Conquering a $120B Industry with Greg @ Alyce.com - Escape Velocity Show #31

Years ago the so-called “secret” to B2B company growth was getting leads.  If you got enough email addresses or phone numbers that you could give to your sales team, you were going to make BANK. Not any more. Everyone is on LinkedIn, social media accounts are 1-click away, and business emails get scraped and sold daily. It sucks… but it’s true. The question isn’t how to get leads, it’s “How do I make them stop and listen?” My latest guest on the Escape Velocity Podcast has built a multi-million dollar business solving that problem. Greg Segall is the CEO and founder of Alyce.com, a corporate gifting platform that uses artificial intelligence to help sales teams buy the perfect gift for prospective clients. Instead of leading a business relationship with “ME, ME, ME”… …corporate gifting allows businesses to invite the attention of a prospective client with a well-timed, valuable, and appreciated gift. It works. It works so damn well that it’s grown into a $120 billion industry in the United States alone. Now Alyce.com has taken a bite from that pie, growing from 15 people to over 110 in less than a year-and-a-half, and closing nearly $17M in funding. That kind of explosive growth is fascinating… so I just had to sit down with Greg and pick his brain for how it all went down. By his own admission, Greg believes in being open, honest and vulnerable… meaning he’s happy to share everything about his business. In this ep, we chat about: - How Alyce had to pivot radically from a referral service - The ‘Oxygen, Aspirin, Vitamins’ framework - Why defining your core vision creates growth - Attracting talent in a remote workforce - How to expand a company internationally - Managing down (getting more from your staff) - Why he insists on having a coach - Leadership, management and execution One thing I love about Greg is that he believes in making a difference. This becomes important to founders when the days are long, the work is tough and profits lose their shine. When Greg’s company sends a gift, the recipient has the option to accept it, exchange it or to donate the money to charity instead. Considering the size of this industry, even with a small percentage of recipients choosing the charity option, Alyce.com could become the single most charitable business… in the entire world. Just let that sink in. Tune in to Greg’s podcast episode right here. -- Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter @danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome. + Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell + Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell + Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell