Podcasts about steelbrick

Godard Abel is the Co-Founder and CEO of G2, the largest and most trusted software marketplace, making B2B tech buying easy by connecting buyers to vendors based on authentic customer reviews and real-time ratings of business software and services. Previously, Godard built cloud CPQ pioneers BigMachines (acquired by Oracle) and SteelBrick (acquired by Salesforce). He is also chairman of Logik.io and ThreeKit, helping to create the next generation of configuration technology.

Godard Abel is the Co-Founder and CEO of G2, the largest and most trusted software marketplace, making B2B tech buying easy by connecting buyers to vendors based on authentic customer reviews and real-time ratings of business software and services. Previously, Godard built cloud CPQ pioneers BigMachines (acquired by Oracle) and SteelBrick (acquired by Salesforce). He is also chairman of Logik.io and ThreeKit, helping to create the next generation of configuration technology.

A documentary showed his weakness….… then it elevated his leadership and inspired thousands.Godard Abel is a 5x B2B SaaS Entrepreneur and Co-Founder and CEO of G2, the world's largest and most trusted software marketplace, which he co-founded in 2012. G2 is used by 80 million people annually with over 2 million authentic peer reviews. It's valued at $1.1B today.While Godard's career on the surface looks like a massive succession of “homeruns”, he wasn't feeling successful on the inside. He was struggling mightily with his mental and physical health. He was in a bad place and made an incredible personal comeback.Then he felt compelled to share the darkest moments in a LinkedIn/Hubspot documentary because he believes it can help others.I love his story, and I think you'll be inspired as I was.—-He also serves as Executive Chairman of ThreeKit, a leading 3D visualization technology company, and Logik.io, a next generation configuration technology. Previously, he was Founder and CEO of SteelBrick, which was acquired by Salesforce and also previously co-founded BigMachines, where he served as CEO and built it into a leading software-as-a-service provider which was acquired by Oracle in 2013.LinkedIn Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/godardabel/Company Link: https://www.g2.com/What You'll Discover in this Episode:What drives him.The impact of attending a Waldorf school as a child.Why he decided to show his most vulnerable side in a documentary.Using anxiety and uncertainty as fuel to create.How having a coach has helped him.His “Entrepreneur Alter Ego”.What happened when his company faced bankruptcy.How a forum he joined changed his life.What happens in his CEO peer-group meetings.What he's doing now that he's never done at previous companies.How authenticity is transforming his business and industry.Why Linkedin is becoming the gold standard of trust.What he learned from his first business as a teenager.A tip for talking to your kids about business.Resources:Spiraling Up: Spotlighting startup founders on their paths to becoming unicorns. https://www.hubspot.com/startups/docuseries -----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter

Guest host Russell Bradley-Cook, Senior App Partner Manager at Hubspot sits down with Godard Abel, CEO and Co-Founder of G2. Godard shares invaluable insights into the world of software buying and selling from G2, as well as his 2 $400m+ exits SteelBrick to SalesForce and BigMachines to Oracle. He highlights the importance of building a trusted reputation, how tech partnerships unlocked organic growth at BigMachines, the importance of data and content integrations, and the future of software recommendations with Monty, G2's AI tool. Are you interested in leveling up your sales skills and staying relevant in today's AI-driven landscape? Visit www.jbarrows.com and let's Make It Happen together!Connect with John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/Connect with John on IG: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/Check out John's Membership: bit.ly/JBMembershipConnect with Russell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russellbradleycook/Connect with Godard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godardabel/Visit the G2 Website: https://www.g2.com/Visit the HubSpot Website: https://www.hubspot.com/

This week Chris speaks with Godard Abel, the CEO of G2, the leading business software review platform and marketplace, which he co-founded in 2012. G2 recently achieved unicorn status at a $1.1B valuation after raising $257M in capital to fuel global growth. Godard is also Executive Chairman of ThreeKit and Logik.io. Previously, he served as CEO of SteelBrick which was acquired by Salesforce in 2016 for $360M. In this episode, Godard shares how his first company inspired him to create G2, his perspectives on the evolution and differences in the SAAS and tech ecosystems in Colorado compared to Silicon Valley, and how his biggest lesson helped ease the burden on anxiety.Listen now on: Amazon Music (Alexa) | Spotify | Apple Podcasts G2 - https://www.g2.com/Check out more about what we're up to at Range.vc Connect with hosts Adam and Chris and the Range VC team on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/range-ventures/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

To build one successful company is a feat. But to do it over and over again? Over the course of his career, Godard Abel has built repeat successes as a serial entrepreneur. Today, he is co-founder and CEO of G2, the world's largest and most trusted software marketplace used by over 80 million people. But he is also the founder of Big Machines (acquired by Oracle) and SteelBrick (acquired by Salesforce). Godard shares how to find joy in the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial journey, how to build a community of trusted peers, and why he believes AI will change everything.

Today's guest is Godard Abel. He is the Co-founder & CEO of G2.com, a software marketplace with authentic peer reviews to make purchasing software that much easier. With his vast experience as an executive heading up multiple high-performing companies (like SteelBrick and BigMachines - purchased by Salesforce and Oracle respectively), Godard offers valuable advice on what it means to be a stellar operator. In this episode, he sat down with Patrick Campbell at SaaStock 2022 and broke down a number of fundamental learnings.High Level OverviewEstablish a strong company culture that fosters trust and collaboration.Leverage the power of partnerships to create synergies and generate value.Develop a performance-oriented mindset to ensure success.Utilize peer reviews and customer feedback to build trust with potential customers.Utilize data to make informed decisions and improve efficiency.Adopting G2's P.E.A.K. CultureInvesting in your team and developing a strong company culture is one of the best ways to ensure your business is successful for years to come. You can follow the G2 method of P.E.A.K. Culture which stands for Performance, Entrepreneurship, Authenticity, Kindness. Performance: It's important to have goals and objectives but tantamount to that all is to measure that progress. This can be done by creating a baseline of what you have currently, whether it's tracking your MRR, CAC, or LTV or even the reach you see in your social campaigns. Additionally, no one better understands the buying process than your customers. Utilize customer feedback, reviews, and other buyer data to make informed decisions and improve efficiency.Entrepreneurship: Fostering a culture where operators can have ownership over certain facets of the business will pay dividends. Oftentimes, just doing what works isn't going to move the needle. Empowering others who you work with to challenge the status-quo can result in game-changing results. Don't get this confused with hustling your face off, however. Poor sleep patterns can negatively impact growth and satisfaction.Authenticity: I'm sure we all see ourselves as authentic to varying degrees. Authenticity in itself feels like a binary measure, but there's always that one person who holds their cards close to their chest. Dan Martell managed to shift Patrick Campbell's perception of authenticity after speaking with him on an earlier episode of Protect the Hustle. Vulnerability is strength. encouraging transparency and open communication can develop a healthy culture within any business.Kindness: It isn't just about being nice and respectful to those you work with (although that's a great place to start), creating partnerships with likeminded businesses is crucial to your own success. By practicing the golden rule where you treat others how you want to be treated can lead to strong relationships with investors, peers, and your direct reports that will come back to help you in the end. You can't expect the same measure of response, but it can, at the very least, put a warm feeling in someone else's heart.Further LearningsYou can learn more about Godard Abel by following him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

In today's episode of How We Got There (which was recorded earlier this year, before the downturn), I talk with Doug Landis, who is a Growth Partner at Emergence Capital. Doug spent some time at Salesforce and Box before moving into his current role in helping Emergence's portfolio companies with go-to-market assistance. He was working in the early days of sales enablement and now recommends hiring rev ops and sales enablement roles earlier than you think, even at Series A, to drive productivity in the sales organization. Emergence Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in B2B Enterprise SaaS businesses for their Series A and B funding rounds. They've invested in Veeva, Steelbrick, Box, and many more household names in the Salesforce ecosystem. The biggest challenge every early stage company will face is pipeline and that can be helped by hiring Marketing leadership before sales leadership, because sales professionals won't enjoy being full cycle for very long. His message to early stage founders is to become obsessed with pipeline. In deals over $10k, there are normally 8-10 people in the buying decision even if there is a single major person that your solution will help. A good benchmark for any AE is they should be generating ~20% of their own pipeline. Key metrics to look at are by account, how many contacts are on each account and then dive deeper into touches by contact to know depth of engagement in a given opportunity. Looking at conversion rates can help you zero in on gtm priorities to work on. Technical founders make mistakes by hiring a salesperson too early because you need to learn how to sell early on. A good target is for you to sell the first $1M in ARR and collect insane insights along the way for your product while capturing referrals. Hiring customer success people early on the other hand is wise because your first few customers need to be successful, you can't afford to churn your first customers (unless you learn they aren't a good fit for where you're going). Before starting the process of fundraising, you need to know your data inside and out beyond your pitch deck that includes a strong “why”. Include customer stories to help tell your story. It's important to make a thoughtful list of potential investors that will be good long-term partners with you who will offer you the right level of engagement to guide you on the things you might be missing. For the ecosystem specific advice, he shares a word of caution for ISVs in getting Salesforce Ventures to participate in your round. Doug's view is when you take Salesforce Ventures money…..and it's cause for pause. If they build something like what you're offering, you could be in big trouble. He share the story of Steelbrick (Emergence was the lead investor here) and Apttus and how Salesforce leveraged their relationship to strong arm Steelbrick during the acquisition. Here's a closer look at the episode: 1:37 How did you find your way into the ecosystem? 5:13 Sales enablement 9:55 Who is Emergence and what's your role there? 14:16 What are some elements that make a great go to market approach in a series A or B company? 22:07 What's the biggest mistake you see technical founders make before they hire professional salespeople? 25:53 So founders in the ecosystem, if they're considering raising institutional capital, what should they know before starting the process? 34:15 What are you most proud of in your career? 36:10 The final three Doug's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglandis/ Emergence Capital's Website: https://www.emcap.com/ Emergence Capital's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/emergence-capital-partners/

After rescuing his first startup BigMachines from the brink of bankruptcy and building it to positive cash flow, Godard Abel thought the express lane of life was opening up to him. But after the board replaced him as CEO, Godard — now the CEO of B2B tech buying firm G2 — found himself on a rocky road for 10 years. He had all the money he could want, but also overwhelming fear, anxiety, and depression. To break out of this funk, Godard says he had to embrace presence and reckon with why entrepreneurship called him.In this episode, Godard and Joubin discuss the mental benefits of running, Silicon Valley during the dotcom boom, ex-Apple CEO John Sculley and “scale at all costs,” turning around a failing startup, a young founder's “FU mentality,” Jim Dethmer and conscious leadership, the importance of “wallowing in the muck,” the best part about entrepreneurship, WFIO moments, and the advantage of getting older.In this episode, we cover: The first company Godard co-founded, BigMachines (09:00) The race to IPO as soon as possible, and the “dot bomb” bubble (18:41) Rock bottom for BigMachines: “I felt like a massive failure every day” (23:20) How Godard lost the CEO job: A “Trojan horse” swap (26:55) Financial success and debilitating anxiety (32:30) Conscious leadership, being present, and embracing one's emotions (36:12) Godard's redemption: Joining, building, and selling SteelBrick (42:55) How often are you happy? (51:05) The humbling moments of starting G2, and staying an entrepreneur (53:35) Links: Connect with Godard Twitter LinkedIn Email: godard@g2.com Connect with Joubin Twitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com  Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

We see this all the time with product founders. They think they finally have built a great product that will sell itself, and that people will come and find them. It may be true with consumer companies but certainly not true with enterprises. The product does not sell itself, no matter how good it is. You have to market it. Today's guest for Coffee with Closers is Max Rudman - the founder and CEO of Prodly. Max is an entrepreneur driven by the passion to create new products with a track record of success in Enterprise Software. In the past, he founded SteelBrick, which was acquired by Salesforce in 2016. Stay tuned for our conversation with Max where he shares some practical advice for entrepreneurs on how to build and successfully exit a company. Coming up: ►How can entrepreneurs expand beyond their core competencies to fill in all the functions as they are starting a company? ►Why is it important for a business to hire great people and fully trust them? ►What mistakes to avoid when building a product company? ►Should you raise capital from outside or self-fund everything? ►How to be more productive as an entrepreneur? Enjoy! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ►Find Max Rudman on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxrudman/ ►Visit Prodly at https://prodly.co/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This series is brought to you by OneIMS - a leading digital marketing agency helping businesses win new customers. ►Request your FREE marketing ROI audit at https://www.oneims.com/ ►Follow OneIMS online! ►Subscribe to our channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/oneims ►Listen to our podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/0rq9sO5hIdnMlsY3M7jqYf?si=fLmIEu88QMi6QFU8p6h_Gw ►Visit our website here: https://www.oneims.com/ ►Follow OneIMS online: Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/OneIMS/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/oneims/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oneims/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/oneims?lang=en

In this episode you can learn more about the newest company of Chris Shutts and Godard Abel, the two co-founders of BigMachines. Both have 20+ years of experience and success in the CPQ space and beyond. Here they talk about how Logik.io was started, what customers they target, what team they have assembled, how they work with Threekit, their giving pledge and more Chris@logik.io  Godard@g2.com LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-shutts-0622237/   https://www.linkedin.com/in/godardabel/

In this episode you hear from Original Shift co-founder Joe Jagassar. Original Shift is a Salesforce CPQ & Billing focused System Integrator and has numerous leaders & employees that previously worked at SteelBrick and Salesforce. Here Joe talks about founding Original Shift, company growth during the pandemic, industries they focus on, key Salesforce CPQ & Billing requirements, and challenges and much more. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-jagassar/  email: Hello@originalshift.com  website: originalshift.com 

My guest for this episode is, Henrique Aragau, GM of EMEA @ G2 . G2 has the become leading B2B review platform with over 1 million reviews read by more than 4 million technology buyers every month. Prior to G2, Henrique was Snr Regional VP @ Salesforce. Following the acquisition of Steelbrick, the native Configure, Price, Quote application by Salesforce, Henrique led the set up and scaling of the Salesforce CPQ & Billing business in EMEA. Connect with Henrique - https://www.linkedin.com/in/henriquearagao/  G2 - https://www.g2.com/ 

In this episode you'll learn more about the recent acquisition of UK and India-based Hansen by Navint.  Navint CEO Jim Martindale and Hansen MD Steve Crosby share why and how they started the acquisition process, how they support lead-to-revenue transformation, what opportunities and challenges they see in the CPQ market, what new after-market opportunities they see, their partnership with Salesforce Revenue Cloud and much more.    See also www.navint.com to learn more about their services

Nothing lights me up more than a meaty conversation with a successful entrepreneur. I just bagged the elephant (You can thank me later.) Godard Abel is one of the most successful SaaS entrepreneurs you'll meet. And G2 is his Unicorn baby. After wrapping his studies at Stanford MBA and MIT Engineering, Godard was Co-Founder & CEO of BigMachines, a pioneer of the Configure, Price, Quote software category. He scaled the business from scratch to $50M revenues & 300 people, before its acquisition by Oracle. As CEO of SteelBrick, the leading Quote-to-Cash software platform, he built the team from 5 to 200 people, before its acquisition by Salesforce. And currently, Godard is Co-Founder & CEO of G2, which makes B2B tech buying easy by connecting buyers to vendors. It's “Yelp for Business Software & Services” with 1 million customer reviews & real-time ratings. 5 million tech buyers visit each month. And he's onto something big… G2 has raised over $200M from top investors: Accel, Chicago Ventures, Emergence, High Alpha, Hyde Park Venture Partners, IVP, Permira, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Salesforce Ventures, HubSpot Ventures. I was curious to understand how Godard makes it look so easy (It's not.) He attributes not some… but ALL… of his success to “hiring & nurturing incredible people.” In this 20-minute conversation, he reveals step-by-step how to build your Unicorn team.  

Entrepreneur delivering success to B2B tech buyers and vendors via G2.com marketplace...and supporting ThreeKit in building the world's most amazing 3D visual selling platform. Previously built cloud CPQ software pioneers BigMachines (acquired by Oracle) and SteelBrick (acquired by Salesforce). Following the conscious path to reach the PEAK in my work, personal, and family life.

In this throwback episode, we talk to Godard Abel, Co-founder and Executive Chairman at G2 Crowd and CEO at SteelBrick before he sold it to Salesforce, about how there are many different factors in determining the success or failure of a leader or business.

Entrepreneur delivering success to B2B tech buyers and vendors via G2.com marketplace...and supporting ThreeKit in building the world's most amazing 3D visual selling platform. Previously built cloud CPQ software pioneers BigMachines (acquired by Oracle) and SteelBrick (acquired by Salesforce). Following the conscious path to reach the PEAK in my work, personal, and family life. 

Entrepreneur delivering success to B2B tech buyers and vendors via G2.com marketplace...and supporting ThreeKit in building the world's most amazing 3D visual selling platform. Previously built cloud CPQ software pioneers BigMachines (acquired by Oracle) and SteelBrick (acquired by Salesforce). --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/georges-khalife/support

SalesTrip is disrupting travel and expenses. SalesTrip is founded by the team behind Invoice IT, an AppExchange solution for Billing and Invoicing that was acquired by Steelbrick in 2015, then just a few months later Steelbrick was acquired by Salesforce for a whopping $360 million.SalesTrip launched in 2019 and in 2020 was hit by a global pandemic resulting in worldwide lockdown and travel ban. This makes 2020 a tough time to launch a Travel startup.Wes Nolte has worked leading the cloud team at the Telegraph newspaper in London and was very early on the team at Tquila, a platinum Salesforce partner, which he helped grow and was eventually sold to Accenture in 2015.As an early leader of the ecosystem Wes Nolte was an original Salesforce MVP, started the London Salesforce Developer Meetup and co-wrote one of the first books on Salesforce with Jeff Douglas… and was an early Salesforce Certified Technical Architect. At Tquila Wes started a very successful training program to coach a number of architects on the team who would go on to pass the Review Board - including me.Today I am speaking with Wes about his entry into the Salesforce ecosystem and his time at Tquila and now SalesTrip. We focus on some different ways for enabling trials of your AppExchange product including Test Drives, Trialforce and using In App Guidance to enable the trial. -App Etc. is supported by Precursive. Precursive  believes the best companies help their clients realize value quickly, leading to customers for life. Your customer should never notice the transition between unified sales, professional services and customer success teams. Precursive helps manage and improve customer onboarding, project management and professional services automation, all in Salesforce.

Stephen Crane is Product Manager at Prodly and lives in Salt Lake City, UT. He is responsible for the AppOps product line. In this interview he talks about what the new AppOps Product Versions (Test and Release) do, for which customers this product was developed, what kind of testing they support, how reference & meta data is supported, the impact of COVID-19, how Gilles Muys is supporting them, pricing, implementation times and much more  LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/swcrane/ Website www.prodly.co

Matt Gorniak is well known in the CPQ world through his involvements with Oracle CPQ Cloud, G2, Steelbrick and Salesforce. In this interview he talks about his newfound passion for basketball, learnings from his previous positions, growth plans, what they did with the funding they received, customers that use their visualization solution, digital trust, why he strives to be like DocuSign and much more. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgorniak/ Website www.threekit.com email Matt@ThreeKit.com

Matt has been at the forefront of commerce in his C-level positions at BigMachines (acquired by Oracle), Steelbrick (acquired by salesforce) and Salesforce's Quote-to-Cash cloud. He also co-founded G2 Crowd. He is now CEO at Threekit, which generates product images for companies like Crate & Barrel and provides cutting edge AR for commerce, which you can see for yourself at https://quickdemo.threekit.com/product/1 (on a mobile device)

Join Prodly CEO Max Rudman, founder and architect of SteelBrick and previous product lead for Salesforce CPQ, for a new webinar series called “CPQ Best Practices: Asked and Answered.” Joining him for part 7 of this podcast is Gilles Muys, Vice President of Customer Solutions at Simplus, World's leading expert in CPQ, and author of the new book, Definitive Quote-to-Cash Guide.

Join Prodly CEO Max Rudman, founder and architect of SteelBrick and previous product lead for Salesforce CPQ, for a new webinar series called “CPQ Best Practices: Asked and Answered.” Joining him for part 6 of this podcast is Gilles Muys, Vice President of Customer Solutions at Simplus, World's leading expert in CPQ, and author of the new book, Definitive Quote-to-Cash Guide.

Join Prodly CEO Max Rudman, founder and architect of SteelBrick and previous product lead for Salesforce CPQ, for a new webinar series called “CPQ Best Practices: Asked and Answered.” Joining him for part 5 of this podcast is Gilles Muys, Vice President of Customer Solutions at Simplus, World's leading expert in CPQ, and author of the new book, Definitive Quote-to-Cash Guide.

Join Prodly CEO Max Rudman, founder and architect of SteelBrick and previous product lead for Salesforce CPQ, for a new webinar series called “CPQ Best Practices: Asked and Answered.” Joining him for part 4 of this podcast is Gilles Muys, Vice President of Customer Solutions at Simplus, World's leading expert in CPQ, and author of the new book, Definitive Quote-to-Cash Guide.

Join Prodly CEO Max Rudman, founder and architect of SteelBrick and previous product lead for Salesforce CPQ, for a new webinar series called “CPQ Best Practices: Asked and Answered.” Joining him for part 3 of this podcast is Gilles Muys, Vice President of Customer Solutions at Simplus, World's leading expert in CPQ, and author of the new book, Definitive Quote-to-Cash Guide.

Join Prodly CEO Max Rudman, founder and architect of SteelBrick and previous product lead for Salesforce CPQ, for a new webinar series called “CPQ Best Practices: Asked and Answered.” Joining him for part 2 of this podcast is Gilles Muys, Vice President of Customer Solutions at Simplus, World's leading expert in CPQ, and author of the new book, Definitive Quote-to-Cash Guide.

Join Prodly CEO Max Rudman, founder and architect of SteelBrick and previous product lead for Salesforce CPQ, for a new webinar series called “CPQ Best Practices: Asked and Answered.” Joining him in this podcast is Gilles Muys, Vice President of Customer Solutions at Simplus, World's leading expert in CPQ, and author of the new book, Definitive Quote-to-Cash Guide.

Godard Abel is well known in the CPQ business community through his leadership of BigMachines and Steelbrick which were both success stories when they were sold to Oracle and Salesforce. In this interview he talks about his latest adventure G2, the leading online software review site, he shares how they compete with Industry Analysts, how their software reviews work, why 20% of their reviews are rejected, what new capabilities they plan to add and much more.  email Godard@g2.com Website www.g2.com 

This is part 3 of the audio version of a webinar titled "Pathway to CPQ Success." Learn from two of the most qualified and knowledgeable Salesforce CPQ experts in the world as they discuss the stages of a successful CPQ journey. From evaluation and planning to implementation and finally management, Max Rudman (founder of Steelbrick and CEO of Prodly) and Gilles Muys (VP of customer solutions at Simplus and the only CPQ black belt in the world) provide deep insights and actionable tips to optimize your processes and maximize your investment in Salesforce CPQ. Hosted by Amy Cook, CMO at Simplus.

This is part 2 of the audio version of a webinar titled "Pathway to CPQ Success." Learn from two of the most qualified and knowledgeable Salesforce CPQ experts in the world as they discuss the stages of a successful CPQ journey. From evaluation and planning to implementation and finally management, Max Rudman (founder of Steelbrick and CEO of Prodly) and Gilles Muys (VP of customer solutions at Simplus and the only CPQ black belt in the world) provide deep insights and actionable tips to optimize your processes and maximize your investment in Salesforce CPQ. Hosted by Amy Cook, CMO at Simplus.

This is part 1 of the audio version of a webinar titled "Pathway to CPQ Success." Learn from two of the most qualified and knowledgeable Salesforce CPQ experts in the world as they discuss the stages of a successful CPQ journey. From evaluation and planning to implementation and finally management, Max Rudman (founder of Steelbrick and CEO of Prodly) and Gilles Muys (VP of customer solutions at Simplus and the only CPQ black belt in the world) provide deep insights and actionable tips to optimize your processes and maximize your investment in Salesforce CPQ. Hosted by Amy Cook, CMO at Simplus.

In this one we talk to Godard Abel, Co-founder and Executive Chairman at G2 Crowd and CEO at SteelBrick before he sold it to Salesforce, about how there are many different factors in determining the success or failure of a leader or business.

In this one we talk to Godard Abel, Co-founder and Executive Chairman at G2 Crowd and CEO at SteelBrick before he sold it to Salesforce, about how there are many different factors in determining the success or failure of a leader or business.

In this episode of The CXChronicles Podcast, Adrian speaks with Andrew Stapleton, VP of Customer Success at G2 Crowd in Chicago, IL. Andrew heads up the customer experience and success team at G2 and comes on the show to talk with the CX Nation about the 4 CX Pillars -- Team, Tools, Process and Feedback. G2 Crowd is a platform for users to share business software reviews in real-time. G2 Crowd leverages more than 500,000+ user reviews to drive better purchasing decisions. Business professionals, buyers, investors, and analysts use G2 Crowd to select the best software and services based on peer reviews and synthesized social data.The company was founded in 2012 and is based out of Chicago, Illinois.Support the show (https://cxchronicles.com/)

Low code programming is supposed to make things easier on companies, right? Low code means you can count on trained administrators instead of more expensive software engineers to handle most tasks, but like any issue solved by technology, there are always unintended consequences. While running his former company, Steelbrick, which he sold to Salesforce in 2015 for $360 million, Max Rudman identified a persistent problem with low-code deployments.

Max Rudman is the founder of Steelbrick. After Salesforce acquired his company in 2015 he stayed on for the last three years before he joined Prodly earlier this year. In this interview he talks about how he started working with CPQ, how he grew Steelbrick to 100+ customers, how Godard Abel changed his opinion of VC’s, where he expects the CPQ Market to go, his vision for Prodly and much more   LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxrudman/  email mrudman@prodly.co  Events https://www.prodly.co/events

Godard Abel is the Founder & CEO @ G2, the company helping millions of business make better product buying decisions every month. To date, Godard has raised over $100m in funding with G2 from the likes of Accel, IVP, High Alpha, Pritzker Group and Chicago Ventures just to name a few. As for Godard, he founded his first business, BigMachines, in 2000, a business he scaled to $50m in revenue and over 300 people up until it’s acquisition to Oracle 11 years later for $400m. Godard then became CEO @ Steelbrick where he took them from 5 to 200 employees and increased bookings by 37x in 7 quarters. Steelbrick was ultimately acquired by Salesforce where he spent a year and a half before starting G2.   In Today’s Episode We Discuss: How did Godard make his way into the world of SaaS over 20 years ago? What was the a-ha moment for the founding of G2 for Godard? Having been a Founder through the bust of 2000, how did seeing that macro environment impact his operating mentality today? What did it teach him about capital efficiency and investing ahead of time? Taking the team from 70 to 20, what were his lessons on the right way to let someone go? Where do many people get it wrong today?      Why does Godard advocate for working with people that you have worked with before? How can you find the zone of genius for the people that you work with? How does Godard set a culture of ambition and determination around goals but also prevent dejection if the goals are not hit? How often should rep quota be hit? Why is that the right ratio?     Where does Godard believe that things really start to break down in the scaling of an organisation? What can you do to get ahead of those moments and minimise their impact? How many direct reports does Godard believe is the optimal and then the maximum for a manager to have? How have his thoughts on this changed over time? Godard’s 60 Second SaaStr: What would Godard like to change in the world of SaaS today? What does Godard know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? If an investor can provide one value, what would it be and why? Read the full transcript on our blog. If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:   Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Godard Abel  

Joachim recently joined ThreeKit, an online platform for visualization solutions that partners with CPQ and eCommerce providers. In this interview, Joachim talks about how he got interested in CPQ, how he got involved with BigMachines, SteelBrick and Salesforce, what the plans are for ThreeKit, how companies like Crate & Barrel use ThreeKit and much more. Contact him on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/joachimklein/ or on email @ joachim.klein@threekit.com  The website is @https://www.threekit.com 

James co-founded Zimit in 2015 and their CPQ Solution is focused on Enterprise Technology Services and Managed Services. In this interview James talks about his work at CPG, why he decided to found a services oriented CPQ firm, what they learned from Steelbrick, what service capabilities are in high demand and much more Contact James @ jcramer@zimit.io Contact James on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-cramer-zimit/  The Zimit website is @  https://zimit.io 

Pascal has been with Salesforce since 2009 and is leading the Salesforce CPQ + Billing Team since 2017. In this interview he shares how much his team has grown and changed since the Steelbrick acquisition, his thoughts about the Cloudcraze and Mulesoft acquisition, ISV Partnerships and much more Contact Pascal at PYammine@salesforce.com or LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascalyammine/   The Salesforce CPQ + Billing website is @ https://www.salesforce.com/products/quote-to-cash/overview/  Pascal will do the Salesforce CPQ + Billing Keynote on Wednesday September 26 @ 1pm PST

Mark Cuban is famous for saying “In business, you only need to be right once.” Godard Abel doesn’t believe in that. He’s already been right twice and is working on his third project now. In 2013 Abel sold his software company, BigMachines to Oracle for $400M. Then in late 2015 he sold his next company, SteelBrick to Salesforce.com for $360M. But Abel isn’t an overnight success story. BigMachines took nearly a dozen years to build and Abel told me that they missed their sales numbers every year for the first seven years. With only $1.5M left in the bank, he and his team decided to continue onward and the rest is history. Abel mentioned that a major piece of his success has come as a result of mindfulness. He follows Jim Dethmer’s Concious Leadership style, he reads books from Eckhart Tolle, and meditates using Headspace every day. His focus on health and wellness has allowed him to think more clearly and become a more successful leader. And if being right twice is great, a third time would be icing on the cake. That’s what Abel is working on right now with his team at G2 Crowd. In this interview, we talk about the impact that mindfulness has had on his life, how to build a great company and the best way you can book a meeting with someone important via email and LinkedIn. Listen Here: iTunes Google Play Stitcher Connect with Godard: G2 Crowd LinkedIn Twitter Sign up for the weekly Millennial Momentum Newsletter. No BS, All hustle

Mark Cuban is famous for saying “In business, you only need to be right once.” Godard Abel doesn't believe in that. He's already been right twice and is working on his third project now. In 2013 Abel sold his software company, BigMachines to Oracle for $400M. Then in late 2015 he sold his next company, SteelBrick to Salesforce.com for $360M. But Abel isn't an overnight success story. BigMachines took nearly a dozen years to build and Abel told me that they missed their sales numbers every year for the first seven years. With only $1.5M left in the bank, he and his team decided to continue onward and the rest is history. Abel mentioned that a major piece of his success has come as a result of mindfulness. He follows Jim Dethmer's Concious Leadership style, he reads books from Eckhart Tolle, and meditates using Headspace every day. His focus on health and wellness has allowed him to think more clearly and become a more successful leader. And if being right twice is great, a third time would be icing on the cake. That's what Abel is working on right now with his team at G2 Crowd. In this interview, we talk about the impact that mindfulness has had on his life, how to build a great company and the best way you can book a meeting with someone important via email and LinkedIn. Listen Here: iTunes Google Play Stitcher Connect with Godard: G2 Crowd LinkedIn Twitter Sign up for the weekly Millennial Momentum Newsletter. No BS, All hustle

Godard Abel, founder and executive chairman of G2 Crowd, a fast-growing tech startup in Chicago, has been building businesses for more than a decade.   His first startup, BigMachines, was sold to Oracle for more than $400 million in 2013. His next startup, Steelbrick, raised more than $50 million in less than four years and was acquired by Salesforce for $360M.   But, none of this would have been possible without the underground network of talent that follow him from one venture to the next. He refers to this core group as his startup squad. He’s trained this team on how to grow businesses from the ground-up quickly and efficiently. It includes engineers, designers, sales and marketing reps and customer service specialists.    Godard shares his insight on how to build this team with special focus on how to maintain their loyalty through mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs. 

In this episode, we discuss the World Economic Forum in Davos, the SteelBrick acquisition causing partner pain, a seeming increase of reports that Salesforce.com will have a rough 2016, the Wave Analytics reboot and IoT, and Oracle offering sales people major bonuses for getting customers to buy cloud offerings.Salesforce causes partner pain with SteelBrick acquisitionApttus CEO Kirk Krappe Chats Candidly About 2016 ExitWill 2016 Be Salesforce.com's Worst Year Yet?Salesforce.com Cannot Defy Gravity AnymoreSalesforce reboots Wave Analytics, preps IoT cloudOracle's cloud ambitions may be nearing moment of truthOracle salesmen get SEVENFOLD salary boost for flogging its cloudy aaS produce

In this episode, we discuss the recently announced Salesforce and Box integration, a possible Salesforce acquisition of SteelBrick, the Salesforce acquisition of MinHash, recent reportings of a price drop for the Analytics Cloud, and close out the year with some memorable clips and some predictions for 2016. Salesforce and Box join forces to put files where employees need themSalesforce said to be close to completing $600M SteelBrick acquisitionSalesforce Has Acquired MinHash, Creators Of The AILA Virtual Marketing Assistant Merry Christmas! and thank you to everyone who listens to us, has written a review, engaged us on Twitter, and been a guest on our show. We had a lot of fun producing this show this year and look forward to another great year!