{"id":359,"date":"2018-03-27T01:12:22","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T01:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/321-growth-academy-2023.local\/applying-mad-sales-skills-to-raising-capital\/"},"modified":"2023-11-02T21:12:07","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T21:12:07","slug":"applying-mad-sales-skills-to-raising-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/321growthacademy.com\/applying-mad-sales-skills-to-raising-capital\/","title":{"rendered":"Applying mad sales skills to\u2026 raising capital?!?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Where are they now? A chat with Kevin Konynenbelt, CEO of Solv3D<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Prior to becoming the CEO of Solv3D, Kevin Konynenbelt spent most of his career as a Professional Services executive delivering complex projects to enterprise clients. So, it\u2019s fair to say that until he attended the first 321 Sales Academy cohort in the Spring of 2017, his experience with sales was focused on making his clients happy and implementing the (sometimes crazy) commitments of his Sales colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, we connected with Kevin, to get an update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin, what\u2019s up with you and Solv3D now? What\u2019s changed since we saw you at Demo Day in mid 2017? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I registered for 321 Sales Academy so I could learn about the other side of the table \u2013 sales \u2013 in order to build a strong sales function at Solv3D. But what I learned helped us in some unexpected ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, 321 changed our focus. Instead of focusing inward on our product, we reoriented our thinking to focus more externally on our market \u2013 how to position ourselves and make ourselves attractive to buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, we were able to use our mad sales skills to raise the funding we needed. We were able to build a better pitch to investors, because we understood the problem we solve, and the value we deliver. Closing a substantial (seven-figure) round of investment was a major step forward for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result of that investment, we were able to use the funding to bring the needed sales and marketing talent to the team, to help us drive Solv3D to the next level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you look back to your experience at 321 Sales Academy, what has been of most value to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first started out in sales, I was approaching prospects like I had on the delivery side \u2013 as if they were already committed. Now, I focus more on qualification, and moving the prospect towards a buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We really know who our customer is, and how to reach them. We\u2019ve been able to take a lean approach, and experiment to find out how to \u201cfish where the fish are\u201d. We know now that the traction channels that work best for our complex, technical product are search marketing and targeted industry events and conferences. We are generating more, quality leads, and now have a compelling narrative that resonates with our buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We learned to stop trying to educate the market, and to focus \u2013 at least, in sales \u2013 on who has the problem we solve, who understands our category, and is thus likely to move forward quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any other big wins and accomplishments to celebrate at Solv3D?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have been working with a market-leading \u201cearly adopter\u201d that has helped us refine our understanding of the problems we solve and their requirements. Equally importantly, they\u2019ve helped us learn how to navigate inside a huge enterprise, which has been a great learning experience for our whole team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now you\u2019ve got some sales experience under your belt. What advice do you have for startups just starting on their sales journey? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, just focus! There are so many options, and so little time. CEOs need to get their teams focused on the areas in their business where there is the most potential to drive revenue and growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, I\u2019d say that everyone at a startup thinks their role is tough. But sales and marketing are really, really hard! There is so much information about sales and marketing, but much of it is focused on B2C, and isn\u2019t effective for B2B. Be sure you are getting good advice, and don\u2019t forget to reach out to those who\u2019ve been down the same path before, so you can learn from their experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post originally appeared on Alberta Enterprise Corporation\u2019s Start Alberta<\/a> portal.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A chat with Kevin Konynenbelt, CEO of Solv3D<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sales"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSales Skills for Startups; Sell and Raise Capital - 321 Growth Academy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"321 Growth Academy's Carey Houston sat down with Solv3D CEO Kevin Konynenbelt to discuss applying mad sales skills to raising capital.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/321growthacademy.com\/applying-mad-sales-skills-to-raising-capital\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sales Skills for Startups; 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