Sound Bites with Bill Binch

Battery Ventures

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MARKETING

Sound Bites is a podcast series that explores best practices in sales, marketing, and go-to-market for technology companies. In each episode, Bill Binch, operating partner at Battery Ventures, is joined by an industry leader to discuss expert advice, career development, technology trends and more.

4 DAYS AGO

The Science of Scaling with Mark Roberge

In this episode, Bill sits down with Mark Roberge (Stage 2 Capital, former HubSpot CRO) to break down the Science of Scaling—Mark’s new book—a metrics-driven framework for knowing when to scale and how fast to grow without breaking your business. They cover how AI is being absorbed in the sales arena, how to define product-market fit with a measurable Leading Indicator of Retention, and how to pace hiring using unit economics as the speedometer for go/slow/stay decisions. Key Takeaways/Key Moments: [00:16:59]: “Do I hire a sales rep or do I hire a sales leader? This is the chicken-or-the-egg question.” If you hire only one rep and it fails, you can’t tell whether it was a bad hire or a flawed model. Hiring two introduces useful variance: both fail = likely systemic; one succeeds = you have a replicable path.[00:21:47]: The Science of Scaling — Mark’s new book (released February 3) outlines three stages of company growth: product-market fit, go-to-market fit, and growth + moat.[00:27:16]: Product-Market Fit: When are you actually ready to scale?[00:32:42]: “It’s crazy how many companies at that stage have a polished income statement and can tell me how much they paid for printer ink last quarter, but can’t tell me how many customers use their product every week.”[00:42:41]: Scaling without chaos: Set a hiring pace and use leading indicators as a speedometer to decide when to go faster, slow down, or stay the course. Connect with our host Bill Binch here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-binch-302a4a2/ You can find Mark Roberge on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markroberge/ Check out Mark’s new book discussed in the episode here: Science of Scaling Disclaimer: This material is intended for an audience of entrepreneurs and provided for informational purposes, and it is not, and may not be relied on in any manner as, legal, tax or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by Battery Ventures or any other Battery entity. The information and data are as of the publication date unless otherwise noted. Content obtained from third-party sources, although believed to be reliable, has not been independently verified as to its accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. Battery Ventures has no obligation to update, modify or amend the content of this post nor notify its readers in the event that any information, opinion, projection, forecast or estimate included, changes or subsequently becomes inaccurate. The information above may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or expectations. Predictions, opinions and other information discussed in this video are subject to change continually and without notice of any kind and may no longer be true after the date indicated. Battery Ventures assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. For a full list of all Battery investments, please visit https://www.battery.com/list-of-all-companies/

51 min
15 JAN

Inside LaunchDarkly’s AI Playbook: Productivity, Pipeline and Precision Forecasting

In this episode of Sound Bites, host Bill Binch from Battery Ventures talks with Marcus Holm, President of LaunchDarkly, about how the company used AI tools, from avatars to intent platforms to forecasting engines, to dramatically improve rep productivity, pipeline generation, ramp time, deal size and overall sales performance. Key Takeaways/Key Moments: (00:00) Tackling Productivity and Pipeline Through AI Marcus outlines LaunchDarkly’s challenge with inconsistent rep productivity and pipeline generation, and how the team turned to AI tools to create more prescriptive ICPs and better territory management. (02:41) Using AI Avatars to Increase Reps’ At-Bats and Ramp Faster AI-driven avatars became a core part of sales training, helping AEs, SEs and SDRs simulate objections, refine pitches, improve demo and POV certifications; all resulting in faster and more consistent ramp times. (03:07) Major Performance Gains: Faster Ramp, Bigger Deals, Stronger Conversion Across segments, AE ramp time dropped by 27 days, average deal size nearly doubled and intent-based tooling accelerated conversion from cold calls to first conversations. (05:25) Achieving 5% Forecast Accuracy with Gong Forecasting By layering AI-driven analysis on qualification frameworks like MEDDIC, LaunchDarkly now forecasts within 5% of actual results, giving leadership far greater predictability for planning and budgeting. (06:20) Transforming Rep Productivity: From 18% to 48% at Quota Two years ago only 18% of reps hit quota; today, 48% do and 80% reach at least 70%. Marcus attributes this shift to AI-driven enablement, better intent prioritization and a more disciplined operating rhythm. Disclaimer: This material is intended for an audience of entrepreneurs and provided for informational purposes, and it is not, and may not be relied on in any manner as, legal, tax or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by Battery Ventures or any other Battery entity. The information and data are as of the publication date unless otherwise noted. Content obtained from third-party sources, although believed to be reliable, has not been independently verified as to its accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. Battery Ventures has no obligation to update, modify or amend the content of this post nor notify its readers in the event that any information, opinion, projection, forecast or estimate included, changes or subsequently becomes inaccurate. The information above may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or expectations. Predictions, opinions and other information discussed in this video are subject to change continually and without notice of any kind and may no longer be true after the date indicated. Battery Ventures assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. For a full list of all Battery investments, please visit https://www.battery.com/list-of-all-companies/

14 min
9 JAN

How Pendo Scales GTM with AI, Product Thinking and GTM Engineering

In this episode of Sound Bites, host Bill Binch from Battery Ventures talks with Yezi Peng, Former VP of GTM Ops at Pendo, about the product-oriented shift happening across GTM teams, the rise of GTM engineering and how Pendo is building, governing and rolling out AI-powered workflows to transform productivity and reduce operational friction. Key Takeaways/Key Moments: (00:44) The Shift Toward Product Orientation in GTM Teams Yezi describes how rapid product cycles and new agentic AI tools are pushing sellers and RevOps teams to think like product managers, through experimenting, by understanding the ICP deeply and building tailored workflows. (01:58) RevOps Is Evolving from Buyers of Tools to Builders of Tools Instead of only purchasing software, modern RevOps teams now build internal apps, automations and AI-driven workflows such as Pendo’s internally built book-building tool powered by Lovable, N8N and Clay. (05:32) Pendo’s Core AI Deployment Principles Yezi outlines the five principles behind their AI rollout: remove manual tasks first, enable self-serve where possible, minimize the rep-facing tech stack, eliminate institutional knowledge risks and stop requiring 100% adoption for new tools. (08:48) Using AI to Eliminate Single Points of Failure in GTM Ops Pendo now asks departing Ops team members to create a GPT of themselves by capturing processes, tribal knowledge and workflows, so the knowledge persists after they leave. (11:41) Defining the GTM Engineer Role at Pendo Yezi explains how Pendo hires early-career builders with strong curiosity to own tools like Clay and develop outbound/inbound automations, including pipeline engineers sourced from within the BDR team. Disclaimer: This material is intended for an audience of entrepreneurs and provided for informational purposes, and it is not, and may not be relied on in any manner as, legal, tax or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by Battery Ventures or any other Battery entity. The information and data are as of the publication date unless otherwise noted. Content obtained from third-party sources, although believed to be reliable, has not been independently verified as to its accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. Battery Ventures has no obligation to update, modify or amend the content of this post nor notify its readers in the event that any information, opinion, projection, forecast or estimate included, changes or subsequently becomes inaccurate. The information above may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or expectations. Predictions, opinions and other information discussed in this video are subject to change continually and without notice of any kind and may no longer be true after the date indicated. Battery Ventures assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. For a full list of all Battery investments, please visit https://www.battery.com/list-of-all-companies/

14 min
18/12/2025

Journey Mining + AI: TheyDo’s Path to Bigger, Faster Deals

Description: In this episode of Sound Bites, host Bill Binch from Battery Ventures talks with Matt Peloso, Head of Global Revenue at TheyDo, about how his team used journey mining, AI-enriched call and CRM data and improved qualification to dramatically shorten sales cycles, increase deal sizes and elevate overall rep productivity. Key Takeaways/Key Moments: (00:00) Identifying Deal Stage Bottlenecks Through Journey Mining Matt explains how TheyDo analyzed Gong calls, Salesforce notes and internal insights to map their sales journey and uncover stage-level weaknesses slowing down deal progression. (03:09) Using AI to Spot Qualification Gaps and Surface Deeper Pain By aggregating and enriching data inside TheyDo, the team identified where reps weren't digging deep enough into business-level pain, leading to better qualification and earlier “qualify out” decisions. (03:38) Coaching Reps on True Pain vs. Surface Pain AI-driven insights revealed when reps were dealing with coaches rather than champions, enabling targeted coaching on follow-up questioning and linking technical pain to executive-level business outcomes. (05:40) Major Impact: Deal Cycles Cut in Half While Deal Sizes Increase by 3x Negotiation-to-close shrank from 101 days to 54 days, overall deal cycles dropped from 5.5 months to 71 days and average deal size jumped from ~20K to ~65K. (08:55) Why the Inspection Started: A Need for Scalable, Productive Growth Matt shares that TheyDo’s shift from PLG to sales-led growth, and board pressure to scale efficiently, prompted a deep inspection into productivity models, exposing wasted cycles and long-stalled deals. Disclaimer: This material is intended for an audience of entrepreneurs and provided for informational purposes, and it is not, and may not be relied on in any manner as, legal, tax or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by Battery Ventures or any other Battery entity. The information and data are as of the publication date unless otherwise noted. Content obtained from third-party sources, although believed to be reliable, has not been independently verified as to its accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. Battery Ventures has no obligation to update, modify or amend the content of this post nor notify its readers in the event that any information, opinion, projection, forecast or estimate included, changes or subsequently becomes inaccurate. The information above may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or expectations. Predictions, opinions and other information discussed in this video are subject to change continually and without notice of any kind and may no longer be true after the date indicated. Battery Ventures assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. For a full list of all Battery investments, please visit https://www.battery.com/list-of-all-companies/

11 min
09/12/2025

From AI Slop to Strategy: Gaurav Agarwal on the Future of GTM

In this episode of Sound Bites, host Bill Binch from Battery Ventures talks with Gaurav Agarwal from ClickUp about how AI is reshaping RevOps and GTM organizations; from the rise of AI builder teams and GTM architects, to managing “AI slop,” measuring productivity gains and rebuilding products and careers for an AI-native future. Key Takeaways/Key Moments: (02:01) Why RevOps Must Become Builders, Not Just Buyers Gaurav explains that RevOps and GTM Ops can no longer just evaluate and implement tools; they must be able to build systems and workflows on AI-powered platforms, partnering with a deep “AI builder” team that sets the technical foundation. (04:51) Inside ClickUp’s AI Builder Model: 80% Software Is Enough ClickUp hires extremely technical, AI-native grads who can spin up internal tools at lightning speed, often recreating 60–80% of a Salesforce-like system in weeks, while RevOps teams build agents, prompts and workflows on top of that platform. (10:36) From ‘Not Building’ to ‘AI Slop’ to Governance Gaurav breaks down three stages organizations go through: first not building anything with AI, then over-building messy “AI slop” and maturing into a governed state with a small set of centrally owned, high-quality agents. (13:23) Redefining GTM Roles for an AI-First World Gaurav simplifies the org into three layers—AI-first systems engineers, RevOps/GTM “architects” who design the workflows, and frontline teams who use these AI-powered systems to sell, support and grow customers more effectively. (25:44) Building the AI-Native Version of Your Business Gaurav argues that every existing software company must effectively build a second, AI-native version of itself by rethinking product, operations and customer experience from the ground up instead of just slapping an “AI layer” on top. Disclaimer: This material is intended for an audience of entrepreneurs and provided for informational purposes, and it is not, and may not be relied on in any manner as, legal, tax or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by Battery Ventures or any other Battery entity. The information and data are as of the publication date unless otherwise noted. Content obtained from third-party sources, although believed to be reliable, has not been independently verified as to its accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. Battery Ventures has no obligation to update, modify or amend the content of this post nor notify its readers in the event that any information, opinion, projection, forecast or estimate included, changes or subsequently becomes inaccurate. The information above may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or expectations. Predictions, opinions and other information discussed in this video are subject to change continually and without notice of any kind and may no longer be true after the date indicated. Battery Ventures assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. For a full list of all Battery investments, please visit https://www.battery.com/list-of-all-companies/

37 min
01/12/2025

How Hatch Used AI and ICPs to Boost Annual Contract Value

In this episode of Sound Bites, host Bill Binch from Battery Ventures talks with Tim Geisenheimer, CRO of Hatch, about how the team used agentic AI and alternative data to refine their ICP, focus on higher-value service businesses and significantly increase ACV. Key Takeaways/Key Moments: (01:03) Narrowing a Massive TAM into a Precise ICP Hatch realized that the 600,000-business services market required tighter segmentation, prompting the team to focus on the top 25,000 high-value targets. (02:06) Building an AI-Powered ICP Scoring Model Using Clay Tim explains how Hatch used Clay to scrape websites, analyze service trades, verify association memberships and gather Google review data to create a reliable ICP scoring model. (03:22) Better Targeting Leads to Higher ACV Focusing outreach on higher-fit accounts significantly increased ACV, illustrating the ROI of accurate ICP modeling. (03:57) Where the AI Initiative Started & Who Owned It Tim details how he initially owned Clay usage before transitioning it to an agency and eventually a dedicated growth engineer. (05:37) The Rise of the GTM Engineer Role Bill and Tim discuss the emerging GTM engineer role—part RevOps, part AI builder—and how demand for this skillset is rapidly increasing. Disclaimer: This material is intended for an audience of entrepreneurs and provided for informational purposes, and it is not, and may not be relied on in any manner as, legal, tax or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by Battery Ventures or any other Battery entity. The information and data are as of the publication date unless otherwise noted. Content obtained from third-party sources, although believed to be reliable, has not been independently verified as to its accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. Battery Ventures has no obligation to update, modify or amend the content of this post nor notify its readers in the event that any information, opinion, projection, forecast or estimate included, changes or subsequently becomes inaccurate. The information above may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or expectations. Predictions, opinions and other information discussed in this video are subject to change continually and without notice of any kind and may no longer be true after the date indicated. Battery Ventures assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. For a full list of all Battery investments, please visit https://www.battery.com/list-of-all-companies/

7 min
26/11/2025

How Cledara Leverages AI to Gain a First-Mover Advantage in Outbound Sales

In this episode of Sound Bites, host Bill Binch from Battery Ventures talks with Brad Van Leeuwen, COO and Co-Founder of Cledara, about how his team built an AI-driven trigger detection engine that surfaces real-time buying signals faster than third-party data providers resulting in higher conversion rates, more pipeline and a culture of experimentation across the sales org. Key Takeaways/Key Moments: (01:10) The Challenge: Cutting Through AI-Fueled Outbound Noise Brad explains that outbound has become saturated due to AI-generated emails, pushing Cledara to find a more differentiated “why now” trigger to break through. (02:14) Building an In-House Trigger Engine Using n8n + AI A rep built a workflow that scraped RSS feeds from 20 industry publications, detected positive ICP-relevant news, researched the account and generated call openers, summaries and talking points in Slack. (04:00) First-Mover Advantage: Acting Before the Inbox Flood The goal was to surface triggers faster than traditional aggregators—allowing reps to reach prospects before their inboxes filled with identical outreach from competitors. (04:52) Tangible Impact: 11,000 Signals and 30% Higher Conversion The system produced 11,000 unique signals in two months, and cold calls based on these triggers converted to second conversations 30% more often than general cold calls. (06:17) A Culture of Experimentation at Cledara Brad describes how bottom-up innovation, empowerment to experiment and “AI or die” as a cultural mantra encourages reps and RevOps to build tools that meaningfully impact revenue. Disclaimer: This material is intended for an audience of entrepreneurs and provided for informational purposes, and it is not, and may not be relied on in any manner as, legal, tax or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by Battery Ventures or any other Battery entity. The information and data are as of the publication date unless otherwise noted. Content obtained from third-party sources, although believed to be reliable, has not been independently verified as to its accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. Battery Ventures has no obligation to update, modify or amend the content of this post nor notify its readers in the event that any information, opinion, projection, forecast or estimate included, changes or subsequently becomes inaccurate. The information above may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or expectations. Predictions, opinions and other information discussed in this video are subject to change continually and without notice of any kind and may no longer be true after the date indicated. Battery Ventures assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. For a full list of all Battery investments, please visit https://www.battery.com/list-of-all-companies/

7 min
17/11/2025

Turning Data Into Action: How Census Uses AI to Supercharge Pipeline Generation and Reduce Churn

In this episode of Sound Bites, host Bill Binch from Battery Ventures talks with Chris Calkin, CRO of Census, about how the company leverages AI models like OpenAI and Anthropic through their “AI Columns” feature to turn vast data sets into actionable insights for sales and marketing. By automating lead scoring, churn detection and attribution, Census boosted their sales pipeline by 15%, cut churn to near zero and reduced ad spend by 34% all with a lean team. Key Takeaways/Key Moments: (00:00) Making Sales Data Actionable Census had rich data across tools but needed a way to turn it into clear, usable insights to drive growth and reduce churn. (03:57) AI Columns Integration By linking OpenAI and Anthropic models to their data warehouse through AI Columns, Census automated lead scoring, churn detection and pipeline attribution. (06:22) Strong Results with Nimble Sales Team The sales team boosted pipeline by 15%, cut churn to nearly zero and reduced ad spend by 34%, all with a small, agile team. (08:44) Simplicity Wins Leads to Wider Internal Adoption A simple, intuitive interface encouraged reps to use the AI tools and provide feedback, making the system stronger over time. (10:14) End – Integrate Your Stack Seamlessly Calkin urged teams to prioritize tools that integrate smoothly with their data warehouse and workflows to avoid costly silos. Disclaimer: This material is intended for an audience of entrepreneurs and provided for informational purposes, and it is not, and may not be relied on in any manner as, legal, tax or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by Battery Ventures or any other Battery entity. The information and data are as of the publication date unless otherwise noted. Content obtained from third-party sources, although believed to be reliable, has not been independently verified as to its accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. Battery Ventures has no obligation to update, modify or amend the content of this post nor notify its readers in the event that any information, opinion, projection, forecast or estimate included, changes or subsequently becomes inaccurate. The information above may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or expectations. Predictions, opinions and other information discussed in this video are subject to change continually and without notice of any kind and may no longer be true after the date indicated. Battery Ventures assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. For a full list of all Battery investments, please visit https://www.battery.com/list-of-all-companies/

12 min

Sound Bites is a podcast series that explores best practices in sales, marketing, and go-to-market for technology companies. In each episode, Bill Binch, operating partner at Battery Ventures, is joined by an industry leader to discuss expert advice, career development, technology trends and more.

Creator

Battery Ventures
Years Active

2024 - 2026
Episodes

25
Rating

Clean
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© Copyright 2024 Battery Ventures
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Sound Bites with Bill Binch