Episode 115: Product-Led Sales, Community-Led Category Creation, and Unlocking Revenue Data with Alexa Grabell

Show Notes(01:55) Alexa shared formative experiences of her upbringing in Philadelphia.(03:47) Alexa reflected on her undergraduate experience at Vanderbilt studying Engineering Science.(05:49) Alexa recalled her first job out of college in management consulting at KPMG.(08:20) Alexa walked over her transition from consulting to technology when she joined the Sales Operations team at Dataminr.(12:35) Alexa talked about her proudest accomplishments at Dataminr - seeding the initial idea for Pocus and building a community for women in the workplace.(20:23) Alexa reflected on her MBA experience at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.(24:05) Alexa elaborated on the mindset difference between investing and operating.(25:27) Alexa briefly touched on her internship at Monte Carlo.(27:58) Alexa shared the founding story of Pocus.(32:27) Alexa unpacked the concept of Product-Led Sales as a GTM approach.(35:40) Alexa provided two example use cases of Pocus.(39:35) Alexa explained the concepts of Product-Qualified Leads and Sales-Assist.(42:20) Alexa discussed the long-term vision of Pocus' product roadmap.(45:33) Alexa shared valuable hiring lessons to attract the right people who are aligned to Pocus' values.(51:15) Alexa went over the journey of building the Product-Led Sales community.(54:54) Alexa shared the unique opportunities of evolving a category, a community, and a product all at once.(57:56) Alexa shared fundraising advice to founders who are seeking the right investors for their startups.(01:01:15 ) Alexa provided advice to a smart, driven female operator who wants to take the leap of founding her company.(01:03:09) Closing segment.Alexa' Contact InfoLinkedInTwitterPocus' ResourcesWebsite | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTubeAbout | Product | Blog | CareersCommunity | NewsletterMentioned ContentBlog PostsWhat is Product-Led Sales? (July 2022)The Myth of "No Sales" at PLG Companies (July 2021)When To Add A Sales Team to Your PLG Company (Sep 2021)The Definitive PQL Guide: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (Nov 2021)What Is The Sales-Assist Role? (Nov 2021)Introducing Pocus' PLS Platform (Nov 2021)Product-Led Sales Community Wisdom Highlights 2021 (Dec 2021)Notes on Community-Led Category Creation with Pocus' Co-Founder, Alexa Grabell (Feb 2022)Sneak Peek at Pocus' PLS Platform (March 2022)Announcing $23M to Transform How GTM Teams Use Data to Drive Revenue (June 2022)Year One: The Product-Led Sales Platform is Here to Stay (July 2022)PeopleKyle Poyar (OpenView Ventures)Melissa Ross (Clockwise)Aaron Geller (QuickNode)Notes

My conversation with Alexa was recorded back in July 2022. The Pocus team has had some announcements in 2023 that I recommend looking at:

Datacast features long-form, in-depth conversations with practitioners and researchers in the data community to walk through their professional journeys and unpack the lessons learned along the way. I invite guests coming from a wide range of career paths — from scientists and analysts to founders and investors — to analyze the case for using data in the real world and extract their mental models (“the WHY and the HOW”) behind their pursuits. Hopefully, these conversations can serve as valuable tools for early-stage data professionals as they navigate their own careers in the exciting data universe.

Datacast is produced and edited by James Le. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

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Datacast features long-form, in-depth conversations with practitioners and researchers in the data community to walk through their professional journeys and unpack the lessons learned along the way. I invite guests coming from a wide range of career paths — from scientists and analysts to founders and investors — to analyze the case for using data in the real world and extract their mental models (“the WHY and the HOW”) behind their pursuits. Hopefully, these conversations can serve as valuable tools for early-stage data professionals as they navigate their own careers in the exciting data universe.

Datacast is produced and edited by James Le. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Subscribe by searching for Datacast wherever you get podcasts, or click one of the links below:

If you’re new, see the podcast homepage for the most recent episodes to listen to, or browse the full guest list.