AJ Bruno: The Trouble With Unicorns

"10% of series A make it to series B, and 13% of series B make it to a liquidity event." says AJ BrunoCEO of Quota Path." That means 1.3% make it to series C or a trade sale at that point! Playing the lottery AJ Bruno exited his previous business for $225m. Today he is in series B with his second, QuotaPath. We discuss the impact of the unicorn narrative on founder's thinking and the toxic distraction that happens when founders forget why they started in business - to help someone (a person) solve a problem - and their focus turns to the first or next raise, and satisfying the valuation metrics of short term thinkers with money.  Pragmatic, humble, and humane AJ talks candidly as a second time founder in series-B, an investor with Stage 2 Capital, and a sales professional. This is worth bringing along a notepad and pen. We cover a lot. We dig into compensation which is AJ's passion, customer acquisition, retention and service. Aj's views on sales dogma and playbooks align with mine but won't be popular. Listen to learn why.  You will find particular value if you a manager people because his insights and advice are golden Contact AJ on https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajbruno3/ Twitter: @TrendKite -- Contact me on to discuss what you want your career in sales to give you in life and how you believe coaching may help you, or go right ahead and book a coaching call - https://calendly.com/marcuscauchi