Description

On today's show and as part of our special 10 Episode CRO Series we will be discussing topics like: Cx, GTM, Functional Alignment, Metrics that Matter, Pipeline / Forecasting, Digital Strategies, Digital Transformation, RevOps and today it's about All Things Digital and GTM. Again, we promise to give you actionable insights from our guests who are tenured and experienced CRO’s who come from high growth SaaS companies.

Today we welcome Chris Kaufield, CRO at Alitheon. He commercializes B2B platforms and leads revenue growth. A builder of digital and physical products. He is currently delivering a computer vision solution to trace premium goods through supply chains.

My customers have had many names: enterprises, subscribers, developers, and friends. A 25+ year career spans startups and global orgs, from new IP and the first $1 of sales to $1B+ ARR businesses. From SaaS to augmented reality to blockchains.

At Microsoft, I kicked off Office 365 sales, driving $400M+ of the company's earliest B2B cloud revenue. I then launched a range of SaaS, APIs, and edge devices including Microsoft Surface Hub and HoloLens.

We kick off by asking Chris to share his career journey and what has led him to where he is today?

• Mix of invention and new tech
• New opportunities and new customers
• Destined to be a maker
• Help people change
• Reliable and repeatable way
• How do you bring the people together

We then ask Chris, what does the contrast of sophisticated and highly disruptive tech look like in his world when going to market?

• Developing a new category is hard
• Solve the problem of lost luggage
• When to create a new product and when to create a new category
• Staying power
• How big companies have the patience
• Known or unknown

Then we ask Chris to share more about Alitheon, who are they and where are they heading?

• Invented a way to look at a surface of an object with a standard camera and convert it to statistical information which could provide a unique key to that surface
• An object can tell you what it is
• Developed for years by the original owners
• Casting marks and forging marks
• Partners in Japan
• Universal algorithm
• Everything is unique at a close enough glance

Next we ask Chris what is his philosophy around the CRO role and what excites him most?

• People want to see what a finish product looks like
• Know it boundaries
• Product stack
• Difference between creating a fascination and creating a buyer
• SaaS model
• From kit to reference design
• Reduce PHD people in sales team
• Work through a playbook

We then ask Chris, GTM, how does he create a plan for this and who is involved in that?

• Numbers are lighting up
• Make your tech valuable enough that others want to sell it
• Partner led market
• Team effort
• Offer a blueprint
• No new is bad news from a partner
• Equipped and self-sufficient

Lastly, we ask Chris, what he feels is his super power?

• Packaging a product