Congratulations to Santiago Suarez Ordoñez , Ashley Wilson , Moiz Virani , and the entire Momentum.io team. It’s been a privilege to support you on this journey. Momentum embodied several themes we consistently look for in native AI companies: --> Replacing the system of record with a true system of work --> Leveraging unstructured data captured at the point of execution to generate cross-functional insights that simply can’t be created in siloed legacy cloud applications --> Prioritizing high-value, production deployments inside mature enterprises — not chasing PLG-distributed, high-churn “vibe:” revenue This outcome is also a testament to the power of the Stage 2 Capital LP network and the unique mission of our venture firm. We’re deeply grateful to the many LPs who helped make this journey successful. At Stage 2, we aim to leverage our community of 1,000+ go-to-market leaders across every dimension of the investment lifecycle: Find, Pick, Win, Support, and Exit. Momentum is a great example of that model in action. Find Thank you to Stage 2 Capital LPs Oliver J. for surfacing the opportunity at inception, and to Kyle Norton for being an early adopter of the product — as he has been with so many — continually pushing the frontier of AI in production GTM environments. Pick Appreciation to Stage 2 Capital LPs Tiffany Gonzalez and Jake Gertjan Hofwegen for helping evaluate the opportunity and pressure-test its applicability across diverse implementation contexts. Win Thank you to Stage 2 Capital LPs Toby Carrington and Evan Randall for providing strategic counsel to the founders even before we invested — demonstrating the advantage our network brings as companies scale. Support Grateful to Stage 2 Capital LPs Dione Hedgpeth and David Rich for serving as ongoing advisors and helping translate #TheScienceOfScaling frameworks into action — aligning the organization around Leading Indicators of Retention (LIR) to ensure PMF through the scaling journey and applying the Experiment/Scale/Ignore segment analysis to optimize execution for the different phases of their Product/Market segments. Exit And thank you to the many Stage 2 LPs at Salesforce who helped the team navigate the complexities of a sophisticated M&A process. I’m certain I’ve missed many LPs who played instrumental roles — this truly was a community effort. To the founder community: whether you’re building in GTM, DevOps, vertical software, or beyond — selling into tech, healthcare, finance, industrials, or other sectors — we’re here to mobilize our LP network to support your scaling journey. And once again, congratulations to Santi, Ashley, Moiz, and the entire Momentum team. Our impact was small relative to the long weeks, stress, resilience, and world-class execution required to build what you built. Well done.
Most sales processes are built backwards. They are product-centric (inside-out), not buyer-centric (outside-in). And yet, almost every research study shows that top-performing sellers listen more than they talk on the first call. Bottom performers do the opposite. A product-centric sales processes roots our...
As the AI era evolves, one of the most difficult aspects of predictions is how quickly humans will be abstracted away from today’s “point of work.” Take something as simple as building a toy. The first level of abstraction is already here:...
Annual planning is one of the most over-copied “big company” rituals in startups—and it quietly creates a lot of bad decisions. In large companies, annual planning makes sense. They’re hiring hundreds (sometimes thousands) of people, mobilizing new strategies, changing systems, rolling...
Nailing the first sales hire has historically been one of the biggest hurdles in kicking off the scaling process. They’re a unique breed: half Account Executive, spending all week in conversations with prospective customers, and half Product Manager, distilling those insights...
Here are a few take-aways from the early days of scaling at Okta with their co-founder, Frederic Kerrest . 1. Managing the board: Demonstrated control over the business versus optimistic theater Early in my career, I thought my job with the board...
Will B2B software survive the AI era? The last platform shift, on-prem to cloud, created a wave of new category winners. Salesforce, Workday, NetSuite, HubSpot, and GitHub were all native-cloud companies. But the signals are different this time. Foundational models are moving up...
Teaching at Harvard Business School has been one of the toughest and most rewarding experiences of my career. I’ve been in some tricky startup boardrooms before, but the rigor it takes to work with HBS students is next level. When you’re in...
The data is clear: teams receiving 3+ hours of coaching per rep per month consistently outperform (thanks Gartner for the analysis). But most teams never get out of reactive mode. “I wish I had more time to coach my reps....
The Second Act Stumble Steve had a way of making growth sound inevitable. He’d done it once already—tripled revenue from $7 million to $21 million in 12 short months—and the board wanted another lap around the track. Another 3×. Another...
One of the most important lessons from our early days building the HubSpot sales team is to teach your reps to start with a buyer-centric mindset. We trained our reps by having them walk in the buyer’s shoes. Every new...
What you’re selling isn’t right for everyone. That’s why great sales reps aren’t afraid of break-up emails. They know when it’s time to lean in and when to qualify out. And in a scaling motion, that discipline matters more than...
Lately, I’ve noticed many founders and operators confusing process automation with AI. And honestly, I get why. Boards are pushing executive teams to “integrate AI” into their products and operations. The hunt for efficiency begins. Some of those opportunities lead...