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Share Three Things: Antonio Brown and our business - Broken glass in the fundraising and M&A process - Talent and Opportunity - and the opportunity in them both
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Three Things: Antonio Brown and our business - Broken glass in the fundraising and M&A process - Talent and Opportunity - and the opportunity in them both
Three Things I Learned in Saas, Sports, Tech & Live Events
1. Antonio Brown and your sales team. We all watched Brown storm off the field after ripping off his jersey when the Bucs played the Jets. Turns out, he was upset about his incentives, which weren't aligned with the team's goals for the week. Comp plans are very difficult. Just know, no matter how strong a culture we think we have, sales people will always do what's best for them first. That means cutting corners to close deals in certain corners, looking for loopholes to get an accelerator, mis-categorizing deals and burning every bridge there is to get to their max incentive- team goals be damned. Comp is a legal issue too. If we make the mistake, we pay. Period. Nothing will ruin our culture faster than missing on incentive pay. Spend lots of time here.
2. "All deals have broken glass." For young entrepreneurs, going into a financing or a sale can be scary. Things are going great, which is usually why there's a deal occurring, but that doesn't mean there won't be some uncomfortable conversations or circumstances we know will be uncovered. One of our investors taught us as much and it's been true of every deal we've been in. Plenty of examples out there, like this lawsuit challenging the Pittsburgh Penguins sale. https://frontofficesports.com/penguins-limited-partner-tries-to-block-900m-sale/
3. "The world equally distributes talent. It doesn't equally distribute opportunity." And in that statement is serious opportunity for those willing to look "outside the margins" of the institution to find teammates, partners and customers who can really grow our businesses. If we do what everyone else does, we get what everyone else has. Many of our biggest wins have come from outside the brand name colleges, the flashy partners, or the hot customers.
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By Tony Knopp
5
11 ratings
Three Things I Learned in Saas, Sports, Tech & Live Events
1. Antonio Brown and your sales team. We all watched Brown storm off the field after ripping off his jersey when the Bucs played the Jets. Turns out, he was upset about his incentives, which weren't aligned with the team's goals for the week. Comp plans are very difficult. Just know, no matter how strong a culture we think we have, sales people will always do what's best for them first. That means cutting corners to close deals in certain corners, looking for loopholes to get an accelerator, mis-categorizing deals and burning every bridge there is to get to their max incentive- team goals be damned. Comp is a legal issue too. If we make the mistake, we pay. Period. Nothing will ruin our culture faster than missing on incentive pay. Spend lots of time here.
2. "All deals have broken glass." For young entrepreneurs, going into a financing or a sale can be scary. Things are going great, which is usually why there's a deal occurring, but that doesn't mean there won't be some uncomfortable conversations or circumstances we know will be uncovered. One of our investors taught us as much and it's been true of every deal we've been in. Plenty of examples out there, like this lawsuit challenging the Pittsburgh Penguins sale. https://frontofficesports.com/penguins-limited-partner-tries-to-block-900m-sale/
3. "The world equally distributes talent. It doesn't equally distribute opportunity." And in that statement is serious opportunity for those willing to look "outside the margins" of the institution to find teammates, partners and customers who can really grow our businesses. If we do what everyone else does, we get what everyone else has. Many of our biggest wins have come from outside the brand name colleges, the flashy partners, or the hot customers.