Josh Tinch

Red flags when interviewing for Revenue Enablement jobs...these are solid signs that you should think carefully before saying yes to an offer: 1. Senior revenue leader(s) can not state the specific impacts they expect Enablement to have on their revenue outcomes. 2. Bad Seller/Enablement headcount ratio - for example, a 3-person Enablement team to support a global sales team of 300 (yes, this is extremely common.) 3. Tech stack imbalance - there's 6+ solutions in their Sales tech stack but they have no legit Enablement tech that can track and quantify the impact of skills growth on revenue. Note: SharePoint is not legit Enablement tech. 4. No defined Enablement budget - if they have not dedicated money to it, it is not a priority for them and you will be vulnerable. Period. 5. They laid off their previous Enablement team within the past two years - if so, ask them what they learned from it, what are the business triggers that are making them rebuild their Enablement team now, and what will they be doing differently now as revenue leaders to not repeat the experience. If there's a lack of detail and readiness in their responses, be very cautious. These are particularly relevant if you're looking for Enablement roles within the tech industry. Now, if you need a job NOW to survive and you've got an offer in hand, take it and keep looking for something better if you need to. Survival first, and don't apologize to nobody for it. But if you have the ability to protect yourself from taking an unstable Enablement role and being laid off 12-18 months later, this is a smart time to protect yourself and your family from that kind of instability. #management #sales #leadership #motivation #humanresources #bestadvice #futureofwork

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🔴 You can't outrun churn by forcing CS teams to drive revenue through upsells, cross-sells, and referrals. Startups are missing are missing the forest for the trees. Chasing a 120% NRR? Good luck if you're bleeding customers left and right. If you were as obsessed with stopping the bleeding as you are with hitting sales quotas, you'd be far better off. 🤯 Here’s the brutal truth: even the best CS team can't save you if have a high churn rate. Reaching a 1-2% monthly churn rate takes discipline, effort, and consistency. Many startups struggle with this because they: ❌ Don't invest in better discovery. BANT and MEDDIC is not the answer. ❌ Think Customer = Company. Companies dont buy, people do. ❌ Confuse Initial Company Profile for Ideal Company profile. ❌ Deliver customer onboarding are like a 42km hurdle race. ❌ Rely too heavily on Buyer Personas and not JTBD. ❌ They lack the courage to stick 6 months to a plan. ❌ Build ICP from a acquisition pov, not retention. ❌ Fail at refining the Initial Company Profile. ❌ Don't delivery recurring outcome/values. ❌ Have short visioned sales incentives. ❌ Can't say no to bad-fit customers. 💡 Why should you focus on reducing churn? ✅ Lost referral opportunities. ✅  It shrinks your target market. ✅ Drives up your CAC as you fill up the sales funnel. ✅ A 5% increase in customer retention = 25% to 95% increase in profits. ✅ High churn rates can tank your startup’s valuation. ✅ Compounding revenue loss. The bottom line? 💡 You can’t outrun churn. Prove me wrong. PS: 👇 Do you think high churn rates are more a product issue or a sales issue? What strategies have you found effective in reducing churn? #customersuccess #saas #startups #careercoaching  #CS #CSM #SuccessHacks #customersuccessmanager #saas  

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How should startups structure compensation for their first GTM hires? I recently discussed GTM hiring with Taylor Wells, and we touched on an aspect that many founders overlook: 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 *early* 𝐆𝐓𝐌 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭. Many startups default to the 50-50 salary & commission split for frontline sellers. This is the norm for established companies, viewing it as the market standard. BUT… Established companies face fewer risks and have robust frameworks in place and GTM maturity. And so, sellers get paid to meet a number. Period. Your early-stage startup might be in a different league. GTM roles, including sales and marketing in very early stages, Need to do more than just drive revenue. They define and refine the sales process, They close the product/customer feedback loop, They help you find PMF/GTMF, creating invaluable institutional knowledge that shapes the company's operational blueprint. (or you can say, they help you figure out the best way to do their job). Therefore, their compensation should reflect this expansive impact. a16z has this concept of the *renaissance rep* A rep that is responsible for many things outside of just revenue growth. I’ve written about early hires at Hubspot spending up to 40% of their time doing customer interviews. These are very important initiatives for your org. And incentives should align. If you're in a position to make these decisions, consider a customized compensation structure, like a 70-30 or 60-40 split favoring salary. OR build in soft targets/objectives that help an early hire hit their OTE. ‘Show me the incentives, and I’ll show you the outcome’ Make sure to prioritize these early activities that will help lay the foundation of your GTM program. P.S. Need help hiring GTM talent for Data, AI/ML, Compute, and Cloud Infra? DM me. We've assisted successful early-stage startups (backed by Insight Partners, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, GV, Accel, and more) in finding A+ hires.

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Nobody wants to become a regular at the local terminal bar. In just about every aspect of life, oversharing is typically a no-no. In the airline business, however, transparency around delays and cancellations and the reasons behind them can be hugely beneficial. It seems that no carrier is better at this than United Airlines and achingly so. There's nothing worse than being stuck at a terminal because of a flight delay or cancellation and joining the hoards of other passengers at the counter with the ticket agent. Worse of all, the ticket agent knows little about what's actually happening amid scrambling to rebook what could be hundreds of passengers. If you've taken United, you're probably familiar with the flurry of texts, emails and mobile alerts covering everything from departure time, gate changes, delays and cancellations, and even weather reports. On the surface, those messages are what every passenger needs from other carriers. Think about it. Uncertainty or simply having another obstacle thrown your way without explanation opens a Pandora's box of emotions ranging from anxiety and stress to frustration and anger. But as human nature will tell you, some find overcommunicating and the volume of messages itself can be stressful. Knowing too much vs knowing too little can sometimes be a no-win situation. Personally, overcommunicating is a welcome development when it comes to air travel especially for an industry that in the past hasn't really been good about it. Travel is already enough of a headache for passengers as they dodge long lines, cross fingers their baggage shows up where they're going, and deal with excessive fees. Even if the flight is delayed because the pilot is taking longer than expected in the bathroom, that's likely better than the uncertainty that comes with not knowing why you're trapped at the terminal https://lnkd.in/gTNAQ7Bu #airlines #unitedairlines #travel #culture #communications #transparency #vacation #passengers

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The top leaders are able to answer the most critical business question: Are you going to meet, beat, or miss on revenue? Spoiler alert: The answer lies in your revenue cadence. It’s the operating system for your org that helps you run revenue like a process every day, every week, and every month of the quarter. When done right, you can create, convert, and close revenue repeatedly and predictably. But if there’s even a slight leak, you’re leaving millions on the table. To help you protect your revenue, we’re hosting Charge: The Revenue Summit virtually on May 8th. You’ll hear from impressive RevOps leaders like Scott Peyser (SVP, RevOps, Clari) and Jaclyn Spillane (Director, Innovation PMO, Genesys) on how to design and run efficient revenue cadences to help you capture more revenue. RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/gFW5nxX7

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As a founder and CEO, I’ve learned that true founder-market fit isn’t just about understanding your industry, it’s about the tenacity to push through when the inevitable challenges hit. Budget freezes, talent moves, customer churn, investor pullback, lost sales, and product or service quality issues are all part of the journey. Startups aren’t linear; the road is bumpy, and you need to be ready to navigate the unexpected. Building startup businesses in any sector is difficult but surviving and thriving in the technology arena is not for the faint of heart. You can have the best product-market fit in the world, but without the grit to keep going when constant change is afoot, key talent departs, or when you lose a big deal you thought was in the bag, it won’t matter. Your deep understanding, experience, expertise and comfort of the market gives you an edge, but it’s the ability to adapt, stay committed and push forward every day that ultimately drives success. Tenacity isn’t just a trait... it’s the backbone of every successful founder. It’s waking up every day, hungry to improve, iterate, and win. A results and outcomes disposition is key. Founders who embrace the uncertainty and keep the faith are the ones who move industries forward.

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I'm sorry, there's a nominal fee for emotional baggage. There's a saying that winning too much on price isn't a long-term strategy. It turns out that it may work both ways as discount airlines are now struggling to survive as legacy airlines fight back with ultra-cheap fares. Discount carriers like Spirit and Frontier have become masters of budget travel, offering rock-bottom fares with no frills. Passengers are happy to ditch checked bags, choose their own seats later, and even skip snacks to save money. Well, the biggest airlines like United and American are taking a "so you have peanuts, well, we have pretzels" approach and fighting fire with fire. They're now using similar pricing tactics to attract budget-minded flyers, and eating into the core 'buy a seat, that's it' business of discount airlines. But, these legacy airlines are going even further - they still offer established mileage programs along with arguably better in-flight service. United, Delta and American are having their cake and eating it too. Low-price fares may get passengers in the cabin, but it's the upselling that's making the airlines happy. They're getting passengers to pay up for the next best level...coach. Say what? Yeah, getting cheap bare bones leprechaun seats is passable, but for a little extra, you can upgrade to standard coach. At American, for example, 10% of revenue was from people doing just that, a 25% increase from 2023. Nope, this is a late-night joke, For the discount airlines, the encroachment by the big honcho airlines has forced them to make changes that are reminiscent of what all airlines used to do. These include empty middle seat guarantees, fare bundles that include a carry-on bag and seat selection and even eliminating change and cancellation fees and increasing checked bag weight allowances. Wherever you go, there you are. All of these changes and 'new' benefits highlight how far down commercial airline travel has sunk. During the 'golden age' of the 1950s to 1970s, airlines prioritized passenger service, with amenities like checked baggage often included in the ticket price. Today, you get what you pay for...literally to the dime https://lnkd.in/ghx2-8jS #airlines #airtravel #vacation #deltaairlines #unitedairlines #americanairlines #frontierairlines #spiritairlines #customerservice

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#HRTech: Continued strong market traction, active strategic investors, and potential within tech stacks – Drake Star’s new Global HR Tech Report shows a high level of market activity in the sector with over 250 transactions and $2.9bn+ invested equity in Q1 2024. This activity points to an expected global HR Tech market volume of $28.8bn in 2024 as well as +13.4% expected market growth CAGR until 2027, as the need for sophisticated HR Tech stacks and solutions drives investment spending. The report also includes: ▶️ The HR Tech stack levels within companies vary strongly across organizations. While 15% have cutting-edge, agile HR Tech stacks with AI applications and 37% use comprehensive HR tools with modest descriptive analytics, the other half lacks mature HR technology stacks. The need for innovative solutions is huge and there is a lot of potential for growth for respective offerings in the field. ▶️ Recognizing the benefits of a well-integrated HR Tech stack, such as increased efficiency and improved employee work experience, 85% of organizations have at least two paid HR solutions, and 68% have between three and seven solutions integrated. ▶️ In the last 12 months strategic buyers made up more than half of the M&A activity in HR Tech, driven by efforts to offer holistic platform HR solutions to provide end-to-end digitalization of the HR function. ▶️ Around two thirds of invested capital was allocated to later stage venture funding rounds, as investors are increasingly looking for more mature assets with a clear path to profitability. For an overview of M&A and private placement activity, the most active PE-backed and public consolidators in HR Tech as well as a comprehensive market map, capital market developments, notable recent HR Tech deals and many other insights, follow this link to our website and download the full report: https://lnkd.in/dp5raGEe Drake Star HR Tech team: Jim Holzer, Pablo I. Lundershausen, Christopher von Eickstedt and myself #MergersAndAcquisitions #HRTechnology #HumanResources 

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How do you reduce costs while accelerating growth? That was the crux of the question posed in a post recently by Michelle Benfer after a dinner she attended with other Revenue Leaders. While Executive Leadership too often favors reducing " sales support staff" (aka RevOps/Enablement) over reducing sales headcount, Michelle argues that, when done right, RevOps makes revenue orgs less reliant on headcount not more. What do you think? This topic was tailor-made for The GOATS of Growth podcast, so I asked her to join me. In this clip you'll hear her describe what she thinks best-in-class RevOps looks like.  Michelle, you are what best-in-class GTM leadership looks like, and I thank you for joining me! Please follow Michelle for more great content and reach out if you have more questions--ONLY after listening to the episode. Here is the link to the full episode. https://buff.ly/3Cjhr6Q. Please subscribe to the show if you like what you hear!

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Since leaving Levelset last March (2023), I've spent hundreds of hours working with founders and sales leaders. I focus on helping leaders scale their sales team. The same questions come up over and over again, here are a few examples: - How do I design a comp plan for my new head of sales? - How do I generate more inbound leads for the sales team? - Who should I hire? How do I hire them? - Who is my ideal customer? - How to I increase net revenue retention? - What's the best sales process for our selling motion? - How do I build a great team culture? If you are in a leadership role at a scaling company, you are probably experiencing a number of the same challenges. You aren't alone. And I want to help you. I've collected the top 6 key lessons from my experience scaling the Levelset sales team to a $500m exit. I call them the 6 Secrets to Scaling a Sales Team. These lessons come from a mix of places. Some from experienced sales leaders. Others from my own failures and successes in a sales leadership role. These are the lessons that most sales executives don't talk about publicly. These are lessons that you can use right now in your team to accelerate sales team performance. I'm sharing the 6 Secrets to Scaling a Sales Team with you, next Tuesday, June 25. Come join me: https://lu.ma/b1dqxxqs

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Small meetings are becoming the new norm in business travel. Learn more about how HRS can help your company Stay, Work and Pay your next group meeting. #hrs #hrsgroup #stay #work #pay #smallmeetingsandgroups #travel #corporatetravel #LaaS #MaaS #WaaS

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Partner leaders- we've got work to do. Sam Jacobs leads a community of CRO and GTM leaders- he's one of the most thoughtful, experienced, and effective people guiding the next generation of business leaders. This week he called out how poorly defined and poorly understood the partner playbook is- not just in the broader market, but even among the community of GTM experts. There's no playbook, it's hard to plan around, and "A bunch of partnership people standing around in a circle talking about how they're undervalued won't move the needle." He is 100% right. On the other side, I just got off a call with Dan McAllister, SVP Global Alliances and Channels at Boomi. Dan successfully led partnerships at SAP, Netsuite, Box, Mulesoft, and Salesforce before this role. When it comes to recognizing the opportunities the ecosystem presents his business, defining a strategy, crystalizing a joint business plan with his peers on the leadership team, and then executing the plan, Dan is one of the best in the world. #Partnerships are not one size fits all. The gap Sam called out in understanding partnerships and the partnering community's ability to close it is real. I'd like to personally invite Sam and all GTM leaders who want to understand partnerships better to join our Ecosystem Business Summit next week to hear how the best partnership leaders define partner strategy, rally their teams to understand the partner opportunity in GTM planning and lead the business through execution. We might all be great at recognizing the opportunity partnerships present, but unless you can rally the business around it you're failing as a partnership leader. We've got work to do! Join in link in comments.

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If you're on the fence about taking a Revenue Architecture course, either in-person in Santa Cruz June 3-4 (see comments) or remote (see our website), please read what CEOs, RevOps Leaders, GTM Strategists, CMOs, Chief Customer Success Officers, and others have to say about this program: “THAT. WAS. AWESOME. 👏” “WOW. This course blew my mind.” “The "funnel" was turned on it's side.... literally....” “I wish I had taken this course years ago, but I'm so glad to have this information in my brain now.” “📜 This course has been an absolute game-changer, equipping me with the essential models for sustainable growth that constitute the Recurring Revenue Operating Model.” “This course is simply outstanding!” “World class instructor and the course content. It was fresh, appropriate for today's realities and most importantly - tangible". "You learn it and tomorrow use it”. “I highly recommend this course as it's super relevant for revenue leaders looking to add more science and data to their recurring revenue operations”. “Anyone wanting to deepening knowledge of how to drive growth and success with a company or division should absolutely take the Revenue Architecture class” “While I thought I had an amazing understanding of SaaS and Revenue models from years of building models, board decks and working with revenue teams and leaders...not to mention my MBA classes and focus in data analytics… I learned a ton!” “I can't say enough good things about this program." "I'm really fortunate to have had the opportunity to sharpen our tools and thinking." “Highly recommend it to every revenue & marketing operations professional out there!” “This course has given me a deeper understanding of the specific, proven models and frameworks to consistently achieve revenue goals 📈” “Incredible instruction! I can’t wait to elevate what I’ve always done with the teachings from this course! 💪🏻” “The methodology taught in this course allows you to architect your revenue in a way that achieves sustainable growth by understanding the fundamental principles of recurring revenue and the specific frameworks to apply across your GTM team.” “This course has been a game-changer for me. It was an incredibly insightful journey that taught me the fundamental models for sustainable growth that make up the Recurring Revenue Operating Model and provided a wealth of practical tools and resources. Honestly, it's one of the best courses I've taken professionally! 💯” “What a great course by Winning by Design on understanding the ins and outs of recurring revenue business 📈” "This will enable you to do the right thing at the right time to maximize success 🚀” “The Revenue Architecture course was an incredible course. I learned ways to increase growth by making some minor improvements, look at GTM motions and make sure they align with my business, and take the "right" action at different inflection points on the growth curve so my company doesn't flame out.”

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I’m excited to share a new project: Estuary. It’s not for everybody. It’s a newsletter for ~100 people. They’re GTM leaders who: - want to diversify their sales & partnerships channels - are curious if VC and PE partnerships make sense for them - aren’t sure how to launch this bespoke strategy Being from Louisiana and now living in coastal North Carolina, Estuary brings to mind for me not only diverse ecosystems but also resiliency in the face of change. Sales orgs that thoughtfully experiment with new routes to market will win. My first few posts will focus on the basics, and we’ll move forward from there. The link to sign-up is below. I hope you’ll join me, and I hope you’ll tell your friends. #vc #pe #gtm #sales #saas #partnerships Photo: The Nature Conservancy

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Last week Operatus co-hosted a Pavilion executive dinner in Boston. This group of revenue leaders were passionate and clearly highly experienced and effective in their careers. The energy was electric. I added what I could to the mix - a few RevOps tips of course: 1. Standardize - everyone needs to follow the same process and it has to be understood and clear at the rep level, not just exec on a page - sales process, financial process, contract governance 2. Customer Journey Focus - Detailed measurements across the customer journey from lead to cash - include targets in the system so all data shows performance against target not just raw numbers If you want to join the next event - the CRO Summit is June 6! #operatus #pavilion

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Some ways PE PortCo's in the Home Services industry can use BDR: Not speaking for all but here is my .02 Growth is a non-negotiable right? BUT Do the people have the needed skillsets (behaviors) to deliver? How does the org chart need to evolve? Is congruency between brands important to you to a certain degree? Have you tried an independent consultant and been let down with scalability? Making an investment in your people and their future shows what you value. Frankly, it doesn't matter if you are PE backed or owner/operator here...still stands true. Probably more today with how hyper-competitive the market is. So, yes, our coaches work with PortCo owners, executives, mid management and even revenue producers. Typically, we can focus on one or two things in service or install and deliver massive ROI. If you are a Platform, you should leverage a Platform.... for the Home Services Industry. Executive Coaching ✅ Departmental Coaching ✅ Departmental Training Onsite ✅ Departmental Training Virtual ✅ Leadership Skills Coaching ✅ Marketing Services ✅ Get growth faster!!....and remember, people drive performance. #privateequity #portco #PE #SMB

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I've met very few revenue leaders this year who are satisfied with their AE-sourced pipeline. Many companies are pushing the 2023/2024 demand shortfall onto their AEs, expecting them to source 20-40% of their total pipe. Understandably, prospecting falls to the wayside for AEs when they have active deals to prioritize. It seems to disappear completely without a top-down process in place. The most successful orgs make it easy for reps to bite off a small chunk of prospecting each day. We've launched our own flavor of this in AccountAim for our customers. The surprisingly simple workflow that has kickstarted AE pipeline generation includes: - Manageable daily lists of 2-5 accounts straight to reps' inboxes - Surfaced with context from the customers' sea of enrichment and signal data - Tied to sequences relevant to the context, so minimal additional personalization or research is necessary - Manager level reporting to incentivize the behavior with spiffs The key is to reduce all friction for the AEs while also driving top-down focus on the initiative. Without both in place, AE-sourced pipeline initiatives typically fail.

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When you're not in the board room, you're always wondering, "What's going on in there?". I have now worked with seven companies where I'd regularly present to a board, a mixture of PE and VC-led, and it's almost always centered around a few key topics. If you're meeting your numbers: - what's your future forecast  - how are you going to continue to grow - how will you grow faster and more efficient  - update on money in the bank and spend If you're not meeting your numbers (along with the things I mentioned above): - what is your plan to turn things around and meet your numbers (this includes new logo, back-to-base sales, and churn reduction) - what resources can they offer to help - do you have the right players in the right seat This is an oversimplification because many nuances are at play, but this is generally it. While board meetings can be stressful, almost every board I've worked with wants to be helpful. Of course, their interest is, first and foremost, that the business is healthy and growing, so there's always that undertone, but overall, they want to help. After all, they are guardians of the investments they make on behalf of others and have to report back on their performance. Think of them like they are CSMs for their investors (the folks that give them money). They need to get a great return on the investment they made on their behalf.

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My career win ratio was 78% w/ strategic accounts. But it wasn’t because I was a great seller... It was because I thought like a designer. Large companies don’t suffer from a selling problem. They struggle with a buying challenge. With the macro pressures hurting large organizations right now, selling enterprise SaaS is harder than ever. Designing a good buying experience (vs selling your product) will be the way to separate yourself. Here's a simple design formula that will help boost your win rates: https://buff.ly/3wX9hz2 🐝

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