Mar 8How to run a team offsiteRemote work brings many efficiencies, from eliminating commutes for employees to reducing real estate costs for organizations. However, having a remote workforce makes the times that the team gathers in person all the more important. Team offsites — dedicated, extended period of times where a team gathers outside of the…12 min read12 min read
Feb 25Do Marketing Before SalesIt is amazing how much traction a business can get on purely founder-led and word-of-mouth sales. Many companies go years, and reach significant milestones, before building a sales team, and those with product-led growth can go even longer. However, the “no sales team” approach often has a ceiling. At some…5 min read5 min read
Feb 11Amp It Up: My Favorite Book of 2022Frank Slootman may be one of the most effective tech CEOs of all time. He has written several books about his no-nonsense operating style, from growing Data Domain from tiny startup to billion dollar acquisition in the early 2000s, to now leading Snowflake which had the largest software IPO ever…7 min read7 min read
Feb 13, 2022Your First Sales Hire Should be SeniorOne of the most important jobs for the Founder/CEO of an early stage startup is selling. We are talking to prospects, pitching the solution, gathering feedback, closing deals, and building the foundation of a sales process. When we start to see early success, our natural inclination is “This is working…7 min read7 min read
May 26, 2021Taming Information OverloadI used to think of myself as an information junkie. I read every news article I could find, endlessly scrolled through social media, and took pride in staying “informed.” While I may have been informed, I was not happy. Instead, I was stressed and distracted. Many of us consume information…5 min read5 min read
Apr 1, 2021The Benefits of RoutineI run every weekday morning at 7:30am. I run the same route at the same time. I don’t have to think much about it, nor do I agonize over whether or not today is a good day for a run. I just show up and go. Routines are a remarkable…5 min read5 min read
Mar 2, 2021Interview process for senior hiresAmong the most consequential decisions that founders and CEOs make at a startup is hiring their leadership team. The optimal setup is to have a leader in each of the core areas of the business that is a far deeper expert in that function than the CEO. When that “functional…6 min read6 min read
Feb 7, 2021Onboarding Remote EmployeesIf you had told me in 2019 that in the following year I’d be hiring a VP Sales without ever meeting him in person, I would have burst out laughing. Fast forward to 2020, and with the world in lockdown but business continuing, my team at Crystal doubled our headcount…6 min read6 min read
Jul 13, 2018Ultimate B2B Marketing Stack: 13 Tools Under $50Suppose you are in the early stages of launching a B2B startup. You have a minimum viable product ready for the world to use. You then realize, “oh crap, now we actually need users/customers, I better figure out marketing…” In my startup experience, the most difficult part of getting off…5 min read5 min read
May 19, 2017How to Scale Marketing for GrowthThis is the 50th post of a 50 article series for beginners building marketing at B2B startups. Here we are… the last post in this blog series of building a marketing team at B2B startups. We’ve covered a tremendous amount in the last 50 posts, and hopefully the content has…3 min read3 min read
