Home

Breaking boundaries to form a new value chain

By in Business Management

by MARK DANCER on Innovating B2B Becoming a data intermediary Data is the future of distribution. The incumbent value chain exists to move products from manufacturers to customers, with distributors adding value to help customers find, evaluate, buy, receive, and use the products they need to run their businesses. But a new value chain will emerge as customers, distributors, and manufacturers leverage data, analytics, automation tools, and artificial intelligence to optimize business results. In the not-too-distant future, the value chain’s primary role will center on data, not products. And the role of distributors, as intermediaries, will be to facilitate the…

Read More

Why Most Analytics Efforts Fail

By in Operations Tag , ,

by Crystal Widjaja for Reforge From 20K orders per day to 5M. Zero to 100 people in business intelligence. Eight to 85 people in growth. All in 4.5 years. It was a wild ride, but not one that many in the US startup scene are familiar with. This wasn't Uber or Lyft, but rather Gojek, Southeast Asia's largest Super App. For those unfamiliar with Gojek or Super Apps in general, the product serves all your on-demand needs. Ordering food, transportation, digital payments, hyper-local delivery, and a dozen other services. To give you a sense of scale, Gojek completes more daily…

Read More

Five Mistakes to Avoid as an Advisor

By in Consulting Tag , ,

by ELENA VERNA for Elena's Growth Scoop Five Mistakes to Avoid as an Advisor To shortcut your way to a success. ELENA VERNA APR 28, 2023 52 7 Share An advisor is an individual who offers guidance, recommendations, or expertise in a specific area to help others make informed decisions or achieve specific goals. Becoming an advisor in addition to the full-time role is a great way to: Gain exposure to more companies, industries, teams, and products Try-before-you-buy potential new opportunities Sharpen your strategic thinking Unlock career optionality For me, advising was a gateway drug to solopreneurship. But I’ve made…

Read More

The Importance of Being Human in Your B2B Content: Liz Murphy on Marketing Smarts

By in Sales Tag , ,

by George B. Thomas for Marketing Profs The best thing about humanizing your content, says content strategist Liz Murphy, is that there's no learning curve: You don't have to learn how to be human. PLAY NOW Listen to it later: Download the MP3 "Good news, if you're listening to this podcast, unless you are our prevalent Skynet AI overlords, you are already a human being," jokes Liz in Episode 544 of Marketing Smarts. "Congratulations, you did it, you have your human card, you're already there!" However, most of us overcorrect, to the point of stiff formality and tired catchphrases. "We go…

Read More

Marketing is neither science nor art.

By in Marketing Tag ,

by SEBASTIAN CUERVO AND ADRIENNE BARNES for 42 Slash Madmen's days of all-nighters, heavy drinking, smoking cigars and coming up with game-changer last minute slogans like "it's toasted" seem far gone when we think about digital marketing today. We are in a different moment where we have data points to back up our bets and make the best calls possible to ensure our solution resonates with the right customer at the right time.  Initially, many thought of marketing as an artistic, risky, and uncertain activity (literally something for mad men and women). Today, we find ourselves in a systematic, organized, and…

Read More

Your boss is obsessed with productivity without knowing what it means

By in Human Resources, Self Improvement, Work Tag ,

By Rani Molla for Vox Like pretty much every other company that could, HubSpot let its employees work from home when the pandemic hit. The difference was that, early on, the enterprise software company made a strong commitment to let workers continue working remotely if they wanted. And that’s what the majority of HubSpot workers did. Meanwhile, about a third are hybrid, and less than 10 percent are back to the office full time. Now, HubSpot is trying to figure out the pros and cons of different working situations to make the most of each going forward. And, like many companies,…

Read More

Full steam ahead: What can we learn from Generation Z to create distribution’s brightest future?

By in Operations, Revenue, Sales Tag , , , ,

by Mark Dancer on Innovating B2B Generation Z, the first generation born into a world powered by the Internet, is coming of age, entering the workforce, pursuing advanced education, and pushing for change. Generation Z is the future of everything. In this edition, I share insights about Gen Z gleaned by listening to Roberta Katz, a cultural anthropologist, lawyer, and senior research scholar on the Stanford Pathfinders podcast. As a Baby Boomer, I feel obligated to listen to Gen Z’s members, learn from them, and at the same time, offer my network and knowledge to help them find answers, resources, and connections. I’m…

Read More

Dumb advice that works

By in Business Management Tag , , , , , , , ,

by The B2B Growth Newsletter Hi all — This week, I’m reflecting on a conversation I have with *literally* every founder. What do your buyers want to buy? Very few buyers want to buy software. Why? They already have a lot of software Most of their software sucks They associate software with a lot of things that aren’t good → There are a billion different software companies with virtually identical websites, how the hell am I supposed to decide? Why do I have to talk to a 22-year-old who doesn’t know anything before I can talk to a 28-year-old who’s…

Read More

Joy as a Strategy

By in Business Management, Human Resources, Self Improvement Tag ,

by PATRICK E MCLEAN for REINFORCEMENTS While redoing one of my social media profiles, I included two short sentences at the end. “Enjoyment is a skill. Joy is a strategy.” They flew off my fingers, I liked them. Here’s what they mean, and why these ideas might be useful for you. Enjoyment is a Skill. This is growth mindset applied at the largest scale. And I wrote an essay about it here The point is, if you can get better at enjoying things you have instantly become richer. And if you can find a way to take something you hate —…

Read More

Usage-based pricing isn’t always best

By in Revenue, Sales Tag , , , ,

by Chris Reuter Usage-based pricing Usage-based pricing has been the darling of SaaS founders since Twilio, Stripe, and Snowflake broke through in the 2010s by generating monumental wealth for them and value for their customers. Ever since, investors and operators alike have tried to shoehorn consumption pricing into their products. However, there are some pretty hard and fast rules where it can be used effectively. 🪧 PSA: I’ll use the term usage or consumption pricing interchangeably from here on out, deal with it. First, the setting I’m not sure you’ve heard, but I’m from Maine. Coupling this with my experiences at a little company called IBM…

Read More