Episode #71 How This Tech CEO is Changing the Software Sales Cycle - Stop the ENDLESS Discovery Calls ft. Troy Munson

In this episode, Troy Munson, CEO of Dimmo, explored how his platform is transforming the software buying experience. Drawing on his extensive background in sales at top firms like MongoDB, Troy discusses how innovation in technology can simplify purchasing processes while optimizing sales effectiveness.

The Problems in Software Buying:
The traditional sales cycle for software purchases can often be tedious, involving multiple touchpoints and consultations. Key challenges include:
- Inefficient Communication: Many software companies involve numerous sales reps leading to fragmented interactions.
- Overwhelming Choices: Buyers feel inundated with options and struggle to select the right software to meet their needs.

Troy's Solution - Enter, Dimmo:
- Informed Leads: Sales reps benefit from engaging with prospects who are already knowledgeable about their options.
- Elimination of Initial Discovery Calls: Potential buyers can gauge their needs earlier in the process, reducing lengthy sales cycles.
- AI Utilization: Leveraging AI to provide tailored software recommendations based on specific pain points, improving the efficiency of the evaluation process.
- Focus on Community Impact: Troy emphasizes the importance of supporting emerging startups by allowing them to showcase innovative solutions effectively.

Platforms like Dimmo signify a major shift in how software is bought and sold. By emphasizing streamlined evaluations and informed leads, Dimmo not only simplifies the purchasing process but also enhances sales productivity.

Follow Troy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/troymunson/

PS - huge shout out to Sendoso for sponsoring our show.

We could not do this without you.

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Transcript

00:00 I think nowadays honestly this
00:03 assumption that you got to ship fast and
00:04 iterate fast it might be going away and
00:06 it might be in a way where it's like you
00:07 have to build a really good product so
00:09 then you can get people to stick with it
00:11 um I think that that we're heading back
00:13 in that
00:19 direction welcome back to another
00:21 episode of the revenue reimagine podcast
00:24 we have an amazing guest with us today
00:26 that is changing the way y'all are
00:28 buying software we have Troy mson with
01:31 us who's a longtime seller having worked
01:32 at Brands like mongodb and metadata he
01:35 has turned CEO and founder of demo who
01:37 like I said is aiming to change the way
01:40 not only that you buy software but that
01:42 you evaluate it because let's face it
01:44 having to go talk to five six seven
01:46 people just to get a quote to then talk
01:48 to five six seven more people isn't a
01:51 pleasant experience for any of us Troy
01:53 welcome to the show man Adam one hell of
01:55 an intro thank you so much for having me
01:57 you you you you you could use it and
01:59 just drop it like on your website
01:02 every time it's his radio background
01:04 it's funny it's the one thing we we got
01:06 to give him props for um so uh super
01:10 interesting on demo I I've been doing
01:12 some research on on the company and it
01:16 it's everything is broken about like
01:17 buying software we do it a lot for our
01:19 clients but tell us a bit about like why
01:21 you did it why you started the company
01:24 um probably trying to scratch an itch
01:26 that you were dealing with in the past
01:28 that happens a lot so
02:31 tell yeah you know what's funny is is so
02:35 I at demo we have a podcast where we let
02:37 our customers have uh essentially allow
02:39 them to pitch their product right and so
02:40 the whole idea is like how do we get
02:42 people to know more about technology
02:43 without having to jump into a sales
02:45 cycle and so the reason why I bring that
02:47 up is because it seems like everybody is
02:50 trying to scratch their own itch or
02:51 maybe an itch that they had um and mine
02:54 wasn't that way so it's actually pretty
02:55 pretty interesting mine was more so how
02:58 the hell can I pay off my mortgage
02:59 without using my W2 income that's what I
02:02 wanted to do I didn't care about
02:03 anything else I was like let me just
02:05 make my mortgage from a side gig and
02:08 life will be good we can use our money
02:09 for vacations everything like that and
02:11 so I was headed home from the gym one
02:14 day and I was like ah you know what
02:15 people hate buying software it's not fun
02:18 then you have companies like nadic and
02:20 torial and all these companies out there
02:21 that do interactive demos right that go
02:23 and help and you know people evaluate
02:25 software play with the software things
02:26 like that and um I was reading The
02:29 Benchmark report
03:31 days before of nadic essentially just
03:33 saying like you know stats on how much
03:35 people want to buy software so I was
03:37 headed home from the gym and I was like
03:38 why don't I just do a demo day where I
03:40 have five companies they all target the
03:42 same ICP so the very first one you
03:44 mentioned metadata they actually are a
03:45 uh an ABM software so the very first one
03:48 was an ABM demo day just ABM software so
03:52 we had five different ABM companies but
03:54 I was headed home from the gym and I was
03:55 like I'm going to host a demo day where
03:57 it's five companies and then they all
03:58 target the same ICP they pay me I'll
03:01 drive the registrant and then they get
03:02 to know who came like that's that was it
03:05 went home and literally within a couple
03:07 of hours 12 companies said yes I will
03:09 pay for this and I I was making up
03:10 numbers I was literally like I'll drive
03:12 you anywhere from 100 to 300 registring
03:14 just give me a few hundred bucks and I
03:17 was able to luckily but I had no idea
03:21 what uh like how to host a webinar what
03:24 webinar software I didn't know what I
03:25 was doing I was just like let me see if
03:27 people will pay for this because then I
03:28 can go pay for my mortgage and be happy
04:30 all that all that to say is four demo
04:33 days later and before the first one I
04:35 brought on Sarah brazer who is a
04:37 co-founder and then Lucas schwarzenberg
04:38 he's also another co-founder um Sarah
04:41 really was there to help me drive
04:42 registrant I was like Sarah I I can't
04:44 drive registrant alone I need your help
04:46 um so yeah all that to say is it mainly
04:48 started off as a demo day but then there
04:50 was just this huge shift in the market
04:52 where like outbound doesn't work at the
04:53 same time as people want to buy the way
04:55 they want to buy and then sales reps are
04:57 not hitting quota and I was like why
04:58 don't we just create a way for people to
04:60 evaluate software at scale so that's how
04:03 it was
04:06 created so it's funny right you talk
04:08 about how outbound doesn't work um the
04:11 demo day I love I so fun fact try I
04:14 actually used to lead sales for repre um
04:16 which competes with novatic and toriel
04:18 uh I'm a full disclosure and adviser for
04:20 demo stack um and I think all of those
04:23 things have their place but it doesn't
04:26 give you the full picture right like
04:27 that is a very scripted
05:30 five to eight clicks maybe 15 at most of
05:34 I'm going to show you the best pieces of
05:36 exactly what I want to show you and it's
05:38 not buying software it's just hey here's
05:40 a little guided tour it's a little
05:41 better than a demo right um I was
05:43 talking about this with the founder the
05:45 other day who's like why don't we just
05:46 put a 10-minute demo up on our website
05:47 I'm like because no one will ever watch
05:49 it but that's a whole separate
05:51 conversation so I think when you talk
05:53 about changing how people buy software
05:56 like the market is certainly ripe for
05:59 this right now I'd love to know just
05:01 like you're working with a lot of
05:03 software companies um what makes them
05:07 want to pop up their software on demo be
05:11 a part of the platform what what's the
05:12 ROI that they feel they're getting and
05:15 how do they articulate that where their
05:18 salespeople don't feel like oh [ __ ]
05:20 you're trying to eliminate me yeah yeah
05:22 so I've been a long time sales rep um
05:24 and then speaking of like the nadic
05:26 reprises and things like that we have
05:27 Partnerships with walut NADA tutorial
05:29 like lot of them like that's you can put
06:31 an interactive demo on demo which is
06:32 great um but speaking of the sales rep
06:35 thing I have been a longtime sales rep
06:37 for the last seven eight years and to be
06:39 honest a lot of the calls especially if
06:41 it's coming from like an SDR or
06:42 something like that a lot of those calls
06:44 are just a waste of time they're not
06:45 qualified they're not ready to buy my
06:47 whole thesis is less at the end of the
06:50 day demo or not take demo out of the
06:52 equation sales teams will become leaner
06:55 like I I truly believe that sales teams
06:57 will become leaner because there's just
06:59 going to be easy ACC access to get what
06:00 you need and so take them out of the
06:02 picture now bring it back in my idea is
06:04 how do we get somebody educated to come
06:06 inbound and say hey I already know about
06:08 you I also know about nadic it's between
06:10 you two like tell me why you're
06:11 different it's like they already know
06:13 that they're in Market they're ready to
06:14 buy they're ready to talk to you I would
06:16 love that as a sales rep so I don't want
06:17 to remove sales reps at all right that's
06:20 not the case um I think there's a lot of
06:23 Technology out there that can be
06:25 transactional that aren't transactional
06:26 and they're wasting like 220k OT on a
06:28 sales rep don't get me wrong
07:30 um but that's to the to the sellers I
07:33 hope this helps like I hope you get more
07:35 qualified leads I hope you reduce your
07:36 sales cycle link and I hope and I hope
07:38 you increase your ACV because your job's
07:40 not to sell that first initial that
07:42 first initial uh land price now now it's
07:44 like you know they're in Market use your
07:46 sales skills to expand the deal and
07:48 strategically make it from a five figure
07:50 deal to a six figureure deal that's kind
07:51 of how I how I imagine it I love it yeah
07:55 it totally makes sense like and that's
07:56 what we talk to a lot of clients about
07:58 because it's been go to Market's just
07:01 been shifting so much right the
07:02 outbounds not really working you said
07:04 something interesting about you know
07:06 sdrs and and you know there's a whole
07:09 rise on the strr world and then we've
07:12 had we've had challenges getting in
07:14 front of people and so I as I was
07:18 looking through demo and and and having
07:21 um a look through who's on your website
07:24 it started making me think like this is
07:26 a great alignment and partnership with
07:28 like near bound so you know somebody
08:31 that has uh some connections or
08:33 conversations and they push them the
08:36 demo to go look at the software instead
08:38 of like so it's almost like one more
08:40 cycle so you get a referral they're like
08:42 yeah I'm curious about what the software
08:44 is but instead of going directly to the
08:45 company they go to demo to kind of take
08:47 a look at it then they go to the company
08:49 so it's almost like a force multiplier
08:51 with near bound yeah yeah and and kind
08:54 of to add on to that um soon there will
08:57 be a way to share a demo like our whole
08:59 thing kind of like this chat GPT play
08:01 right like AI was around way before chat
08:03 GPT but what they did was they made it
08:05 so easily accessible and sharable and
08:08 that it just took the World by storm
08:09 like it was just it was there right and
08:11 so a lot of a lot of ways that I want to
08:13 go to market is like how do you get
08:15 people to just talk about it share it
08:17 and things like that and Adam one thing
08:18 that I did was ignore your question
08:20 about the ROI and I apologize about that
08:22 real quick D Dale ignores me all the
08:25 time hey uh my wife would say I do the
08:28 same thing to her so um real quickly Roi
09:33 completely free to be hosted on demo if
09:35 you want to have any sort of idea of
09:37 like who's in Market to buy solutions
09:38 kind of like the G2 Playbook that's when
09:40 you pay for us when it comes to what
09:42 kind of Roi you get it it all depends
09:46 we've noticed that sales Tech gets a
09:47 pretty heavy Roi so for example um I
09:51 can't say their name unfortunately but
09:52 somebody came up to me at HubSpot
09:54 inbound and he was like Troy I I got to
09:56 thank you and I was like why like you're
09:57 one of our Early Access customers I
09:59 should thank you I ow you for like
09:00 trusting in me before this was even a
09:02 platform um and he goes because of demo
09:04 we're about to close our largest deal
09:06 ever and I was like that's the [ __ ] that
09:07 I love that's what I want to hear over
09:09 and over and over but um so yeah Roi
09:12 it's it's if you're in sales Tech I
09:14 think it's really heavy and I think
09:15 that's because my audience Sarah's
09:17 audience is really sales heavy um but
09:20 we're heavily investing in in just
09:21 content to make sure that everybody gets
09:23 over the good
09:26 Roi yeah it it's interesting right
09:29 because the ROI piece is important but I
10:31 I I like what you said about not wanting
10:34 to take the sales rep job right like
10:36 this is to arguably shorten the sales
10:39 cycle let people evaluate on their own
10:41 until they're ready to talk to a sales
10:43 rep um we're we're all buyers right like
10:46 we're all sellers but we're all buyers
10:47 and I can tell you Dale what have I
10:49 bought like 10 pieces of software for us
10:52 since we started um plus countless Troy
10:54 for our customers and probably nine out
10:57 of 10 times I've done all my research
10:59 before beforehand I've spoken to you
10:01 know whether it be Troy or Sarah or Dale
10:03 and got their opinion I've tried to go
10:05 online I've even had some folks who have
10:08 broken terms of service and let me play
10:09 it in their instance which I think is a
10:11 a very real problem that you solve right
10:13 like you don't want people in other
10:15 people's instances but I want you to be
10:16 able to like see this and use this um
10:19 and then when I'm ready I do want to
10:20 talk to a sales rep because I don't
10:22 believe I'm going to get the best price
10:23 or understand everything I can just by
10:25 going online and clicking through but
10:27 I'm armed with so much more data um and
10:30 then I think it really makes that sales
11:31 rep job much easier because I come in
11:33 knowing exactly what I want to talk
11:34 about save your 45 minute demo script
11:36 save your Spanish Inquisition of
11:38 Discovery questions and let's talk about
11:39 what's really
11:41 important are there when it comes to
11:44 buying software like are there certain
11:46 companies that are better or certain
11:48 size companies or certain softwares that
11:49 are better suited for this or do you
11:51 think that this is really the future of
11:53 any type of software that you can
11:56 buy yeah so this is a great question and
11:60 it's one I think about a lot and you
11:02 know in the beginning you're always
11:02 trying to narrow down like who is the
11:04 best fit for your technology regardless
11:06 of what company you work at um and what
11:09 I think is I think the future of of
11:12 buying software absolutely depend like I
11:14 don't think you're going to buy IBM I
11:16 don't think that you're going to buy
11:17 like these Large Ass companies through
11:19 like some sort of marketplace maybe like
11:21 Azure Marketplace you can start the
11:22 instance there and things like that like
11:23 the cloud marketplaces they own those
11:25 Enterprise markets right like I don't
11:27 know if I would ever want to compete
11:28 with that um but I think like give your
12:31 your definitely like your emerging
12:32 startups your small businesses your midm
12:34 markets I think that you would be able
12:37 to evaluate in depth like I think we're
12:40 just scratching the surface of what AI
12:41 can do when it comes to like evaluating
12:43 technology comparing technology like I
12:45 think we aren't even like we haven't
12:47 even sniffed it to be honest I I believe
12:49 that there's so much you can do with AI
12:51 when it comes to
12:52 valuation um but that's what I see I see
12:55 and maybe even lower Enterprise like I
12:57 used to work at proof point I'd consider
12:59 them mult multibillion dollar company
12:00 I'd consider them an Enterprise company
12:02 um definitely would be able to evaluate
12:04 that software and they're even on our
12:06 site but you can definitely evaluate
12:08 that software and then go inbound so um
12:11 I really think everybody can benefit
12:13 from it and if the traffic just
12:14 continues to grow week over week I think
12:16 like at the end of the day it's why
12:17 wouldn't you want your platform on there
12:19 some people get a little H what about my
12:21 competitor watching it we have ways
12:23 around that too but um everyone knows
12:26 everyone else's stuff like if if you
12:28 want to get to a competitor's you can do
12:30 it yeah regardless like you you can do
13:33 anything to I just think that we've
13:34 added a little bit of friction for that
13:36 and if you add a little bit it weeds out
13:37 the majority but still if you're really
13:39 dying to know what's going on with the
13:40 competitor you're gonna figure it out
13:41 yeah you'll secret shop it people people
13:44 know how to do that stuff um one of the
13:46 things that I think about going through
13:48 this as like looking on the other side
13:51 do do the buyers really know what
13:54 they're trying to solve for so you know
13:56 this this kind of takes out the
13:59 Discovery aspect of this where you know
13:03 they think they have a problem and they
13:04 may be solving the branch of the problem
13:06 not the root of the problem and do they
13:08 get themselves into a pinch where
13:10 they're buying software they may not
13:12 even need um and the rot of the problem
13:14 is a completely different issue and
13:17 curious what your your perspective on
13:19 that yeah so we actually soft launch it
13:21 it's on our site right now and it's just
13:23 the version one of it it's we'll
13:25 announce it publicly next week so
13:27 probably by the time this airs uh um yes
14:31 so right now we are coming out with the
14:32 way to at least leverage Ai and then our
14:34 proprietary data to and I hate that I
14:37 hate saying that we're leveraging AI
14:38 because everybody's doing it right like
14:40 it's not hot anymore so I hate saying it
14:43 but we have to right and so the way that
14:46 I see it is like you can go in and and
14:48 come evaluate a technology and be like
14:50 hey I'm using Zoom info today I'm not
14:53 happy with it what should I be looking
14:55 at and instead of just saying hey here's
14:57 20 technologies that you should look at
14:58 it actually responds to the question
14:60 first what don't you like about Zoom
14:01 info is it the contact accuracy is it
14:03 the price is it the customer support
14:05 give us a little bit more information
14:06 and then we'll push point you in the
14:08 right direction that's literally what
14:09 our if you go to our site today it would
14:10 literally do that to you and so our
14:13 whole goal is like Zoom info great for
14:15 an Enterprise company right but if you
14:17 go to a startup we're not going to be
14:19 spending a$ thousand dollars ahead to go
14:20 get contact data we can use Apollo we
14:22 can use Wizzle we can use so many
14:23 different Technologies and so what we're
14:25 doing is making sure that the technology
14:27 that we recommend is based on specific
14:29 problems so for example like I said it
15:31 would say give us more details about
15:32 your problems and you could say yes it's
15:34 contact data accuracy and the pricings
15:36 would be a little bit too high what
15:37 should I be looking at what we're trying
15:38 to do is recommend People based on their
15:40 answers right recommend people
15:42 Technology based on their ICP so like
15:43 does this company fit well with their
15:45 ICP and then does it solve the
15:47 challenges that they're talking to us
15:48 about um so that's how I see that and
15:51 like I said I feel like we're just
15:52 sniffing the surface right
15:55 now it's it's in a way where you can
15:58 only
15:60 give data give the data that you have
15:02 right and I feel like over time the more
15:04 data that we collect and the more that
15:06 we know like hey giving this person's
15:08 specific root problem because we're
15:10 trying to like eliminate that first
15:12 discovery call with this oh there's
15:14 we're trying to eliminate that I know
15:16 we're trying to eliminate that first
15:18 discovery call with this AI like that
15:19 just canned bant kind of questions and
15:22 even maybe that SDR qualification call
15:25 um and I think this can do that really
15:26 well um but yeah we want to make sure
15:28 we're recommending like
15:30 the right technology for the right
16:31 company for the right person for the
16:33 right problem um versus just saying yeah
16:36 here's 20 alternatives to
16:38 zoom people buy from people that's why
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16:53 throughout the entire sales process
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16:07 sos.com yeah it's every
16:11 product I I feel like every product can
16:13 can be represented here right like
16:16 there's there is zoom info Apollo and I
16:18 think wizo was the other one you said I
16:20 actually just heard about that for the
16:21 first time the other day um so
16:23 definitely on my list to go check out um
16:26 but it goes back to this one theme that
16:28 I keep hearing over and over again and
16:29 it's simplifying the process and giving
17:32 options and you're right like I I I'm at
17:34 a client offsite right now and one of
17:36 the things the Cent said to me is well
17:38 why don't we just go get Zoom info I'm
17:40 like because the cost is prohibitive for
17:42 your two reps in your $4,800 ACV like
17:44 the math doesn't make sense um but there
17:47 are so many other options we were
17:49 talking about like waterfall and clay
17:50 and why we wouldn't use it um but with a
17:53 tool like demo it's like you're going to
17:55 know that there are more things than
17:56 Zoom info out there and listen I I love
17:58 me Zoom info right I for a lot of
17:00 reasons um but for smaller companies
17:03 also they've done a great job of being
17:05 brand leaders and they're not a good fit
17:07 for every company and to be able to know
17:09 that there are other things out there
17:10 that you can look at I think are really
17:11 important try I want to I want to ship
17:14 gears a little bit just to kind of like
17:16 founder mode more so than demo um
17:19 looking at your LinkedIn I think you
17:20 founded a company before um if I'm not
17:23 mistaken um and going from being a
17:25 seller to a founder and a CEO it it's
17:28 different right um it's a whole
18:31 different mindset and I'm sure when you
18:33 were talking with folks and probably
18:35 even now there's a lot of people who
18:37 want to give you a lot of advice on how
18:39 to build your company and what to do and
18:40 what not to do and how to do it and like
18:42 make sure you do that what are what are
18:44 one or two assumptions that people have
18:48 like told you or that are commonly held
18:50 beliefs about building a company that as
18:52 you're building demo you've said [ __ ] it
18:55 not following that we're going to do
18:56 this this way
18:59 H yeah yeah yeah um I would say one one
18:05 assumption is is essentially like
18:07 validate the idea I didn't validate I
18:09 didn't validate [ __ ] for demo it I was
18:11 like [ __ ] this like I know I know where
18:14 the Market's headed just because it's
18:16 like there's companies like nadic repr
18:17 priest tutorial that are just like
18:19 they're bringing in cash right and so
18:21 that's one thing is like needing to
18:22 validate the idea um and I think that's
18:27 it's so easy to spin up Tech these days
18:29 you can go and I think it's so easy to
19:31 generate at least your first bit of
19:33 Revenue these days it's easier than ever
19:35 before to get those first few customers
19:37 and people think it's it's hard or it's
19:39 confusing um so I think that's
19:42 one
19:44 um and I think actually this this might
19:46 be a hot take I don't know everybody
19:48 that says something is a hot take is
19:49 typically like lukewarm if that and so
19:53 um I think um a lot of people say ship
19:58 fast and then
19:59 reiterate and I and I hon and I agreed I
19:02 agreed for like the last several years
19:04 and I think that was the playbook for
19:06 several years but I think maybe now
19:08 because there's so many Technologies
19:09 like your product is kind of what makes
19:11 you that differentiator and it is what
19:13 makes you stand out we shipped the first
19:15 part of demo really fast um for sure but
19:18 then we didn't make another shipment for
19:20 a while like we wanted to build a lot of
19:21 things in the background and make sure
19:23 that it worked out because our website
19:25 is our product if you have a [ __ ]
19:26 experience you're not going to stay on a
19:27 website and like that's bad right
19:29 so um I think nowadays honestly this
20:33 assumption that you got to ship fast and
20:35 iterate fast it might be going away and
20:37 it might be in a way where it's like you
20:38 have to build a really good product so
20:39 then you can get people to stick with it
20:42 um I think that that we're heading back
20:44 in that direction where it's like less
20:45 of ship fast iterate fast and it's more
20:47 of like let's button it up let's polish
20:48 it like don't take forever to ship right
20:50 but like I kind of think that like good
20:53 enough's not good enough anymore it's
20:55 it's almost like it's almost like in the
20:57 go to market space shifting so quickly
20:00 same thing because if people were in
20:03 this like 8C world like Instagram like
20:06 looking through things if people don't
20:07 get it right away they don't see the
20:09 value they just like will bounce off of
20:11 it and all of a sudden like you have a
20:13 you have a usability problem we talked
20:15 to a lot of investors and we're and one
20:18 of the things that they don't look at
20:19 enough is active daily users or monthly
20:22 active users like okay great you have
20:25 you know 10 customers but like what's
20:27 the real use usage on the back end of it
21:30 and Are you delivering the value you
21:32 promis in the sales cycle on these users
21:35 or are you just shipping products super
21:36 quick so totally totally line very
21:40 overlooked yeah I I want to I I saw on
21:43 your LinkedIn profile and I really I
21:45 really appreciated this one you started
21:47 a consulting company I'm sure you've
21:48 done this in the past before but the
21:50 Consulting uh the the term is I help
21:53 Founders bring products to life and
21:55 acquire their first customers by doing
21:56 two things you know early product divis
21:59 the development vision and creating a go
21:01 to market plan but the thing that was
21:02 really interesting to me is if you do
21:04 more than 200k AR this isn't for you so
21:08 tell the audience a little bit about
21:10 what that you know what that means like
21:11 what you're trying to accomplish how
21:13 you're trying to help because it sounds
21:14 like you're trying to give back to the
21:15 community uh going through this process
21:18 yeah so yeah the reason why I said that
21:21 is one well now I could probably change
21:23 it I I made that and I still do this and
21:25 I I only help three companies a month um
21:27 I at the point I'd never scal the
21:29 company to 200k in ARR so the other two
22:31 companies that I created they were in
22:33 the five figures of ARR and then they're
22:34 all side gigs and then my gut was like
22:37 this isn't a big enough problem to solve
22:39 let me try to sell this and I was
22:40 luckily able to sell a couple of them
22:42 but so um what I like to do and I have a
22:46 call actually tomorrow is I like there's
22:48 so many people ever since I quit from
22:50 like this quit I actually got forc into
22:53 like fulltime and demo funny enough but
22:55 ever since I went full-time there's so
22:57 many people I made an announce about it
22:59 and there's so many people that have
22:01 this idea a lot of them are sellers
22:02 right a lot of sellers have these ideas
22:04 but they don't want to leave their W2
22:05 because they're making 200k a year and
22:06 it's hard to leave that totally
22:09 understand was in the same exact boat I
22:10 triy to ride that W2 wave as much as I
22:12 could um and they have these ideas and
22:15 so what I love to do is like actually
22:17 help them from a product perspective I'm
22:19 not a technical guy at all but from a
22:21 product perspective like as a seller for
22:23 the last eight years and actually
22:24 helping sellers pretty much every single
22:26 week these are the issues that are are
22:28 happening happen here's what I think the
23:30 product needs to look like and then I
23:31 also like I love like let's go find your
23:34 first customers let's get that first
23:35 person to pay you some sort of money
23:37 $500 $1,000 $20 yep doesn't matter um I
23:41 love that part like so going from an
23:43 idea to actually like incorporating as
23:44 an LLC or C Corp and then building that
23:46 first building the product and then
23:48 getting your first customers so that's
23:50 really what I focus on is like let's
23:51 take your idea into a product into a
23:54 customer and then like I'm going to kind
23:55 of detach and I'm I'm available via text
23:57 kind of thing so that's what I do there
23:00 love that yeah it's uh I'm stoked man
23:05 like there's not a lot of um Products
23:08 that come out um or technology that come
23:11 come out that I'm like wow like this is
23:13 something that really makes sense and I
23:14 I might be a little biased because of my
23:16 time at repri and my work with demo
23:17 stack where like I get the space a
23:20 little bit um but even just some folks
23:23 that I've spoken to you know before we
23:25 had you on the show like looking at some
23:26 of the clients on demo um and speak to
23:29 some folks who are actively using it
24:30 like it it's super cool to see that
24:33 especially when you didn't validate
24:34 right you're just like oh this is a cool
24:36 idea and it's like wow like this this
24:37 could really turn into something um so I
24:40 think that you know being able to see
24:41 that is cool when you look at um two
24:46 maybe three to four years from now
24:48 where's demo going like are you guys
24:50 like are you looking to become this big
24:52 company that has you know X number of
24:54 people and you know substantial I mean
24:57 we all want substantial Revenue growth
24:59 but you know other verticals or like is
24:01 this more of a couple people dare I say
24:05 lifestyle make life really easy but make
24:07 some money like where where where's your
24:10 vision small team big acquisition no IPO
24:15 um I never want to run a company with
24:17 hundreds of employees and I'm the reason
24:19 why you can put kids on your food or
24:21 food on your kids plate not kids on your
24:23 food's plate kids on your food plate I
24:25 like that one too yeah yeah so I I don't
24:27 ever want to be like hey by the way I've
24:29 got to lay off 30% of you guys and I
25:31 hope that you guys can go feed your your
25:32 family and stuff now um never want to be
25:35 in that position so my goal and it's
25:38 always been my goal my wife knows this
25:39 go and sell a company for eight figures
25:41 um and so that's what I want to do um
25:43 and if it's more great but that's that's
25:45 the goal for demo at the end of the day
25:47 I also want transactions to happen
25:49 through demo too I think that small
25:51 businesses instead of going to pay 180
25:53 to 250k OT for a sales rep I think that
25:55 a lot of small businesses can do
25:57 transactions through demo
25:59 um but that's you mentioned a few years
25:01 away so like that's probably a couple
25:03 probably a couple years away maybe less
25:05 who knows but we're gonna have demo
25:07 payments we're gonna have I I I I I love
25:10 it right not not only can you sign up
25:13 through demo and you could get your
25:14 percentage but let's run the payments
25:15 through demo and we'll take a percentage
25:17 of the credit card Revenue as well yeah
25:19 exactly hey good idea I'm gonna write
25:20 that one
25:22 down and and it's uh you know as as you
25:26 go through the evolution of your company
25:28 I'm curious a little little bit how your
25:30 leadership style has changed from like
26:33 going from sales rep now you're running
26:34 a company like when you think about
26:37 evolution of your leadership what's the
26:39 one thing that's been like that you did
26:42 in the past that you don't want to pull
26:43 into the
26:44 future yeah so it's funny I've always
26:46 been an IC so I've always just been a
26:48 sales rep and it's more so what do I
26:49 take from managers that I've had in the
26:51 past that I like and then that I dislike
26:53 um one thing that I one thing that I
26:57 hate
26:59 about leadership is just having to
26:02 manage people I think it's I don't know
26:04 it's even like my we have one employee
26:06 we have two two co-founder or three
26:08 total co-founders including myself and
26:09 then one employee and I hate knowing
26:11 that like I'm that person's boss it's so
26:13 it's such a strange thing to me like
26:14 she's like you're my boss and it feels
26:16 weird to me like I just want to work
26:18 with you alongside with you to build a
26:19 badass company like that's what I want
26:20 to do um so like one thing that I that I
26:25 like doing is like last night actually
26:27 8:00 p.m. 8:30 p.m. I texted her was
26:29 like hey you're crushing it I appreciate
27:31 you I appreciate that you're here
27:32 something like that like I just love
27:33 like the being able to let them know
27:35 like hey you're doing a kick-ass job um
27:38 and then what I don't want to really do
27:40 is become like that manager that's
27:41 always breathing down your you know
27:42 breathing down your neck asking what
27:44 you're doing why aren't we delivering
27:45 like for me you you don't want to become
27:47 Dale yeah I don't want to become Dale
27:49 like that's the last perk no um so yeah
27:52 for me it's like we're we're heavily
27:54 invested in content because content at
27:56 the end of the day is what's going to
27:57 drive traffic and I know it's a slow
27:59 game but as a CEO I'm like I need I need
27:01 quick wins too um but I don't want to be
27:04 like hey why isn't our traffic going up
27:07 as much as I was hoping because it's
27:08 such a slow game with content but yeah I
27:11 think that's it it's interesting going
27:12 from a just an IC to a leader and it's
27:15 just taking like the the good traits of
27:17 my managers and the and then removing
27:18 the bad traits from the past um also
27:21 just being so transparent like I let
27:23 every week I let her know like hey this
27:24 is how much money we have in the bank
27:25 this is how much runway like all that
27:27 stuff that's that's laid out like
27:29 that [ __ ] I love
28:31 that yeah lots of good Insight lots of
28:34 good Insight Troy what I uh what I'd
28:36 love to do man first off thank you for
28:37 sharing the vision uh how it started
28:41 where you're looking to go um super
28:44 exciting I'd love to dive into some
28:46 rapid fire we have a few minutes here uh
28:48 want to put you on the hot seat the
28:49 rules are 10 words or less um for every
28:54 answer otherwise Dale has a super secret
28:56 gong that comes out and bopsy in there
28:60 all right here we go uh early bird or
28:02 night owl early
28:05 bird if you weren't in Tech what other
28:08 profession or hobby would you
28:12 have golfing or real estate
28:16 okay nice what's your favorite guilty
28:20 pleasure
28:21 snack buffalo wings and ice
28:24 cream together no
28:27 separate new new new flavor of ice cream
28:30 I don't know
29:31 about what's the uh first app you check
29:34 when you wake up
29:38 l favorite book or podcast other than
29:42 ours uh related to
29:48 entrepreneurship Atomic habits is a
29:51 classic yeah absolutely last one let's
29:54 wrap it up dream vacation destination
29:59 maybe Australia right now nice very nice
29:04 always always been on my list Troy thank
29:06 you so much for joining the show man we
29:08 appreciate it where can people go check
29:10 out demo yeah demo. dim
29:15 mo. go check it out redefine how you're
29:18 buying software educate yourself make it
29:21 easy accelerate that sales reps sales
29:24 process um and you're making life easy
29:26 for both uh you and them thanks for
29:28 joining man we appreciate it yeah thanks
30:30 for having me thank you