Helping People Do Things Better - Learning, Sales, & Doing the Work

This week Ryan Carson - Founder & CEO Treehouse joins us to discuss Learning, Sales, and Doing Work. Ryan continues to build and run his third startup, and according to him, you would have to kill him before he stopped working on his mission at Treehouse. He is passionate about helping people do things better.

We discuss Ryan's background, why he started Treehouse, his experience with other startups, and what he's learned about sales now that he is leading the sales team. We also discuss hiring for behaviors over skills, and how learning happens.

Questions Addressed

• What's broken in education?
• Where is the focus on innovation in education?
• How do you facilitate learning in a way that it makes an impact on the business?
• What is Ryan's story?
• How can you create leverage?
• What has Ryan learned about managing a sales team within Treehouse?
• When it comes to hiring - what does it mean to hire for behavior vs skills?
• How do people learn?

Key Takeaways

• Those who are in education are the heroes, the challenges are with the system.
• Treehouse's focus is on helping those who are trying to get a job. In K-12 they are active in raising funds to support technology in classrooms (i.e. Chromebooks, Google Docs, etc)
• "What bearing does GPA have on our adult lives? - none" - Ryan
• We have moved into a world where trade jobs/skills are all of our jobs.
• Let's decouple success and happiness from the college degree.
• Do the math on the investment - make sure it is good to you.
• Start with building the project, and work backward.
• Entrepreneurs can be split into two categories - those who believe in their business or those who do not, and that makes all the difference.
• Ryan is driven to help people so that they can be happy - technology can provide this, if you learn how to use it and create with it.
• When you don't have leverage, you don't have leverage. Ryan's advice - Do not get into that position. You can't win in this scenario. You can't pretend that you have it.
• There is no hack, there is no shortcut, you have to build the thing.
• Jocko Willink - There is no shortcut, there is no system, there is no to-do list.
• The importance of sales enablement. As a founder - be the first sales person - identify the gaps - i.e. differentiating features, marketing collateral, leads, etc. - Do this, and build out the support that will enable your team.
• If you think you are bad at sales, go deeper. Ask, if you really believe in what you are selling. If you really believe in the problem you are solving.
• When interviewing start to ask for behavior, and get quiet, listen.
• Map the Skills. Break these down into Learning Units. Turn these into Courses. Roll the courses up into projects.
• We do not learn until we take a unit of learning, and rearrange it. Take the information and make it your own.
• Talent Path (Treehouse Program) - you need to learn to build things. Can you build it?
• Try to ignore all the hype, the fear of missing out - focus on things that you are passionate about.

Show Links

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Treehouse
• Jocko Willink - There is no Shortcut, there is no system, there's no to-do list.
• Ryan's Blog
• Crypto Currency Ryan Blog
• TalentPath

Call to Action

If you are a founder, how are you building your sales acumen & experience? Let us know via twitter @catalystsale or email us directly.

Please share your stories with us @catalystsale on twitter or via [email protected]

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In every business, in every opportunity, there is someone who can help you navigate the internal challenges and close the deal. There is a Catalyst. We integrate process (Catalyst Sale Process), technology and people, with the purpose of accelerating revenue. Our thoughtful approach minimizes false starts that are common in emerging markets and high-growth environments. We continue to evolve our practice based on customer needs and emerging technology. We care about a thinking process that enables results versus a process that tells people what to do.

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