Unicorn Builders

Jason Zintak: The GTM Story of 6sense ($5.2 Billion Valuation)

Welcome to another episode of Unicorn Builders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Jason Zintak, CEO of 6sense, the world's leading revenue AI platform that has raised over $500 in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Evolution from Predictive Scoring to Revenue AI: 6sense transitioned from a black-box predictive scoring tool to a comprehensive revenue AI platform, addressing both sales and marketing needs with transparency and actionable insights.
Critical Early Challenges: Early on, 6sense faced high churn due to a lack of context behind predictive scores, which led to a strategic pivot towards providing clear explanations and actionable workflows, ultimately regaining customer trust.
Data-Driven Decision Making: 6sense leveraged its own platform to identify its ideal customer profile (ICP), streamline sales territories, and build marketing segments, fueling rapid growth and refining its go-to-market strategy.
Building a Ubiquitous Brand: Jason emphasized the importance of branding and awareness, especially when expanding beyond tech markets. Tailoring content to different verticals was key to 6sense's success in financial services, manufacturing, and more.
Surviving Financial Strain: During a critical period, 6sense secured a bridge round under challenging conditions, ensuring the company had enough runway to demonstrate sustained sales momentum and secure a successful Series C.
Dreaming Big and Scaling Fast: Jason joined 6sense with a clear vision to build a multibillion-dollar company. The company's growth trajectory, from $5 million in ARR to $250 million, and a $40 million valuation to $5 billion, exemplifies this ambition.
 
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Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
 
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.
www.GlobalTalent.co
 

Rich Liu: The GTM Story of Navan ($9 Billion Valuation)

Welcome to another episode of Unicorn Builders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Rich Liu, CEO of Navan Travel, part of Navan, a global travel and expense management platform that's raised over $1.5 Billion in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Company Evolution: Navan evolved from TripActions, focusing on end-to-end travel and expense solutions, combining technology with real support to provide seamless global service.
Strategic Focus: The decision to initially target mid-market and commercial segments before scaling to enterprise was crucial for avoiding resource spread and ensuring sustainable growth.
IPO Insights: Rich shared experiences from Mulesoft's IPO, emphasizing the importance of building a durable business solving significant pain points for customers.
Market Narrative: Reframing the narrative from "cool travel tool" to "strategic lever for CFOs" helped Navan penetrate mainstream markets and diversify its customer base.
Global Scale: Navan manages billions in travel budgets, serving customers worldwide with offices and teams across multiple continents.
Marketing Evolution: Navan's marketing strategy evolved from guerrilla tactics to sophisticated growth marketing, focusing on brand awareness, demand generation, and a burgeoning product-led growth (PLG) strategy.
 
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Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
 
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.
www.GlobalTalent.co
 

John Kim: The GTM Story of Sendbird ($1+ Billion Valuation)

Welcome to another episode of Unicorn Builders. In today's episode, we're speaking with John Kim, CEO & Co-founder of Sendbird, a customer communications platform that has raised $220 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Founding Journey: John co-founded Sendbird after recognizing a need for a chat feature in his previous app for moms. The pivot was driven by organic growth and market needs.
SEO Optimization: Sendbird's growth was significantly boosted by targeting specific keywords like "chat API" and "chat SDK," which improved their inbound leads and organic growth.
Customer Evolution: The initial customer base included SMBs and startups, especially in gaming and social networking, but evolved to mid-market and enterprise clients over time.
Product-Market Fit: The company realized product-market fit through unexpected inbound leads from significantly larger companies, indicating a real market demand for their product.
Marketing Evolution: Sendbird’s marketing evolved from manual SEO efforts to a structured approach involving specialized functions like demand generation and product marketing.
New Product Launch: The latest product, Sendbird Business Messaging, extends beyond user-to-user communications to include transactional and marketing messages, significantly cutting costs for clients using traditional SMS channels.
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Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
 
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.
www.GlobalTalent.co
 

Chen Amit: The GTM Story of Tipalti ($8.3 Billion Valuation)

Welcome to another episode of Unicorn Builders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Chen Amit, CEO & Co-Founder of Tipalti, a finance automation platform that has raised over $8 Billion in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Founding Journey: Chen founded Tipalti in 2010 after identifying significant pain points in payment processes for ad networks. Initially, it was meant to be a side project, but it quickly grew into a substantial business.
Early Customer Validation: The initial customers were ad networks facing severe payment issues. Tipalti's early adoption by these companies, including Seeking Alpha, validated the need for a comprehensive solution.
Product Market Fit: Chen emphasized the importance of focusing on the CFO's pain points rather than just payment mechanics. This customer-centric approach led to strong product market fit and set the foundation for Tipalti's success.
Evolution to Mid-Market Focus: Tipalti's focus shifted to the mid-market, which presented a lucrative yet challenging segment. The company adapted its product to meet the complex needs of mid-market finance teams.
Scalable Sales Organization: The company evolved its sales approach from founder-led sales to building a robust, scalable sales organization. This included hiring leaders capable of creating effective enablement programs and managing large sales teams.
Continued Growth and Vision: With a clear vision and strategy, Tipalti aims to capture a significant portion of the $100 billion mid-market finance automation category. The company continues to innovate and expand its product offerings.
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Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
 
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.
www.GlobalTalent.co
 
 

Philip Cutler: The GTM Story of Paper ($1.5B Valuation)

Welcome to another episode of Unicorn Builders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Philip Cutler, CEO and Founder of Paper, an edtech company that has raised $390 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Transition from Educator to Entrepreneur: Philip Cutler shares his journey from being a classroom teacher to founding Paper, driven by the desire to support students needing extra academic help.
Initial Solutions and Pivots: The early days of Paper focused on leveraging technology for remote tutoring. Insights from students led to a pivot from video conferencing to a chat-based tutoring model, which saw higher engagement.
First Customer Success: By targeting school districts in Southern California, Paper secured its first customers, Laguna Beach Unified and Irvine Unified, through direct engagement and understanding local needs.
Growth Strategy: Paper's growth was accelerated by moving the team closer to its customers, allowing for better support and understanding of the market, resulting in the acquisition of numerous school districts.
Market Penetration and Product Development: With 700 school districts served, Paper continuously evolves its educational support system (ESS) by integrating various tools to support diverse student needs.
Navigating COVID-19: The pandemic was a critical turning point. Instead of cutting back, Paper invested in innovation, resulting in substantial growth as the need for educational technology surged.
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Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
 
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.
www.GlobalTalent.co
 

Mohit Aron: The GTM Story of Cohesity ($1.3 Billion in ARR)

Welcome to another episode of Unicorn Builders! Today, our unicorn builder is Mohit Aron, founder of Cohesity, a data security and management platform that's raised over $955 million in funding. Mohit shares the journey of building Cohesity from a focused VMware backup solution to a comprehensive data management leader.
Key Topics: 
Cohesity's initial beachhead market was VMware backups, addressing specific pain points in virtualization environments.
The company employed a "land and expand" strategy, starting small and growing within customer environments.
Cohesity positioned itself as a hybrid solution, supporting both on-premise and cloud environments to meet diverse customer needs.
The company focused on creating a new category of "next-gen data management" to differentiate from legacy backup vendors.
Cohesity built strong relationships with analyst firms like Gartner to influence enterprise buying decisions.
The company delayed its IPO to transition to a subscription model and launch a SaaS product, adapting its go-to-market approach

Henry Kim: The GTM Story of Swiftly ($1B+ Valuation)

Welcome to another episode of Unicorn Builders — Centaur edition. In this episode, I chat with Henry Kim, Co-founder and CEO of Swiftly, a retail technology platform that has raised over $200 million in funding.
Key Topics Discussed:
Swiftly's mission to empower brick-and-mortar retailers with digital tools, positioning themselves as the "Shopify for brick and mortar retail"
The evolution of Swiftly's market approach from traditional BI to a developer-first, embedded analytics solution for retailers
Henry's transition from finance and private equity to entrepreneurship, and the lessons learned along the way
The company's strategic go-to-market approach in a conservative industry, focusing on larger retailers despite initial pressures
Swiftly's rapid growth strategy, leveraging key partnerships and expanding into new verticals like convenience stores
The vision for Swiftly to become a global platform, with plans for international expansion, particularly in Asia

Ariel Katz: The GTM Story of Sisense ($150M+ ARR)

Welcome to another episode of Unicorn Builders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Ariel Katz, CEO of Sisense, an embedded analytics platform that's raised over $275 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Microsoft Journey: Ariel spent 21 years at Microsoft, witnessing its growth from a small R&D center in Israel to a global giant, and shared insightful experiences working with Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates.
Cultural Evolution: Highlighted the cultural shift at Microsoft under Satya Nadella, emphasizing empowerment, collaboration, and a growth mindset that revitalized the company's innovation.
Sisense Vision: Ariel joined Sisense in 2022, recognizing the opportunity to transform traditional BI into a developer-first embedded analytics platform, aiming to redefine the category.
Market Evangelism: Discussed the challenges and strategies in evangelizing a new category, emphasizing the importance of customer and analyst education and consistent messaging.
Customer-Centric Approach: Ariel stressed the importance of understanding customer problems over solutions, focusing on how embedded analytics can seamlessly integrate into users' workflows.
Operational Excellence: Shared insights on achieving operational excellence through rigorous processes, automation, and detailed execution to scale the company beyond $100 million in revenue.
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Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. 
www.GlobalTalent.co

Steffen Tjerrild: The GTM Story of Synthesia ($1 Billion Valuation)

Welcome to another episode of Unicorn Builders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Steffen Tjerrild, Co-Founder, CFO & COO of Synthesia, an AI video platform that has raised over $150 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Early AI Eureka Moment: Steffen discusses the pivotal moment when he realized the potential of AI to change video post-production, igniting the journey of Synthesia.
Navigating Initial Challenges: The first 90 days were a rollercoaster, marked by high excitement and multiple rejections before securing Mark Cuban as an investor through a cold email.
Impact of ChatGPT: The launch of ChatGPT accelerated AI adoption, significantly boosting Synthesia’s visibility and growth.
Wilderness Phase Lessons: Steffen explains how three years of exploring various industries before finding product-market fit provided invaluable insights and resilience.
Strategic Niching: The importance of focusing on learning and development as a core market before expanding into other use cases.
Market Penetration: Synthesia’s strategy to penetrate nearly two-thirds of the Fortune 100 by demonstrating clear benefits and scalability of their AI video technology.
 
Sponsors:
Front Lines — we help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.www.FrontLines.io
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.www.GlobalTalent.co

Milin Desai: The GTM Story of Sentry ($3+ Billion Valuation)

Welcome to another episode of Unicorn Builders. In this episode, we're joined by Milin Desai, CEO of Sentry, a developer-first application monitoring platform that has raised over $200 Million in funding.
These are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Leadership Amidst Crisis: Milin took over as CEO of Sentry in January 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Despite the unforeseen global upheaval, Sentry navigated through the crisis, capitalizing on the sudden demand increase for digital services, which spiked as businesses moved online.
Evolution and Growth: Sentry began focusing on error monitoring and has since evolved into a comprehensive observability platform tailored specifically for developers, distinguishing itself from traditional observability tools aimed at DevOps.
Developer-Centric Solutions: The platform is designed to identify issues in real-time within software applications, providing developers with immediate notifications about errors, slowdowns, or crashes, right down to the line of code and the developer responsible.
Open Source and Community Focus: Sentry maintains a strong commitment to the open source community, contributing financially and by providing free services to open source projects. This community-driven approach continues to shape its product development and company ethos.
Product-Led Growth: Sentry’s growth has been significantly driven by its product's ability to meet developers' needs effectively, leading to organic growth through word-of-mouth within the developer community.
Future Vision: Looking ahead, Sentry aims to become indispensable to developers, much like essential tools such as Git, by continuing to enhance its capabilities to address the most critical and complex issues faced in software development.