Hunters and Unicorns

huntersandunicorns
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Hunters and Unicorns

Introducing ’Hunters and Unicorns’ – Your Gateway to Tech Leadership Insights! Are you hungry for the inside scoop on what it takes to lead in the dynamic world of technology? Look no further than our celebrated interview series, ’Hunters and Unicorns’! Join us as we dive deep into the journeys of the trailblazers who are shaping the future of the tech landscape. 🎙️ Unveil the Playbooks of Tech Titans! 🚀 Revealing strategies of tech leaders driving growth. 🔍 Dive into pivotal past experiences. 🌐 1M+ global downloads – a community of tech enthusiasts. 🎯 Insights from thought leaders, entrepreneurs, execs. 🔥 Ignite innovation, leadership, extraordinary achievements. 🦄🎉 Subscribe for transformative tech insights!

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    This ONE TRAIT made David Habibian a Leader in the Industry

    In this episode of 'RAW STORIES LIVE' we sit down with David Habibian, VP of Channel and Alliances at Rubrik. David shares the story of his greatest career challenge—facing a seemingly insurmountable quota—and how his focus on temperament and ownership became the foundation for his leadership success. From massive wins to lessons learned through failure, David reveals the single most important trait for thriving in leadership, even in the midst of crisis and chaos. 🏹 Key Topics Covered: 00:00 Intro 00:43 Overcoming Career Failure 02:16 The Most Important Trait in Leadership 06:54 Learning from Career Setbacks 10:35 Mobilizing Teams Around Common Goals 13:28 Staying Calm in Chaos 14:11 Lessons from “Ride of a Lifetime” ⚡️ Main Lessons: 1. Temperament Is Key in Leadership: Remaining calm, focused, and composed during times of chaos and crisis is a vital trait for effective leadership. It earns trust and inspires teams to follow your lead, even in difficult situations. 2. Ownership Drives Success: Taking full responsibility for outcomes—whether they’re wins or failures—demonstrates accountability and earns respect. Ownership creates a foundation for rallying teams around common goals. 3. Failure Is a Stepping Stone: Career setbacks can lead to significant growth. David’s biggest failure became the moment his leadership potential was recognized, proving that resilience and reflection turn obstacles into opportunities. 4. Mobilizing Teams Around a Shared Vision: Leadership isn’t about individual effort but aligning resources and inspiring collaboration across teams to achieve ambitious objectives. 🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel! 🔗 Episode's Links: David Habibian on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/example Rubrik website: http://rubrik.com 🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns: Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog 💬 Notable Quotes: "Leadership isn’t about the wins; it’s about who follows you in chaos." "Poise and ownership are the foundation of great leadership." "Stay calm, stay focused, and trust the process."

    16 min

  2. 12/11/2024

    How to Thrive in FIRST-LINE Leadership w/ Zahir Abdelouhab

    In this insightful episode of Hunters & Unicorns, Simon and Ollie sit down with Zahir Abdelouhab, SVP EMEA at Navan, to discuss first-line leadership—the toughest role in software sales. Zahir shares his personal journey, the challenges he faced, and the lessons he learned to thrive as a first-line leader. This is his playbook. 🎓 Key Topics Covered: 00:00 Intro 01:25 Why First-Line Leadership Is the Hardest Role 03:49 Challenges in Transitioning to Leadership 06:01 From Super Sales to People-Centric Leadership 10:52 Embracing Failure 15:32 Developing a Unique Leadership Style 20:23 The Key to Building High-Performing Teams 25:55 Choosing the Right Company for Career Growth 27:45 Navigating Career Milestones and Staying Competitive 🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and edited by our friends at VideoScale.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel! 🔗 Episode's Links: Zahir on LinkedIn:   / example   Navan website: http://navan.com 🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns: Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com Twitter:   / huntersun1corns   Instagram:   / huntersandunicorns   Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog 🔔 Notable Quotes: "Leadership isn't about results; it's about developing people." "Slow down, focus on people, and the results will come naturally." "You don’t choose when you're ready—your performance speaks for itself."

    28 min

  3. 10/16/2024

    The Founders Edition, Episode 7 | Varun Mohan - We wanted to be like Google!

    In this engaging conversation, Varun Mohan, CEO and Co Founder of Codeium, shares his journey of building a unicorn AI company in just three and half years. He discusses the importance of having fun in business, the challenges of navigating the startup landscape, and the critical role of sales strategy and market fit. Varun emphasizes the future of AI and its impact on software development, as well as Codeium's vision to revolutionize the industry. He also highlights the significance of cultural principles, lean operations, and personal motivation in driving success.   Key Takeaways Having fun is essential in business. Codeium achieved unicorn status in three years. Intellectual honesty is vital for startups. A product must solve real pain for customers. ROI is crucial for AI products. Running lean is important for sustainability. It's more valuable to be adaptable than to be right. Personal motivation drives success in startups. Surrounding yourself with smarter people is key.

    33 min

  4. 10/01/2024

    The Channel Hack, Episode 4 - Marketplace Master with Michael Musselman

    In this conversation, Simon and Ollie interview Michael Musselman, the VP of Channel and Alliances at Astronomer. They discuss the evolving landscape of channel sales and partnerships, particularly in the context of cloud service providers like AWS, Google, and Azure. Michael shares his insights on building successful partnerships, the importance of understanding the partner's business, and the need for a give-and-take relationship. He also emphasizes the value of aligning with the market trends and leveraging the power of the cloud service providers. Overall, the conversation highlights the importance of effective channel strategies in driving business growth. In this conversation, Michael Musselman discusses the importance of leveraging the channel and partner strategy to scale revenue for startups. He emphasizes the need to build relationships with cloud service providers and other strategic partners to generate qualified pipeline and close deals faster. Musselman introduces the concept of the 5 C's (Co-sell, Co-build, Co-market, Consumption, and Champions) as a framework for evaluating and developing successful partnerships. He also highlights the growing influence of cloud service providers in the software sales market and the need for companies to adapt to this trend. Key Takeaways: • Building successful partnerships requires understanding the partner's business and adding value to their operations. • The evolving market trends indicate that every business is becoming a technology or software business, and cloud service providers play a crucial role in this transformation. • Effective channel strategies involve aligning with market trends, leveraging the power of cloud service providers, and nurturing strong relationships with partners. • Balancing the give-and-take relationship in partnerships is essential, where adding value to the partner's business should come before asking for favors. • The channel sales role requires individuals with attributes like an entrepreneurial spirit, curiosity, and a growth mindset. Leveraging the channel and partner strategy can have a significant impact on the size and speed of deals. • Building relationships with cloud service providers and strategic partners is crucial for generating qualified pipeline and closing deals faster. • The 5 C's (Co-sell, Co-build, Co-market, Consumption, and Champions) provide a framework for evaluating and developing successful partnerships. • Cloud service providers are playing an increasingly influential role in the software sales market, and companies need to adapt to this trend.

    53 min

  5. 09/25/2024

    The Channel Hack, Episode 3 - Channel Amplifies Pipeline with Gardner Johnson

    Gardner Johnson discusses his experiences and challenges in building successful channel ecosystems. He shares his journey from direct sales to the channel and how he developed a playbook for repeatable and scalable channel success. Gardner emphasizes the importance of data and metrics in understanding partner performance and driving success. He also highlights the need for buy-in from the entire go-to-market organization and the value that a well-executed partner ecosystem can bring. The hiring criteria for partner managers are similar to those for account managers, focusing on intelligence, entrepreneurship, and a sense of urgency. In this conversation, Gardner and the hosts discuss the qualities and skills required for success in partner management roles. They highlight the importance of drive, coachability, and experience in building successful partnerships. They also explore the challenges of convincing AEs to transition into partner roles and the need to check ego and take a backseat in sales campaigns. The conversation delves into the critical role of champion building in partner management and the need to build champions both internally and externally. They also discuss the evolving role of the channel in the changing buyer landscape and the emergence of marketplaces. Gardner shares his insights on why the channel is becoming more important and the potential for a channel-first approach. The conversation concludes with Gardner discussing his new role at Codeium and the exciting opportunities in leveraging AI and large language models to solve specific business problems. Key Takeaways • Building a successful channel ecosystem requires buy-in from the entire go-to-market organization. • Data and metrics are crucial in understanding partner performance and driving success. • A well-executed partner ecosystem can bring significant value to an organization. • The hiring criteria for partner managers are similar to those for account managers, focusing on intelligence, entrepreneurship, and a sense of urgency. Drive, coachability, and experience are key qualities for success in partner management roles. • Convincing AEs to transition into partner roles can be a challenge, as it requires checking ego and taking a backseat in sales campaigns. • Champion building is crucial in partner management, both internally and externally. • Enablement plays a critical role in building successful partner ecosystems. • The channel is becoming more important due to the emergence of marketplaces and changing buyer behaviors. • AI and large language models offer opportunities to solve specific business problems and drive meaningful business value.

    49 min

  6. 09/17/2024

    The Channel Hack, Episode 2 - Predictable Scalable Revenue with Ghazal Asif Fahadi

    Ghazal Asif Fahadi, VP of Channels, Alliances, and Inside Sales at Rubrik, shares her expertise on the importance of channel partnerships in software sales. She highlights two primary reasons why companies often get the channel playbook wrong: inadequate measurement of channel impact and working with too many partners. Ghazal emphasizes that companies often fail to track the incremental contribution of the channel to the business, leading to mistrust and self-sourcing of deals. To address this, she recommends measuring the deals that are sourced by partners and approved by reps to ensure accurate tracking. This approach will enable companies to understand the channel's true impact and make data-driven decisions. Ghazal advises companies to highly qualify their partners, commit to a few strategic partners, and invest in them instead of trying to work with a large number of partners. This strategic approach will allow companies to build stronger relationships, improve focus, and increase accountability. Ghazal attributes the failure of the conventional channel playbook to the lack of understanding of the channel's true impact, particularly among software companies. She notes that many large technology companies that have grown up in the hardware industry may not fully comprehend the importance of measuring channel contributions. This gap in understanding can lead to misguided strategies and ineffective channel partnerships. Ghazal shares a personal anecdote about a turning point at AppDynamics, where they realized the need to establish leading indicators for their channel partners. These leading indicators would help track progress, ensure accountability, and provide a more sales-organization-like approach to the channel. Rubrik has implemented a set of leading indicators to measure the performance of their channel partners, including: * Deal registration: The number of deal registrations submitted by partners * Deal registration conversion: The conversion rate of deal registrations into opportunities * Opportunity conversion: The conversion rate of opportunities into closed deals * Save the Data: A group of people who learn about the chaos caused by cyber attacks and attend events that generate pipeline * Account mapping: Research and identification of high-potential accounts * Propensity to buy: Researching and identifying accounts with a higher likelihood of purchasing the company's technology

    58 min

  7. 09/10/2024

    The Channel Hack, Episode 1 - Channel Forward Approach with Tom Henderson

    The Importance of Channel Sales and Leveraging Partnerships Tom Henderson, VP of Worldwide Channel at Wiz, delves into the world of channel sales and provides valuable insights on how to implement a successful channel go-to-market strategy. As someone who has spent years working in the channel sales ecosystem, Tom shares his personal experiences and expertise, highlighting the misconceptions and strategies that companies often overlook. According to Tom, many playbook companies struggle to effectively leverage the channel due to a lack of understanding of how to build a channel sales motion. He attributes this to a focus on direct sales and neglecting the importance of building relationships with partners. Tom emphasizes the need for a channel-forward approach, where companies prioritize building trust and relationships with partners to generate revenue. Tom highlights the numerous benefits of leveraging the channel, including reduced rep ramp time, bigger deal sizes, and faster deal cycles. He also mentions the importance of pipeline generation and marrying it with channel sales. Tom suggests that companies should focus on understanding what their partners do well and building champions, as this is key to successful deal-making. The podcast stresses the importance of building trust and relationships with partners to generate revenue. Tom emphasizes the need for executives to provide sponsorship and support, as well as for companies to spend time with partners and build trust. This trust is essential for partners to generate revenue and for companies to achieve their goals. Tom emphasizes the importance of executive sponsorship and building champions at the executive level to help reps become more productive. He suggests that having a business partner mindset is essential for success, and that companies like Pure Storage have demonstrated this by making their channel person a business partner of the second-line manager. The podcast also discusses the importance of having a playbook and structure to make the most of the channel's potential. Tom has developed a playbook that has evolved through his different jobs and companies, and emphasizes the importance of getting reps productive and having good RD enablement. Tom speaks about building a team with a mix of experienced sales reps and people who have run their own companies. He emphasizes the importance of molding each person's growth and development, and suggests that it's not necessary to hire people with 10,000 hours of experience, but rather those who are curious and have good DNA. Tom's playbook is quite prescribed, but he emphasizes that it can be adjusted to fit the channel by moving a few parts. He suggests that having a business partner mindset and a clear structure is essential for success in the channel.

    35 min

  8. 07/09/2024

    The Playbook Universe, Episode 19 | Arturo Marin - Transformed Sales Leader

    Summary of Arturo Marin's Transformation Journey: From Salesperson to Successful Leader Early Career Challenges Arturo Marin, the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) of cast.ai, shares his remarkable transformation journey from being a talented salesperson to a successful leader. In the early stages of his career, Marin reflects on his time at SAP, where he was initially successful due to his "take-charge" personality. However, his inability to accept feedback and criticism from others led to a significant issue - his entire team quit. This critical moment forced Marin to realize the importance of adaptability and humility in leadership. Mentorship and Growth Marin's awakening was a turning point in his career. He met his first mentor, Bob Ranaldi, at PTC, who taught him the value of selling by emphasizing the importance of process, prioritizing transparency, and adapting to new challenges. Marin was initially hesitant to learn from Ranaldi but eventually developed the skills to lead and retain top talent, resulting in increased revenue. Marin's growth continued under the guidance of another mentor, Helio Samora, who instilled in him the responsibility that comes with leadership. Samora encouraged Marin to take on leadership roles, which ultimately led to his appointment as the director of Latin America. Leadership Roles and Success Marin's success in Latin America caught the attention of Jason Eubanks, who approached him to lead the Latin America team for Meraki, a Cisco acquisition. Despite initial hesitation, Marin took on the challenge and led the team to success. Throughout his journey, Marin credits his mentors for providing valuable guidance and support, which helped him evolve into a high-potential CRO. His mentors, including Helio and Bob, taught him the importance of following a process, prioritizing transparency, and adapting to new challenges. Key Takeaways and Insights Marin's story highlights several critical factors that contributed to his success in sales and leadership: 1. Mentorship: Marin emphasizes the importance of choosing leaders and mentors who can guide and mentor young salespeople, providing valuable advice and feedback. 2. Continuous Learning: Marin believes that being open to learning from others, asking for help, and surrounding themselves with people who are better than them have been critical to their success. 3. Adaptability: Marin's ability to adapt to new challenges and learn from his mistakes has been instrumental in his growth as a leader. 4. Diversity: Marin's experience with diverse mentors and leadership styles has taught him the value of embracing different approaches, which has greatly benefited his development as a leader. In conclusion, Arturo Marin's transformation journey from a talented salesperson to a successful leader serves as a testament to the power of mentorship, diversity, and continuous learning. His story provides valuable insights for those looking to build a successful career in sales and leadership.

    35 min
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Ratings & Reviews

3.9
out of 5
32 Ratings

About

Introducing ’Hunters and Unicorns’ – Your Gateway to Tech Leadership Insights! Are you hungry for the inside scoop on what it takes to lead in the dynamic world of technology? Look no further than our celebrated interview series, ’Hunters and Unicorns’! Join us as we dive deep into the journeys of the trailblazers who are shaping the future of the tech landscape. 🎙️ Unveil the Playbooks of Tech Titans! 🚀 Revealing strategies of tech leaders driving growth. 🔍 Dive into pivotal past experiences. 🌐 1M+ global downloads – a community of tech enthusiasts. 🎯 Insights from thought leaders, entrepreneurs, execs. 🔥 Ignite innovation, leadership, extraordinary achievements. 🦄🎉 Subscribe for transformative tech insights!

Information

  • Creator
    huntersandunicorns
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2025
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2020 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Hunters and Unicorns

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