The Scale Up Show

In today’s episode, Ryan interviews Matt Van Itallie, the founder and CEO of SEMA. They discuss the challenges of growing a company without taking on investors, and the impact of Gen AI on code analysis. Matt shares insights on SEMA’s revenue, team size, go-to-market strategy, and the importance of building trust with private equity firms. They also look at the challenges and opportunities the use of AI in code checking presents, and the best practices for deploying Gen AI code.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Unique Go-to-Market Strategies: Utilizing trust-based partnerships and referrals, SEMA has successfully grown its business in the private equity space.
• Importance of Gen AI Code: With Gen AI code becoming more prevalent, it is crucial for organizations to manage it effectively to mitigate risks related to IP, security, and exit strategies.
• Enterprise-Level Licenses: Ensuring that team members have enterprise-level licenses for Gen AI tools is essential to protect trade secrets and data integrity.
• Encouraging Experimentation: Celebrating experimentation and sharing lessons within the team can lead to innovative uses of Gen AI tools and foster a culture of learning.
• Addressing Identity Concerns: By equating the use of Gen AI with open source tools, developers can overcome concerns about their coding identity and embrace the benefits of new technologies.

BEST MOMENTS

"Just replace the word Gen AI with open source. Are you a real developer if you use open source? Of course, I am."

“We're absolute proponents of using AI where it makes sense to increase productivity and job satisfaction. And for us, coders using it is probably number one on the list in terms of how much more productive they can be, because it helps avoid some of the routine work. It lets them experiment faster, et cetera.”

"My mission in life is to help founders and revenue leaders avoid all the pain and suffering in revenue growth so they can flip it and create a life of their own design."

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

[email protected]

www.ryanstaley.io

Saas, Saas growth, Scale, Business Growth, B2b Saas, Saas Sales, Enterprise Saas, Business growth strategy, founder, ceo: https://www.whalesellingsystem.com/closingsecrets

In this episode, Sahil continues to discuss Spiralyze's unique performance-based pricing model for A-B testing services. Sahil explains how they use a massive data set to predict lift for clients and only charge if results are achieved. Sharing insights on growth challenges, maximizing growth channels, and the need to resist the allure of shiny new tactics, the conversation delves into the evolution of Spiralyze's business model over the years, emphasizing the importance of continuous reinvention and rapid iterations to stay ahead in the market. 

Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.  

Explore becoming Superhuman here: https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Spiralyze utilizes a unique performance-based pricing model where clients only pay if they achieve the predicted lift in conversions from A/B testing.

• The CEO emphasizes the importance of constantly reinventing and adapting the business model to stay ahead of the curve and avoid plateauing growth channels.

• Consistent practice and repetitions are key to mastering skills and improving outcomes, as seen in the CEO's dedication to daily sales pitches and LinkedIn posts.

• Identifying and overcoming bottlenecks in growth channels, knowing when to shift focus, and resisting the allure of shiny new strategies are crucial challenges in scaling the business.

• Sharing knowledge and insights with others in the industry can help build a supportive community and drive collective growth and success.

BEST MOMENTS

"We'll get you this much lift for this much. If we get you less than this, you pay nothing. If we hit a home run, and this is what we think a home run looks like, by the way, just to quantify, it's about 30% lift, conversion lift, in the first three months, you pay us our full fee."

"I've been finding like 30 different use cases, most of them new per client that I work with."

"I personally did about 100 sales pitches and reworked it over and over and over. I still am very involved. I do about five a day."

"Here's the reality: what worked for us six years ago wasn't going to get us to the next level. And what's working for us now? I don't know what the shelf life on it is, but I think it's safe to say, whether it's a year from now, two years from now, three years from now, it's going to plateau."

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

[email protected]

www.ryanstaley.io

Saas, Saas growth, Scale, Business Growth, B2b Saas, Saas Sales, Enterprise Saas, Business growth strategy, founder, ceo: https://www.whalesellingsystem.com/closingsecrets

Ryan interviews Sahil Patel, the CEO of Spiralyze. Sahil discusses how SpiralEyes helps businesses improve their website conversion rates through conversion rate optimization. He explains the importance of pattern recognition and AI in identifying successful tests and executing them at high velocity. Sahil also shares insights on their unique pay-for-performance model and the advantages of being a self-funded company.

Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.  

Explore becoming Superhuman here: https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Spiralyze has a pay-for-performance model, allowing clients to pay based on the results achieved, which is a unique approach in the industry.

• The company runs about 40-50 tests a year for clients, significantly higher than the industry average of 10 tests a year, thanks to automation and AI integration.

• Spiralyze leverages pattern recognition and AI to identify successful tests across various websites and industries, providing valuable insights for clients.

• Using tools like ChatGPT, the company streamlines content creation by reducing unnecessary words and improving efficiency in drafting A/B tests.

• Spiralyze is self-funded and has organically grown to a team of 145 people, showcasing the advantages of bootstrapping in maintaining control over the company's destiny.

BEST MOMENTS

"Most of our clients on average get about 20 to 30 percent more conversions on their website when they work with us and use our product."

"If you want to take and get big wins, you want to take big swings."

"I found most marketing campaigns, a lot of the problems can be solved just by removing 30 to 50% of the words."

"Sometimes 90% of people leave the site and don't do anything. If you had a restaurant, and 100 people walked in the restaurant, and all but three left, you'd say you have a big problem. And yet every day, generally speaking with B2B websites, that's what's happening. 100 people are coming, 97 of them leave and don't do anything. And it's really expensive to get all that traffic there."

"A test that works on someone's paid landing page, paid traffic, has very different characteristics than say organic traffic. So to make a meaningful prediction, it needs to be relevant to the website."

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

[email protected]

www.ryanstaley.io

Saas, Saas growth, Scale, Business Growth, B2b Saas, Saas Sales, Enterprise Saas, Business growth strategy, founder, ceo: https://www.whalesellingsystem.com/closingsecrets

In this episode, Ryan continues his conversation with Robin Daniels, the CMO at Zensai, as they discuss various use cases of AI in human development. The episode delves into how Zensai leverages AI tools like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT in their products to enhance learning, performance management, and employee engagement. 

Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.  

Explore becoming Superhuman here: https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Zensai leverages AI in their products, specifically with Microsoft Copilot and ChatGBT, to enhance learning, performance management, and employee engagement.

• Zensai strategically focuses on Microsoft technologies for rapid development, distribution, and trust in the industry, rather than building their own AI team.

• AI helps in creating courses quickly by analyzing documents or videos, reducing the time spent by learning and development teams significantly.

• AI provides recommendations for managers on how to respond to employee feedback, enhancing communication and problem-solving in the team.

• Robin uses AI daily for various tasks, such as summarizing documents, analyzing data, and improving efficiency in workflow, showcasing the practical benefits of AI integration.

BEST MOMENTS

"We are building what we call the 'human success platform', and it's really focused around three core vectors. One is around learning, one is around performance management, and the third one is really around employee engagement."

"We've now instituted what we call AI coaching, where the AI can read through that [data] and come up with a couple of recommendations for how I can respond in the best, most human way."

"Why do 70% of people want to quit their jobs? Because they don't feel like there's any future in what they're doing. They're not learning, they're not growing, they're not developing, they feel like stuck."

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

[email protected]

www.ryanstaley.io

Saas, Saas growth, Scale, Business Growth, B2b Saas, Saas Sales, Enterprise Saas, Business growth strategy, founder, ceo: https://www.whalesellingsystem.com/closingsecrets

Ryan interviews Robin Daniels, the Chief Business and Product Officer at Zensai. Robin shares his wealth of experience as a CMO and CPO, discussing how AI can impact human transformation and how Zensai's Human Success Platform leverages AI to empower individuals to reach their full potential. 

Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.  

Explore becoming Superhuman here: https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Zensai's mission is to empower individuals to be the best version of themselves through their human success platform, leveraging AI to guide personal and professional development.

• By creating emotional connections and standing for something, B2B companies can create a strong brand identity that resonates with customers and drives loyalty.

• Zensai's decision to standardize on Microsoft's platform has led to faster time to value, tighter integration, and benefits from platform upgrades.

• AI can be used to analyze data points and patterns to guide individuals on their career paths, helping them set goals, learn new skills, and stay engaged.

• Leveraging Microsoft's massive distribution network has been a strategic advantage for Zensai, allowing for easy adoption and implementation for their customers.

BEST MOMENTS

"I love the mission of what we're trying to do. We basically want to change the way that companies think about getting the best out of their people. We call this 'human success'."

"The more we know about you and what you care about, the more we can guide you, meaning AI can guide you, and we use Microsoft AI in our products to do that."

"I think in my experience, the brands that have done well have courage, conviction, and a point of view. And I think it's very rare to find that honestly in the B2B world."

"It's so impressive what they've done. I mean, talking that much for water, it's not cheap. And it's just water. It's freaking water."

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

[email protected]

www.ryanstaley.io

Saas, Saas growth, Scale, Business Growth, B2b Saas, Saas Sales, Enterprise Saas, Business growth strategy, founder, ceo: https://www.whalesellingsystem.com/closingsecrets

In today's episode, Ryan continues his conversation with renowned podcast host, Will Barron. They consider high-performer traits in sales, focusing on the importance of habits and how they can impact success. Will also shares his insights on the use of AI in sales, sharing a practical example of leveraging AI tools to streamline content creation for his YouTube shorts.

Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.  

Explore becoming Superhuman here: https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Setting habits, especially in prospecting, can lead to consistent performance and success in sales.

• Assertiveness, comfort with talking about money, optimism, not being a people pleaser, high self-esteem, personal accountability, and goal-setting are key traits of high performers.

• Controlling emotions and pushing through tasks even when not feeling like it is essential for success.

• AI tools can be beneficial for speeding up processes, such as generating content ideas and questions for content creation.

• Using AI tools for generating questions for content creation can save time and increase content output, leading to higher engagement and views.

BEST MOMENTS

"One of the things that I get the all new starters in our program to do is to prospect daily. And that is such a transformational leap in most salespeople's and small business owners and founders, if they're doing founder-led sales."

"Nobody wants to do cold outreach. Nobody wants to do content creation if you're doing inbound marketing, inbound lead sales. Nobody wants to do cold calls. But you have to do them routinely, systematically, every day to build that habit. And then it becomes like brushing your teeth, where it's an activity which is neutral."

"I used to be a massive procrastinator. Unless the deadline was three minutes from this moment in time, I wouldn't have started any project. I got over that by understanding this concept of the emotional, 'caveman' part of my brain."

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

[email protected]

www.ryanstaley.io

Saas, Saas growth, Scale, Business Growth, B2b Saas, Saas Sales, Enterprise Saas, Business growth strategy, founder, ceo: https://www.whalesellingsystem.com/closingsecrets

Ryan sits down with Will Barron, the renowned host of The Salesman Podcast. Will shares his expertise on how to effectively combine attention and prospecting strategies to overcome challenges in sales, particularly in acquiring new customers.

Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.  

Explore becoming Superhuman here: https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Combining attention and prospecting in sales is incredibly important in overcoming challenges in pipeline activation.

• Will Barron emphasizes the importance of creating content that answers buyers' questions and aligns with their desires to attract and engage prospects effectively.

• The key elements of a successful outbound strategy include targeting the right person, crafting buyer-centric messages, and focusing on booking meetings rather than closing deals.

• Consistent exposure through multiple platforms and interactions can help build unconscious trust with prospects, making them more likely to engage.

• Simplifying messaging to create curiosity and elicit a response from prospects can be more effective than overwhelming them with product details.

BEST MOMENTS

"If you can just call someone, or you are just able to email someone to book meetings, you absolutely shouldn't be doing content marketing."

"You've got features, benefits, great, no one gives a shit. What are the desires of the buyer? How can you tie what you do with not even solving a problem, the desire behind that problem, why they want to solve it?" 

"You're just trying to give them just enough where they go 'Wills emails me, and I would not be doing my due diligence in my role if I don't jump on a quick call of him."

"I think there's a lot of value of being like hyper direct. At least that's the way it is. I've shifted and I'm like, hey, this is where I'm at. This is what my pricing is."

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

[email protected]

www.ryanstaley.io 

Saas, Saas growth, Scale, Business Growth, B2b Saas, Saas Sales, Enterprise Saas, Business growth strategy, founder, ceo: https://www.whalesellingsystem.com/closingsecrets

This is the second part of Ryan’s conversation with Tyler Barron, CRO of Encapture,  where they discuss AI use cases for sales and marketing. From leveraging AI for strategic research and RFP automation to creative prospecting and collaborative ideation, Tyler and Ryan share their expertise on using AI to enhance efficiency, scale ABM efforts, and improve deal scoring.

Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.  

Explore becoming Superhuman here: https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• AI tools can significantly enhance strategic research for high value deals, allowing sales teams to efficiently analyze financial documents and earnings calls to identify potential problems and align solutions with strategic initiatives.
• Automating RFP and vendor questionnaire responses using AI can save significant time and resources, especially for companies dealing with similar questions across multiple clients.
• Leveraging AI for one-to-one creative prospecting can lead to highly customized outreach using a prospect's own language and quotes from their public appearances.
• AI powered call analysis tools can be used for efficient "game film" sessions, allowing teams to quickly review and learn from customer interactions without listening to entire calls.
• Collaborative use of AI tools across departments can dramatically reduce project timelines and enable rapid implementation of time sensitive campaigns.
• AI presents opportunities to scale ABM efforts by enabling the creation of custom content for specific accounts more efficiently.
• Data driven deal scoring using AI can help identify patterns in successful deals and apply those insights to future opportunities, improving win rates and deal velocity.
• Focusing on analyzing top performing customers and deals can lead to significant increases in deal size and help identify the most promising opportunities in the market.

BEST MOMENTS

"We primarily are getting value out of AI tools right now for strategic research. We have higher ACV deals, longer sales cycles, and we're trying to prospect up to the C suite."

"I think one of the biggest things that I've learned about kind of the scale up stage is that you can't outrun your supply line as a revenue leader and so you really got to bring everybody along with you at the company"

"Every year doubled our deal size and a hundred X, our largest deal. Just from that alone. Vista equity uses it to actually to convert companies from a bill to three bill in like three years."

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

[email protected]

www.ryanstaley.io 

Saas, Saas growth, Scale, Business Growth, B2b Saas, Saas Sales, Enterprise Saas, Business growth strategy, founder, ceo: https://www.whalesellingsystem.com/closingsecrets

Tyler Barron, CRO at Encapture joins Ryan in this episode. In this part 1 of 2 episodes, Tyler shares his journey transitioning an AI company from consulting to SaaS, focusing on FinTech solutions. They explore the challenges of demonstrating ROI in AI, adapting to market changes, and the importance of customer-driven product development.

Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.  

Explore becoming Superhuman here: https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Transitioning from consulting to SaaS requires repositioning the company, developing repeatable processes, and building the right team.
• Market listening is crucial for product development; focus on what customers are willing to spend money on, especially during economic shifts.
• Demonstrating AI ROI involves quantifying problems, focusing on practical use cases, and tying solutions to tangible business outcomes.
• Simplicity in execution and low-friction processes are key to the successful implementation of new systems and technologies.
• Executive level sponsorship, particularly from operations leaders with P&L responsibility, is vital for AI adoption in organizations.
• AI solutions don't need to be perfect. Even 50% improvements can significantly move the needle financially for businesses.
• Selling AI solutions involves working on a "big math problem" with customers, making it an intellectually engaging and partnership driven process.
• AI implementation often faces resistance due to a lack of comparison points; persistence and demonstrating value over time are crucial for success.

BEST MOMENTS

"We saw a lot of companies out there in our space, like really, really getting to a lot of pain around that. A  lot of our peers in FinTech have had a tough time."

"Why does it have to be 99 percent accurate if 50 percent actually moves the needle financially."

"The biggest thing with AI is that your unit economics improve over time one, because the AI gets smarter, but to your cost basis on a lot of these tasks can ultimately stay flat and you can pick up the efficiency."

"Look, I'm not an AI expert, so I think I can probably give some very pragmatic answers to what I, what I see and hear, which... there's a lot of buzz and there's a lot of over promising around just AI in general, but there's also some very good quantifiable common sense use cases."

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

[email protected]

www.ryanstaley.io 

Saas, Saas growth, Scale, Business Growth, B2b Saas, Saas Sales, Enterprise Saas, Business growth strategy, founder, ceo: https://www.whalesellingsystem.com/closingsecrets

Join Ryan in part 2 of his conversation with podcaster Andy Paul as they explore the pros and cons of AI in sales. They discuss new use cases for AI and share transformative examples for revenue growth. Andy provides interesting ideas around the challenges of AI adoption, the importance of helping buyers make decisions, and the need for thoughtful application of technology in sales processes.

Join 2,500+ readers getting weekly practical guidance to scale themselves and their companies using Artificial Intelligence and Revenue Cheat Codes.  

Explore becoming Superhuman here: https://superhumanrevenue.beehiiv.com/

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• AI is currently being used primarily to automate repetitive tasks, but there's untapped potential in helping buyers make decisions.
• Despite technological advancements, B2B selling productivity may have decreased over the past 20-25 years due to misuse of technology.
• The focus on using AI for building pipeline may be misguided; the real issue is often not knowing how to win deals and help buyers make decisions.
• AI can be used to rapidly condense annual reports and customize information for more relevant first appointments with potential clients.
• Many salespeople fail to understand company pressures and industry-specific problems beyond their own offerings, which AI can help address.
• Thoughtfulness and curiosity are superpowers in sales, but current sales processes may be training these qualities out of sellers.
• The goal of sales interactions should shift from "discovering" information to helping buyers define what they want to achieve.
• High win rates are crucial for efficiency; a team with a 50% win rate needs to do significantly less selling than one with a 20% win rate.

BEST MOMENTS

"We need to have thoughtful people who are looking at the problem from the right perspective

"Pipeline is the siren song that's going to cure all for companies. That's what most folks are attracted to."

"If we're gonna make the decision to actually sell to this person, actually bring this opportunity into our pipeline, we should win it. It's that simple."

"Thoughtfulness is definitely a superpower. I agree with you on that, man. And I think like one, one other one that I'm seeing that's... is curiosity as well, right?"

"We're training curiosity out of our sellers and saying that this is the way they should act when really we want the opposite."

Ryan Staley

Founder and CEO

Whale Boss

[email protected]

www.ryanstaley.io 

Saas, Saas growth, Scale, Business Growth, B2b Saas, Saas Sales, Enterprise Saas, Business growth strategy, founder, ceo: https://www.whalesellingsystem.com/closingsecrets