Ashvin Vaidyanathan

Was having a fascinating conversation with Prakash Raman about how great leaders can both zoom in and zoom out… but there’s a sequence. They zoom in to deeply understand what’s going on in the business. They get “close to the metal.” They zoom out to make sense of it all and figure out what matters most. And then they zoom back in selectively to turn that synthesized insight into practical action that can be applied. The difference between people that are great leaders and just those that sound great meetings is often the last step. Can you turn your deep insight into something that can be pragmatically implemented. That’s the trick, probably the hardest part, and where many very intelligent people plateau in their leadership journey. #ThinkAboutIt

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**Founders & GTM leaders ** -- only 2 days left to sign up for Lightspeed India'a #MastersOfSaaS session with the creator of MEDDIC - John McMahon known widely as the BEST salesperson in the world. John is a board member at companies such as Snowflake MongoDB ThoughtSpot and more! This will be an online session on JUN25th 8-9PM IST / 730AM PST. Please RSVP early to reserve your spot: https://shorturl.at/ZPLxH We'll discuss: - common mistakes in setting up sales teams - learnings from being a CRO at multiple 100M+ ARR businesses - how to hire A+ talent, every. single. time. - and much more!

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When I landed my first public company VP offer, friends struggling to crack executive roles asked me, "How did you do it?" I realized their career narratives missed crucial elements. Having interviewed C-suite and VP candidates, I saw a pattern and crafted a new framework. Introducing the Triple-STAR framework, an evolution of the classic STAR method, designed specifically for leadership roles. It highlights strategic thinking, business impact, and growth potential, adding five critical components: Stakes: Why did this situation matter to the business? Status: What was your specific leadership role and scope? Reflection: What did you learn about leadership? Repetition: How did you apply those learnings to drive further impact? Relating: How does your experience map to the role you're pursuing? 🔑 Mastering Triple-STAR: Craft impactful Situations by highlighting Stakes and Status. Define clear Tasks with specific goals and challenges. Create compelling Action stories showcasing strategic decisions. Deliver Results with metrics, reflection, and relevance to the role. Why STAR Alone Isn’t Enough for Leadership Roles: STAR focuses on tactical execution but misses strategic context, business impact, and leadership growth. Triple-STAR fills these gaps. 🔍 Shortened Example Snippets: Situation + Stakes + Status: "As Director at Dropbox, I led a 20 PM team reporting to the CPO to turn around a flagship $200M product losing market share." Task + Action: "I restructured the team, recruited top ML talent, and navigated a privacy issue, pivoting to a balanced personalization approach." Result + Reflection + Repetition + Relating: "We widened our market lead, landed new logos, and boosted core engagement. I learned the importance of assessing the team before aligning on targets." Triple-STAR stories equip interviewers to advocate for you, linking your leadership journey to the role at hand. Ready to elevate your leadership storytelling? Dive into the full framework and master your narrative in the full article in the comments. Your next executive role awaits! 🌟

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"When you have time for product... then you kind of bend back into that product space and a bit less than the sales space." - Saurabh Jain of TrialKey. Product Led Growth Leaders Episode 25 features TrialKey's Saurabh Jain and dives deep into the journey of being product-led from the start of your venture. Hear how companies sometimes shift towards a sales-led approach in the middle stages of growth. Discover the challenges of maintaining the right focus, building the right products, and keeping confidence high. Finally, learn how successful organizations strike a balance between sales and product once they've established a strong customer base and cash flow. Tune in now to gain insights on navigating your growth curve and finding the right balance for success! 🎧💡 #ProductLedGrowth #StartupJourney #PodcastEpisode #BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #SalesLed #Sales

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Kellie Capote, our inspirational Chief Customer Officer, just shared a 🤯 stat with me: 52% of our clients have had a change in #CustomerSuccess leadership in the last year. Our sample size is big (approximately 50% of CSMs in the world use Gainsight). So the data point is statistically significant. I know some of you deal with this in your client base (especially if you sell to Chief Marketing Officers! 🤷🏾‍♀️) If you're a CS leader (at any level), how do you keep your job? 3 ideas: 🎯 Review your CEO's strategic priorities (e.g., from your company all hands meeting). Can you make a crystal clear tie in to how your work supports most of the goals? 💰 Meet with your CFO regularly - proactively. Present industry benchmarks to them. Share what you are doing to get more efficient. Show them experiments you are running to demonstrate the ROI of CS. 👊🏽 Build a coalition with your head of Sales, Marketing and Product. Don't go to them and say "we need to be more customer-centric" or "my customer needs X" or "we need to stop overselling." Instead, use the age old advice - help them first. If your CMO says they need references for Gartner, get on a call the same day or next day and start building the list. If your sales leader is struggling with enablement, join first calls with reps and talk about customer stories. If your product leader has a new launch, say "I know the best thing is to release something that is used and customers love - how can I help you?" It's go-time in CS. 💪🏽 What would you add to the list in terms of preserving the CS team and leadership roles?

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“One single thread of gold tied me to you” 🎤 “invisible string” by Taylor Swift We have 5 values at Gainsight. Several are pretty quirky (e.g., “Childlike Joy”). But one is highly UNORIGINAL - “Golden Rule.” Everyone knows the concept of Golden Rule, since it shows up in various forms in almost every culture and religion. The typical phrasing is “treat people the way you’d like to be treated” or, if you’d like to be fancy, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Some have suggested the “Platinum Rule” (“do unto others as they'd want done unto them”) is better. I think the Golden / Platinum Rule applies very well with respect to the #CustomerSuccess mindset. No matter what, I’d posit most of us aspire to the compassion and empathy that these concepts embody - in our personal lives and in our time at work. But how often do you feel that from others? And how often do you feel like you don’t live up to this bar yourself? On the positive side, as I’ve gone through personal challenges, I’ve felt so comforted and seen by the humans around me - from close friends to distant acquaintances - who showed so much caring. Whether it was little things (e.g., texts to check in) or big ones (e.g., showing up to my dad’s memorial service), the experience was a wake up call for me to do better for those around me. What about at work? We all have human relationships as employees - with our colleagues, partners and customers. But how often do we live up to the Golden Rule standard in our companies? When we defined our values in 2013, I chose the Golden Rule because I felt like so much of work felt transactional. People are there when they need something and then disappear when you’re in need. We codified some simple principles around this. The most basic is to respond to every email and Slack within one business day. To me, that’s a very low bar. Indeed, I’ve found that the most successful execs often reply in minutes. But the reason I chose email and Slack was that they embody the simplicity of the Golden Rule. How often do you send an email or Slack to someone and think “gosh I hope they take forever to reply or ghost me?” If you expect someone to reply quickly to you, then the only fair approach is to respond quickly to others. Since I started with one great philosopher (Taylor), I’ll close with another - Immanuel Kant. His concept of the “categorical imperative” marries well with the Golden Rule: “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” If you want a business world where people aren’t transactional and where they help each other, then start by doing it yourself. What are some examples (don’t name names!) of situations where you feel like people at work (or external partners/customers) didn’t live up to the Golden Rule?

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I was part of a CRO panel. It happened to be all women 🔥 Sikk!! Sooooo fun to talk all things growth, PLG, SLG and ofcourse the future of GTM and AI 🎉 with Cristina Cordova Kate Jensen Alexa Grabell 🙌 How will AI impact GTM? Long term - the new version of a revenue org will look very different than it does today. Every role and process will evolve over time! Short term - while its popular to talk about how AI is going to replace sales on LinkedIn 🙄I think we are a few cycles away from seeing AI become a customer facing part of the equation While the auto pilot rep is cool to demo, we should be focusing our efforts on solving all the admin work that exists in revenue orgs today. 😅 Only 28% of rep time is spent talking to customers 🤯 some areas that could use AI help: - Lead / account enrichment - Account Strategy and Research - Account planning - Pipeline and forecasting based on real time signals - Sales process adherence - Deal review to help with blind spots - Customizable demo per client - Post close transition notes … to name a few The #1 thing we sell is the fact that we care. Let’s give reps time back to care for the customers ❤️ Ok getting off my soapbox 😂 thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

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What an incredibly refreshing talk on the power of implementing #AI into business from, SaaStr. Straight from Gong CEO and Co-Founder Amit Bendov, an early leader of the AI-powered tools industry points out the fact, that we are creating AI-empowered professionals, be it in his world of Sales, or my world of Real Estate. For me, this is a reminder that SAM offers an opportunity to equip #RealEstate agents with a 40% increase in operational efficiency by simply removing their need to manually record, and perform daily tasks. Where I fall short at times is sharing the features, his ability to highlight and remind me what this means for the world - where AI is aiding you with this simple detail, gives me hope. With a 40% increase in operations, you are either going to immediately see that return in business growth through closed deals, or time saved. Two things real estate agents are desperate for. If you are looking for a little hope for what AI holds outside of just large language models like OpenAI's ChatGPT, this is an excellent talk to tune into. #AITechnology #SaaS #AIBusiness #RealEstateTechnology

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Great discussion on the topic of - CSM Burn Out and What CS Leaders should do. Thanks Anupran Kumar and Kritika Kishor for the awesome discussion on CS Cafe Hours. #customersuccess #CSM #burnout

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Almost a year ago, I split my personal and professional connects. I created two different whatsapp accounts - have a personal number that is only shared with friends and family and a work number that is used by folks when networking etc. Its hard to educate folks on etiquettes - like message before you call (if it wasn't scheduled early on - especially if its someone who i dont have a working relationship with or to ask before adding on whatsapp or whatsapp groups and simple things like not pinging at 7am in the morning or late hours - i get whatsapp pings post 10pm with someone who had an idea asking if we can chat!) So now the worlds are split. I have aging parents and also am at an age when family takes precedence over other things. So the personal number stays active during the night. Whereas i can even disable / turn off the work SIM post "work hours". If its urgent they can email. And almost nothing is that urgent anyways that it couldn't wait till the next day. Even friends who i work with on somethings use the work whatsapp number to chat about work and the personal whatsapp number for personal stuff. If its regular work, Id usually create a "working group" and it makes it easy for them to post messages there and all the communication is in one place as well. At some point these lines need to be drawn. Sending a message to someone late in the evening on a saturday night when they might be out relaxing is where misunderstandings start and unwanted chaos ensues. I quite enjoy this split. It feels like my head isnt two but one. During the day i mute the personal whatsapp number and during the night i disable the professional number. And i sleep better and i find my focus on things and ability to do deep work much much improved.

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I’ve looked around and haven’t found a casual regular zoom meetup with product/growth/product marketing folks working in B2C2B or PLG+Sales-led companies to trade ideas and talk shop about monetization, freemium upgrade paths, success metrics, and retention. Drop me a note here in the comments if you’d be interested in such a thing. Maybe we should make it happen? #plg #productmarketing #product #growth

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I've launched Multiple products and entered diverse markets around the globe, but the most challenging feat was transitioning from a GTM (Go to Market) to a SIM (Stay in Market) mindset. When I first started in my role, my primary focus was on GTM strategies. I was engrossed in: 1.⁠ ⁠Market research and segmentation 2.⁠ ⁠Product positioning 3.⁠ ⁠Pricing strategy 4.⁠ ⁠Initial marketing and sales campaigns These tasks were challenging but exciting, and seeing the product launch and gain initial market share was highly rewarding. However, the real challenge began when we had to switch gears to SIM strategies, ensuring long-term market presence and growth. My love for creating value for customers and developing sustainable competitive advantage is what helped me navigate this transition. Here's what I shifted my focus to: 1.⁠ ⁠Customer retention and loyalty programs 2.⁠ ⁠Product improvements and iterations 3.⁠ ⁠Expanding market share 4.⁠ ⁠Adapting to market changes 5.⁠ ⁠Competitive analysis and response While GTM had its own excitement, I found SIM to be even more fulfilling as it allowed us to build deeper relationships with our customers and continually improve our products based on their feedback. In this transition, I have realized: 1.⁠ ⁠Both GTM and SIM are vital for any business's long-term success. 2.⁠ ⁠GTM may be more aggressive and resource-intensive, but SIM requires a steady and measured approach. 3.⁠ ⁠SIM is about maintaining and growing your position once established. I'd love to hear from others - What are your experiences in managing this transition from GTM to SIM? How do you balance these two critical aspects of business strategy? #BusinessStrategy #MarketGrowth #CustomerRetention

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In 5 years of coaching 100+ successful professionals, at world-renowned companies like Airbnb, Zynga, Worldwide Broker Network, Gilead and LinkedIn… …there is ONE common thread I’ve uncovered among them all that has been the foundation of their professional growth, success and continued career revitalization. … and it’s the ONE thing that if YOU reclaimed and allowed it to direct your professional dreams, desires and direction… …it would propel you light years ahead, like it has done for me and so many of my clients… And it’s THIS: 👏 Professional Nourishment 👏 Nourishing yourself professionally is self-care for your career. 🚀 It’s prioritizing career health. 🚀It’s always staying connected to who you are, including your values, dreams, needs, goals and desires 🚀It’s proactively and intentionally mapping out a career that sets the stage for the kind of growth YOU want (not your company, boss or anyone else). No one else is responsible for your career growth, success and happiness, but you (shit, I know 😆). Employers, managers, mentors and allies can help you. But, at the end of the day YOU must be the CEO of our career choices (and how empowering is it that you have the ability to direct exactly what you want out of your career?!). Ready to start nourishing your career, so you can get that new promo or land the dream job faster than you expected? (Heck yes!) Click here to download my 15-page guide to kickstart your growth: https://lnkd.in/emrcdN-S! 🔥

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3 years ago, I started this next chapter of my career to create room for more flexibility and a much higher flow:frustration ratio in my work. This meant opting out of the “expected career path”, after a total of 20 years of building products as an engineer & a PM. People often ask me what made me make this switch and if I am happy with my decision. While basic financial security & a high degree of competence are prerequisites to making such a switch, they are by no means the dominant factors in keeping you happy after you make the switch. The key to ongoing happiness with a non-standard career path is your accumulated wisdom & your clarity around why you are doing it, what you are willingly sacrificing for it, and staying disciplined with staying in your zone of mastery (which requires saying No to many otherwise-tempting & ego-boosting opportunities). One aspect of this wisdom is to really internalize that that your mind will always trick you into thinking that what you currently have is not enough and that you must get to the next level of title & scope to finally be happy and solve all your problems. So I wanted to share a different kind of video today, in which I share my journey towards being able to see through this trickery, through a number of now-embarrassing attitudes & thoughts I had in my 20s and 30s. I hope it is useful. https://lnkd.in/gYAErd9e

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Great dinner and discussion on the cutting edge of outbound automation and signals. Two nuggets from the discussion: 1) Email deliverability is especially critical for GTM motions with large scale outbound automation (usually selling to SMBs and wide TAM). There doesn’t seem to be a silver bullet, and banking on one deliverability vendor / approach is risky. 2) Bulllish on signals and automation for up-market GTM motions, but needs to be done thoughtfully. Likely keeping reps in the driver’s seat and less end-to-end automation.

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What a thrift store teaches us about choosing what you value and letting it flow through. We have a lot of Savers here in California. Their model is simple. People donate to get 20% off coupons. Savers marks up the goods and resells it to other people. And they make a tidy profit. The lesson to be learned... One person's junk is another person's treasure. It's like the content we post here on LinkedIn. Your content won't be of value to everyone. In fact an average text post gets 69k impressions. Out of 1 billion people on LinkedIn. You do the math. But whatever calculator you use, that's an infitesmal number. So it's not about reach. You'll always be disappointed and lose that game. You've got to speak to your tribe. Those in it and those who just don't it yet. It all starts with being relatable to them. To be relatable, express your point of view (POV). Share what you 'stand for' and 'stand against'. When you do that, those that resonate will be attracted to you. And you create flow through to your community, product, or service. Just like Savers, your POV is another person's treasure. So instead if speaking to a person of one like most status quo content experts will tell you... Instead speak your POV amd attract moure than one person. Attract a tribe of really cool people who want to he part of your community and movement. When we launched Relatable, a new category of software that creates interactive video relationships at scale, that's exactly what we did. And it's working. We have over 32 Founders, CEOs, and entrepreneurs that were attracted by our POV. And are now part of our Partner Program. These are really cool people doing some impressive things and getting impressive results. BTW the Partner Program is free. Why? We want you to experience the power of: - how Relatable builds relationships - how Relatable generates WOM - how Relatable supports your customer's journey These are all timeless ways to grow your business. Somehow we were lured by the 'easy' of marketing to the masses. And forgot how to talk to and attract those that resonate with who we are and what we do. Relatable gets you back to timeless marketing that always has worked. And that future proofs your business. --- That's a wrap! TL;DR 1. Share your POV in your posts. 2. Attract those that resonate. 3. Nurture those relationships with Relatable. If you're interested in learning more about our free Partner Program, tap or click on the image below. It'll tell you what the program is all about and how to sign up

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Just got off a call with Charanyan and Vikash from RevenueHero and I am so psyched about the conversation we'll be having Thursday as part of their "Masters of Revenue Ops" Virtual Summit. We'll be talking about one of my favorite topics: PLG x Enterprise Sales (it can be done!) and the RevOps and GTM motions necessary to drive success there. Chara and Vikash zeroed in right away on the important questions: - How does a company end up finding the right balance between product-led and sales-led? (It's a journey but there are some clear flags to help!) - Where does a "Sales Assist" motion fit into PLG and how can RevOps identify and enable that? - What are the big-unlock marketing motions in PLG x Enterprise Sales, especially in partnerships and champion tracking? - How do you position yourself as a strategic partner (not just execution) when you're in RevOps? - How can you successfully collaborate across departments? Why does RevOps end up in the middle when it's PLG x Enterprise Sales? - How do you screen for 10x RevOps talent? - How can founders find the right fit with a remote RevOps consultant? - How do you approach and optimize CAC in a PLG x Enterprise Sales model? (probably not what you think!) Can't wait to continue the conversation with them on the RevenueHero virtual summit on Thursday - join us! Link in the comments.

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"Finding the front door to an organization with 100s of front doors is challenge number zero for selling into the enterprise. " Sales and marketing teams face several unique challenges in enterprise B2B SaaS, where buyers are sophisticated, sales cycles are long, products are invisible & complex, sales teams are not enabled with digital and analytical capabilities, and the GTM tech stack has become too complex to deliver insights and signals to allow sales to take their next best action. Beyond all these growing challenges, the number one challenge is finding the right person to speak to or door to enter the enterprise. Collaborate with your GTM teams, become fixated on your ICP, and use creative marketing to get your ICP's attention. Leverage warm introductions rather than cold calling, which may open the "door" or a "door" to developing a trusting relationship with your ICP or member of the ICP Buying Committee. A well-constructed GTM strategy focuses on developing trusting relationships to understand the enterprise's needs and business model. In addition, your GTM construct should build programs to identify pain points to break through resistance and connect their pain to how you can alleviate it. Advocate for your buyers and be empathetic, supporting them along the way. Focus on cultivating a long-term relationship rather than just selling and elevating your buyer's careers. 1️⃣ According to Forrester, delivering the right content to the right prospects at the right time results in 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% less cost.  ✳ Signals Matter. 2️⃣ According to InsideSales.com, 50% of sales occur after the fifth touch; however, in far too many enterprise SaaS sales cycles, sales reps give up before the fifth touch, and their closing rates suffer.  ✳ Marketers coach the GTM team and C-Suite on best practices. 3️⃣ According to a Miller Heiman Group study, more than 70% of B2B buyers fully define their needs before engaging with a sales representative—nearly half of them identify specific solutions before reaching out.  ✳ Use sales enablement to build digital dexterity and digital selling flows that position sales as a trusted advisor. ⭕ How are you uncovering the right door or doors at your target enterprises? 

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Both Santosh Sharan, COO at Retention.com, and Mark Boothe, CMO at Domo, have posted something in common and concerning. They are both CXOs, and they don't answer any cold calls. However, they are both active on LinkedIn every day. As a sales rep, would you rather prospect them on LinkedIn with personalization than call them 10 times only to go unanswered, wasting time and burning your phone number reputation? It's high time sales reps know which prospects to email vs cold call vs LinkedIn. Yes, I mean channel validation. We all know a ton of tools that do email validation. PhoneVerify AI validates phone numbers, telling reps who are "Likely to Answer" the phone. LinkedIn validation. Is that a thing? Are there tools to tell if someone is active on LI or not? I am sure you all love to hear from the experts as well. I am tagging a few to share their thoughts on channel validation and any tools to validate LinkedIn. Links to Santosh Sharan and Mark Boothe's posts in the comments. Felix Frank ⚙️Jordan Crawford Michel Lieben 🧠 Matt Aird Scott Martinis Josh Norris John Welch James Hanzimanolis Tim Savage Benjamin Douablin Justin Michael Ronen R. Pessar Giulio Segantini Harris Kenny Hunter Deskin Florin Tatulea Saad Khan 🦾Eric Nowoslawski Elliott Garcia

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