Ryan Lieber, Snowflake's first SDR and an experienced go-to-market leader, shares his journey from startup simplicity to scaling a $50 billion giant. He reveals effective sales methodologies like MEDDPICC and emphasizes the importance of early SDR hiring to drive product focus. Ryan discusses the nuances of international expansion, stressing cultural understanding and the right partnerships. He advocates for hands-on sales leaders who adapt quickly and highlights marketing's essential role in harmonizing messaging as companies grow.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
First SDR Learned By Experimentation
Ryan joined Snowflake as the 40th employee and its first SDR, learning the product on the fly while the company was in stealth.
He ran thousands of outbound emails, experimented with messaging, and iterated to discover the right ICP and use cases.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Wearing Many Hats While Building EMEA
Ryan moved to London in 2017 and wore many hats: sales, events, IT, partnerships, and opening Israel remotely.
He later grew Israel to a $14M business before handing it to a local team.
insights INSIGHT
Target Believers When Creating A Category
Category creation requires heavy evangelism because customers often distrust new concepts and fear job impact.
Ryan emphasises targeting customers who already 'believe the religion' of the technology to accelerate adoption.
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In a new episode of Path to Market, our Director Natasha Lytton and her co-host Micah Smurthwaite, Partner at Pipeline Ventures are joined by Ryan Lieber, an experienced Go-to-Market Leader and one of Snowflake’s earliest employees and its first SDR.
Together they discuss Snowflake's impressive growth trajectory, the challenges and strategies of category creation, key sales methodologies like MEDDPICC, the best approaches for scaling internationally, and cross-functional sales efforts. Ryan shares his experiences from joining Snowflake when it was an unknown startup in 2014 to its current status as a data giant with over 7,000 employees and a market capitalization of over $50 billion.
He also delves into when and how founders should hire their first SDRs and sales leaders, the metrics for measuring their success, and the role of marketing alignment in scaling sales. Moreover, he emphasizes the importance of understanding regional cultural and communication nuances, and how to leverage partnerships in new markets.
Key takeaways:
- taking an iterative approach to the sales process enables you to transition from broad outreach to focusing on sales-qualified opportunities;
- hiring SDRs earlier rather than later is not only cost-effective, but it also enables founders to focus on product development;
- choose a sales leader who isn't afraid to "get their hands dirty" and is willing to adapt to the dynamic needs of a growing startup. They are in touch with the pulse of the market and the realities faced by their teams;
- international expansion is not a uniform process and differs significantly by region. This is why understanding cultural nuances, leveraging regional partners, and ensuring the market is ripe for entry are essential considerations;
- taking a partnership approach to scaling accelerates growth and embeds credibility in the customer’s eyes.
Show notes:
Ryan Lieber – linkedin.com/in/ryan-lieber-8aa59a62
Natasha Lytton – linkedin.com/in/natasha-lytton
Micah Smurthwaite – linkedin.com/in/micah-smurthwaite-2283b49
Overview:
00:00 Introduction and Guest Background
01:00 Ryan’s Early Days at Snowflake
03:59 Career Growth and Opportunities
05:01 Building the EMEA Team
07:08 Challenges and Learnings
08:19 Finding the Ideal Customer Profile
13:57 Sales Methodology: MEDDPICC
19:30 Hiring and Building a Sales Team
21:48 The Daily Grind of an SDR
22:01 Key Traits for Sales Success
23:30 Red Flags in Sales Hiring
27:07 Effective SDR Metrics
32:09 Hiring Your First Sales Leader
34:54 The Power of Marketing in Sales
36:49 Scaling Internationally
42:26 Snowflake's Startup Program
45:02 Final Thoughts and Advice
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