Hunters and Unicorns

Welcome to Culture Crunch.   We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement.  By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:  Why engagement is critical   The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion   How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players  Today we are joined by John Germinario, Senior Director, Head of People at PebblePost, to discuss his thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out how creating a culture that is centred around collaboration and cross-functional interaction can improve the workplace environment and lead to increased performance and retention.   “The best company cultures are ones where people feel like they can be collaborative at all levels of the organization. At a smaller organization it's a bit easier, but even at a larger organization when an entry-level person can rub elbows with the CFO and people feel like they're heard not only from a professional, but a personal perspective, I think that allows all of us to feel a level of family.”  Having previously served as Director, Human Resources at The Avon Company, now part of LG H&H Americas, John understands how to support rapid business growth via people programs. Bringing over 10 years of HR experience to our discussion today, he describes the strong relationship between culture and recruitment that comes into play during employee sourcing, selection, and retention and highlights the need for evolution and leadership development in order to overcome key corporate culture challenges facing employers in the tech space.  John witnesses first-hand how the culture around tech is changing as employee expectations evolve and has seen how a widespread, inclusive mindset and a more flexible approach to leadership can start by simply listening to employees, responding to their feedback, and making them feel heard. The tech industry is all about moving fast, testing everything, and innovating with the times. John believes that it is now essential for tech companies to apply that same work ethic to boost their cultures and processes to retain and attract talent.   The best investment you can make for your company is an investment in your team. Listen to discover John’s strategies for empowering leaders and improving company culture. Learn how to develop your hiring process by throwing outdated credentials out the door and expanding the talent pool to actively participate in inclusive recruitment and positively impact your growth rates. 

SPONSORSHIP AND ADVOCACY | Culture Crunch - Dalton Van Hatcher   Welcome to Culture Crunch. We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement. By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover: Why engagement is critical The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players Today we are joined by Dalton Van Hatcher, Chief Customer Officer at Felux and co-founder of Us in Technology, to discuss his thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out why creating a culture that is centred around diversity and inclusion can improve the workplace environment and radically increase performance. “It starts with diversity of mindset. Having people from different walks of life and different experiences is a big part of that. Diversity is not just about race, it's not about skin colour, it's not about gender, it's beyond that, it's about diversity of mindset. So having people from lots of different walks of life is going to help you be creative and overcome better challenges.” Dalton started his career under the leadership of the legendary John McMahon and Dev Ittycheria as an SDR at BladeLogic. As an early employee, he helped build several multi-billion-dollar businesses and high-performance growth functions including IPOs at BladeLogic, Sumo Logic, and Fuze. He is now a board advisor for several tech companies and has helped Co-found a DEI Platform: Us in Technology helping underrepresented talent get into Tech. Addressing the massive pipeline problem of diversity and gender gap in tech, Dalton discusses the need for more understanding around the practices and the barriers that minorities and underrepresented communities face and how his company, Us in Technology, is working to close this gap whilst simultaneously coaching organizations to see past potential unintentional discrimination in their hiring practices. Whilst many companies are now being more intentional about ramping up their diversity and inclusion efforts, Dalton highlights key challenges preventing leaders from deepening their candidacy pool and achieving their goals. He provides guidelines for companies to consider when developing a successful workplace diversity and inclusion strategy and offers advice to senior leaders on the importance of externally increasing awareness by reaching out to marginalized communities as well as internally nurturing new workforces through their career progression and adhering to individual needs to enable people with varied skillsets to succeed. “Diverse teams outperform homogenous teams by 30%, so this is a business problem, it's not just a societal problem.” Listen to discover Dalton’s strategies on how to build and lead a diverse team in the tech industry and why driving DEI transformation is mission critical to early-stage start-ups. Learn how to develop your hiring process, deepen your talent pool, and actively participate in inclusive recruitment to positively impact your company culture and growth rates.

Ni'coel Stark, an executive driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, discusses the importance of company culture and authenticity. They explore the challenges faced by the tech industry in achieving innovative company culture and address the need for investment in people. They also discuss the intersection of technology and science, emphasizing the need to find a balance between advancing technology and evolving relationships. Additionally, they explore the concept of relational resilience and the blurred boundary between personal and professional in the technological workplace.

In this story session we cover:   - Examples of Kyle’s data driven strategy to early procurement - How to use data tracking to create repeatability and streamline your sales strategy - Why expansion deals take less time to secure than land deals - Kyle’s multi-threaded approach to prospecting in a consumption-based world Today we are joined by Kyle Kearns, regional sales director at Starburst, for a Hunters and Unicorns exclusive. Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen to discover more on how to adapt your mindset and apply Kyle’s strategies to real business scenarios – learn tactics and best practices for improving accountability within your ecosystem and how to use data collection to help your team accelerate and land deals. “Are you on the mission?”

Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission. 20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes. We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery. Today we are joined by Kyle Kearns, Regional Sales Director at Starburst. In this interview, why he is so passionate about data collection and accountability in this ever evolving, consumption-based marketplace and what it takes to thrive in this environment. “I review my business for the previous week and the week ahead. How many new business meetings have I got set up for that week? What are the key impact meetings that I've got set up for that week? Collecting that data becomes important, particularly when you start to land deals six - nine months in. When you start to land these enterprise accounts, you can reflect on that data and then you can understand, how many meetings did it take to land that organization? How many partners were involved as a result of this?” Kyle elaborates on the complexity of closing deals in pre-IPO tech companies and explains the operating rhythm and constant analysis required to effectively track data in the early stages of growth to create a blueprint for repeatable success. With advice for both reps and managers on how to use research and smart prospecting to close deals, Kyle offers tips and insights on the power of data and how you can use it to help you stay in control of your position in the deal cycle, prioritise your time and increase your efficiency. Kyle talks on his chosen topic of ‘Accountability’ and why he believes that it is the key to success, especially in pre-IPO tech companies. With an abundance of experience as ‘first man on the ground' in early-stage technology companies, Kyle offers his advice to individuals considering a role at pre-IPO tech organisations. He explains Listen to our story session to discover more on how to adapt your mindset and apply Kyle’s strategies to real business scenarios – learn tactics and best practices for improving accountability within your ecosystem and how to use data collection to help your team accelerate and land deals.

Welcome to Culture Crunch.   We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement.  By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:  Why engagement is critical   The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion   How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players  Today we are joined by Susan Whittemore, Revenue Operations Leader at TeamPay, to discuss her thoughts on what it takes to create a good company culture in a digital world and find out why creating a culture that values mental health can improve the workplace environment and lead to increased performance from employees and teams.   “There is a cost to a bad culture. A lot of times we don't see it, we don't measure it, we don't put it on that balance sheet, but there is a performance tax that takes place when you have a rogue culture. If there is on the surface, a sense of belonging, but then behind closed doors individuals are feeling isolated, you're not going to get the optimum performance that you hired them originally for – this is happening with organizations that are spending so much time, energy, and money hiring, and yet they're losing their employees 6-12 months later.”  With an extensive background in analytical thought leadership, Susan has experienced first-hand how a toxic workplace culture can be the best predictor of employee attrition, particularly in the tech sector. With a focus on data-driven solutions and innovation, technology companies have a tendency to put products above all else when it comes to creating meaningful change, sometimes to the detriment of their employees. Susan puts forward pivotal strategies for today’s leaders on how to create a more synchronised and cohesive work environment. She offers tangible steps on how to develop a positive people-first culture and retain A Player talent by aligning your organisation, facilitating communication between all revenue-generating teams, and taking time to understand what drives people both professionally and personally.   Reflecting on the challenges behind us and how to position yourself for the future, Susan illuminates the path forwards and identifies simple and inexpensive measures you can take today to empower your employees, build trust, and transform your workplace culture. Listen to discover how to put people at the centre of your organisation to create a work environment that not only reflects the core mission and values of your company but also allows you to continually improve and scale at a faster, more predictable rate.     

In this story session we cover:   - How to beat competition using the Value Framework - Recent examples of how David has used the Value Framework to win transformational deals - Examples from David’s past of how not using the value framework has led to failure Strategies that will help you test whether your champion is ready to sell on your behalf. Today we are joined by David Boyle, Strategic Accounts leader at Aware, for a Hunters and Unicorns exclusive.

Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission. 20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.   We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.   Today we are joined by David Boyle, Strategic Accounts leader at Aware. In this interview, David presents his understanding of The Value Framework and how to use it as a powerful tool to grow your sales organization. David explains the key characteristics of the Value Framework and its capacity to help you articulate the worth and differentiation of your products in a way that has meaning to your buyers. He talks us through how a well-defined sales messaging strategy can be implemented not only by reps, but also by managers and leaders to provide consistency and increase your chances of success through mutual understanding and shared hypothesis.   “You’ve got to slow down. You're really making sure you're not misunderstanding each other, and you’ve got to really dig in as to the implications of not doing anything. It's how voracious and aggressive you are at qualifying and making sure that the hypothesis becomes a shared hypothesis and if you get agreement on this document, and if you're the scribe, you're in control of things.”   Giving examples from his own experience, David elaborates on how to use the Value Framework to solidify alignment with your buyer and establish a strong data-driven foundation for all phases of the customer journey. He also emphasises the importance of highlighting potential career progression opportunities for your champion during the qualification stage as well as the company-wide benefits that would result from investment in your solution. With advice for both reps and managers on how to leverage the Value Framework, David offers tips, insights, and tools to help you develop your persona-based messaging, align your business outcomes with your customer’s pain points, and drive more successful sales cycles.   Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply David’s strategies to real business scenarios – learn tactics and best practices for developing value-focused messaging and aligning your sales organization with the Value Framework to create sophisticated, metric-based business cases that will increase trust in your solution and improve your close rates.

Welcome to Culture Crunch.   We’re here to showcase leaders within People and Culture and explore how the fastest growing tech companies are amplifying performances through increased employee engagement.  By highlighting and celebrating the executives driving the evolution within the highest growth software companies in the world, we aim to uncover:  Why engagement is critical   The importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion   How to achieve true scale by attracting a diverse workforce of A Players  Today we are joined by Jennie Byrne, physician leader, brain and behaviour specialist, entrepreneur, and author, to discuss her interpretation of a healthy workplace culture and find out how an understanding of human psychology and behaviour can give us the tools we need to thrive in a digital world.  “We spend a lot of time and effort thinking about operations and technology in business settings and we spend so much time on that without accounting for the human side of things, that we end up wasting our time. You could spend years optimizing operations, but if you're not accounting for the human side, it's just a waste of time.”  In her new book, Work Smart: Use Your Brain and Behaviour to Master the Future of Work, Jennie describes how the human brain and behaviour work and how this translates to a business environment. She describes the implications on mental health related to a lack of consideration for the human condition in the tech space and how we must understand human nature to create positive change within our organizations.   Sharing her own story of being more authentic to herself and to others, dissolving the boundary between her personal and professional being, Jennie pinpoints that the future of work will be more focussed on being better people than about having the best technology.   “I think people in leadership should really focus on equity, whether that's gender equity, racial equity, socioeconomic equity, I really do believe that if we can get equity at the leadership level, it can quickly start to translate into equity at other levels.”  As a founding member of CHIEF, a private network focused on connecting and supporting women executive leaders, Jennie is passionate about empowering women in leadership. She shares her views with us on role models within the female leadership landscape and offers mentorship advice to women in business looking to strengthen their skills, magnify their influence, and pave the way to bring others with them.   Whether you are an employee, manager, or leader, listen in to discover how to drive cultural cohesion and a forward-thinking mentality into your workplace and learn how a better understanding of behavioural health can help us all improve communication, maximize efficiency, and move forward faster.  

Today we are joined by Thea Mayes, Major Account Executive at Snowflake, the Data Cloud company.   Thea shares how her background in Olympic lifting helps her achieve consistent results. We explore the importance of finding balance with personal accountability and leveraging you your team to propel success.