In 2020, we worked with Stanford's Graduate School of Business to write a case on Customer Success and @GainsightHQ. And each term since, I've had the pleasure of joining the class "Building & Managing Sales Orgs" for a day.
This term, Gainsight CEO @chuckganapathi and I teamed with with lecturers @DannieHerz@JoshMLeslie to cover how CS and Forward-Deployed Engineering are relevant in today's world.
I focused on the FDE topic and learned so much from the students.
Some of the bull cases were:
* "Forward-Deployed Engineers allow companies to fit their product to their customers' processes, versus forcing customers' processes to fit their product."
* "FDEs are sometimes a higher ROI investment than additional sales reps."
* "FDEs are the best way to funnel product insights back to the founding team."
And on the flipside:
* "FDE can't be a one-size-fits-all and, in particular, it can't be used to paper over fundamental product issues."
* "FDE means so many things from domain expert to deep architect."
* "So much of product-market fit is getting the right customers and no amount of FDE fixes the wrong clients."
Each year, I'm blown away by the existing knowledge and first principles' thinking of GSB students. Pretty awesome to watch.
The Big Ten is currently a 10-11 bid league with most Bracketology projections. Here is what it would take for the Huskies to finish in this group and secure a March Madness Berth:
I don’t think enough people realize what’s about to erupt in Berkeley, California.
A lot of folks will get their lunch taken. Hide yo wife, hide yo kids. Cause Cal football is about to become DANGEROUS.
The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.
.@UWVolleyball picked up a big home victory over Ohio State after struggling on the road in Indiana last week | via @SamLeslie22 https://t.co/df9d6X5GZQ
I was shocked at the refusal to condemn calls for genocide during yesterday's Congressional testimony from the presidents of MIT, Harvard, and Penn. I ended up watching a few hours of the hearing, and the answers were shamefully evasive and equivocal throughout. As an alum (albeit fleeting) of the first of those institutions, it appears that something is very broken.
https://t.co/SXL7aIvpT6
(More from the White House, @AlbertBourla, and @tylercowen:
• https://t.co/xbrt2cDE75
• https://t.co/EUbnW3Hv2A
• https://t.co/dQK8nnoT8o.)
Not antisemitic: to criticize the Israeli government, its leaders, or its policies as you would that of any other country. Israelis do this every day. Totally, hideously, 100% antisemitic: to criticize or attack Jews around the world for Israel's actions.
1/ More in the VC community need to speak out publicly to quell the panic about @SVB_Financial ... I believe their CEO when he says they are solvent and not in violation of any banking ratios & goal was to raise & strengthen balance sheet