The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 15 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 1 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Schwartz: Tying sales compensation to product adoption aligns incentives better than bookings
“A traditional bookings quota and a variable compensation structure, what that does is it drives someone to land a deal and nothing else. When you start to align compensation with the actual adoption of the product and consumption of what you sold as a salesper…”
O'Driscoll: Fivetran acquiring dbt is a smart combo that reaches IPO scale
“And that's why I think this deal felt to me from a distance, like I'm not the infrastructure guy at scale, but it felt to me from a distance like that's a damn smart, obvious combo. You know, that'll be a good, that, that will get critical mass. I mean, you wo…”
Schwartz: Having sales candidates pitch prior products in interviews is ineffective
“I've spent a lot of time hiring people with, when they had to come pitch their product, That's not usually that valuable because often the people in the room like on the panel don't, they haven't been in the seat of the buyer. And so no one really knows what t…”
Schwartz: Early-stage startups need scrappy reps, not tenured sales leaders
“You don't need someone who has spent their career scaling sales organizations and building out a ton of process. You need someone who is willing to get out there And kick down doors and ask the hard questions that will allow you to have to take that feedback a…”
O'Driscoll: a16z DOJ board investigation will resolve by exiting Fivetran board
“But my guess is it peters out into some version of the venture firm just saying, we'll take off the board member on Fivetrans, whatever, right?”
Loverro: Passing on Fivetran cost hundreds of millions in missed gains
“Biggest mistakes in investing are not doing the things that make you a lot of money, because the opportunity cost there so far outweighs anything else. So I feel like my biggest mistake in the last couple years was not investing in an entrepreneur named George…”
Schwartz: Enterprise deals lacking a clear 'why now' were never real
“At Fivetran we say, why do anything? Why do it now? Why do it with Fivetran? Right. And those are the questions that you need to be answering on every deal. And if you don't have an answer to why do it now, slipping isn't even the right term. It was never goin…”
Schwartz: Sales hiring fails when leaders assume deal experience from titles
“Making assumptions about their experience. I hired someone once. Who did this was back when I was doing, we were doing pitches and his pitch was so smooth. And I was like, oh, great. You know, he's very comfortable off the cuff, blah, blah. And I had asked, bu…”
Schwartz: Black-box subscriptions and shelfware licensing models are becoming obsolete
“Pricing that's not aligned to value. Black box subscription shelfware, licensing. That, that model is, is moving in the past.”
Schwartz: Unsolved prospect problems represent sales qualification failures
“If it turns out that we don't solve the problem that they're trying to solve, that means we missed on qualification and quality qualifying them out of our pipeline.”
Schwartz: Spontaneous role-plays reveal if sales candidates can listen and pivot
“I often will just do a role play with them that they're not prepared for. So something like, all right, real life situation that I'm facing. We're deep in procurement with this customer. Here's a situation. Okay. You're the sales rep on procurement. Let's go. …”
Schwartz: Losing to customer inertia means reps targeted minor practitioner projects
“If that happens, my reaction is what was the identified pain, how painful was it? Did we miss an opportunity to attach to a bigger business problem? Cause a lot of times when you're selling technology, you're like, oh, I found a practitioner who wants this thi…”
Schwartz: Startups must hire two sales reps simultaneously to test market demand
“You do want to have multiple sellers going at the same time. Otherwise, you know, let's say it's Lauren and Harry and If it's just Lauren and Lauren is a terrible salesperson, then you didn't really learn anything about your product or your messaging or your c…”
Schwartz: Sales teams heavily overlook the value of ecosystem co-selling
“So I think actually the value of co-selling with sales teams at other businesses that are in your ecosystem, where a customer would benefit from the compilation of what we call a modern data stack. Is, is really overlooked in sales.”
Schwartz: Top sales performers excel in category-creating, unbudgeted environments
“I think the best sales teams are people who have had to be in a category creating environment. So people who like the real hustlers that I've seen be successful are people who are selling Products where there isn't already an identified budget and it's, it cre…”