CEO @ Retention.com & RB2B | Person-Level Website Visitor Identity | Push LinkedIn Profiles to Slack in Real-Time, 100% Free!
Nobody realizes that Apollo and ZoomInfo were both stuck at single-digit ARR for YEARS. When they finally got unstuck, unlocked rapid growth, and hit billion dollar valuations, both companies had ONE THING in common: They hired Santosh Sharan. Here are the 7 things that makes Santosh a top 0.1% unicorn builder: 1. He understands the mechanics of exponential growth Santosh believes that sustained growth is about “Stacking S-Curves”. Meaning, you bang your head against the wall for years, then something hits, explosively. During that explosion you're working on your next S-curve. Steady exponential growth is about stacking these curve. He also appreciates initiatives that have the potential to unlock non-linear growth (such as LinkedIn for RB2B), and the drivers of growth you can’t measure. 2. He doesn’t play to win; he plays to destroy all competitors Santosh’s instinct is to design businesses and GTM strategies that are impossible to compete with, which usually means forgoing near-term revenue in favor of virally expanding user bases. When you become the 800lb gorilla and synonymous with the category you can charge premium prices and see exponential revenue growth. 3. He deeply understands all of the key departments of a startup Santosh started as an engineer, moved into Product and Growth, and then moved on to running Sales and Marketing teams. He approaches all teams with an engineer’s mindset. He sees his role as removing blockers in one department and moving to the next. 4. He knows what the building blocks of massive future success look like Santosh has been a part of the largest data companies when they were fledgling startups. He has seen, over and over again, what a unicorn looks like as it’s being born, and knows the opportunities worth pursuing. 5. He is empathetic towards employees and customers No matter the problem, Santosh has seen it. He understands the immense pain that we go through as we grow. He also believes in creating businesses that treat customers well and make the world a better place. 6. He knows how to put together a killer data asset Few people in the world could put together a fixed-price data asset that would allow us to make the free offer we have at RB2B. Santosh is one of them. 7. He understands fundraising and M&A Santosh has run many transactions as the buyer and seller, and has done countless VC and Growth Equity rounds. He understands what investors and acquirers look for in companies, which informs growth and product strategy. TAKEAWAY Santosh is a Unicorn builder. A look at his LinkedIn profile will show you exactly what I’m talking about. People always ask me how I convinced him to work with us. I don’t have a great answer, other than “I somehow did”. Next Tuesday (3pm EST), we all have the honor of learning from him directly He’s going to talk: - The Mechanics of Growth - How he gets exec teams unstuck - The building blocks of unicorns Join here: https://lnkd.in/gkSJSGeu
Matt Durante
2mo
I want to pile on here about stacking the S curves. That is everything. Push something until its returns diminish and then throw another improvement on it again, over and over. I wrote about the s curve a while ago in marketing context. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mattdurante_b2b-demandgen-marketing-activity-7184533391759835136-h9J5?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android
my WIFE doesn't talk THIS NICE about me
Zeb Couch 🤜🤛
2mo
This just makes me happy.
Arun Pillai
2mo
Santosh Sharan is a wonderful human coupled with immense knowledge and the will power to turn things around. He is a go getter and a trend setter, the industry has been fortunate to have him. One of his superlative qualities of the many is that he always thinks for the industry at large and puts the customers at the forefront. He’s an asset to the industry. There’s always something to learn from every conversation with him.
Zack Scriven
2mo
I love his new playbook for building a startup without raising VC.
Zack Scriven
2mo
I signed up for Rb2b. took less than 20 minutes.
Jesse Marseille
2mo
Most founders worry about near term monetization way too early, and most don’t understand the long term play of marketing. They probably should have moon lighted their build for a lot longer before raising money….once the VC comes in and the pressure increases, the short term stupid decision making starts.
Anthony Natoli
2mo
When did discover org and ZI merge? i feel like that helped ZI tremendously (separate note)
Mark Fershteyn
2mo
What a beast.
B2B SaaS GTM & Scaleup exec - Ex-Zoominfo, SaaS Labs | Babson M'14
2moFirstly, this is well deserved. Sharing a few experiences given that I worked with him for >5 yrs at ZoomInfo Aberdeen Strategy & Research Santosh Sharan is a great boss who keeps pushing boundaries and plays the game differently. One of my favorite phases of my entire work experience was when we spent a few months exclusively working on ideas that might kill ZoomInfo in 5 yrs. 😇 Sometimes the lessons come in unexpected moments - like when I walked into his office a freshly minted MBA and asked him for advice. He looked at me and said with a straight face - “Unlearn your MBA”. 😳 We’ve spent so much time brainstorming on ideas/frameworks building growth engines among other things. Santosh Sharan maybe revisit publishing them? 🤔 But most importantly, I’m grateful for the experiences and your most important advice I cherish - “Keep building your internal voice and Trust it”.