Brendon Cassidy (CoSell) and Sam Blond (Founders Fund) SaaStr Podcast

Sam Blond is a partner at Founders Fund, investing in companies at all stages. Previously, he was Chief Revenue Officer at Brex, overseeing revenue growth from under $1M to several hundred million dollars. Sam also served as VP of Sales at Zenefits, driving revenue from under $1M to $70M of ARR in two years. He has been an active angel investor, supporting 25 software startups from Seed to Series C.

Sam Blond

Partner, Founders Fund

Brendon Cassidy is a co-founder of CoSell, a B2B sales team collaboration platform. With a strong background in sales leadership, he has held key positions as VP of Sales at notable companies including Talkdesk, Echosign (now Adobe Sign), and LinkedIn. Additionally, Cassidy has served as an early advisor to Gong, a leading conversation analytics and salesforce effectiveness platform. His extensive experience and expertise in the sales industry have been instrumental in driving growth.

Brendon Cassidy

Co-founder, CoSell

Some highlights include: 

• 💰 Brendan Cassidy, co-founder of Cosell, is a former sales leader and one of the most accomplished sales leaders in the world, making him uniquely qualified to discuss founder-led sales.

   
• 💼 The traditional "cold outreach playbook" is becoming less effective, and companies should focus on tapping into existing relationships and networks for more strategic and credible customer connections.

   
• 💼 The power of introductions: "If it comes through an introduction through someone they know and trust. You know, you're in better hands; you'll have more rope."

   
• 💼 CoSell's approach to networking: "If the people that have these networks are sort of baked into this equation from the get-go, then it's extraordinarily powerful."

   
• 💰 Leveraging existing customers is key to successful sales, providing defense and offense in the sales cycle.

   
• 🤝 Leveraging advisors, personal networks, and existing customers is a standard method for acquiring the first set of customers among successful founders.

   
• 📧 A thoughtful and personalized email addressing the recipient and their value can increase the chances of getting a response, especially when fundraising.

   
• 💡 Startups need to be able to explain their problem and solution in one sentence, or else they may not truly understand their market.