In this episode of Topline Hotline, our hosts tackle a burning question from Pavilion’s Slack community: where should account managers sit within the organization? Should they report to the new business leader? Or to the customer success leader?  

Diving into the late-stage tech market, this podcast discusses trends in unicorn companies and venture capital, while emphasizing the importance of profitability. The hosts also explore the concept of 'stage appropriateness' in executive hiring and share insights on effectively communicating company valuation and equity to employees. Stories about unconventional board meetings, personal experiences with poker, and discussions on exit strategies add entertainment and variety to the episode.

The hosts discuss the balance between inbound and outbound strategies for demand generation in a traditional SaaS business. They explore the effectiveness of different channels and the impact of factors such as interest rates and artificial intelligence. They emphasize the importance of deep empathy for the customer and finding unique approaches that work for each business. The speakers also discuss the diminishing effectiveness of outbound strategies and the significance of tailoring messages to resonate with customers. Additionally, they explore the impact of using Slack as a non-traditional demand generation channel and the importance of becoming a brand advocate.

The podcast discusses Carta's exit from the secondary market business and Cloudflare's viral layoff. They also explore the death of the growth at any cost mindset. Other topics include transparency in private markets, changing opinions in organizations, a controversial termination, evolving metrics, and book recommendations.

In this episode of Topline Hotline, our hosts delve into their personal experiences with performance improvement plans (PIPs). Drawing from their extensive careers as sales leaders, they share valuable insights on PIPs and provide practical suggestions on approaching and navigating them. 

Tomasz Tunguz of Theory Ventures shares his 2024 predictions, discusses the changing landscape of AI, Microsoft's success in the AI industry, concerns about the venture capital industry size, and the metrics that matter for seed and Series A companies.

In 2023, we saw fractional leadership become increasingly popular. But will the pendulum swing in the opposite direction in 2024? Or is fractional leadership here to stay? Listen to this Thursday’s mini-episode to hear what our hosts think.

Our hosts cover a gamut of topics in our first episode of the new year. Since Harvard’s President, Claudine Gay, resigned due to her response towards anti-semitism on campus – should the experiences of current college students be considered when hiring? Next, we transition to a conversion on the rise of secondary sales to generate liquidity. Wrapping up the episode by exploring the balance between speed and thoughtfulness in decision-making, emphasizing the need to adapt decision-making approaches based on the stage of business growth. Want more TOPLINE? Read the recaps.

This week on Topline, the hosts talk about the Federal Reserve's update on interest rates, the economic outlook for the tech sector in 2024, a new paper by Winning by Design's that asks whether SaaS has lost go to market fit, and the cancellation of the Adobe and Figma merger.

On this week’s Topline Hotline, a listener wonders if gift giving is still a thing. Does it build psychological capital? And does it differ between employees vs customers? Listen to hear what Sam, AJ, and Asad have to say.