Unusual Ventures

How can a software company transform its entire sales culture AND achieve a 100% POC conversion rate? Relyance AI CEO and co-founder Abhi Sharma has done exactly that! In Episode 50 of the Startup Field Guide podcast, Abhi shares key lessons about building an exceptional sales culture: 1️⃣ Abhi looked at the customer journey as a systems problem. He broke down the entire process into individual components. With each component, the Relyance team assessed how they could immediately improve the customer experience. They continued asking questions until everyone ran out of ideas on how to improve each step. 2️⃣ Abhi encourages his team to focus on the “Why” rather than the “What.” Digging into the “Why” allows for a deeper understanding of the problems customers are facing, and helped the Relyance team take a more educational approach to sales rather than being “sales-y” 3️⃣ Shift from transaction to partnership: Relyance focused on making every customer interaction feel like a partnership. They emphasized understanding the customer's needs deeply and providing value, even going the extra mile like sending personalized video walkthroughs to prospects. This made customers feel Relyance was a true partner, not just a vendor. Listen to the entire conversation now. Episode links in the comments! ⬇

"Culture is about what you do day-to-day, and you have to reinforce the cultural aspects you care about in actions." We chatted with Abhi Sharma, CEO and co-founder of Relyance AI about the transformations the company has made to its sales strategy and culture! Lots of great lessons in this conversation for early-stage founders who are thinking about intentionally building great cultures. Check out the entire episode of the Startup Field Guide podcast, available now on YouTube! Link in the comments!

🚨 Unusual Academy is coming back this fall. Applications for the fall cohort will open next week! The Unusual framework for finding product-market fit emphasizes 3 critical ingredients: 💡 A unique insight 👀 A radically different vision 👩💻 A desperate customer Without these ingredients, startups are more likely to flounder and build the wrong product for the wrong audience. We believe so deeply in helping startups build the right foundation that our academy and university programs are dedicated to teaching the customer discovery process. In the past year alone, we have worked with dozens of academy founders to help them execute the customer discovery process. Sign up for our newsletter so you don't miss any updates. Link in the comments! ⬇

If you are building an enterprise software company, clearly defining your ICP gives your whole team a “true north” they can refer to when making decisions, increasing your likelihood of making it past the seed Stage! A clearly defined ICP can help you: 1️⃣ Build a focused product roadmap 2️⃣ Reduce customer acquisition costs 3️⃣ Develop consistent messaging 4️⃣ Improve customer success 5️⃣ Cultivate advocates and champions To learn more about building ICPs, take a look our Field Guide (link in the comments ⬇)

Hungry enterprise sales professionals apply here!