How We Got There

Heather asks and helps answer “How do you create a point of view about your solution in a way that will talk to Salesforce about how it works together for that specific customer?” For ISVs so they can take a strong point of view about a specific customer vs. approaching with just questions. “It’s easier to find this information than it’s ever been. Don’t be lazy and use the tools and you will have...

This episode of the How We Got There podcast features a conversation with  Mark Rutledge , Chief Storyteller | Global ISV Partner Solutions at  Salesforce . The builder advocacy program that he works on is one that every ISV should learn about and explore if they might be a fit for working with them. Fun fact - I worked with Mark Rutledge when he as a client of my former business, GTM Guides, whil...

I got introduced to  Jeff Freund , Founder & CEO of  Akoonu , a number of years ago and I finally got to hear his full story on  How We Got There  earlier this year. Jeff has been in the ecosystem in 2003 and founded the business in 2014 as a native Salesforce app to solve b2b sales - inspecting pipeline and then forecasting.  Jeff lays out the story and the why of Akoonu so clearly - overnigh...

I met Brittany Hart , founder of Communiscape , from an introduction from Blakely Graham . I was planning to interview her on How We Got There about her experience scaling an SI ( Fortimize ) as employee 2 before starting/exiting her own Salesforce SI ( Platinum Cubed ) but then I got to listen to her present via a professional leadership community I am a part of called Arcadia and I knew that I h...

Salesforce Solution Engineers are like general contractors, according to David Young , who leads a team of them at Salesforce . They need skills like carpentry and framing and plumbing but also know when to stop and call in an expert. In the Salesforce world this might be knowing when to bring in a service cloud or an Agentforce expert. They need to know enough to see the business challenge and kn...

Wondering what SIs care about and how they approach implementing ISVs for the first (or hundredth) time? This episode if for you! In the latest episode of How We Got There, I speak with Steve Simpson , VP of Global Enablement & Learning at Copado , Co-Founder of Catcusforce and Certified Architect Instructor. Steve and I dive deep on the reality of the complex deal cycles that Salesforce ISVs...

Agentforce is everywhere and everything but in speaking to many ISVs, they are still wondering when is the right time to lean into AI with more than just a story. Where in the hype cycle are we is something I wonder about a lot. So I set out to find an ISV that is actually succeeding in the Agentforce world and that journey led me to Igor Stosic , CEO of Quadrix Soft who make Goat Email on the App...

On this episode of How We Got There, I am joined again by Jason Hoult , the Founder and former CEO of Anvil App Works who was acquired by Tractor Zoom in 12/2023, for part 2! If you missed it, give our first episode together from July 2023 a listen. It was an excellent episode where we talked about a wide range of topics, but my highlight was his approach to company building & nailing a niche....

On this episode of How We Got There, I am joined by Rey Perera who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gridmate . He shares his story as moving from an SDR to an enterprise AE at another Salesforce ISV before jumping into co-founding Gridmate along Hicham El Mansouri .  Rey talks about how they build a business with diversity as if you look at their team, they are located all across the world and come fr...

On this episode of How We Got There, I am joined by Alex MacKay , Executive Chairman & Co-Founder of Tequity Advisors . He shares his start in CRM when running Siebel Canada and found his way into sell-side advisory for M&A at Tequity, with deep experience in the Salesforce ecosystem with 28 companies and counting. *If you are at Dreamforce next week, make sure to reach out to Alex or Mahn...

I am joined by Melanie Kruger , one of the best people leaders that I ever had the chance to work with. She has deep understanding of helping to scale Salesforce ISVs of all sizes. She actually found her way into the Salesforce ecosystem via networking between her husband and J Manning , bringing her to the Head of People at Conga. I got to work with Melanie twice at Conga and TaskRay and was so i...

I am joined by Ben McCarthy , Founder of Salesforce Ben , Lab.club and advisor to a number of great companies in the ecosystem like AscendX , Tequity Advisors , and PipeLaunch . We talk about his journey from university to stumbling upon Salesforce and then after being called SalesforceBoy grew into Salesforce Ben.  We talk about how to approach thought leadership, holding nothing back from the re...

I am joined by ⁠Sean Lewis⁠ , Director of Partnerships at Vicasso and the Serviceblazer User Group Leader for AMER.   We talk about his journey from customer support to sales to partnerships and everything in between. When he was selling, a Salesforce AE sent them a referral to a F100 company that really opened his eyes to the value of the partnership. Now Vicasso has two FTEs focused on partnersh...

I am joined by ⁠ Ryan Sieve , the CTO at Accounting Seed⁠ . We get to talk about his journey from consulting in the Salesforce ecosystem to his time at Salesforce itself, before heading to Accounting Seed to lead their technology group as CTO. And thank you to Jon Schultz for the suggestion to be joined by Ryan! We start out talking about positioning products to buyers in ways that focus on solvin...

I am joined by Blakely Graham , who is a board advisor to Left Main REI , host of the Not All Business Podcast , Founder and former CEO of TaskRay⁠ . This one was a long time coming. On a personal note, my time at TaskRay was some of my most formative. I found a balance while there between my previous experience of excellence with true work life balance and a focus on values that stays with me. I...

I am joined by Heather Cooper , the COO at Baker Law Group and the former CEO at Cloud Coach . Heather and I didn't know each other when we competed against each other (TaskRay and Cloud Coach) but have gotten to know each other since, which has been really fun. She is starting a podcast with one of my favorite work people, Blakely Graham , that will launch later this year. While Heather was a...

I am joined by Sam Yarborough , the Chief Growth Officer at Invisory and a co-founder at Arcadia. Sam and I met at a New York World Tour years ago where she shared her experience at PFL and taking a much more focused approach to partnerships than is typical in the ecosystem. Treat partners (AEs, SEs, RVPs, SIs, etc.) like customers by leveraging the CRM to track activities for them and give them a...

In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with George Kenessey who is the CEO of Appiphony . Appiphony is a Product Development Outsourcer (PDO) and more recently an ISV themselves with Drive Connect on the AppExchange. George is one of the best humans and business leaders in the ecosystem. This conversation took place wayyyy back pre-Dreamforce but I finally got around to releasing it and it...

In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Stephanie Betters who is the Founder and CEO of Left Main REI . Left Main REI is an OEM and (now) ISVforce partner of Salesforce focused on building for companies in the real estate vertical. As a fellow SUNY alum, it was great to hear Stephanie’s story of how she stumbled her way into the Salesforce ecosystem. As many founder stories go, she cre...

In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Andrew Walker , who is the Founder at Sanitas Accounting . I consider Andrew a friend after our time together at TaskRay where he was our full-time CFO after starting as a fractional CFO. His business is now focused on helping smaller software companies with accounting and finance so they can focus on running their business. We reminisce about ou...

In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Jason Hoult , who is the President at Anvil App Works . We talk about the origin story of the business solving problems for his own business before launching as an OEM of Salesforce for a very specific niche. I am consistently inspired by the quality of businesses like Anvil App Works that can be built with an intentional focus like Jason and his...

In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Sam Yarborough ,  (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-yarborough-a96b3326/) who is the SVP of Partnerships at PFL (https://www.linkedin.com/company/pflcom/). We talk about rebooting a partnership program but starting with working on their Trailblazer partner score to build momentum and aligning closely with their Partner Account Manager (PAM) to bui...

In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Cynthia LeCornu  ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthialecornu/ ) who is the Global Leader Salesforce Alliance at Avalara ( https://www.linkedin.com/company/avalara/ ). We talk about aligning to Salesforce’s Customer360 vision, SI partnerships in the ecosystem, how to drive your ISV partner score, and more. Cynthia brings a great energy and depth...

Before we hop in, thank you for your support on our journey. GTM Guides is now part of InVisory ! (https://home.invisory.co/press-release) In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Tal Frankfurt , who is the founder and CEO of Cloud For Good . He shares his journey to the Salesforce ecosystem and to the the US from the early days of Salesforce consulting, starting 13 years ago. Cloud For...

In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Mike Getchis, who was the VP of Sales at Zenkraft. They were acquired by Brinng earlier this year and he is now Partner Solutions Engineer. Mike was at the helm of Zenkraft’s sales organization which bootstrapped their way to a strategic exit but started his Salesforce journey with hands on keyboard. Zenkraft’s top gtm strategies included working...