Best Bessemer Venture Partners Podcasts (2025)

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Think Fast, Talk Smart: Magic Words - Change What You Say to Inspire and Influence Others 28:12

Play Pause

2y ago28:12

28:12

We'd like to introduce you to Think Fast, Talk Smart, a podcast hosted by Matt Abrahams and produced by Stanford Graduate School of Business about enhancing your communication skills. “Magic words” allow us to change minds, engage audiences, and influence people to drive action. In this episode, Matt and author Jonah Berger discuss the secrets to p…

1
A Slight Change of Plans: Adam Grant Thinks Again 34:16

2y ago34:16

34:16

Here's another episode of a podcast we like, A Slight Change of Plans with Dr. Maya Shankar. Psychologist and author Adam Grant talks with Maya about the science of changing peoples' minds, including our own. Adam also takes some of his own advice and rethinks some of his ideas. Hear more from A Slight Change of Plans: ⁠https://podcasts.pushkin.fm/…

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The James Altucher Show: Polina Pompliano 1:04:59

2y ago1:04:59

1:04:59

We hope you enjoyed season two of Wish I Knew! We’re taking a break from releasing new episodes for now, but in the meantime, we’d like to share an episode of a podcast we like, The James Altucher Show. James interviews the world's leading peak performers in every area of life. In this episode, he talks with Polina Pompliano, the author of The Prof…

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Peter Beck: How one CEO transformed his fascination with space into a billion-dollar rocket company 38:54

2y ago38:54

38:54

Many companies claim they’re a rocketship—but few mean it literally. As a young child growing up in New Zealand, Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, spent a lot of time stargazing. His fascination in space inspired a passion-driven career of building a billion-dollar rocket company. Today, Rocket Lab touts the highest launch success rate of any rocket c…

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Peter Beck: How one CEO transformed his fascination with space into a billion-dollar rocket company 38:54

2y ago38:54

38:54

Many companies claim they’re a rocketship—but few mean it literally. As a young child growing up in New Zealand, Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, spent a lot of time stargazing. His fascination in space inspired a passion-driven career of building a billion-dollar rocket company. Today, Rocket Lab touts the highest launch success rate of any rocket c…

1
Sarah Friar: Career lessons on community, conviction, and capital from Nextdoor’s CEO 39:05

2y ago39:05

39:05

From consultant to investor to CFO to CEO, Sarah Friar has a business acumen rivaled by few others. Today, Sarah Friar is at the helm of NextDoor, the social network that services over 300,000 neighborhoods globally. NextDoor unites neighbors in matters of utility and community. On Wish I Knew, she shared why you should pay attention to what you bo…

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[Re-Air] Dick Costolo: How Twitter's CEO jumpstarted a social media revolution 39:50

2+ y ago39:50

39:50

Still touted as one of the most influential social media platforms of modern day, Twitter has taken the digital world by storm ever since its founding in 2006. And it was Dick Costolo -- CEO of Twitter from 2010 - 2015 -- who blazed the trail for Twitter's ubiquity and ultimately, success. But on today's episode, we'll hear how with great power com…

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Dave Rogenmoser: Top building lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs and how to gain momentum in the AI revolution 36:35

2+ y ago36:35

36:35

Dave Rogenmoser landed at the helm of the AI revolution in what felt like the blink of an eye. In 2021, Dave co-founded Jasper, an AI writing tool for marketers. Just 18 months later, it became a unicorn company. Today it has a valuation of $1.5 billion. On Wish I Knew, we sat down with Dave, CEO & Co-Founder of Jasper AI, where he cautioned agains…

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Peter Beck: How one CEO transformed his fascination with space into a billion-dollar rocket company 38:05

2+ y ago38:05

38:05

Many companies claim they’re a rocketship—but few mean it literally. As a young child growing up in New Zealand, Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, spent a lot of time stargazing. His fascination in space inspired a passion-driven career of building a billion-dollar rocket company. Today, Rocket Lab touts the highest launch success rate of any rocket c…

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Andy Slavitt: Three of the biggest lessons in healthcare, government, and entrepreneurship 37:56

2+ y ago37:56

37:56

Andy Slavitt’s resume has always reflected his mission: to help people get the healthcare they need. On Wish I Knew, he shares why the most profound experiences of his life have all been risks. With Steven Kraus, Partner at Bessemer, Andy recounts stories of his career in public health, government, and entrepreneurship. He shares why naiveté can be…

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Microsoft Product Leader to SaaS Founder - with Anand Subbaraj, Founder and CEO Zuper 30:52

2+ y ago30:52

30:52

Imagine being a senior product leader at Microsoft for one of the leading "cloud products" in the industry, Azure Data Factory, and deciding to leave the stability, security, and prestige behind to launch your own B2B SaaS company. This is exactly the decision and journey that Anand Subbaraj began five years ago. Anand spent 13 years at Microsoft b…

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Steven Galanis: How the CEO of Cameo turned celebrity obsession into a unicorn business 34:54

2+ y ago34:54

34:54

Capitalizing on everyday people’s obsession with celebrity, Cameo became a unicorn company within five years of its founding and grew at a rate surpassing even some of tech’s biggest success stories. On Wish I Knew, we sat down with CEO of Cameo Steven Galanis where he shares the biggest mistake he sees aspiring entrepreneurs make, what he wished h…

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Coming June: Season 2 of Wish I Knew 1:58

2+ y ago1:58

1:58

There’s no simple road to wisdom. Good business sense comes from hard-earned experience and the mistakes from those who came before you. On Season 2 of Wish I Knew, the show about revelatory, life-changing, “ah-ha” moments from leaders, we hear stories about what happens when people take audacious risks to build something great. With David Cowan, P…

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Evolving from Excel for SaaS Financial and Metrics Reporting - with Ali Rizvi Founder and CEO, TrueRev 28:12

2+ y ago28:12

28:12

Excel is the #1 tool B2B SaaS companies use for many financial tasks, including calculating SaaS metrics to surface insights for operating decisions and investor updates. Ali started his career in tech as an auditor at Ernst and Young, with a priority focus on revenue recognition and reporting. While auditing a top tier B2B SaaS company, he was pro…

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B2B SaaS Metrics and Prioities with the Alexander Group - Ted Grossman and Davis Giedt 38:26

2+ y ago38:26

38:26

The Alexander Group works with many of the leading companies in the B2B SaaS industry, and I was recently joined by Ted Grossman, their co-lead of the technology industry practice, and Davis Giedt, Director of Research and Analytics. Based upon Ted and Davis' unique insights and understanding of B2B SaaS due to the discussions and data from over on…

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Event-Led Growth in B2B SaaS - with Julius Solaris, Founder and CEO Boldpush 36:40

2+ y ago36:40

36:40

By Ray Rike

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State of the Cloud 2023 - Top Five Predictions with Janelle Teng, Bessemer Venture Partners (Episode #2) 25:51

2+ y ago25:51

25:51

State of the Cloud 2023: Top Five Predictions: #1: Efficient Growth Adopt new solutions to gain control of their Cloud and SaaS spend, including the infrastructure cost to deliver SaaS Solutions. Tools include Cloud FinOps tools, SaaS Spend Solutions, and engineering productivity tools to improve R&D processes. One of the areas of focus is on Cloud…

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State of the Cloud 2023 (Episode 1) - with Janelle Teng, Bessemer Venture Partners 21:29

2+ y ago21:29

21:29

In Episode #1 of this 2-episode conversation, Ray discusses the key findings from the Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) annual "State of the Cloud" report for 2023 with Janelle Teng, Vice President and co-author of this year's report. Janelle is involved in many different research programs at BVP, including the "State of the Cloud" and the "Scaling t…

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Scale your SaaS - with Matt Wolach, founder of Xsellus and "Scale your SaaS" podcast 31:13

2+ y ago31:13

31:13

Matt Wolach is the founder of Xsellus and host of the Scale your SaaS podcast. Matt is one of those guests that have taken over a year to be on the Metrics that Measure Up podcast. Matt has hosted over 250 episodes of "Scale your SaaS" and was one of the inspirations for this podcast. The first question I asked Matt was about the common attributes …

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Vote for "Wish I Knew" for a Webby Award by 4/20! 1:30

2+ y ago1:30

1:30

Wish I Knew has been nominated for a Webby Award and we need your help! If you’ve enjoyed our first season, please consider voting for Wish I Knew for the “Advice & How-To” category here: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2023/podcasts/general-series/advice-how-to. Public voting ends Thursday, April 20.…

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SaaS Expansion across Europe - with Rick Pizzoli, Sales Force Europe 33:59

2+ y ago33:59

33:59

In 2023 many SaaS companies are searching for what market(s) are going to drive their next phase of growth - and international markets, especially English-speaking countries are often considered by U.S. B2B SaaS companies. Rick Pizzoli, moved to Europe over 25 years ago to launch the European presence for U.S. based software companies. Based upon t…

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SaaS Spend Management Trends - with Eric Christopher, Founder and CEO Zylo 34:11

2+ y ago34:11

34:11

Eric Christopher, the founder, and CEO of Zylo is sitting on top of one of the industry's largest SaaS spend data repositories and thus benchmarks, a key reason I knew I needed to have Eric as a guest on the podcast. What was the catalyst for founding Zylo? It started with Eric's experience as a revenue leader in two social media platform companies…

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The Future of SaaS Spend Management - with Ryan Neu, Founder and CEO Vendr 33:04

2+ y ago33:04

33:04

SaaS Spend Management is an emerging and rapidly evolving category - yet Ryan Neu, Co-Founder, and CEO of Vendr has a unique vision for how the category needs to evolve. Ryan has a background in public accounting, and then transitioned to software sales, including a role in the early days at Hubspot. During his career selling, he realized that sell…

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The evolution of forecast management - with Guy Rubin, Founder and CEO ebsta 29:56

2+ y ago29:56

29:56

If you have ever been frustrated with the forecasting process and accuracy at your company - this episode is for you! Guy Rubin is the founder and CEO of ebsta, a leading provider of Revenue Intelligence - the next generation of forecast management. Guy founded ebsta to automate the logging of sales rep activity directly into their Customer Relatio…

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Lessons learned from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse - with Todd Gardner, SaaS Advisors 32:34

2+ y ago32:34

32:34

Friday, March 10th, 2023 - a moment in B2B Technology and Start-Up ecosystem history that many will never forget and hopefully provides a foundation for learning the risks and rewards of venture-backed, early-stage entrepreneurship. Todd Gardner founded SaaS Capital in 2007, the industry's first "recurring revenue credit facility". Before names lik…

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When to introduce SaaS Spend Management - with Cledara co-founder and COO, Brad Van Leeuwen 28:32

2+ y ago28:32

28:32

Over February and March 2023, we spoke with several founders, CEOs, and executives at SaaS Spend Management vendors. In this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up podcast, we discussed the evolution, best practices, and ideas on how to introduce a SaaS Spend Management program with Brad Van Leeuwen, Co-Founder and COO at Cledara. Brad stated that …

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CFO lessons learned in planning and forecasting - with Dan Fletcher, CFO Planful 37:57

2+ y ago37:57

37:57

Planning in 2020 continues to be chalked full of uncertainty based on the current macroeconomic reality. Assuch, being a finance leader in 2023 is even more challenging, and unpredictable - but developing an operating plan and budget is an important and critical component of the CFO's job. First, is being "hyper-realistic" is the theme of the year,…

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SaaS Spend Management - with David Campbell, Founder and CEO Tropic.ai 37:39

2+ y ago37:39

37:39

How does writing a 400-page novel lead to founding a SaaS Spend Management company? It was the start of David Campbell's journey which including breaking into B2B technology sales where he saw the challenges companies of all sizes have with buying technology. What is the definition of "SaaS Spend Management" according to David? David defines it as …

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Corporate Spend Management - with Oded Zehavi, Founder and CEO Mesh Payments 29:44

2+ y ago29:44

29:44

Oded Zehavi has global payment experience from his time as an executive at leaders including PayPal and Payoneer. With Spend Management, especially SaaS Spend Management, becoming such a hot topic in 2023 - we wanted to start our conversation with Oded to understand his definition of "Spend Management"? Oded defines spend management as enabling fin…

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Full Funnel Conversion Optimization - With Guy Yalif, Founder and CEO - Intellimize 33:23

2+ y ago33:23

33:23

Have you ever met someone in their "early career" that you just knew was going to be successful? That was my feeling when I first met Guy Yalif, Founder and CEO of Intellimize almost 20 years ago! Guy has been both a Marketing and Product leader, which led to his creation of a company focused on optimizing full funnel conversion. Guy's vision is to…

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No Forms - No SPAM - No Cold Calls - with Latane Conant, Chief Market Officer 6sense 39:02

2+ y ago39:02

39:02

How many times have you visited a B2B website and cringed at being asked to provide your contact information, including your email just to download a white paper or watch a video? Why is this a reality in 2023 on most B2B SaaS websites? Because "leads" are still a primary measurement of Marketing success and marketers have not yet invested in the p…

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Building a media asset inside a B2B SaaS company - with Patrick Campbell, Founder and CEO ProfitWell (Paddle) 41:31

2+ y ago41:31

41:31

Media-Led Growth (MLG) is a term first introduced here on the Metrics that Measure Up podcast and the central theme of this episode. Who better to discuss this topic than Patrick Campbell, Founder, and CEO of ProfitWell, recently purchased by Paddle for an unofficial $180M+ Patrick was a pioneer in building brand media assets inside a B2B SaaS comp…

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Product Analytics and Metrics that Matter - with Todd Olson, Founder and CEO Pendo 31:43

2+ y ago31:43

31:43

Product-Led Growth is one of the hottest topics and trends in the B2B SaaS industry. Heading into 2023, most company will be evaluating their usage of every SaaS tool, and as a vendor understanding how customers are using your product is foundational to understanding and forecast customer retention metrics. Todd Olso founded Pendo, the leading Prod…

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The Power of Go-to-Market Experience + Capital - with Mark Roberge, Stage 2 Capital 38:38

2+ y ago38:38

38:38

Mark Roberge is the founder and Managing Director of Stage 2 Capital and previously was the Chief Revenue Officer at HubSpot from 2007 to 2016. Mark is also the author of the best-selling book "The Sales Acceleration Formula". The lessons learned over his nine years leading revenue at HubSpot have led to several new endeavors including creating a S…

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A Chief Revenue Officer's learnings from $0 - $100M+ ARR - with Mark Kosoglow, CRO Catalyst and SVP Sales, Outreach 38:46

2+ y ago38:46

38:46

Imagine having your founder and CEO working weekends to develop leads and a calling list for the VP Sales in an early-stage B2B SaaS company. That was Mark Kosoglow's experience when he first joined Manny Medina, the founder, and CEO at Outreach - the leading Sales Engagement Platform company in the industry. I asked Mark about the reality of leadi…

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Introducing: Wish I Knew 26:54

2+ y ago26:54

26:54

Failure. It's no fun, but it's a part of life — and big failures can often be the springboard to even bigger successes. That's why we're launching Wish I Knew, a new show from Bessemer Venture Partners about the revelatory, life-changing, "a-ha" moments that founders, CEOs and leaders discover along their business journeys and why taking risks lead…

1
Introducing: Wish I Knew 26:54

2+ y ago26:54

26:54

Failure. It's no fun, but it's a part of life — and big failures can often be the springboard to even bigger successes. That's why we're launching Wish I Knew, a new show from Bessemer Venture Partners about the revelatory, life-changing, "a-ha" moments that founders, CEOs and leaders discover along their business journeys and why taking risks lead…

1
The Different Buying Team Profiles - with Brent Adamson, author the Challenger Customer 37:38

2+ y ago37:38

37:38

Heading into 2023 companies are preparing for larger buying teams, and increased scrutiny on every purchase. I could not think of a better backdrop to speak with Brent Adamson, the author of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer. The Challenger Customer is based on research focusing on the different "profiles" of the buying team in a cons…

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Marketing Metrics that Matter to the CFO - with Chris Golec, Founder and CEO Channel99 and Demandbase 34:53

3y ago34:53

34:53

Heading into 2023, B2B SaaS CFOs are doubling down on using performance metrics to guide the 2023 operating budget. A key question is what metrics they use to help evaluate the Marketing budget, and what metrics they wish they had from Marketing to help inform budget allocation and investment decisions. Chris Golec, the founder, and CEO of intent d…

1
Dick Costolo: How Twitter's CEO jumpstarted a social media revolution 38:17

3y ago38:17

38:17

Still touted as one of the most influential social media platforms of modern day, Twitter has taken the digital world by storm ever since its founding in 2006. And it was Dick Costolo -- CEO of Twitter from 2010 - 2015 -- who blazed the trail for Twitter's ubiquity and ultimately, success. But on today's episode, we'll hear how with great power com…

1
The journey from FP&A to SaaS CFO - with CJ Gustafson, CFO PartsTech 32:52

3y ago32:52

32:52

Mergers and Acquisition analyst to FP&A professional to SaaS CFO. This is the path that CJ Gustafson took on his journey to becoming the CFO at Parts Tech. The common thread across each step of his journey was metrics, a perfect subject for CJ's appearance on the show. CJ developed his excel and financial chops during his first role as an M&A analy…

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Shan-Lyn Ma: The CEO who cracked the code to the business of love 40:02

3y ago40:02

40:02

There's no time of life quite like the months leading up to your wedding day: The preparation. The anticipation. And perhaps most of all, the monetization. Shan-Lyn Ma, the founder and co-CEO of Zola, realized all of these things back in 2013, and used her expertises of product and eCommerce to shake up and transform the wedding business forever.…

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Kind Folks Finish First - Sam Jacobs, Founder and CEO Pavilion 24:49

3y ago24:49

24:49

STOP if you do not think that the concept of "Kind Folks Finish First" is applicable in corporate America! Sam Jacobs, the founder, and CEO of Pavilion realized that getting fired for the third time was the catalyst for finally understanding that pursuing his real passion "to help others" was the key to finding both success and fulfillment. Sam cre…

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Tina Seelig: A Stanford professor's masterclass on rewriting your failures 25:44

3y ago25:44

25:44

For most, there's no such thing as a conventional entrepreneurial journey: And Tina Seelig is no exception. From working in neuroscience, to writing seventeen books, to launching her own small business ventures, Tina has done it all. And today, she is Executive Director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford where she's teaching her students about…

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Saas Metrics for Investors and Execution Decision Making - with Nick Franklin, Founder and CEO ChartMogul 35:41

3y ago35:41

35:41

Nick Franklin is the Founder and CEO of ChartMogul, a leading SaaS Metrics Reporting, and Subscription Analytics Platform. Nick worked for five years at ZenDesk, where he led both Europe and then Asia-Pacific before founding ChartMogul eight years ago. With 2,500 B2B SaaS companies as customers, Nick's insights around how companies use metrics to i…

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Eric Baker: Why being thrown out of offices may mean you're onto something huge 25:36

3y ago25:36

25:36

As the founder of the event ticketing giants StubHub and Viagogo, Eric Baker sent shockwaves across the tech industry after being ousted from StubHub, but then later acquiring it once more with a $4.05 billion cash buyout. It took nearly two decades, but Eric is finally getting the final word on his full circle journey.…

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Carolyn Childers: How a Fortune 500 exec ignited her own startup 36:11

3y ago36:11

36:11

Carolyn Childers cut her professional teeth at the best-of-the-best companies, between investment banking and big businesses. But when faced with the challenge of straying from a traditional corporate path to start her own company, founding her business — Chief — became her biggest move yet.

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Revenue Operations Outsourcing Strategy - with Cliff Simon, CRO Carabiner Group 29:13

3y ago29:13

29:13

Revenue Operations - the buzz has continued in 2022 but how to introduce and then maximize the return on investment is still a work in process. Cliff Simon, the Chief Revenue Officer at Carabiner Group, an early leader in Revenue Operations stopped by to share his insights into how to maximize the return on RevOps. First, we discussed if Revenue Op…

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Jeffrey Katzenberg and Sujay Jaswa: How Walt Disney’s protégé disrupted entertainment 40:42

3y ago40:42

40:42

At Disney, Jeffrey Katzenberg learned how to tell amazing stories, and ultimately, to dream big. On today's show, we'll explore how Jeffrey did exactly that, including taking a big swing at an even bigger dream. You'll learn what happens when his limitless dreams didn't go as planned, with the rise — and very public fall — of his multi-billion-doll…

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RevOps as a Strategic Revenue Planning Partner - with Toni Hohlbein, Growblocks 29:55

3y ago29:55

29:55

As a Chief Revenue Officer, Toni has had a front-row view on scaling revenue engines, and one major challenge he faced was that too much time was spent on financial planning and budgets, versus how to best make money. The first question we discussed was the difference between FP&A and Revenue Operations. Toni's perspective is that Revenue Operation…