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Helping Startups Understand Salespeople & the Sales Culture

Both Sides of the Table

Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual. I boil it down to this: sales people are sales people.

Sales 382
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Improving Sales: The Excuse Departement is Closed

Both Sides of the Table

Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual. I boil it down to this: sales people are sales people.

Sales 316
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For Many New Ventures, Location Is The Key To Success

Startup Professionals Musings

billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. Exposure instills the fear and urgency you need to deliver the right competitive solution. Exposure is another key ingredient. Exposure to customers, incumbents, and competitors all drive success. What will set your business apart?

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Interview: Mark Douglas, President & CEO, SteelHouse Media

InfoChachkie

In this interview, Mark discusses how his experiences at Oracle, eHarmony and the Rubicon Project contributed to the creation of his latest venture, SteelHouse Media. 4) Did I read correctly that you were part of the original development team for Oracle Financials? When I joined Oracle, they were essentially ‘the Google’ of their time.

eHarmony 204
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Why You Should Make Your Competitors Your Frenemies

Both Sides of the Table

Conventional wisdom in most companies is that “the competition is the enemy&# – it’s the rallying cry to dig deeper, get more features out the door, issue press releases citing differences and attack the competition’s weaknesses in sales presentations. You know, frenemies. When Enemies are Good.

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People Management: Startup Teams Should Dip but not Skip

Both Sides of the Table

You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. An obvious example would be in sales. By going on sales calls you pick up directly the feedback of what customers want and also what they’re telling you about competition.

Startup 308
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Interview with John Hanna, FunnelSource

socalTECH

One of the local firms attacking that market is Los Angeles-based FunnelSource (www.funnelsource.com), a developer of software-as-a-service tools that provide analytics to sales teams. Coming out here, I wanted to focus on what my specialty was, which is driving sales as a VP of Sales.

Oracle 145