John Wooden who is one of the greatest sports coaches of all time said “Don’t mistake activity and achievement“. And Lou Gerstner, a former CEO of IBM who turned IBM’s fortunes around, similarly instructed – “Don’t confuse activity with results“.  Being busy and making an effort doesn’t mean you’re actually…  Read More >

Hitting a sales number is a complex thing to do – not complicated but complex – because there are so many variables and moving parts.  There is no “one size fits all” and not a magic bullet and it is “contextual” to each company and it’s own issues.  But here is…  Read More >

The term (or a portmanteau?) that we all hear a lot in sales management is “A-Player” and you typically hear it in “you should only hire A-Players”.  But what does that mean – what is the definition of an “A-Player” in sales? Here is a great definition – see this…  Read More >

100-Day Turnaround Plan – For Tech Investing (how Cerberus Would Do it) Just sharing my notes and insights on the 100 Day Plan to begin turning around a company (with AI cleanup) Day 0–30: Rapid Diagnostics & Stabilization Leadership / Governance After investing, focus on recruiting an interim CRO/CFO if…  Read More >

As a VP of Sales, you know your reps don’t have unlimited time to work their live deals.  You must coach them to prioritize their Opps in the pipeline to ensure that they are on track to hitting its goals.  By analyzing the Pipeline and focusing on the highest probability…  Read More >

“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.”  – W. Edwards Deming ——- These are the topics the CEO & CRO of a $20M-$100M+ in ARR PE-Backed company must consider: First Step for PE Portfolio Companies Engineer & Optimize an Effective Sales…  Read More >

I was recently asked what a new Sales Leader should do during their first three months (i.e. the first quarter) at their job.  And just the other day, I saw a link from SBI posting a video where Matt Sharrers (the CEO of SBI) asked Eric Vermillion (a former CRO of BlueCat)…  Read More >

Software Turnaround Investing Playbook – Translating the Cerberus Investment Approach to Tech Note – just sharing my own notes   Pre-Deal / Diagnosis Financial Stress Test Model churn sensitivity (GRR -5 to -10%) Simulate CAC payback stretch (18 → 36 months) Stress-test debt service under downside ARR scenarios Product/Tech Review…  Read More >

  According to Private Equity International, PE firms are looking to boost portfolio company valuations while operational issues are becoming increasingly more complex. Source: https://www.privateequityinternational.com/record-demand-operating-partners-gps-seek-boost-portfolio-company-value-survey/ “Operating partner roles are the fastest-growing positions in private equity…” Here is value creation in 5 charts: https://www.peievents.com/en/event/operating-partners-technology-forum/value-creation-in-5-charts/