GTM 105: Scaling to $100M ARR with Creative Demand Gen and Hiring Discipline with Sam Blond

Sam Blond is the former Chief Revenue Officer at Brex, where he scaled revenue from $1M to hundreds of millions in ARR. Prior to Brex, Sam served as VP of Sales at Zenefits, growing revenue from $1M to $70M in just two years. After his operating roles, Sam joined Founders Fund as an investing partner before leaving to co-found a new startup.

Discussed in this Episode:

• Why investing early in sales ops and rev ops is critical for scaling revenue.
• How to generate demand through creative campaigns and a "concentric circles" approach.
• The risks of scaling sales teams too quickly based on flawed hiring models.
• What VCs look for in a compelling founder pitch, beyond just business metrics.
• Why focusing on generating pipeline is often better than optimizing conversions.
• How to leverage customer marketing and "raving fans" as an early acquisition channel.

Highlights:
[5:00] – Sam's incredible track record scaling Brex and Zenefits from $1M to $100M+ ARR.
[13:58] – Outlining the most creative and successful demand gen campaigns run at Brex.
[20:17] – The importance of sustaining a culture of creativity in marketing as you scale.
[33:35] – Mistakes made at Zenefits: investing in rev ops too late, deprioritizing customer experience, hiring too fast.
[43:45] – What VCs look for in founders when metrics alone aren't enough to get the deal done.
[52:15] – One thing revenue leaders believe to be true that Sam thinks is bull$***
[60:21] – One thing that is working for Sam in go-to-market right now.

Guest Speaker Links (Sam Blond):
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-blond-791026b/

Host Speaker Links (Scott Barker):
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ssbarker/
Newsletter: thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/

Sponsors:

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The GTMnow Podcast
The GTMnow Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth.

Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes and other interesting content.