Heresy podcast episode 1 — Jeff Szczepanski, COO Stack Overflow on building a full-stack sales team

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to catch up with Stack Overflow’s COO, Jeff Sczcepanksi. We discussed Stack Overflow’s “full-stack” sales model and gave listeners a 3-phase blueprint on how to build such a sales organisation from scratch. We also talked about best practice in hiring and sales composition.

You can listen to the full interview with Jeff below:

• 0:00–2:40 — Jeff introduces himself and talks about how he ended up joining Stack Overflow as the guy in charge of monetisation
• 3:40–9:40 — Jeff talks about the “3 phase model” of building sales teams and what that meant in the context of Stack Overflow
• 9:40–12:20 — What happens in Phase 1 and how do you know you’ve successfully completed it
• 12:20–22:00 — Phase 2 (transitioning to a professional sales process) — Jeff talks about the pitfalls and mistakes to avoid in this stage as well as how to approach hiring
• 22:00–25:00 — How do you know it’s time to move to Phase 3
• 25:00–31:15 — Full-stack sales Vs “Predictable Revenue” — Jeff talks about Stack Overflow’s “full-stack” sales model, why the company chose it over Aaron Ross’s “predictable revenue” model and how things have changed over the years
• 31:15–37:30 — Jeff talks about Stack Overflow’s sales compensation plan and how it has evolved over the years, as well as what makes a great comp plan in general