Alex MacCaw is the founder of Clearbit and Reflect, and his journey with each company has been wildly different. Clearbit took more of a “classic” startup approach—raising VC money, hiring hundreds of people, and working from an office in SF.  In 2020, he charted a new course by replacing himself as CEO at Clearbit, selling all his possessions and living full-time on a sailboat in the Atlantic. And now he’s building his new company Reflect in with a totally different approach —building a...

Alex MacCaw is the founder of Clearbit and Reflect, and his journey with each company has been wildly different. Clearbit took more of a “classic” startup approach — raising VC money, hiring hundreds of people, and working from an office in SF. In 2020, he charted a new course by replacing himself as CEO at Clearbit, selling all his possessions and living full-time on a sailboat in the Atlantic. And now he’s building his new company Reflect in with a totally different approach — building a...

Patrick says work-life balance is the wrong framework. It’s more about work-life fit and finding what suits you best. This is especially true for startup founders, where your work is often all-consuming. Episode Highlights [00:32 - 02:30] Thoughts on work/life balance Mentioned in this episode: Sign up for OpenView's weekly newsletter Connect with Patrick on LinkedIn Follow Patrick on Twitter Subscribe to Blake Bartlett on YouTube. Podcast produced by OpenView. View our blog for more...

Culture at a startup is always tricky, but there’s one common mistake founders should avoid at all costs. It’s the desire to make everyone happy all the time. Patrick says this leads to a “culture of accommodation” which ultimately ends up not working for anyone. Hear Patrick’s journey as a founder to define the culture at ProfitWell, and how you can do the same at your startup. Episode Highlights [00:03 - 01:31] Episode intro: Patrick Campbell[01:59 - 04:04] What is the role and importance...

Every startup wants to create a category. This is often a mistake. Or at least it’s prioritized too early by many founders and marketers. Ryan Carlson, longtime CMO at Okta, explains why this falls flat with customers and what to do instead. Key Takeaways: [00:31 - 01:53]  A noted skeptic on category creation[01:54 - 02:15] Everybody wants to be a category creator[02:16 - 03:19] Focus on how they're better than the alternative Mentioned in this episode: Sign up for OpenView's weekly...

Okta’s CMO for 5+ years, Ryan Carlson, says marketing’s guiding light should be the company mission and values. Marketing’s job is to tell the story of the company, not to merely promote the product or drive leads into the top of a funnel. Authentic marketing is rooted in the BIG questions. Why does this company exist? Who should care about that and why?Today’s episode will help you: Understand this strategic approach to marketingSee the impact strategic marketing has on your audienceHow to...

Raj says that most of the PLG advice out there today is missing a key foundational point: data. Many PLG companies still rely on traditional sales & marketing software that keeps data in silos. The key to winning in PLG starts with your data infrastructure, and wiring it up early helps you scale later. Mentioned in this episode: Sign up for OpenView's weekly newsletter Raj Sarkar, CMO & Advisor LinkedIn Twitter Subscribe to Blake Bartlett on YouTube. Podcast produced...

B2B marketers usually overlook brand in their marketing mix. Brand marketing is only for CPG companies, right? Raj makes the case that brand marketing is not optional, if you want to win your category. But brand marketing isn’t just buying a Super Bowl ad. Before you think about channels, you need to define your brand identity and build awareness. Done right, brand marketing can become an infinitely scalable strategy to drive growth. Key Takeaways: [01:19 - 04:05] What exactly is brand...

Chris was Snowflake’s first sales hire, and he built the commercial business from $0 to $1B+ ARR. What is the optimal relationship between a VP Sales and the Founder/CEO during this journey? Many sales leaders solely focus on hitting their number. That’s certainly important, but sales also plays a pivotal role in product strategy by acting as the voice of the customer. The goal is to achieve a collaborative push-pull relationship with founders and sales leaders that drives more customer...

Chris is CRO at Snowflake and has been leading sales there for 9 years. He’s helped grow from $0 to $1B+ ARR. He’s clearly a software sales legend. So how is Chris coaching his reps and leaders during today’s recessionary environment? What should you change about your sales playbook in order to keep winning in a down market?  This is the perfect episode for sales reps, sales leaders, and founders/CEOs who are looking for advice on how to navigate selling in a downturn.  Key Takeaways:...

Today’s shorter episode is a follow up to my longer conversation with Alex Su, Head of Community at Ironclad. In that conversation, we talk about his TikTok channel @legaltechbro and how he developed a personal brand strategy that compliments Ironclad’s community-focused GTM strategy. So if you haven’t heard that yet, go check it out now. In today’s episode, we dive into TikTok more specifically and why you shouldn’t overlook this huge new channel. Mentioned in this episode: Sign up for...

Alex is big on TikTok under the handle @legaltechbro. He has quickly become one of the biggest influencers in the entire legaltech industry. How? 15 second video skits poking fun at the legal profession. It’s a counterintuitive strategy on its face, but it’s working in a big way. Alex lays out his journey and his playbook. Conversation Highlights: [00:10 - 01:36] Introduction to Alex Su [01:40 - 03:11] Alex Su's personal brand and strategy for his channel @legaltechbro [03:11 - 05:50]...

Mark is now a VC at Stage 2 Capital, and also teaches a class at Harvard Business School called “Decoding Growth in Silicon Valley.” It focuses on applying the best practices from B2C growth to B2B GTM playbooks. Today on BUILD, he gives us the key organizational and strategic “must-have” pillars in order to embrace the future of B2B growth and win with PLG.

Mark was CRO at HubSpot for 9+ years. He built the successful sales-led GTM playbook that helped the company scale to nearly $100M ARR. Then he shifted gears and helped pioneer PLG at HubSpot, effectively disrupting the original GTM playbook he built at the company. Hear Mark walk through the full story on how HubSpot became PLG, and how you can transition to PLG at your company. Conversation Highlights: [3:18] Hubspot's PLG story: How it began[7:08] The complexity of adding a free product,...

Katie shares the advice she’d give a friend or family member who is deciding to stay in a role or recruit for a new one. Most of the advice today is focused on leaders and companies. Katie’s advice for you, the employee, is fresh and spot on.

Katie has been Chief People Officer at HubSpot since 2017. She has helped the company grow to thousands of employees globally. Katie outlines her top priorities in today’s uncertain macro environment — both for existing employees and for recruiting new talent. Must listen for any leader today! Conversation highlights: [01:40 - 03:04] What is happening in the talent markets given the macroeconomic environment[03:04 - 03:58] Is top talent pronounced more in one area or industry than...

Krista was CCO at Okta for 6 years, and held a similar role at Salesforce before that. But this is a relatively new role at large software companies. What does it mean exactly? And what makes for a good CCO?  Conversation highlights: [01:20] What is the Chief Customer Officer[02:22] The glue between an organization and its customers

Let’s face it. Statistically, your current team is not likely to be your future team. It’s incredibly rare for any single leader to stay with a company through multiple phases of growth. As a board member and advisor to companies like Asana, Krista’s job is to assess teams and help CEOs determine who’s gonna make it and who isn’t. What she looks for to determine this may surprise you.  Conversation highlights: [00:09] Intro — Meet Krista[02:11] Having a team for the future[05:09] Common...

Kyle is a one-man content machine. If you follow him on LinkedIn or subscribe to his Substack, you know this is true. How does Kyle approach content? What is his personal brand strategy? How did he win at Substack? 

PLG breaks traditional SaaS top of funnel. Why? Trusty channels like content marketing, email nurture and in-person events don’t translate to PLG. Kyle has identified what works for PLG leaders like Zapier, Figma and Calendly, and shares a new top of funnel playbook built for the PLG era. Conversation highlights: [01:54] Problems PLG companies face when it comes to top of funnel[04:16] Thinking about building for the end user, and building to be discovered[08:19] Full empathy and finding...

Everyone today claims to be an expert in their social media profile. But truly being a world-class expert requires extremely narrow focus. Harini argues that range and breadth is just as important, but often overlooked today.

Harini leads customer success at AWS, which is arguably the most important enterprise technology vendor today. She says customer success needs to play proactive offense more than reactive defense. By starting with your customer’s customer, you can align your strategic initiatives with your customers’ to achieve win-win outcomes. Key Takeaways: [ 00:07 ] Overview of episode [ 02:47 ] What customer centricity means to Harini [ 06:44 ] Customer success as offense vs. defense [ 15:50 ] How...

A lot of PLG talk is focused on operational strategies and tactics. But what does PLG mean for the CEO of a company? What should your mindset be? How do you address common objections you might hear from your team (especially if transitioning to PLG for the first time). Key Takeaways: [00:04] Fully supporting product level growth[00:39] Investing in sales, self-service, and not optimizing for the local maximum[02:27] KPIs and linking to revenue[03:18] Growth teams need support and...

“Community” is a major buzzword today, and for good reason. Community creates leverage, and lots of it. Gonto ran marketing and growth at Auth0 for 7 years before the $6.5 billion acquisition by Okta. He cuts through the buzzword noise to give us his perspective and playbook on why (and how) to win with a community strategy. Key Takeaways: [00:27] Overview — Building a community[02:24] Defining community, and why is it trending[04:56] Creating communities through open source products,...