From Sales to Self-Serve: A Growth Journey

Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey — and what they learned from that experience.

In this episode, we spoke with Varun Anand, Co-founder of Clay, one of the most exciting companies at the intersection of GTM and AI that’s redefining what modern go-to-market looks like.

Varun shares insights on the journey to finding product-market fit, how Clay went from horizontal spreadsheet tool to specialized go-to-market platform, and why following your curiosity matters more than traditional startup wisdom.

For video, transcripts, and custom Notion Clay templates, please visit: https://ntn.so/7i8hzv

To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/udg5vz

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:20 Finding PMF

07:48 Reverse Demo Strategy

10:50 Scaling with Intent

16:04 Reinventing Sales Roles

19:58 Hiring for Potential

21:48 Clay's Operating Culture

23:56 AI Pressure

25:37 Advice Block