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Be where your business is
21–30 of 77 posts
Re: Be where your business is
#22> Erin’s VP of sales had just bought a condo in Miami to be next to her aging parents […] > > Her VP of Sales might be wonderful, but with the all the travel the company is only getting her half-time. Erin needs a full-time head of sales in New York. Time to have a difficult conversation. Hustle culture nonsense. Family is important https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/12/the-tail-end.html IMO there’s always a way to do both.…
You are absolutely right, that’s what makes it a difficult conversation.
It’s not motivational hustle crap though - that CEO must make a decision around allocating resources there.
Re: Be where your business is
#23> Erin’s VP of sales had just bought a condo in Miami to be next to her aging parents […] > > Her VP of Sales might be wonderful, but with the all the travel the company is only getting her half-time. Erin needs a full-time head of sales in New York. Time to have a difficult conversation. Hustle culture nonsense. Family is important https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/12/the-tail-end.html IMO there’s always a way to do both.…
Some positions require a full time employee. I'm sure many of the employees have families, and you're putting them all at risk if you allow a critical full time position to work half time. That isn't hustle culture.
Re: Be where your business is
#24‘In a high-dollar B-to-B business, building and scaling sales can’t be done remotely’ This is provably incorrect
I wouldn’t state it that unequivocally. But any high-dollar B2B operation relying entirely on remote sales either doesn’t need a sales team, or is begging for an aggressive competitor to take their lunch.
Re: Be where your business is
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
> a somewhat uniquely New York problem, rather than a generally applicable lesson An oil & gas start-up in San Francisco is going to have a tougher time than one in Houston. You don’t see those much. But you do see e.g. agtech in the Bay Area flying out weekly salespeople to Iowa. It’s trivial for a competitor to undercut them on credibility alone. That said, I think this is more pertinent to sales than other fields.…
Not to get too pedantic, but California does have a massive agriculture industry. UC Davis is one of the best schools in the field. It’s not much of a stretch at all for agtech businesses to grow and thrive here, locally. I guess you could argue those businesses should be in Sacramento instead of San Jose. But example aside, I do agree with your overall point.
California’s agriculture industry is not only massive but also one of the most profitable in the country, accounting for a disproportionate fraction of the food Americans eat (as opposed to e.g. corn for distillers/biofuels/animal feed) and US exports to the rest of the world. Based on cash receipts, California is #1 in the country overall (Iowa is second followed by Nebraska and Texas)
Re: Be where your business is
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to get too pedantic, but California does have a massive agriculture industry. UC Davis is one of the best schools in the field. It’s not much of a stretch at all for agtech businesses to grow and thrive here, locally. I guess you could argue those businesses should be in Sacramento instead of San Jose. But example aside, I do agree with your overall point.
California’s agriculture industry is not only massive but also one of the most profitable in the country, accounting for a disproportionate fraction of the food Americans eat (as opposed to e.g. corn for distillers/biofuels/animal feed) and US exports to the rest of the world. Based on cash receipts, California is #1 in the country overall (Iowa is second followed by Nebraska and Texas)
Don’t think I’m going out on a limb suggesting a Fresno farmer will receive an Ann Arbor or Irvine-based start-up more warmly than one from San Francisco.
Re: Be where your business is
#27Or: business where you want to be: create a business that takes you into account (or join a business based on compatibility)
Re: Be where your business is
#28‘In a high-dollar B-to-B business, building and scaling sales can’t be done remotely’ This is provably incorrect
I wouldn’t state it that unequivocally. But any high-dollar B2B operation relying entirely on remote sales either doesn’t need a sales team, or is begging for an aggressive competitor to take their lunch.
I think this is a generational thing. I do B2B consulting, remote only, and it's all about the relationship of trust. Building that over voice and video with a digital-native CEO is no problem at all.
I will add that my most recent client is remote-only and in their thirties. No competitor can beat me by going "on-site" because there is no site and never will be.
Re: Be where your business is
#29"On the Internet".
Re: Be where your business is
#30> Erin’s VP of sales had just bought a condo in Miami to be next to her aging parents […] > > Her VP of Sales might be wonderful, but with the all the travel the company is only getting her half-time. Erin needs a full-time head of sales in New York. Time to have a difficult conversation. Hustle culture nonsense. Family is important https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/12/the-tail-end.html IMO there’s always a way to do both.…
Some positions require a full time employee. I'm sure many of the employees have families, and you're putting them all at risk if you allow a critical full time position to work half time. That isn't hustle culture.
Commuting 4 days a week to NYC is not half time. (Presumably those 4 days are spent working ~12-16h.)