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Dave Kellogg

Dave Kellogg

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Technology executive, angel investor, independent director, adviser, and blogger. Formerly CEO of Host Analytics and MarkLogic, CMO of Business Objects and Versant, and independent director of Aster Data, Granular. Currently independent director of Alation and Nuxeo

Use Triangulation Forecasts For Improved Forecast Accuracy and Better Conversations

Use Triangulation Forecasts For Improved Forecast Accuracy and Better Conversations

By Dave Kellogg on May 2, 2021

Ever been in this meeting? CEO:  What’s the forecast? CRO:  Same as before, $3,400K. Director 1:  How do you feel about it? CRO:  Good. Director 2:  Where will we really land? CRO:  $3,400K.  That’s why that’s the forecast. Director 1:  But best case, where do we land? CRO:  Best case, $3,800K. Director 2:  How do […]

Posted in Business, Featured Posts, Startup Lessons | Tagged Forecasting, Pipeline, Pipeline coverage, SaaS, sales, salesops, scaling, startups, To-go coverage, Triangulation forecasts

A Tip of the Hat to Grid On Their Launch Day

A Tip of the Hat to Grid On Their Launch Day

By Dave Kellogg on March 24, 2021

It’s not every day you hear about a startup in Iceland, founded by a guy whose last company was a data marketplace that he sold to Qlik.  And it’s a small world when a friend and fellow board member had independently discovered the same tool and built a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) calculator […]

Posted in Startup Lessons, Technology / Software | Tagged grid, spreadsheets, startups, Venture Capital

The Holy Grail of the Repeatable Sales Process:  Is Repeatability Enough?

The Holy Grail of the Repeatable Sales Process: Is Repeatability Enough?

By Dave Kellogg on January 12, 2021

Most of us are familiar with Mark Leslie’s classic Sales Learning Curve and its implications for building the early salesforce at an enterprise startup.  In short, it argues that too many startups put “the pedal to the metal” on sales hiring too early – before they have enough knowledge, process, and infrastructure in place – […]

Posted in Business, Featured Posts | Tagged Culture, Enterprise Sales, process, repeatable sales process, revenue ops, sales, Sales process, salesops, Silicon Valley, startups

The Key to Branding Success:  Staying in Character

The Key to Branding Success: Staying in Character

By Dave Kellogg on December 3, 2020

Decades ago I had the pleasure of watching a branding video, created by a San Francisco ad agency, narrated by an advertising executive with a familiar voice who’d narrated scores of commercials [1].  It was, I believe, entitled Staying in Character and while I’ve searched the internet for it many times over the years — […]

Posted in Business, Startup Lessons | Tagged advertising, branding, character, Integrity, marketing, staying in character

Marketing Targeting:  It’s Not Just Where You Fish, It’s What You Put on the Hook

Marketing Targeting: It’s Not Just Where You Fish, It’s What You Put on the Hook

By Dave Kellogg on December 2, 2020

Back in the day I was taught that marketers do three things, memorized via the acronym STP:  segment, target, position. Divide the audience into different segments.  For example, dividing consumers by demographics or dividing businesses by size or industry. Select the segments that the company wishes to target for its marketing.  For example, choosing small […]

Posted in Business, Featured Posts, Startup Lessons | Tagged advertising, demandgen, events, leadgen, marketing, positioning, pr, SaaS, segmentation, startups, STP, targeting

On the Perils of Taking Advice from Successful Business People

By Dave Kellogg on May 19, 2020

One of the hardest things about running startups is you’re never sure who to listen to. Your board members own big stakes in the company, but that doesn’t automatically align them with you.  Your late-stage investors want low multiples on big numbers.  Your early-stage investors want big multiples on small numbers.  And they have their […]

Posted in Startup Lessons | Tagged Advisors, advisory boards, Leadership, Management, startups, Uncategorized

Marketing Exists to Make Sales Easier

Marketing Exists to Make Sales Easier

By Dave Kellogg on May 18, 2020

Many moons ago when I was young product marketing manager, I heard a new VP of Marketing speak at a marketing all-hands meeting.  He spoke with a kiwi accent and his name was Chris Greendale.  What he said were six words that changed my career: Marketing exists to make sales easier While this has clearly […]

Posted in Business, Startup Lessons | Tagged Management, marketing, marketing mission, marketing police, mission, sales, sales marketing alignment, startups

Does Enterprise SaaS Need a Same-Store Sales Metric?

Does Enterprise SaaS Need a Same-Store Sales Metric?

By Dave Kellogg on March 3, 2020

Enterprise SaaS and retailers have more in common than you might think. Let’s think about retailers for a minute. Retailers drive growth in two ways: They open new stores They increase sales at existing stores Opening new stores is great, but it’s an expensive way to drive new sales and requires a lot of up-front […]

Posted in Startup Lessons | Tagged ARR, Metrics, sales, sales productivity, salesops, same-rep sales

How Startup CEOs Should Think About the Coronavirus

How Startup CEOs Should Think About the Coronavirus

By Dave Kellogg on March 1, 2020

I just reached out to the CEOs I work with with on this topic and figured I should also do a quick post to speak to the CEOs who follow Kellblog as well. The primary purpose of this post is to remind busy startup CEOs that an important part of your job is to be […]

Posted in Startup Lessons | Tagged Coronavirus, COVID-19, Leadership, Management

Kellblog's 10 Predictions for 2020

Kellblog’s 10 Predictions for 2020

By Dave Kellogg on January 6, 2020

As I’ve been doing every year since 2014, I thought I’d take some time to write some predictions for 2020, but not without first doing a review of my predictions for 2019.  Lest you take any of these too seriously, I suggest you look at my batting average and disclaimers. Kellblog 2019 Predictions Review 1. […]

Posted in Featured Posts, Trends & Concepts | Tagged AI, CDO, Database, dev/ops, predictions, startups, Venture Capital

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