Forging Ahead

Forging Ahead

By Thomas SullivanBusinessEntrepreneurship
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Forging Ahead episodes

  • Allin Bond. From selling sunglasses to big ticket software sales.

    I first saw Allin present when he was moderating a Startup Week event in 2019. He was super impressive and this episode did not disappoint.

    This is a man who started in marketing, launched the BDR/SDR program at Intuit, and is now a player coach smashing it selling to the enterprise.

    Allin is a perfect example of a practitioner. There is real shit in here that you can take into work tomorrow to close more deals or become a better sales leader.


    58 min
  • How to W2 a million bucks as a salesperson

    This episode features JR Butler. JR is the CRO of Pillir.io.

    In past conversations, JR has casually talked about W2-ing a million bucks and I wasn't sure if this was hyperbole or actually attainable.

    So I circled back and asked. Turns out, you can W2 a million bucks as a salesperson.

    Listen to this episode to learn how.

    47 min
  • Sales for Founders. Landing your first 100 customers with Louis Nicholls.

    Louis runs Sparkloop.app, a SaaS referral tool for newsletters that is growing 20-30% every month.


    He runs a course called Sales for Founders, which is why I wanted to chat with him. 

    Louis intends to help founders get good enough at sales to close their first 100 customers. Getting to around 10k MRR allows you to take a breath, regroup, and make a plan for what to do next. This often includes shifting gears to a different customer acquisition strategy or bringing someone else in to run sales. 

    I'd pay special attention to how Louis talks about audience and targeting people to reach out to. 

    His success plan is gold as well. 

    You can find the course at https://salesforfounders.com/

    55 min
  • "Working with Investors" with Chris Selland.

    The biggest question you should ask yourself during fundraising?

    Who's your lead? 

    It's all about a lead investor. They are putting the price on the round of funding. They de-risk the round for fellow investors. "Once you have a lead, that's everything."

    Blog post that Chris mentions: https://blog.bolt.io/find-a-lead/

    Traction can be a substitute for track record. If you've never gotten to the pay window, you can improve your situation with traction. Can you show up to investors meetings with some revenue generated, some customers, some cash raised in scrappy ways? Show progress.

    Dipjar can be found here:

    https://www.dipjar.com/

    1 hr 2 min
  • Boston Founder Series. The dulcet tones of Erik Fogg, CRO and Co-founder of ProdPerfect

    I was worried about getting over my skis in this discussion. I am definitely not in ProdPerfect's target buyer cohort:)

     We talk about:

    - Plans for Covid19

    - Making your first sale as a founder*** Erik goes deep here. Super helpful. He has a strong opinion on who should do the early selling.

    - Presentation chops

    - Values. Erik goes DEEP here also. 

    - Breaking the rules, being different. Founders must be somewhat crazy.

    We could have gone for hours and Erik has committed to a part 2. Thanks, Erik!


    Things we mentioned:

    Erik's books: https://www.amazon.com/Erik-Fogg/e/B00GC0FE3A?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_3&qid=1584551538&sr=8-3

    Erik's older blog: http://foggofwar.blogspot.com/

    Erik's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikfogg/

    ProdPerfect: https://prodperfect.com/

    GitLab Remote Resources: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/guide/

    1 hr 2 min

About Forging Ahead

From the publisher's feed

This podcast has evolved. The new direction is that I will invite guests on to teach us about a topic that they know better than anyone on earth.