GTM 38: A 7 Year Ride to find Product Market Fit...and then to IPO! with Juan George

May 9, 2023

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Juan George (JG) is the Co-Founder of 858 Partners, a boutique restaurant technology management & investment firm that he Co-Founded with his former CRO in January 2023. 858 Partners provides go-to-market expertise, capital, and connections to restaurant technology organizations possessing the ingredients to achieve extraordinary success within the Enterprise Restaurant Vertical.

Prior to launching his agency, JG was the former SVP of Enterprise Sales at Olo, the leading on-demand commerce platform for the multi-unit restaurant space. JG joined Olo as a Seed Stage start-up and over the course of a 15+ year run helped the company go public on the NYSE under the ticker OLO. During his tenure as an IC/Leader, Olo signed 71% of the Enterprise Restaurant Market (82,000 locations) and become the gold standard for enterprise software in the restaurant tech ecosystem. Olo’s growth story is a masterclass in focused, lean, and efficient GTM execution in a period of market excess. Of the 2021 vintage of SaaS IPOs, Olo was the single most efficient in 2 categories: 1) Lowest Sales to Revenue Ratio (8%) and 2) Lowest Burn Multiple (0.05%).

What You Will Learn:

Patience is a virtue in startup land.
Know your buyer beyond what may be presented.
Go lean in your team to win.
The importance of saying no in sales.
Why hiring good sales leadership is fundamental in scaling your company.

Highlights:
(3:05) JG’s background and experience at Olo.

(11:53) Update on 858 Ventures and JG’s recent transition from Operator to VC.

(21:00) Enterprise sales efficiency and the new vertical SaaS playbook.

(35:44) How Olo began its winning streak straight into IPO.

(43:02) JG’s biggest mistake as an operator hiring insider sales reps.

(44:48) Biggest learning throughout JP’s 15-year stint at Old.

(51:42) JG’s controversial claim that Outbound is dead.

(54:29) Hot take: You better be using ChatGPT at all times of the day.

Guest Speaker Link:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juangeorge/
858 Partners Website: https://858partners.com/

Host Speaker Links:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ssbarker/
Newsletter: thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/

Referenced Resource:
Food on Demand Article about JG's: With New Venture, Ex-Olo Execs Launch 858 Partners.

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.

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