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Steli Efti, serial entrepreneur and current CEO of Close, is no stranger to success. But in 2017, when his company focused all departments on understanding their customers better, they quickly realized they'd approach the problem from the wrong angle. Doing so derailed their product roadmap, led to lots of unhappy customers and increased churn. When they shifted focus, Close got their business back on track. Learn from Close on when saying no to your customers might just be the right move. For more content like this, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter at openviewpartners.com/newsletter.

SingleGrain's CEO, Eric Siu, is no stranger to the term "growth hacking." His performance marketing agency has helped scale high growth companies like UBER and Amazon. In this episode of BUILD find out how a product first mentality impacts growth marketing and how to increase brand awareness while staying cost efficient. For even more content, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter at openviewpartners.com/newsletter.

Kieran Flanagan, HubSpot's VP of Marketing, is no stranger to driving growth through product. In this episode of BUILD, hear how and why the business transitioned from filling a funnel with marketing qualified leads (MQLs) to product qualified leads (PQLs) and how that change positively impacted the billion dollar company.

What the heck is product led growth? We sit down with OpenView Founder & Managing Partner Scott Maxwell to find out. In this first episode of BUILD Season 3, we define product led growth and find out what makes a PLG company unique. Scott also discusses the metrics investors look for in product led growth companies and the future of this go-to-market approach.

As Season 2 comes to a close, it's only natural to examine the exit landscape. OpenView's VP of Corporate Development, John McCullough, discusses the current exit landscape and the importance of creating relationships with strategic buyers well before a deal is done. Then Darren Abrahamson, Managing Director at Bain Capital, talks through the merits of private equity as an exit option and how a CEO can choose between several buyout offers.

SaaS pricing, every business thinks about it, but the majority rarely act. In this episode of BUILD, hear from Patrick Campbell, Co-founder & CEO of ProfitWell, on the importance of pricing, the impact of freemium, and the metric you should use to drive value for your customers. Plus, Deputy COO, Craig Harris, weighs in on his business’ go-to-market model and how it impacted the company's big pricing initiative.

Fundraising is an essential part of running a startup these days. OpenView's Ricky Pelletier breaks down the fundraising process and what to be aware of when negotiating with a VC. Then we hear from Zak Hemraj, Loopio Co-founder & CEO, about how his company went from bootstrapped to funded outside the Valley and the lessons learned along the way.

OpenView's Blake Bartlett discusses how a company's go-to-market model can impact CAC Payback and if there is indeed a magic number to hit for this metric. Then we hear from Marc Morin, Founder & CEO of Auvik, about the importance of experimentation in efficiently acquiring new customers to drive down CAC.

Building diverse and inclusive teams is a goal we should all strive towards. But how do you actually create an environment that fosters diversity? Ginny Fahs, co-founder of #MovingForward, explains how VCs can create a plan to foster diverse, inclusive and harassment-free workplaces. Applied's co-founder & CEO Kate Glazebrook also joins us to discuss actions startups can take to remove hidden biases in the hiring process.

How much or how little should a company burn? Adam Marcus, Managing Partner at OpenView, discusses the role of burn in a startup and how to determine the right time to raise a next round. Then we'll hear from Nick Romito, Founder & CEO of VTS, on the tactics he used to find efficiencies after merging with their closest competitor.

While most startups are laser focused on customer acquisition in the beginning, customer retention should always be top of mind. Mackey Craven, Partner at OpenView, explains what “good” retention looks like and how to measure it. Later on we hear from Lessonly's CEO & COO about how they built (and retained) a loyal user base.

Sales and marketing spend is and should be top of mind for sales leaders. On the BUILD podcast, Liz Cain, Partner at OpenView, discusses how and why companies waste resources. Later on we chat with Dave Grow, President & COO at Lucidchart, to learn from his experience scaling the company to 10M users with few wasted resources.

All startups strive for growth. But how do you determine how fast to grow, how to build the right foundation for growth and how to jumpstart growth when it slows? Dan Demmer, Managing Partner at OpenView, and Christoph Janz, Managing Partner at Point Nine Capital, discuss what it takes to successfully grow your startup.

Jon Russo, Account-based marketing expert, discusses how companies can align strategic marketing initiatives with sales and account management strategies to maximize ROI. Be sure to stay tuned until the end to hear what we having coming for Season 2!

In 2017, AppDynamics was preparing for an IPO. Less than a month later, Cisco announced they were acquiring the company for $3.7 billion – a day before that IPO was supposed to take place. Hear from Joe Sexton, AppDynamics' former President of World Wide Field Operations, on how the roller coaster ride played out.

Entering a company as a new CEO can be intimidating. It’s important to set the tone while also respecting the existing culture. Alex Shootman shares his personal experience on stepping into the role as Workfront's CEO.

Astha Malik, VP of Platform & Product Marketing at Zendesk, joins us to talk about Answer Bot, Talk Enterprise and Chat Enterprise, new applications of AI and machine learning that focus on making customer service more human. Tune in to learn more about Zendesk's customer-centric approach to launching a product to nearly 120,000 customers.

Nailing pricing is crucial to the success of your business. But it's often overlooked by early-stage startups. HubSpot's Chief Strategy Officer, Brad Coffey, discusses how a deeper look at unit economics led to a reinvention of Hubspot's pricing plans. Today the company's market cap is nearly 5 billion dollars.

We expect real-time answers in our personal lives, but when it comes to businesses, getting in touch is often a lengthy and complicated process. Dave Gerhardt, VP of Marketing at Drift, discusses why the company did away with all lead forms to provide better, faster and more personal interactions with prospects and customers.

Andy Raskin has worked with the likes of Uber, Square, Yelp and Salesforce to help these companies tell their stories. In this episode, learn what it takes to create a strategic narrative that converts.