Mark Roberge

Honest Board Management Beats Optimistic Theater

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 was to “promise the sun.” A lot of first-time founders, VPs of Sales, and CROs fall into that trap. With experience, you realize great leaders show up with the same tone whether they missed by 20% or beat by 200%. → Here’s what we did well → Here’s what’s off → Here’s what I’m worried about → Here’s the plan That’s exactly how Freddy shows up. No drama. Just diagnosis and direction. Boards don’t expect perfection; they expect you to be have an accurate diagnosis of the business and a plan to address any deficiencies. 2. Textbook pursuit of product-market fit In my Science of Scaling framework, the early game is simple: a few dozen customers, creating consistent value. Freddy ran that playbook down to the T: → Targeting ~18+ conversations a month with people in the TAM, even if they’re smaller logos. → Leading with problems, not product: “I’ve been studying this space and would love to share what I’m seeing and get your take.” That’s pure Awareness-stage work and gold for understanding whether you’re even focused on the right problem. → Getting the first ~100 meetings through the network – alumni, past colleagues, investors’ networks – not spinning up some big cold outbound engine before PMF is real. 3. The sales playbook ≠ your pitch deck The playbook isn’t “10 slides and a demo.” It’s: → How you open the conversation → How you qualify and disqualify → How you uncover pain → How you map champions vs coaches → How you advance a decision Frameworks like MEDDIC / MEDPICC, BANT, SPICED, GPCT, are great starting points. Start with something vanilla, then customize it to your context. But have a system. “Wing it” is not a strategy. 4. Executives role in competitive selling The move I learned (and he’s echoing): → Over-invest in customers who switched from a competitor → Call them personally: thank them, stay close, take them to dinner/coffee when you’re in town → Ask for one thing in return: “Once a month, if we have a prospect choosing between us and [Competitor], can my team ask if you’re willing to chat with them as someone who’s used both?” Over time, you build a scalable reference engine and a powerful competitive moat. For more scaling best practices, order “The Science of Scaling: Using Data to Decide When - And How Fast - To Scale Revenue”. 100% of the proceeds are donated to mental health. ---> https://lnkd.in/gEjCCqx8 See the link in the comments to my entire chat with Freddy on the early scaling years of Okta. https://lnkd.in/geFA-6zR Stage 2 Capital The Science of Scaling