Revenue Builders

Scaling and Growth with Chris Degnan

Sep 29, 2022

Chris Degnan, Chief Revenue Officer at Snowflake, discusses his experiences working in a raw startup environment and how Snowflake stood up to giants like Amazon in the cloud storage space. He emphasizes the importance of respecting the competition and not putting all your eggs in the large enterprise baskets. The podcast also touches on the challenges and benefits of sales in a consumption model and the significance of targeting a niche market. Furthermore, the hosts engage in a rapid-fire Q&A session and share personal experiences while expressing gratitude and advocating for cancer research.

01:05:31

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Episode guests

Chris Degnan

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Adaptability and openness to feedback are crucial for scaling a startup.

Understanding the ideal customer profile and targeting specific segments is key for sales success.

Salespeople need to be invested in customer success and continuously adapt to drive adoption and usage.

Deep dives

Growth from Start-Up to Scale

Chris shares his journey from the early days of Snowflake, including his role as a shadow CTO and the challenges of finding product-market fit. He emphasizes the importance of adaptability and being open to feedback as the company scaled.

Introduction

2min

Joining Snowflake: A Risky Gamble

24min

The Importance of Taking Responsibility for Success

24min

Challenges and Benefits of Sales in a Consumption Model

9min

Targeting a Niche Market and Avoiding Outliers

2min

Rapid-fire Q&A on Day Off, Wake Surfing, Favorite Meal, and Favorite Show

2min

Personal Experiences, Gratitude, and Charity

2min

In this episode of the Revenue Builders podcast, our hosts John McMahon and John Kaplan talk to Snowflake’s Chief Revenue Officer, Chris Degnan. Chris talks about his experiences working in a raw startup environment, and why he chose to leave a relatively comfortable position to do so. Chris lives and breathes the art of the grind, and relishes the prospect of being challenged, showing his aptitude for adapting to different situations and coming up with creative solutions. Tune in to hear the story of how a startup like Snowflake stood up to the likes of Amazon and IBM in the cloud data warehouse, and how a smaller company can overturn the dominance of an established player.

Additional Resources:

Donate to help cure multiple myeloma: https://themmrf.org/
Connect to Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-degnan-524470/
Listen to More Revenue Builders: https://forc.mx/3bfW5Od

HIGHLIGHTS

Why Chris joined Snowflake in its raw startup phase
Getting the first two contracts and building a 'real' product
Standing up to giants in the cloud storage space
Respect the competition, or get crushed
Think of your job as a 90-day contract
Don't put all of your eggs in the large enterprise baskets
The benefits of the consumption model in SaaS

QUOTES

Chris on how they stood up to Amazon in the cloud data warehouse space: "I always say that I'm better lucky than good. There's a lot of luck that I kind of ran into in my career at Snowflake. The first set of things that were helpful was Amazon, while they were the first cloud data warehouse with Amazon Redshift, it was not a good product. We actually solved a lot of the problems. What I would do is I would actually build lists and focus on the people that were using Amazon."

Chris on why he continues to grind, everyday: "I'm always afraid that someone's going to take something from me, and I'm always going to do my best to grind and keep my job. And that's how I am as a human."

Chris on the benefits of the consumption model for the customer: "The benefit is in the customer, because the customer is saying that I have a business partner who actually is invested in making me successful, not just selling the idea and leaving."

Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064