Since we're wrapping up what has been a simply amazing Host Analytics 2016 sales kickoff, I thought I'd share some of the rules I've developed, learned, appropriated, discovered, et cetera during my career. Rule 1: for salespeople, your signed compensation plan is your admission
Leadership
“I am 100% behind my CEOs up until the day I fire them.” -- Don Valentine, Sequoia Capital I’ve always loved that Don Valentine quote although, like many great quotes, it took me a while to really understand it. In short, it means that the board of directors should either
Bubbles
As the new year approaches, it's time for another set of predictions, but before diving into my list for 2016, let's review and assess the predictions I made for 2015. Kellblog's 2015 Predictions Review 1. The good times will continue to roll in Silicon
Bubbles
This post shares a collection of thoughts on what I've variously heard referred to as "the tightening," "the unwinding," "the unraveling," or "the great reckoning" -- the already-in-process but largely still-coming deflation of technology-oriented stock valuations, particularly
SaaS
The more I hear about SaaS companies talking up big total contract value (TCV) figures, the more I worry about The Tightening, and the more I think we should create a new SaaS metric: TTCV = theoretical total contract value. TTCV = PCV + NPCV Prepaid contract value (PCV) is the prepaid portion
Leadership
I can't remember when I first heard this great parable, and despite Googling around couldn't find it online [see footnote], so I thought I'd take a moment to re-tell this pointed story here. One day an employee is asked to write a proposal
CAC
I'm working on my CAC calculations and I'm trying to determine if I should include all marketing costs or just my direct demand generation costs? I've talked to many of my CMO peers and can't get a consistent answer to the question?
Metrics
It’s a frothy time and during such times people can develop a tendency to get sloppy about their numbers. The first sign of froth is when people routinely discuss company size using market capitalization instead of revenue. This happened constantly during Bubble 1.0 and started again several years
Culture
I can't tell you the number of times people I've worked with over the years have said, “I'll get it to you tomorrow," and then don't. Sometimes they take a few extra days. Sometimes, amazingly, they don't get it
Startups
I've written before about the curse of the megaround which can happen, for example, when a startup raises $100M at a unicorn valuation and I've described before what typically happens next: * The company is under great pressure to invest the money to drive strong growth. Late-
Leadership
One time, back in the day at Business Objects, we were all flying back from Paris to San Francisco, when the plane pulled ten feet back from the gate and then stopped. The pilot announced that we were taking a delay of several hours. Frustrated, one of our board members,
Planning
"In preparing for battle I have always found plans useless, but planning indispensable." -- Dwight Eisenhower "God laughs when Man plans." -- Yiddish proverb "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." -- Mike Tyson "Plan your work. Work your plan." -- Grandpa
