Eilon Reshef is the co-founder and CPO at Gong, an AI-powered platform that tracks, records, and analyzes sales calls to drive revenue growth. In 2021, Gong raised $250M at a $7.25B valuation. Gong was one of the fastest SaaS companies to hit $100m ARR, and now has over 4000 customers. Before Gong, Eilon sold his previous e-commerce startup, Webcollage.
—
In today’s episode, we discuss:
Why Eilon was so bullish on recording sales calls
How Gong knew they had product market fit
The importance of design partners
Expanding into multi-product offerings
Lessons from riding the AI wave since 2015
The future of AI in B2B sales efficiency
—
Referenced:
Act-On Software: https://act-on.com/
Amit Bendov: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitbendov/
BlueJeans: https://www.bluejeans.com/
Crossing the Chasm: https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Geoffrey-Moore/dp/0062292986
Gong: https://www.gong.io/
Mistral: https://mistral.ai/
OpenAI: https://openai.com/
Salesforce: https://salesforce.com/
Webcollage: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/webcollage
Webex: https://www.webex.com/
Zoom: https://zoom.us/
—
Where to find Eilon Reshef:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eilonreshef/
—
Where to find Todd Jackson:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddj0/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/tjack
—
Where to find First Round Capital:
Website: https://firstround.com/
First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/firstround
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital
This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast
—
Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:32) Eilon’s unwavering conviction in Gong
(09:34) Initial reactions to Gong’s demo
(13:48) Keeping the beta lean
(15:33) Gong’s monetization strategy
(16:38) Early signs of product market fit
(18:14) The importance of design partners to Gong’s growth
(21:52) Why VCs were afraid to invest
(23:43) Reaching 100 customers
(26:10) Eilon’s unique product roadmap framework
(28:22) Going from $2M to $9M ARR in one year
(29:02) The journey to multi-product
(30:52) How Gong measures success
(34:07) Lessons from building AI products for sales
(37:45) Predicting the future of B2B sales
(38:48) The concept of “raving fans”
(39:31) Why it’s “easier” for second-time founders
(42:00) Eilon’s favorite books
(42:45) Gong in 2024
A masterclass in founder conviction | Eilon Reshef (Co-founder and CPO at Gong) | In Depth podcast - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
