The Predictable Revenue Podcast

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, co-hosts Collin Stewart and Aaron Ross welcome Lars Nilsson, CEO of renowned Bay Area sales consultancy SalesSource. Lars has been involved in the world of sales development for more than 20 years. He’s held senior leadership positions at enterprise organization such as Cloudera, as well as numerous other San Francisco startups.  Throughout the pod, Collin, Aaron, and Lars chart the history, and discuss the future, of prospecting. This is Sales Development 101. Highlights include: how Lars got the middle name SDR (27:04), whether account-based sales has change the definitions of inbound vs. outbound (33:29), the role of Artificial Intelligence in sales development (40:29), whether moving from inbound to outbound requires a culture shift (106:53), and the importance of getting a seat at the table (1:11:02).

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, co-host Collin Stewart welcomes Mitch Coopet, CEO and Co-Founder of Minneapolis’ Rambl. Mitch is an entrepreneur, through and through. Instead settling in under an umbrella at the beach after lead a high-profile company from inception to exit, he founded Rambl and got right back to work. #startuplife  Throughout the pod, Collin and Mitch discuss how the importance of aligning product and sales teams, in particular in early-stage startups. Highlights include: why founders need sales skills (3:33), how to best receive feedback from the market (11:56), the goal of a product manager (15:52), and cold call Collin (38:24).

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, co-host Collin Stewart welcomes Mitch Coopet, CEO and Co-Founder of Minneapolis’ Rambl. Mitch is an entrepreneur, through and through. Instead settling in under an umbrella at the beach after lead a high-profile company from inception to exit, he founded Rambl and got right back to work. #startuplife  Throughout the pod, Collin and Mitch discuss how the importance of aligning product and sales teams, in particular in early-stage startups. Highlights include: why founders need sales skills (3:33), how to best receive feedback from the market (11:56), the goal of a product manager (15:52), and cold call Collin (38:24).

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, co-host Collin Stewart welcomes David Hong, Vice President of Field Operations at San Francisco’s Mesosphere. David is an accomplished sales operations leader. Prior to leading the team at Mesosphere, he held high ranking sales ops positions at notable Bay Area companies such as Lookout, PagerDuty, OpenDNS, and Meraki.  Throughout the pod, Collin and David discuss everything from David’s professional philosophy to effective qualification methods to detailed Salesforce processes. Highlights include: David’s definition of sales operations (10:54), the varied projects David has worked on (21:15), Mesosphere’s MEDDPICC process (35:04), sales operations advice (49:18), and cold call Collin (54:13).

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, co-host Collin Stewart welcomes David Hong, Vice President of Field Operations at San Francisco’s Mesosphere. David is an accomplished sales operations leader. Prior to leading the team at Mesosphere, he held high ranking sales ops positions at notable Bay Area companies such as Lookout, PagerDuty, OpenDNS, and Meraki.  Throughout the pod, Collin and David discuss everything from David’s professional philosophy to effective qualification methods to detailed Salesforce processes. Highlights include: David’s definition of sales operations (10:54), the varied projects David has worked on (21:15), Mesosphere’s MEDDPICC process (35:04), sales operations advice (49:18), and cold call Collin (54:13).

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, co-host Collin Stewart welcomes Sarah Affleck, Director of Sales Development at Atlanta’s Rigor. If there ever was a person that “bleeds Rigor blue,” it’s Sarah. Since starting with the company about 4 years ago, she’s held nearly every position in sales development – BDR, Team Lead, BDR Manager, and now Director.  Throughout the pod, Collin and Sarah discuss Rigor’s in-depth onboarding process, and why the fast-growing company teaches each new SDR both the tactical skills needed for the job, as well as how sales development contributes to the success of the company as a whole. Highlights include: why Sarah teaches the “why” behind the SDR job (15:07), how Sarah teaches the “why” (17:45), Rigor’s sweeping onboarding document (30:27), managing 50 activities per day (49:41), the impact of Rigor’s onboarding process (54:04), and cold call Collin (57:40).

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, co-host Collin Stewart welcomes Sarah Affleck, Director of Sales Development at Atlanta’s Rigor. If there ever was a person that “bleeds Rigor blue,” it’s Sarah. Since starting with the company about 4 years ago, she’s held nearly every position in sales development – BDR, Team Lead, BDR Manager, and now Director.  Throughout the pod, Collin and Sarah discuss Rigor’s in-depth onboarding process, and why the fast-growing company teaches each new SDR both the tactical skills needed for the job, as well as how sales development contributes to the success of the company as a whole. Highlights include: why Sarah teaches the “why” behind the SDR job (15:07), how Sarah teaches the “why” (17:45), Rigor’s sweeping onboarding document (30:27), managing 50 activities per day (49:41), the impact of Rigor’s onboarding process (54:04), and cold call Collin (57:40).  

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, co-host Collin Stewart welcomes Sean Higgins, Entrepreneur In Residence at Techstars.   When he isn’t helping Techstars find great founders and companies (and helping them succeed, of course) he’s mentoring and teaching budding entrepreneurs in his role as Adjunct Professor at The University of St. Thomas. #startuplife.   Throughout the pod, Collin and Sean chat about how to evolve and scale your sales process when growing a company from 10 to 100 customers. Highlights include: Sean’s entrepreneurial background (2:59), life after your first 10 customers (5:48), the difference between a killer salesperson and a killer product (29:26), knowing when to hire (33:12), and cold call Collin (46:08).

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, co-host Collin Stewart welcomes Sean Higgins, Entrepreneur In Residence at Techstars. When he isn’t helping Techstars find great founders and companies (and helping them succeed, of course) he’s mentoring and teaching budding entrepreneurs in his role as Adjunct Professor at The University of St. Thomas. #startuplife. Throughout the pod, Collin and Sean chat about how to evolve and scale your sales process when growing a company from 10 to 100 customers. Highlights include: Sean’s entrepreneurial background (2:59), life after your first 10 customers (5:48), the difference between a killer salesperson and a killer product (29:26), knowing when to hire (33:12), and cold call Collin (46:08).

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, co-host Collin Stewart welcomes Brandon Bruce, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Cirrus Insight. Like all law school grads, Brandon decided to co-found a rapidly growing tech company. Since starting Cirrus Insight more than 7 years ago, Brandon has helped grow the company to more than 70 people...and, of course, improve the efficiency of sales teams around the world using their software. Throughout the pod, Collin and Brandon talk about all of the different ways C-level executives can support their sales teams. Highlights include: Brandon’s relationship with his sales team (15:06), Brandon’s support methods (20:03), navigating the procurement process (38:53), advice to other sales teams (42:57), and cold call Collin (42:57).