"Our company mission is to help people experience the joy of food" - Scott Porter

What comes to mind when you think about customer service?  Do you think about United Airlines and the infamous passenger escort? Do you remember that restaurant server who rolled her eyes when you asked for gluten-free? Or do you think about that grocery store clerk who remembered your first name and asked if your child was feeling better?

We all know what it feels like to have an incredible customer experience. We evangelize, we promote, and we rave about those companies. The same is true of horrible experiences. Happy customers spend 140% more than unhappy customers yet, too often, founders obsess over profit margins or process flows and then wonder why they are struggling to grow, or much less, survive. My guest this week is Scott Porter, founder of San Diablo Artisan Churro's. Scott has a unique perspective when it comes to customer service. In fact, Scott leveraged customer service to rescue a nursing home from bankruptcy. It might be fair to say that Scott worries more about his customers than his own business. On the other hand, that's probably why his business is booming!

• Marketing a super niche business model
• Company growth through customer reviews
• What defines a great customer experience?
• How to measure your customer happiness/satisfaction
• Defining and measuring your brand: what 3 words define you?
• How Scott rescued a bankrupt nursing home using world-class customer service
• Strategies to engage your team in building a better customer experience
• How San Diablo defines their customers experience:
  • D - Dedication
  • I  - Interaction not Transaction
  • A - Attention to Detail
  • B - Brighten Through “Deep Fried Happiness
  • L - Legacy
  • O - Opportunity to WOW

Throughout this season of SalesFounders we have covered a number of themes that seem to exemplify winning startups: Leveraging domain expertise, validated learning, mentorship, and strategic sales growth. Josh Ellars, founder of Patri, exemplifies all of them. In fact, his startup story is a case-study in how each of these components blend together to create a powerful growth trajectory. Josh believes that a founder needs critical feedback and an openness to adaptation. On this episode Josh explains how he has leveraged 10 years of public sector sales expertise, 10,000 linkedIn connections, a powerhouse advisory board and a lean methodology to bootstrap a solution that is will forever change the way companies sell to the public sector.  

• Challenges selling in the public sector
• Positioning your career around a niche
• Applying the lean startup methodology for feedback driven innovation
• Why LinkedIn is an ideal source for validation and leads
• Building an advisory board - How to surround yourself with the right team
• The pro's and con's of an automated sales process  
• The challenges of running a consulting service and says company simultaneously
• Surrounding yourself with critical feedback and why you should never be married to your idea's

Traffic & Funnels co-founder, Taylor Welch, joins us to talk about the challenges entrepreneurs face when it comes to lead growth and predictable funnel strategies. On this episode, Taylor walks us through the anatomy of traffic & funnel strategy as well as the secret behind their 6 million dollar webinar. We'll talk about why validation is the key to establishing a powerful marketing message and the 4 steps they use to convert your core message into lead faucets of predictable revenue.

• The importance of validation and how to identify your ideal marketing message
• Why Paid Traffic is the key to establishing control and predictable growth
• How to make the validation process more efficient - simplification and finding your “one thing”
• Stop complicating the buying process by keeping your messaging clear and simple. 
• Money and the 4 ingredients of a predictable marketing strategy
  1. A really good piece of content . . . just one.
  2. Great strategy to drive people to that content and self-filter
  3. Funnel to transfer filtered leads to a qualifying call
  4. A sales process to convert qualified leads into paying customers. 
• Time - How to shift from trading hours for dollars and generate leverage. 
• Feeder Funnels and how to build a lead faucet with paid traffic. 
• 3 Marketing KPI’s  
  • Leads - how many people are coming in at the top?
  • Consumption - how many are sticking around? 
  • Application - how many are going to the next step?  
• Surround yourself with the right people - you normalize what is constantly in front of you. 

"You have to know the levers that correlate to income and chose not to do the thousands of things that take away from the activities that matter." 

Heather Havenwood is a serial entrepreneur, best-selling author, and authority on the subjects of digital marketing and sales coaching. Heather is helping entrepreneurs "break the rules" and implement proven marketing and sales systems. As an Entrepreneur.com contributor, performance coach, and one of Huffington Posts Top 50 Must Follow Women Entrepreneurs, Heather is a power-house when it comes to entrepreneurship. She joins us this week to talk about her challenging journey in entrepreneurship, sales systems, and why more women need to give themselves "permission" to thrive as entrepreneurs. 

• The pursuit of freedom through entrepreneurship 
• Reinventing yourself in the face of adversity
• Tapping into the creating process of entrepreneurship
• Sales Systems - is your startup really prepared for growth?
• Messaging and why entrepreneurship struggle to connect with customers. 
• Women Entrepreneurs - why more women need to give themselves "permission" to succeed. 
• Get comfortable breaking the rules!

Alex Hermozi has perfected the sales launch. What started as a passion for weightlifting and fitness, became a $55k investment in his own gym and a steep learning curve to profitability. In time, Alex figured out how to scale his efforts into 6 highly profitable gyms. Realizing the value of the "system" he had developed, Alex sold his gyms and turned his attention to the thousands of struggling gym owners across the country. Today, his "gym launch" system helps gym owners fill their gyms in less than a month and scale towards million dollar businesses. "Launching a gym is like baking a cake" says Alex, and on this weeks episode, he shares a number of his plays that can help any startup identify the ingredients of a powerful sales launch. 

"The amount of money you make is in direct proportion to the number of offers you make." -Frank Kern

• The 5 Stages of the Gym Launch System: 
  1. Lead Generation
  2. Lead Nurture
  3. Sales Event
  4. Fulfillment
  5. Resell and Ascension
• Customer acquisition costs vs. cash flow
• How to leverage a single marketing strategy through multiple campaigns 
• How to get your customers to front the cost of getting more customers
• Two reasons LBO's (low barrier offers) might be killing your startup 
• Creating "front-end" offers with higher retention rates
• Increasing revenue through exception customers service, not scale
• How to replicate your systems into a training program for new sales employees
• Establishing clear leadership and accountability 

Startup Accelerators have become a powerful source of guidance and support for aspiring entrepreneurs all over the world. One of the pioneers of startup acceleration is Robb Kunz, a seasoned entrepreneur and angel investor. Following his seemingly endless struggle to find entrepreneurs with sufficiently validated business models, Robb co-founded  Boom Startup, a mentorship-based seed accelerator for entrepreneurs in the disciplines of technology, education, government, and space. 7 years into this rapidly changing industry, Robb joins us on SalesFounders to talk about the future of seed acceleration, and some of the most valuable lessons he has learned from 18 exits and thousands of entrepreneurs. 

• The biggest problems angel investors face in todays startup world
• 3 ways Boom Startup is changing the nature of seed acceleration
• The 5 stages of validation within Boom Startup
• What are the components of a great founding team?
• Tracking 18 exits, these are the two consistent traits of the highest performing startups
• How to create profitable relationships with channel partners and resellers
• How to build a winning sales culture from the start
• The value of bringing outside sales guidance before making the big sales hires

Following a lucrative exit from the sale of his first company, Shane Cox let it all ride on his second venture that quickly became an unscalable and capital exhaustive business that bled him dry. After liquidated all of his assets, and selling the last of his prized possessions, Shane doubled-down on the one promising component of his solution - the QBall - a microphone imbedded into a dodge-ball. Over the course of the next two years, Shane scraped by, often sleeping in his car to afford any event that would allow him to pitch his product. In time, the product gained traction and on his third attempt, Shane was invited onto the set of Shark Tank. 

This Sunday, October 1st, Shane's moment in the tank will be featured on the season premier. On this week's episode of SalesFounders, we explore the business Shane has built and his rollercoaster ride of validation and traction that has led him to one of the most coveted entrepreneurial stages.  

More than a third of the US workforce is comprised of freelancers. Freelancing has become a trillion dollar industry that can be challenging for founders to navigate. With so many experts to choose from, it can be hard to know what to look for, and how to integrate hired talent into your organization.

My guest this week is Connor Gillivan. After selling more than $25 million on Amazon from his dorm room, Connor went on to create FreeeUp.com, a freelancer marketplace that connects businesses with the top 1% of freelancers in eCommerce, digital marketing, virtual assistance, and web development. Not only has Connor leveraged freelancers to build his Amazon business, but he has also built FreeeUp into a multi-million dollar business using...well...freelancers. Connor joins us this week to talk about this booming industry, the challenges he has faced in his journey, and why freelancers might be the perfect solution for your startup.

Every entrepreneur needs an occasional moment of honest, personal reflection. How are things really going, and to what extent you are aligning with the needs of your business? The tendency for most founders is to add more process and clutter when they should be finding ways to simplify. 

Meet Steve Krebs; the accountability coach. His mission is to rescue entrepreneurs from the process holes and bottlenecks, cut through the BS, and establish some accountability to systems that generate growth. This is an episode unlike any we've done. Join us for a blunt, no holds barred assault on mediocrity, fear, and the limiting beliefs that are robbing your business. 

• The biggest personal challenges that prevent entrepreneurs from finding success?
• Protection, Projection, Posturing and Punishing - How to break out of the unworthiness cycle 
• Two questions to embrace vulnerability and identify exactly what is holding you back
• Why vulnerability as an entrepreneur will actually help you succeed
• How to develop your weaknesses into strengths
• Living with Purpose and why your purpose can change throughout your life 
• The power of meditation - taking time each to day to reconnect with yourself
• Keeping it simple - focusing on base hits, not home runs
• The power of being consistent and persistent
• Exploring the coaching business - how to find and convert clients 
• Framing the deal to allow your customers to qualify to work with you

Burnout can be a major problem for entrepreneurs . In spite of a seemingly limitless supply of automation tools, entrepreneurs still over-extend themselves to the point of exhaustion. Every entrepreneur needs help, and specifically, the right help. Meet Nicole Wipp - entrepreneur and small business consultant whose speciality is helping entrepreneurs create powerful teams. Leadership requires a very different mindset than entrepreneurship and on this episode, Nicole shares 5 strategies that will help you develop and lead a world-class organization. There's a good chance your next hire is the not the right hire.

• Why the majority of entrepreneurs burn-out before they find success
• The power of "letting go" to realize sustainable growth
• Why entrepreneurship and leadership can create conflict with each other
• Self awareness and the importance of knowing your strengths
• Developing your own hiring plan that complements your weaknesses.
• How to find the best people for your business and reduce turnover
• The secret to employee engagement - a little trick that goes a long way
• The challenges with virtual teams
• 4 Resources to help build your team

On the heels of a failed startup in 2002, Aaron Ross stumbled into a call-center position at Salesforce.com. Looking for sales perspective, Aaron discovered something much bigger. The discovery, covered in his best-selling book Predictable Revenue, was a revolutionary approach to outbound selling that led SalesForce from $5M to $100M in sales. Since then, Aaron has helped companies like Uber, SAP, and Oracle figure out how to build scalable, predictable revenue. These strategies, as well as the concepts of "hypergrowth" covered in his recent book with co-author Jason Lemkin, are a just few of the topics we cover as we explore the secrets of predictable sales growth.

“The things that will change your growth rate are often the things you don’t feel comfortable doing.”

• How Aaron went from a failed startup to helping SalesForce.com grow from $5m to $100M in revenue
• The sales challenges at Salesforce that led to "Predictable Revenue" and Cold Calling 2.0
• 3 factors to determine whether an outbound strategy is right for your organization
• How to get your SDR's to think for themselves and away from email template fixation
• A compensation model for Outbound SDR's
• The sales mindset or SDRs - how to promote consultative selling and adaptability
• "Nailing A Niche" and knowing when you’re not ready to grow
• How to cross the trust gap and reach customers who don’t know you
• How to go upmarket and increase your average deal size
• From 0-9 kids in 6 years - how to promote an entrepreneur work-life balance

Surviving the early stages of a startup to reach growth is a significant milestone for any founder. It is also the beginning of new chapter of challenges and opportunities. There is a science to accelerating growth, and few who know it better than Greg Warnock, managing director and co-founder of Mercato Partners. 

Greg is a technologist, innovator, and PhD-equipped entrepreneur who is well versed in every stage of entrepreneurship. On this episode, Greg walks us through his formula for success, the benchmarks he uses to qualify opportunities, the 3 pillars of growth that define the Mercato performance team, and some of the most common pitfalls that challenge and stifle growth. Drawing on a portfolio that includes companies like SkullCandy, Domo, Stance, and Observepoint, this episode is guaranteed to change the way you look at growth. 

• The qualities of top performing entrepreneurs and how to spot them
• Differentiating between Venture and Growth: The origin story of Mercato
• 4 benchmarks Mercato uses to to evaluate their investments
• 3 "red flags" of unsustainable growth
• The 3 biggest growth challenges and how to avoid them
• Why pricing and process are the most costly sales mistakes entrepreneurs are making
• How Skull Candy turned Brand Equity into "Irrational Brand Loyalty"
• An innovative approach to gain sales confidence and process

Most entrepreneurs acknowledge the importance of customer validation. Few, however, are as curious or relentless in the pursuit of customer feedback as Whitney Casey. Following her Emmy-winning career as a talk show host and NYC anchor, Whitney created Finery.com, a startup in the Fashion/Technology space. Along with her best-friend and co-founder Brooklyn Decker, Whitney has assembled a stellar team of brainiacs, in NYC, who are revolutionizing the way you interact with your wardrobe. Whitney joins us this week to explore the value of customer feedback and the strategy every founder should model before attempting to scale. 

• Finery - the first wardrobe operating system
• When to hire vs outsource developers
• A validation strategy every founder should adopt
• How to elicit the most authentic customer feedback
• The power of honest feedback from users, even if "your baby is ugly"
• Product Development discipline and the challenges of “feature creep”
• 6 revenue sources and the customers lifecycle.
• Choosing the right investors - “make sure you find smart money”

Efficient and scalable sales growth is the common goal of every startup. My guest, Trish Bertuzzi, is the best-selling author of the Sales Development Playbook and President of The Bridge Group. Trish joins us this week to discuss account-based marketing, outbound strategy, and how to survive the early stages of sales development. 

Visit salesfounders.com for show notes and additional information. 

There is more to a viral marketing strategy than a great product or a clever tag line. With so much noise in market, it has become increasingly difficult to connect your message with your target audience. My guest, Jace Vernon has the solution to this problem. Jace is the founder of both YDraw and MarketingHy.  YDraw is a white board video and animation company helps companies find a better way to tell the story behind their product or service. MarketingHy is a full-service digital marketing agency which helps companies deliver that story to their target audience.

On this episode, we explore the challenges that most startups face when it comes to telling their story and engaging their customers. We’ll talk about the 5 steps of a viral marketing strategy, effective content and email copy, a system for finding your customers, and a simpler way for startups to approach the daunting task of marketing. Your story is the bridge across the sales gap so buckle up as we take a dive into the the world of story-telling with Jace Vernon. Jace, welcome to SalesFounders. 

LinkedIn has become a powerful platform for entrepreneurship. Whether your objective is exposure or lead generation, LinkedIn should be a key ingredient of your sales growth strategy. My guest this week is nationally recognized linked in expert Yakov Savitskiy. Yakov is the founder of Linked Lead enteprises and joins me to explore 10 ways you can leverage linkedin to develop or accelerate sales growth. We talk about things like the 3 P’s of a great profile, 8 Publisher best practices, how to be more visible to your target audience, and how to use Linkedin in your sales funnel.

A deep dive into the apparel industry to talk about the massive disruption that is changing the way we interact with brands and apparel. My guest Matt Falcinelli, is the founder of TheDrop.com. Matt has leveraged more than 20 years of industry experience to prepare for what will be the iTunes of the apparel industry. On this episode we talk about the 5 ingredients of his go to market strategy. Social Influencers, Conversion funnel story telling, leveraging data, drawing on past domain experience, and learning from the customer.  There is a reason TheDrop has oversubscribed their first round and how they plan to revolutionize the apparel industry is worth a listen. 

These 4 traits are consistent among top performing sales executives and entrepreneurs. A segment taken from a keynote at Armor Pest Defense.

Luis Congdon went from sleeping on couches to making a six figure income through podcasting. This week on SalesFounders, we talk about why podcasting is such a powerful medium to establish authority and trust. We talk about how to leverage podcasting to find and qualify customers and how guest appearances can help you sell product and establish market presence. Luis is a podcast and social-selling guru and I am honored that he took time to let us in to his secrets to driving sales growth through podcasting. 

For more information, visit www.salesfounders.com/blog

1. Confidence:  Believe in yourself, your product, and your customer. Selling can be intimidating. Focus on the outcome and where you already have confidence. 
2. Assumptive:  You’re always closing –  success starts with the belief that you have already won. 
3. Preparation:  Know your value, rebuttals to customer objections, and integrate several closes into your sales flow. 
4. Initiative:  Be proactive, work hard, and ask for your customers’ business. Selling is a numbers game. 
5. Persistence:  You’ve got to fight for success. Don’t give up after the first or second rejection.
6. Control: It’s your job to build rapport and lead the customer to the goal. Controlling the conversation is key to closing sales. 

The most expensive capital a founder will ever raise is the first round of equity. An early equity round can be a harsh reality check for a founder considering whether to bootstrap or face dilution. The good news is there are other options to consider. In fact, there are ways for early stage startups to obtain funding without having to sacrafice equity. One approach is called Revenue Based Financing (RBF), and happens to be the  specialty of my guest, Chris Russell. 

Chris has extensive experience as both an operator and investor; having been involved with dozens of startups. Chris founded GSD Capital in 2010 to invest in early-stage Mountain West startups. He was also the founder of WestHost where he grew the company to 80,000 clients in over 130 countries by the time it was sold to the UK2Group in 2008. 

On this episode we explore the concept Revenue Based Financing. How does it work? Who is it for? And why is it such an appealing alternative to early-stage debt financing or venture capital? We also explore the dynamics of the best founding teams, the metrics investors look for in a winning startup, and the surprisingly truth about what matters most when pitching to an VC.

As a follow-up to the 4 Pillars of Online Marketing, this week's Mastery episode focuses on how to pick the right marketing and SEO firm for you business, as well as what you should expect for results and costs. Without a background in web development and SEO, it is extremely difficult for entrepreneurs to create a competitive online presence. At some point, you will need to enlist some professional help to build a powerful lead-generating engine. As you consider your options, here are a few expectations and warnings signs to guide you in your decision.  

For more information, visit www.salesfounders.com

Online marketing is one of the most cost effective strategies to attract leads and drive revenue. The challenge is that most entrepreneurs get it wrong as they attempt to develop it themselves. This week, Voxxy Marketing founders, Michael Clark and Justin Taylor join me to explore the 4 key components to your online presence: your website, content, SEO, and paid strategies. We walk through the steps to leverage each component into a cohesive strategy that will have a magnetic impact on your target audience. 

Justin Edwards is the VP of Sales Practice at Mercato partners. His focus is optimizing and accelerating sales performance within each of their portfolio companies. Leveraging his sales experience in startups and Fortune 100 organizations alike, Justin has demonstrated a unique ability to help founders identify sales inefficiencies and develop highly scalable sales teams and processes. 

• Modeling high velocity sales growth 
• Looking at people as the underlying engine for sales acceleration
• Identifying the 5 traits of success in your sales environment, and building process and scale around those traits
• Why Hubspot requires new sales reps to experience the customer journey before selling
• Technology, money, and the dangers of a broken sales process
• Mapping sales process to identify bottlenecks and deceleration. 
• Identify the "anatomy of a perfect customer"
• Sales qualified leads and the ingredients of an efficient sales process
• The misleading indicators of sales performance
• Corporate strategy - Inside Sales vs. Enterprise Sales strategy.
• Why HR, Marketing, and Sales are the three most common area's of weakness in growth companies

When it comes to lead strategy, efficiency is the key to success. On this episode of mastery, we explore the reasons most startups struggle with lead strategy, the key components of a winning lead strategy, and a few cautions and best practices to you develop or refine yours. 

A crowdfunding campaign has become one of the most powerful, and competitive, platforms for entrepreneurs to introduce products to the market. The challenge is that less than 20% of campaigns succeed and most of those fall short of reaching their potential. This week, SalesFounders pulls the curtain on America’s leading crowdfunding marketing agency, funded.today.

Co-founder Zach Smith joins us to talk about the secrets of crowdfunding and how his team has their clients raise more than $135 million in crowdfunding pledges. With hundreds of successful campaigns in their portfolio, funded.today knows exactly what it takes to create a successful launch strategy, get featured on trending lists, manage a mid-campaign pivot and the 7 p’s that will give your campaign the edge needed to stand out in the crowd. 

For more information, visit www.salesfounders.com/blog

The mentor dynamic is a key component of success, especially when it comes to entrepreneurship. Too many entrepreneurs embrace the "lone-wolf" strategy with a fierce independence and desire to grind it out alone. The reality is that every entrepreneurial success story is built upon a network of relationships, advocates, mentors, and supporters. 

"No individual has sufficient experience, education, native ability, and knowledge to ensure the accumulation of a great fortune without the cooperation of other people."-Napoleon Hill

Narrowing your startup into a specific niche might seem counter-intuitive in the early stages of development. "What if I get it wrong?" "How can I possibly say no to willing customers?" This is a narrative familiar to most founders, especially during the pivotal stages of validation. The truth is that finding a niche is the only way to differentiate yourself in today's noisy market. Playing it safe just doesn't work anymore, and my guest, Nick Wood shares how hard work, sales mastery, and a passion for entrepreneurship have evolved into a niche platform known as Kholo. 

• The value of hard work - Setting big goals and how to double down. 
• Making the transition from sales to entrepreneurship
• How to convert a customer pain into a viable startup
• Validating your solution through customers and channel partners
• Finding your niche - embracing feedback and being willing to pivot
• Knowing your strengths and how to leverage them
• How to create messaging that resonates with your customer
• Sales challenges of entrepreneurship

This might be the perfect case study on the topic of crowdfunding and the lean startup. My guest is Bryson Hill, co-founder and CEO of Daplie, a startup that offers the internet's first personal at-home cloud server that anyone can set up and use. Their mantra is to "Take back the internet" and Bryson joins us to share the exciting trajectory that is going to fundamentally change the internet. 

Daplie is also the first company to launch simultaneous equity and reward crowdfunding campaigns. On this episode, we are going to dig into the founding story of Daplie in context of the lean startup method. We’ll talk about the pros and con’s of crowdfunding, and the secret sauce that has enabled Daplie to hit a grand slam in their first inning!

“More than 90% of startups fail, due primarily to self-destruction rather than competition. For the less than 10% of startups that do succeed, most encounter several near death experiences along the way.”  - Startup Genome

This week, we take a closer look at the causes of startup failure. Considering that 70% of failures are attributed to premature scaling, it's imperative that entrepreneurs understand the startup framework as well as the red flags and warning signs of premature scaling.

For more information, visit www.salesfounders.com/blog

Entrepreneurship seems to be commonly associated with stigma of crazy hours, high stress, and a constant need for multi-tasking. Ironically, these are three of the most devastating forces to your productivity and success. The reality is that most of us misuse the the most powerful asset we have - our brain!

James Garrett is the creator of Brain by Design, a coaching and consulting company that translates what scientists know about the brain into practical tools that anyone can use to increase their creativity, decrease stress, and be more productive. James joins us this week to explore the brain-science of entrepreneurship and tackle 7 commonly adopted myths of entrepreneurship and explain how to leverage the power of your brain to boost productivity, creativity, and success.

• Why hard work is not always the best way to ensure productivity.
• Understanding the executive and creative modes of your brain.
• How your Brain reacts to Stress. 
• The power of meditation. 
• Flow states and time management. 
• The myth of multitasking
• Decision fatigue and micro decisions

This week, we take a closer look at the stages of startup growth. Entrepreneurs who discipline themselves to follow proven methods of validation and growth can drastically reduce the threats of premature scaling. In episode 1, Paul Ahlstrom suggested that "premature scaling is often a result of doing many of the right things, in the wrong order." Join us as we explore the objectives and blindspots that face entrepreneurs in each stage, as well as the resources available to help you define your startup roadmap.   

For more information, visit www.salesfounders.com

One of the biggest hurdles facing entrepreneurs is raising capital! It's hard enough to decode the red tape and fine print of most investment vehicles, not to mention the unlikely chance you will find yourself in a position where the amount of equity or "skin" required justifies the capital offered. With over $531 billion dollars funding startups in the US each year, it's time we explore some strategies to give some leverage to entrepreneurs.    

My guest this week, Leo Kanell, is the founder of Fundwise capital and author of the business funding formula. Leo is passionate about providing funding tools, startup education and growth solutions for entrepreneurs. Leo and his team have helped secure over $150 Million in funding for clients across the country. The best part, is his strategies are focused on helping entrepreneurs retain equity and control of their companies. On this episode, Leo walks through the common pitfalls of early stage funding and explains how he helps entrepreneurs gain the understanding and tools that will help them scale into revenue. 

For more information visit www.salesfounders.com/blog

Who you are is a direct result of the questions you ask! Asking is at the foundation of every great opportunity. The problem is that most people aren't thinking big enough. There is a limitless supply of success, fortune, abundance, and happiness all around you. The only way to get it, is to ask for it. 

"Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers." –Tony Robbins

For more information, visit us at www.salesfounders.com/blog

Knowing why you win and lose deals might be the most valuable information your company can have. Unfortunately, 60% of sales professionals are wrong about why they win and lose deals. Not surprisingly, founders make critical errors when they use such assessments in strategic decisions. 

My guest this week is Clozd founder, Spencer Dent. Leveraging his experience at Bain, and Qualtrics, Spencer co-founded Clozd with the mission to help companies uncover the truth about why they win and lose. On this episode, Spencer shares some of the most common pitfalls, and why win-loss analysis should be an integral part of your growth strategy. 

• Win-loss analysis and the founding story of Clozd
• 2 reasons companies should outsource win-loss analysis
• Why founders avoid win-loss analysis
• 60% of reps don't know why they win or lose deals
• How to categorize and prioritize the issues that affect win-loss
• Adapting your sales teams to position against the competition
• The 3 most common deal killers that every founder should be aware of 
• A closer took at Clozd business model

"Passion is powerful," say's Jason Adams when asked about launching Bex sunglasses  with only $600. 8-years later, Bex is a multi-million dollar brand that sells hats, sunglasses and apparel throughout the world.  This week, Jason joins me to walk through the creation of what started as a passion for design and a belief that he could create a successful business doing something he loved. Well talk about branding, funding, growing pains, competing with major brands like Oakely, and RayBan, leadership, and some of the key lessons that can help you generate sales traction. 

Learn more at www.salesfounders.com

"Knowing thyself is the beginning of all wisdom" - Aristotle

How well do you know your strengths and weaknesses as an entrepreneur? Are you aware of your blindspots? Understanding who you are, your natural strengths, and disposition is the only way to truly leverage your potential as both a leader and a founder. On this episode, we explore how you can discover and align with your strengths and how to identify and mitigate your weaknesses. 

What if there was a formula that an entrepreneur could follow to ensure startup success?

This week, PrinterLogic CEO, Ryan Wedig shares 7 steps he's followed to transform a tech-founders epiphany into an world-class software company. From messaging and sales strategy, to cap tables and advisors, Ryan explains how PrinterLogic has grown to #141 on the Inc. 5000 list and become a disruptive force in the print management industry.

It's troubling that so many brilliant entrepreneurs cringe at the idea of selling. Selling is merely an exchange between two parties, and whether you realize it or not, you've been selling since the day you were born. When you break it down, the currency of the exchange is value.

The good news is that there is a simpler approach to selling. On this episode of Mastery, we explore salesmanship, human nature, and 3 simple models to understand why customers buy.

Eirini Schlosser is the CEO and Founder of Chuz, a mobile app that is being described as the “Spotify of where to go and what to order.” More specifically Chuz is disrupting lifestyle decision making with the mapping of human emotions.

On this episode we are going to break down the business model to learn more about how Chuz is disrupting mass-review sites like Yelp and Foursquare with a data-driven solution that adapts to the mood and behavior of its users. 

On this episode we discuss:

• Why Eirini walked from a very successful M&A execution role at Morgan Stanley.
• Launch strategies, channel partners, and a unique approach to data.
• Automating your go to market strategy with data.
• Validation strategy, key pivots and the revenue model.
• User growth vs revenue and the 5-year plan. 
• Why Chuz is focused on mapping human emotions

 Eirini Schlosser is the CEO and Founder of Chuz, a mobile app that curates quality spot content and replaces mass reviews with a data-driven, adaptive software that recommends spots for food, drink, and lifestyle based on menu-specific feedback, tastes, and habits.

Eirini Schlosser completed her masters at London Business School and started her career in investment banking in Morgan Stanley's M&A Execution Team in London.

At Morgan Stanley she had exposure working on multi-billion dollar technology, consumer, and retail deals. Though an incredible learning opportunity on how businesses scale, how to problem solve analytically, and how to execute and work very hard, she craved creative outside-the-box impact.

Introducing the SalesFounders Mastery series. Each weekly episode takes a step outside of your business to focus on you, the Founder. Join us as we explore the habits, strategies, and mindsets of successful founders and how you can lead your startup to the next level.  

The root cause of startup failure, or an individual's failure to succeed can be traced to a disconnect, or an imbalance between disciplines of salesmanship, entrepreneurship, and the organizational focus toward an ultimate objective or purpose.

Consequently, at SalesFounders we focus on these 3 disciplines to ensure that our clients have a balanced and sustainable approach to leading their organizations to their ultimate potential.

Entrepreneurship - An understanding of the entrepreneurial approach to innovate and validate a solution to a market need and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage amidst adversity and competitive forces. 

Salesmanship - An ability to establish rapport, discover the needs of your audience and communicate in a manner that adapts to the needs and demonstrates value in a way that naturally facilitates an exchange. 

Purpose - The underlying passion, reason or motivation that drives behavior. 

In spite of the obvious stigmas of entrepreneurship, the reality is that most successful entrepreneurs seek to avoid risk. Moreover, companies that have emerged from their humble garages did so NOT by brute force and good luck, but through disciplined learning and calculated risk. 

Dr. Eric Pedersen joins us this week to discuss strategies to mitigate startup uncertainty, and the calculated risks necessary to become a truly scalable organization. If there is even a shred of uncertainty as you think about the future of your company, this is an episode you can’t afford to miss.

“Plan the work and work the plan, but be flexible, adaptable and responsive to unexpected events”  - Dr. Eric Pedersen

• 3 consistent traits of successful entrepreneurs.
• Zero Risk? How to quantify and mitigate the inevitable risks of entrepreneurship.
• The problem with short-term technology and long-term debt.
• 5 Risks that pose the greatest threat to your company.
• Strategies to attract and retain key technical positions.
• BusyBusy.com and the risks necessary to become scalable.

Dr. Eric Pedersen, Dean of Science and Technology and Professor of Web Development at Dixie State University as well as being an active tech entrepreneur. He currently serves on the Board of InfoWest, BusyBusy, CodeChangers /GirlsGoDigital, and PurePickleball among others. He has been involved with the technology sector in Southern Utah for the past 25 years. He started the Center of Excellence for Computer Graphics at DSU and was a member of the research and development team that created the first web site in Utah. Dr. Pedersen received his PhD in MIS from Utah State University.

In 2004, David Williams was asked to help close down a startup that had amassed $2.5 million in debt and still had no product to offer. When David arrived on the scene, what he saw was “the opportunity of a lifetime.” On this episode, we explore the power of Social Capital and how 6 employees and 1 strategic partnership helped David  transform Fishbowl into the leading inventory management solution. Sure, his approach might have “broken a few rules” but the results will compel you to reconsider the way you lead your organization.

“No individual has sufficient experience, education, native ability and knowledge to ensure the accumulation of a great fortune, without the cooperation of other people.”  - Napoleon Hill

• Searching a troubled startup for signs of life.
• Why Social Capital should be given the highest priority.
• How to manage relationships with strategic alliances and channel partners.
• Why a startup needs a 100 year plan (even if you plan on selling in less than 5 years).
• How to build a culture of loyal employees.
• Should equity be given to employees as stock options?
• How to manage underperforming employees in a startup?
• Leadership and the simple skills that lead to big profits

Since 2004, David K. Williams has been the Chief Executive Officer of Fishbowl, the maker of the #1 manufacturing and warehouse management software for QuickBooks. He has worked in numerous industries during his career, and he has worked hard to help Fishbowl become one of the fastest-growing and most successful software companies in the state of Utah. Fishbowl has won numerous regional and national awards from a number of respected organizations, including Inc. 5000, Deloitte, MountainWest Capital, and Global Red Herring.

In July 2013, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. published Williams' book, which he wrote to inspire his fellow business professionals and leaders, The 7 Non-Negotiables of Winning: Tying Soft Traits to Hard Results. In it, he detailed the secrets of his success as an entrepreneur. He writes a weekly column for Forbes, and he has also contributed to Harvard Business Review and Inc. Magazine in the past.

In addition to his work at Fishbowl, Williams also acts as the President of the Woodbury School of Business National Advisory Council at Utah Valley University, and he is a member of the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce's Executive Board of Directors. For more information about Williams, visit the Wikipedia article dedicated to him.

Entrepreneurs need to constantly be thinking about lead sources and profitable strategies to generate customers. In spite of so many overpriced lead strategies, the most powerful and often underutilized lead source is your own expertise.

My guest this week is Brian Horn, a best-selling author, investor and entrepreneur who helps professionals leverage their knowledge to gain authority status and national media exposure. On this episode, we explore the strategies of thought leadership and how entrepreneurs can convert their expertise into scalable revenue.

Visit https://salesfounders.com/007-thought-leadership-funnel/ for more information. 

What does a venture capitalist look for in a winning startup? How does an entrepreneur know when it's time to scale? In this episode of SalesFounders, we explore the playbook of venture capitalist, Paul Ahlstrom, and take a deeper dive into his book, Nail it Then Scale it. Paul shares 4 key strategies that every startup must understand: What is a minimum feature set? How do I validate my solution? What is my go to market strategy? and Why VC's have no interest in your business plan. Do you know what it takes to build a scalable startup? Join us and find out!

Talking Points

• Understanding the difference between Minimum Viable Product and Minimum Feature Set
• Start with the features that solve the customer problem. What is the process to accomplish that.
• Focus on the feature set that is most compelling to the customer.

• Level 1 - You and your company - what are the things that I can do with my company to go satisfy that customer?
• Level 2 - Partners - Who are the people that are on the same side of the table as me wanting to sell that customer.
• Level 3 - Influencers - Boundary Spanners - both sides of the line - the people that are the glue of the industry - analysts and guru’s, press and media - key influencers in the space. Don’t go there till 1 and 2 are figured out.
• Level 4 - Advertising and Marketing - This is a branding exercise - the whole industry should scream your name -

Customers can validate but they cannot innovate - Paul Ahlstrom

• Getting the essence of the model figured out before you have too much infrastructure is important. It get’s harder to adapt the bigger you get.  
• The truth about business plans - a big fat guess
• Getting into the business model competition -
• Hypothesis - requires the big idea canvas
• Go into the field and start having a conversation around this. Discover and uncover the value exchange.
• Sensitivity analysis - When we have the interjection around 15 minutes, that would be good to narrate something different into it.

• What he didn’t know was the step-by-step process
• That’s been my mission - how do we increase the startup pace
• How do we increase the speed of doing things right more

• One of my life missions is to disrupt poverty
• Global corruption index (see below)
• Global poverty index map
• Intangible wealth - effective government and trust and effective judicial systems. It’s what we enjoy in America.  
• So how do you transport or create that wealth in other countries.

Paul Ahlstrom is a co-founder and managing director of Alta Ventures, an early-stage venture fund and co-author of Nail it Then Scale it. For more than 30 years, Paul has operated on both sides of the table as a venture-backed entrepreneur (founder of Knowlix, sold to Peregrine Systems, sold to HP) and as an investor. To date, he has raised over $1B and directly invested over $500M in more than 125 startup companies. He earned his BA in communications from Brigham Young University and an honorary doctorate from the Netanya Academic College in Israel.

Michelle Weinstein, also known as The Pitch Queen, has leveraged an exciting sales career, and an entrepreneurial rollercoaster to refine a skill that has become her secret weapon - the Pitch. Michelle has pitched her way into Costco, onto Shark Tank, and into the world of millionaires, athletes and coaches. Michelle joins SalesFounders this week to talk about the art of the Pitch and a few of her strategies to help entrepreneurs build relationships, gain rapport, and generate powerful sales traction. 

• Facing adversity - lessons from a failed startup
• Entrepreneurship is a 24 hour sales job
• Preparing your company to weather unknown costsBuilding Rapport - why trust is the secret to selling 
• Relationship based-selling and the “champion”
• Persistence and the art of being ‘Professionally Annoying’
• Strategies to connect with influencers 
• Ingredients of a great sales pitch

Entrepreneurs are often fascinated with the idea of disruption. The reason is obvious - it is typically associated with entrepreneurs who have defeated a giant, and/or redefined an industry. The reality is that disruption is arguably the most difficult and risky approach to entrepreneurship. 

My guest this week, Andrew Weinreich, is an expert when it comes to the topic of disruption. Andrew founded SixDegrees (the first social networking platform) and is the "father" of social networking. Andrew joins SalesFounders to share his views on innovation and how he has founded multiple companies that all have one thing in common - massive disruption.

Andrew Weinreich is a serial entrepreneur, social networking pioneer, and active presence in NYC’s Silicon Alley for 2 decades. To date, he’s founded 7 startups and has been awarded 2 software patents.

Since 2013, he has sold 2 businesses, including Xtify to IBM, while advising 5 tech startups. He is currently the co-founder and Chairman of Indicative, a data analytics startup.

In the world of enterprise software, Clint Carlos is an anomaly. Unlike the majority of startups who take on funding, Clint has mastered the art of bootstrapping. In this episode, we discuss mentorship and 2 key lessons that have defined Clint's approach to entrepreneurship. Then Clint also opens the doors to the enterprise SaaS solution Ampt, and shares the system he's used to organically grow Ampt by 3000% in 3 years.

"No venture is real until somebody sells something."

1. No venture is real, until someone in it sells something.  It’s never too early to try and start selling, whatever it is.

2. You just never know what you can actually get until you ask for it.  You may be able to command a much higher value than originally assessed.  Be bold, and take chances.

• If you look at sales simply as facilitating problem solving and engaging in value exchange to that end, it’ll never be a daunting and foreign thing to you.
• Funding Strategies: 
  1. Getting customers into a 3 year subscription contract, and incentivizing customers to pay the balance in advance helps to stabilize cash flow and minimize churn.  It allows the company’s sales to be the organic source of growth.
  2. Get creative with customers even if it is a convertible note.
• Two primary lead sources: 
  1. The strategy of thought leadership and strategic content drives site traffic, from which enhancing conversion rates will spike growth.  
  2. Networking - Many of our early customers came from the first 2 levels of our networks. 
• Sales Funnel Strategies:
  1. Start with a BDR to give a basic demo.  
  2. Closer comes in for a deeper dive and ROI conversation.  
  3. Constantly find ways to speed up the funnel and sales process.
• Systems and Tools:
  • CRM of choice - Hubspot.com

• “My focus has always been around the ‘science of people’, human mechanics and behavioral economics.  The science of how we go about quantifying what our interactions and relationships mean to us... If someone recognizes you and calls you by name at a bank, how much more wallet share would they then have because of that relationship.”
• “Every business you start should begin simply as a sales pitch... No naming, logos, or articles of incorporation.  Just the pitch.”
• “Everything, regardless of how great of a success or failure, has been a learning experience… Have patience in wanting to see traction in your concepts, but when the time is right, run like hell... You’ll always have only yourself to look at in the mirror and know how much of yourself you’ve given.”

"Good systems and processes are the birthplace of scalability."  

When is the right time to start thinking about sales?… that is the question.  Or at least it should be the pivotal question of all tech startups.  This week Jeremiah Jones, prolific, engineering-minded entrepreneur and CTO consultant/founder of Techuity, joins SalesFounders to discuss the concept of technical debt and the sales challenges facing tech founders.

Technical Debt vs Sales

• Fledgling tech companies often go one of two ways, the path of over-engineering or under-engineering. Both will lead to failure, but with greater frequency those failures are due to overspending.
• If you have to go one of two directions, and the search for a “technical co-founder” is stalled, go the route of generating technical debt and building your MVP.  Look to validate your product in the marketplace and make up for it later.  
• Make all feature requests what the customers want, and not what the engineers want to build.

When to start selling

• Wherever you’re collecting data in technology is a gold mine.
• When is too early to get out there with my product and start selling?  As soon as you can get someone to pay, it’s not too early.  Or, even just as soon as you need the feedback (be that at no initial cost), it’s not too early.

A Validated Approach to Selling

• Go out and establish a wealth of customer development interviews (no less than 30) to hone in on your target audience and possible segments.  
• Cast a very wide net in your Customer Development Interviews, identify any and all prospective segments, and you’ll begin to informedly validate THAT your model will have traction, and WHERE.
• Become aware of your model’s weaknesses and learn to fill in the gaps.  Generate a process around how they’ve been filled.  "Good systems and processes are the birthplace of scalability"  
• Immediately get your customers into the value of the product, keep them engaged and hooked with some level of commitment and use, in the steps towards the close.

Jeremiah is a software entrepreneur and the founder of Techuity, a seed investment firm. He has been involved in many startups as co-founder, consultant, or advisor.  He has two technical degrees and an MBA. A favorite hobby is recording classical piano music where he has had over 36 million downloads of his music.

What is the difference between startups that succeed vs those that fail? That’s the question of todays podcast. It’s one thing to have a great idea. It’s a completely different thing to systematically prove that your customers agree. There’s a reason that 93% of startups that scale early never reach the 100k per month and  why 74% of prematurely scaled startups will fail. My guest, John Richards, is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to building scalable businesses. In this episode, we discuss the signals of premature scaling, the business model canvas, the surprising differences between grad students and undergrads as entrepreneurs, and the single most important ingredient to a successful startup.