Zack Balzer

Director of Sales at Prospyr | ex @Mindbody @Lunchboxtech @gozenoti | ⛳️🏌🏻

[Alex Lieberman @businessbarista]

One of the best founder manifestos I’ve seen.

It’s the letter @eglyman and @karimatiyeh wrote to convince people to/not to join @tryramp.

A few of my fav lines:
- Criterion for hiring: “If this person started a company would we join them?”
- Who were for: “That first year, we hired 60 more brilliant misfits. And that group of misfits built the fastest-growing company in New York City.”
- What to expect: "You’ll be given too much responsibility. You’ll never be bored. You’ll be pushed to do the best work of your career — at the fastest pace of your career. That’s not for most people. And that’s okay.”

Such great storytelling of the principle that recruiting isn’t sales, it’s mutual match-making. 👏

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

@thecamjwright Anyone in sales not using sybill is out of their mind

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

Sales is an arm of GTM but it will always be sales

Orgs used to need separate depts/leaders for sales, revops, cs but they all depend on each other so makes sense for all in one

That’s like asking if “tortillas” are being replaced by “burritos”

[Paul Graham @paulg]

Is the term "sales" being replaced by "GTM"? Seems kind of bogus frankly.

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

@jasonlk Really good stuff Jason - is there a link to the full episode of this?

[Jason ✨👾SaaStr.Ai✨ Lemkin @jasonlk]

"In the early days, when cash is tight ... how do you pay your sales reps?

Well first, you just have to pay market. Or no one great will join you.

The question is, how much of each deal do they take home?

In the very early days, it might even need to be as much as 100% of the deal! Then, over time, you ramp to 20%-25% of what they bring in."

[Aporia @aporia9n]

I think ambitious people should treat life in “seasons” rather than trying to balance everything every day.

A few years massively overallocated to work. A period getting seriously fit. A year or two nomading. Then family takes priority for a while. Then maybe at 35 you go completely insane again and spend four years building a new company, and so on.

The mistake is thinking every metric needs to stay green all the time. Most great outcomes (building a company, writing sth serious, training for an event) need uninterrupted runs, not daily moderation. Sometimes work should suffer cause you’re travelling, sometimes your social life should suffer cause you’re building, sometimes career progression should slow cause family matters more. That’s fine.

And tbh it probably makes life more fun too. You get actual chapters and completely different versions of yourself instead of spending 40 years maintaining the same perfectly optimised routine. A few intense years in one city, a weird nomad phase, an obsession that takes over your life, then something completely different. Probably much more memorable than one very long well-optimised Tuesday.

It's why I encourage everyone to think of balance in years, not days. A good life can look horribly unbalanced on some random Tuesday and still be very balanced over 10 years.

[Jason ✨👾SaaStr.Ai✨ Lemkin @jasonlk]

"Whatever you do, don't hire a VP of Sales before you have 2 individual sales reps hitting quota.

Why not?

Until then, there's just no repeating process to build on.

A VP of Sales builds on something that's already working. At least a smidge."

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

Who are the best B2B revenue/sales follows on here?

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

@gitpush_gitpaid Head of HR welcoming the “new team members”

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

@Skratch @NotahBegay3 @chadmumm I think anybody who can break 80 from tees relative to their driving distance can say they’re good

Also if you can play an entire round without losing a ball

Good talking point but no need to overcomplicate it lol

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

@kyleplacy

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

@drip_flood Gotta go with the wolf grey

I don’t know why but these are the only soft ones out of all the MCC +4, the other colors feel like you’re holding tire rubber

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

@JRL1Golf @zagnut I’ve been gaming a Paradym for the last couple years and I like the sound of it, haven’t hit any of their other drivers though

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

@PGATOUR @Mike_kim714 Way to enjoy the moment man #shrink

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

@_raymondwill This is how your email finds me

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

@morganjingram I miss it out there for sure, was out there for my first saas role for about 4 years

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

Am I buggin or do the greens at Augusta look like they’re in really bad shape?

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

@MadeForTheRange Holy shit, is he about to hit that golf ball with that golf club?

[Zack Balzer @zackbalzer]

@droidbuilds What came first, the git or the hub?