Back From the Lab

Lessons Learned as A Sales Leader of a Technology Startup that Will Benefit My Clients

Have you ever questioned yourself? For over 10 years, from 2009 to 2019, I helped B2B companies improve how they sold. I helped multiple companies grow and their owners have successful exits. But, as time passed, I couldn’t help but ask myself:

“Am I still relevant?”

Was my advice, process, or strategy, right? After all it had been over 10 years since I led two offices of a national Human Capital Management company and was responsible for Sales, retention and overall growth. Thanks to the faith of a long-time client, I got the opportunity to see. After consulting for a year with them, I was offered the Senior Vice President of Business Development position at a small tech company here in San Diego. I was privileged to serve in this capacity for 3 years.

The Opportunity

This technology company had organically created a partnership with a company in the API management space. About a year later, the partner was acquired by Google. The opportunity for growth into the exploding space of API management presented itself.

What followed was three years of growth for me personally and professionally. The CEO decided to bring on an executive team to help him navigate the transition from a services business to a product business. Needless to say from a leadership and sales standpoint, we were tested. We failed a number of times but succeeded enough to maintain and grow the faith of Google in our company and our product. We were able to sell into multiple Fortune 500 companies, expand our partner network, have our product be recognized as a leader in the API Portal space and make the initial move from a license sales model to subscription.

What I Learned

Respect For the Risk Takers – The CEO of our company had been in the services business for 20 years and still had the fire to grow, to start something new and the willingness to take big risks. This trait is not recognized enough, and I have a new appreciation for it.

Leadership Matters – The ability to take an idea and turn it into reality at this scale, requires others. The ability to effectively rally the troops, keep them engaged when times are not great and keep them focused when thing are rolling – takes intentional effort. Add into that equation a pandemic and there is a lot of learning. There was some really cool stuff and some stumbles. Leadership takes intention and is not for the faint of heart.

Partnerships – Admittedly, going into this career opportunity, my exposure to developing and maintaining partnerships with larger organizations was limited. What I discovered was I was pretty good at it and that it’s not as intimidating as you think. Once you get past the company names you have humans on the other side. Just like you, they are trying to succeed and looking for people who care as much about their success as they do. If you can build that trust, your partnerships will flourish.

Sales – for the most part, my approach is a good one. My focus is on good communications, mutual agreements and thinking in the best interest of all parties to see if there is a fit. That hasn’t changed and the tools and approaches you use may be a little different but in the end, as with the partnerships, if you care as much about your client’s success as they do, you will be successful.

I’m back from the lab and I couldn’t be more excited to help your company succeed.

The Corlea Group now offers:

• Sales Performance Consulting including leadership coaching, strategy and coaching
• Sales Enablement Technology and Consulting to ensure the strategy can be executed and embedded in your culture every day.
• Compensation Consulting – Make your compensation plan competitive and make sure it drives the right behavior to align with your company goals while rewarding your team for their hard work.
• Customer Surveys – we help you not just find out if your customers are happy, but we show you how to leverage the data for revenue retention and growth.

I’m excited to bring my energy and experience to benefit others. I look forward to helping you realize your aspirations whether you be a business leader, sales leader or grinding it out as a sales professional.