The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20Sales: The Biggest Sales Lessons Scaling Brex to $400M ARR, Why Startups are Doing Outbound Wrong and How to Fix It & Why Demand Gen is the Bottleneck for all Startups and How to Solve it with Sam Blond, Former CRO @ Brex

Listen Later

Sam Blond is the former CRO at Brex, where he led the company from near $0-$400M in ARR and a $12.5B valuation. Before Brex, Sam was VP of Sales at Zenefits, where he led the company from $0-$70M ARR in 2 years and a $4.5B valuation. Sam joined Founders Fund as a Partner in 2022 and recently left to focus more on operating.

In Today's Episode with Sam Blond We Discuss:

1. Lessons From Scaling Brex to $400M ARR & Zenefits to $70M ARR:

  • What are the secrets that very few people know, that led to the success of Brex and Zenefits?
  • What was the single worst sales investment Brex made? What was the best?
  • What are Sam's biggest tips to people picking the rocketship they will join?

2. Who, What and When to Hire:

  • When is the right time to hire your first sales rep?
  • Should the founder be the one to create the sales playbook?
  • What is the right profile for the first sales hire?
  • Does it matter if the new hire has domain experience?
  • Why does Sam always advocate to hire through network and not recruiters?

3. How to Hire the Best Sales Reps:

  • What are the questions Sam always asks in interviews with sales hires?
  • Does Sam do case studies with candidates? What is he looking for?
  • What are the biggest green and red flags a candidate can show in an interview process?
  • What are the biggest mistakes founders make when hiring sales teams?

4. How to Have the Best Performing Sales Team:

  • What are the three ways to measure the success of a rep in the first 30-60 days?
  • Why does Sam believe most startups are doing outbound wrong? What should they change?
  • Why does Sam believe demand gen is the bottleneck for all companies?
  • What can be done to solve the demand gen challenge?
  • How does outbound change in a world of AI?

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The PitchBy Harry Stebbings
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4

4.4

478 ratings

More shows like The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

View all
This Week in Startups by Jason Calacanis

This Week in Startups

1,281 Listeners

a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz

a16z Podcast

1,044 Listeners

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors by SaaStr

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

177 Listeners

Founders by David Senra

Founders

1,943 Listeners

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy by Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

2,289 Listeners

Equity by TechCrunch, Rebecca Bellan, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, Max Zeff, Theresa Loconsolo

Equity

339 Listeners

Y Combinator Startup Podcast by Y Combinator

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

227 Listeners

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg by All-In Podcast, LLC

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

9,255 Listeners

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups by Conviction

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

127 Listeners

The Ben & Marc Show by Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz

The Ben & Marc Show

125 Listeners

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley by BG2Pod

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley

465 Listeners

AI + a16z by a16z

AI + a16z

32 Listeners

Lightcone Podcast by Y Combinator

Lightcone Podcast

21 Listeners

Training Data by Sequoia Capital

Training Data

43 Listeners

Uncapped with Jack Altman by Alt Capital

Uncapped with Jack Altman

35 Listeners