Santosh is LIVE in 30min - can you make it?

Nobody realizes that Apollo and ZoomInfo were both stuck at single-digit ARR for YEARS. When they finally got unstuck, unlocked rapid growth, and hit billion dollar valuations, both companies had ONE THING in common:

They hired Santosh Sharan.

Here are the 7 things that makes Santosh a top 0.1% unicorn builder:

1. He understands the mechanics of exponential growth

Santosh believes that sustained growth is about “Stacking S-Curves”. Meaning, you bang your head against the wall for years, then something hits, explosively. During that explosion you're working on your next S-curve. Steady exponential growth is about stacking these curve.

He also appreciates initiatives that have the potential to unlock non-linear growth (such as LinkedIn for RB2B), and the drivers of growth you can’t measure.

2. He doesn’t play to win; he plays to destroy all competitors

Santosh’s instinct is to design businesses and GTM strategies that are impossible to compete with, which usually means forgoing near-term revenue in favor of virally expanding user bases. When you become the 800lb gorilla and synonymous with the category you can charge premium prices and see exponential revenue growth.

3. He deeply understands all of the key departments of a startup

Santosh started as an engineer, moved into Product and Growth, and then moved on to running Sales and Marketing teams. He approaches all teams with an engineer’s mindset. He sees his role as removing blockers in one department and moving to the next.

4. He knows what the building blocks of massive future success look like

Santosh has been a part of the largest data companies when they were fledgling startups. He has seen, over and over again, what a unicorn looks like as it’s being born, and knows the opportunities worth pursuing.

5. He is empathetic towards employees and customers

No matter the problem, Santosh has seen it. He understands the immense pain that we go through as we grow. He also believes in creating businesses that treat customers well and make the world a better place.

6. He knows how to put together a killer data asset

Few people in the world could put together a fixed-price data asset that would allow us to make the free offer we have at RB2B. Santosh is one of them.

7. He understands fundraising and M&A

Santosh has run many transactions as the buyer and seller, and has done countless VC and Growth Equity rounds. He understands what investors and acquirers look for in companies, which informs growth and product strategy.

TAKEAWAY

Santosh is a Unicorn builder.

A look at his LinkedIn profile will show you exactly what I’m talking about.

People always ask me how I convinced him to work with us.

I don’t have a great answer, other than “I somehow did”.

Next Tuesday (3pm EST), we all have the honor of learning from him directly

He’s going to talk:

- The Mechanics of Exponential Growth
- How he gets exec teams unstuck
- The building blocks of unicorns

Join here: https://lnkd.in/gkSJSGeu