In this episode, Alexa Grabell, founder of Pocus, shared some valuable insights and advice for other founders out there.
As a founder, it can be tough to balance work and personal life, make tough decisions, and stay motivated.
In this episode, Alexa Grabell, founder of Pocus, shared some valuable insights and advice for other founders out there.
Alexa is the co-founder and CEO of Pocus, the first Product-Led Sales (PLS) platform. Pocus helps go-to-market teams use data to improve customer acquisition, conversion, and expansion - without relying on engineers. Alexa’s passion for PLS began when she led sales strategy & operations at Dataminr, where she built internal solutions to power sales teams with data.
Alexa also shared her experience as a first-time founder and how she has learned to delegate tasks to her team members. She emphasized the importance of hiring the right people and putting them in the right positions to do their best work.
Overall, Alexa's journey highlights the importance of flexibility, adaptability, and a willingness to learn and evolve. By prioritizing your team, setting goals, and staying true to your vision, you can navigate the challenges of building a successful startup.
If you want to hear more about Alexa Grabell's journey be sure to listen to this episode.
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Past guests on The Long Game podcast include: Morgan Brown (Shopify), Ryan Law (Animalz), Dan Shure (Evolving SEO), Kaleigh Moore (freelancer), Eric Siu (Clickflow), Peep Laja (CXL), Chelsea Castle (Chili Piper), Tracey Wallace (Klaviyo), Tim Soulo (Ahrefs), Ryan McReady (Reforge), and many more.
Some interviews you might enjoy and learn from:
Actionable Tips and Secrets to SEO Strategy with Dan Shure (Evolving SEO)
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Data-Driven Thought Leadership with Alicia Johnston (Sprout Social)
Purpose-Driven Leadership & Building a Content Team with Ty Magnin (UiPath)
Also, check out our Kitchen Side series where we take you behind the scenes to see how the sausage is made at our agency:
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[00:12:21] Empowering Women in Tech
They discuss the importance of empowering women in tech, and how Alexa's mission to do so led her to start her own company.
[00:13:43] Creating a Culture for Female Founders
Alexa Grabell talks about her desire to create a company and culture that can inspire other women to become founders in the tech industry.
[00:14:57] Building a Diverse Team
Alexa Grabell talks about the importance of diversity in building a team and how it has come naturally to Pocus, with four moms among their 24 employees.
[00:16:06] Product-Led Sales
Alexa explains the concept of product-led growth and how it led to the development of product-led sales, which combines self-serve users with a sales motion to drive revenue.
[00:18:57] Challenges of Building Internal Data System
She explains the challenges of building an internal data system for sales teams and how Pocus solves this problem.
[00:20:05] Building vs Buying
Alexa Grabell discusses the benefits of purchasing software rather than building it internally, and how it empowers companies to have data at their fingertips.
[00:23:46] Investment from Design Partners
Explains how early design partners were foundational to building Pocus, and how they became committed to the product, even becoming early angel investors.
[00:27:24] Creating a Category
Alexa Grabell discusses the decision to create a new category for product-led sales and how it differs from traditional sales methods.
[00:28:32] Building a Community
Alexa Grabell talks about the importance of building a community to help develop the product-led sales category and how it started as a small Slack group.
[00:39:12] Learning as a Founder
Shel shares about her experience as a first-time founder and what she has learned about herself since starting Pocus.
[00:39:41] Empowering Others
Alexa Grabell talks about his growth as a founder, including the importance of moving from executing only to empowering others to execute and how she has learned to get out of the weeds and empower her leadership team.
[00:43:00] Finding a Peer Group
Alexa Grabell discusses how to build a peer group or find a coach. Alexa suggests seeking out founders in Slack communities, doing research, and asking for recommendations.
[00:47:02] Passion and Trade-offs
Alexa Grabell talks about the trade-offs he has made to pursue his passion and how it has impacted his personal life.
[00:49:15] Prioritizing Self-Care
Alexa Grabell talks about the importance of prioritizing self-care and spending time with close-knit people to maintain creativity and productivity.
[00:54:40] Recruiting Process
They discuss how Pocus screens for grit in the recruiting process, including written take-home assignments and references.
[00:56:17] Marketing as the First Hire
Alexa Grabell talks about how she went against the norm and hired a head of marketing as the first hire on the business team, despite others telling her it was a stupid move.