Your Ultimate Customer Success Guide—20+ Blogs You Need to Read
I love sharing tips and lessons from my 10+ years on the front lines of helping customers at startups.
Read More
I love sharing tips and lessons from my 10+ years on the front lines of helping customers at startups.
Read MoreI love sharing tips and lessons from my 10+ years on the front lines of helping customers at startups.
I’ve made all the mistakes and learned from many excellent people!
If you’ve recently brought on new customers, hired your first customer-focused role, or you’ve started scaling and are hitting some growing pains…
I feel you and this is your new favorite blog post. 😉
It's the highlight reel of all the post-sales, how-to-serve-customers content I’ve shared in 2.5 years.
For long time O’Daily readers…if you’ve already read every blog, email me for a prize.
For everyone else, here’s a decade of information in <500 words (a few more if you read all the posts).
What are your go-to customer success blogs or articles???
Which people or companies put out your favorite content?
Share your recs! I’d love to do a roll up in a future post!
You’ve brought on your paying first customers. Woohoo!
Here is everything you need to know to keep your customers happy and get started on building an amazing customer experience.
The 1 Metric That Will Transform Your Customer Success Program
Good At Sales But Bad At Customer Success? Here’s How To Fix That
I’ve seen the evolution of customer implementations and onboarding at several B2B Saas companies and from many other customer success leaders in the industry.
Here are the best tips I’ve learned for welcoming customers, getting them started off right, and staying in touch.
Getting started is only half the battle. Helping customers realize long term success is the most powerful way to grow your business.
They renew, buy more, tell their colleagues and bosses, and bring you in when they change jobs.
THIS is how a billion dollar business is built.
And THESE 👇 are the retention and value strategies that the best companies are using.
Pricing is closely tied to customer success.
It needs to align with value, incentivize increased usage (and spending 😉), and be simple enough for your team and customers to follow.
Many companies have 5, 10, even 20 iterations — with updates and feedback coming from customer-facing roles.
These blogs take you through basic pricing strategy and real-life examples for every stage.
Don't forget to show your customers love! A thoughtful gift can be the difference between a cancellation and willingness to work through product challenges. And of course, you want to appreciate your biggest advocates!
Here are considerations, steps, and budget-friendly ideas for customer gifting.
Do you have any other recommendations for founders looking for Customer Success resources? What should be added to this Customer Success Guide? Do you enjoy receiving guides like this? What other types of guides would you like to see?
You found the perfect person for a role. Woohoo! But wait. You’re an early stage startup. Cash is tight. Here’s my top 4 recommendations for founders when thinking about and making offers to key employees!
Read MoreYou found the perfect person for a role. Woohoo!
But wait.
You’re an early stage startup.
Cash is tight.
This “perfect person” can make way more at a large company. You know it. They know it.
How do you get this person over the finish line without putting your company in a precarious cash position (aka pay them more than you can afford)??
Here’s my top 4 recommendations for founders when thinking about and making offers to key employees!
You have a lot to offer as a startup.
High salaries are not one of them. 😂
But you do offer:
Ability to make an impact and do meaningful work
Fast career growth
In-depth, behind-the-scenes business exposure
Daily access to the CEO 😉 (sounds ridiculous to you but it’s great learning and rarely happens at larger companies)
Stock options with exponential growth potential
Great culture (hopefully!)
Small team
Make sure you’re asking lots of questions to understand what the candidate is looking for and why so you can lean into that.
Unlike big companies, you can craft a job role, title, comp, description to match what a person is looking for.
Use your competitive advantage.
Salaries, healthcare, 401k matches, and many other benefits are expensive.
Even stock is not “free” (even though it may feel like Monopoly money at the moment!) because there are long term implications to fundraising and exit strategy if your cap table is overextended.
Here’s what you can offer:
Big title — “Head of” titles give you the ability to define levels (e.g. are they a VP or a Director?) later. But if someone great wants to be a VP, why not? Yes, you may have to layer them later (hire someone more senior who becomes their boss) BUT that’s a high class problem that many companies never have. Just like angry customers are a good sign, so is needing to hire more experienced leaders.
Flexibility — yes, you work your ass off in a startup. But letting people work from home a few days per week, work while traveling, or come in late/leave late do not cost you anything. As a working mom, the ability to pick my kids up from school when I need to is worth 10s if not 100s of thousands of dollars in salary. Seriously. Because that’s how much you’d be paying a nanny anyway.
Impact — people want their work to matter. I took a 25% pay cut (40-50% if you include benefits) and walked away from $50k+ of stock options to do more work. I wanted less politics, more action. Don’t underestimate the persuasiveness of meaningful work and allowing people to deliver results.
Culture — working with nice, talented, passionate people feels normal to you but is unique in the working world. Set your company’s core values, align to them, and let your workplace culture shine as a competitive differentiator.
Let the candidate choose their own (startup comp) adventure!
Option #1 - higher salary, fewer stock options
Option #2 - lower salary, more stock options
(How much equity? Here’s a great blog that we reference and share regularly.)
Note: “higher salary” = high end of the range you are comfortable with, not high salaries compared to market rate.
You can even offer a third in the middle if you’re so inclined.
Basically — let them decide what they want to optimize in their career and personal finances.
Do they need the higher base salary because they are supporting aging parents or bought a house? Can opt for more equity because their spouse is carrying the team as a lawyer?
Less stress for you to figure out the perfect salary/equity blend and you get good insight to what “I need a high salary” or “I want to have a meaningful stake” really means to them.
You want to compensate someone fairly without being irresponsible or hindering your ability to bring on other key hires.
Offering two variations of salary/equity comp is a great way to engage someone in the job offer process and be mindful of limited company resources.
Most roles don’t have bonuses or commission. It’s simpler for all involved.
(Sales, of course, is a huge exception!)
I wouldn’t proactively offer bonuses or variable comp for non-sales roles but sometimes it comes up as a strategy for attracting top talent at a lower base salary.
“Your base salary is here but as you/the company performs, we’ll get you up to your required salary through performance bonuses.”
Whenever possible — especially for sales roles and for any other roles that end up with variable comp — tie bonuses or commission structure to actually getting money in the door.
Sounds obvious but it’s easy to get into bonus structures or variable comp packages related to “key metrics” for a role instead of when the company gets revenue.
Examples (OF COMP STRATEGIES TO AVOID):
Marketing manager who gets a $10k bonus for hitting the pipeline creation target (theoretical pipeline…might not turn into revenue)
Customer success manager with variable comp for # of outreach calls (make it renewal orupsell instead)
When you are big and have lots of money…go for it. Incentivize however you want.
But as a scrappy startup, you want to pay variable compensation, commission, bonuses, incentives — whatever they are — in alignment with company revenue!
Examples (OF COMP ALIGNMENT):
Commissions get paid when the customer payment is received and not simply when the contract is signed.
Why?
Encourages sales reps to follow through on full sales process, customer solvency, and make sure the customer is a good fit.
Leadership team or company-wide bonuses are paid around revenue targets and cash efficiency.
Why?
Overhiring sales reps or overspending on marketing campaigns to hit the revenue target shouldn’t earn you a bonus!
Examples (OF SORT-OF EXCEPTIONS):
Business Development Reps (BDRs) often get paid commission on meetings set or demos booked. This makes sense especially if the sales cycle is longer and you have monthly demo targets. You want to keep the desired outcome and reward close enough together that it’s motivating (and financially viable for someone to pay their bills! Don’t pay demo commission 5 months after the demo happened.) Usually they will get a significant kicker (a % of the deal amount) if a deal closes!
In-house recruiters usually have a higher base salary and get paid commission when a hire “works out” aka has been with the company 120+ days.
Paying bonuses on money saved - I saw an engineer save a company upwards of several hundred thousand dollars per year with an effort to decrease hosting costs while keeping performance (it was an intentional money-saving initiative). With a measurable impact to company finances, it makes sense to pay a bonus or give a raise — as long as you’re careful with the precedent. If everyone starts downsizing tools or teammates to increase their own salary, that could get out of hand quickly. 😂
Getting top talent on a scrappy startup budget is a challenge but it’s absolutely possible! It’s one of the many places to apply your stellar sales skills as CEO 😉
Hellooooo dream team!
Who was the most amazing hire you recruited? How did you do it?
Any lessons learned or comp strategies that worked (or didn’t)??
What did you walk away from to join a startup???
I love these! Shoot me a note!
What are the most successful entrepreneurs, business people, and leaders doing? Am I doing it? Seemingly small things can make a huge difference in how you feel, perform, are treated by others, and long-term success.
Read MoreI’m a student of the game.
What are the most successful entrepreneurs, business people, and leaders doing?
Am I doing it?
Seemingly small things can make a huge difference in how you feel, perform, are treated by others, and long-term success.
Here are 6 things that I’ve learned from years of being “at the table” with top CEOs, founders, investors, and executives.
I recommend these often, especially to folks early in their career, anyone “breaking into” the business world, or someone wanting to uplevel or be taken more seriously.
Many of these things did not come naturally to me, but I realized they were important.
I did them anyway, practiced a LOT, and — surprise, surprise — got better at them!
Salaries, revenue, pricing, fundraising details. Compare notes.
When you talk about money, you get information!
You also show you are a business person.
When I’m with experienced business people, the conversation naturally turns to revenue, margin, salaries, financial decisions, contract terms, and more.
Talking about money is how you know what is normal and how to negotiate the best deal for yourself or your company!
It’s also the love language of investors. 😍
I don’t like this one. I really wish I didn’t have to.
But when people ask me what I do, I say “Partner” in the first sentence.
Why?
Because when I try the more humble, generic “I’m with Atlanta Ventures,” they say, “Oh, like operations?”
(Happened multiple times before I learned to say Partner.)
Ditto for when I said, “I run operations” instead of COO.
One amazing, very tactical takeaway from an executive training program for women founders was to always introduce yourself as:
“I’m <FirstName, LastName>, founder and CEO of <CompanyName>.”
It sounds cringey when you say it in your head or the first few times aloud.
But when you hear someone else do it with casual, matter-of-fact-ness (comes with practice), it sounds normal and awesome!
After a few times, it becomes second nature. Plus it is a great conversation starter and provides immediate context when you meet someone.
This article changed my life. Literally.
I read it the same week that I saw this:
Person #1 walked into a meeting, apologizing profusely for being late, saying that they overslept their alarm, it’s never happened before, and they’re so so sorry.
Person #2 walked into the same meeting, a day later, also 10 minutes late. They walked in without apology, as if they had been doing something important that had kept them away, sat down, and said nothing.
This is just one tiny example of a pattern I see often!
Same scenario, different reactions, which lead to different expectations and perceptions — even though the 10-minute-late reality was the same for both people!
Person #1 can’t be late again or it becomes a “pattern.” They were flustered, and ended up over-apologizing.
Person #2 remained calm, collected, confident, unapologetic. Everyone assumed they had been on a client call, breakfast meeting, or tied up with something important. They didn’t pay a social or work penalty for being late.
When you feel like you have to justify or explain every second you’re not at your desk, decline a meeting, leave early, show up late, haven’t replied instantly, don’t work 80 hours/week…it’s exhausting! (And easy to burn out.)
Everyone — even the hardest working, most dedicated business people — are taking time for family, personal to-dos, doctors appointments, a weekend getaway.
They aren’t broadcasting it. They are still getting their shit done. And so are you!
I talk about saying no all the time (for example, here, here, here, here) because it’s such a powerful (and challenging!) life skill.
It’s similar to not over-explaining your time as it relates to focus, prioritization, and staying in the game long term.
One key thing I’ve noticed:
Successful people don’t justify or explain their “no.”
“I can’t make it but have a wonderful time.”
“I have a conflict at that time but I could do xyz.”
“Please proceed without me.”
Now, you may say, it’s easy for them to give a “no” without explaining because they are a big deal. I’m just a nobody who has to explain myself, you may be saying.
FALSE.
I’ve known these “successful” people for years and they’ve being saying no (without justifying it) for a long time. Part of why they’re successful is because they are willing to say no.
Here’s the other thing:
99% of people don’t care that you said no and they spend less than .0001 second thinking about it.
They’re too busy worrying about their own “no” to care about yours! 😂
There’s 100 different ways to say no or set boundaries that’s polite without having a “legit” excuse like, I have to amputate my own leg today so I’ll be running late.
Watch a circle of experienced business folks or high powered executives introduce themselves. Everyone says first and last name.
My dad answered his cell phone for 30 years with “Jack Honderd here” like you might not know which Jack you were calling. 😂
When you hear someone’s last name, you’re more likely to:
Remember them (thus better follow up, asking for an intro later, mentioning their name another time)
Realize that you know them or have a mutual connection (thus solidifying the relationship further)
Understand who they are by recognizing their name (thus asking better questions, tailoring the pitch, knowing the decision maker)
Get the subtle signal that they are someone worthy of a first-and-last intro! 😉
Did I find it a little cringe-y and weird at first? Yes!
Do I still practice this today? Yes!
Do I think it’s a very important habit and social cue? Yes!
I’ve mentioned it before and shared a video about my own experience.
It’s so important, here it is again!
Highly successful people don’t wait to be called on.
Yes, they are good listeners and socially appropriate.
But also, they add to the conversation. They share their perspective. They contribute to the discussion equally. They believe their thoughts, experience, or questions add value.
They do not see themselves as a recipient or “lucky” to be there. They are a valued participant in any meeting or interaction.
Don’t be afraid to interrupt, especially if someone is monopolizing the conversation.
If you wait patiently for your turn, it might never come.
Make your own turn.
Jump in and add value like the peer that you are!
What habits have worked for you? Have you noticed anything particularly effective?
I’d love to hear from you! Reply to the email or share in the blog comments. If we get enough responses, we’ll do a follow up with audience suggestions :)
Blogs are helpful but sometimes you just need real humans! Big events, small events, panels, parties, workouts, virtual — whatever your style, the next few months are packed with potential! Here are a few that I’ll be hosting or attending.
Read MoreBlogs are helpful but sometimes you just need real humans!
Big events, small events, panels, parties, workouts, virtual — whatever your style, the next few months are packed with potential!
Here are a few that I’ll be hosting or attending.
Can you make it? What type of events are your favorite? Do you dislike networking like I do? 😉
Please feel free to add other events you’re excited about in the comments!
📅 Fri, Aug 16, 7:45a
📍Atlanta Tech Village
Nothing brings people together like suffering in the Atlanta heat. 😂 And you’ll get your workout and networking all wrapped up by 9am!
I’ve also heard rumors of early access nutrition products…if you happen to like cutting edge performance tech (I do!).
Thanks to TrackCred for hosting!
P.S. It’s TrackCred founder Denis Cranstoun’s birthday. I’d tell you about the surprise treats but then I’d have to kill you. 😉🥳😂
📅 Wed, Aug 28, 9-10a
📍Virtual
Join me and fellow Atlanta Ventures partner, A.T. Gimbel, for an informal Q&A sesh. Common topics include fundraising, product development, how to get early customers, what we look for when investing, and more!
📅 Thu, Sep 19, 5-7p
📍ATDC Offices in Tech Square
Join me and some of my favorite folks — Kaitlin Hagan, Rahul Saxena, Seth Radman, Robert “RED” Daniel — for a high energy panel on entrepreneurship!
Everyone has extensive and varied front-line startup experience.
They will have practical advice and stories from the trenches. My favorite kind (and hopefully yours too!)
📅 Mon, Oct 7 - Thu, Oct 10
📍Woodruff Arts Center
*THE* event of the year. Largest venture conference in the Southeast. (Prepare yourself.) Investors come from all over the country to check out the top startups in the region.
Tons of auxiliary events. I love the Founder + Funder Social Jog on Tues morning and the Female Founders Dinner on Wed evening. Excited to see a volunteer activity from Hands on Atlanta and Endeavor on Thurs.
For investors, the Monday night Venture Crawl will tour Atlanta tech hubs including behind-the-scenes look at South Downtown!
Founder tickets are reasonable, Woodruff Arts Center is a great venue, and I don’t know a single startup who attended who wasn’t excited about the connections they made.
📅 Tue, Oct 1 - Sat, Oct 19
📍All Over Atlanta!
Come for Venture Atlanta, stay for InnovATL.
A coordinated calendar of startup and innovation-focused events over 2 weeks in the glorious early October weather.
Techstars Demo Day, Main Street Demo Day, Startup Awards, and approximately 1,728,286 more events.
Bring your caffeine drip and book an Atlanta Tech Village nap room now. 🥳💪🍑
📅 Wed, Nov 13, 12p
📍Atlanta Tech Village
I’ll bring the hard hitting questions for Christine de Wendel, who scaled multiple unicorns before founding SundayApp, where she is CEO and has raised over $125M.
Oh yeah, she also has 3 kids and is a wonderful human.
I will dive into Christine’s amazing journey including:
Raising big money from top tier investors
Lessons from scaling billion dollar companies
Founder vs. C-suite mentality
Bringing European lifestyle to US startup culture
Picking big markets, building product, growing teams, and much more!
Want to learn how she does it?
Me too!
This is part of Women + Tech programming but all are welcome!
Mark your calendars and check back here for registration which will open soon.
📅 TBD
📍Charlotte, NC
Still hammering out the details but GET EXCITED because I love collaborating with gWen.
I’ll be heading to Charlotte in the next few months to hang with top tier founders.
All I can promise is that it will be both (a) value-add and (b) really fun!
Did I miss something? Absolutely! I can never capture all that’s going on in this bustling startup world!
Here are some of my favorite event calendars…that will still only be the tip of the iceberg!
And of course, here’s a list of my favorite resources, groups, and tactics for getting a pulse on Atlanta and finding other tech folks.
It’s the first time we’re posting upcoming events on The O’Daily.
Do you like an occasional event roll up here?
Or prefer events on LinkedIn with the O’Daily strictly as startup advice?
Press reply and let me know! #always-be-testing-and-asking-for-feedback 😁
Please feel free to drop other upcoming events with details and registration links in the comments below! 👇
Last week, we talked about why a personal brand can be valuable — especially as part of building a company! This week, we’re going to break it down into small, simple steps that even a busy startup founder can handle!
Read MoreLast week, we talked about why a personal brand can be valuable — especially as part of building a company!
This week, we’re going to break it down into small, simple steps that even a busy startup founder can handle!
Of course, your personal brand is more than an online presence.
Your “brand” is already happening. It’s how you treat people, the emails you write, what you say and do at events, what you’re known for at your company.
Being intentional about expanding that personal brand into the digital realm is a great multiplier of what you’re already doing!
You reach more people and it’s “evergreen” — it spans space and time. You can be you 24/7 without staying up past your bedtime (oh, just me? 😴🤓).
Sounds amazing, right?
But maybe overwhelming?
Never fear!
The first goal is to start small.
You can add on, do more, and further optimize as it gets easier and you have more confidence.
For now — here are the 5 simple steps to start building your personal brand!
Best way to start is to get started. Let’s set a goal and get going!
Examples:
1 LinkedIn post/wk
3 Tweets/wk
1 TikTok video/wk
1 300-word blog/wk
1 newsletter/mo
Make it small but doable. Some people do best with “I do it every day” goals like Lauren Goodell and Jermaine Brown who post every day on their respective channels.
For the rest of us mere mortals, we are trying to develop a habit that we can build on over time like we did at Rigor with strategic planning.
Weekly or 2x weekly is a good starting frequency for most channels.
VERY IMPORTANT: focus on the activity over outcome.
You may want more followers. That’s great. Definitely keep tabs on your follower count.
But the consistent posting is what brings followers.
Focus on process and systems over goals — just like David Cummings and Nick Saban!
LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, Substack, Threads, X, YouTube, Facebook, Reddit…there’s many great options.
What’s the *right* one to start with?
It depends!
I think about it as a Venn diagram of “what platform do you know” and “where is your customer” → start where these overlap!
Where are you most comfortable?
Are you already on one or two platforms as a “lurker”? (Don’t act like you don’t know, you scroller-but-never-poster!) Or maybe you used to do more, you already have a profile, or you use it personally? Start there!
Platforms these days have a lot of features and nuance. If you’re familiar with a style, interface, and tone of certain platform, keep it easy. Don’t add “learn brand new technology and platform-specific social media etiquette” to your to-dos if you don’t have to.
Where are your customers or target audience?
Facebook to attract GenZ buyers…might not get the ROI you’re hoping 🥴😆🙃
Business content on LinkedIn, consumer products on TikTok and Instagram, snarky comments on X, and saying hi to my mom and former teachers on Facebook.
If you don’t know where your target audience is…find them! Search related terms, look up key contacts, see who else is creating content, run a few tests.
What about a niche?
It may make sense to double down on a small, specific community — like be a top poster and commenter in a subReddit of your ideal customers or blog on Paragraph.xyz to attract Web3/Blockchain users or investors.
You can always expand to other platforms later. Start with one!
When in doubt…
Keep it short.
Post a picture of an event, tag people at the event.
Share a blog, podcast, book that you loved and say why.
Reuse a line from an email, newsletter, or internal communication you wrote.
Still too hard? Reshare someone else’s content with a short blurb.
STILL too hard? Comment on other people’s content. Be the #1 fan! Add your thoughts or advice to the comment. Keep it positive!
Create a doc with a running list of content ideas or snippets to use. Ask your team for ideas too.
Don’t worry about your style or tone, just get started!
You can’t figure out what works for you without trying things in real life.
Remember — you will suck at first, and that’s okay!
Virtual assistants, ChatGPT, your co-worker’s teenager — are all better at social media than you. 😂
And would be happy to help for a relatively small amount of money!
You say, “Hard and boring.”
They say, “Easy and interesting!”
Plus, it’s great learning and resume-building. (Those LLMs aren’t going to train themselves, ya know!)
If nothing else, it adds accountability to the process.
They can suggest photos, proofread, give you content ideas, do a first draft — all things that save you valuable minutes.
(I work with Evie Lutz of Confetti Social and she’s amazing!!!)
I’ve HEARD that some people block time, create a bunch of content at once, then schedule several weeks ahead (e.g. LinkedIn has a “schedule posts” feature).
Seems like a great idea that I highly recommend…if you like that sort of prepared, low stress, well-organized thing.
Personally, I like to scramble at the last minute, force myself to “just get it done”, berate myself for procrastinating, promise to batch content next time, and repeat this vicious cycle weekly.
Both methods seem to work, so whichever one feels more your style! 🙃
You’re now minutes away from starting your social media empire.
It will start with a small, consistent habit and grow over time. A 10 year overnight success!
Since you probably already have ideas for your goal, platform, and initial content after reading this — take ONE STEP right meow that will turn your personal brand ambitions into a reality:
Create a recurring calendar block for a weekly post
Go to ChatGPT to generate 1 piece of content
Login to a platform and post something quick and easy
Send an email to someone who could help you start or manage social posting
Something else that comes to mind!
In a few weeks, we’ll talk about “the anatomy of great content” — specific strategies from social media experts that apply to any platform to help you get more engagement as you’re learning and improving!
What step did you take??? What helped you get started being consistent with your personal brand goals? Any other advice for founders?
I recently chatted with an entrepreneur who wanted to improve the brand for her company. My advice — don’t worry about “company” content, instead have all that content come from you. Why? People buy from people. Not from brands.
Read MoreI recently chatted with an entrepreneur who wanted to improve the content and brand for her company.
My advice to her — don’t worry about “company” content, instead have all that content come from you.
Why?
People buy from people. Not from brands.
Great advice that I first heard from Shannan Brooks who — with 100k followers and posts that regularly get 3M+ views — knows her stuff.
Lauren Goodell (Zinnia) and Troy Munson (Dimmo) are two great examples.
Each has 20k+ followers on LinkedIn, cultivated intentionally through helpful advice and personal stories.
I’ve seen both successfully leverage their audience for:
customer feedback
product launches
customer acquisition
market testing
access to events and PR opportunities
All for **FREE** (minus the time to post and engage) — a startup’s favorite price.
Does this mean that you can be a Lauren, Shannan, or Troy overnight?
Maybe!
Lauren 4x-ed her audience in less than a year. Gauntlet thrown 😉
Here are 5 reasons that investing in your personal brand will pay off big time for your company, especially in the early days!
Same content posted by a company or a person — the person will almost always get more views in the social platform algorithms (LinkedIn especially).
Why?
People like “watching” people so they put personal posts at the top of the feed for better engagement. (Which in turn encourages more personal posts…)
Also — **conspiracy theory alert** — companies are much more likely to pay for ads or promoted posts. Why give them for free what you can monetize instead??
(I don’t know this but it sure makes sense to me.)
Call it evolutionary biology. Call it voyeurism. Call it we-are-all-nosy-and-creepy-and-judgy.
There’s something about seeing into the lives of others — even if it’s in a totally professional context — that connects to some innate human curiosity.
Notice what you click on.
Do you stop to read the SEO content and stock photo from the generic B2B SaaS tool? (Nope.)
Or is it the photo from a real event or personal story and photo from a founder?
(YES! Tell me the secret to life and did they get a haircut?)
All of these things can be shared by a brand or a person. All of these things are better when shared by a person!
Industry news
Upcoming events
Research/thought leadership (yours or others)
Interviews or advice from other thought leaders
Helpful books or podcasts (including summaries)
Open job roles
Company milestones or team celebrations
Event recaps
If you’re not comfortable in the spotlight (most of us aren’t) or want to keep your private life private, there’s all different styles of personal brands.
Personal brand doesn’t mean pics of your kids, revealing your deepest fears, or taking non-stop selfies.
Sharing helpful ideas can be personal and unique too!
Have a difficult message to share? Need to apologize for a product misfire?
It’s 10x more authentic and believable when coming from a person versus a generic company entity.
And it’s 10x MORE powerful, compelling, and forgivable beyond that when you “know” that person because they’ve been sharing thoughts and in your feed for months and years.
Trust and credibility help on the upside too. Looking for beta testers, customer testimonials, or guest bloggers?
You are more likely to get a “yes” when a human asks than when your “company” does.
Want to start another company after your first exit?
I sure hope you’ve invested in your personal brand because your previous company’s name, logo, and LinkedIn page is now owned by a PE firm. 🥴😉😂
Want to pivot your business from consulting to a tech product?
Your followers will be more loyal to you than a generic company name. You can tell the story and transition smoothly (human-to-human) instead of spending big $$$ to reeducate everyone through a new website, ads, and other messaging.
Want to recruit your next employee, co-founder, or investor? It’s much easier if they’ve been following you for years vs. see a pitch deck or job posting.
And — maybe this is too obvious to bring up but — it’s often way easier to remember a human first name, last name, and face than the made-up-not-a-real-word-no-vowels business name.
If you’re like me, my brain has not yet evolved to memorize logos and URLs as well as I do people and faces!
Yes.
At some point, it doesn’t scale to have (only) you be the brand. The company brand will mature over time. The marketing team will develop brand guidelines, you’ll have voice and tone documents, and if done well, your company itself will have an enduring identity and style.
BUT — even when you are a multi-billion dollar company (and you will be!) — people still want to hear from people.
Think of the impact of Bob Iger as the head of Disney compared to other movie studios and brands. (I don’t even know any other studio heads other than Reid Hastings at Netflix!) Disney has an amazing stand-alone brand with “Imagineers” and adorable characters and multiple books on the Disney leadership, culture, and training. But a charismatic, well-known leader is still a multiplier.
So unless you are deliberately trying to fly under the radar, you and your company will always be well-served to have company leaders with personal brands.
You may be thinking:
This makes sense for a founder or CEO but what about employees? If they build a personal brand and leave, they take our company with them.
Here’s the career advice that David Cummings (aka Founding Partner at Atlanta Ventures aka my boss) gives, including to his own employees:
The best thing you can do for your career is build your personal brand.
The world is small and careers are long. Being a generous leader comes back to you 10 fold. Encouraging someone in their career, even if they don’t stay at your company forever, is always remembered and appreciated.
Also, the more great, well-known people who worked for you or who are Ex-YourCompany, the better you and your company look.
I love Morning Brew because the newsletter is written by people. They mention and joke about fellow writers by name. When a long-time teammate leaves for a new opportunity, they give them a shoutout in the newsletter. I don’t stop reading it because one person left. I love the newsletter even more because it’s written by real people and not a generic, faceless brand.
I think this is true across the internet with the rise of influencers, podcasters, journalists starting their own newsletters, and of course, your local VC blog. 😉
Stay tuned for next week when we talk about specific strategies on getting started — especially when you’re already overwhelmed as an early stage startup founder!
Do you agree that building a personal brand helps your company? Are there any exceptions? What’s your favorite personal and/or company brand?? How are you building your personal brand?
Learn or die. The essence of startups. Is this totally melodramatic? YES! But also…I’m not wrong 😉 No one cares more about your company than you! But can you learn and grow fast enough?
Read MoreLearn or die.
The essence of startups.
Is this totally melodramatic?
YES!
But also…I’m not wrong 😉
Learning, scaling with your company, and growing as a leader are essential components of every successful startup story.
No one cares more about your company than you!
But the skills you needed for 0 to $1M are wildly different than the skills you need from $1M to $10M, then $10M to $50M, and beyond.
Can you grow and learn fast enough?
There’s lots of ways to learn. But do you want to know what the best CEOs do??
COACHING! (Or, as I like to say “professional mentorship.”)
I’ve been lucky enough to work with a variety of coaches over the years. They’ve been instrumental in my personal and professional development.
If you’re looking to get started or wondering what to look for or consider, here are my top 7 suggestions!
It may take some trial and error. That’s okay! Here are some different considerations, styles, and strengths I’ve seen.
Do you want tough love or positivity?
Do you like the Socratic method (question asking) or direct advice?
Do you want lots of structure or templates? Or something more fluid?
Do you want a peer group as part of 1:1 coaching?
Do you need someone on-call or only for scheduled sessions?
Do you like strong intuition or more facts and figures?
Do you want someone who can help through their network?
Personally, I realized that I do not respond well to tough love. Call me a fragile Millennial but I am critical enough of myself, I don’t need anyone else piling on. I do best with a style that’s uplifting, highly intuitive, understands sport, and strong at reframing and analyzing self talk.
But everyone is different!
I know CEOs who love being told they are wrong or want a “punch in the face” (metaphorically of course).
This is why coaching is so personal and varied.
Something I’ve noticed…on some level, you want to be like your coach. Maybe not in all ways but there is a skill set or knowledge that you’d admire and want to learn. Can you identify it?
I’ve also seen a lot of success when someone finds a coach “like them” in meaningful ways.
Maybe it’s someone from your hometown, built a company in the same industry, a similar career path, same gender or ethnicity, a fellow wellness nerd — whatever makes you feel:
They “get” me.
Peer recs are the best.
I have worked with people I’ve found randomly on the internet or met (1x) at an event but those did not last.
My favorite coach was someone I knew before they became a coach. I’ve also had peer recs that didn’t work out, but I could still acknowledge they were very good just not a fit for me personally.
If you think you don’t know anyone who is getting coached…you’re wrong! Lots of people have coaches, it just isn’t talked about much.
Ask around, starting with the people you admire most. If they don’t get coaching, they probably know people who do.
There’s no “right” coach. It’s kind of like a life partner — there’s someone for everyone!
What one person loves may be your worst nightmare.
If you’re deciding between a few options, pick someone you like and are excited to talk with. That is a good, easy sign for fit. Don’t overthink it or make a pro/con list!
I also think it’s valuable to work with the same coach as other people on your leadership team.
Craig Hyde and I worked with the same coach at Rigor and it was very helpful for alignment.
It’s normal for coaching to be a company expense. And it never hurts to ask!
It’s (usually) an excellent use of professional development funds, especially in a startup where folks are “figuring it out” and may not have a lot of senior leadership to learn from.
Investors often want founders to get coaching! Also true for high potential team members.
If company budget is tight, paying out of pocket can be worth it.
With the right coach, you'll often see results like better job performance, new financial opportunities, or improved stress levels and life satisfaction.
Coaching engagements can range from $150/hr up to $1000/hr (or more).
Or it can be a retainer model of $1000 up to $10,000/mo (or more).
You can do trial sessions, pay upfront for a certain number of hours, and other flexible options. Most coaches will work with you (within reason) on packages and payment scenarios depending on your situation.
From what I’ve seen, price is not necessarily aligned with quality. It’s easy to think more expensive is better. Or more experience is better.
Coaching (like most things) is a skill that improves with time and effort — but also some people are more naturally coaches, helpers, talent extractors than others.
I think of it like hiring. Consider overall value.
Sometimes 2x the price = 10x the value.
But sometimes 2x the price = is 10% better (or worse). Whomp whomp.
Trust your instinct not the price tag.
These things can happen:
You worked with a great coach who just isn’t doing it for you anymore.
You’ve learned all you could.
You want to try a different style.
You want to work on a different skill set than where this coach focuses.
You realized their style doesn’t work for you after all.
Whatever the reason, it’s your life, your time, your (company’s) money.
Do what’s best for you!
It is normal and healthy to change coaches over time.
Professional runners switch coaches every few years. Fresh ideas spur growth.
Now, if you’re trading out coaches very often and it’s always “the coach’s fault”…this is a pattern to examine.
As my friend Betty says, “What’s the common denominator here? You!”
But if it takes a few tries to find a good fit or you’re ready for a change, go for it. Just make sure you’re learning (about yourself!) from each experience.
Have you gotten coaching? What worked for you? What do you look for in a coach? What advice do you have for someone interested in executive coaching?
I gave this advice recently:
Never get to 100%.
Counterintuitive, right?
Don’t you want a high quality output???
Isn’t perfection and attention to detail why Apple is such an amazing brand?
If I put my name on something, I want it to be great.
I, too, have thought all those things.
Nevertheless, here’s my advice to startup founders:
Get the project, product, playbook, or initiative to 90-95% complete. Then stop.
In high school and college, I agonized over papers, editing and re-editing for hours.
In the startup world, I had to train myself to value speed over quality.
I had to leave things with occasional typos, inconsistent formatting, outdated or missing information, the wrong logo or brand color, the wording not quite right, and 100 other imperfections.
It pained me. And I did it anyway.
Why?
Maniacal perfectionism will sink your startup.
It will slow you down, burn you out, and keep you from learning quickly!
By the time you finish a project, it’s already out of date!
Your time is almost always better spent elsewhere.
“Shipping” is the fastest way to learn.
Following the 80/20 rule (software developers and bloggers can vouch for this), you spend 80% of your time on the last 20%.
So if you can get that sales presentation or new employee onboarding plan to 90% in 2 hours…stop there. Don’t spend the extra 2 (or 10) hours to get it to 100%.
It’s likely you could spend that 2 hours on something more valuable.
This has also happened to me dozens of times:
As soon as a project is done, it’s out of date.
Things move fast and change is the only constant.
Don’t burn yourself out or spend unnecessary time on a resource or project that’s ephemeral.
Lastly, “perfection” is all relative.
You may think something is perfect…until you see the customer’s reaction!
You might as well get the feedback on the 90% version before you spent the extra 3 hours agonizing over the part they didn’t care about!
Sales targets! You want to reach those 100% and beyond 😉
Very important meetings. Occasionally — there will be meetings or initiatives that are worth spending extra hours on. But do it intentionally not compulsively.
Product features. Software developers are cringing right now because they think I’m telling them to ship dog shit. Releasing a feature at 95%??? ARE YOU CRAZY?? So, product is an exception (kind of). I know the last 10% of a feature release is the hardest — all the edge cases and details. So maybe you can’t ship at 90% complete without breaking your whole product. BUT — the concept of speed over perfection still holds!
I know a handful of amazing humans who are “maximizers.”
Their vision or attention to detail accelerates something to the next level.
Or, another variation, they are willing to put in 100 hrs/wk week after week to be the best. They will do the extra things that no one else will. They thrive on it.
If this is you, awesome!
You do you.
I see the results and they are fantastic.
I will also ask — just a double check — is there anything that could be done to a slightly lesser degree and get the same impact?
Could you reallocate an hour or two to sleep, another high value project, or working “on” the business instead of “in” the business?
You should absolutely, definitely still be obsessed with customers and doing high quality work.
I’m not saying to deliver half-ass crap to the market and expect it to be fine.
There’s a ginormous difference between 95% effort (impressive) and 60% effort (uninspiring).
You can care deeply and not be perfect.
Just look at every parent on the planet! 😂🥴🙃
Time is a finite resource and perfection is the enemy of time (and startups)!
Regularly audit how you’re using it and cull or tweak whatever is not valuable.
Speed is one of the competitive advantages you have. Leverage it to the max!
What things do you try to do perfectly or to full completion? When is it worth it? Do you agree that startups should avoid perfection?
I got a fantastic question during my presentation at Atlanta Tech Week. How do you scale a sales team? What are the steps or best practices to build out an early sales team? What are the stages?
Read MoreI got a fantastic question during my presentation on “Go Big: The What, Why, How of a Scalable Startup” (recap of a similar talk here) at Atlanta Tech Week.
How do you scale a sales team? What are the steps or best practices to build out an early sales team? What are the stages?
Here’s what I’ve seen work (and not work) to grow the sales function at a startup!
Don’t have a sales background? That’s okay. You can learn!
Selling is a key skill of a successful founder. You sell to customers but also to investors, employees, and prospective employees.
A smart, motivated founder can figure out how to sell.
And if a founder can’t sell the product…no one else can.
Never ever, ever try to outsource this (at first).
It’s a huge red flag to investors if someone other than the founder is fundraising or selling in the early days.
(Note: It’s okay to have a technical founder and a more sales/business focused founder. That’s why co-founders exist! Just don’t try to hire someone from the outside to do this.)
Once the founder has figured out the messaging, pricing, buyer, sales process enough to regularly close deals, start working on ways to make the founder more efficient and productive.
This could involve leveraging a sales-focused assistant, using AI to record and document the process, hiring a commission-only intern or cold caller to set up demos, or whatever else you identify that lets a founder sell more and faster.
This work will also be helpful when you hire your first full time sales reps!
Not sure where this came from originally but David Cummings was talking about it in 2014 so it’s been around for a while.
If you can afford it (and you should be able to with low base salaries and high uncapped commission structures), hire 2 sales reps at the same time.
Why?
If both fail, the process, training, and/or rep selection needs work.
If one succeeds but the other doesn’t, you know something is working. Now try to recreate it!
Competition is good, especially in sales. It’s more fun, more learning, and more striving.
Here’s my 6 recs on hiring your first sales people.
Most important is make sure they have some sales experience (even if it’s retail sales during high school or college) but you still want someone hungry, creative, and coachable.
I’ve seen startups make the mistake of hiring someone too experienced who seems amazing on paper but doesn’t know (remember?) how to cold call, make presentations, do demos, or sell against well-funded Goliaths.
When in doubt, smart and scrappy!
Occasionally, you’ll get a business where industry experience and relationships matters a lot (Carpool Logistics who sells to automotive dealers is a great example) but this is the exception not the rule.
It’s fine to have a few reps before you hire a VP of Sales. Preferred even. Sometimes you can find a great sales leader who can close their own deals and also scale a team later (a la Derek Grant at Pardot then Salesloft) but it’s a big ask.
Sales is the hardest function to be a player-coach because everyone thinks you’re taking the best deals (and maybe you are — it’s hard not to want good deals — that’s why you’re in sales)!
Here is the greatest article about hiring a VP of Sales ever written. Every SaaS founder I know references these VP archetypes (The Evangelist, Mr. Repeatable, Ms. Go Big, Mr. Dashboards) by name or example.
Here is the other greatest article which explains how to hire, what questions to ask, and how to structure comp for a VP of Sales — including this updated article on VP of Sales comp.
A few things to get right for early sales hires:
uncapped commission — if they sell more than quota, let them get more commission! I like a kicker or accelerator too. If they go over quota, they get 15% more commission on every deal. This means reps won’t “hold back” deals to the next quarter.
lower base, higher commission — much easier on company financials if you do a lower base salary balanced with a higher upside; the company pays commission when it realizes the revenue; includes avoid draws or high base reps; most reps, especially early in their career, are fine to bet on themselves with a high commission plan
align your CAC/deal size — are you hunting rabbits, deer, or elephant? If you’re hunting rabbits, you can’t use expensive weaponry (like high marketing costs or a large, expensive sales team). This makes sense on paper but is easy to lose track of on your first sales offers or when closing deals however you can. In other words, make sure your sales process cost and complexity aligns with the contract price of your product.
David Sacks wrote an excellent and thorough blog on sales comp for tech (SaaS) companies with numbers and example plans that I’ve mentioned before. A must read!
What other advice do you have for early stage companies scaling sales? What has worked or not worked for you?
The O’Daily is OOO this week. Spending time with family, in nature, making memories, recharging. If you haven’t taken time off in a while, this is your reminder. Time away is as powerful as grinding it out.
Read MoreThe O’Daily is OOO this week.
Spending time with family, in nature, making memories, recharging.
If you haven’t taken time off in a while, this is your reminder.
Time away is as powerful as grinding it out.
Just ask Olympic athletes about their rest days.
Or ask a founder about their energy, ideas, and clarity after time off.
Need inspiration? Here are my favorite quotes on the topic.
Software engineer David Clarke on priorities (via James Clear):
20 years from now, the only people who will remember that you worked late are your kids.
Alex Friedman, founder and investor, on why startups fail:
Idk who needs this but I’ve seen a few startups fail because of founder burn out. I haven’t seen any startups fail because a founder took a couple days off.
Adam Blitzer, Pardot co-founder & Datadog COO, on work load**:
There’s always more work to do. It will be here tomorrow. Time to go home.
**paraphrasing what he told us often at Pardot!
If you are in the zone, back from a recent break, or just a really big O’Daily fan…here’s 5 blogs to check out or re-read.
These picks are all about learning something fun. No work grind today!
Are you OOO this week? If so, where?? What’s the most valuable break that you’ve ever taken? Do you have a favorite O’Daily blog? 😉
(P.S. I'll reply when I'm back!)
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