I once worked at a startup where I sat next to the sales team.
Every time one of them closed a new customer, someone rang a big brass ship’s bell set up in the middle of the room, and we'd all stop what we were working on to cheer them on.
Looking back, this was a terrible idea.
I heard that bell ring one or two times every month, and because it was so rare, it didn't sound like a celebration, it sounded like a warning. It reminded me that we hadn't achieved product-market-fit, our go-to-market strategy was full of holes, and we were burning through our runway.
When it comes to sales, “the only metric is repeatability,” according to Rehan Jalil, CEO of Securiti. In this episode, I asked the three-time founder about creating a sales motion that keeps small teams in alignment while fostering trust with initial customers.
“You have to find people who have a common interest in the problem that you're trying to solve,” he said. “If that's there, you can actually have very good discussions and pick their brains, and those can convert over time because you're solving some problems they care about.”
Episode breakdown:
“Before we even get to the revenue, it actually is important to understand what problem you're trying to solve.” [2:10]
“The only metric is repeatability.” [4:55]
“So we coined the term ‘privacy ops’… we wrote a book on it.” [7:35]
“Teams have to be very much in sync, which means information has to flow.” [10:39]
“By the time you get to MVP, you better have refined this thing.” [12:40]
“Before you bring in sales teams, it’s important that you actually have the content for them.” [15:34]
“The bar is very high within the enterprise, and it takes much longer.” [18:29]
“If you don’t start with conviction, don’t do it.” [21:41]
“Find people who have a common interest in the problem that you're trying to solve.” [26:08]
“If they feel like you helped them… they can actually be advocates.” [28:14]
“Just putting things freemium out there doesn’t mean people are going to adopt it.” [30:41]
“Prioritize finding a viable use case and viable product strategy vs. rushing into something.” [32:36]
Links:
McDermott Will & Emery, global privacy and cybersecurity law firm
Coming up in episode 9:
I interviewed Sorcero CEO Dipanwita Das about how she took her AI-first startup from research to reality. Among other topics, we talked about why founders should focus their messaging on business value instead of technical details, her extensive customer discovery process that included more than 300 people(!), and how to make it easier to attract investors and employees who understand your target market.
Thanks very much for listening!
Fund/Build/Scale is sponsored by Mayfield and Securiti.
