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According to the State of Sales Enablement Report 2024, 31% of organizations are preparing to launch a new product or service as a key go-to-market initiative. So, how can you prepare your sellers to be ready for a successful product or service launch that drives business results? Riley Rogers: Hi, and welcome to the Win Win podcast. I’m your host, Riley Rogers. Join us as we dive into changing trends in the workplace and how to navigate them successfully. Here to discuss this topic is Kate Stringfield, senior manager of revenue enablement at Dialpad. Thank you so much for joining us, Kate. Before we get started, I’d love to learn a little bit more about yourself, your role, and your background. Kate Stringfield: Yeah, so I’m Kate Stringfield, as you called out. Was in sales prior to being in enablement, and I was in sales for about seven years, both in hospitality as well as SaaS. And then I made the jump into enablement around six years ago, and now I’m over at Dialpad. RR: Amazing. Thank you for sharing that. I feel like it’s always so helpful to get insight from people who make that transition and have experience on both sides of the playing field.We’re so excited to have you on the podcast for that reason. You have such extensive experience as both a sales and sales enablement leader. So can you maybe walk us through your journey into enablement, how you made that shift, and then maybe a little bit about how that sales background helps influence your enablement strategy? KS: Yeah, so I was in hotels, like I mentioned, for a number of years, and I found my passion helping other people as they started out in their new roles and getting them up to speed. And so when I made the move into SaaS, I learned about this cool role called enablement, and I was like, oh my gosh, I gotta—I gotta learn more and get into that.So since helping others be successful was a—or still is—a passion of mine, I made that jump. And once I landed in an enablement position, I was like, man, I found my place.So I spent a number of years doing enablement for the sellers that I was once a seller for—like, I was doing that role. And then I did another two and a half years in enablement at an enablement company, where I focused on role-specific enablement, as well as launching a sales methodology, three sales motion changes, and various other initiatives that I supported along the way.And then I moved over into Dialpad, where I’m now leading a team of six incredibly gifted, talented revenue enablers across sales, success, and partner enablement. RR: Wonderful. Thank you for walking us through that. It seems like it’s been quite the journey to get where you are today. I’m curious then—we’ve talked about how it informs your strategy—but maybe how does it inform action?So I kind of want to shift gears a little bit and maybe talk about a recent initiative that I know Dialpad has been running, which is that you rolled out a new SKU after an acquisition, and product launch has become a priority for you this year. So can you maybe talk to us a little bit about that initiative? KS: Yeah, absolutely. So making sure that our product is up to speed and ahead of the market is imperative. And so, gosh, around eight months ago, back in October, we acquired a WFM company—so workforce management—which is part of a solution of ours that we did not currently have. So we acquired a company in order to offer that as a complementary solution with what we already had.This was a completely new product line, and we had to figure out, okay, how could we enable our reps to be able to go ahead and sell this? And it’s a slightly different selling motion, so we had to talk through what is it, why does it matter, as well as how do they then position the value of it. And so in true SaaS fashion, we were also, in addition to launching this new SKU, we also had other product enhancements that we were sharing along the same time, as well as a rebranding and new marketing strategy and a new pitch deck.So there was a lot going on. So we had to make sure that we also landed this and landed it well. And so we did some pre-launch awareness where we equipped our sellers with content in the form of kits as well as micro-learnings and giving them the foundation to get them ready for that launch moment so they could start having introductory conversations with customers.So how do you first scope that? Then we did our launch moment and made our just-in-time much more robust and turned them into true sales plays where they learned how to really position this product in the right way and along the whole sales process. And with that, we also did additional learning moments, such as full-blown e-learnings and certifications for how to sell this.Then we really wanted to focus on reinforcement that stuck, and so we looked at, okay, how can we get our managers speaking about this product in team meetings? What kind of activities could we give to managers to run in team meetings, such as trainings in a box? And how can we continue to evolve the conversation and get our reps learning more?And so we focused on PEC talk as well as more thorough, in-depth enablement from a product standpoint, and then that later along the line sales motion and how to sell that. And overall, we saw around $500,000 of closed-won sales initially, and we built around $3 million in pipeline. And through that, we also looked at data with the kit and with the play that—you know, the kit that shifted into the play—and a lot of our reps were using it. There was high adoption of it. They were going back to it multiple times and spending about four minutes consuming the content.And so we were able to track, alright, they did the enablement, they were using the content and sharing it with customers, and then that translated to those closed-won numbers and that pipeline build that I discussed. RR: That sounds like such a thoughtful approach and also like quite a lot of work. I’m sure that was quite difficult to execute, but I love that you’re already seeing the results that you’re looking for. I’d like to maybe dig a little bit more into kind of the initial concept phases where you’re staring down the barrel of this initiative.What kind of challenges do you see reps tending to face when it comes to things like product launch, and what were your best practices for overcoming them as you were executing over the next few months? KS: Yeah, information overload is a big one. And it’s one that—you know, I mentioned we did this in conjunction with other product enhancements and a marketing branding shift in our messaging, as well as a pitch deck launch.So you know, besides that, reps are always being overloaded with information, and so that’s always something you have to contend with as a challenge. Also, when reps are learning about how to sell a new product, it’s something that’s outside of their existing knowledge and skill set a lot of the time or, you know, is just stretching them in a different way.And so you have to figure out how to use the foundation that they already had and build upon that. And then sometimes there’s additional complexities as well. And so when I think about those challenges and how to solve for them, I think about, you know, making sure that you’re taking a crawl-walk-run approach with those product launch moments and building upon what they already have to get them into that run state, but not expecting them to run right out of the gate—which a lot of times is an expectation that happens.So making sure that we’re setting them up for success in learning and building upon that learning, and then also creating resources that really meet them where they are in their tenure and their journey, and being able to translate complex information into simple information that they can digest, consume, put into practice, and then go and evangelize.And then also weaving in sales subject matter experts that really know how to sell your current product and what talking to your customers is like currently, and using them as subject matter experts to really inform that sales motion of that product launch. RR: Great. I think those are all wonderful strategies. And I know kind of a common one when it comes to product launch that you need to keep in mind is just how crucial cross-functional alignment is for the success of a launch. So can you talk to me a little bit about how you create and maybe maintain alignment as you’re building and executing your launch enablement strategy? KS: Yeah, it is so critical. And communication in general in all relationships is so important. And so this is one that really is the make-or-break fail point in a lot of companies. And so having regular touchpoints with subject matter experts across various teams such as—you know, as I called out, sales and success—but also product marketing and other marketing teams. Operations is another really key one.There are so many different teams, and if you’re lucky, you’ll have a business transformation team or a project management team that’s there to foster all of those cross-functional relationships and create that alignment.We work really closely with our product managers and our product teams. We meet with them regularly within our enablement role. In fact, we have somebody in enablement at Dialpad that’s focused on our product and pricing strategy, and so he has these deep relationships with these different teams and different individuals across the business.Additionally, we have a product launch playbook that we have socialized with these cross-functional partners so they know what that playbook looks like, how it can act modularly, and where they play in the process of the playbook—or where they fit into the process, so to speak.And so that really helps us create that alignment and speak the same language. Lastly, we focus on retrospectives—so making sure that we’re learning from each product launch or product release to the next, and by performing retrospectives and having that discussion over, hey, what worked really well, what maybe didn’t work as well, and what can we make better the next time? RR: I love those strategies. I think the Product Launch Playbook is such a clever idea to kind of get everybody on board and aligned with what you’re expected to accomplish. I also love the idea of coming back and reviewing. Sometimes the business runs so fast that you feel like you can’t, but that moment is just as essential—almost—as that next product launch. So I love to hear that.Thinking then of how you’re launching, I’d also like to know a little bit about once you’ve established alignment, how you’re then developing that launch strategy to start running with. Could you talk me through the components of your launch strategy and then maybe how you’re partnering with an enablement platform to support and scale it? KS: Yeah, so that product launch playbook is key. And making sure that it’s modular and nimble to work with various forms or shapes and sizes in which products or, you know, product launch moments happen.Highspot is truly the home—or I guess any platform that people might use—to host just-in-time resources. For us, it’s Highspot, and it truly is the home and where we expect reps to go to first. And so if we think about it in that way, we need to build around that concept.So having that host pre-launch and post-launch and launch materials, having it give guidelines on how to execute—whether it is, you know, as an SDR, BDR, ADR, picking up the phone, what to say, how sellers should be selling the product, how our Customer Success Managers should be reviewing adoption for the product—all needs to live there.We also focus on asynchronous learning, so making sure that we’re not pulling reps out of prime-time selling and giving them space and time to learn on their own, but also checking their knowledge through knowledge checks and certifications. And then all of this new information happening during a product launch needs to, in some way, shape, or form, be folded into onboarding.So thinking about how that comes back into onboarding so that reps who start tomorrow can benefit from that information and be able to hit the ground running. RR: Yeah, there are a lot of different lenses to look at it and areas in which it needs to be embedded, so that all makes sense. On the note of enablement platforms, I know that Dialpad had previously partnered with another enablement solution, so can you maybe share why Highspot was the better fit for your organization as well as how it supports your enablement strategy today? KS: Yeah, Highspot is integral.It’s integral in that it is where our reps start their day and where they end their day. It hosts all of our content, both internal-facing and external-facing. So Highspot is a game changer for us because within my team it’s easy for us to manage from an admin perspective and to practice governance across the various teams that are content creators or host content and manage it there.Our reps are familiar with using it. That’s another thing—you know, having a solution like Highspot is something that reps come to expect nowadays, and so they’re familiar with it, they know how to use it, and we’re constantly thinking about how they interact with it and how we can train them to interact with it better.Our Highspot team—so the team that helps us at Highspot—is a differentiator. So that is our CSM and our AM. So Jess, Emily, our Technical Account Manager Brian, and Matt Hunin, our Solutions Engineer, all help us be able to learn the latest and greatest, utilize what we already have, and maximize our value.And then potentially look at other things that might help us as we overall, as a company, shift to more of a just-in-time strategy. So moving away from live sessions that people are going to forget most of what you said, moving away from, you know, long e-learnings, and more of, okay, I’m in—you know, I have to prepare for this call in 15 minutes—where am I going to find that information?Surfacing it up in Highspot and making it easy to find has become a game changer in helping them—meeting them where they're at and giving them the information they need to be successful.And then we can use data from Highspot and correlate that to leading indicators on whether reps are doing the kind of behaviors we want to see and how that ties to business outcomes. And are the reps actually closing deals or protecting revenue as a result? RR: Well, that’s all great to hear, and I always love to hear a really positive experience. I’m so glad that your account team is there to support you through all of it.We have heard through the grapevine, actually, that you’re doing some really awesome work with the platform, and one area where you’ve seen a lot of success is actually through Digital Rooms—with over 342 Digital Rooms created in Highspot, as well as a 9% increase in external engagement, which is wonderful just to call that out.So what are some of your best practices for driving that adoption? KS: Yeah, yeah. We moved to Digital Rooms just last year, if you can believe it, from pitch templates. And one of the things we did first off was—there was a Highspot University course around Digital Rooms that we took, and we also used materials that we were able to find from Highspot so we could become proficient ourselves as the people that were enabling the reps.We then built a dedicated Digital Room kit to help reps get familiar with the why and the how of Digital Rooms and provided them with walkthroughs. And then we hosted sessions, we did asynchronous learning, we do one-on-one support for our reps on why it’s important, how to build, how to find engagement and analytics.And we regularly also work with reps to get feedback—so figure out what’s working, how do we build templates that make it really easy for them to add in what they want to add in, what information do they always add in so we can just add it into the template for them.Another thing that we thought about was—we use Consensus for demo videos, and so integrating Consensus into there, and how do we make that easy?We have also thought about Digital Rooms not just for sales. We’ve thought about it for our sales development reps and what are their use cases, and built templates for them, and done specific training for them, and gotten feedback from them.We’ve also thought about the post-sales journey a lot. So how do we get our client sales reps using it to position cross-sell and upsell? And then customer success—where do we feed in content for QBRs or other conversations that they’re having with customers and integrating in their feedback to make their templates better?So we’re always thinking about how to get our reps more and more proficient and making that a focal point month over month. And we’re really excited for some of the enhancements coming to Digital Rooms that we’re going to capitalize on moving forward and making sure our reps know how to use it. RR: Yeah. I love that you led with educating yourself first, because how can you enable on something that you haven’t been in those weeds with as well?Well, that’s one of the biggest things you can give your reps—is to build with them in mind. You know their work, you can build something for them, and then actually they’ll use it. It sounds simple, but it’s really hard to do.So I’d love to hear a little bit of a shift in focus, but I’m curious if you could walk me through how you measure the impact of—and maybe then begin to optimize—some of your enablement efforts? KS: Yeah, I think about measuring impact of enablement in three ways. So you have the first prong, which is your enablement effort in general. So how do you measure enablement through, like, what activities are you doing?So this is—you know, if you think about the Kirkpatrick model—this is Level 1 and Level 2: Was your training effective? Were you able to certify, you know, X number of reps? That sort of thing. Those are examples of that.Then I think about the second prong, which is leading indicators. And this is about behavior. Are the reps able to take what they have learned and apply it to their daily workflow?Maybe it looks like building pipeline, maybe it looks like having certain conversations with customers or sending information to customers. You know, it could be various things that are that kind of Level 3 of Kirkpatrick.And then the third prong is at Level 4—so thinking about those business outcomes that are the goals of why you are doing this whole enablement approach to begin with. What kind of revenue are you trying to impact? Are you trying to impact conversion rates, you know, average deal size? Are you trying to increase revenue? Are you trying to protect revenue—so reduce churn and downsell?Those are all things that, you know, are on my mind. And then the correlation between the three—the correlation between the enablement efforts, the behavior change that you’re seeing through leading indicators, and the business outcomes.And so when it comes to then, okay, we’ve launched something, we’ve measured it, and now we’re trying to optimize it—it is then looking at, alright, what are the different checkpoints along the way in which we can say, did we do our job? Or do we need to go back and do more?And so maybe it looks like, hey, are they actually reviewing the play or the kits? Are they sending the content to customers? If not, why? We can ask those questions, because we can see the data on whether or not they’re doing it. Are they saying it in customer conversations? That looks like utilizing a conversational intelligence tool to see if they’re actually using it in those conversations.We can start to dig into all the different pieces and figure out where we need to refine our enablement approach to fill that gap.And so we can utilize Highspot to do that, our data in Salesforce to do that, conversational intelligence data. There are many different ways, but just having that data to dig into it, and then asking questions to reps is so important. RR: Thanks so much for that really thoughtful step-by-step walkthrough. I think that’s really actionable, and I think our listeners will take a lot away from it. I know that measurement is always going to kind of be difficult for enablement teams, so I love just hearing how folks have developed real actionable strategies for making it happen.But on the subject of measurement, I’d love to know—since implementing Highspot, what business results have you achieved? Any wins that you could share or just anything that you’re proud of that you’ve accomplished over at Dialpad? KS: Yeah, I’m proud of so much. Our team has done a phenomenal job, and as you called out—you know, the successes with Digital Rooms and that new product that we launched, that new SKU—those are really huge.Additionally, we have utilized Highspot to realize over $16 million of influenced revenue in just 2024 alone within our revenue organization. That is such a testament to how much our reps have Highspot integrated into their day-to-day life, and then how they use that information to speak to customers, how they use their messaging, and then how that behavior results in those closed-won opportunities.Additionally, partner is such a huge focus of Dialpad—so our partnerships with our resellers, our partnership with our channel—and we have seen a high increase: 23% of our partner material being used and being viewed and then being leveraged, which is also something I’m very proud of.And then the project that I’m currently working on that I’m proud of—but, you know, time will tell on results—is I’m working on a robust governance strategy so we can really take Highspot to the next level and make our cross-functional partners more of the partners in how the content gets delivered to our reps.And so I’m really looking forward to rolling out our more robust governance strategy this year. RR: We’ll stay tuned on how it goes. I mean, those are already incredible results, so thank you so much for sharing.Just one last question for you before we close out—would love for you to share maybe what the biggest pieces of advice you’d give other enablement leaders to help them drive a successful product launch. KS: I think the modular Product Launch Playbook has been huge—so having a laid-out plan for how you would run a product launch from start to finish in enablement and making sure that it fits all sizes, shapes, and formations of what a product launch might look like.And then the other piece of advice I would give is having regular communication and good working relationships across multiple cross-functional partners so that siloed work becomes less of a thing you have to battle. Because that just means that, you know, working together, we all lift each other up.And so that’s something that then trickles down to our reps, but then also trickles out to our customers and makes them more willing to buy from us. So I think cross-functional relationships are just so key—and so keep on working on those relationships. RR: Those are both fantastic pieces of advice, so thank you for taking the time to come share these insights with us. I think I speak for myself and our listeners when I say that I learned a lot of valuable information and was taking notes for sure.To our audience, thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Win-Win podcast. Be sure to tune in next time for more insights on how you can maximize enablement success with Highspot.
What happens when you combine 8 billion minutes of voice data with a full-stack AI engine? Yes, that's what Dialpad is doing. In this episode, Brian Peterson, CTO and Co-Founder, breaks down how they've built an AI-powered communications platform from the ground up. From real-time sales coaching and AI-driven support agents to predictive analytics that can spot churn before it happens, Brian shares why owning the full stack — infrastructure, LLMs, and data is the only way to deliver truly intelligent customer experience. If you're curious about the future of AI in business communication, this is the episode to watch. Stay Updated: Craig Smith on X:https://x.com/craigss Eye on A.I. on X: https://x.com/EyeOn_AI (00:00) Brian's Founding Story (03:56) What Dialpad Actually Does Today (05:17) Is Voice the Most Valuable Untapped Data Source? (07:41) Inside DialpadGPT (10:10) AI Solutions for Sales, Support & Collaboration (12:24) Owning the Entire Customer Journey with Unified Comms (14:11) How Dialpad Stays Ahead in the AI Race (17:50) Real-Time AI Coaching & Playbooks (22:32) Why Most Enterprises are Behind in AI Adoption (25:28) Action-Oriented AI Agents (32:40) What's Next for AI in Customer Communication
Jim Palmer, Chief AI Officer at Dialpad, returns to the ‘AI in Financial Services' podcast to discuss the next evolution in enterprise AI: agentic systems. These autonomous tools promise dramatic changes to how work is done, but only if grounded in real-world applications and use cases. Throughout the episode, Jim outlines how domain-specific data, rigorous back-office testing, and a layered trust framework help organizations move beyond hype cycles. Rather than focusing on full automation, he emphasizes augmentation, enabling human agents with AI-driven coaching, automated assistance, and context-aware insights. Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship ‘AI in Business' podcast!
Marketing isn't just about tactics, it's about strategy. And most times, the smartest move is playing the long game.That's the strategy behind Settlers of Catan, a board game built on resource trading, calculated risks, and thinking three steps ahead. In this episode, we're drawing inspiration from its gameplay with our special guest, Jen Grant, Chief Marketing Officer at Dialpad.Together, we explore what B2B marketers can learn from staying focused on their own path, anticipating competitor reactions, and building a diversified strategy that drives long-term growth. Because in both Settlers of Catan and marketing, the real power play is thinking beyond your next move.About our guest, Jen GrantBefore joining Dialpad as Chief Marketing Officer in October 2024, Jen served on the Dialpad Board of Directors, held C-level positions at Cube and Appify, led Looker's marketing, drove the rebrand of Elastic, and grew Box to an industry-leading enterprise content company. Jen holds an MBA from Wharton, a BA from Princeton, and has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Princeton Technology leaders.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Settlers of Catan:Play your own game. In Catan, constantly reacting to what others are doing can leave you scrambling. The same applies in B2B marketing. Jen encourages a more grounded approach: “You do much better, sort of very quietly focusing on your own growth.” Instead of chasing competitors or mimicking market leaders, build a strategy that aligns with your own long-term vision. Because sustainable growth isn't won through noise, but through quiet, deliberate moves.Always be forecasting. Winning at Catan means thinking ahead, not just about your next move, but the ones after that. Jen says, “I actually really love the strategy part of it. Thinking about, okay, we're about to launch a particular feature. What's that gonna make the competition do?” In a competitive landscape, it's not enough to plan for what you control; you also need to anticipate how others will react. Great marketers operate like strategic game players. Don't bet on just one road to victory. Catan punishes one-dimensional players. You can't win by hoarding sheep alone, you need balance. Jen explains, “It is never one thing…It's all of the things at the same time, executed perfectly well.” Diversification isn't just about spreading risk; it's about orchestrating a full-spectrum effort that compounds over time. The most impactful marketing isn't siloed, it's symphonic.Quotes*“The thing about Catan, and other board games, this might come into play too, but you could potentially spend all of your time trying to crush the other players…And when you play a game a lot, you're like, oh, I'm gonna try this strategy this time, see what happens. And one of the things that I've definitely never seen work is if you focus all your energy on messing with other people. You do much better sort of very quietly, focusing on your own growth.”*“ I actually think the reason I like the game so much is the game theory of thinking ahead, 2, 3, 4 steps ahead. And so you're thinking how am I gonna achieve my goals, but what are they gonna do when I do, whatever it is, buy this road. I love that part of the game. I love thinking out ahead, okay, if we do this, then what are they gonna do? And for marketing, I think we often get caught up in the fun, creative part of marketing. But I actually really love the strategy part of it, of thinking about, okay, we're about to launch a particular feature. What's that gonna make the competition do? Are they gonna freak out? Are we kind of catching up to them? And maybe we shouldn't be so loud about it 'cause we should have had this before. All of the different implications of what you do in a market and then how the competition actually responds.”*“ So the thing about Catan at the very beginning of the game is that there are numbers on every square. And so you get to choose two places to put your little settlement, and there are three numbers for each of those settlements. So right there, you have six numbers, and the numbers are on resources. And what's really important, and many people don't think about this, is you wanna have all of the resources available to you on numbers that get rolled frequently, but you can't be on only two numbers. And it kind of speaks to diversifying tactics. So that to me goes right to marketing. Oftentimes, we'll get CEOs or CFOs, probably more likely. Just find that one thing that works really well and put all your budget into the one thing, and you're like, it is never one thing. Never, never, never is it one thing. It's all of the things at the same time executed perfectly well.”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Jen Grant, Chief Marketing Officer at Dialpad[02:10] Why Settlers of Catan[03:08] The Role of CMO at Dialpad[04:52] Dialpad's Evolution[09:19] Dialpad's Super Bowl Ad[10:40] Origins of Settlers of Catan[16:23] B2B Marketing Lessons from Settlers of Catan[49:47] How Jen is Investing in Brand and Content[56:25] Final Thoughts and TakeawaysLinksConnect with Jen on LinkedInLearn more about DialpadAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today's episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Head of Production). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.
Today's guest is Jim Palmer, Chief AI Officer at Dialpad. Dialpad is an AI-powered communication platform offering unified calling, messaging, video conferencing, and customer support. It helps businesses improve team collaboration and productivity through scalable, efficient communication solutions. In this episode, Jim Palmer joins Emerj Managing Editor Matthew DeMello on the show today to discuss the evolution of AI in customer experience. With over 10 years of experience in AI solutions, Jim shares valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities businesses face in implementing human-centric AI. From overcoming disparate systems to measuring AI's ROI, they dive deep into the practical aspects of AI integration and its impact on customer satisfaction. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.
Scaling Your Insurance Business: Strategies and ToolsIn the latest episode of the Insurance Business Babes podcast, hosts Kathe Kline and Joanna Wyckoff explore the crucial topic of scaling an insurance business. They share insights and practical advice on how to efficiently manage and grow a client base without sacrificing time or resources.Joanna and Kathe emphasize the importance of leveraging technology to enhance business operations. A prime example they discuss is the use of VOIP phone systems, like RingCentral or Dialpad, that not only record calls but also provide AI-generated summaries. This feature allows agents to quickly access details from previous conversations, ensuring they maintain strong client relationships and efficiently resolve issues without relistening to entire calls.The episode also highlights the necessity of being strategic with client services. Joanna shares the example of Benelink, a subcontractor for carriers that assists clients with renewing Medicare Savings Programs. By directing clients to such services, agents can focus on tasks that directly contribute to business growth rather than spending time on non-revenue-generating activities. This approach not only saves time but also reduces liability risks.Kathe discusses the benefits of flexible compensation models, especially when onboarding new agents or partners. This model can attract part-time agents who bring additional experience and networks to the business, ultimately aiding in its growth.Joanna explains the advantages of using Sunfire over Connexure for quoting and applications, primarily due to its comprehensive features like verifying client information, checking Medicaid levels, and providing a seamless application process. Having the right tool can drastically reduce errors and increase efficiency, which is essential for scaling an insurance business.As their conversation reveals, scaling an insurance business requires a combination of strategic client management, the right technological tools, and flexible operational structures. By adopting these practices, insurance agents can effectively grow their businesses while maintaining high standards of client service.This episode is sponsored by CertifiedMedicareAgents.com
Dan Foster is a Chief Operating/Revenue Officer, who built and transformed profitable businesses across technology and telecom start-ups as well as industry powerhouses. Companies turn to him to revive struggling businesses by redefining sales, marketing and customer service strategy, scaling infrastructure, and promoting product innovation. In this episode, Dan shares how bundled solutions increase value and close rates. He discusses AI's growing role in B2B sales and procurement. And stresses using data to understand customer needs and justify pricing. Why you have to check out today's podcast: Learn how bundling products and services can enhance perceived value, increase close rates, and prevent price-sensitive buyers from deconstructing your offerings. Gain insights into how AI is transforming the sales landscape, from optimizing product recommendations to procurement teams using AI to negotiate better prices. Understand why pricing should be tied to the customer's business outcomes and how to communicate the true value of your solutions effectively. "You take the data around a pricing example and you really understand the value from the end user's perspective, so you got to have that empathy back in to say what moves their business. And when we understand what moves their business with a few numbers, then you start to give the underpinning for why value pricing matters." - Dan Foster Topics Covered: 02:01 - How his early consulting work made him think about value and led him to pricing 03:23 - Asking about typical reactions to pricing presentations 04:24 - Explaining that selling value starts with understanding product-market fit 07:03 - Highlighting the importance of teaching distribution partners how to sell value, using the Home Depot-SolarCity partnership as an example 10:43 - How can ROI calculators be convincing 14:07 - Explaining that while they don't track proven value directly due to lack of data, anecdotal feedback and supplier insights indicate improved close rates for partners 15:09 - How AI is reshaping product offerings, expanding technology advisors' roles, and influencing cost-cutting for innovation 19:10 - Highlighting that while AI may drive procurement efficiencies complex digital transformation solutions still rely on expertise 20:27 - How bundling simplifies purchasing and reinforce the value of an all-in-one solution 24:27 - Dan's best pricing advice Key Takeaways: "If you want to buy a ton of storage and it's a commodity, we get that. That could go through the marketplace earlier than not. If you want a digital transformation, if you want to change your customer experience, if you want to make your business run faster, if you want business process automation and robotic process automation, that's not going through a dynamic pricing model on a marketplace near-term. Now, can I go out and look at, like, UiPath Licensing versus Automation Anywhere versus whoever Microsoft scooped up next and look at pricing models? The procurement folks are probably smart to do that." - Dan Foster "But the bundled solution specifically is, I think, fundamental because otherwise, when you offer them the menu-based pricing, oftentimes they don't see the full value." - Dan Foster "It [selling value] starts with that product-market fit. We do a lot of enablement of our partners or downstream almost like a two-tier distributor. And in doing that we provide the ability for them to see a higher close rate when they use tools and resources. It alleviates that conversation and it's inherent that there's value pricing there." - Dan Foster "It's critical to think through in a subscription-based model what that value is, because that customer acquisition cost versus the long-term value of a customer, it's a critical ratio to understand when you're thinking through pricing." - Dan Foster People/Resources Mentioned: Cummins Engine Company: https://www.cumminsenginepart.com/ Unilever: https://www.unilever.com Alcoa: https://www.alcoa.com/global/en/home/ Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Selling-Value-Deals-Higher-Prices/product-reviews/1737655217/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_show_all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews& SolarCity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SolarCity Home Depot: https://www.homedepot.com Azure: https://azure.microsoft.com/ Google: https://www.google.com/?client=safari Lowe's: https://www.lowes.com Sun Power: https://us.sunpower.com Sunrun: https://www.sunrun.com TD Synnex: https://www.tdsynnex.com/na/us/ Ingram Micro: https://www.ingrammicro.com Five9: https://www.five9.com Genesys: https://www.genesys.com/en-sg/ NICE inContact: https://www.nice.com/ Zoom: https://zoom.us Dialpad: incontact.com/content/home.htm ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/ Automation Anywhere: https://www.automationanywhere.com Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ph/ UiPath Licensing: https://licensing.uipath.com/ Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/welcome?orig_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F Roku TV: https://www.roku.com/products/roku-tv?srsltid=AfmBOoomwWI9G8ZABYW7gSPFzBHc87xVmartPBXAWzj7GfPfAJQYjTtO Super Bowl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl Xfinity: https://www.xfinity.com/ Connect with Dan Foster: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdanfoster/ Email: dfoster@telarus.com Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com
ABOUT JIM PALMERJim Palmer is the Chief AI Officer at Dialpad. Previously he was CTO and Co-Founder of TalkIQ, a conversational intelligence start-up with expertise in real-time speech recognition and natural language processing, acquired by Dialpad in May of 2018. Prior to TalkIQ, he was the founding engineer on the eBay Now local delivery service.SHOW NOTES:Tips and cheat codes for navigating AI governance (3:30)Breaking down red teaming & adversarial testing in AI governance (8:02)Launching and scaling adversarial testing efforts (11:27)Unexpected benefits unlocked with adversarial testing (13:43)Understanding data governance and strategic AI investments (15:38)Building resilient AI from concept to customer validation (19:28)Exploring early feature validation and pattern recognition in AI (22:38)Adaptability in data management and ensuring safe, ethical data use while adapting to evolving legal and governance requirements (26:51)How to prepare data for safe and sustainable long-term use (30:02)Strategies for compliant data practices in a regulated world (32:43)Building data deletion systems with model training in mind (35:14)Current events and trends shaping adaptability and durability in the AI ecosystem (38:38)The role of a Chief AI Officer (41:20)Rapid fire questions (44:35)LINKS AND RESOURCESGenius Makers: The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google, Facebook, and the World - With deep and exclusive reporting, across hundreds of interviews, New York Times Silicon Valley journalist Cade Metz brings you into the rooms where these questions are being answered. Where an extraordinarily powerful new artificial intelligence has been built into our biggest companies, our social discourse, and our daily lives, with few of us even noticing.This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
Teddy Himler brings over 15 years of global experience at leading institutions, including Goldman Sachs, SoftBank, Comcast Ventures, and Antler, to his role at Optimist Ventures.Throughout his career, Teddy has cultivated deep expertise in global technology trends, innovative business models, and firm-building, with a focus on sectors such as artificial intelligence, insurance, healthcare, and industrial automation.At Antler, Teddy served as a partner, where he played a key role in the firm's growth, helping it become the world's most active early-stage venture capital firm by deal count.Prior to Antler, Teddy was instrumental in scaling SoftBank's operations in both the U.S. and Southeast Asia. In 2018, he launched SoftBank Group International's first New York City office, where he managed assets outside of SoftBank's Vision Fund, including Arm, Sprint, Boston Dynamics, and Brightstar. Earlier, as SoftBank Capital's first West Coast hire, Teddy served as Vice President, spearheading its Southeast Asia strategy from Jakarta while collaborating with partners like Alibaba.From 2018 to 2021, Teddy was a Principal at Comcast Ventures in New York, where he focused on investments in consumer internet, robotics, fintech (including insurtech and crypto), and other emerging technologies as part of Comcast's corporate venture capital platform.Teddy began his career at Goldman Sachs as an investment banking analyst in the Technology, Media & Telecom group in San Francisco. He holds a B.A. in Government and Economics from Harvard University.Over the years, Teddy has backed five unicorns at the seed or Series A stages and has been a deal team leader or member in numerous landmark investments, including Kabbage, Fitbit, Dialpad, BigCommerce, Grab, Tokopedia, Cheddar, Acorns, Hippo, Blockdaemon, Madison Reed, Blockchange, ABL Space, KeyMe, Arm, Boston Dynamics, SoftBank Robotics, Sprint, Cybereason, Zola, SoFi, Airspan, OneWeb, Kindbody, Berkshire Grey, Lemonade, Brightstar, Airalo, Earlytrade, Folio, Ora Health, Endless Health, and Inshur.Teddy's career reflects a track record of identifying transformative technologies and building global ventures, making him a key figure in the venture capital ecosystem.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teddy-himler-84674719/
What would happen to your business if your customer service operations went down right now? Do you have the tools and strategies in place to handle a sudden crisis, or would your contact center be scrambling to meet demand? Today, we're discussing how AI and cloud-based solutions can help organizations manage crises and enhance customer service operations with John Finch at RingCentral. We'll explore key strategies for building resilience in customer service, particularly in response to recent IT outages. John Finch leads product marketing at RingCentral for the customer engagement portfolio, which includes RingCX and RingSense AI, as RingCentral scales and expands its global customer engagement reach. He has held product marketing leadership roles at Zendesk, Dialpad, Serenova (LiveOps), and Genesys, launching Enterprise SaaS contact center solutions into the market. RESOURCES RingCentral: https://www.ringcentral.com RingCentral's 2025 Trends Report: https://www.ringcentral.com/us/en/blog/the-state-of-ai-in-business-communications-key-insights-from-ringcentrals-2025-trends-report/ Don't miss Medallia Experience 2025, March 24-26 in Las Vegas: Registration is now available: https://cvent.me/AmO1k0 Use code MEDEXP25 for $200 off registration Register now for HumanX 2025. This AI-focused event which brings some of the most forward-thinking minds in technology together. Register now with the code "HX25p_tab" for $250 off the regular price. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.show Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company
What would happen to your business if your customer service operations went down right now? Do you have the tools and strategies in place to handle a sudden crisis, or would your contact center be scrambling to meet demand? Today, we're discussing how AI and cloud-based solutions can help organizations manage crises and enhance customer service operations with John Finch at RingCentral. We'll explore key strategies for building resilience in customer service, particularly in response to recent IT outages. John Finch leads product marketing at RingCentral for the customer engagement portfolio, which includes RingCX and RingSense AI, as RingCentral scales and expands its global customer engagement reach. He has held product marketing leadership roles at Zendesk, Dialpad, Serenova (LiveOps), and Genesys, launching Enterprise SaaS contact center solutions into the market. RESOURCES RingCentral: https://www.ringcentral.com RingCentral's 2025 Trends Report: https://www.ringcentral.com/us/en/blog/the-state-of-ai-in-business-communications-key-insights-from-ringcentrals-2025-trends-report/ Don't miss Medallia Experience 2025, March 24-26 in Las Vegas: Registration is now available: https://cvent.me/AmO1k0 Use code MEDEXP25 for $200 off registration Register now for HumanX 2025. This AI-focused event which brings some of the most forward-thinking minds in technology together. Register now with the code "HX25p_tab" for $250 off the regular price. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.show Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company
In this episode of "Insurance Business Babes," Joanna Wyckoff shares a challenging incident where a client was unwilling to engage with her assistant due to racial bias. This underscores the ongoing issues of discrimination that persist even in professional settings. Joanna emphasizes the importance of her office process, where clients must communicate with her assistant for scheduling—allowing her to focus on more critical insurance matters. Kathe Kline suggests tools like Calendly for online scheduling, yet Joanna points out that some clients still prefer or are unaware of these digital methods. Kathe's alternative approach to managing her workload includes not working on Wednesdays, reserving these mid-week breaks for personal and administrative tasks. This practice helps her maintain work-life balance, ensuring she never disrupts personal time unless absolutely necessary. The hosts discuss the benefits of consolidating multiple appointments in a single day rather than spreading them across the week. Kathe's extensive experience building and selling businesses gives her unique insights on client retention, particularly during challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic. Highlighting the importance of owning communication systems, Kathe prefers using VoIP services to avoid complications when changing firms. Owning one's client data is crucial in the insurance industry, notes Joanna, who has faced difficulties in data export during company switches. Regulations require keeping call recordings for ten years; therefore, effective data management tools like RingCentral and Dialpad ensure compliance while managing workload efficiently. As the hosts discuss the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP), Joanna recommends transforming thoughts and tasks into checklists to stay organized. Both hosts rely on digital calendars to manage their schedules, ensuring priority tasks are completed first. They also address client needs proactively, from reviewing Medigap before or after AEP to considering additional coverage options. Networking remains a cornerstone of business growth for Kathe, who initially invested in groups like BNI (Business Network International). The BNI model teaches effective networking and the importance of referrals. Kathe advises continually seeking new referral partners, as current partners may leave or change careers. Finally, Kathe emphasizes the necessity of self-care to avoid burnout during intense periods like AEP. Setting work limits and ensuring breaks for meal times can significantly increase productivity. Both hosts stress the importance of retaining existing clients, highlighting that it's easier and often more valuable than acquiring new ones. “Insurance Business Babes” reminds insurance professionals of the importance of balancing professional responsibilities with personal well-being, the efficiency of managing client interactions, and the continual pursuit of networking opportunities. Stay tuned for more insights and practical advice from Kathe Kline and Joanna Wyckoff! Stay tuned for new episodes to continue enhancing your insurance business acumen with Kathe Kline and Joanna Wyckoff. This episode is sponsored by CertifiedMedicareAgents.com
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down with entrepreneur and software pioneer, Marc Andreessen. They discuss the timeline of the woke institutional takeover, the ruinous effects it has had on Western ideology and business, the ways in which AI will shape society, and the immense responsibility we have to instill the future with an ethos and morality that serves human flourishing. Marc Andreessen is a cofounder and general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He is an innovator and creator, one of the few to pioneer a software category used by more than a billion people and one of the few to establish multiple billion-dollar companies. Marc co-created the highly influential Mosaic internet browser and co-founded Netscape, which later sold to AOL for $4.2 billion. He also co-founded Loudcloud, which as Opsware, sold to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. He later served on the board of Hewlett-Packard from 2008 to 2018. Marc holds a B.S. in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Marc serves on the board of the following Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies: Applied Intuition, Carta, Coinbase, Dialpad, Flow, Golden, Honor, OpenGov, Samsara, Simple Things, and TipTop Labs. He is also on the board of Meta. This episode was filmed on December 18th, 2024. | Links | For Marc Andreessen: On X https://x.com/pmarca?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Substack https://pmarca.substack.com/ “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto” (Book) https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/
In today's episode, THE MENTORS RADIO host Dan Hesse talks with Marc Andreessen, the outspoken technology visionary who believes that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will save the world. In this episode, Marc shares his advice for entrepreneurs, talks about how new fields such as cryptocurrency and The Metaverse will impact our lives. After co-creating the influential Mosaic Internet browser and co-founding Netscape, Marc led a remarkable career building new companies. As co-founder and general partner of venture capital firm Andreesen-Horowitz (also referred to as “a16z”), he continues to mentor many of today's most successful tech entrepreneurs. A lifelong innovator and creator, Marc is one of the few to pioneer a software category used by more than a billion (BILLION!) people and one of the few to establish multiple billion-dollar companies. Andreessen co-created the highly influential Mosaic internet browser and co-founded Netscape, which later sold to AOL for $4.2 billion. He also co-founded Loudcloud, which, as Opsware, sold to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. He later served on the board of Hewlett-Packard from 2008 to 2018. Marc holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He serves on the board of the following Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies: Applied Intuition, Carta, Coinbase, Dialpad, Flow, Golden, Honor, OpenGov and Samsara. He is also on the board of Meta. Listen to this episode below or on ANY podcast platform (from Apple to Google to iTunes etc )— Just type in “THE Mentors RADIO” … even easier, Subscribe HERE & listen on any podcast platform!!! (click here). And don't forget to give us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!! SHOW NOTES: MARC ANDREESSEN: BIO: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Andreessen ARTICLES: Why AI will save the world, by Marc Andreessen Why Software Is Eating the World, by Marc Andreessen It's Time to Build, by Marc Andreessen VIDEOS/Other Interviews with Marc Andreessen: Marc Andressen on His Intellectual Journey the Last 10 Years An Interview with Marc Andreessen about AI and How You Change the World Woke Capital with Marc Andreessen
### Overcoming Bias in Client Interactions In this episode of "Insurance Business Babes," Joanna Wyckoff shares a challenging incident where a client was unwilling to engage with her assistant due to racial bias. This underscores the ongoing issues of discrimination that persist even in professional settings. Joanna emphasizes the importance of her office process, where clients must communicate with her assistant for scheduling—allowing her to focus on more critical insurance matters. ### Leveraging Technology for Scheduling and Retention Kathe suggests tools like Calendly for online scheduling, yet Joanna points out that some clients still prefer or are unaware of these digital methods. Kathe's alternative approach to managing her workload includes reserving these mid-week breaks for personal and administrative tasks. This practice helps her maintain work-life balance, ensuring she never disrupts personal time unless absolutely necessary. ### Managing Appointments Efficiently The hosts discuss the benefits of consolidating multiple appointments in a single day rather than spreading them across the week. Kathe's extensive experience building and selling businesses gives her unique insights on client retention, particularly during challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic. Highlighting the importance of owning communication systems, Kathe prefers owning her own VoIP services to avoid complications when changing firms. ### Tackling the Data Management Challenge Owning one's client data in your CRM is crucial in the insurance industry, notes Joanna, who has faced difficulties in data export during company switches. Regulations require keeping call recordings for ten years; therefore, effective data management tools like RingCentral and Dialpad ensure compliance while managing workload efficiently. ### Prioritizing Tasks During AEP As the hosts discuss the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP), Joanna recommends transforming thoughts and tasks into checklists to stay organized. Both hosts rely on digital calendars to manage their schedules, ensuring priority tasks are completed first. They also address client needs proactively, from reviewing Medigap before or after AEP to considering additional coverage options. ### Consistent Referrals and Networking Networking remains a cornerstone of business growth for Kathe, who initially invested in groups like BNI (Business Network International). The BNI model teaches effective networking and the importance of referrals. Kathe advises continually seeking new referral partners, as current partners may leave or change careers. ### Self-Care and Avoiding Burnout Finally, Kathe emphasizes the necessity of self-care to avoid burnout during intense periods like AEP. Setting work limits and ensuring breaks for meal times can significantly increase productivity. Both hosts stress the importance of retaining existing clients, highlighting that it's easier and often more valuable than acquiring new ones. ### Conclusion “Insurance Business Babes” reminds insurance professionals of the importance of balancing professional responsibilities with personal well-being, the efficiency of managing client interactions, and the continual pursuit of networking opportunities. This episode is hosted by CertifedMedicareAgents.com
Shan Sinha is confronting the urgent issue of workplace violence in healthcare. Delving into the alarming rise of aggression against healthcare workers, particularly exacerbated by the pandemic, Shan discusses pioneering solutions like Canopy's wearable safety buttons that empower staff with connectivity and protection. Shan shares his extraordinary journey through the fast-paced world of technology and innovation. We embark on a captivating exploration of Shan's upbringing in Texas, his academic pursuit at MIT during the pivotal shift from Microsoft's reign to Google's ascension, and his leap into the startup ecosystem influenced by the dot-com boom. Shan's experiences highlight the challenges and triumphs faced by children of immigrants, shedding light on their vital contributions to technological advancement and healthcare innovation.We trace the transformative evolution of cloud-based collaboration tools, punctuated by the early dominance of Amazon S3 and the emergence of Dropbox and Box. Shan recounts his bold decision to leave Microsoft, paving the way for his startup's critical role in shaping Google Drive, and reflects on Google's prescient embrace of hybrid work and video conferencing well before the pandemic. The journey through Shan's entrepreneurial ventures culminates in a successful acquisition by Dialpad, underscoring the dynamic interplay between technological growth and societal demands.This episode challenges us to rethink how we safeguard our essential healthcare workers, drawing insights from Numbers on't Lie, by Vaclav Smil. It's a thought-provoking book on exponential growth and innovation that offers hope for addressing today's pressing issues, from energy to food waste. Host David E. Williams is president of healthcare strategy consulting firm Health Business Group. Produced by Dafna Williams.
UC Today's Susie Harrison hosts Justin Powell, Channel Leader at Dialpad.In this session, they cover:The opportunities and threats of AI in the channelHow channel partners can upskill to incorporate AI into their solutionsHow AI can protect or increase margins for channel partnersAI readiness levels across Europe
Today's interview is with Natasha Ratanshi-Stein, CEO & Founder of Surfboard, an award-winning workforce management (WFM) software provider. Natasha joins me today to talk about the findings of their recently released 2024 customer service survey: The third wave of customer support, what might be stopping some customer service teams from not investing in AI tools and capabilities, where they are investing, how it is benefitting them and some advice for customer service leaders looking to get the most out of their AI investments. Since this podcast was recorded, Surfboard has been acquired by Dialpad. You can find out more here. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Basketball, false hustle and metrics that matter – Interview with Thomas Laird of Expivia/OttoQA – and is number 521 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders who are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, host Kevin Brent sits down with Mark Crane, the founder of Evolution Risk Group and CEO of Coachd, to explore his entrepreneurial journey, dive deep into his sales strategies, and share insightful leadership lessons from his experience in building and scaling businesses. Mark is a dynamic leader who brings a wealth of knowledge to the conversation, particularly around effective lead generation, hiring for startups, and leveraging technology to enhance business operations. Here are some key topics covered in the episode: Evolution Risk Group: Mark's independent insurance brokerage, designed to disrupt traditional insurance practices by focusing on personalised service and client problem-solving. The business faced early challenges with recruitment but has since achieved steady growth. Coachd: A coaching business targeting mid to high-tier professionals seeking career, sales, and mindset coaching. Mark provides both one-on-one and group sessions, sharing how his coaching style empowers individuals to invest in their future success. Sales Strategy and Lead Generation: Mark shares his structured approach to lead generation, dedicating a minimum of 2 hours daily to calls and tracking outcomes meticulously. His goal is to have 60 meaningful conversations from every 100 calls, and he emphasises the power of persistence, follow-ups, and multi-channel engagement using LinkedIn, email, and WhatsApp. Recruitment and Team Building: As a startup leader, Mark explains how he shifted his recruitment focus from experience to cultural fit and attitude, partnering with specialist recruiters to find adaptable candidates willing to perform diverse tasks. He discusses the importance of using tools like Monday.com to track team efficiency and inform his hiring strategy. Leveraging Technology: Mark highlights the tools that drive efficiency in his businesses, from Dialpad's call transcription and action point features to HubSpot's CRM system, and the use of WhatsApp for nurturing prospects. These tools have been instrumental in streamlining operations and improving sales efforts. Personal Development: A strong advocate for self-improvement, Mark recommends The Chimp Paradox for mastering mindset and draws inspiration from sales experts like Andy Elliott and Grant Cardone. His 'no-excuses' mentality has been crucial to his success, both as a business leader and coach. Make sure you don't miss any future episodes by subscribing to ScaleUp Radio wherever you like to listen to your podcasts. For now, continue listening for the full story from Mark. Scaling up your business isn't easy, and can be a little daunting. Let ScaleUp Radio make it a little easier for you. With guests who have been where you are now, and can offer their thoughts and advice on several aspects of business. ScaleUp Radio is the business podcast you've been waiting for. If you would like to be a guest on ScaleUp Radio, please click here: https://bizsmarts.co.uk/scaleupradio/kevin You can get in touch with Kevin here: kevin@biz-smart.co.uk Kevin's Latest Book Is Available! Drawing on BizSmart's own research and experiences of working with hundreds of owner-managers, Kevin Brent explores the key reasons why most organisations do not scale and how the challenges change as they reach different milestones on the ScaleUp Journey. He then details a practical step by step guide to successfully navigate between the milestones in the form of ESUS - a proven system for entrepreneurs to scale up. More on the Book HERE - https://www.esusgroup.co.uk/ Mark can be found here: https://www.instagram.com/markcrane247/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-crane/ Resources: The Diary of a CEO - https://stevenbartlett.com/doac/ The Chimp Paradox by Prof Steve Peters - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-chimp-paradox-the-acclaimed-mind-management-programme-to-help-you-achieve-success-confidence-and-happiness-prof-steve-peters/3814057?ean=9780091935580 Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/never-split-the-difference-negotiating-as-if-your-life-depended-on-it-chris-voss/3692653?ean=9781847941497 WhatsApp - https://web.whatsapp.com/ Dialpad - https://www.dialpad.com/uk/ HubSpot - https://www.hubspot.com/ Monday - https://monday.com/
Unifying the business communication stack from contact center to sales team to business collaboration is Dialpad's focus. In this episode of the Tech Disruptors podcast, Craig Walker, founder and CEO, speaks about the company's AI solutions across unified communication as a service, contact centers and conferencing. Walker sits down with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Niraj Patel and dives into software-spending trends, Dialpad's customer focus and how the company is position itself in a crowded landscape. Tune in to hear about AI disruption, Dialpad's large language model that's built on over 6 billion minutes of long-form conversation, and more.
In this candidate journey episode, we break down what it takes to stand out and secure a job at Dialpad, from the skills you need to the culture you can expect. This episode is packed with insider insights and practical advice to help you land your next role at Dialpad.
⚒️ Apps mentioned today (let me know if I missed any)Copilot for client portal stuff https://www.copilot.com/Karbon for client-centric PM things https://karbonhq.com/SafeSend for tax workflows https://safesend.com/Microsoft Teams for team chat https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/group-chat-softwareDiscord for team chat https://discord.gg/Slack for team chat https://slack.com/Zoom for video conferencing https://zoom.us/Google Meet for video conferencing https://meet.google.com/Digits for quality assurance https://digits.com/Scrutinize for quality assurance https://scrutinize.io/VerifyIQ for quality assurance https://verifyiq.co/OpenPhone for your phone & SMS https://openphone.com/Dialpad for your phone & SMS https://www.dialpad.com/Fathom for advanced reporting https://www.fathomhq.com/Reach Reporting for advanced reporting https://reachreporting.com/Spotlight for advance reporting https://www.spotlightreporting.com/G-Accon for spreadsheet automation https://www.accon.services/LiveFlow for spreadsheet automation https://liveflow.io/Amalgam for spreadsheet automation https://www.amalgam.me/Ignition for proposals & payments https://ignitionapp.com/GoProposal for proposals & payments https://goproposal.com/Anchor for proposals & payments https://www.sayanchor.com/bookkeepers/Royalwise for training https://royalwise.com/Uncat for uncategorized transactions https://uncat.com/RightTool for making QBO better https://righttool.app/QuickBooks Online for ledger things https://qbo.intuit.com/Xero for ledger things https://xero.com/Keeper for month end close management https://keeper.app/FloQast for mid market month end close management https://floqast.com/Aider for hybrid PM and month end close management https://www.aider.ai/1Password for password management https://1password.com/LastPass for password management https://www.lastpass.com/Practice Protect for password and identity management https://practiceprotect.com/Gusto for payroll https://gusto.com/Rippling for payroll and PEO https://www.rippling.com/ADP for outsourced payroll https://adp.com/Justworks for PEO https://www.justworks.com/Dext for receipt management https://dext.com/Content Snare for requests https://contentsnare.com/Calendly for scheduling https://calendly.com/Client Hub was mentioned for potentially integrating client meetings https://clienthub.app/
In this episode of Create Like the Greats, we delve into the secrets behind how Dialpad, generates an impressive 500,000 visits in organic traffic every month. Ross is joined by Chris Meabe, a Senior Content Specialist from Foundation Marketing, who shares invaluable insights on Dialpad's success. Ross and Chris explore the unique and special approach Dialpad uses to capture traffic and the innovative techniques that set them apart in the competitive landscape. Key Insights 1. SEO and Programmatic SEO Search Engine Optimization (SEO) revolves around identifying relevant keywords and understanding user search intent to improve visibility in search engine results. Dialpad leverages programmatic SEO, using technology to create landing pages and AI to write copy based on variable inputs. This scalable SEO engine, enhanced with a human touch, propels their rankings from the top 5 to number 1. 2. On-site Optimization and AB Testing Dialpad optimizes its pages for conversions and sales by leveraging effective Calls to Action (CTAs). They employ AB testing, a real-time optimization technique, to continuously refine their strategies. By analyzing different variations of their landing pages, Dialpad improves conversions and drives substantial ROI for the business. 3. Programmatic SEO and Exploring Potential Industries Chris and Ross discuss the potential of programmatic SEO across various industries. For instance, the real estate sector can use data from third-party sources to create targeted landing pages for potential homebuyers. Job listing sites can utilize data from platforms like Glassdoor to create hyper-localized listings. In the education industry, landing pages can target topics such as the best schools by state or province. The finance sector requires thorough research to ensure credibility when creating content related to investments and financial advice. They also explore many other industries, highlighting the endless possibilities of programmatic SEO. Resources Dialpad's Area Code SEO Moat: How to Rank for 50k Keywords - https://foundationinc.co/lab/dialpad How Brands Can Use STAT To Thrive Amidst SERP Chaos - https://foundationinc.co/lab/stat-seo-serp/ STAT Search Analytics - https://getstat.com/foundation-exclusive —
In this episode of "Insurance Business Babes," hosts Kathe Kline and Joanna Wyckoff talk about a bunch of different things, but delve into the importance of using CRM systems and technology to streamline client interactions and protect against disputes. They discuss various tools like Applaud AI for recording face-to-face meetings, Dialpad for phone calls, and RingCentral for sales calls, stressing the necessity of keeping detailed records and obtaining consent. The hosts share their experiences in dealing with client billing issues, managing educational events, and leveraging technology like AI and CRM systems to enhance their business operations. Amid personal and professional anecdotes, they also touch on the challenges and benefits of working with IMOs and FMOs, the significance of educational content, and the value of excellent customer service. The episode concludes with reflections on their success, continuous learning, and the importance of thoughtful planning for business events.
In this conversation, Steve Love, a seasoned CFO with over $1 billion raised from VCs and $2 billion in M&A transaction experience, pulls back the curtain on high-stakes M&A. Love shares his insights from overseeing complex acquisitions like Heap's purchase of a complementary "session replay" company and Heap's eventual sale to ContentSquare. He candidly discusses navigating challenges, aligning stakeholders, prepping for diligence, and making strategic M&A decisions as a CFO. Whether you're a CFO, finance professional or simply M&A-curious, Love's tactics for evaluating targets, modeling forecasts, negotiating terms, and executing integrations provide a rare behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to architect successful transactions. SPONSORS:
In this insightful episode of Insurance Business Babes, Kathe Kline and Joanna Wyckoff tackle the timely and critical issue of what agents can do if their Field Marketing Organization (FMO) is eliminated. They stress the importance of having a backup plan, which includes learning how to manage their own client data using affordable and HIPAA-compliant Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools like Less Annoying CRM and HubSpot. The hosts discuss the potential challenges of transferring and owning data, the necessity of maintaining direct relationships with lead vendors, and the significant focus on compliance - particularly when using carrier logos and in the recording of calls. Joanna emphasizes the value of her trainings for her downlines and the need for agents to become less reliant on IMOs for technology. They express concerns over the government's stance on the role of agents in the Medicare market, suggesting that there is a possibility agents could be marginalized, and underline the importance of being versatile with technology and being able to use paper applications in challenging situations. Agents are encouraged to own their data and be prepared for changes in the industry, including a shift away from traditional IMO structures.
In this 184th episode of The G2 on 5G, we cover: 1. Will Open RAN benefit from a possible $9B in FCC subsidies (5G Fund) for U.S. rural 5G deployments? 2. What does the FCC's new 100/20 Mbps down/up definition for broadband mean for 5G FWA? 3. T-Mobile and Dialpad extend partnership for AI-enabled business communications - could 5G VoNR deliver additional capabilities? 4. FCC unanimously approves rules for direct-to-device 5G NTN services 5. Nokia and Eurofiber team up for private 5G network delivery - could it serve as a model for other fiber service companies? 6. Vodafone to sell Italian business to Swisscom for €8 billion
This week's guest is Dan O'Connell, Dan serves as Chief Strategy Officer at Dialpad and is also a member of the Board of Directors. Prior to Dialpad, Dan was the CEO and President of TalkIQ, real-time speech recognition and NLP start-up backed by Salesforce Ventures and Scale Venture Partners. He was AdRoll's Vice President of Sales and also spent 8 years at Google where he handled key sales positions. Dan holds an MBA from the University of California Berkeley and a degree in Communications from Santa Clara University. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/uncharted1/support
In this episode, Nathan sits down with Dan O'Connell, Chief Strategy Officer at Dialpad. They discuss building their own language models using 5 billion minutes of business calls, custom speech recognition models for every customer, and the challenges of bringing AI into business. If you need an ecommerce platform, check out our sponsor Shopify: https://shopify.com/cognitive for a $1/month trial period. We're sharing a few of Nathan's favorite AI scouting episodes from other shows. Today, Shane Legg, Cofounder at Deepmind and its current Chief AGI Scientist, shares his insights with Dwarkesh Patel on AGI's timeline, the new architectures needed for AGI, and why multimodality will be the next big landmark. If you need an ecommerce platform, check out our sponsor Shopify: https://shopify.com/cognitive for a $1/month trial period. We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. --- SPONSORS: Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of ALL eCommerce in the US. And Shopify's the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries.From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify's got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/cognitive Omneky is an omnichannel creative generation platform that lets you launch hundreds of thousands of ad iterations that actually work customized across all platforms, with a click of a button. Omneky combines generative AI and real-time advertising data. Mention "Cog Rev" for 10% off www.omneky.com NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive and download your own customized KPI checklist. X/SOCIAL: @labenz (Nathan) @dialdoc (Dan) @dialpad @CogRev_Podcast (Cognitive Revolution) TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) - Introduction and Welcome (06:50) - Interview with Dan O'Connell, Chief AI and Strategy Officer at Dialpad (07:13) - The Functionality and Utility of Dialpad (17:20) - The Development of Dialpad's Large Language Model Trained on 5Billion Minutes of Calls 19:56 The Future of AI in Business (22:21) - Sponsor Break: Shopify (23:56) - The Challenges and Opportunities of AI Development (31:17 ) - Prioritizing latency, capacity, and cost when evaluating AI (39:41) - Most Loved AI Features in Dialpad (42:01) - The Role of AI in Quality Assurance (43:10) - The Future of Transcription Accuracy (44:06) - The Importance of Speech Recognition in Business (46:59) - Personalizing AI for Better Business Interactions (47:01) - The Role of AI in Content Generation (52:47) - The Challenges and Opportunities of AI in Sales and Support
In today's episode, your hosts Kathe Kline and Joanna Wyckoff start the conversation about Short Term Care and then have a captivating discussion about the dark side of FMOs that want agents to be dependent on them. They explore the importance of agents taking ownership of their tools, such as call recording, CRM, and websites, and question why some agents choose carrier business cards over personal branding. Join them as they share their own personal branding stories and discuss the power of branding oneself instead of relying solely on the upline or company names. They also uncover the deceptive practices in the insurance industry, including recent cases of misleading commercials for Medicare plans and the controversial world of short term health plans. As always, your hosts offer their expert advice and reveal their own preferred call recording services and strategies for success in the insurance business. So, grab your headphones and get ready for another eye-opening episode of Insurance Business Babes. Let's dive in!
On episode #138 of Eye on AI. Craig Smith sits down with Dan O'Connell, the Chief AI and Strategy Officer at Dialpad and a seasoned expert in the world of AI-driven business communications. Check out Dialpad- https://www.dialpad.com/ Currently serving as a member of Dialpad's Board of Directors, Dan's impressive career includes leadership roles at TalkIQ, AdRoll, and an 8-year stint at Google in key sales positions. During our conversation, Dan takes us through Dialpad's AI-driven transformation of business communication. We explore the power of natural language processing, speech recognition, and large language models, enabling real-time transcription, call summaries, sentiment analysis, and virtual agents. We also delve into the significance of sentiment analysis and the role of context, alongside debates on third-party APIs versus proprietary models, AI's unpredictability, and domain-specific model economics. Our exploration continues with AI's impact on CRM, generative AI's insights, chatbot evolution, and cost-effective AI management. Tune in to explore AIs impact on modern day business communication. Dan O'Connell's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/droconnell/ Craig Smith Twitter: https://twitter.com/craigss Eye on A.I. Twitter: https://twitter.com/EyeOn_AI (00:00) Preview and Introduction (01:33) Mind Studio by YouAI (03:46) Artificial Intelligence in Business Communications (10:54) Building Sentiment Analysis and Custom Models (19:35) Managing Costs and using AI in Business (23:47) AI Disrupts CRM Market? (30:56) Mind Studio by YouAI
This episode features an interview with Morgan Norman, Chief Marketing Officer at Dialpad. Previously, Morgan was a marketing executive at Copper, Zuora, NetSuite, and Microsoft. He has spent his career marketing for both startups to scale-ups and has helped companies grow to more than $1 billion in revenue.In this episode, Kailey sits down with Morgan to discuss the importance of onboarding, product-led growth models, and marketing AI products in a saturated market.-------------------Key Takeaways:Getting users to adopt AI is all about presenting them with features that work best for them. Instead of throwing all of the features at them, educate them on a few options that are interesting to them and will help their business thrive.When a user is moving to a PLG model, it's important to consider their cognitive load. In order to avoid overwhelming them, scale back the number of questions you're asking them and the number of decisions you're wanting them to make. Then, confirm with the user that they feel confident and successful in the choices they've made.When users are onboarding, you have to balance when to engage with them and when to let them learn the product on their own. Figure out what type of user they are, what segment, and what industry to decide which type of engagement will work best.-------------------“The way I really think about PLG, at the top level, is cognitive load. Are you overwhelming the user? How many decisions are you asking them to make? The first thing is to reduce the cognitive load as much as possible from a visual perspective and also a step perspective. The next piece on that is user confirmation. Confirming to the user that they've done the right thing and that they feel successful.” – Morgan Norman-------------------Episode Timestamps:*(02:19) - Morgan's career journey*(08:41) - How Dialpad is implementing AI*(19:25) - How PLG is being used to educate users and build marketing programs*(23:26) - How Morgan defines “good data”*(29:41) - How Dialpad is increasing conversion*(34:36) - An example of another company doing it right with customer engagement (hint: it's Airtable, monday, Asana)*(41:13) - Morgan's recommendations for upleveling customer experience strategies-------------------Links:Connect with Morgan on LinkedInConnect with Kailey on LinkedInLearn more about Caspian Studios-------------------SponsorGood Data, Better Marketing is brought to you by Twilio Segment. In today's digital-first economy, being data-driven is no longer aspirational. It's necessary. Find out why over 20,000 businesses trust Segment to enable personalized, consistent, real-time customer experiences by visiting Segment.com
We talk to Dan O'Connell, who got his start at Google at the age of 22 back in 2003 and after a 9 year journey, went to scale the sales team at Adroll.com. After a successful career in Ad Tech, Dan became the CEO and President of TalkIQ where within 18 months he helped lead the company through a successful acquisition. Dan is now the Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Revenue Officer at Dialpad. Dan has done it all and has successfully built highly cohesive and scalable teams as both a sales leader and CEO, and we are fortunate he shares some of his playbook and actionable advice on this topic. Give it a listen, you won't be disappointed! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/uncharted1/support
Morgan Norman has been on quite a journey in his career, and his experience has taught him how to adopt technology, lead teams, and bring more artistry into marketing. In this episode, Morgan, now the CMO of Dialpad, digs into these topics and more. Plus, he explains why he believes anyone can be a CMO. Tune in to learn:Morgan's marketing chops (2:45)How AI took hold (6:30)The next wave of AI (8:30)A unique approach to marketing (13:25)Tapping into artistry in marketing (16:30)How to make velocity work in your playbook (21:00)Using your differences as a superpower (25:30)Why anyone can be a CMO (29:10)Doing more with less (35:00)Navigating cultural nuances for diverse audiences (41:20)“NYSE has sponsored this production by Mission.org for illustrative, informational and/or educational purposes only, without regard to any particular investor's objectives, financial situation or circumstances. NYSE neither represents nor warrants the accuracy or correctness of any of the statements in the production, which has been independently assembled by Mission.org and with whom sole editorial control rests. NYSE makes no recommendation as to possible benefits from any securities or trading strategies, and this production is not a recommendation, offer, or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security, or engage in any trading strategy. Prior to the execution of a purchase or sale of any security, you are advised to consult with your own advisors.”
In today's episode, The Mentors Radio host Dan Hesse talks with Marc Andreessen, the outspoken technology visionary who believes that Artificial Intelligence will save the world. In this episode, Marc shares his advice for entrepreneurs, talks about how new fields such as cryptocurrency and The Metaverse will impact our lives. After co-creating the influential Mosaic Internet browser and co-founding Netscape, Marc led a remarkable career building new companies. As co-founder and general partner of venture capital firm Andreesen-Horowitz (also referred to as "a16z"), he continues to mentor many of today's most successful tech entrepreneurs. A lifelong innovator and creator, Marc is one of the few to pioneer a software category used by more than a billion (BILLION!) people and one of the few to establish multiple billion-dollar companies. Andreessen co-created the highly influential Mosaic internet browser and co-founded Netscape, which later sold to AOL for $4.2 billion. He also co-founded Loudcloud, which, as Opsware, sold to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. He later served on the board of Hewlett-Packard from 2008 to 2018. Marc holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He serves on the board of the following Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies: Applied Intuition, Carta, Coinbase, Dialpad, Flow, Golden, Honor, OpenGov and Samsara. He is also on the board of Meta. Listen to this episode below or on ANY podcast platform (from Apple to Google to iTunes etc )— Just type in “THE Mentors RADIO” … even easier, Subscribe HERE & listen on any podcast platform!!! (click here). And don't forget to give us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!! SHOW NOTES: MARC ANDREESSEN: BIO: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Andreessen ARTICLES: Why AI will save the world, by Marc Andreessen Why Software Is Eating the World, by Marc Andreessen It's Time to Build, by Marc Andreessen VIDEOS/Other Interviews with Marc Andreessen: Marc Andressen on His Intellectual Journey the Last 10 Years An Interview with Marc Andreessen about AI and How You Change the World Woke Capital with Marc Andreessen
Sam Harris speaks with Marc Andreessen about the future of artificial intelligence (AI). They discuss the primary importance of intelligence, possible good outcomes for AI, the problem of alienation, the significance of evolution, the Alignment Problem, the current state of LLMs, AI and war, dangerous information, regulating AI, economic inequality, and other topics. Marc Andreessen is a cofounder and general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He is an innovator and creator, one of the few to pioneer a software category used by more than a billion people and one of the few to establish multiple billion-dollar companies. Marc co-created the highly influential Mosaic internet browser and co-founded Netscape, which later sold to AOL for $4.2 billion. He also co-founded Loudcloud, which as Opsware, sold to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. He later served on the board of Hewlett-Packard from 2008 to 2018. Marc holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Marc serves on the board of the following Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies: Applied Intuition, Carta, Coinbase, Dialpad, Flow, Golden, Honor, OpenGov, and Samsara. He is also on the board of Meta. Twitter: @pmarca Website: https://a16z.com Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.
John Finch Of major importance to Dialpad is the breaking of the $200 million dollar revenue milestone. A lot of credit can be given to Ai technology. For the last five years or more, Dialpad has been focusing on Ai at the core of their product offering. John Finch, Senior Vice President of Marketing with Dialpad discussed the Ai and its impact on the Dialpad product. To demonstrate the importance of Ai to the company, they are in the midst of releasing 12 new Ai enhanced products at the rate of one product a month. Clearly an aggressive pace which is reflective of the organization and their goals. Listen in to hear about their Ai products, why they are unique, what lessons Dialpad has learned, and what are the key benefits to their customers and their enhanced experience. THEIR MISSION: They're on a mission to completely transform how the world works together. What they're building: Dialpad designs groundbreaking, truly unified products—all powered by the most advanced communications Ai in the world. They make it easy for teams big and small to call, message, meet, and support their customers in one beautiful workspace. They're connecting teams across the planet Dialpad for Good has championed over 650 businesses through the Dialpad for Startups, Tech for Black Founders, and Nonprofit programs. They're dedicated to transforming the way everyone can work together. For more information, go to: https://www.dialpad.com
Let's face it… AI is on the rise. It's a powerful, technological tool that gives us information at our fingertips. But looking through a business lens, how can we use this tool to boost our revenue? On this episode of Run Revenue Show, Craig Walker and Kyle Coleman explore Dialpad's success in implementing its business communication product and their emphasis on simplicity, usability, and design. They also discuss how engagement and adoption are leading indicators to revenue and how AI-powered chatbots and real-time AI tools are used to improve customer and employee satisfaction, the importance of communication and how the company moved into the enterprise communication space to address the lack of usability and design in traditional business communication products, and dive into the challenges of product launches and how setting targets and monitoring adoption rates is essential for a product manager's success. Craig Walker is a visionary entrepreneur and business leader, renowned as the Founder and CEO of Dialpad. With an unwavering commitment to innovation and a deep understanding of the evolving communication landscape, Walker has propelled Dialpad to the forefront of cloud-based communications and collaboration solutions. Under his guidance, the company has revolutionized the way organizations connect and communicate, empowering businesses of all sizes to streamline their operations, enhance productivity, and achieve their goals with seamless, cutting-edge technology. Here's what's inside: Always adapt to new technologies for business success: Dialpad's success in the communication space has largely been due to their ability to quickly adapt to new technologies and integrate them into their products. This has given them a competitive advantage over companies that are slower to adapt. Measure engagement and adoption: These are crucial indicators of success. For Dialpad, the success of their products is measured by the level of engagement and adoption from their customers. This is especially true for their business communication product, which depends on engagement from their pro services team. Use case studies and customer success stories to sell products: Communicating the value of a product often involves using real-life examples of successful implementations. For Dialpad, this means gathering case studies and customer success stories to help sell their products to different personas and industry segments. Grab this week's Checklist Check out RunRevenue.Pro for tips, playbooks, and advice for stopping revenue leak and achieving revenue precision. See how Clari's Revenue Platform can help you win more deals, protect your customer base, and achieve revenue precision—even in a downturn. → Clari.com
Season 4 Episode 63 Faculty: Dan Luthi & Dan Gertrudes Class: #TechLabs Accounting High is supported by our Booster Club Members Thank you AppStream! Music Video for Simple Tasks! In this podcast episode, Scott interviews Dan Luthi, Partner at Ignite Spot Accounting Services and Dan Gertrudes, CEO & Co-Founder of GrowthLab. They discuss the benefits of workflow automation and how AppStream can help businesses save time and money. They also talk about the origin of the company's name and the story behind the AppStream rap music video. simple tasks! Gertrudes talks about the idea of selling workflow automations as a subscription Scott and Gertrudes recount using Scott's firm as a sandbox for AppStream Gertrudes talks about what led to the creation of AppStream Gertrudes tells the origin story of AppStream's name The story of the AppStream rap and Luthi's hand in the filming of the music video Luthi explains how his firm managed automation before AppStream The group discusses how humans slow the process due to simple tasks Scott and Luthi recall the AppStream solutions to their firms' simple task issues Gertrudes explains why they focus on the pain point of onboarding Luthi lists the added benefits of working with AppStream The group discusses where to start automations The Group talk about Chat GPT and why tech and automation won't replace human interaction Luthi talks about the ROI of using AppStream Luthi talks about app fatigue Simple Tasks Rap Music Video Gertrudes explains the AppStream pricing model Shoutouts: Steven Byler, Heather Satterly, Accounting Avengers, Todd Robinson, Zapier, Korey Cournoyer, Johnny Uzola,Karbon, Ignition, Xero, QuickBooks, HubSpot, Dialpad, Google Phone, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Stripe --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/accountinghigh/message
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Mark Goldberger is Head of Enterprise Sales at Ramp, the fastest-growing corporate card and bill payment software in America, and recently named Most Innovative Company in North America by Fast Company. Prior to joining Ramp, Mark was the first enterprise rep at TripActions (now Navan), where he helped bring in more than $100m of ARR as an IC and sales leader. Before TripActions, Mark worked at Highfive, a video conferencing company since acquired by Dialpad. In Today's Episode with Mark Goldberger We Discuss: 1. From Wine Industry to Sales Leader: How Mark made his way into the world of enterprise sales having been in the wine industry? Mark sent out 100 CVs for his first sales role, why did they not respond? How should companies think differently about the people they hire? What could he have done better with the outreach? What does Mark know now that he wishes he had known when he entered the world of sales? 2. The Sales Playbook and Why You Should Never Hire a Sales VP First: Why does Mark believe that you should never hire a Sales VP as the first sales hire? What does Mark mean when he says product-customer-fit is more important than product-market-fit? Why does Mark believe that revenue does not matter with your first customers? If revenue does not matter, what should you be trying to get out of them? When should the founder handover sales to either a junior or more senior hire? 3. How to Hire 10x Sales Teams: The Process: How does Mark structure the process for hiring 10x sales reps? What questions are most revealing in identifying a 10x sales rep? How do they respond? Why does Mark want candidates to pitch his own product back to him? How does Mark make the hiring process more challenging to really test the quality of candidates? What is the core difference between losers and winners in sales? 4. Discounting, Champions, Creating Urgency: Why does Mark not like discounting? Where do many sales teams use it poorly? How does Mark like to create urgency in a sales process? What works? What does not? How can sales reps know whether they truly have a deal champion within a buyer? What is the right way for sales reps to ask to meet the exec buyer? When is the right time to ask to meet the exec buyer? What are some clear signs that you are not speaking to a decision-maker? 5. Building a High-Functioning Sales Org: What is the right way to do deal reviews? How often? Who should be invited? What is the right way to do sales onboarding for all new reps? Why is traditional outbound still the most important thing in a sales process? Why do so many people get pipeline qualification so wrong?
Season 4 Episode 9 | Recorded January 6, 2023 Sponsored by AppStream powered by The GrowthLab The new Expensify Fragrance: "Consequences" by Expensify Don't be tardy to the Coach Mackenzie party. That's right. You're listening to VarsityTips formerly known as NiksTips with Scott and Nikole, where they sit down and discuss a hot topic to get Nik's hot takes and tips. It's the same show you've grown to know and love. We're calling it something new to fit the curriculum at Accounting High. So lace up your sneaks and stretch out because VarsityTips is now in session. Talking to Expensify Expensify Tattoo Accountant Bracket Challenge “March Appness” Automation in Firms Writing of the AppS.T.R.E.A.M. Rap AppStream Staffing and Social Media Losing Money on Paper Getting Back in the Grind Hiring in the US and Philippines Cultural Differences and Business Meetings Big Swings ChatGPT and Accounting Forms of Communication Firm owners doing their own accounting Quickbooks and Xero Expensify Accounting High GuidePosts What to do about staffing? Staff Poaching Socials as a Way to attract employees Testing Employees? Contractor to Employee Trial Employee Socials and Showcasing Your Company We Figured out this podcast thing The Ambitious Bookkeeper Sound Editor Spotlight Bloopers AppS.T.R.E.A.M. Rap All the shoutouts: Expensify, Clayton Oats, Amy Vetter, Kenji, Nick Pasquarosa, Blake Oliver, David Leary, Byron Patrick, GoCardless, Randy Crabtree, Ryan Lazanis, Jason Staats, AppStream, GrowthLab, Christopher Leon, Matthew Meyer, Ashley Carroll, HubSpot, Ignition, Xero, Karbon, DialPad, ChatGPT, Paul Seaton, Zapier, Chad Davis, James Ashford, Bo Burnham, Serena Shoup --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/accountinghigh/message
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Oana Olteanu is a Partner @ SignalFire where she focuses on enterprise software at Seed, Series A and Series B. Prior to joining SignalFire, Oana was at Scale Venture Partners where she invested in applied ML and developer tooling. Oana sourced Scale's investments in Observe.ai, Flatfile, and Proscia. She was part of the deal teams for Honeycomb and AllyO (acquired by HireVue). She also supported existing portfolio companies such as Dialpad, Matillion, and BigID. Prior to Scale, Oana was an AI seed investor at SAP.io, SAP's $35M seed fund, where she sourced the investments in Plum.io, Oto.ai, and Akorda. In Today's Episode with Oana Olteanu We Discuss: 1.) From Tank Driving in Romania to VC's Rising Star: How Oana made her way from driving tanks in Romania to becoming a VC? How did leaving Romania for Germany and then moving to the West Coast impact her mindset? What does Oana know now that she wishes she had known when she entered VC? 2.) How to Assess a VC: The Founders Guide: Pre-investment, how can founders know whether a VC can add value? What are the signs? What three core questions will reveal how much value a VC can add? Post-investment, what can founders do to extract the most value from their VCs? What should the founders ask their investors for help with? What should they do themselves? 3.) The VC Founder Relationship: Oana has the highest founder NPS of any VC I have ever had on 20VC, what does Oana believe makes her founders rate her contribution so highly? What works? What does not? How does Oana give sometimes very hard feedback to founders but retain that relationship of trust and safety at the same time? What mistakes do other VCs make in giving feedback? What does Oana believe are the single biggest misalignment between VCs and founders? 4.) VCs Behaving Badly: 101 What are the single biggest ways Oana sees VCs behaving badly? How does Oana think founders expectations of the product of venture should change? Does Oana believe boards are valuable? What can be done to improve them? Items Mentioned in Today's Episode: Oana's Favourite Book: The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living: Featuring new translations of Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius
In this episode, Neel gives reviews of software he has used to run his remote local businesses in a more automated fashion. Neel starts by breaking down software into core vs. spoke. Core software includes companies like Launch27, BookingKoala, ZenMaid, Jobber, and Housecall Pro. Neel shares what he likes and doesn't like about them and also reminds listeners to consider whether they want a more industry-specific or industry-agnostic platform. Neel also discusses Slack, Zapier, G-Suite, Active Campaign, and the necessity of a VOIP system (after different trials, MaidThis has settled on Dialpad. Enjoy the episode!
Episode11: How to Scale From 1 Unit to as Many as You Want Without Working Harder [00:00:00] [00:00:05] Hey guys. Welcome back to the podcast. We are John n Wendy Williams from the Short Term Rental Authority, Your authority on all things short term rental related to help make you the best operator ever. And today's podcast we have massive, massive value for for you. Today we are going to be talking about how to get not just one short term rental, but. [00:00:36] As many short term rentals as you want without creating more work for yourself, without working harder. Without that, the, That's the key, right? Without working harder. I like it. Yeah. Yes, I like it. Cause that tends to be, what happens is you get one and then you get two and it's twice as much work and you get three and it's twice as much. [00:00:55] Worked is twice a word. I think it is. Once, twice. I don't know Anyway. But the idea is that you don't want that to be linear. Cause at some point you get burnout on it, and then you just can't scale anymore. Oh, the burnout is real. Or more often what happens is you're like, I'm done with this. Right. I don't wanna do this anymore. [00:01:14] Yeah. So that's what happens. Sell it all good. Yeah. And you can sell it to us. So we're, we are going to cover four main components of this concept. First of all, we're gonna talk about the foundation that you're going to need because we liken it to building a house, sort of as the analogy. John likes analogies. [00:01:36] So we're gonna be talking about the foundations of it, of your business first, and then we're going to be talking about marketing. . And then we're going to be talking about acquisitions, how to find it. And then lastly, we will be talking about cash flow management, how to fund it. So let's start at the beginning with the [00:02:00] foundations of it. [00:02:01] Now the found, the foundations are. The, the basics, right? If you're, if you are thinking about building a house, you have to build a good foundation on which to build the walls and the roof, right? You don't build the roof first. You have to build the concrete slab first, right? So let's talk about what that means. [00:02:26] And there's a couple of components about with the foundation that, that we thought were most important and they are automation. Documentation team members the tools that you're going to need, and bookkeeping and accounting, very, very important. So let's talk about automation first. . Yeah, so automation is probably one of the first things you're gonna do in your business. [00:02:55] It's the, it's the, it's the one thing that you can do right up front. And a lot of these things we're talking about are truly, they're all foundation in a sense, meaning the. When you build a skyscraper, you need a deeper foundation. So the, the more you intend on having the more solid these things need to be. [00:03:14] But yeah, automation is one of the very first things you can do, and it's one of the first things that we did. It's you can automate a good portion of your messages. You can automate a good portion of your pricing as far as that goes. Dynamic pricing. You can even automate your cleaners to a extent, meaning they're not robots, but at least they get scheduled automatically and there's, there's a tool for that. [00:03:37] And all those kind of things. So that's, you know, when you're thinking about the operations part of this short-term rental business, that's where all the activity is. And as much of that as you can automate. Especially in the beginning, it's less that you have to do for one and two, it then offloads those tasks that truly need to be done by a human to the human [00:04:00] right. [00:04:00] So automation is a big piece of a big, big piece of it. Right. And I like the, the automation aspect of the things that are repetitive, right? Like mm-hmm. , like the, there are, there's seven messages that go out to the guest. And that's not including if they ask you a question, Right? Right. That's just a standard reservation's. [00:04:22] Just a standard reservation. Right. So automating those, those repetitive tasks and, and we automate anything that can be automated, we like to automate because it frees us up for doing things that, that, you know, bring in money. Right, Right. And while computers do, can make mistakes, they're not as error prone as humans. [00:04:45] so they don't forget to send the message. Right. Or they don't Right. See the message come in and then they're sleeping. Right. You know, the, the computer's always awake. Yep. So even in the middle of the night when it's one in the morning and you, you don't have 24 7 coverage yet and you're asleep. [00:05:02] you're still, your customer's still getting a response. Right? Right. And that's super important. Sure. Yeah. When they're in the checkout line, especially on the, the messaging side of it, that's a lot of the business, a lot of it. So the, the next a aspect is documentation. And here we're mostly talking about SOPs. [00:05:22] And SOPs stands for standard operating Procedures. It's how you do the things in your business and when you're first getting started. And I wish that somebody had told us this Document, everything, whatever you are doing, write it down and we'll talk about some, some tools that you can use when you are documenting those, those systems and those processes. [00:05:55] But, It doesn't matter. Write it [00:06:00] down however you are doing it. Write it down because it's going to be fluid anyway. Things are always changing. I feel like we are always. Updating our, our SOPs because we learn different things in our business. Mm-hmm. and we have to adapt and, and change in, in certain ways, but it's really great to have. [00:06:27] Something to start with. Right. Especially if you are going to be turning it over to somebody else to do eventually, then they have to know how to do what you're asking them to do. Yeah, and I wanna say that's the easiest part to skip because it doesn't feel like your customer's asking for it. So it's not like messaging you can't skip, you have to answer the customer. [00:06:54] But documentation you can kind of let slide. and you'll say, Well, I'll do it later. I'll document it later. So, and later never comes. Yeah. So, so quick tip, you were going give a tool and tip, Quick tip. When you're doing something, get yourself a screen recorder. That's a really great tip. There are free ones. [00:07:14] There's Loo is a popular one. Vimeo has one. Beyo has one that there's, there's, I think we've mentioned this before, but screen records yourself doing the things, even if it's something. And make it easy for you to do so. So that all you have to do really is click a button and then go do what you're gonna do, and then click stop and you've got your video. [00:07:32] At least it's videoed, and now you can take that later and have it written out. Mm-hmm. , which it should be at some point, very detailed. Extremely detailed so the six year old can do it. But at least now you started the process of documentation. Yeah. So that's one of those things you can do right in the beginning too. [00:07:50] Mm-hmm. , when you're building that first listing on Airbnb, document, record it so that you can then later pass that along to someone else and then over time you'll [00:08:00] refine, Okay, this is really how I want that done. Right. Right. You alluded to that as well. Right. But that those, that documentation and those SOPs become the procedures. [00:08:10] That then lead to the next thing in the foundation, which is turning it over to somebody else. Yeah. Your team members. Yes. Right. So, So it's not necessarily that you are going to be documenting all these things. You will in the beginning, but after a while. You're going to be bringing on some, some people to help you, and that's one thing that they can do. [00:08:36] If you record how you want things done, then all you have to do is give that video to the, your, your team member that you have, that you have hired and say, I want you to write an so P for this document, this procedure, so that. Anybody can, can follow that procedure. So having, having that first step done makes it so much easier when you have to give it away, right? [00:09:11] Yeah. And we, and if you get in the habit of doing that, it becomes a habit, right? It just happens. And eventually you wanna make that the culture of your company so that you're not the only person producing these video. . So a lot of times, you know, we have this thing in our business where if something comes up that's gonna come up again, which most things do, assuming it's not a one off thing, then whoever does that job, it's their responsibility to then document it. [00:09:39] Right? And so these SSPs grow over time, and in the beginning you may dece it and set the example, but later on you're not actually even the one creating the videos. Right? Right. You're the. has just set the, You have an SOP for how to create sop? Yes. Actually, we have an SOP on how to create an [00:10:00] sop. Yes, yes. [00:10:01] That detailed. But that is, that is in essence what your business is, is how you do your business, and that's the procedures. All has to be documented somewhere and. So we talked about team members. So let's talk about some, some things that, some tools that you're gonna need to do your job. So for example, you need somewhere to collect all of those SOPs, some. [00:10:31] some, some program to, to compile all those SOPs into. So you just have one place that your SOPs live. Yeah. And you want them electronic, You want them in the cloud somewhere? They, Yes. They don't need to be handwritten on your desk. Yeah. We, Oh, it's better than not having it. But a lot of the team members that we talk about tend to be virtual. [00:10:53] Yes. Right, Right. And hardly anybody, Well, we don't have an office, so nobody comes into the office. Right. . So you, you want these virtual, We, we started out using Trello. It's a, it's a place to start. Notion is another one of those notion. Mm-hmm. notion.io. I like a lot. You like Asana? Asana is for project management. [00:11:12] It's not for documentation. Gotcha. So you wouldn't use that for your documentation. So that's one thing is use the right tool for the right thing. Mm. . Right. So Asana would be an example of a tool you would use to schedule tasks for your team members to do. Mm-hmm. . So one of those tasks might be go create this, so P, but then the SOP lives in. [00:11:32] You know, a Google Drive or something, or you know, somewhere online, Trello or someplace like that. Yeah. So, so having a place to to house your SOPs is, is a great place to start. Got you have to start somewhere, right? Yeah. And then you need a way to communicate right. With it your, with your team members. [00:11:50] Right? So, So you want to get part of that, not working as hard as getting the stuff off your phone. Yeah. Maybe that is huge. So text messaging, you don't want to, you don't want to be [00:12:00] text messaging cleaners and have that be the procedure. You want a centralized communication that everyone has access to. [00:12:06] Slack is a really good tool for that. Yep. So central communications, and then occasionally you need to make phone calls. Still get that off your phone. Use a, a voice of IP type service. We use Dialpad. There are others. RingCentral, there's all sorts of solutions for. . But it, it basically, now you've got a business that has a phone number and an internal phone system, and you have your internal communication system with Slack and you have your place to put your SOPs with Trello and your documentation or maybe Notion or wherever, all that, all those things are. [00:12:38] Your employee handbook, all all of those kind of things, these are tools that your team needs to do their job. Yep. Right. All right. And then the other thing about of in the foundation section is, and this is just basic, laying the foundation so that you can, you know, build onto it later, is somebody has to do the books. [00:13:03] And hopefully, even if you know how to do the books, getting that off your plate is so critical. I cannot tell you what a great feeling it is to not have to do the books anymore. Yeah. And it's not only not having to do them, but it's, Do you have good numbers? because you're, you're, you're counting in your bookkeeping. [00:13:29] When I was doing it, we did not have good numbers. Yeah. Because you'd wait like three months and then catch it up. Right. And in this business you need, It's terrible. Our bookkeeper now, it's reconciled weekly and monthly. All right. So each week we know where we stand. You know, what expenses are out there, What's coming in income wise, You know, are we meeting our numbers? [00:13:49] Those types of things, because it's from that knowledge that then you can make business decisions. Mm-hmm. , right? You need somebody basically that turns data. , which is [00:14:00] what the books are, data into information, which are reports that you can run and say, What's my profit and loss? What's, you know, what, what do we have as far as inventory goes, You know, what, what's on our balance sheet? [00:14:13] It's, it's those types of things. And that's foundational for any business really. Yeah. But accounting and bookkeeping in this business is not simple. it is not. And so you need somebody that understands it's complex how to turn that data into information. Just a quick example. You may get a $3,000 payout from Airbnb that hits your bank account, but in that $3,000 or four different reservations, four different cleaning fees, whatever other numerous fees are in. [00:14:47] Right. And, and somebody has to break that all out and categorize it so that you know where the money went and where it's, where it's coming to. Yeah. Right. So it's it's it's work. It's work It, Sure. I wanna say the bookkeeper was our first hire. Yeah. I wanna say that's, that's the first person one of the, that we first people we brought on. [00:15:07] That we brought on, Yeah. Yeah. So for sure, Oh boy. It is just so crucial so that you can make those, those really good businesses business decisions. And I cannot, I can't even, It, it makes me want have heart palpitations. Just thinking about having to do those books again. Yeah. Right. And it's just not Yeah, me too. [00:15:29] You were horrible at it. Not I was horrible. I mean, no offense, but No, it's not like I was doing it. I can't complain . Right. But yeah, that's true. You can't complain. You weren't doing it. So the the next thing, now that you have a really great foundation, you've got all, all those things taken care of, now we can start building. [00:15:49] The, the walls, so to speak, right? If you were using the building the house analogy, now we can start building the walls and, and [00:16:00] one wall that's gonna be important is going to be how are you going to be doing your marketing? What? OTAs are you going to be using? And OTA stands for online travel agencies and we use OTAs like Airbnb, vrbo. [00:16:18] booking.com, booking.com. There, there's many out there now that you know what they are. 40 plus, right? So, yeah, so, and more than that actually. And, and you're, you may not start off having your own direct booking website, but that's definitely a goal right? Is to, is to get those, get those direct bookings, cuz. [00:16:42] Very profitable, but anything else you wanna say about marketing? Other than the, the, the platforms are doing the marketing for you in a, in a, in a big sense. So that is a, you know, that's why you tend to see people lean on them early on, especially because that's a whole thing, like getting yourself in front of customers, running ads. [00:17:03] PE do people know you exist even? And so being there is what, what they're actually doing for you. Now, they're taking a piece of it, a percentage to do it. So you gotta consider that. But it's even on the platforms, there are ways to market. You know, it's, it's how, what pitchers do you have? It's what title is in there? [00:17:23] What does your description look like? Mm-hmm. , right? Yeah. So even when you have a listing on an ota, Yes, they are advertising you in a pool, but how do you stand out of that pool? And so now that you've gotten this other stuff out of the way, you've got your documentation and your automation and your team members and your bookkeepings being done and all those kind of things, now you can start focusing on things like marketing. [00:17:46] And then eventually when you have repeat guests, now we can take them direct. Yep. And save them money and make more money in our. And start building up that. So it is kind of, see how it's kind of freeing you to actually do the things Oh, working on your [00:18:00] business. Yes. Not in your business. Yes, yes. Right. [00:18:04] So the next thing is acquisitions. And this is. How to find business, right? Cause we said one is how many as you want, right? Right, right. So how do, how you gonna get the next one? How you gonna get the next one? Right? So now you can start focusing on, okay, well I've got this one. How did I find this one? [00:18:26] And you've documented how you found it. Now you can go out and maybe refine that process a little bit. Now, now we can start talking about all sorts of acquisition strategies, right? Are you gonna be doing the rental arbitrage model? Are you going to be purchasing the property? Those kinds of things. [00:18:50] Yeah. And how are you gonna, you know, Fund it is part of it. Well, that's the next thing because that's what you gotta start thinking about is, okay, if I'm a hundred sounds great, but what, what are my capital requirements for that? And like you, like you said, part of that comes into strategy. It's much lower barrier entry for your rental arbitrage if you're gonna be buying it. [00:19:10] Now you've got the real estate component as well. And so you start, you know, kind of planning out, okay, what is our strategy? How many per month? What does that look. Is, is it the business is gonna be self-funding this, because after a while it does, it becomes kind of a snowball mm-hmm. to where, you know, you get 10, 12 of these, all of a sudden it's, you start picking them up quicker because the, the cash flow from the business is actually generating that. [00:19:35] Those, or it could be generating your down payments is too as well, right? Yes, for sure. Yeah. So that, that's, but it's, it's something you wanna start thinking about and have an active pipeline of. Acquisitions not only customer side, because if you're doing a good job in the previous step in marketing, all of a sudden you're gonna have this inventory problem where there's way more demand for your product than you have. [00:19:57] And so the next step is let's acquire [00:20:00] more of them. Yes. Right? And so that, that's what we're talking about in, in the acquisitions process. Right? And, and then in the, in the cash flow management part is how do you fund it? How are you going to go from one to the, how are you going to get the next one? [00:20:18] Right? So now that you know how much it costs you to. To, to get that one. Now you have a baseline almost of, of what it's gonna cost you to get the next one. And then, then the next one. And the next one. And we use a a cash flow management called Profit First. Mm-hmm. , It's based on a book by Michael Michael Witz called Prophet First. [00:20:43] I think it's Malowitz Miit. But even he says, nobody can pronounce my name, so I believe his website, if you go to Michael Motorbike, it actually like motorbike. That's right. He'll actually go to his right website. Yeah, right, right. So whatever his last name is, it's a really great book, but it's called Profit First and it's a. [00:21:00] It's kind of like the, the envelope system for your business. So every dollar has a purpose and you, and you, you almost spend it on paper first, right? So it's, it's, okay, well this much money is coming in though, now I can allocate it to all these different things. And we have different, different. Accounts that we send that money to, right? [00:21:29] In certain times of the month. But we could do a whole podcast on that . And one of those is acquisitions. But that's what happens, right? So you've built the foundation again, right? You've got your team, you've got the, the machine. You've started your marketing, now you've got acquisitions coming in, you, you're generating more properties. [00:21:48] Inevitably, now you have more cash. And managing that cash flow is what you're talking about. Yeah. And that's unique. That's a big piece in and of itself, just to make sure that well during high season when you're [00:22:00] your hand over fist in it, that when you get the low season, you have some to get through the low season. [00:22:05] Right. , Right? And then you, you need to divide that up and say, Okay, what part of that is going to pay, you know, your owner? What part of that is going to, for acquisitions perhaps, what part of that is going to you know, just operations in general, and then what part of that is maybe in reserve? And then we gotta set aside some for taxes. [00:22:23] There's always taxes. Always taxes. Although in the beginning, kind of void that. Another, another podcast episode. But it's that that cash flow management then becomes something that really requires your attention. Right? And it's a good thing that you're not stuck messaging guests. I, I was just about to say that. [00:22:41] Doing your own bookkeeping and right. Worried about marketing and all these other things because now cashflow management becomes the thing that can get overlooked if you haven't set those other things in place, right? Because, and it's a huge piece. Now you're working on your business, not in your business, and now that you're not doing all those foundational things, now you have time and your time is freed up to, to work on those. [00:23:10] important things of getting more units, right? Right. So, well, we hope that you have found some value in this. Now, if you want to know exactly how to do all of these things, we can help you. And here's what you do. You're gonna text S T R A, that's S t r A to this phone number nine, eight, zero. 8, 8, 8, 8, 5, 4, 1. [00:23:45] Again, text, s t r a to 9 8 0 8 8 8 8 5 4 1 and we can, What we're gonna do is we're going to send you an [00:24:00] E. It's the three things that you need to know when you're first getting started in short term rentals, but it'll get you in the system and we can we can help you out and we can teach you how to do all of these things and even more to help make you the best operator ever. [00:24:21] Onto the next, onto the next. [00:24:24]
FOUR ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAYS Rank your buyer's priorities in the first meeting so you know what to spend the majority of time on in the future. Give pricing early and pivot based on reactions. If you end up giving concessions, always add an expiration date. Stay engaged while your SE is demoing. It's on you to keep the call on track. Use the Zoom gallery view to identify unengaged participants - ask them easy questions to keep them interested. PATH TO PRESIDENT'S CLUB Principal Account Executive @ Dialpad Account Executive @ Invoca SDR @ Velocify (acquired by Ellie Mae) RESOURCES DISCUSSED: Time is running out to register for our upcoming 30MPC Live. Download our exclusive cold calling battlecard by signing up for the newsletter. Click this link for some extra goodies from 30MPC. HELP US OUT! What do you love about our podcast? Please consider leaving a rating and review for the show. We always enjoy reading your comments and feedback!
Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers.
Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.I’m excited to bring my conversation with Wesley Chan, founder and managing partner of his new fund FPV Ventures, which recently closed an oversubscribed $450M Fund 1. Wes brings a very unique lens to investing as he closely worked with the founders of Google (where founded Google Voice and Google Analytics), and went on to co-found GV before he joined Felicis Ventures. During his 13 year venture career, he has backed 20 unicorns and 5 decacorns, including Canva, Flexport, Guild Education, RobinHood, AngelList, Plaid, and Ring.During our discussion, we spoke about how he’s been able to have such a hit rate in his investing career, what being founder-friendly really means, and his time working with people like Sergey and Larry at Google as well as what he learned from Bill Campell. I really hope you enjoy our chat.About Wesley Chan:Wesley Chan is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at FPV Ventures, a $450M early-stage fund that backs and serves mission-driven founders. He is an investor in five $10B+ "decacorns," his most notable being Canva where he is a member of the board of directors, led the Series A and C rounds, and is worth north of $40B. He founded Google Analytics and Google Voice and holds 17 US patents for his work in creating Google AdWords.Among Wesley's 20+ unicorn investments, he wrote the first or very early check into fintech API decacorn Plaid, logistics powerhouse Flexport, SMB payroll leader Gusto, enterprise software unicorn Lucid, and stock trading platform RobinHood (NASDAQ: HOOD)—and led investments in Canva, AngelList, Carta, Guild Education, Sourcegraph, Dialpad, RocketLawyer, Orca Bio, Checkr, CultureAmp, HyperScience, Zipline, Astranis, TrialSpark, and Ring (exit to AMZN). Business Insider named Wesley to their Top 100 Seed Investors list for two consecutive years in 2022 & 2021.He was formerly a Managing Director at Felicis Ventures and one of the first General Partners at GV (Google Ventures). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT and completed his Master’s degree at the MIT Media Lab.In this episode we discuss:01:22 Wesley’s path to becoming a VC05:03 The start of GV, and the early days05:59 How we got to current market conditions06:57 Why Wesley doesn’t have a thesis driven approach09:12 What he saw in the founders of Canva to give him conviction even when other investors would not invest12:46 How FOMO and being incremental are so detrimental in being a VC17:01 What is it about Wesley’s mindset that allows him to consistently be non-consensus20:48 Why $450M was the right fund size for FPV23:26 The ethos for FPV and how Wesley and his partner in FPV, Pegah Ebrahimi, decided to work together26:40 Why you don’t always need to be on a board to be helpful27:28 What founders really need from investors28:43 How FPV thinks about differentiating itself from bigger firms31:40 The impact of Bill Campbell on Google and also how he impacted Wesley’s style as an investor34:36 Where the market is right now and what the next few years look like I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Wesley. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com
Nicole Torgersen is Vice President of Design at Dialpad. She's been working in digital design since the late '90s working with a range of industries including cloud collab and storage at Dropbox, retail at Gap, and recruiting at Monster Worldwide. A Design craftsperson by trade, Nicole has been a leader most of her career, building teams by way of leveraging empathy and vulnerability in the balance to find business impact while mentoring individuals.In this episode, we talked about:Nicole's role in DialpadHow did Nicole get into design?How to become a leaderHer career at Monster Worldwide, Gap and DropboxHardest transitions in Nicole's careerNicole's learnings and insights in her career adjustmentsAnd MUCH MORE!Links and Resources: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ntorgersen/ How to Win Friends & Influence PeopleMaking Ideas HappenTara Brach
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Jeanne DeWitt Grosser is Head of Americas Revenue & Growth @ Stripe. In this role, Jeanne is responsible for all sales functions across the region including Sales Development, AEs, Solutions Architects, and many more. Jeanne also continues to spearhead Stripe's Enterprise strategy. Prior to this role, Jeanne was Stripe's Head of North America Sales where she built out Stripe's Acquisition Sales teams. Pre-Stripe, Jeanne was CRO @ Dialpad and also spent many years at Google in numerous different roles including most recently as Director of GSuite SMB & Mid-Market Sales, North America and LATAM. In Today's Episode with Jeanne DeWitt Grosser You Will Learn: 1.) Entry into Sales: How did Jeanne make her way into her first sales job in tech? What did Jeanne learn from her many years at Google about how sales should interact with engineering? In hindsight, what would Jeanne have done differently/improved from her time with Dialpad? How did the role with Stripe come about? 2.) The Playbook: Does the founder need to be the one to create the sales playbook? When is the right time to bring in the first sales hire? Should they be a sales leader or rep? How does both the playbook and the type of sales hire change when hiring for a product-led-growth motion vs a traditional enterprise motion? What are the single biggest mistakes founders make when hiring their first in sales? 3.) The Hiring Process: How should founders structure the hiring process for their first sales hires? What did Dialpad do in the sales hiring process that worked well? How has Jeanne taken that to her hiring process at Stripe? What should be achieved or learned in each consecutive interview? How can founders use sales case studies most effectively? How can founders know if sales candidates truly have a strong grasp of the product? What are early signs of a 10x sales hire? What are red flags to look out for in the process? 4.) Sales Onboarding: What does the ideal onboarding process look like for new sales hires? What tasks and duties should all sales hires perform in the first 60 days? What are early signs that a new hire is not performing to the right standard? How does the first few months differ for sales reps when comparing a product-led-growth company to an enterprise company? What should sales leaders do to ensure that new hires engage with product and customer success efficiently?