BUILD with Blake Bartlett

Latest Episodes:

Alex Su (Ironclad): Personal Brand + Community Playbook Oct 19, 2022

Show notes

Alex is big on TikTok under the handle @legaltechbro. He has quickly become one of the biggest influencers in the entire legaltech industry. How? 15 second video skits poking fun at the legal profession. It’s a counterintuitive strategy on its face, but it’s working in a big way. Alex lays out his journey and his playbook.

Conversation Highlights:

[00:10 - 01:36] Introduction to Alex Su

[01:40 - 03:11] Alex Su's personal brand and strategy for his channel @legaltechbro

[03:11 - 05:50] Going from a lawyer, to sales, to a content creator with a ton of influence

[05:51 - 07:12] The video that blew up

[07:12 - 09:41] Speak to the things you care about and that they care about

[09:43 - 11:26] Resonating authentically vs thought leadership

[11:33 - 13:49] Relating to friction, and layering in what a company does by focusing on the problem

[13:50 - 15:37] How does @legaltechbro fit into Alex's daily role at Ironclad

[15:37 - 18:02] How does making a TikTok turn into community dinners and connectivity in the buyer's journey?

[18:03 - 20:04] Connecting in a genuine human way on social

[21:03 - 24:50] What's the business value, budget, and the ROI? Answering the skeptic's questions.

[24:50 - 27:18] Considering content's effect on inbound marketing

[27:19 - 29:35] Exploring ideas, realizing when nobody is doing the idea it may be brilliant

[29:37 - 32:27] Where to begin? Select the right platform for your audience.

Mentioned in this episode:

Alex Su, @legaltechbro

Ironclad

TikTok

Twitter

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Podcast produced by OpenView.

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Mark Roberge (Stage 2): B2C Growth vs. B2B PLG Oct 13, 2022

Show notes

Mark is now a VC at Stage 2 Capital, and also teaches a class at Harvard Business School called “Decoding Growth in Silicon Valley.” It focuses on applying the best practices from B2C growth to B2B GTM playbooks. Today on BUILD, he gives us the key organizational and strategic “must-have” pillars in order to embrace the future of B2B growth and win with PLG.

Mark Roberge (Stage 2): How HubSpot Became PLG Oct 05, 2022

Show notes

Mark was CRO at HubSpot for 9+ years. He built the successful sales-led GTM playbook that helped the company scale to nearly $100M ARR. Then he shifted gears and helped pioneer PLG at HubSpot, effectively disrupting the original GTM playbook he built at the company. Hear Mark walk through the full story on how HubSpot became PLG, and how you can transition to PLG at your company.

Conversation Highlights:

[3:18] Hubspot's PLG story: How it began
[7:08] The complexity of adding a free product, and maintaining your revenue
[13:28] Through the PLG lens: What was the starting point, and how Hubspot made self-service work within the CRM space
[18:41] The intricacies of forming a new pricing tier
[28:39] Disrupting yourself before someone else does
[31:26] Advice from Mark: What is the first step? And how long after that can we expect to see some results?

Katie Burke (HubSpot): How Should Employees Navigate Today’s Macro Environment? Sep 23, 2022

Show notes

Katie shares the advice she’d give a friend or family member who is deciding to stay in a role or recruit for a new one. Most of the advice today is focused on leaders and companies. Katie’s advice for you, the employee, is fresh and spot on.

Katie Burke (HubSpot): Leading & Hiring People in a Recession Sep 21, 2022

Show notes

Katie has been Chief People Officer at HubSpot since 2017. She has helped the company grow to thousands of employees globally. Katie outlines her top priorities in today’s uncertain macro environment — both for existing employees and for recruiting new talent. Must listen for any leader today!

Conversation highlights:

[01:40 - 03:04] What is happening in the talent markets given the macroeconomic environment
[03:04 - 03:58] Is top talent pronounced more in one area or industry than another?
[04:01 - 05:47] Three factors leaders should be thinking about in regard to existing talent inside their organization
[05:56 - 08:32] Great storytelling is important right now especially, and the idea of cartoon clarity
[08:33 - 14:05] Prioritization in the age of downsizing, focusing on what matters most
[15:02 - 19:12] What people need to keep top of mind for their current team: transparency and communication around decisions
[19:17 - 22:24] Switching gears to recruiting and new talent
[22:26 - 24:52] Screening for adaptability in the hiring process
[24:54 - 29:56] Creating culture after the covid new normal

Krista Anderson-Copperman (Asana): What is a Chief Customer Officer? Sep 09, 2022

Show notes

Krista was CCO at Okta for 6 years, and held a similar role at Salesforce before that. But this is a relatively new role at large software companies. What does it mean exactly? And what makes for a good CCO?

Conversation highlights:

[01:20] What is the Chief Customer Officer
[02:22] The glue between an organization and its customers

Krista Anderson-Copperman (Asana): Today’s Team vs. Tomorrow’s Team Sep 07, 2022

Show notes

Let’s face it. Statistically, your current team is not likely to be your future team. It’s incredibly rare for any single leader to stay with a company through multiple phases of growth. As a board member and advisor to companies like Asana, Krista’s job is to assess teams and help CEOs determine who’s gonna make it and who isn’t. What she looks for to determine this may surprise you.

Conversation highlights:

[00:09] Intro — Meet Krista
[02:11] Having a team for the future
[05:09] Common traps people fall into when building their teams
[10:15] Addressing and assessing whether or not you have a team for the future
[12:37] Lean on others, and learning what your business should be solving for
[15:03] Characteristics to look for in future-proofing your team: passion and curiosity
[19:24] Embracing and loving change
[22:31] Finding the truth and not just hearing the right answer
[25:29] The challenge of scale and growing teams with the business
[27:33] A good starting point for looking at teams and defining if they're tomorrow's team

Kyle Poyar (OpenView): How I Do Content Aug 26, 2022

Show notes

Kyle is a one-man content machine. If you follow him on LinkedIn or subscribe to his Substack, you know this is true. How does Kyle approach content? What is his personal brand strategy? How did he win at Substack?

Kyle Poyar (OpenView): Top of Funnel for PLG Aug 24, 2022

Show notes

PLG breaks traditional SaaS top of funnel. Why? Trusty channels like content marketing, email nurture and in-person events don’t translate to PLG. Kyle has identified what works for PLG leaders like Zapier, Figma and Calendly, and shares a new top of funnel playbook built for the PLG era.

Conversation highlights:

[01:54] Problems PLG companies face when it comes to top of funnel
[04:16] Thinking about building for the end user, and building to be discovered
[08:19] Full empathy and finding solutions to user problems, the customer perspective
[11:33] SEO and Organic Search: How to get discovered and what things folks should focus on bringing to their business
[12:57] What SEO best practices should PLG companies consider
15:15[] Opportunities for PLG businesses and the RFP template
[16:13] Viral loops in products, and what they look like
[22:11] What role community plays in top of funnel for PLG businesses
[24:42] What app stores and distribution channels look like for users
[27:05] Where should folks get started

Harini Gokul (AWS): The Importance of Range for Leaders Today Aug 12, 2022

Show notes

Everyone today claims to be an expert in their social media profile. But truly being a world-class expert requires extremely narrow focus. Harini argues that range and breadth is just as important, but often overlooked today.

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