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Here are the Scripts for Sales Success — Emails, Calls and Demos That Close Deals
Sales

Here are the Scripts for Sales Success — Emails, Calls and Demos That Close Deals

Seldom do you see sales advice that's so specific, down to the actual language you should use to get customers to say yes. Here, sales expert Peter Kazanjy shares exactly what's worked for him.

Radical Candor — The Surprising Secret to Being a Good Boss
Management

Radical Candor — The Surprising Secret to Being a Good Boss

Kim Scott cut her teeth as a manager at Apple and Google, and now helps create great leaders as an author and coach for companies like Twitter. Here's the secret that's made all the difference for her.

Draw The Owl and Other Company Values You Didn’t Know You Should Have
People & Culture

Draw The Owl and Other Company Values You Didn’t Know You Should Have

Twilio CEO and Co-founder Jeff Lawson brings precision, power and process to company values.

The Keys to Scaling Yourself as a Technology Leader
Management

The Keys to Scaling Yourself as a Technology Leader

Adam Pisoni spoke at First Round's recent CEO Summit about the lessons he plans to apply as a second-time founder.

Indispensable Growth Frameworks from My Years at Facebook, Twitter and Wealthfront
Product

Indispensable Growth Frameworks from My Years at Facebook, Twitter and Wealthfront

Wealthfront's VP of Growth Andy Johns outlines the three mandatory skills of a growth leader.

Three Moves Every Startup Founder Must Make to Build a Brand That Matters
PR & Marketing

Three Moves Every Startup Founder Must Make to Build a Brand That Matters

Google and Square's former marketing maven Arielle Jackson shares a set of vital branding exercises.

AltSchool's CEO Rebuilt Google's Performance Review System to Work for Startups — Here It Is
Management

AltSchool's CEO Rebuilt Google's Performance Review System to Work for Startups — Here It Is

Max Ventilla may be revolutionizing early education, but he's also changing the way startups work. Here's how his company handles the critical matter of performance reviews.

The Company-Changing Magic of Sales Operations Done Right
Sales

The Company-Changing Magic of Sales Operations Done Right

Don Otvos is one of the sharpest minds in tech sales today. Here, he talks about building and incentivizing your team to send revenue up and to the right.

This Is How You Design Your Mobile App for Maximum Growth
Product

This Is How You Design Your Mobile App for Maximum Growth

Primer CEO Kamo Asatryan has helped dozens of mobile apps achieve explosive growth. Here are his go-to tips.

Expensify’s CEO on the Tactics that Doubled its Customer Base in Just Six Months
Management

Expensify’s CEO on the Tactics that Doubled its Customer Base in Just Six Months

Expensify Founder and CEO David Barrett dispels five myths about user acquisition and shares atypical truths about how to attract and retain new customers.

A Blueprint from the Woman Who Helped AdRoll Double its Sales Force and Sales
Sales

A Blueprint from the Woman Who Helped AdRoll Double its Sales Force and Sales

Former AdRoll Director Diane Lu maps out the sales operations team that can turn your startup's sales force into a revenue-generating juggernaut.

The Total Talent Reboot — How This Startup Overhauled Its Workforce
Management

The Total Talent Reboot — How This Startup Overhauled Its Workforce

Two years ago, Nerdwallet completely remade its staff with a new set of values, frameworks, and a fresh approach to hiring. Here's a breakdown of how they did it.

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For the founder's notepad:
"If you personally want to grow as fast as your company, you have to give away your job every couple months." – Molly Graham
“Asking ‘Why can't this be done sooner?’ methodically, reliably and habitually can have a profound impact on the speed of your organization.” – Dave Girouard
“End every meeting or conversation with the feeling and optimism you’d like to have at the start of your next conversation with the person.” – Chris Fralic
“Focus is doing things with a clear intention. It doesn’t mean you charge single-minded toward a goal. It means you pay rapt and incremental attention to how you need to turn the rudder on a project.” – Fidji Simo
“It’s essential to grow with the company — rather than having the company grow around you.” – Cristina Cordova 
“You have to be impatient with shipping, but patient with your career.” – James Everingham
“‘I trust you, make the call’ might be the six most powerful words you can hear from a manager.” – Sean Twersky
“Your job as a CEO is to build fire departments, not put out fires.” – Sam Corcos 
“Can you say with confidence that each report would want to be on your team again? If you aren’t sure that the answer is yes, it’s probably no — much like how if you have to ask, ‘Am I in love?’ you’re probably not.” – Julie Zhuo 
“People can get addicted to yak shaving. An effective engineering generalist knows when to move on. Pay attention to whether they used their time wisely, not just the results.” – Mike Krieger 
“It sounds so simple to say that bosses need to tell employees when they're screwing up. But it very rarely happens.” – Kim Scott
“You’ll know you understand the customer problem enough when you can predict 75% of what a customer tells you. Keep having these conversations until three-quarters of it is stuff you already know.” – Christina Cacioppo
“I have a rule: no company swag until the business has at least $250K of revenue or 250k users. Until then, you don’t get to “feel” the benefits of having started a company.” – Gagan Biyani
“The business model ends up becoming the business. It’s equally important as the market you’re going after and the product that you build.” – Jay Simons 
“If speed is the yin, the yang is prioritization. You can’t be fast if you don’t know what’s important.” – Jaleh Rezaei
“If you treat your connections as a kind of personal ATM you use for frequent withdrawals, you’ll quickly be disappointed (and overdrawn).” – Karen Wickre 
“Delighting the customer always yields better returns than countering or copying a competitor. It’s just a lot harder to do.” – Andy Rachleff 
“When you’re a founder, every moment you’re not writing code or getting users, you need to be making a conscious choice: Is whatever you’re doing worth your time?” – Alexis Ohanian
“‘Why would a customer not want this?’ is often a far more interesting question than why they would.” – Rick Song
“When you leave the planning process wondering if you put too many resources behind a single bet, that’s the bet that ends up succeeding. Bold ideas need bold resourcing.” – Lenny Rachitsky and Nels Gilbreth
“Treat customer development as a one-on-one with a direct report — you just want to ask the hard questions.” – Ryan Glasgow
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