GTM + AI (Part I): Building the Modern Sales Stack

👋 Hello! I’m Ivan. I write monthly about the playbooks and hidden tactics of the top 1% of founders and investors. Subscribe to stay ahead of the curve:

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Summary

1. 🌊 Sales AI: and how to get ready.

2. 🌊 Cold emailing VCs: for fundraising.

3. 💵 Iberian Deals: 19 deals in Spain (>€300M).

4. 🍫 Meme of the month: interstellar.

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🌊 Sales AI

We all know GenAI is having a big impact on Engineering productivity.

But, how is it disrupting the sales profession?

I spoke at the Product Hackers Conference this week on the future of sales.

Here are the Top 3 questions on people’s minds, and a few insights:

1. Is Predictable Revenue dead?

If you haven’t read Predictable Revenue yet, you are late to the party.

This books, written by one of the first sales team members at Salesforce, is mandatory reading for anyone building a sales function.

The book can be summarized into 3 core principles:

1. Specialise: on the importance of division of labor within the sales function: 1. Prospectors, 2. Inbound Lead Qualifiers 3) Closing and 4) Account Management.

Source

2. Label, measure, and iterate: on the importance of measuring different types of leads (Seeds, Nets and Spears).

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3. Build systems for predictable Lead Generation: on the implementation of systematic methods for generating high-quality leads regularly.

When we brought Aaron Ross (the author) on the Revenue Squared pod, he gave us a few insights on wether the model still applies under the emerging GenAi paradigm.

We asked him, is Predictable Revenue dead?

1. He says its all evolving, but that specialisation is still very much relevant.

2. Same goes for Seeds, Nets & Spears.

3. Lead generation tactics will change, but the importance of systems won’t.

4. Instead of chasing tactics that work to stay ahead of the curve, thing about building systems that encourage authenticity.

   AI will struggle to compete with authenticity and creativity.

5. Developing a unique and authentic voice in your sales interactions will help you stand out from the competition and create meaningful connections.

6. Dark side of predictable revenue: the bigger the company, the more boxed in you are, and the less energy is spent on creative thinking (innovator’s dilemma).

7. How do you hire for autheticity & creativity: lead by example, find people that vibe with you and your company’s culture. Look for creative flair in the interview process, “don’t hire boring people”.

2. Will AI replace Sales Reps?

A few strong opinions, loosely held on this:

1. AI will disrupt other jobs first that don’t rely as much on core human skills, and sales is full of them. Engineering is likelier to be more disrupted in the short-term.

2. We are currently experiencing “AI overhype”, and an AI winter is likely incoming. I suspect that given the amount of FOMO, especially among corporates, there’s a ton of “try it budget” floating around - and a lot of AI Apps traction might be overhyped. I can’t help but think of this:

Source

3. That being said, I am seeing big opportunities to improve Sales Rep productivity. Especially when you consider 75% of sales rep time spent on non-selling activities. And this is very achievable in the short-term.

4. The role fo the Sales Development Representative (SDR) is particularly susceptible to disruption, but for the better! Being an SDR is hard, and I suspect the role will become more interesting with this AI wave.

5. We’ll likely see the rise of “10x SDR’s” where they’'ll have to become masters of AI productivity tools to stay ahead of the curve.

6. We might also see the rebirth of the full-cycle rep in certain industries, but my guess here is that this will take more time than we think.

3. How can I supercharge sales with AI?

1. Leverage AI tooling when it makes sense to do so, know what is out there:

Source

2. Adopt a culture of rapid experimentation.

3. Leverage authenticity and creativity in your GTM organization.

4. Train salespeople to live in their prospect’s world and build their own personal brand (a-la Sales Acceleration Formula at Hubspot).

5. Embrace the Challenger Sale model.

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🌊 Cold emailing VCs

Great fundraising cold emailing is rare.

But it is also a powerful skill that can be learned.

Here’s a great example by Open VC + 3 suggestions of my own:

1. Add a loom product demo: 1' link, right after your value prop.

2. Direct CTA + Calendly: minimise friction, share a date and Calendly option.

3. Kickstart their investment memo: add a P.S. section with links to relevant literature on the problem space, or even better, your own thesis as a PDF.

Source: OpenVC

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💵 Iberian Deals

You love startups and want to enjoy a Spanish lifestyle?

Come join the Spanish startup ecosystem. Here’s a list of recently funded startups:

• TravelPerk (business travel) raised up to $135M.

• Tinybird (real-time APIs) raised $30M.

• Bespoke Pixel Studio (gaming) raised €25M.

• Cabify (transport) raised €20M.

• Bcas (student finance) raised €17M.

• Job&Talent (marketplace) raised €18M.

• NeuronUP (cognitive rehabilitation) raised €10M.

• Samara (solar energy) raised €9M.

• Mitiga Solutions (climate tech) raised an €8M extension.

• Badi (room rental app) raised €7M.

• FOSSA Systems (IoT satellite) raised €6.3M.

• Ray studios (tattoo removal) raised €4.62M.

• Danelfin (AI stock analytics) raised €2M.

• Alinia AI (alignment platform) raised $2.4M.

• Sincrolab (digital therapies) raised €1.7M.

• Leemons LXP (edtech) raised €1.62M.

• Bit2Me (crypto) received investment from Unicaja.

• Azitek (IOT) raised €750K.

• inBiot Monitoring SL (biotech) raised €500K.

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🍫 Meme of the month

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If you enjoy Startup Riders, I’d really appreciate a share - see you next month! 🤙

P.s. I run a private tech sales community for spanish-speaking GTM teams called Revenue Squared. Apply here.