunting and foreign thing to you. Funding Strategies:  Getting customers into a 3 year subscription contract, and incentivizing customers to pay the balance in advance helps to stabilize cash flow and minimize churn.  It allows the company’s sales to be the organic source of growth. Get creative with customers even if it is a convertible note. Two primary lead sources:  The strategy of thought leadership and strategic content drives site traffic, from which enhancing conversion rates will spike growth.   Networking - Many of our early customers came from the first 2 levels of our networks.  Sales Funnel Strategies: Start with a BDR to give a basic demo.   Closer comes in for a deeper dive and ROI conversation.   Constantly find ways to speed up the funnel and sales process. Systems and Tools: CRM of choice - Hubspot.com Episode Quotes “My focus has always been around the ‘science of people’, human mechanics and behavioral economics.  The science of how we go about quantifying what our interactions and relationships mean to us... If someone recognizes you and calls you by name at a bank, how much more wallet share would they then have because of that relationship.” “Every business you start should begin simply as a sales pitch... No naming, logos, or articles of incorporation.  Just the pitch.” “Everything, regardless of how great of a success or failure, has been a learning experience… Have patience in wanting to see traction in your concepts, but when the time is right, run like hell... You’ll always have only yourself to look at in the mirror and know how much of yourself you’ve given.”

28 Mars 201732min

"Good systems and processes are the birthplace of scalability."   When is the right time to start thinking about sales?… that is the question.  Or at least it should be the pivotal question of all tech startups.  This week Jeremiah Jones, prolific, engineering-minded entrepreneur and CTO consultant/founder of Techuity, joins SalesFounders to discuss the concept of technical debt and the sales challenges facing tech founders. Technical Debt vs Sales Fledgling tech companies often go one of two ways, the path of over-engineering or under-engineering. Both will lead to failure, but with greater frequency those failures are due to overspending. If you have to go one of two directions, and the search for a “technical co-founder” is stalled, go the route of generating technical debt and building your MVP.  Look to validate your product in the marketplace and make up for it later.   Make all feature requests what the customers want, and not what the engineers want to build. When to start selling Wherever you’re collecting data in technology is a gold mine. When is too early to get out there with my product and start selling?  As soon as you can get someone to pay, it’s not too early.  Or, even just as soon as you need the feedback (be that at no initial cost), it’s not too early. A Validated Approach to Selling Go out and establish a wealth of customer development interviews (no less than 30) to hone in on your target audience and possible segments.   Cast a very wide net in your Customer Development Interviews, identify any and all prospective segments, and you’ll begin to informedly validate THAT your model will have traction, and WHERE. Become aware of your model’s weaknesses and learn to fill in the gaps.  Generate a process around how they’ve been filled.  "Good systems and processes are the birthplace of scalability"   Immediately get your customers into the value of the product, keep them engaged and hooked with some level of commitment and use, in the steps towards the close. Jeremiah is a software entrepreneur and the founder of Techuity, a seed investment firm. He has been involved in many startups as co-founder, consultant, or advisor.  He has two technical degrees and an MBA. A favorite hobby is recording classical piano music where he has had over 36 million downloads of his music.

21 Mars 201738min

What is the difference between startups that succeed vs those that fail? That’s the question of todays podcast. It’s one thing to have a great idea. It’s a completely different thing to systematically prove that your customers agree. There’s a reason that 93% of startups that scale early never reach the 100k per month and  why 74% of prematurely scaled startups will fail. My guest, John Richards, is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to building scalable businesses. In this episode, we discuss the signals of premature scaling, the business model canvas, the surprising differences between grad students and undergrads as entrepreneurs, and the single most important ingredient to a successful startup.

9 Mars 201732min

What would you ask a Venture Capitalist and author who has raised over $1B and directly invested in more than 125 different companies?  How about, “What can I do to kill my startup?”  In this week’s episode we talk with Paul Ahlstrom, the managing director of Alta Ventures and co-author of Nail It Then Scale It, to discuss his wealth of expertise and the 3 startup pitfalls that will guarantee you fail.   Talk Points: Three pitfalls that will guarantee you fail: Launching your product or service without the specific customer in mind.  Don’t just fall in love with your idea and fail to continually think about exactly where it intersects with the customer’s pain you’re trying to resolve. Going head to head with a market leader for the same customers without being better.  Disruption comes from below, through going after an unserved customer.  Don’t try to innovate and then go after the very same audience as the giants.  It’s much easier to go after non-consumption that consumption.  As that new market grows, it will niche the market above it and create M&A opportunities.   Scale it before you nail it.  In other words, doing good and obvious things in the improper order.  This will cause an inordinate cash burn rate.  (By the time you get through a certain amount of cash, your company should be worth more than the amount that went in!)  Starve, starve, starve the startup before you nail the PMF. Key startup hypothesis:  For (name your customer) that have (name your problem) we do (name your solution) unlike (name your competitor) through these benefits (name your benefits). Big Idea Canvas: "Before you try nailing and scaling a startup of your own, you need to be sure that your idea passes the 'who cares' test."

9 Mars 201736min