MV #008: Saastock & Unlocking Value with 1:1s
More Value is my newsletter with lessons, stories, observations and analyses from my experience building a VC-backed B2B software startup and leading a high-performing sales engineering team.
Read time: 5 min
👋 Hi there, happy Sunday!
🌧 What a week! When it rains, it pours. It’s a classic late October week in the UK. Ireland was no different. But the silver lining was an amazing trip to Saastock.
👇 Existing subscribers will notice that something has changed. Yes. I’m iterating on the newsletter. I’m doubling down on what works.
😊 What readers like the most were two things. First, content about startup building and scaling. Second, stories specific to my work as a sales engineering/presales leader at a high-growth company. That’s where I add More Value to you.
Here we go.
🥞 The Sunday Startup Builder
I’m walking away from Saastock feeling inspired by how many great companies have launched all across Europe and beyond. Two presentations stood out to me.
1. Driving go-to-market efficiency in the coming 24 months
There’s not a single startup out there that’s trying to unlock more value through GTM efficiency today.
Headcounts have been cut. Budgets have been frozen. Sales cycles are taking longer. Hiring has pulled back.
Planning for 2023 is on the way. Dave Kellogg, Executive in Residence at Balderton Capital and author of Kellblog presented what GTM teams can do in this environment to gain efficiency. It’s all focused on collaboration and efficiency.
Better Cross-Sales Collaboration
Refine the ideal customer profile (ICP) and focus on existing customers with CS.
Measure everything and optimise, e.g. funnel conversion rates from lead to cash.
Reach higher in the customer’s accounts, leverage executives.
Accelerate PS deployments, to reduce time to value.
Apply forward-selling with PM team and roadmap.
Tactical and Strategic Ways to Improve Efficiency
User zero-based budgeting. Start from 0 and have everyone earn their budget.
Start rigorous deal reviews.
Require close plans / mutual action plans for top deals.
Reallocate marketing budget to demand generation.
Focus on what works. Ditch what does not work.
Double-down on sales enablement to sharpen the GTM execution.
Full presentation here.
👉 My take: Great summary of tactical and strategic perspectives for startup builders. I agree with his points. Depending on the team and company size, some will be more applicable than others.
2. Importance of forecasting and being real
Gil Dibner from Angular Ventures held the most frank presentation for startup builders. It was by chance that I walked into this, and I’m so glad I did.
Highlights
Startup builders and especially sales leaders have to know their forecasts.
Garbage in, garbage out. You have to stay on top of your numbers.
Don’t delegate forecasting.
You must stay close to every single one if you have less than 100 customers.
There is strength in truth.
👉 My take: Gil cut through the fluff and ensured everyone attending understood that startups are hard. But it’s what you sign up for. You have to know your stuff, stay close to the numbers, and keep a finger on the pulse of your early customers to make sure you make decisions based on facts, not fantasies.
Bye-bye Dublin.
Saastock was great. Inspiring to see so many entrepreneurs who are building companies in Europe and beyond.
🔑 The Value Unlock - AE/SE Leadership 1:1s
Have you ever worked with a Sales Engineering team?
If so, you’ll know that a high-functioning AE/SE partnership goes a long way in hitting your sales number.
When I presented at DemofestX by Consensus in London last week, I shared 12 ways to make a great AE/SE partnership.
I asked this question to a room full of SE leaders: Who has a weekly 1:1 with their sales leader?
✋✋✋✋✋✋✋❌❌❌
NOT everyone held their hand up.
If the leadership duo is not great. Neither will the AE/SE duo be. I also posed the question on LinkedIn here, feel free to comment.
👉 My take:
Alignment with sales leadership sets the tone for how your SE org works with the sales org.
Understand that the relationship between SE leaders and Sales leaders is equally important as the relationship with the individuals on the team, if not more.
A unified front for the field will serve as the foundation for good collaboration. Only when the leaders are aligned can the dynamic AE/SE duo perform at the highest level.
📖 What to cover - A few bullets to get you going.
How are you?
What’s top of mind?
How is the team doing?
How are we tracking against our forecast?
Which deals need more attention in the coming weeks?
What actions do we need to improve our AE/SE execution?
➡️ ACTION: If you’re a sales engineering leader and haven’t set up a weekly 1:1 with your sales leader, do it now. You’ll unlock more value in your AE/SE partnership.
🗞️ Valuable Sunday Reads
LinkedIn - Accel just published their insightful Euroscape report
Personal Post - AE/SE friction resulting from forward-selling
LinkedIn - Why selling in DACH is not as straightforward as you’d think
🔌 Shameless Plug
Speaking at Sifted - Cost-cutting vs. growth. During times of uncertainty, this is a vital question for startups, as many are quick to shift their focus from growth to cost-cutting. ➡️ Register here.
🙏 That’s it. Have a great Sunday!
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🤓 Don’t know me? Here’s the about section.
My name is Semir Jahic.
More Value is my newsletter with lessons, stories, observations and analyses from my experience building a VC-backed B2B software startup and leading a high-performing sales engineering team.
More value is made for startup builders & sales engineering leaders.
But if you enjoy learning, want to work in startups and become an effective go-to-market leader, you’ll enjoy reading More Value too.