The Orbit Shift Podcast

Sara Varni has spent more than a decade scaling marketing organizations for various enterprise SaaS companies. Currently, as the chief marketing officer of cloud communications platform Twilio, she looks after all of marketing including growth, brand, and product marketing, public relations, developer relations, and events. 

In this episode of The Orbit Shift Podcast, she talks to us about the four horsemen of a marketing org - Inbound, outbound, sales reps, and partner organizations and how companies can leverage these pillars for hypergrowth. She also talks about building marketing channels and how to budget for them, how to get field marketing right, and how to create compelling customer stories. 

Get $10,000 free credits to use Freshworks products (including the brand new Freshworks CRM packed with AI-based lead scoring, phone, email, and activity capture) by joining the Freshworks for Startups program. Click here to check eligibility.

About the Guest

Sara Varni is a creative marketing leader with a track record for driving awareness and demand for enterprise software products. She is currently the CMO of Twilio, an American cloud communications platform. Before Twilio, she spent a decade at Salesforce in various marketing roles, including SVP of marketing for Sales Cloud.

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The Orbit Shift Podcast is powered by Freshworks Inc, a global SaaS company headquartered in San Mateo, California. 

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts. 

Host and Producer - Jayadevan PK

Assistant Producer - Shashwath J

Audio Engineer - Rajesh Subramanian  

As Co-Founder and Partner at Jjellyfish, a sales consultancy with experience guiding 120+ early-stage startups, Jen Abel has seen how early-stage sales teams can fail. 

In this episode of The Orbit Shift Podcast Jen talks about why the onus lies with founders to make the early sales and get direct feedback from their customers about their product. She talks about the difference between a buyer and a user, how founders can hit the $1 million revenue mark, how to set up a sales team post the $1 million mark, how sales teams should go about prospecting, and how founders can convert a product-led growth engine to a top-down sales motion. 

Get $10,000 free credits to use Freshworks products (including the brand new Freshworks CRM packed with AI-based lead scoring, phone, email, and activity capture) by joining the Freshworks for Startups program. Click here to check eligibility.

About the Guest

Jen Abel is the Co-founder and Partner at Jjellyfish, an NYC-headquartered sales consultancy that has supported 120+ early-stage B2B startups in finding product-market fit in the U.S. market. Jjellyfish has had the opportunity to support Founders at startups including Atlan, Mesh.ai, Factors, and partnering with various funds including Sequoia, Accel, Blume, and 3one4 capital.

Sign up for regular updates from The Orbit Shift Podcast.

The Orbit Shift Podcast is powered by Freshworks Inc, a global SaaS company headquartered in San Mateo, California. 

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts. 

Host and Producer - Jayadevan PK

Assistant Producer - Shashwath J

Audio Engineer - Rajesh Subramanian  

A founder is often someone who recognizes a gap in the market and looks to address this gap. Our latest guest is one such founder who has spotted a gap in professional social media networks and is looking to provide a solution to it. 

As the founder of Polywork, Peter Johnston is looking to change the way professional social media networks operate. In this episode of The Orbit Shift Podcast, he talks to us about the problem with professional social media channels, how the idea of Polywork came about from his Google 20% project. His future plans for monetization of the platform, the importance of design for product and growth, his approach to hiring and dealing with hiring missteps, and his advice on fundraising.  

 
Skip the waitlist to create your Polywork profile

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Get $10,000 free credits to use Freshworks products (including the brand new Freshworks CRM packed with AI-based lead scoring, phone, email, and activity capture) by joining the Freshworks for Startups program. Click here to check eligibility.

About the Guest

Peter Johnston is the Founder of Polywork, a professional social network that is backed by a16z, Anthony Pompliano, and Alexis Ohanian amongst others. A designer by trade Peter has previously founded Kalo a freelancer management platform, before which he worked as a designer for Google. 

Sign up for regular updates from The Orbit Shift Podcast.

The Orbit Shift Podcast is powered by Freshworks Inc, a global SaaS company headquartered in San Mateo, California. 

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts. 

Host and Producer - Jayadevan PK

Assistant Producer - Shashwath J

Audio Engineer - Rajesh Subramanian  

If you’re a founder and are wondering how to really get sales right, or if you’re a sales leader and want to figure out how to hire people, help them level up and really propel your company into the next orbit, you must listen to Joe Manuele, the SVP of Corporate and Business Development at cloud communications company Dialpad. 

For several years now, Joe has had a ringside view of the transformation in the selling process. In this episode of The Orbit Shift Podcast, we talk to him about his journey and the need to continuously evolve as a manager. The top traits and abilities he looks for in salespeople, the metrics with which to track a sales team, how companies can wed an inside sales motion along with a product-led growth motion, and the lessons learned from the acquisition of his previous company Highfive. 

Get $10,000 free credits to use Freshworks products (including the brand new Freshworks CRM packed with AI-based lead scoring, phone, email, and activity capture) by joining the Freshworks for Startups program. Click here to check eligibility.

To signup for Dialpad for Startups click here

About the Guest

Joe Manuele is Sr. Vice President Corporate and Business Development at Dialpad and former CEO of Highfive, which Diaplad acquired in August 2020. He has over 25 years of IT and communications experience in the enterprise and global carrier markets, gained at Avaya, Cisco, and Actelis Networks. Joe also served as Group Executive ̶ Communications at Dimension Data and NTT Global, where he was responsible for the $2 Bn UC and Collaboration business unit. 

Sign up for regular updates from The Orbit Shift Podcast.

The Orbit Shift Podcast is powered by Freshworks Inc, a global SaaS company headquartered in San Mateo, California. 

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts. 

Host and Producer - Jayadevan PK

Assistant Producer - Shashwath J

Audio Engineer - Rajesh Subramanian  

Launch, Lift, Locate, and Level Flight. These are the four stages that Ken Lundin, Founder of sales consultation group Ken Lundin & Associates, prescribes to early-stage startups to attain high growth. 

On this episode of The Orbit Shift Podcast, we caught up with the sales leader to talk about

🚀How the selling process, sales teams, and sales talent need to pivot during the pandemic and beyond 

🚀Breaking down the sales alpha roadmap and the four stages of Launch, Lift, Locate, and Level Flight

🚀Building a sales team and the Key Performance Indicators to set for sales teams

🚀How founders can design successful incentive programs for sales reps

🚀How startups can align sales, marketing, and product 

🚀How founders should go about building an outbound engine

Get $10,000 free credits to use Freshworks products (including the brand new Freshworks CRM packed with AI-based lead scoring, phone, email, and activity capture) by joining the Freshworks for Startups program. Click here to check eligibility.

About the Guest

Ken Lundin, founder of Ken Lundin & Associates, has a unique perspective on thriving during unpredictable times. After learning in 2011 that his family home had been sold on the market, Ken had to start again, working his way up from a mid-level sales position to achieving the role of SVP of Sales within two years. With his impressive sales knowledge and his determined outlook on life, Ken quickly became a consultant, bringing his successful business acumen to other companies who are looking to excel during the COVID era and beyond.

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The Orbit Shift Podcast is powered by Freshworks Inc, a global SaaS company headquartered in San Mateo, California. 

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts. 

Host and Producer - Jayadevan PK

Assistant Producer - Shashwath J

Audio Engineer - Rajesh Subramanian  

Marketing has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. Today data empowers marketers to understand where their dollars are going and what their return on investment is. Heather Zynczak, a board member at DemandBase and ex-CMO of Pluralsight, has had a firsthand view of this change in the field.

In this episode, she talks to us about the changes in marketing trends and how startups need to react to them. Why she thinks the way Account-Based Management is defined is problematic and how companies can get ABM right. Heather also talks about how she led product-led growth at Pluralsight and why companies should not have to choose between sales and product-led growth.

Get $10,000 free credits to use Freshworks products (including the brand new Freshworks CRM packed with AI-based lead scoring, phone, email, and activity capture) by joining the Freshworks for Startups program. Click here to check eligibility.

About the Guest

Heather Zynczak has spent the last 25+ years in marketing, product, and revenue leadership positions at some of the world’s most successful tech companies. Heather spent 4+ years as CMO of Pluralsight, where she was responsible for all aspects of marketing and digital revenue. During her tenure there, the company grew B2B revenue by over 50% year-over-year, growing revenue to almost half a billion and enabling the company to IPO in 2018. 

Sign up for regular updates from The Orbit Shift Podcast.

The Orbit Shift Podcast is powered by Freshworks Inc, a global SaaS company headquartered in San Mateo, California. 

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts. 

Host and Producer - Jayadevan PK

Assistant Producer - Shashwath J

Audio Engineer - Rajesh Subramanian  

Dave Kellogg, known as the ‘Yoda of SaaS metrics,’ is our latest guest on The Orbit Shift Podcast. We talk to the SaaS veteran about

🚀The two essential SaaS metrics - ARR and ARR growth

🚀The importance of picking a big enough TAM

🚀Importance of measuring NDR 

🚀CAC vs NDR, when to use what

🚀The limitations of an NPS

🚀Why startups shouldn’t become metric slaves

This episode was recorded live at SaasBoomi’s annual event.

Get $10,000 free credits to use Freshworks products (including the brand new Freshworks CRM packed with AI-based lead scoring, phone, email, and activity capture) by joining the Freshworks for Startups program. Click here to check eligibility.

About the Guest

Dave Kellogg is an advisor, independent board member, consultant, and blogger at www.kellblog.com. In 2019, he was named to the Top 5 Most Respected Leaders in SaaS by the 15,000 attendees of SaaStr. He brings a balanced and uncommon perspective to enterprise software challenges, having 10+ years experience at each of the CEO, CMO, and board levels across ten different companies ranging in size from $0 to over $1B in revenues.

Sign up for regular updates from The Orbit Shift Podcast.

The Orbit Shift Podcast is powered by Freshworks Inc, a global SaaS company headquartered in San Mateo, California. 

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts. 

Host and Producer - Jayadevan PK

Assistant Producer - Shashwath J

Audio Engineer - Rajesh Subramanian  

With Melissa Sargeant, the chief marketing officer of email marketing company Litmus, we explore the role of a chief marketing officer, how they’re hired, why they last the least in the c-suite, and e-mail marketing, one of the most powerful channels for marketers. 

Get $10,000 free credits to use Freshworks products (including the brand new Freshworks CRM packed with AI-based lead scoring, phone, email, and activity capture) by joining the Freshworks for Startups program. Click here to check eligibility.

About the Guest

Melissa Sargeant is the CMO of email marketing company Litmus. She has more than 20 years of experience in various marketing leadership roles. She was previously the CMO of SugarCRM, ChannelAdvisor, and the Senior Director of Product Marketing at CA Technologies. 

Sign up for regular updates from The Orbit Shift Podcast.

The Orbit Shift Podcast is powered by Freshworks Inc, a global SaaS company headquartered in San Mateo, California. 

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts. 

Host and Producer - Jayadevan PK

Assistant Producer - Shashwath J

Audio Engineer - Rajesh Subramanian 

When you sell subscriptions to a SaaS product that needs to be renewed frequently, it is necessary to prove the value of your product to customers every day. This not only prevents them from churning but also eventually makes them evangelists for your product.  This is the essence of value SaaS. 

In our latest episode of The Orbit Shift Podcast, we talk to Prasanna Krishnamoorthy, the Managing Partner at SaaS accelerator Upekkha about value SaaS. 

We discuss how founders, can cut through the noise and build a sustainable SaaS company including how to find early adopters, which customers to target, how to position and build a website, and how to have successful fundraises. 

Listen in. 

Get $10,000 free credits to use Freshworks products (including the brand new Freshworks CRM packed with AI-based lead scoring, phone, email, activity capture, and more) by joining the Freshworks for Startups program. Click here to check eligibility.

About the Guest

Prasanna Krishnamoorthy is a partner at Upekkha, where he works with founders to build capital-efficient Value SaaS businesses. He is a full-stack growth driver who has coached more than a hundred entrepreneurs during his time at Upekkha, Microsoft Accelerator, and iKen. While working with these entrepreneurs, Prasanna has created frameworks for early-stage founders to accelerate growth predictably, scalably, and profitably. Prasanna was part of two B2B startups between 2005-2012 and also worked at Amazon, Microsoft, and Tejas Networks. He has a Master's Degree in Telecommunications from the University of Texas, Dallas, and a Bachelor's Degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering from CEG, Chennai.

Sign up for regular updates from The Orbit Shift Podcast.

The Orbit Shift Podcast is powered by Freshworks Inc, a global SaaS company headquartered in San Mateo, California. 

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts. 

Host and Producer - Jayadevan PK

Assistant Producer - Shashwath J

Audio Engineer - Rajesh Subramanian  

Founders are often in the trenches when it comes to fund-raising, making new hires, and driving their company’s growth. What often goes under the radar however is how founders can navigate their way through a board room. In this episode of The Orbit Shift Podcast, we talk to Cindy Padnos, a VC with 25 years of experience in the tech industry who sits on the board of six companies. We talk about

🚀What is the profile of an ideal chairperson

🚀When should founders get an independent board member

🚀How to deal with conflicts in the boardroom

🚀How to compensate board members 

🚀The key ingredients for a good relationship between board members

🚀How to evolve a board over time

Get $10,000 free credits to use Freshworks products (including the brand new Freshworks CRM packed with AI-based lead scoring, phone, email, activity capture, and more) by joining the Freshworks for Startups program. Click here to check eligibility.

About the Guest

Leveraging 25 years of high-tech industry experience, Cindy Padnos is the founder and Managing Partner of Illuminate Ventures. She focuses primarily on the Enterprise/B2B cloud and mobile computing sectors, with a particular emphasis on SaaS applications and platforms, solutions leveraging data for business impact, and new business models that accelerate customer acquisition. Cindy serves as a board director for Bid Ops, BrightEdge, CafeX, Hoopla Software, nFlux, and Pex.

Sign up for regular updates from The Orbit Shift Podcast.

The Orbit Shift Podcast is powered by Freshworks Inc, a global SaaS company headquartered in San Mateo, California. 

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts. 

Host and Producer - Jayadevan PK

Assistant Producer - Shashwath J

Audio Engineer - Rajesh Subramanian