The GOATS of Growth

Would you hire a recently fired VP of Sales to lead the GTM strategy for your $500K start-up, especially if that candidate had absolutely no industry experience? Likely not, right? Well, LinkSquares did. And I bet they were happy with that decision! So, what's the story? How (and why) did Steve Travaglini (Pavilion 2023 CRO of the year) get fired from one VP of Sales role, after scaling sales from $0-$7M, only to lead growth at LinkSquares from $500K to $50M in ARR over the ensuing 5 years? In the clip below he talks about what he learned in the early days of their rapid growth and what he would change going forward. You can hear the entire episode for yourself on today's episode of The GOATS of Growth podcast, but if he were one of my candidates, here is how I would summarize his attributes: --Gritty --Resilient --Adaptable --Resourceful --Optimistic --Humble And, most importantly, a STRONG bias towards action which was, in opinion, the bedrock for their strong sales culture. Steve, I had been looking forward to interviewing you for a long time and I'm happy I finally got the chance. Thanks for being such a great guest! Please follow Steve to watch as he builds his own startup, Winrate, in public. Listen to the full episode here: https://buff.ly/3Cjhr6Q

I was asked the other day to describe the pressure of running a business. This is basically what I said. Imagine every day feels like Game 7. It's the bottom of the 9th. 0 balls... 2 strikes... 2 outs... You're down 4 runs with nobody on base. You're constantly trying to out-think the pitcher. What pitch are they going to throw next? What pitch do they think I think they are going to throw next? Fastball low and outside? A change-up high and in? Should I look for a breaking ball out over the plate? How will I react when the pitch is thrown? Will I be ready? Have I prepared enough? Should I swing for the fences or just try to get on base and let the next batter drive me home? Is a walk just as good as a hit? Because even if I hit a homerun, we'd still be down 3 with 2 outs. And over the years I've seen a lot of pitches. I've fouled off most of them, just to stay up to bat. I've hit lots of singles. Some extra base hits. Even a few home runs. Then I said, I can handle the pressure because I love the game. It would be much harder if I didn't love the game. And it's much better to be the batter than to have never played the game at all. Because being the batter is a privilege. Pressure is a privilege. Shout out to JR Butler and the Shift Group for the daily reminder and the swag. #allgasnobreaks

The 2021 Unicorn CRO Job Description vs. the 2024 Donkey CRO Job Description. Inspired by the incomparable Sam Jacobs' post yesterday about the role of the CRO in 2021 vs. what's needed in a CRO in 2024. (Check in out in the comments.)

6 questions I would ask CRO candidates for my hypothetical $30M SaaS company, based on the interview I just published with ?? Jacco van der Kooij, founder of Winning by Design. Find the full interview in the comments. 1. If I were to give you $____, where and how would you spend it? 2. The goal is 25% growth this year, but we need to cut costs. How have you solved for that in the past couple of years? 3. How much of the budget should be allocated towards new logo vs growth and expansion? 4. How many go-to-market motions do we have and how many should we have based on what you know so far? 5. Our reps are struggling with cold outreach. Have you had that challenge before and how did you solve it? 6. Give me an example of a strategic decision you made in the last 18 months, based on data. Why that data? What was the result? TL;DR SaaS has lost GTM fit and CROs need to be more analytical and strategic than they were just 3 years ago.?

"What major setbacks did you face early on and how did you overcome them?" That was one of the 26 questions I asked the GOATS who agreed to let me interview them for the GOATS of Growth book so far. Many more interviews to publish, but wanted to release an excerpt to that question about setbacks now, given the challenges many companies have faced over the last 18 months or so. Each person shared a different set of challenges, but one common theme I picked up on was their ability to persist and persevere when things got hard. You can hear more of each of their answers on today's episode of The GOATS of Growth by searching for it in your listening apps or simply clicking the link in the comments below. Big thanks and shout out to?John McMahon, Elissa Fink, Ed Calnan, Mark Roberge,Laura Zwahlen, and Ryan Burke?for agreeing to set aside your valuable time to be interviewed. Turns out that another theme has emerged; Great leaders are also gracious people.

If your LTV:CAC is 3:1, what does that mean and what decisions need to be made? If it's 4:1 or 2:1, what does it me and what decisions should be considered and made? All I knew before my interview with 2X CEO, Meshach Amuah-Fuster was that 4:1 was much better than 2:1, but what I didn't know was how to inspect and scrutinize those ratios to make better decisions for my business. And now I do. That's the best part about hosting a podcast like The GOATS of Growth. I don't have an MBA, but I can learn directly from successful, and current, operators and then share what I learn with other people. It's almost like being the professor and the student at the same time! So, if you're a lifelong learner, geek out on data, and want to temporarily satisfy your curiosity about how other operators are making decisions about growth and profitability, you will LOVE this episode! Check out this quick mashup for some data-driven dopamine and listen to the full episode wherever you listen to your podcasts--or just click the link below in the comments. Meshach, thanks for joining the show and teaching me about something I didn't know before!