raminassemi

Close CRM offers team members the option to work a 4-day workweek (at 80% of the salary). 100% remote. Open roles: https://www.close.com/careers

Close CRM (https://close.com/) | Remote (American or European time zone) | Full-time

ENGINEERING:

* Senior Software Engineer - Backend

* Senior Software Engineer - Frontend

* Site Reliability Engineer

MARKETING:

* Product Marketing Manager

* Marketing Operations & Automation Manager

* Content & Brand Marketing Producer

OPERATIONS:

* HR & Business Administrator

* Recruiter

* Customer Support Executive (EU timezone)

https://jobs.close.com

Close.io: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5135295

> But if you don't know who to talk to, then you are trying to solve two problems at the same time: who to talk to and how to talk to them.

Great point

Awesome guide, thanks for sharing this in so much detail with all the steps (including email templates, etc). Ton of work, but huge payoff.

great list, thanks :)

Thanks for sharing!

Enjoyed this episode, particularly the habits/building momentum vs setting goals philosophy :)

:) I'm working with Steli on the content. Just sent you an email - would super appreciate if you find the time to answer. It's the critical feedback like yours that helps us improve and create more valuable content.

Thanks! :)

Great read!

Decide in advance what the 3 most important facts are you want them to remember about you.

Then make sure to work this into your answers, even if the question they ask you seemingly isn't related to it.

I learned this from one of the co-founders of a SwipeGood (YC W11), they wrote about it in much detail here:

http://blog.close.io/tough-interview-questions

(Now of course - do this mindfully, not robotically, but if you've been invited to an interview, I probably don't need to say this).

And congratulations! Wishing you success :)

Reminds me of Warren Buffett's "Avoid At All Cost" list or Steli's "Not To Do" list: http://blog.close.io/not-to-do-list

It's an awesome book. Based on the 1-star review you chose I wouldn't read it, but it's not an accurate representation of what's in the book.

Another (more straightforward and simple) method of wanting to do everything is to just have a "not to do list" http://blog.close.io/not-to-do-list

Awesome post! Should be included in https://yourfirstcustomers.com/podcast/ and http://www.unscalablestartup.com :)

From the software vendors' perspective, it makes good business sense to call you asap, see: http://blog.close.io/why-you-need-to-call-every-signup-user-...

From a customer perspective, ideally that call will help you to save time by: a) figuring out faster if this software is right for you or not b) helping you to learn how to use it the best way possible c) setting this up so you make the most out of your trial.

I'd rather take objection with bad sales calls, not with the fact that they call on the same day.

I guess that falls under "doing things that don't scale" :)

If that's your favorite quote, maybe you'll like this post from Alex Turnbull https://www.groovehq.com/blog/turning-down-vc where he laid out his reasons why he said no to a $5 million funding offer.

Reminds me of Steli's story of how he followed up 48 times (!) with an VC who went dead. Zero, zipzilch, nada. Response to the 48th email? "Thank so much for following up, I've been crazy busy. Can you come by the office tomorrow 1pm?" (rephrased). He invested. Of course, you have to do this the right way, he laid out a pretty good "follow up plan" in this post: http://blog.close.io/follow-up

I think you could just as well make the opposite argument: a retreat can be an easier way to get started, because it takes you away from your normal, everyday surroundings, and by really making it the main focus, and purpose of this time, it becomes easier to do, rather than to try and squeeze it into your existing schedule. There's a beautiful meditation retreat in Northern Thailand http://www.wetours.com/meditation-retreat-in-northern-thaila... (relatively meaning: get up early, no meals after lunch, very regimented day... but nobody will give you evil eyes and the people - especially the head monk - are very relaxed, easy going and have a great sense of humor). Not saying one way is better than the other, just that both are feasible choices :)

"Just playing devil's advocate here." Not sure what you're getting out of that, but I'm happy to play along :-)

"you suggest people waste: - a lot of their own time" I wouldn't call it "wasting time" if it gets you the result you want.

"even though you have nothing in common with them" Being startup founders is already having a lot in common.

"All you want is a backhanded intro" I wouldn't do any of this in a backhanded way, founders will smell it. Be transparent and upfront.

"Only so that the investor will get 2-3 emails" The question was how to get warm introductions... these are warm introductions :)

"from founders who really know nothing about you other than what they found out in a 10 minute phone call" ... or from follow up interactions you've had with them after that initial 10 minute phone call...

"Don't you think that system is broken?" Nope :) I think it's an imperfect system - but then everything in the real world is.

Here's one possible way:

1. Reach out to people who got funded by the VCs you want.

2. Ask them for a 10 minute phone call or if you can invite them for coffee. Do this with enough people and some WILL take the time.

3. Be awesome when talking to the founders (so they like you and believe you've got the stuff.

4. Ask for an intro.

5. Repeat 1 - 4 until you get an intro.

Details: https://medium.com/@Steli/how-to-get-warm-introductions-to-v...

Thanks, been using listentoyoutube.com but auderio.com is definitely better (less annoying popup stuff + required clicks)

Here's a great podcast on high-touch sales http://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/07/24/kalzumeus-podcast-episod...

"Don’t just focus on closing more deals – focus on closing better deals."

There's a lot of common sense advice in this article. Funny thing is, most SaaS products you sign up for, you wish they'd be selling you with more common sense. I like how this article really focuses on getting the basics right, and has specific action steps.

> The nice thing about having knowledge and experience is that oftentimes it shortens the time required to realize you're making a mistake.

Great point.

Btw. seems the site you're linking to in your profile isn't working :)

:) Love Mixergy, but I think pretty much all of these are "How I started, struggled/failed, and then succeeded. Here are the action steps I can share with you". This would be more like Founders At Work... Failed Founders Out Of Work ;)

Great lessons! Regarding making pre-sales, this post is pretty helpful: http://blog.close.io/how-to-charge-money-for-things-that-don...

Someone should start a blog interviewing failed startup founders and letting them tell their stories and share their lessons, really in-depth. Maybe even bring in other people for multiple perspectives.

Yes, and you can use sales to reiterate based on feedback to built what people want to some extend too: http://blog.close.io/lean-sales-how-to-validate-your-saas-id... :)