Grit

Mar Brandt is a sales veteran and ad tech expert who has spent time at leading organizations including Experian, Sitecore, and most recently AppsFlyer. Mar is also a founding member and senior executive sponsor of Leadership Connections Women, an Experian Women's Network group. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Mar discuss Mar’s sales evolution as a sales leader. They also explore w...

Imagine taking a company like LinkedIn to a billion dollars in sales in just a few years, only to leave at the top of your game to rebuild your career and pursue a different path in product. That’s exactly what Dan Shapero did — and in this episode of Go to Market Grit, he explains his perspective, along with some can’t-miss insight on business and leadership. Joubin and Dan discuss two key topics...

Jim Herbold played an instrumental role in scaling Box, growing the company from $600k to $200m over the course of seven years — only to pivot and leave the company a year before their IPO. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Jim discuss Jim’s background and role at Box, his new position at mental fitness  app Calm, and the real meaning of “unicorn meat.” In this episode of Go to Mark...

Sales is full of doctrines, or commonly shared beliefs, that are repeated over and over again, often without question — from hiring to business development. And blindly following can inhibit growth and lead to missed opportunities. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Shopify VP and GM Loren Padelford points out some of these doctrines and explains why he recommends avoiding them. Loren also shed...

In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Modern Health VP of Sales Hannah Willson explains how Modern Health is working to normalize and de-stigmatize cognitive wellbeing health in the workplace.   According to the CDC, depression interferes with a person’s ability to complete physical job tasks about 20 percent of the time, and reduces cognitive performance about 35 percent of the time. What’s more,...

If there’s one person who knows a thing or two about sales growth, it’s Brex Chief Sales Officer Sam Blond, who has been a part of some legendary sales runs during his career. Sam joined Zenefits in 2013, and helped transform the company into the fastest SaaS business of all time. Then, he left and joined Brex, and was part of a team that scaled from 46 to 455 employees in just two years.  Was it...

In a study from Red Hat, 95 percent of respondents said open source was strategically important to their organization, while 77 percent agreed that open source will continue to grow. Yet, that doesn’t guarantee an easy sell. Selling open source software at the enterprise level requires an entirely different strategy than traditional software. For insight, we turned to open source sales expert Jeff...

Topics: Is there a stigma around intelligence in sales? How to enable high velocity sales Many organizations today are struggling to strike a balance between being data-driven and gut-driven. For pointers, we turned to Meka Asonye who has deployed data at the highest level in sports doing statistical analysis for the Cleveland Indians. Meka provides tips about using data to discover opportunities...

In this episode of Go to Market Grit, CircleCI CRO Jane Kim shares valuable insight about her experiences growing a global organization, and trying to build an effective team and strategy. Joubin and Jane discuss and debate two key topics, including leading with vulnerability, and five common mistakes that first time managers make. “Vulnerability is not knowing victory or defeat, it’s understandin...

In this episode of Go to Market Grit, TripActions CRO and Silicon Valley sales legend Carlos Delatorre opens up about what it takes to build powerful and effective sales teams and strategies. Joubin and Carlos discuss two key topics, including the value of relationship building, and making your go-to-market strategy a competitive differentiator. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, we cover:  Car...

In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Obsidian Security CRO and sales veteran Bob Kruse shares his thoughts on culture, and how it impacts sales teams. Bob and Joubin discuss why having a strong culture is critical in sales, as well as the benefits of deploying a multifaceted channel program. In this episode of Go to Market Grit , we cover:  Why having a strong culture on your sales team can serve...

In this episode, Jeff StClair, currently VP of Sales at Palo Alto Networks and most recently VP Sales at Evident.io shares his thoughts on how startups can more effectively discover, attract, and retain top talent, and in doing so take their organizations to new heights. We also dive deep into what makes a great sales rep. In this episode of Go to Market Grit , we cover:  Key qualities that Jeff l...

In Episode #1 of Go to Market Grit, Slack’s SVP of Sales and Customer Success, Bob Frati, gives the inside scoop about the company’s sales and go-to-market strategy, and why they have been able to scale their go to market so quickly and effectively over the last few years. Bob and Joubin discuss two key topics in detail, outlining the next four years for Slack and key growth levers they can pull,...

About the Joubin Mirzadegan Joubin has been with Kleiner Perkins since 2019 where he advises the KP portfolio companies on how to build and scale a robust go-to-market strategy. Additionally, he enables the firm’s portfolio through high impact relationships with F500 executives and key ecosystem partners. Joubin was previously at Palo Alto Networks as a global district sales manager for the Centra...