How We Got There
Tech professionals working in or around the Salesforce ecosystem often lack a roadmap for career advancement. In this podcast host Mike Davis interviews successful leaders from ISVs and other ecosystem insiders to gather practical advice. The conversations focus on what has worked for them and what mistakes to avoid. The show aims to provide actionable insights for listeners looking to get ahead.
Episodes
How We Got There: Sienna Quirk, Head of Marketing at Thread and general Salesforce ISV expert
Sienna Quirk has worked on GTM motions and product marketing for at least 30 Salesforce apps, probably many more. On this episode of How We Got There, we speak with the Head of Marketing at Thread about all things Salesforce ecosystem for ISVs. Sienna’s underinvested recommendation for ISVs is not getting more mileage out of product releases - it can be a strong demand gen engine. “A solid go-to-m
How We Got There: Josh Koshy, VP of Sales at Appiphony
You’ve gotta be boots on the ground, doing it yourself first before you build out a team to help you sell. He needed to be the one selling, partnering, and figuring out the messaging before scaling the team.This episode of How We Got There, I am joined by Josh Koshy who is the VP of Sales at Appiphony. If you aren’t aware of Appiphony, they are both a top PDO and an ISV after launching their first
How We Got There: Heather Mason, Founder of ISV Accelerators
Heather asks and helps answer “How do you create a point of view about your solution in a way that will talk to Salesforce about how it works together for that specific customer?” For ISVs so they can take a strong point of view about a specific customer vs. approaching with just questions. “It’s easier to find this information than it’s ever been. Don’t be lazy and use the tools and you will have
How We Got There: Mark Rutledge, Chief Storyteller | Global ISV Partner Solutions at Salesforce
This episode of the How We Got There podcast features a conversation with Mark Rutledge, Chief Storyteller | Global ISV Partner Solutions at Salesforce. The builder advocacy program that he works on is one that every ISV should learn about and explore if they might be a fit for working with them.Fun fact - I worked with Mark Rutledge when he as a client of my former business, GTM Guides, while he
How We Got There: Jeff Freund, Founder & CEO of Akoonu
I got introduced to Jeff Freund, Founder & CEO of Akoonu, a number of years ago and I finally got to hear his full story on How We Got There earlier this year. Jeff has been in the ecosystem in 2003 and founded the business in 2014 as a native Salesforce app to solve b2b sales - inspecting pipeline and then forecasting. Jeff lays out the story and the why of Akoonu so clearly - overnight, in S
How We Got There: Brittany Hart, Founder of Communiscape
I met Brittany Hart, founder of Communiscape, from an introduction from Blakely Graham. I was planning to interview her on How We Got There about her experience scaling an SI (Fortimize) as employee 2 before starting/exiting her own Salesforce SI (Platinum Cubed) but then I got to listen to her present via a professional leadership community I am a part of called Arcadia and I knew that I had to e
How We Got There: David Young, Director of Solution Engineering, Pharma and Key Accounts at Salesforce
Salesforce Solution Engineers are like general contractors, according to David Young, who leads a team of them at Salesforce. They need skills like carpentry and framing and plumbing but also know when to stop and call in an expert. In the Salesforce world this might be knowing when to bring in a service cloud or an Agentforce expert. They need to know enough to see the business challenge and know
How We Got There: Steve Simpson, VP of Global Enablement & Learning at Copado, Co-Founder of Catcusforce and Certified Architect Instructor
Wondering what SIs care about and how they approach implementing ISVs for the first (or hundredth) time? This episode if for you!In the latest episode of How We Got There, I speak with Steve Simpson, VP of Global Enablement & Learning at Copado, Co-Founder of Catcusforce and Certified Architect Instructor. Steve and I dive deep on the reality of the complex deal cycles that Salesforce ISVs exp
How We Got There: Igor Stosic, CEO of Quadrix Soft the makers of Goat
Agentforce is everywhere and everything but in speaking to many ISVs, they are still wondering when is the right time to lean into AI with more than just a story. Where in the hype cycle are we is something I wonder about a lot. So I set out to find an ISV that is actually succeeding in the Agentforce world and that journey led me to Igor Stosic, CEO of Quadrix Soft who make Goat Email on the AppE
How We Got There: Part 2! Jason Hoult, Founder and former CEO of Anvil App Works
On this episode of How We Got There, I am joined again by Jason Hoult, the Founder and former CEO of Anvil App Works who was acquired by Tractor Zoom in 12/2023, for part 2! If you missed it, give our first episode together from July 2023 a listen. It was an excellent episode where we talked about a wide range of topics, but my highlight was his approach to company building & nailing a niche.
How We Got There: Rey Perera, CEO & Co-Founder of Gridmate
On this episode of How We Got There, I am joined by Rey Perera who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gridmate. He shares his story as moving from an SDR to an enterprise AE at another Salesforce ISV before jumping into co-founding Gridmate along Hicham El Mansouri. Rey talks about how they build a business with diversity as if you look at their team, they are located all across the world and come from
How We Got There: Alex MacKay, Executive Chairman & Co-Founder of Tequity Advisors
On this episode of How We Got There, I am joined by Alex MacKay, Executive Chairman & Co-Founder of Tequity Advisors. He shares his start in CRM when running Siebel Canada and found his way into sell-side advisory for M&A at Tequity, with deep experience in the Salesforce ecosystem with 28 companies and counting.*If you are at Dreamforce next week, make sure to reach out to Alex or Mahnoor
How We Got There: Melanie Kruger, Chief People Officer, helping Founders scale
I am joined by Melanie Kruger, one of the best people leaders that I ever had the chance to work with. She has deep understanding of helping to scale Salesforce ISVs of all sizes. She actually found her way into the Salesforce ecosystem via networking between her husband and J Manning, bringing her to the Head of People at Conga.I got to work with Melanie twice at Conga and TaskRay and was so impr
How We Got There: Ben McCarthy, Founder of SalesforceBen and Lab.Club
I am joined by Ben McCarthy, Founder of Salesforce Ben, Lab.club and advisor to a number of great companies in the ecosystem like AscendX, Tequity Advisors, and PipeLaunch. We talk about his journey from university to stumbling upon Salesforce and then after being called SalesforceBoy grew into Salesforce Ben. We talk about how to approach thought leadership, holding nothing back from the reader.
How We Got There: Sean Lewis, Director of Partnerships at Vicasso and Serviceblazer User Group Leader for AMER
I am joined by Sean Lewis, Director of Partnerships at Vicasso and the Serviceblazer User Group Leader for AMER. We talk about his journey from customer support to sales to partnerships and everything in between. When he was selling, a Salesforce AE sent them a referral to a F100 company that really opened his eyes to the value of the partnership. Now Vicasso has two FTEs focused on partnershi
How We Got There: Ryan Sieve, CTO of Accounting Seed
I am joined by Ryan Sieve, the CTO at Accounting Seed. We get to talk about his journey from consulting in the Salesforce ecosystem to his time at Salesforce itself, before heading to Accounting Seed to lead their technology group as CTO. And thank you to Jon Schultz for the suggestion to be joined by Ryan!We start out talking about positioning products to buyers in ways that focus on solving pr
How We Got There: Blakely Graham, board advisor to ISVs and Founder and former CEO of TaskRay
I am joined by Blakely Graham, who is a board advisor to Left Main REI, host of the Not All Business Podcast, Founder and former CEO of TaskRay. This one was a long time coming. On a personal note, my time at TaskRay was some of my most formative. I found a balance while there between my previous experience of excellence with true work life balance and a focus on values that stays with me. I am s
How We Got There: Heather Cooper, COO at Baker Law Group and former CEO of Cloud Coach
I am joined by Heather Cooper, the COO at Baker Law Group and the former CEO at Cloud Coach. Heather and I didn't know each other when we competed against each other (TaskRay and Cloud Coach) but have gotten to know each other since, which has been really fun. She is starting a podcast with one of my favorite work people, Blakely Graham, that will launch later this year.While Heather was at Cl
How We Got There: Sam Yarborough, Chief Growth Officer at Invisory and Co-Founder of Arcadia
I am joined by Sam Yarborough, the Chief Growth Officer at Invisory and a co-founder at Arcadia. Sam and I met at a New York World Tour years ago where she shared her experience at PFL and taking a much more focused approach to partnerships than is typical in the ecosystem. Treat partners (AEs, SEs, RVPs, SIs, etc.) like customers by leveraging the CRM to track activities for them and give them a
How We Got There: George Kenessey, CEO of Appiphony
In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with George Kenessey who is the CEO of Appiphony. Appiphony is a Product Development Outsourcer (PDO) and more recently an ISV themselves with Drive Connect on the AppExchange. George is one of the best humans and business leaders in the ecosystem. This conversation took place wayyyy back pre-Dreamforce but I finally got around to releasing it and it’
How We Got There: Stephanie Betters, Founder and CEO of Left Main REI
In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Stephanie Betters who is the Founder and CEO of Left Main REI. Left Main REI is an OEM and (now) ISVforce partner of Salesforce focused on building for companies in the real estate vertical. As a fellow SUNY alum, it was great to hear Stephanie’s story of how she stumbled her way into the Salesforce ecosystem. As many founder stories go, she crea
How We Got There: Andrew Walker, Founder of Sanitas Accounting
In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Andrew Walker, who is the Founder at Sanitas Accounting. I consider Andrew a friend after our time together at TaskRay where he was our full-time CFO after starting as a fractional CFO. His business is now focused on helping smaller software companies with accounting and finance so they can focus on running their business.
We reminisce about our
How We Got There: Jason Hoult, President of Anvil App Works
In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Jason Hoult, who is the President at Anvil App Works. We talk about the origin story of the business solving problems for his own business before launching as an OEM of Salesforce for a very specific niche. I am consistently inspired by the quality of businesses like Anvil App Works that can be built with an intentional focus like Jason and his t
How We Got There: Sam Yarborough, SVP of Partnerships at PFL.com
In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Sam Yarborough, (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-yarborough-a96b3326/) who is the SVP of Partnerships at PFL (https://www.linkedin.com/company/pflcom/). We talk about rebooting a partnership program but starting with working on their Trailblazer partner score to build momentum and aligning closely with their Partner Account Manager (PAM) to buil
How We Got There: Cynthia LeCornu, Global Leader of the Salesforce Alliance at Avalara
In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Cynthia LeCornu (https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthialecornu/) who is the Global Leader Salesforce Alliance at Avalara (https://www.linkedin.com/company/avalara/). We talk about aligning to Salesforce’s Customer360 vision, SI partnerships in the ecosystem, how to drive your ISV partner score, and more.
Cynthia brings a great energy and depth of e
How We Got There: Tal Frankfurt, Founder and CEO of Cloud For Good
Before we hop in, thank you for your support on our journey. GTM Guides is now part of InVisory! (https://home.invisory.co/press-release)
In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Tal Frankfurt, who is the founder and CEO of Cloud For Good. He shares his journey to the Salesforce ecosystem and to the the US from the early days of Salesforce consulting, starting 13 years ago. Cloud For G
How We Got There: Mike Getchis, former VP of Sales at Zenkraft and now Partner Solutions Engineer at Bringg
In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Mike Getchis, who was the VP of Sales at Zenkraft. They were acquired by Brinng earlier this year and he is now Partner Solutions Engineer. Mike was at the helm of Zenkraft’s sales organization which bootstrapped their way to a strategic exit but started his Salesforce journey with hands on keyboard.
Zenkraft’s top gtm strategies included working
How We Got There: Bethany Blackwell, VP at Carahsoft
In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Bethany Blackwell, who is a VP at Carahsoft. Bethany runs the Salesforce channel for Carahsoft, which includes Salesforce, Slack, Mulesoft, Tableau, ISVs, and SIs. Carahsoft has worked with Salesforce for the past 15 years as a Value-Added Reseller and got there start on the GSA schedule to help Salesforce sell to the public sector here in the US
How We Got There: Doug Landis, Growth Partner at Emergence Capital
In today’s episode of How We Got There (which was recorded earlier this year, before the downturn), I talk with Doug Landis, who is a Growth Partner at Emergence Capital. Doug spent some time at Salesforce and Box before moving into his current role in helping Emergence’s portfolio companies with go-to-market assistance. He was working in the early days of sales enablement and now recommends hirin
How We Got There: Jon Schultz, Director of ISV Sales at Salesforce
In today’s episode of How We Got There (which was recorded earlier this year), I talk with Jon Schultz, who is a Director of ISV Sales at Salesforce. Jon has spent his career in partnerships, including the last 6 years at Salesforce. He got a PAM role at Salesforce after moving with his now wife across the country without a job! His team works with horizontal ISV partners who are high growth partn
How We Got There: Ari Treuhaft, COO of Litify
In today’s episode of How We Got There (which was recorded earlier this year), I talk with Ari Treuhaft, who is the COO of Litify.. Apologies for the audio quality but the conversation was too good not to share! He spent time at a law firm building an operating system for law firms on Salesforce and from there, Litify was born. They offer vertical SaaS for legal organizations, who think of themsel
How We Got There: Stony Grunow, Co-Founder at Breadwinner & Co-Founder/CTO at Salesbolt
Stony Grunow is a Co-Founder of Breadwinner and Co-Founder/CTO of Salesbolt. He shares how he got started in the ecosystem and how he solved a problem he was experiencing with Breadwinner - integrating Salesforce and online accounting platforms. On the Salesbolt side, they are solving the problem of customer contact data getting out of date in CRM by reaching out to LinkedIn to get the latest and
How We Got There: Brooke Daniels, Director at Salesforce Ventures
Brooke Daniels who is a Director at Salesforce Ventures. She spent years using Salesforce before joining the core team and working on the Mulesoft acquisition integration. In her role, she is the go-to-market expert for Salesforce Ventures portfolio companies and helps portfolio companies as needed. Brooke shares the variety of funds under the Ventures umbrella including the Impact fund (sustainab
How We Got There: Jack Campbell, Director of Strategic Partners at OpFocus
In today’s episode, I am joined by Jack Campbell, Director of Strategic Partnerships at OpFocus, Jack has been in the Salesforce ecosystem for over 8 years with a focus on the System Integrators throughout his career. OpFocus is solely focused on helping SaaS businesses optimize their revenue operations and that usually centers around their usage of Salesforce. I was excited to talk to Jack becaus
How We Got There: Ian Gotts, Founder and CEO of elements.cloud
In today’s episode, I am joined by Ian Gotts, Co-Founder and CEO of elements.cloud, who has been in the ecosystem for almost as long as it’s been around (2001!). After launching elements.cloud in 2016, he brings years of experience to the conversation that he is readily willing to share with others.
He shares about how they stay in their lane by working collaboratively with ISVs that are complimen
How We Got There: Stevan Simich, Founder and CEO of Mogli
In today’s episode, I am joined by Stevan Simich, Founder and CEO of Mogli, from working at Altvia to founding Mogli. He shares deep experience in how to look for patterns in customer interactions to figure out what to build, starting with services to connect with customer needs. Don’t productize until you see something 10 times in a row, a guiding principle to know when to lean in to any products
How We Got There: Chris Federspiel, CEO and Cofounder of Blackthorn.io
In today’s episode, I am joined by Chris Federspiel, CEO and Cofounder of Blackthorn.io. He shares his vision for Blackthorn and a bit about the journey along his way. His company has deep knowledge of going to marketing with what was previously known as Salesforce.org (or .org for short).
Chris is delightfully open (on LinkedIn and in real life!) and shares vulnerabilities of building a business
How We Got There: Learning about the Dreamin’ events with Eric Dreshfield of Midwest Dreamin’ & Mogli
A special type of abridged episode to share a bit about the Dreamin’ events now that these are largely back on. Many ISVs attend and sponsor these events to drive awareness and leads for their business.
Eric Dreshfield is the Founder and Co-Chair for Midwest Dreamin’, who GTM Guides is a proud sponsor of this year, and he is the Product Evangelist of Mogli.
In this episode Eric shares who attends
How We Got There: Ryan Hitchler, CEO & Co-founder of Centro
In today’s episode, I talk with Ryan Hitchler who is the CEO and co-founder of Centro. He shares how we got into the ecosystem. We discuss building a unique connector between Salesforce and Slack after his time at Conga and CRM Culture (ActionGrid). Ryan is the guy that I go to whenever I have any questions about Slack and is on the leading edge of all things Slack & Salesforce.
I really
How We Got There: Steve Jacobson, CEO & Founder of Appinium
Steven Jacobson, CEO & Founder of Appinium, shares his journey to the ecosystem with video and learning on Salesforce with Appinium and prior to that he founded Cornerstone for Salesforce (formerly CyberU)
Steve used feedback from Mark Cuban(!) led Steve to not only build a moat but build a river around Appinium. He shares candid learnings around how important having alignment is for a high-pe
How We Got There: Yeva Roberts, Director of Strategic Alliances at AllCloud
Yeva Roberts, Director of Strategic Alliances at AllCloud, shares her journey into the Salesforce ecosystem starting with Taylor, PFL, and Yotpo before switching from ISVs to SI alliances with AllCloud. AllCloud is a platinum Salesforce SI and one of the fastest growing ones out there.
Yeva shares her perspective on the value exchange between ISVs and SIs by creating a compelling story to de
How We Got There: Andrea Maliska, Founder of Rebel Learn
Andrea Maliska, Founder of Rebel Learn joins the podcast. Rebel Learn is a learning and development consultancy. Andrea has taken her learnings from working at Conga to many companies inside and outside the ecosystem. She shares a few examples but is most proud of the CTA bootcamp she worked on with Sebastian Wagner called Flow Republic.
She shares how to start small on internal and partner learni
How We Got There: Max-Michael Mayer, CEO & Founder of ISVApp
Max-Michael Mayer, CEO & Founder of ISVApp joins the podcast. Salesforce ISV/OEM partner since 2008, starting with PropertyBase before solving his own problem and founding ISVApp to help other Salesforce ISVs/OEMs with a toolbox to understand your usage analytics, flagging churn risks in the customer-base.
He shares which usage metrics every ISV needs to track, specifically around the diligenc
How We Got There: Maria Pergolino, CMO at ActiveCampaign
Maria Pergolino, CMO at ActiveCampaign, after working with Marketo, Apttus, and Anaplan has built much of her career in the ecosystem.
From giving away a car at Dreamforce to trials in the enterprise, Maria shares some of her learnings from Marketing to the Salesforce ecosystem. I really enjoyed her thoughts on trialing while balancing self-serve and sales-led to improve the overall health of the
Casey Karp, Director of North America ISV GTM Strategy at Simplus
Casey Karp is the Director of North America ISV GTM Strategy at Simplus. She shares her journey from an ISV in the ecosystem to running ISV alliances at Simplus a platinum SI.
If you’ve listened to the podcast, you are likely picking up on a theme - that Systems Integrators are a key reason why the ecosystem is so attractive to ISVs building product. Casey shares her POV that will help you as an I
Melanie Fellay, CEO & Co-Founder of Spekit
Melanie Fellay, CEO & Co-Founder of Spekit shares her journey into the Salesforce ecosystem starting with owning a Salesforce instance and feeling the pain of adoption & documentation that inspired her to start a company to modernize how it’s done. Melanie shares best practices around validating an idea using the Ideas Exchange and connecting with people in the ecosystem directly to harden
Ben Asfaha, CEO & Co-Founder of PipeLaunch
Ben Asfaha, CEO & Co-Founder of PipeLaunch, shares his founding story and reflects on the time he has spent at various ISVs like Nintex and Conga as well as Salesforce itself. He provides some tips around how to go about launch the app by taking a detailed mockup to customers & partners to refine their product prior to building out the brand and the value he saw by focusing on the challeng
Maritina Tsembelis, Strategic Partnerships Manager for Salesforce at Gearset & Founder of the Salesforce ISV Meetup
Maritina Tsembelis is the Strategic Partnerships Manager for Salesforce at Gearset. Maritina is an American in England and has been active in building community for ISVs in the ecosystem in the UK as the founder of the Salesforce ISV Meetup with over 700 members. She created this community out of a way to learn about the ecosystem that she found herself creating alliances during her time at Data D
Drew Quinlan, Vice President, Strategic Alliances (ISV & GSI) at Ring Central
Drew Quinlan, Vice President, Strategic Alliances (ISV & GSI) at Ring Central, is a long-time ecosystem member (and big US Soccer fan) who has built his career on building and improving alliances programs. Drew shares his perspective on how founders need to take a focused approach to building an alliances motion and how to vary the volume of potential targets when talking technology partners (
Lucy Mazalon, Head Editor/Operations Director at Salesforce Ben & The DRIP
Lucy Mazalon, Head Editor/Operations Director at Salesforce Ben & The DRIP, is a long-time ecosystem member who offers a unique voice via Salesforce Ben & The Drip that helps Salesforce practitioners up-level their careers. Lucy shares her perspective of how ISVs are adjusting their strategies as in-person events have come to a halt due to COVID. Lucy walks through how to run effective exp
Jon Jessup, CEO and Founder of 1440.io
Jon Jessup, CEO and Founder of 1440.io, launched his first AppExchange app in 2009 and is an active member of the Salesforce ISV community. His company 1440 has three products listed on the AppExchange today including Commerce Studio, Reputation Studio, and Translation Studio. He shares his feedback on why he builds on the Salesforce platform and some go-to-market tips for more technical founders.
Mike Wolff, SVP, Global ISV Partners at Salesforce
Mike Wolff, SVP Global ISV Partners at Salesforce, talks about what he took from his direct sales experience to help guide him in his role with the ISV channel and shares a tip for how ISVs should best work with their PAMs (Partner Account Managers) - leveraging a V2MOM.
If you’re unfamiliar with V2MOM, it is a technology to drive alignment on top priorities across Salesforce’s business. If you ha
JP Leggett, CEO and Founder of Squivr
JP Leggett, CEO and Founder of Squivr, talks about how he came up with the idea of Squivr by living the pain of account transitions in the Sales/CS world and about how to maintain sales cycle control when partners like Salesforce bring you the deal.
This episode is brought to you by Codescience. CodeScience is a founding member of the Salesforce Product Development Outsourcer program. The only Mas
Brandon Metcalf, CEO & Founder of Place Technology
Brandon Metcalf, CEO & Founder of Place Technology (placetechnology.com), talks about building multiple apps in the Salesforce ecosystem and when to think about TAM (Total Addressable Market) and SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market) for your organization.
This episode is brought to you by Codescience. CodeScience is a founding member of the Salesforce Product Development Outsourcer program. Th
Phil Lelliott, Alliance Director International at Copado
Phil Lelliott, Alliance Director International at Copado, talks about how going to market in EMEA (and the rest of the world) differs from going to marketing in North America in the Salesforce ecosystem. Phil has built his career in the ecosystem from his time at DocuSign, Conga, and now Copado. For US-Based ISVs, he recommends a general path of focusing on the UK, the Netherlands, and the Nordics
Niji Sabharwal, Cofounder & CEO of AgentSync, talks about the importance of SEO in driving early success
Niji Sabharwal, Cofounder & CEO of AgentSync (www.agentsync.io), talks about launching the company, leaning into alliances early, and how investing in SEO helped them land their early customers...all while moving from the Bay Area to Denver in the midst of a pandemic!
This episode is brought to you by Codescience. CodeScience is a founding member of the Salesforce Product Development Outsource
Nam Le, Head of Sales, Embedded Platform at Workato
Nam Le shares Workato's (www.workato.com) journey in the Salesforce ecosystem going from inbound partner activity to a focused approach on outbounding new partners predictably over the last 18 months.
This episode is brought to you by Codescience. CodeScience is a founding member of the Salesforce Product Development Outsourcer program. The only Master PDO, CodeScience helps businesses thrive on t
Susie Wallingford, Director of Partner Alliances at Prodly
Susie Wallingford of Prodly (www.prodly.co) shares her approach to defining an IPP (ideal partner profile) and how to focus on SI (System Integrator) relationships that will help your business grow.
This episode is brought to you by Codescience. CodeScience is a founding member of the Salesforce Product Development Outsourcer program. The only Master PDO, CodeScience helps businesses thrive on the
Eric Wu, Co-Founder of TaskRay
Eric Wu shares TaskRay's journey in the Salesforce ecosystem over the last 10 years and touches on what he has learned about himself along the way.
I hope you enjoy and if you want to hear more from Eric from TaskRay, check out his podcast called Feeling Felt.
This episode is brought to you by Codescience. CodeScience is a founding member of the Salesforce Product Development Outsourcer program. T
