Podcast
Beyond Quota
Hosted by:
Pouyan Salehi and Ross Pomerantz (Corporate Bro)
Beyond Quota is a video series and podcast that explores the real stories from the sales trenches, often edgy and sometimes controversial. Each episode features guests who started their careers in sales and are now builders of companies, products, content, or have moved on to other careers.
All Episodes
Episode 34: Matt Groetelaars Explains Why Forecasting Is Not About the Number
Co-Founder & General Partner of the The GTM Operators Network joins Pouyan Salehi and Ross Pomerantz to shed light on the emotional rollercoaster of getting acquired before reaching an IPO at Segment, why forecasting is harder than ever in today's market and common mistakes sales leaders make. And finally what he's seeing as the common trend of companies going back to the office vs. working remote.
Episode 33: Corporate Natalie Returns to talk S.A.D.
After experiencing the utter bleakness of 2020’s ‘Work From Home’ life, Natalie couldn’t help but take to TikTok to poke fun at the current state of Corporate America. 540,000 Instagram followers and 511,000 TikTok followers later, she's still crushing content from her WFH setup, stars in the new comedy series S.A.D. on YouTube, and even pitches Paycom in nationally-syndicated tv commercials. Natalie is also an advisor for Scratchpad, but she maintains an unbiased love for the company.
Episode 32: S.A.D. Stars Sara Kamine & Dylan Flynn
Sara Kamine (Mickey) and Dylan Flynn (Travis) join Ross & Ben for another Sales Are Dope-themed episode of the Beyond Quota podcast. Sara and Dylan discuss how they first became involved in the project and breakdown the similarities between the life of an actor and the life of a salesperson. "If you're not being rejected, you're not doing anything," wisely states Kamine. We think salespeople can relate.
Episode 31: The Making of Sales Are Dope
The Director and Producer of S.A.D. (Sales Are Dope) hop on for a special episode of the Beyond Quota podcast. Stephen Ohl and Talon Gonzalez share the origins of how the show turning from script to screen and the biggest challenges they faced along the way. Namely, having to deal with Ross on a daily basis. After working on The Unsubscribe Show and Cold Call Reenactments with Bravado and now after completing the first season of Sales Are Dope, Stephen and Talon have gained a deep appreciation for the sales profession and the (somewhat) professionals who keep the lights on for every company out there. Learn how they used their film expertise and work with Ross and Ben and bring the world of Suckle to life.
Episode 30: Leading Your Tech Startup in 2023 Be Like...
Running a business is really hard. Now imagine the economy starts swooning. Even harder. Now imagine there's a freaking banking crisis! What's next? Our pets heads falling off?! What's the best way to lead your company in these seemingly unprecedented circumstances? Maybe we should ask the woman who went from Head of Sales to CRO to CEO in less than a year. "The first thing I do is check my ego at the door," says Katy Carrigan, CEO at Goody. Learn how Katy's time working at her family's convenience store as a kid, to SDR-ing after college and becoming a Top Performing Account Executive, and then a process-obsessed Deal Desker, all prepared her for the role of CEO shortly after turning 30.
Episode 29: The Evolution of Data-Driven Sales with Alexa Grabell
Do you have what it takes to be a founder? Alexa Grabell stops by the Beyond Quota studio with Ross and Ben to discuss her path to becoming one of the few female founders in the data and sales space and how her experience in sales operations & strategy got her there. Also, is data-driven sales the future? What is Product Led Sales and RevOps? And where the heck did they get that quota number we all have to hit? Please rate, review, subscribe, listen wherever you get your podcasts and more importantly, share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it. Thanks!
Episode 28: KillCreek to CRO. All Stevie Case Does is Win
Hailing from Olathe, Kansas, professional gaming icon known as KillCreek, video game inventor, top performing sales legend, and now Chief Revenue Officer at Vanta, but most importantly, pulling it all off as a badass single-mom, we’re proud to welcome Stevie Case to Beyond Quota! Hear Stevie's advice for companies entering a touch macro-economic climate, how gaming taught her how to be a better salesperson and CRO, and what she believes makes up the DNA of a top performer.
Episode 27: 10 Questions with Leslie Venetz
There's a new host and a new format! Don't worry, Corp and Pouyan will be back in host seats soon enough, but for this week's episode of Beyond Quota we have our very own Ben Gould interviewing TikTok star, entrepreneur, and salesperson with first dibs on the Top of the Leaderboard, Leslie Venetz. Get inside the mind of a top performing salesperson, learn what not to say in a job interview, and gain a greater appreciation for the existence of CRMs.
Episode 26: No Cold Calls, No Forecasts, Just Sam McKenna Breaking Sales Records
After breaking sales records everywhere she went, Sam McKenna wanted a new challenge so in 2019 she founded #samsales. 3 years later she runs an all-female team of 14 and is breaking her own records. Listen to her conversation with Pouyan and Ross as she explains how simply being a human can get you to the top of the leaderboard.
Episode 25: Will Aitken
The man with a literal Scratchpad tattoo, Will Aitken, joins Beyond Quota with Pouyan and Ross. Will leaves it all out on the field in this interview as he reveals his path from sales to “marketing” and how he finds the fine line between engaging and educational content for salespeople.
Episode 24: Zoe Hartsfield
Zoe Hartsfield joins Ross and Pouyan for a new episode of Beyond Quota! 🥳 Learn Zoe’s story from an unprepared SDR to the top of the leaderboard to… marketing.
Episode 23: Sarah Brazier
Sarah Brazier joins Ross and Ben for this week’s episode of Beyond Quota. The gang discusses receiving negative feedback on sales calls vs. the internet, classic Silly Valley horror stories from her first experience as an SDR, and what is next in the life of Sarah Brazier.
Episode 22: Janesh Rahlan
Corp and Pouyan welcome a very special guest onto the Beyond Quota podcast today named Janesh Rahlan. Janesh went from Fulbright Scholar to working in Product to Sales and is also a hilarious StandUp (spelled like a tech company) comedian. Janesh shares how he fell from such a high mountaintop to the sales and comedy pit and why he did it on PURPOSE! It’s an amazing episode with lots of lessons and learnings.
Episode 21: Brianna Dunbar-DeMike
Corp & Pouyan are joined by Mom Boss, Podcast Host, and the VP of RevOps at Skaled, Brianna Dunbar-Demike. Brianna teaches the boys how to turn children into money-making entrepreneurs, what the hell RevOps is, and reveals that deep down beneath her RevOps / Podcasting / Entrepreneur exterior, she’s really just a sales savage.
Episode 20: Troy Barter
Corp, Ben, and Troy Barter go Beyond Quota to discuss how Battle-Rap as a teenager translates to slanging deals and creating content, how the SDR role is a breeze when you’re coming from 100% commission car sales, and why you should be willing to take a step back to further your sales career.
Episode 19: Donald Kelly
Pouyan, Corp, and Donald Kelly discuss how to top performers can fulfill their potential, how creating a persona can up your sales game, and B2B SaaS companies can learn a thing or two from Jamaican street cart vendors.
Episode 18: Brian Burns
Pouyan, Corp, and Brian Burns sit down to discuss Brian’s journey from Sales Engineer with a ponytail to Enterprise Account Executive to Teaching Sales to hundreds of thousands of people through the power of the internet. And how all of that has led him to become arguably the most successful sales podcast host of all time.
Episode 17: Amy Volas
Pouyan, Corp, and Amy Volas get deep on what it takes to build startups and individual careers. And also the common pitfalls they may or may not have fallen into along the way. And also Yacht Rock. They talked a lot about Yacht Rock.
Episode 16: Todd Clouser
Pouyan, Corp, and Todd Clouser a.k.a. “The Boy” discuss being an SDR at a company without a business model, the importance of marketers understanding the sales experience, and Corp participates in a Marketing-Kumbaya- Moment.
Episode 14: Scott Leese
Pouyan, Corp, and Scott get HEATED in a discussion about the image of salespeople, whether quota is necessary, and a potential future of mercenary, “deal team 6’s” consisting of salespeople who work for several companies at the same time.
Episode 13: Corporate Natalie
Pouyan, Corp, and Corporate Natalie join forces to talk about how she balances a full-time job with content creation, taking her creative side and turning it into a business, nay, empire and the lessons she's taught Corp Bro in the process.
Episode 12: Olivier L'Abbe
Pouyan, Corp, and Olivier L’Abbe talk about how he gained an appreciation for marketing despite his sales background, keys to successful sales and marketing alignment, and of course... closing deals in the club.
Episode 11: Carolyn Betts Fleming
Pouyan, Corp, and Carolyn Betts Fleming talk about selling print ads in the Yellowpages, the DNA of a top performer, and what it takes to leave a job you're really good at to go out and start your own company.
Episode 10: AJ Bruno
Pouyan, Corp, and AJ Bruno, Co-founder and CEO of QuotaPath chat about going from sales to starting a SaaS business and that challenges of getting teams together during a pandemic.
Episode 9: Peter Kazanjy
Corp and Pouyan talk shop with sales legend Peter Kazanjy co-founder of Atrium and founder of Modern Sales Pros (MSP). Peter throws down his knowledge on coaching reps, being stood up for an in-person sales meeting, and baseball.
Episode 8: Sahil Mansuri
Sahil shares his experiences with the Obama campaign, selling at Meltwater, and starting the Bravado sales community.
Episode 7: Cack Wilhelm
Cack shares her incredible story of going from pro runner with Nike to Sales at Oracle and Cloudera and then finally transitioning to Venture.
Episode 6: Ben Gould
Ben shares raw sales stories from the trenches working in sales at Yelp and Zenefits including outlandish parties, mass firings, and fist fights among SDRs.
Episode 5: Lori Richardson
Lori recounts her experience of once getting thrown out of the Columbia Tower in downtown Seattle while pursuing a sales prospect. Pouyan and Corp tease out the incredible stories of the glory days of sales before the internet age.
Episode 4: Poya Osgouei
Corporate Bro and Pouyan Salehi challenge guest Poya Osgouei on whether or not he really loved his career at Oracle.
Episode 3: Bryan Rosenblatt
Corporate Bro and Pouyan Salehi have a lively discussion with Bryan Rosenblatt, Principal at Craft Ventures and his journey in sales at Twitter, Reddit and then the transition to venture investing.
Episode 2: Ross Rich
Pouyan Salehi, Corporate Bro, and Ross Rich, Co-founder and CEO of Accord take a walk down memory lane with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, chat Y Combinator, discuss transitioning from sales to software building, and share how to use pencil and paper to design products.
Episode 1: Kris Ruudegraap
Pouyan, Corp, and CEO of Sendoso, Kris Rudeegraap talk about inside sales, selling mistletoe and lemonade, free beer money, and how Sendoso became a SaaS powerhouse.