Podcast
Revenue Builders
Hosted by Force Management · EN
Welcome to the Revenue Builders podcast, a weekly show featuring B2B sales leaders and executives. Hosted by Five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management’s Co-Founder John Kaplan, the show goes in the barrel, behind the scenes with the people who have been there, done that and seen the results. Revenue Builders covers the best practices for scaling and growing your business, while sharing the pitfalls to avoid. Great conversation. Solid interviews. Tangible takeaways to help you succeed. If you enjoy our content, please subscribe, rate and review the show to help us reach more people.
This show is brought to you by: Force Management where we help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Check out forcemanagement.com more information.
144episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
How the Best Sellers Think Differently with Sahir Azam
Yesterday00:07:59Summary readyToday’s episode features Sahir Azam, Partner at Index Ventures and former Chief Product Officer at MongoDB, where he helped scale Atlas into a multi-billion-dollar platform. This conversation breaks down what actually separates top enterprise sellers, from intellectual curiosity to resource orchestration, and why those traits alone aren’t enough without leadership building the right operating model around them. Sahir also explains how sales leaders create scale through enablement, accountability, and structured engagement, not just hiring more talent. For leaders trying to build repeatability in complex sales, this is a clear look at what it takes. Sahir Azam is a Partner at Index Ventures investing in AI infrastructure, and former Chief Product Officer at MongoDB where he led the Atlas transformation into a multi-billion-dollar platform. He brings a rare operator's perspective on building go-to-market discipline, scaling sales culture, and navigating the product-distribution balance that separates winners from founders who fail. Connect with Sahir: Index Ventures LinkedIn Get the Force Management framework for navigating product-go-to-market fit and building the sales discipline that separates scaling companies from those that fail: The Predictable Revenue Framework: Guide for Leaders Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management
SummaryRevenue per Employee Is the New Endgame with Alex Bilmes
4d ago00:59:24Summary readyRevenue leaders are under increasing pressure to grow without adding headcount at the same rate, and AI is forcing a deeper conversation about productivity, consistency, governance, and organizational design. Alex Bilmes, CEO of Endgame, joins John Kaplan and John McMahon to discuss what his team learned from analyzing more than 30,000 real AI workflows across go-to-market teams. The conversation moves beyond tool adoption and into the harder leadership questions: how to create a centralized intelligence layer, how to prevent inconsistent messaging at scale, how RevOps must evolve, where AI can accelerate ramp and account coverage, and why human judgment becomes more important as automation gets better. Alex Bilmes is the CEO and founder of Endgame, a revenue intelligence platform built for go-to-market teams. His work focuses on helping revenue organizations centralize customer, methodology, and account knowledge so both humans and AI agents can operate from a consistent foundation. Connect with Alex: LinkedIn Key takeaways from this episode: 00:00 - A look inside what happens when AI agents move from task automation to managing real revenue workflows. 06:02 - Why agent sprawl quietly creates new execution risks for CROs trying to scale AI across the revenue organization. 09:09 - What leaders often overlook about the knowledge foundation required to keep humans and AI working from the same truth. 29:29 - Why RevOps has to evolve from fulfilling requests to building systems that change how revenue teams operate. 35:04 - What it really takes for AI to improve productivity beyond simple headcount reduction. 48:28 - The governance risk many revenue leaders underestimate when AI adoption moves faster than controls. 51:26 - Why human judgment becomes more important, not less, as AI takes on more of the sales workflow. Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management
SummaryWhy Consumption Pricing Makes Forecasting Harder with Devavrat Shah
1w ago00:06:22Summary readyConsumption pricing puts pressure on the forecast in places traditional SaaS models rarely exposed. Total usage may be easier to model from the CFO’s seat, but the field still has to answer harder questions: which customer, which channel, which rep, and when. In this replay segment, Devavrat Shah explains how AI can help teams learn across cohorts, spot patterns in uneven data, and create more trust in a forecast that would otherwise depend on isolated judgment calls. Devavrat Shah is an MIT professor, director of MIT’s Statistics and Data Science Center, and co-founder and CEO of Ikigai Labs. He brings a data science and operator’s perspective to forecasting, consumption pricing, and enterprise AI. Connect with Devavrat: LinkedIn Listen to the full episode here: Understanding AI Through History and Practical Application with Devavrat Shah Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management
SummaryTraining the Mind for High-Stakes Sales: How FOPO Hurts Executive Presence with Dr. Michael Gervais
2w ago01:00:03Summary readyHigh-stakes sales puts pressure on the mind before it tests the deal strategy. Reps and leaders have to stay present through judgment, rejection, complex stakeholders, and the weight of the number. Dr. Michael Gervais joins John Kaplan and John McMahon to unpack FOPO, the fear of other people’s opinions, and its impact on executive presence, listening, trust, and decision-making. Drawing from his work with Olympians, world champions, Fortune 100 leaders, and elite teams, Dr. Gervais explains how mental skills like awareness, breathing, self-talk, imagery, and honest team dynamics help people operate with more clarity under pressure. The conversation brings performance psychology into the realities of enterprise sales, where long cycles, executive buyers, and high-consequence conversations demand discipline before the moment arrives. Dr. Michael Gervais is a performance psychologist, the founder of Finding Mastery, host of the Finding Mastery podcast, co-creator of the Performance Science Institute at the University of Southern California, and author of The First Rule of Mastery: Stop Worrying About What People Think of You. He has worked with Olympians, world champions, MMA fighters, Fortune 100 CEOs, and elite teams to help them train their minds for high-pressure performance. Connect with Dr. Gervais: Website Podcast IG Facebook LinkedIn Resources mentioned: Dr. Michael Gervais' Morning Mindset Routine The First Rule of Mastery: Stop Worrying About What Other People Think of You by Michael Gervais, PhD Rethinking Success: Eight Essential Practices for Finding Meaning in Work and Life by J. Douglas Holladay Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella Key takeaways from this episode: 00:00 – Why FOPO quietly turns high-stakes sales conversations into moments of self-protection. 06:32 – A look inside the brain pattern that pulls leaders away from listening when presence matters most. 19:47 – What it really takes to tell the difference between useful pressure and activation that disrupts execution. 25:42 – Why elite performers treat mental training as a discipline, not a reaction to pressure. 41:18 – How rehearsing adversity helps leaders stay composed when the moment starts to break pattern. 48:20 – What leaders often overlook about the trust required for honest challenge on high-performing teams. 56:34 – Why psychological skill development is becoming part of how serious organizations prepare their people. Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management
SummaryThe New Standard for Sales Coaching in the AI Era with Marcy Stoudt
2w ago00:09:33Summary readyIn this segment, Marcy Stoudt, Founder of Revel Companies, breaks down how AI is changing one of the most important responsibilities in sales leadership: coaching. This conversation focuses on a simple but critical shift. For years, managers struggled to observe real customer interactions and give meaningful feedback at scale. With AI, that constraint is gone. At the same time, leaders are dealing with constant meetings and cognitive overload. Marcy explains how top operators are using AI not just to increase productivity, but to create space to think, coach, and lead more effectively. For CROs and frontline managers, this raises the standard. The tools are here. The question is how you use them. Marcy Stoudt is Founder of Revel Companies, where she advises revenue leaders on AI adoption, talent strategy, and organizational alignment. With deep experience in executive recruiting and sales leadership, she helps organizations shift from treating AI as a technology decision to embedding it into how work gets done across teams. Connect with Marcy: LinkedIn Website Get the Force Management framework for building and scaling predictable pipeline and revenue systems, with a focus on execution, alignment, and repeatability: The Predictable Revenue Framework: Guide for Leaders Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management
SummaryHow to Build a Predictable Pipeline Engine Without Sales Heroics with Greg Casale
3w ago01:12:13Summary readyPipeline generation breaks down when sales organizations rely on individual performance instead of building controlled, repeatable systems. In this episode, Greg Casale shares how his background in engineering shaped a system-first approach to sales, applying principles of process control, data capture, and structured training to reduce variability and improve consistency. The conversation explores why outbound phone remains a critical channel despite its difficulty, how over-automation has saturated the market and reduced conversion rates, and where AI fits as a tool to strengthen preparation and execution without replacing human interaction. Greg Casale is the Founder and CEO of Reveneer Inc., where he leads a system-driven approach to outbound pipeline generation through embedded SDR teams. He began his career as a chemical engineer and brings a manufacturing and process control mindset to building repeatable, data-driven sales operations. Connect with Greg: LinkedIn Resources mentioned: Hyperbound TitanX Key takeaways from this episode: 03:00 – Why many CROs over-index on hiring instead of addressing the system driving performance 33:30 – What it really takes to build an outbound channel competitors can’t easily replicate 49:00 – Why leaders risk losing differentiation when AI replaces human-driven sales behavior 01:00:00 – A look inside how top SDRs control conversations in the first 30 seconds of a cold call 09:33 – The mistake many CROs make when relying on fractional SDR models for pipeline generation 01:07:24 – Why cutting SDR capacity during downturns quietly weakens your ability to recover 18:11 – What leaders often overlook when measuring SDR success beyond meeting volume Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management
SummaryWhy Strategic Account Selling Still Comes Down to Value and Alignment with Jane Thompson
3w ago00:06:39Summary readyStrategic accounts expose where most sales approaches break down, especially when technical capability fails to connect to enterprise-wide value. In this replay segment, Jane Thompson unpacks what it actually takes to navigate complex, multi-division organizations, from building aligned champions to translating solutions into outcomes that matter at the board level. The conversation highlights why intellectual curiosity, multi-threaded engagement, and disciplined account mapping remain non-negotiable for sellers operating at the highest level. Jane Thompson is a sales leader at BigPanda with deep experience selling into complex, multi-division enterprise accounts and building high-impact strategic sales motions. Connect with Jane: LinkedIn Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management
SummaryHow AI Is Rewriting the Sales Playbook and Raising the Bar on Human Performance with Alex Varel
4w ago01:02:30Summary readyAI is shifting from model development to real-world usage, exposing a new bottleneck that most sales teams are not prepared to understand or sell against. As inference speed, memory bandwidth, and infrastructure become the true differentiators, traditional software playbooks begin to break down. Alex Varel joins John Kaplan and John McMahon to unpack what it takes to sell in this new environment, where technical depth, curiosity, and adaptability are no longer optional. The conversation explores how AI is reshaping productivity, why ICPs must evolve weekly, and how elite sellers distinguish themselves by orchestrating value across increasingly complex buying groups. Alex Varel is EVP of Worldwide Sales at Cerebras Systems, where he leads global go-to-market efforts at the forefront of AI infrastructure. He has built and scaled high-performing teams across MongoDB, Zscaler, and Multiverse, driving growth through IPO, hyper-scale expansion, and emerging technology shifts. Connect with Alex: LinkedIn Resources mentioned: "The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell "AI Superpowers" by Kai-Fu Lee “Leonardo da Vinci” by Walter Isaacson "No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy “The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley” by Jimmy Soni Key takeaways from this episode: 00:00 – A look inside what it really takes to rethink computing architecture when speed, not scale, becomes the constraint 13:09 – Why many leaders underestimate how the shift from training to inference is redefining where competitive advantage actually lives 25:27 – The mistake many CROs make when applying legacy software playbooks to markets that require constant recalibration 21:33 – What it really takes to turn AI from a concept into a daily productivity multiplier inside a revenue organization 31:34 – Why most sales organizations quietly accept a broken productivity model and what changes when that assumption is challenged 34:26 – A look inside the evolving role of the AE as a multi-dimensional operator across technical, business, and interpersonal domains 49:41 – Why treating ICP as a static exercise leads to missed growth opportunities in markets that are shifting in real time Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management
SummaryWhy Pipeline Generation Fails Before the First Call with Christopher Vick
4w ago00:13:12Summary readyToday, a segment from our episode on pipeline generation and building a repeatable revenue system with Christopher Vik, VP EMEA at Samsara and former CRO at Leapwork. In this clip, Chris breaks down why most pipeline generation efforts fail before they even start. He explains how preparation drives conviction, why reps avoid pipeline when they lack insight, and what leaders must do to build a culture where execution actually sticks. If you’re trying to improve pipeline performance or develop more effective sellers, this is a perspective worth revisiting. Chris Vik is VP EMEA at Samsara and a former CRO at Leapwork and Go Autonomous, where he scaled go-to-market teams across new markets and high-growth environments. He is known for building structured revenue systems that connect pipeline generation, sales execution, and recruiting. Resources mentioned: Flip the Script by Oren Klaff Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff Get the Force Management framework for building and scaling predictable pipeline and revenue systems: The Predictable Revenue Framework: Guide for Leaders Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management
SummaryWhy Sales Execution Wins in an AI-First World with Brian McCarthy, President of Global Revenue and Field Operations at Cursor
Apr 2400:55:12Summary readyPLG can create explosive growth, but it can also mask fundamental gaps in execution, capacity, and long-term durability. As AI-native companies scale at unprecedented speed, revenue leaders face a new tension: how to convert bottom-up adoption into enterprise value without breaking the system that fueled growth. Brian McCarthy joins to unpack how Cursor is navigating this shift, why sales execution becomes the moat in a world of swappable technology, and what it takes to build a go-to-market machine that keeps pace with innovation while deepening customer trust. Brian McCarthy is President of Global Revenue and Field Operations at Cursor and former CRO at Rubrik, where he helped scale the company from $118M to $1.5B in ARR. He is known for building high-performance revenue organizations and execution-focused cultures in complex enterprise environments. Connect with Brian: LinkedIn Resources mentioned: Ep. 71 - What the Best Sales Leaders Do with Brian McCarthy All In Podcast with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg Key takeaways from this episode: 03:30 – Why great leaders know when to step away, and how building a successor is the true test of an execution machine 09:50 – What to look for in a once-in-a-career opportunity, and why timing matters more than brand or hype 17:03 – How PLG success created a capacity crisis, and why too much demand can degrade customer experience 29:29 – The decision to radically reduce account load, and how focus enables better selling and better buying experiences 32:16 – Why champions, not features, drive revenue, and how to intentionally build them across the organization 38:19 – The required balance between bottom-up adoption and top-down value selling in technical markets 41:31 – Why “clock speed” is the defining trait of modern sellers, and how enablement must fuel continuous learning 49:09 – The shift from tools to AI factories, and what it means for the future of software development and selling 52:01 – Why culture, trust, and human relationships remain the durable moat in a world of rapidly changing technology Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management
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