22 episodes
The Search For Growth The Search For Growth
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Welcome to The Search For Growth.
A podcast for growth-mindset entrepreneurs looking to improve 1% each day.
Each week an American and a Brit get together to unpack the biggest topics from the start-up world, interview founders, and share frameworks & principles to help you grow.
Chris Gibson is the Founder of Wavelength, a bootstrapped start-up, and Alfie Marsh is the Head of US Go-To-Market at Spendesk, a venture backed unicorn.
As an engineer and a sales guy, we have two different perspectives on life.
But we are united by one common goal.
The Search For Growth.
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#22 Lihong Hicken, CEO of TheySaid | 4x successful exits - acquisitions and an IPO | Her impressive work ethic | Building the Wild Dog sales team
Today, it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to Lihong Hicken, the CEO of TheySaid, and a seasoned startup veteran.
Lihong was raised in a remote village in China, and learned five languages before immigrating to the US where she then rocketed into a successful career in tech.
Starting out as an individual contributor selling high school parents' education packages, Lihong quickly moved up the ladder and became one of User Testings' first female employees and later became CRO at GitPrime where she grew revenues 300-400% YoY.
GitPrime’s co-founder, Ben Thompson, referred to her as "the most impactful hire they ever made”.
Since then Lihong has gone on to experience 4 successful exits from acquisitions to an IPO and is currently leading “TheySaid” as CEO.
Together, we unpack Lihong's story from China to the US and the learnings she’s had along the way.
(01:19) Growing up in China, running family businesses
(03:31) Coming to the US, visas
(06:02) Growing skills throughout her career
(09:02) Deciding to go to business school at Berkeley
(10:14) Building the Wild Dog sales team at GitPrime
(11:01) How her immigrant work ethic impacted her
(17:14) Building her sales team with the customer in mind
(21:58) Creating team incentives
(25:48) Exits and golden handcuffs
(29:47) Building ‘nuffsaid
(37:29) Why NPS doesn’t cut it
(45:36) How to get insights from 500 people
(50:12) Customer Perceived Value
(53:52) Rapid-fire questions
Lihong Hicken's LinkedIn
TheySaid.io
Crossing the Chasm
Three-Body Problem
The Search For Growth Podcast
Alfie Marsh B2B Go-To-Market Advisory
Alfie Marsh's Newsletter "Rocket GTM"
Chris Gibson's Newsletter "Content I Consumed"
Alfie's LinkedIn
Chris' LinkedIn -
#21 Content Dump - Favorite newsletters in startups, finance, and climate
Alfie and Chris read a lot of newsletters. Here are some of our favorites and why you should subscribe to them.
(01:33) Axios - A collection of newsletters across news, tech, and various industries
(06:49) Not Boring - Deep dives into industries and his Weekly Dose of Optimism
(10:46) Other VC Newsletters - Chamath, Marc Andreessen, Fred Wilson, Paul Graham
(11:30) Matt Levine's Money Stuff - Learn complex topics in finance, law, and regulations easily
(15:23) Bits about Money - About modern financial infrastructure
(16:31) The Diff - Inflections in finance and tech
(17:29) Thomas Tunguz - Data-driven blog about startups
(18:24) Climate newsletters - Build in Climate, CTVC, Keep Cool
(18:57) Marketing Examples - Explaining how marketing works through screenshots
(19:50) Wait But Why - Long-form content on our past, present, and future.
Other:
Morning Brew
The Search For Growth Podcast
Alfie Marsh B2B Go-To-Market Advisory
Alfie Marsh's Newsletter "Rocket GTM"
Chris Gibson's Newsletter "Content I Consumed"
Alfie's LinkedIn
Chris' LinkedIn -
#20 Content Dump - Our favorite podcasts and why
Alfie (and Chris) listen to a lot of podcasts. Here are some of our favorites and why you should subscribe to them.
(02:59) Nathan Latka - Evaluating bootstrapped founders' numbers
(09:04) Conversations with Tyler - Interviewing smart people with specificity
(15:08) Tim Ferriss - Daily habits of top performers
(16:21) Hacks to read non-fiction books quickly
(20:06) Founders - Book summaries so you don't have to read them
(22:01) Misc - Men In Blazers, The Pod has Spoken
Other
All In
Knowledge Project
The Search For Growth Podcast
Alfie Marsh B2B Go-To-Market Advisory
Alfie Marsh's Newsletter "Rocket GTM"
Chris Gibson's Newsletter "Content I Consumed"
Alfie's LinkedIn
Chris' LinkedIn -
#19 Steve Richard SVP @Mediafly, Founder @Vorsight and ExecVision | Building two businesses at once | Service businesses vs software businesses
On today’s episode, we are joined by an incredible sales leader, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker with over two decades of experience in the field. After starting his career in sales, he went on to found the highly successful sales training and coaching firm, Vorsight, in 2005. But that's not all - he also had the vision to build one of the first conversational intelligence platforms, making him an early competitor to the likes of Gong and Chorus. Later, he sold ExecVision to Mediafly and now serves as the SVP of Sales Excellence.
In today's episode, we dive deep into his journey from employee to self-employed sales trainer, and the transition into running a successful service business that later became a software company. We cover everything from the life of a solopreneur to competing with the biggest names in the game and lessons learned from being acquired.
(02:14) Starting an appointment-setting business
(05:22) Idea behind conversational intelligence business
(09:42) Getting customers
(12:01) Value of creating a training business - scaling your time
(15:12) First hires, the first office
(18:51) Pricing, revenue per month, margins
(19:56) Building your own business with significant profitability
(22:21) Building a curriculum
(27:02) Why there is more to building a business than an exit
(28:20) Building ExecVision and learnings from Vorsight
(30:54) Value of a technical cofounder
(34:18) Building two businesses at once
(43:06) Splitting responsibilities with another cofounder
(43:44) Process of acquisition
(46:12) Learnings after acquisition - being so focused on product
(51:51) Should salespeople build a software business or a service business
(54:16) Don't be a destination island
(55:13) Rapid-fire questions
Steve Richard's LinkedIn
Mastering the Rockefeller Habits
Catcher in the Rye
The Search For Growth Podcast
Alfie Marsh B2B Go-To-Market Advisory
Alfie Marsh's Newsletter "Rocket GTM"
Chris Gibson's Newsletter "Content I Consumed"
Alfie's LinkedIn
Chris' LinkedIn -
#18 Will Ross, CEO @Federato | Hacks to get in front of insurance companies | Using "unreasonable hospitality" to delight customers and prospects
On today’s show, we are joined by Will Ross the CEO & Co-Founder of Federato. After previously being an AI researcher at Stanford working on climate and atmospheric modeling, Will came up with the idea for Federato alongside his co-founder. They recently raised a $15M Series A in 2022 to help insurance carriers execute better decision-making at all levels of the underwriting process. On today’s episode, we’re going to dive into how Federato was born, lessons from the insurance industry, and Will’s frameworks for entrepreneurs.
(00:41) Federato origin story
(03:33) Optimization vs classification
(06:21) Meteorology and business at Stanford
(09:46) How Federato helps insurance companies
(16:54) Federato's MVP and first-paying customer
(19:18) Targeting first customers
(22:29) Why insurance companies can't do this themselves
(24:03) Insurance sales hacks and using 10-ks
(29:21) Pricing Federato
(34:28) Federato's moat
(36:32) Federato's "unreasonable hospitality" culture
Will Ross' LinkedIn
Federato Website
Unreasonable Hospitality
Double Blind
The Search For Growth Podcast
Alfie Marsh B2B Go-To-Market Advisory
Alfie Marsh's Newsletter "Rocket GTM"
Chris Gibson's Newsletter "Content I Consumed"
Alfie's LinkedIn
Chris' LinkedIn -
#17 Magician Kevin Blake | The Business of Magic | Performing on National TV for America's Got Talent and Penn and Teller
Kevin Blake is one of the top entertainers in the country. He’s a San Francisco Bay Area magician and mentalist who has been featured on America’s Got Talent and Penn and Teller’s Fool Us. You can watch him at his weekly show, the Illusionist at the Palace Theater (in San Francisco), or at his in-person and virtual corporate events. In addition to magic, he’s a big swimmer and has competed in the US Olympic Team trials twice in the 50 freestyle. In this episode, we discuss how Kevin got into magic, the business dynamics of magic, what it was like to perform on national tv, and his current performances.
(00:44) Getting into magic
(06:31) Ethical frameworks for mentalism
(08:27) First time getting paid to do magic
(09:34) Doing magic as a side-gig
(11:49) Moving into magic full-time during COVID
(16:43) How to get audience feedback to improve
(17:15) Magician pricing and distribution strategies
(19:01) Impact of VC on distribution
(20:44) His ideal customer profile and personal brand
(24:33) Magician competition
(26:17) Where magicians make money
(30:41) Where magicians buy tricks
(35:10) How magicians spend their time
(37:55) Are magicians lonely?
(39:17) Going on America's Got Talent and Penn and Teller's Fool Us
(47:44) Kevin's show the Illusionist at the Palace Theater in SF
(49:26) Relationship with theater and producers in regard to distribution
(52:54) Rapid fire - favorite books, advice that is incorrect in magic
(56:36) Where to find Kevin
Book Kevin for Corporate Events
The Illusionist at the Palace Theater in SF
Favorite Books
Absolute Magic by Derren Brown
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
The Search For Growth Podcast
Alfie Marsh B2B Go-To-Market Advisory
Alfie Marsh's Newsletter "Rocket GTM"
Chris Gibson's Newsletter "Content I Consumed"
Alfie's LinkedIn
Chris' LinkedIn