Godard Abel has successfully scaled three companies over 20 years: BigMachines, SteelBrick (acquired by Salesforce), and G2 Crowd. Some key lessons include building a compelling company story and vision to attract customers, recruiting top talent from your network through references and testing rather than relying on interviews, and establishing processes and systems like regular cadences to drive consistent sales execution and results. Authentic, caring leadership also requires managing your own energy through self-care.

1. Godard Abel – Co-founder & Executive Chairman– G2 Crowd
Building Winning Revenue Engines
Lessons Learned from Scaling Three Entrepreneurial Summits

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CLIMBING ENTREPRENEURIAL SUMMITS

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1998: THE BEGINNING OF MY JOURNEY

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THE IDEA THE PLAN THE INVESTORS
1999 MY FIRST VENTURE
Goerdt Abel John Sculley
“just think about how you
go public in one year…”

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1999 2001 2003 2007 2011 2013
Team
Size 300
70
20
Matt Gorniak
$400M+ Acquisition
Marc Benioff
BIGMACHINES JOURNEY
Ambition Despair Growth Leadership
Larry Ellison

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2012: WHAT’S NEXT?

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DREAMFORCE 2012 LAUNCH
Dreamforce 2012: G2 Co-foundersG2 Crowd Co-founders: Mike Wheeler, Mark Myers, Me, Matt Gorniak, Tim Handorf

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Then
retail
NOW
travel jobs local B2B technology
MAGIC
G2 CROWD: DISRUPT ENTERPRISE

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2014 BUILD TWO VENTURES!

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SAVE THE WORLD: NEXT GEN CPQ
MAX THE FOUNDER THE DREAM TEAM THE DREAM ECOSYSTEM
Max Rudman

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ENTREPRENEURIAL FAMILY CULTURE
Source: Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow by Chip Conley, Joie de Vivre and AirBnB

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2014 BUILDING REVENUE ENGINE

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BUILDING TEAM: 2015 H2 SKO

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QTC Demo to Marc
Benioff – Nov ’16
PARTNERSHIP ACCELERATES
THE DEMO THE DEAL THE INTEGRATION

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4 YEAR GROWTH : $1M to $100M+ ARR
“SteelBrick is one of our best acquisitions ever…” John Somorjai, EVP Corporate Dev, Salesforce

16. Q1
'15
Q2
'15
Q3
'15
Q4
'15
Q1
'16
Q2
'16
Q3
'16
Q4
'16
Q1
'17
Q2
'17
Q4
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Q4
'17
G2 CROWD GROWTH
✓ 1.3+ Million Buyers per Month
✓ 375,000+ Verified Reviews
✓ 1,000+ Leading Brands
✓ $45M funding Accel/LinkedIn
The Leading B2B Technology Review Platform
Unique Visitor Growth

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INNOVATORS GROWTH ENTERPRISE

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QTC Demo to Marc
Benioff – Nov ’16
Building Team and Sales Culture
Tim Handorf (CEO), Marty Shamon, Clay Bentley (VP), Olivier L’Abbé (SVP)
Revenue Summit 2018

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What have we learned about building
winning revenue engines?

20. THE STORY
Why are we here?
THE TEAM
How do we build a winning team?
THE PLAYBOOOK
How do we win together?
WINNING REVENUE ENGINES
Revenue Summit 2018

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THE STORY
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff
“The Business Of Business Is Improving The State Of The World”
“Connect to your Customers in a whole new Way”

22. THE STORY
DON’T
o Start with feature and function details
o Make your vision too broad
o Sell it alone
o Be boring
Revenue Summit 2018
DOs
✓ Paint big vision to which customers connect
✓ Ride inevitable trends and bigger waves
✓ Disrupt an enemy…good wins over evil
✓ Make the company’s story your own
✓ Repeat ad-nausea
✓ Make it fun…engaging
Why are we here?

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THE TEAM
Steve Jobs “I consider the most important job of someone like myself recruiting”
John Sculley "The best recruiter I ever met was Steve Jobs. He set no limits to the
talent he would go after. Jobs' success was driven by his confidence in Apple's
mission, he felt what he was doing was so incredibly important to the world.”

24. THE TEAM
DON’T
o Hire from recruiters
o Rely on interviewing
o Expect one magical VP Sales to fix it all
o Assume big brand experience will translate
o Hire too far ahead of market
o Expect all hires to make it
o Run experiments with one sales person
Revenue Summit 2018
DO
✓ Build a following…or better a family
✓ Recruit from your network
✓ Blind references and ask for W2s
✓ Online testing and pre-screening
✓ Keep hiring sales capacity to keep growing
✓ Use the slap and tickle
✓ Love –and- money
How do you build a winning team?

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THE PLAYBOOK
Coach Tony Dungy “Peyton Manning's work ethic set him apart.
Peyton Manning's weekly preparation was unmatched during his time
in the NFL and it's something that set him apart from other QBs.

26. THE PLAYBOOK
DON’T
o Rely on magic and sell alone
o Count on a particular enterprise deals to close
o Give things away…get solid contract terms
o Assume your sales team will just work hard
o Fall asleep on a park bench
Revenue Summit 2018
DO
✓ Prepare and sell as a team
✓ Lead from the front…be a selling CEO
✓ Have a process and a system commit to it
✓ Enforce a cadence and live in the details
✓ Take deals off the table
✓ Reward with love and money
✓ Slap and tickle
How do we sell?

27. BE CONSCIOUS
LEADERSHIP LESSONS
Revenue Summit 2018
BE AUTHENTIC
AND CARING
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF
MANAGE YOUR ENERGY

28. CONFIDENTIAL 28
THANK YOU SALES HACKER
REVENUE SUMMIT!
“It is through gratitude for the present moment that the
spiritual dimension of life opens up.” Eckhart Tolle
Co-founder & Chair – G2 Crowd
@godardabel
GODARD ABEL