Our guest Eric Martin has a background in software sales having worked for Swiftype (acquired by Elastic), DataFox (acquired by Oracle), and now at fast-growing cyber-security startup Vanta where he was the first sales employee. Eric has also been an entrepreneur having brought products to market in underwater hardware and fantasy sports markets. 

Eric and I talk about:

2:20 His story growing up in Stockton

3:06 Studying in California & Saudi Arabia 

5:18 Early entrepreneurial journey

6:51 Takeaways on building startups

9:22 Advice to entrepreneurs

11:22 Eric's journey into software sales -- Swiftype and DataFox

15:26 Software sales basics

18:49 How Eric landed his gig at Vanta?

19:58 Vanta

21:58 How Vanta saves time and $ for companies selling software to enterprise?

23:26 Who should get a SOC 2 certification in enterprise SAAS?

24:48 Takeaways for companies undergoing a SOC 2 certification

26:52 Building a sales team at Vanta -- how CRM (Salesforce, Hubspot etc) and thinking about an outbound engine is key from the start?

30:42 San Joaquin Soccer Alliance

33:24 Eric's daily habit or ritual taught by his dad that has changed his life