GTM 119: Design Products Backwards From GTM: Lessons from Scaling to $1B+ with David Knight

David Knight is the co-founder and CEO of Avarra, an AI-powered platform that simulates human-to-human interactions to accelerate sales onboarding and training. With over 30 years of experience scaling companies from tens of millions to billions in revenue, including WebEx and Proofpoint, David brings a unique perspective on the intertwined nature of product and go-to-market.

Discussed in this Episode:
The power of AI simulations in providing experiential learning for sales reps.
Designing products backwards from the go-to-market motion.
Strategies for aligning product and sales teams to drive revenue growth.
Rethinking ramp time: it's about at-bats, not arbitrary time periods.
Shifting perspective from the sales funnel to the buyer's journey.
The future of AI in sales training and enablement.

Highlights:
0:00 Introduction
02:24 Simulating human-to-human interactions with AI avatars.
07:44 Creating a fun, engaging environment for sales training.
13:26 Designing products from the go-to-market motion backwards.
19:32 Helping sales leaders win deals as a product leader.
27:08 Listening for pain points, not feature requests, from customers.
31:07 Completely changing the go-to-market motion at Proofpoint.
37:43 Aligning motivations between product and sales teams.
38:43 Rethinking the sales funnel as a buyer's journey.
41:50 Building customized simulations for qualified prospects.
34:55 One thing revenue leaders believe to be true that David thinks is bull$***.
41:50 One thing that is working for David in go-to-market right now.

Guest Speaker Links (David Knight):
LinkedIn:   / davidrknight  

Host Speaker Links (Scott Barker):
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ssbarker/
Newsletter: thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/

Sponsors:
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