The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
00:29:50 · Harry Stebbings, Carles Reina
[00:29:50] S1: So you don't agree with the praise in public, criticize in private? [00:29:53] S0: No. I don't agree. I think I need to tell you what is right and what is wrong. Of course, I'm not gonna tell you this is full shit, you're gonna get fired. I'm not gonna say that. But at the same time, I'm not gonna hold back on saying if you haven't done a good job. And for instance, there was like a case earlier this year of one of my account execs that I told the person, You just were lucky. And you've closed these deals just for pure luck, but you haven't done any good job. And then, like, the next one, it was so funny, there was exactly two people with the same case. And then the next one that came in presenting was I told him, You have done exactly the same thing, but you have not been lucky as the previous person. And that's why you haven't actually closed anything. Both of them, the following month, absolutely smashed it. Salespeople need to be on their toes all the time, and they need to be told. And if they're good at their job, they're going to accept the criticism, learn from it, and then improve. [00:30:48] S1: How long are those meetings? [00:30:49] S0: We end up putting usually an hour and a half, and then people have like about like seven, eight minutes to present, and then like it's very, very quick in general.
00:30:49 · Carles Reina, Harry Stebbings
[00:30:49] S0: We end up putting usually an hour and a half, and then people have like about like seven, eight minutes to present, and then like it's very, very quick in general. [00:30:57] S1: What happens, and this is a hard one because ElevenLabs seemingly just such rocket ship revenue growth. What would you advise if you would put on a hypothetical hat for it not working so well? What would you advise a sales leader or a CEO who's taking this, who's gonna run with this, but the numbers are not up and to the right? How do I have a meeting like this without feeling like dejected, demoralized when numbers aren't up and to the right?
00:31:19 · Carles Reina
[00:31:19] S0: I think it just depends on like why the number's not on the right place, right? I think like you need to do understand, like do the back work first to understand like what's happening. Is it because the sales team is not good enough? Is it because the product is not good enough? Is it because we're not being aggressive enough? What is essentially happening here? Because like if you don't have a full understanding, then like you might be like shaming people for the wrong reasons, right? And the best way of understanding is roll up your sleeves and actually pitch customers. I am the SDR in chief in the company, right? I absolutely love it. I actually love outbounding people. I love it. We were like, Matti and I were like in Singapore talking to Razer, the laptops company. Absolutely love the brand. And then that came out because I outbounded the CEO and I messaged him like, Matti and I are gonna be in Singapore in a few days. Like, we'd love to actually meet and figure out how we can talk, how we can figure out, like, a partnership. And he replied saying like, Yes, let's do it. So we end up spending like a good hour in their offices, which is fantastic. I do it all the time and then I pass it to the team because I do believe, like, a good leader needs to be a good outbounder. It's interesting that I have this narrative also with VCs, right? It's like, for me, a VC is just a glorified SDR or BDR.
00:32:38 · Harry Stebbings, Carles Reina
[00:32:38] S1: 100%. And respectfully, why do I bother doing venture when I... Sorry, being blunt, when I can make millions from media? Because of the media, you have the ability to be the best BDR in the world because people will always respond to you when you have a big brand. [00:32:52] S0: Exactly. [00:32:53] S1: That's why this is why people like founders, they're like, yeah, I love working with her. I have quite a few who come in and sit in our office and they just go on LinkedIn with me, and we just send cold in mails from mine. And I'm a BDR. [00:33:05] S0: Yeah. Yeah. But that's that's great. But like, at your point, [00:33:08] S1: though, I feel this rush when I get a response. It's like, yeah, we'd love a call. That'd be so great. I'm like, yes. I love it. [00:33:15] S0: Look, but it's like That's correct. A leader, like as CEO, like as say, Lila, if you're not doing it, I think you're doing it wrong. Of course, as the company keeps getting bigger, like, no one expects like Mati or like any CEO, like, for a very successful company to be doing, like, outbound. But, nevertheless, what you could do is, like, you can prep. So I have team members that, like, will message me saying, like, Could you send an outbound message to this person? I've just drafted it for you. Right? And we do it for... With Mati as well, we do it, like, with my LinkedIn account and all that stuff. And the response rate that you get is, like, as you were saying, like, through the roof. Dude, we do what we do
00:33:15 · Carles Reina, Harry Stebbings
[00:33:15] S0: Look, but it's like That's correct. A leader, like as CEO, like as say, Lila, if you're not doing it, I think you're doing it wrong. Of course, as the company keeps getting bigger, like, no one expects like Mati or like any CEO, like, for a very successful company to be doing, like, outbound. But, nevertheless, what you could do is, like, you can prep. So I have team members that, like, will message me saying, like, Could you send an outbound message to this person? I've just drafted it for you. Right? And we do it for... With Mati as well, we do it, like, with my LinkedIn account and all that stuff. And the response rate that you get is, like, as you were saying, like, through the roof. Dude, we do what we do [00:33:48] S1: on Founders all through my LinkedIn, where, like, Paul or Kieran or Alex will do it. A 100%. And they join the call, and that's totally fine. It's good. A 100%. If you trust in your team to be amazing, it'll be a great experience for everyone. [00:34:00] S0: But you need to help the team. Right? It's like, what I don't buy is, like, sales leaders that are essentially the leaders. Right? Like, you don't know the pain. You don't know essentially what it is actually your team is suffering. And it goes back to your questions like, truly, if you go to a meeting and the numbers are not in the right, maybe the problem is you, that you don't understand how the sales process happens, the product that your team is selling, and the pain points that actually they're going through. So maybe, like, you need to fix that first.
00:34:00 · Carles Reina, Harry Stebbings
[00:34:00] S0: But you need to help the team. Right? It's like, what I don't buy is, like, sales leaders that are essentially the leaders. Right? Like, you don't know the pain. You don't know essentially what it is actually your team is suffering. And it goes back to your questions like, truly, if you go to a meeting and the numbers are not in the right, maybe the problem is you, that you don't understand how the sales process happens, the product that your team is selling, and the pain points that actually they're going through. So maybe, like, you need to fix that first. [00:34:25] S1: Totally get that. If we just go back to this meeting, because I'm so... Wanna kind of extract everything I can from this. Is it just retroactive review, or is there any element of forward planning? Do we get the end, spend fifteen minutes, go, okay, for the next four weeks, we're gonna do this? How do we think about that? [00:34:40] S0: Yeah. So usually it's like as part of, like, the presentation for the account execs, every single one... Even in the CSM side, it's like, what are they forecasting to actually be closing over the next thirty days as well? And essentially, what are they going to be doing to actually close them? [00:34:53] S1: Okay. Fantastic. What is your advice to me, a sales leader or CEO who's not as experienced and brilliant as you, on the right way to forecast? Is it like be optimistic, be realistic, be negative? How do you advise on that?