Evolving Enterprise 2021 - Bringing a Growth Mindset to Your Role as Leader

TL;DR

Susan St Ledger, President of Worldwide Field Operations at Okta, shares insights on building a successful go-to-market organization, including the importance of a growth mindset, hiring great leaders, and understanding the market dynamics.

Transcript

welcome everyone to our closing keynote presentation for this year's evolving enterprise event i'm thrilled to welcome longtime friend of ggv susan st ledger as our ending keynote susan is president of worldwide field operations at octa the leader leader in access and identity management for the cloud and prior to joining octa susan spent four and ... Read More

Key Insights

• ❓ The importance of a growth mindset and continuous learning for great leaders.
• 👀 Hiring leaders who know what great talent looks like and have experience selling in relevant markets.
• ♿ Startups should focus on market creation and understanding the value proposition to access previously unallocated budgets.
• 😌 The success of bottoms-up and top-down strategies lies in marrying them effectively.
• 🉐 Nurturing early customers, leveraging their success to gain advocacy, and finding repeatable patterns are crucial in enterprise sales.
• 💗 Customer success is as important as sales, and a data-driven approach is necessary for retaining and growing customer value.
• 🧑‍🚒 The linkage between sales and marketing should be unbreakable, and attribution fights should be avoided.
• ☠️ Compensation should align with customer success and renewal rates.
• 🤩 Balancing customer demands with product roadmaps and focusing on broader needs rather than one-off asks is key.
• ❓ The leadership transition to a Chief Revenue Officer requires operational rigor and the ability to understand and align different functions.
• 💪 The success of a go-to-market organization requires strong alignment between sales, marketing, and customer success, with data-driven decision-making.

Questions & Answers

Q: What are the three pillars of a growth mindset?

The three pillars of a growth mindset are continuous learning, continuous improvement, and being comfortable with discomfort. These traits are essential for great leaders in a go-to-market organization.

Q: What qualities should founders look for in potential leaders to ensure they are good leaders?

Founders should look for individuals with a growth mindset, the ability to continuously learn, and a willingness to embrace discomfort. They should also hire leaders who understand what great talent looks like and have experience selling in the relevant market.

Q: How can startups break into selling to enterprise customers?

Startups should have the founders actively involved in sales and focus on finding repeatable patterns and early adopters. Making the first few customers successful and relying on customer references can help create a domino effect and gain traction in the enterprise market.

Q: How can companies balance the bottoms-up and top-down approach in their go-to-market strategy?

Companies starting with a bottoms-up approach should eventually marry it with a top-down motion. While bottoms-up can be a great way to get started, companies will ultimately need both approaches. Targeting developers and gaining their buy-in through self-service is essential, but enterprises often require top-down selling.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• A growth mindset, continuous learning, and a willingness to embrace discomfort are key qualities in great leaders.

• Hiring people who understand what great talent looks like is crucial for building a successful go-to-market organization.

• Startups should focus on market creation, which requires explaining the value and going after budget that was not previously allocated.