The Humans Strike Back

What’s one of the most effective ways we can make a difference?

According to Poornima Vijayashanker, the founder of Femgineer.com, it’s our own ability to speak up and share our experiences – whether it’s at work or a conference of 400+ people.

As the founding engineer at Mint.com, Poornima helped build, launch, and scale the product until it was acquired by Intuit for $170 million.

After the acquisition, Poornima began speaking and sharing her experiences within the tech industry. Once people started coming up to her and sharing what an impact her talks had, Poornima realized what a powerful platform public speaking was – giving her a chance to make a difference by sharing her story while opening up professional opportunities that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.
Since then, she’s spoken somewhere between 500-1000 times to audiences of over 400 people at conferences and companies around the country, including at TEDx and Salesforce. 

In today’s episode, you’ll learn:

• What pushed her to start speaking and get out of her comfort zone
• Why she thinks EVERYONE needs to learn to speak up for themselves, especially at work
• How people with zero public speaking experience can take their first steps
• How she overcomes her own stage-fright, and how she’s helped other people overcome their own imposter syndrome and fear of public speaking
• She also goes into the proactive steps she took to be able to get in front of 400+ people at Salesforce

I hope you enjoy this conversation with Poornima. She’s super smart, has a ton of insights, and was even generous enough to offer THSB listeners a free copy of her book, Present! A Techie's Guide to Public Speaking.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• [00:02:36] How Poornima got started with public speaking
• [00:13:06] The fear of public speaking, and what people can do to get past it
  
• [00:16:31] Why people should speak, even if they aren’t sure they have anything new or unique to say
• [00:19:10] Poornima’s experience with stage fright
• [00:22:28] Steps for people who want to get started with public speaking
• [00:28:25] How you can use personal experiences to find topics to speak on
• [00:36:32] Why Poornima is involved in encouraging women and minorities to speak out
  
• [00:39:47] How Poornima got invited to speak at Salesforce
• [00:44:10] One vital step that people who want to get into public speaking can take
  
• [00:45:28] Why a people-first approach is important
• [00:48:49] The biggest impact that public speaking has had on Poornima
• [00:53:02] The importance of having a mentor or partner
  

Who knew one word could create so much confusion?

Bill Macaitis, who served as a marketing executive for 3 of the fastest ever growing SaaS companies (Slack (CRO/CMO), Zendesk (CMO) and Salesforce (SVP Marketing)), shares how a drop in website sales caused mayhem and how he discovered the culprit by getting feedback from strangers in 5 seconds.

You might not associate the Silicon Valley culture with putting people first, yet the story Bill is going to share with you is deeply rooted in human-centricity.

In today’s episode, you’ll learn about the effect that one word can have on a marketing strategy, and how the reactions of strangers who have spent only five seconds looking at a site can explain a lot about how potential customers are reacting to that site.

You’ll also learn what Bill uses to align entire teams around one core strategy, what a cohort is and why it’s important to your business, and what a five-second test is.

Topics Discussed in Today’s Episode:

• [00:02:02] Bill’s role at Salesforce in 2010-2011
• [00:03:20] The V2MOM acronym
• [00:04:32] Marc Benioff and his vision for Salesforce
• [00:08:05] The messaging around Salesforce at the time of Bill’s story
• [00:09:35] Bill’s feelings and concerns about Marc’s new idea for Salesforce
• [00:12:38] What made Bill realize something was wrong with the new messaging for Salesforce
• [00:14:32] The size of the drop in leads at Salesforce
• [00:16:52] How Bill decided to approach finding and fixing the messaging problem at Salesforce
• [00:17:33] What is meant by the term “cohort” in marketing
• [00:18:42] The five-second test
• [00:19:37] How confusion over the word “social” was causing Salesforce to lose leads
• [00:22:47] Resources that Bill recommends
  
  

Who knew one word could create so much confusion?

Bill Macaitis, who served as a marketing executive for 3 of the fastest ever growing SaaS companies (Slack (CRO/CMO), Zendesk (CMO) and Salesforce (SVP Marketing)), shares how a drop in website sales caused mayhem and how he discovered the culprit by getting feedback from strangers in 5 seconds.

You might not associate the Silicon Valley culture with putting people first, yet the story Bill is going to share with you is deeply rooted in human-centricity.

In today’s episode, you’ll learn about the effect that one word can have on a marketing strategy, and how the reactions of strangers who have spent only five seconds looking at a site can explain a lot about how potential customers are reacting to that site.

You’ll also learn what Bill uses to align entire teams around one core strategy, what a cohort is and why it’s important to your business, and what a five-second test is.

Topics Discussed in Today’s Episode:

• [00:02:02] Bill’s role at Salesforce in 2010-2011
• [00:03:20] The V2MOM acronym
• [00:04:32] Marc Benioff and his vision for Salesforce
• [00:08:05] The messaging around Salesforce at the time of Bill’s story
• [00:09:35] Bill’s feelings and concerns about Marc’s new idea for Salesforce
• [00:12:38] What made Bill realize something was wrong with the new messaging for Salesforce
• [00:14:32] The size of the drop in leads at Salesforce
• [00:16:52] How Bill decided to approach finding and fixing the messaging problem at Salesforce
• [00:17:33] What is meant by the term “cohort” in marketing
• [00:18:42] The five-second test
• [00:19:37] How confusion over the word “social” was causing Salesforce to lose leads
• [00:22:47] Resources that Bill recommends
  
  

Startups used to tell HubSpot that they were undervaluing them by NOT providing an affordable option for them to use their software.

Priced well below enterprise software, nevertheless it was still unattainable to a struggling startup with the technical expertise and talent get more out of marketing and sales; and therefore, they were cobbling together a lot of different solutions that ended up being a pain to manage and scale with.

A few of Hubspot’s team members listened to their feedback, and with the blessing of our startup-loving co-founders, started a rogue experiment called HubSpot for Startups that helped startups get an edge with 90% off our premium software.

Before Kim Walsh stepped in to head up HubSpot for Startups, the experiment had been seriously flailing, with many process, positioning, and scaling issues.

Hear from Kim how she turned the program around and helped guide its vision to where it is today -- from experiment to serious force that helps startups grow, with over 800 global partners and over 2500 customers worldwide.

• [00:01:56] How HubSpot got its start as a rogue experiment.
• [00:06:22] What is meant by accelerators and incubators, and how they affect startups
• [00:08:09] Why startups weren’t able to use HubSpot at its original price
• [00:10:49] The meaning of onboarding
• [00:12:10} The types of data HubSpot used to pinpoint the problem with the original price
• [00:13:10] The types of questions Hubspot asked in feedback surveys
• [00:15:37] How to tailor content and questions to different types of customers
• [00:16:57] What HubSpot did with the feedback that they received from their startup customers
• [00:19:46] How HubSpot helps its partners
• [00:20:30] HubSpot’s go-to market strategy
• [00:22:59] Why HubSpot for Startups changed its name from Jumpstart
• [00:26:03] How Google Trends can help business owners understand their market
• [00:27:39] Resources that Kim recommends
• [00:28:39] Statistics on how much it costs to fund a startup
• [00:29:30] How to convince people to listen to others and get feedback
  

Startups used to tell HubSpot that they were undervaluing them by NOT providing an affordable option for them to use their software.

Priced well below enterprise software, nevertheless it was still unattainable to a struggling startup with the technical expertise and talent get more out of marketing and sales; and therefore, they were cobbling together a lot of different solutions that ended up being a pain to manage and scale with.

A few of Hubspot’s team members listened to their feedback, and with the blessing of our startup-loving co-founders, started a rogue experiment called HubSpot for Startups that helped startups get an edge with 90% off our premium software.

Before Kim Walsh stepped in to head up HubSpot for Startups, the experiment had been seriously flailing, with many process, positioning, and scaling issues.

Hear from Kim how she turned the program around and helped guide its vision to where it is today -- from experiment to serious force that helps startups grow, with over 800 global partners and over 2500 customers worldwide.

• [00:01:56] How HubSpot got its start as a rogue experiment.
• [00:06:22] What is meant by accelerators and incubators, and how they affect startups
• [00:08:09] Why startups weren’t able to use HubSpot at its original price
• [00:10:49] The meaning of onboarding
• [00:12:10} The types of data HubSpot used to pinpoint the problem with the original price
• [00:13:10] The types of questions Hubspot asked in feedback surveys
• [00:15:37] How to tailor content and questions to different types of customers
• [00:16:57] What HubSpot did with the feedback that they received from their startup customers
• [00:19:46] How HubSpot helps its partners
• [00:20:30] HubSpot’s go-to market strategy
• [00:22:59] Why HubSpot for Startups changed its name from Jumpstart
• [00:26:03] How Google Trends can help business owners understand their market
• [00:27:39] Resources that Kim recommends
• [00:28:39] Statistics on how much it costs to fund a startup
• [00:29:30] How to convince people to listen to others and get feedback
  

David Darmanin is the CEO of Hotjar, as well as one of the cofounders that took Hotjar from an idea to a successful company. Over the years, David has learned the value of putting people first and taking feedback seriously. He’s used this experience to help turn Hotjar’s earliest users into some of the company’s most loyal customers.

In this episode, David explains why he and his co-founders decided to create a landing page for a product that wasn’t even live yet. He talks about the things that he learned from previous startup ideas that failed and the resources that he used to ensure that Hotjar would be different.

Listen to the episode to hear David explain how Hotjar slowly began giving access to early users, eventually amassing around 7,000 users before the product’s official launch. This strategy allowed David and his co-founders to collect feedback, create WOW moments and develop relationships with beta users that continue to this day. David also tells the story of how treating a single beta user like an enterprise client led to Hotjar’s largest customer to date.

• [00:03:08] Who was involved at the very beginning of Hotjar
• [00:05:32] Why the decision was made to set up a homepage for Hotjar long before the official launch
• [00:06:10] How David used the experience of past failures when deciding to create the beta program for Hotjar
• [00:07:36] The book that helped David learn about critical ingredients for a good launch.
• [00:09:20] The first day David and his co-founders gave access to people who signed up
• [00:09:53] How David’s idea for a beta program stretches all the back to 2007 when he read a book about beta testing around the time Google was doing their first betas
• [00:12:27] What happened when the first users started to get access to Hotjar
• [00:13:50] The WOW moments that occurred when David and his co-founders started to receive feedback from their first users
• [00:17:34] The types of feedback that Hotjar received from its earlier users, and what feedback David found surprising and interesting
• [00:21:58] The number of conversations, heatmaps, surveys and polls, and other types of feedback received during their beta testing period
• [00:22:58] How Hotjar is still getting value today from the data they received from those beta testers several years earlier
• [00:23:46] Why Hotjar decided that every customer would be treated the same, regardless of how large or small their brand was, and how that led to Hotjar’s biggest six-figure client
• [00:25:49] Why David believes that entrepreneurs can’t afford not to communicate openly with users you
• [00:26:26] Resources that David recommends
  

Tal Ben-Shahar is a bestselling author, a Harvard professor who is responsible for creating two of the university’s most popular courses, and a co-founder of a leadership consulting company called Potentialife.

Tal is also an important figure in the Positive Psychology movement, a movement that focuses on learning about what makes people happy and well, as opposed to what makes them sad and sick.

In this episode, we're discussing what it means to put people first, and how doing so can help you achieve success. Tal will also talk about discovering passions, the benefits of giving, and why money doesn’t bring happiness, as well as what actually can help you find happiness.

Tal also talks about why failure is a necessary component of success. He shares examples of failure from his own life, and illustrates why he feels that it’s important to share his failure with others. He explains how you can build resilience that will help you get through failures, periods of suffering, and difficult times.

At the end of the episode, Tal also recommends resources that can help you learn how to take a people-first approach to success.

• [00:01:48] What it means to Tal to succeed by putting people first
• [00:03:31] The importance of cultivating a strong sense of self
• [00:05:05] Tal’s thought experiment for discovering one’s passions
• [00:06:41] The connection between Tal’s passion for sports and his line of work
• [00:07:42] Why failure is essential to achieving success
• [00:10:07] How money doesn’t bring happiness, and what does bring happiness instead
• [00:11:03] Tal’s explanation of deep happiness
• [00:13:02] What people should do when they’re in a job that they don’t feel passionate about
• [00:15:51] An exercise that people can use when they’re looking to move into their calling
• [00:17:51] How people can look for meaning in their lives and jobs
• [00:21:35] The benefits of giving
• [00:23:38] How the benefits of giving apply in a business context
• [00:26:09] How Tal learned to share his failures with others
• [00:31:38] Why it’s natural to go through periods of suffering or doubt
• [00:35:25] How you can develop resilience that will help you get through difficult times
• [00:38:08] How to observe negative emotions rather than trying to change them
• [00:40:40] How to convince people that embracing a people-first approach in business is the most sustainable way to succeed
• [00:41:44] Resources recommended by Tal
  

Rand Fishkin, one of the co-founders of the software company Moz, shares controversial stories of pushing through product changes, thoughts on guerrilla research, and opinions on the intersection of money and helping users. Moz is a company that creates software for marketing professionals, with a primary focus on SEO. This episode was recorded a few weeks ago, before Rand left the company.

Rand has a reputation for being one of the most honest and transparent people in business. In our interview, we’ll be discussing two different situations where Rand pushed through changes to a product without following the proper process, in an effort to put users first and make the product more user-friendly. Did he make the right choice? That’s up to you to decide after you hear what Rand has to say.

In addition, we’ll be talking about the importance of curiosity, and how natural curiosity about how users are experiencing a product can result in guerilla research that can be used to improve the product. We’ll also discuss quick wins and why Rand believes that you don’t have to make a choice between making money and helping people, because the two are directly tied to each other. Tune in to hear the whole episode and get a book recommendation from Rand.

Show notes:

• [00:02:26] Moz’s Keyword Explorer tool, and the usability problems that users were experiencing with it
• [00:06:29] How Rand pushed through a solution for the Keyword Explorer usability problems
• [00:08:02] The Keyword Explorer tool’s metrics, and how they were causing confusion for users
• [00:10:18] What Rand did to push through a fix for the problem that was creating confusion about the Keyword Explorer tool’s metrics
• [00:12:36] How Rand identified the initial usability problems with the Keyword Explorer tool
• [00:15:32] How Rand would advise other people to identify their potential customers and reach out to them for insights
• [00:18:04] Why Rand thinks it took so long to get needed changes made to a product
• [00:20:07] Rand’s thoughts on quick wins
• [00:21:49] The tool Moz used that showed the increase in usage after the first change
• [00:22:47] Rand on why he believes that it’s process and structures that prevent needed changes that would help users, not bad people
• [00:25:19] Why helping users helps ensure that you’ll make more money and your business will be more successful, so there’s no need to choose between helping people and making money
• [00:27:22] Resources that Rand recommends