Just take it from website security industry executive Chris Merritt — the internet was not designed with security and performance in mind. As President of Field Operations and CRO of Cloudlflare, Chris and his company are dedicated to fixing this problem by protecting websites for a more secure and reliable internet. On this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Chris discuss how Cloudflare’s go-to-market strategy has evolved, as well as how Cloudflare helps prevent bad actors from conducting...
Apr 05, 2021•53 min•Ep. 28
After 18+ years working in multiple high-level sales positions at Salesforce, Mike Wolff knows what makes a good leader. On this week’s episode of Go To Market Grit , Mike and Joubin talk about the leadership lessons Mike learned as he rose through the ranks at Salesforce from a sales development rep to the company’s Senior Vice President of Global ISV Partners. In this episode, we cover: How Mike landed a job as a sales development rep at Salesforce during the company's early stages in 2002. (1...
Mar 29, 2021•51 min•Ep. 27
Leadership is in Peter Kim’s DNA. Since he got his first management job running a Subway on the weekends when he was 14-years-old, Peter has built successful sales teams at companies such as LinkedIn and Advent Software. Now, Peter works as Senior Vice President of Sales at Relativity, a company that is transforming the legal discovery process by streamlining the collection, processing and review of legal evidence. On this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Peter talk about methods for eva...
Mar 22, 2021•48 min•Ep. 26
Dave Justice knows a lot about crisis leadership. Over his almost 21 years in sales, he’s successfully navigated through the dotcom and housing bubble crashes — and now, the COVID-19 pandemic. After 18 consecutive years working in various sales roles at Cisco, Dave became Executive Vice President of North America Enterprise Sales at Salesforce before transitioning in 2020 to his current role as Chief Revenue Officer at PagerDuty, a company that produces an incident response platform for IT depar...
Mar 15, 2021•51 min•Ep. 25
When Matt Heinz took a quota-carrying sales job in 2011 after having worked in sales leadership, he knew that “it was a step back, from the way that you look at it on a piece of paper.” But in the end, Matt saw success as he helped turn a company doing $11 million a year in revenue to one that sold for over $5 billion. Now, Matt serves as the Chief Revenue officer of Amplitude, a leading company in product analytics. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Matt discuss the many leadersh...
Mar 08, 2021•47 min•Ep. 24
If a customer doesn’t understand how a product will provide a positive impact to their business, will they buy it? It may seem like a simple question — but for Jay Snyder, identifying and communicating such areas of value to customers is a crucial aspect of keeping a business growing. On this episode of Go to Market Grit, Jay and Joubin discuss ways to build respect as a new leader, how to effectively communicate a product’s value to a customer, and why simplifying a business is crucial to succe...
Mar 01, 2021•41 min•Ep. 23
No matter how advanced sales technology gets, it’s still imperative for Kevin Knieriem to listen to his gut intuition when it comes to making business choices. And for good reason — his “Spidey senses,” as he jokingly calls them, are always accurate. But that doesn’t mean that artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics can’t help him and his team make better decisions. In fact, as Chief Revenue Officer of Clari, a company that makes software to help businesses visualize revenue operatio...
Feb 22, 2021•48 min•Ep. 22
If you ask Ross Biestman about the highest-performing environment he’s ever been a part of, you might be surprised to hear nothing of his time as an investment banking analyst or as a salesperson at Adobe. Instead, Ross points to his time on the University of California, Berkeley rugby team — an organization that he says instilled team values that he still brings to every company he works with. In addition to his position as Chief Revenue Officer of ServiceTitan, Ross currently serves as the CRO...
Feb 15, 2021•52 min•Ep. 21
Cloud-based data storage company Snowflake made headlines this past September when it underwent the highest-valued software IPO in stock market history. For the company’s Chief Revenue Officer, Chris Degnan, this blockbuster success was many years in the making. Having joined Snowflake in 2013 while the company was still in its early stages, Chris led the effort to build the business’ sales organization. Now, as CRO, Chris remains an integral force of Snowflake’s continued growth. In this episod...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 20
Global trade is as complex as it is essential to worldwide economic stability. From organizing freight shipped through the air or over oceans, to customs and other governmental red tape, there’s a lot for businesses to worry about when it comes to world commerce. Just take it from Will Urban, Chief Revenue Officer of the freight forwarding company Flexport — a business creating cutting-edge technology that has changed the way organizations visualize their supply chain by digitizing data to drive...
Feb 01, 2021•51 min•Ep. 19
When it comes to building a company from the ground up, Qasar Younis has done it all. A mechanical engineer by trade and entrepreneur at heart, Qasar transitioned from working on cars to building startups, eventually selling his second business venture TalkBin to Google in 2011. Qasar has also helped fund and advise early-stage companies as a partner at Y Combinator. Now, Qasar is the founder and CEO of Applied Intuition, a company valued at $1.25 billion that develops simulation software that e...
Jan 25, 2021•56 min•Ep. 18
Kelly Wright has had a remarkable career in sales, from her early days selling books door to door to joining Tableau as a developing startup and helping them grow into a multi-billion dollar company as a key member of their executive team. Today, she is board director at Fastly, a leading cloud services provider. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Kelly discuss Kelly’s incredible career path, including her decision to attend business school, how she landed at Tableau, and how she s...
Jan 11, 2021•49 min•Ep. 17
Dave Wilner joined Auth0 in November of 2014, and has played an instrumental role in growing the company to $1 billion in valuation. In this episode of Go to Market , Joubin and Dave discuss Dave’s unique career journey, including his background as a former lawyer. They also discuss the pressures and expectations of succeeding in a high profile sales role and how Dave has managed to be so successful. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, we cover: How and why Dave made the transition from law pa...
Dec 28, 2020•38 min•Ep. 16
Atlassian is one of the most unorthodox technology companies in the world. Almost everything the company does is completely different than what you would expect. And yet, the organization has been massively successful and efficient in achieving growth. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Cameron discuss how Cameron built a $44 billion business without a sales team, and some of the company’s key growth levers. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, we cover: Cameron’s role as CRO of A...
Dec 14, 2020•55 min•Ep. 15
Marc Boroditisky brings a unique perspective to the table as CRO of Twilio, as a founder and builder who has led several companies. In this episode of Go to Market , Joubin and Marc discuss his unique background and journey that led him to Twilio, and how his experience and passions — like his love of startups and discovering product-market fit — have shaped his revenue leadership strategy. Joubin and Marc also discuss Twilio’s go to market motion, and their approach to customer service. In this...
Nov 30, 2020•52 min•Ep. 14
Mar Brandt is a sales veteran and ad tech expert who has spent time at leading organizations including Experian, Sitecore, and most recently AppsFlyer. Mar is also a founding member and senior executive sponsor of Leadership Connections Women, an Experian Women's Network group. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Mar discuss Mar’s sales evolution as a sales leader. They also explore what it's like to be a woman in sales and what it takes to be a leader in a competitive environment. ...
Nov 16, 2020•45 min•Ep. 13
Imagine taking a company like LinkedIn to a billion dollars in sales in just a few years, only to leave at the top of your game to rebuild your career and pursue a different path in product. That’s exactly what Dan Shapero did — and in this episode of Go to Market Grit, he explains his perspective, along with some can’t-miss insight on business and leadership. Joubin and Dan discuss two key topics including the future of sales leadership and go to market leadership. In this episode of Go to Mark...
Nov 02, 2020•51 min•Ep. 12
Jim Herbold played an instrumental role in scaling Box, growing the company from $600k to $200m over the course of seven years — only to pivot and leave the company a year before their IPO. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Jim discuss Jim’s background and role at Box, his new position at mental fitness app Calm, and the real meaning of “unicorn meat.” In this episode of Go to Market Grit, we cover: Why Jim prefers hyper collaboration over autonomy when building companies. Box’s u...
Oct 19, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 11
Sales is full of doctrines, or commonly shared beliefs, that are repeated over and over again, often without question — from hiring to business development. And blindly following can inhibit growth and lead to missed opportunities. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Shopify VP and GM Loren Padelford points out some of these doctrines and explains why he recommends avoiding them. Loren also sheds some light on Shopify’s unique approach to sourcing talent and driving sales. In this episode of G...
Oct 05, 2020•53 min•Ep. 10
In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Modern Health VP of Sales Hannah Willson explains how Modern Health is working to normalize and de-stigmatize cognitive wellbeing health in the workplace. According to the CDC, depression interferes with a person’s ability to complete physical job tasks about 20 percent of the time, and reduces cognitive performance about 35 percent of the time. What’s more, only 57 percent of employees who report moderate depression, while 40 percent of those who report sev...
Sep 21, 2020•40 min•Ep. 9
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
