Jeremy Victor

😕 Forget the (confusing) chasm between community and advocacy for a moment. ⚾ Focus on Kevin Costner (easy) and the million dollar question: If you build it, WILL they come? ⁉ What are the biggest challenges with user adoption after building an incredible program? Why aren't we guaranteed support and/or participation after building the thing? ❗ How do you ensure that if you build it, they DO come? Discuss! #customermarketing #customeradvocacy #community #peoplebeforeprofessionals #fieldofdreams https://lnkd.in/gma4ZeSy

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Automation and AI are great when they create value on their own or add enormous value to the recruiters and hiring managers so that they can scale and close deals like never before. Hirefly enables both.

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Earlier this week, I brought my fully remote, distributed team together in Napa for a two-day offsite, where I intentionally stepped away from the typical planning and strategy sessions. Instead, I created space for us to simply connect.🙌 The days were mostly unstructured—a welcome break from the daily grind. We shared great meals, stories, and laughter—lots of it.🤣 Here’s what I walked away with: ✅ Immense gratitude for each person I work with. ✅ Confidence that those two days were time well spent. I truly believe that the supportive, psychologically safe environment we’ve built as a team is a direct result of the time we’ve dedicated to getting to know each other, understanding one another better, and prioritizing playfulness and fun. Too often, leaders underestimate the value of this type of connection, dismissing it as "fluff" or making minimal efforts, treating it as an afterthought. But for me, it’s the foundation of a thriving, cohesive team.❤️ Each smiling face in this photo is a big part of why my career is such a fulfilling and positive force in my life.🙏 #leadership #innovation #mentalhealth #peoplefirst #remote #remotework #wfh #humanresources

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🎙️ I had a great time with Alex Mislan during Spekit 🐙's first 'Enablement Therapy' webinar series last week! 💡 We covered so many great topics like the clip below about how Enablement balances the art of pushing down to Reps AND pushing up to leadership to be that strategic partner and advocate to and for both groups. 👇🏼 Definitely give the full chat a listen - link in the comments! #salesenablement #enablement #revenueenablement

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(Skip the deep Carrie thoughts below and order some fun sample employee recognition pins in the attached link) I've spent so much time in my career discussing and brainstorming thoughtful approaches to employee recognition. I want to create an experience that all employees can enjoy and appreciate, which can be a challenge.  What's a fun, modern, streamlined way to recognize important moments in an employee's journey (in a non cheesy way of course because for those who know me, you know I can definitely bring the cheese)?   Luckily for me, I work for a pretty incredible company that has helped me create a cute little pin recognition experience that I'm really proud to share. I feel like it represents Brilliant so well and allows us to commemorate anniversaries and other important company moments and milestones in a pin. We've even created a fun pin page(https://lnkd.in/gjirmxGi) to showcase the program.   If you'd like to see some examples in real life, I set aside a few samples for you to order and check out. Just throw your info (work email address, mailing address) in (https://lnkd.in/gzmvvB9g) and pins will be on their way!

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"We'll call it AI and people will gladly pay $700 for it!" - Humane's founders, probably. The Humane AI Pin is a lesson in... well, it's a lesson in a *lot* of things. Forget about the fact that its charger could "pose a fire safety risk" because that's just the icing on the cake. But perhaps the most important lesson is that products and services need to deliver value. They need to solve a problem, make lives easier, be entertaining... *something*. This product is, despite some of the interesting engineering, worse than smartphones in just about every way possible. There's going to be a lot of worthless "AI" stuff over the next couple of years. But as you navigate the products and services that utilize AI (or consider building something yourself), ask yourself, "What problem is this solving?" or "How does this make life easier?" Even HP doesn't want to buy this company and they bought Palm for $1.2 billion. https://lnkd.in/gDgznupY

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Great insight on the latest talent trends across the startup ecosystem. Thanks for including us in this report Atli Thorkelsson Josh Machiz!

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You know that VP you’re scared to speak with? She’s also someone’s goofy aunt who sings holiday songs off-tune every year. Don’t be afraid of someone because of their title. We’re all humans with our unique capabilities and faults. One of the biggest mistakes I see people make, especially early on in their careers, is being overly reverent to people with big titles.  A title doesn’t mean someone is perfect. A title can reflect a level of expertise and leadership capabilities, but that doesn’t mean they know more about everything than you. Some leaders happen to be in the right place at the right time…. You are capable. Perhaps even more capable than the leader you’re fearful of. Your voice and perspective matter. Don’t forget that.

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When you're not in the board room, you're always wondering, "What's going on in there?". I have now worked with seven companies where I'd regularly present to a board, a mixture of PE and VC-led, and it's almost always centered around a few key topics. If you're meeting your numbers: - what's your future forecast  - how are you going to continue to grow - how will you grow faster and more efficient  - update on money in the bank and spend If you're not meeting your numbers (along with the things I mentioned above): - what is your plan to turn things around and meet your numbers (this includes new logo, back-to-base sales, and churn reduction) - what resources can they offer to help - do you have the right players in the right seat This is an oversimplification because many nuances are at play, but this is generally it. While board meetings can be stressful, almost every board I've worked with wants to be helpful. Of course, their interest is, first and foremost, that the business is healthy and growing, so there's always that undertone, but overall, they want to help. After all, they are guardians of the investments they make on behalf of others and have to report back on their performance. Think of them like they are CSMs for their investors (the folks that give them money). They need to get a great return on the investment they made on their behalf.

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Is "good enough" really the best we can do? In my 20+ years in TA, I've navigated some tough markets, but today’s environment stands out. The sheer volume of incredible talent at the experienced and strategic TA level leaves me wondering—why are so many great TA leaders finding themselves underutilized? Jim Collins said it best: “Good is the enemy of great.” From my experience, this is where the challenges for internal TA often begin—and where experienced TA leaders can find their impact limited. As a Head of Talent Acquisition, my passion lies in building, transforming, and scaling best-in-class TA teams. Not just to fill vacancies faster or reduce agency spend (though we do that too!), but to ensure recruitment directly aligns with business performance and growth. Truly exceptional TA teams partner with the business, offering so much more than the perceived administrative recruitment offering: 🔎 Insight, market and competitor intelligence 📈 Creative solutions to hiring challenges 🚀 Future-proof strategies to support growth and scale 🏆 Superior stakeholder and candidate experience However, here’s the catch: when a business decides the needle has moved "enough," progress stalls. For those of us who thrive on pushing boundaries, this feels like being tripped up 80m into a 100m race. It’s frustrating because the magic happens when we move from “good” to great. A great TA team does so much more than recruit—it becomes your company’s showcase. It creates compelling candidate attraction, builds seamless processes, and positions your organization head and shoulders above the competition. Great TA is a distinguishing factor, it is proactive, strategic, and a true commercial partner. I firmly believe that a best-in-class TA team can make the difference—not just in attracting top talent but in supporting the bottom line. So, why do so many businesses settle for "good enough"? 🤷‍♀️ What’s your take—how can we elevate TA from “good” to great? #TalentAcquisition #goodtogreat #enoughisgoodenough

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Hey! NY HR professionals and recruiting agencies hiring for strategy, ops, bizdev roles in tech - this one is for you! ******** As part of NY Tech Week, we have nearly 300 registrations (and counting) of high caliber professionals from top consulting companies looking to get into tech. If you’re hiring for Strategy and Ops roles in tech, come join! We’ll make sure you’re approved on time for the event. If you need more info, feel free to drop me a private message on linkedin. For more information and to RSVP, visit: https://lu.ma/7nks6kk7 If you're seeing this post, don’t shy away - share/comment for visibility. We’re helping professionals transition from top consulting firms (Big 4, MBB, and other leading consultancies) into the tech industry. __________ FYI- if you’re looking to sponsor - whether recruitment agencies, HR tech companies, other tech companies, and MBA institutes - feel free to drop me a note as well #Networking #TechWeek #HR #Recruitment #Big4 #Strategy #Operations #NYTechWeek

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Recruitment Fraud Notice: Beware of ongoing scams targeting job seekers who believe they are applying to RepeatMD. We prioritize candidate safety and experience. Official communication will come from RepeatMD.com and will always include several video or in-person interviews. We DO NOT ask for personal/financial details and we will NEVER ask you to send us money. If you encounter suspicious practices, immediately report it to the FTC. Explore our current open positions at https://lnkd.in/eQWBMvX2. #RecruitmentFraud #SafetyFirst

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Should territories be divided based on geography? 🌎 Short answer, no. “Geographic territories aren’t dead, but they’re on life support,” says Jamie Edwards, Head of GTM Ops & Tools at Gusto. Here are 5 reasons why geographic territories are becoming obsolete: 🎯 Opportunities aren’t fairly distributed. This creates a significant imbalance in your teams: where one set of reps is always closing, while the other struggles to hit quotas. 🎯 Team changes become tricky. Imagine if a rep who knows the geography inside out decides to up and leave. The result? Chaos. 🎯 You might end up overlooking areas that aren’t in the big markets, missing out on potential deals as a result. 🎯 Scaling becomes a nightmare, since it’s important to consider factors beyond just geographical territories. 🎯 Geographic segmentation assigns an equal number of territories to everyone, despite the fact that not all your sellers are the same. Some build relationships, while others hustle. So how do you address these challenges? 🤔 Head over to our newsletter to find out 👉 https://lnkd.in/gZz43yXp #geographicterritories #quotaplanning #territoryplanning #newsletter #revops

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Awesome SaaStock workshops yesterday led by Kevin "KD" Dorsey on how he operationalizes his sales teams and keep them up to date, Rita Jhaveri on the importance of customer onboarding with a fun workshop (Team Monkey FTW!), and Jake Dunlap for new insights on creating a effective buying experience. My biggest take aways from the sessions were: Our buyers' environment is changing and how they buy is changing. Are your internal processes staying up to date to meet your buyers where they're at? At startups I think of my sales org processes within a constant loop -> What's our.... TAM -> SAM -> SOM -> ICP -> Buyer Persona -> Pain Points for said personas within the ICP -> Does our product solve those pains points -> relevant messaging for marketing + disco + demo -> win customer -> case studies -> renew -> apply case studies and stories to new business sales cycle -> repeat The challenge I hear often is that people don't know what their ICP should be and so everything after that falls flat. But why is this so hard to figure this out? It's going to sound ridiculously simple..but it's your industry tags. Read more on why and how to fix it in the comments below and if you’re attending SaaStock today let’s meet up! #saastockusa2024

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As Thanksgiving approaches, many are wrapping up their work before checking out for family time—unless you’re one of the lucky few who’s already off. Taking time off isn’t just a luxury; it’s essential for employee well-being. Yet, 78% of American workers don’t use all their available PTO. 78%! Why? 1. Workplace Culture: 76% of employees wish their company valued breaks and encouraged them to take time off. 2. Limited PTO: With many companies offering an average of 2 weeks of PTO, it’s hard to balance sick days, family care (children, parental, etc), and vacation time. The traditional school year offers 20 days off—more than most workers get! Those numbers don't exactly add up. When companies create a culture that actively encourages PTO, employees report higher productivity, greater morale, and lower turnover. Offering PTO is more than a benefit—it’s an investment in employee health and company success. Create a culture where taking time off is celebrated, not stigmatized. It leads to happier, more productive employees- and that benefits everyone. Enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday and plan to use those days! #EmployeeWellBeing #PTO #WorkplaceCulture #EmployeeEngagement #WorkLifeBalance #MentalHealth Stats pulled from: https://lnkd.in/envnD_CE Check out more on PTO here: https://lnkd.in/epwtNHNN Command F "Paid Leave is Not That Expensive" to check out the cost–benefit analysis and see that it's not really a loss.

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Lately I've been thinking about speed to insights as I'm helping a few folks build out their annual operating plans for next year We all know that there are important analyses and models that need to be built such as ➡️ Total Addressable Market (if you've done this then a quick refresh to incorporate new unlocks from the product roadmap wouldn't hurt) ➡️ #sales account segmentation (do you move the lines? if so, why?): based on employee counts? geography? industries? functions? technographics? ➡️ Ideal Customer Profile + Persona Maps ➡️ Channels + GTM Motions ➡️ Revenue Operating Model It's that last piece that I've been chatting with Madhu Puranik of Revlitix on how to connect all of the disparate pieces of the funnel together A well oiled #revenueoperations team is able to not only connect #marketing analytics together but stitch it with the proper amount of #sales tracking as well Icing on the cake is to bake in NDR/NRR/retention/renewal together to get a cohesive view of growth baselines for next year Back to speed to insights. All of the reporting and modeling above takes time and effort. It also takes a ton of business partnership. Lack of data or partnership at this point of the year can be hugely detrimental to pushing a plan out on time. Just a few thoughts for those that are in the thick of planning. If you haven't started yet I'd say get on it! Go forth and operate 👋 More Annual Planning musings on the Substack the last four weeks. Check it out. Link in profile.

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Laughter is one of the most connective and powerful emotional experiences people can share with each other at work. My absolute favorite moment at work in all of 2024 was a 30 minute meeting where my CEO Matt Cooper, Megan Beane Torres and a couple of other colleagues and I were trying out some filters for Google meet. In our defense, we were earnestly testing functionality to see what we may lose or gain in shifting some of our meetings to this platform from another we were using. Within minutes we found ourselves laughing so hard we were crying as we tried on various digital disguises and avatars - like pirate costumes and lion faces. Business topics just hit differently when you’re trying to have a discussion with a talking tomato! 🍅 (IYKYK!) We got absolutely no practical work done in that first 15 minutes, but we laughed so hard our sides hurt and it was just pure fun and silliness. It was not only fun but it was so so needed to bring some levity into our days. What was the business value in having those 15 minutes of fun? It cannot be practically measured but it’s clearly connection building gold. Work doesn’t need to be so serious all the time. We do hard things and work really hard yes- however, hard work doesn’t need to feel heavy. Finding joy, choosing happiness, injecting humor and being playful at the same time as you’re working hard can create magical connections and makes working more FUN. I also love this example because we were not co-located together, but we experienced side stitching laughter that you often only experience when you’re together with your friends. 💛 🙊

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What a quarter. Product market fit that is like nothing I've experienced before, world class engineering talent, incredible customers, and the beginnings of a GTM machine that I am so so so proud of and excited about. Some highlights: - We blew the doors off the number. What a statement quarter by the team. 225% to plan with a clear path to doing the same thing in Q2 (and beyond). - We did a deal that would have been the biggest deal at any company I've been at up to $100M in ARR. - Healthy mix of self-serve, mid-size deals, and large deals --> on top of the above, we did 20+ NNL (including one person doing more than 10 themselves). - We are working as a team -- the culture we're building is really special. People work hard, raise the bar, want to win together, are competitive, so so smart, kind, and want to deliver a tremendous amount of value to our customers. Importantly, we are having a lot of fun doing it. - The pace and quality of our engineering is a huge differentiator. Can't overstate the positive impact of having an engineering team that is maniacally focused on building amazing experiences for our customers. - We're measuring the value we're providing. 46% more code written by developers using Codeium, 7-10X ROI, 40-70% faster onboarding of new developers, forecastably faster PR release cycles -- having an AI product / team that focuses on quantifying the impact to our customers is...the best. - We hired a lot of wonderful people. Dave Frankel, Isaac Kim, Jacob Addington, Alex Laubscher -- I am so excited you're here and so energized by what we're going to build together. Welcome! Alex Hart, Andrew Amato, Jeff Wang, Anshul Ramachandran, Varun Mohan you guys have built such an amazing GTM foundation. Very excited to be on this journey with you all -- let's go build something generational! Douglas Chen and entire wonderful engineering team -- thank you all. What you all build is incredible and I am so fired up by what we have coming in the next few months. Want to try Codeium? Check out our free tier. We're hiring in all roles -- particularly (in GTM) looking for AEs, SEs, SDRs, RevOps in Austin / Mountain View.

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One year at our annual offsite the company leadership shared the mantra for the year: the Genius of the AND. It is a concept from Jim Collins’ Built to Last. Collins writes: Builders of greatness reject the "Tyranny of the OR" and embrace the "Genius of the AND. They embrace both extremes across a number of dimensions at the same time… Some examples: 👉Quality AND productivity 👉Core business growth AND new category expansion 👉Margin AND market share And at a higher level: purpose AND profit, autonomy AND accountability, deliberation AND action. When conflicts arise between things you want—and they arise all the time in business and life—it is important to have tiebreakers. Without tiebreakers, it becomes impossible to seriously pursue goals, in the same sweep, that are at odds with each other. One tiebreaker strategy, and there are a few of them, is creating “even over” statements. It is something I learned about in Aaron Dignan’s Brave New Work; the breadcrumbs for the idea go back to entrepreneur Tom Thomison. I’ve boiled it down to a simple protocol.  1️⃣Write a priority (or a core value) for your org (or team) on the right.  2️⃣To its left, write down something that is more important.  3️⃣Trade off the two priorities by adding “even over” between them. You cannot go wrong with this. For example, you may write, User growth even over unit economics (if your product has found PMF and is in the early growth stage) Or, you may say, Unit economics even over user growth (if you have successfully monetized your product, having grown and scaled, and are now in the gravy train phase) Go through with this exercise and you’ll end up with a series of statements that are true for your organization and that will make trade-offs explicit during confusion. So what about the Genius of the AND? Is it flawed? I think it may be misunderstood and hence mis-applied. People mistake Genius of the AND for A + B. It is not. It is creating a third option C that combines salient elements of both A and B but is different from each. It is a kind of creative solutioning. The Four Seasons hotel chain came about as a rejection of the narrow choice hoteliers faced in the early 1960s: luxury (big business hotels) or personal touch (small motels). My firm’s Genius-of-the-AND ask was quality AND productivity. In hindsight, we could’ve used the opportunity to rethink quality. We used to calculate a certain metric as the quality North Star. Did that matter to customers? Was there something else that was a truer indicator of value to customers? That confusion was an invitation to explore, much like Issy Sharp understood that business travelers longed for a touch of home and modern conveniences. What are your thoughts about when the Genius of the AND applies and when an “even over” strategy wins? When should we make trade-offs and pick a side and when should we reject uncomfortable trade-offs and look for creative solutions? #strategy #curiosityovercertainty

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