“There’s an offense, a defense, there's a special team and there’s an attention to detail. I really applied that when I decided to go into sales right after school. I was going to be a pro. If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right.”

Mark Cranney expects whatever business he’s a part of to run with the efficiency of a football team running a play they’ve done a hundred times before. He learned a lot of lessons from his time on the field when he was in high school and college, and he’s found a way to take those experiences from the field to the boardroom.

Mark currently serves as the COO of SignalFX, a SaaS-based monitoring and analytics platform for cloud-native companies to monitor their online and digital infrastructure. Prior to that, he had a seven-year stint at the renowned venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

In today’s episode, Mark and Ian sit down to discuss Mark’s background in the venture capital space, why he got out of that to join the team at SignalFX and his approach to recruiting and developing the most talented people in any given field.

We just announced our newest partnership with b8ta! b8ta.com gives you access to some of the most innovative and cutting edge consumer tech products.

This week, we're giving away a ChiliPad, a sleep system that helps you regulate the temperature of your bed while you rest. Enter the give away for a chance to win!

Quotes:

17:48- “I like the granularity of operating on a day to day basis, particularly when you can do it across the sales side, marketing, customer success and back into to the product piece and make sure you are building great products and great experiences for your customers.”

18:40- [On leaving venture capital to start SignalFX]- It’s funner at the point of the spear. Ya know, getting shot at and shooting back is a lot funner.”

29:51- [Advice for young entrepreneurs] “Understand what your hiring criteria is, what it’s going to take to be successful, be able to articulate that- write it down.”

Mission Daily and all of our podcasts are created with love by our team at Mission.org We own and operate a network of podcasts, and brand story studio designed to accelerate learning. Our clients include companies like Salesforce, Twilio, and Katerra who work with us because we produce results. To learn more and get our case studies, check out Mission.org/Studios.

If you’re tired of media and news that promotes fear, uncertainty, and doubt and want an antidote, you’ll want to subscribe to our daily newsletter at Mission.org. When you do, you’ll receive a mission-driven newsletter every morning that will help you start your day off right!

Email us -> [email protected]

Work with us -> https://www.missionsponsors.com/

Follow Stephanie -> https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniepostles/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.