Grit

Grit explores what it takes to create, build, and scale world-class organizations. It features weekly episodes highlighting the leaders who are pushing their companies to make a difference. This series is hosted by Joubin Mirzadegan, go to market operating partner at Kleiner Perkins, a venture capital firm investing in history-making founders.

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Episodes

Chief Sales Officer at Brex, Sam Blond: Recruiting Talent

If there’s one person who knows a thing or two about sales growth, it’s Brex Chief Sales Officer Sam Blond, who has been a part of some legendary sales runs during his career. Sam joined Zenefits in 2013, and helped transform the company into the fastest SaaS business of all time. Then, he left and joined Brex, and was part of a team that scaled from 46 to 455 employees in just two years. Was it luck that led Sam to these companies, or is Sam naturally gifted in discovering opportunities? In thi...

Sep 08, 2020•51 min•Ep. 8

CRO Cockroach Labs, Jeff Miller: Building an Effective Open Source Go to Market Strategy

In a study from Red Hat, 95 percent of respondents said open source was strategically important to their organization, while 77 percent agreed that open source will continue to grow. Yet, that doesn’t guarantee an easy sell. Selling open source software at the enterprise level requires an entirely different strategy than traditional software. For insight, we turned to open source sales expert Jeff Miller. Joubin and Jeff discuss two topics, including Jeff’s career journey, and how open source sa...

Aug 24, 2020•36 min•Ep. 7

VP Sales at Mixpanel, Meka Asonye: Exploring Analytics, High Velocity Sales, and Stigmas

Topics: Is there a stigma around intelligence in sales? How to enable high velocity sales Many organizations today are struggling to strike a balance between being data-driven and gut-driven. For pointers, we turned to Meka Asonye who has deployed data at the highest level in sports doing statistical analysis for the Cleveland Indians. Meka provides tips about using data to discover opportunities and gain a market advantage. Meka also talks about his transition into sales, touching on important ...

Aug 10, 2020•53 min•Ep. 6

CRO CircleCI, Jane Kim: Leading with Vulnerability and Making Mistakes

In this episode of Go to Market Grit, CircleCI CRO Jane Kim shares valuable insight about her experiences growing a global organization, and trying to build an effective team and strategy. Joubin and Jane discuss and debate two key topics, including leading with vulnerability, and five common mistakes that first time managers make. “Vulnerability is not knowing victory or defeat, it’s understanding the necessity of both; it’s engaging. It’s being all in.” - Brene Brown Leading with vulnerability...

Jul 27, 2020•46 min•Ep. 5

CRO TripActions, Carlos Delatorre: The Science of Sales

In this episode of Go to Market Grit, TripActions CRO and Silicon Valley sales legend Carlos Delatorre opens up about what it takes to build powerful and effective sales teams and strategies. Joubin and Carlos discuss two key topics, including the value of relationship building, and making your go-to-market strategy a competitive differentiator. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, we cover: Carlos’s criteria when vetting new opportunities including the size of the market, whether the solution ...

Jul 13, 2020•55 min•Ep. 4

CRO Obsidian Security, Bob Kruse: Building a Winning Sales Culture

In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Obsidian Security CRO and sales veteran Bob Kruse shares his thoughts on culture, and how it impacts sales teams. Bob and Joubin discuss why having a strong culture is critical in sales, as well as the benefits of deploying a multifaceted channel program. In this episode of Go to Market Grit , we cover: Why having a strong culture on your sales team can serve as a competitive advantage — and why it needs to be treated as a top-down initiative. Why it’s impor...

Jun 29, 2020•47 min•Ep. 3

VP of Sales at Palo Alto Networks, Jeff StClair : Discovering, Recruiting, and Coaching Sales Talent

In this episode, Jeff StClair, currently VP of Sales at Palo Alto Networks and most recently VP Sales at Evident.io shares his thoughts on how startups can more effectively discover, attract, and retain top talent, and in doing so take their organizations to new heights. We also dive deep into what makes a great sales rep. In this episode of Go to Market Grit , we cover: Key qualities that Jeff looks for when recruiting sales associates. Why hiring should be a group effort for startups, with tea...

Jun 22, 2020•34 min•Ep. 2

Chief Sales and Success Officer at Slack, Bob Frati: Exploring Slack’s Key Growth Levers and Competition

In Episode #1 of Go to Market Grit, Slack’s SVP of Sales and Customer Success, Bob Frati, gives the inside scoop about the company’s sales and go-to-market strategy, and why they have been able to scale their go to market so quickly and effectively over the last few years. Bob and Joubin discuss two key topics in detail, outlining the next four years for Slack and key growth levers they can pull, along with growing competition in Slack’s market and what that means for their future. In this episo...

Jun 16, 2020•51 min•Ep. 1

Grit Trailer

About the Joubin Mirzadegan Joubin has been with Kleiner Perkins since 2019 where he advises the KP portfolio companies on how to build and scale a robust go-to-market strategy. Additionally, he enables the firm’s portfolio through high impact relationships with F500 executives and key ecosystem partners. Joubin was previously at Palo Alto Networks as a global district sales manager for the Central US based in Chicago where he scaled the Central Cloud business from 1 enterprise rep and $2M ARR t...

Apr 20, 2020•45 sec

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