Greg Mccallum's Linkedin Analytics

Every startup says, “We hire for potential.” But then they interview like it’s 2012. “Tell me about a time you overcame adversity.” “Sell me this pen.” If you’re hiring for potential, test for learnability. Speed of feedback → Speed of growth. 🧪 I talk about talent, hiring, and founder mistakes weekly on Founders Unplugged → https://lnkd.in/e8ksXNM7

Startup founders: if your sales process only works when you run it, it’s not a process. It’s a personality. Ask yourself: Can someone else follow this and close deals? Can you teach it without being in the room? If not, you’re the bottleneck. -------------------------------------------------------------- Free Stuff! ⬇️ 📊 See what’s working (and what’s not) in your sales team with a free review from Peer. 💼 Need guidance on your business strategy? Pick my brain for an hour – on the house. 🎙 Founders Unplugged – 20,000+ followers learning from top founders and investors. 👉Click "Get My Insights" on my profile to learn more.

“Let’s hire someone who sold at Salesforce!” Sounds smart. Looks good on a slide. But dangerous if you haven’t mapped your context to their strengths. Are they good at: 👉Navigating ambiguity? 👉Building pipeline? 👉Educating the market? Or did they benefit from: 👉Inbound flow 👉Brand weight 👉Pre-built decks and battlecards? Hire for the context you’re in, not the one you wish you were in.

“We need to be more data-driven.” Cool. Show me the last 3 coaching decisions you made, and the data behind them. Not anecdotes. Not “I just had a feeling.” Actual, structured, observable performance data. (Yeah, I thought so.)

Some founders are built. Others are raised. Esteban Quintero’s dad ran a kite factory in Colombia. 30 employees. 20 sales points. All for one windy month a year. Esteban? 9 years old. Paid 5p per kite packed. That’s where it started. Not with pitch decks. Not with motivational TikToks. With actual work. With value creation. We talk a lot about grit in the startup world. But grit isn’t taught. It’s absorbed. By watching your parents solve problems with whatever they’ve got. Esteban went on to build five businesses across three continents and turn side hustles into million-pound operations before he hit 30. But it all started with the kites. 🧵 I wrote about our conversation below. Check it out. 👁️Part one of my conversation with Esteban is out now on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. ------------------------------------------------------------- 🎙 This episode of Founders Unplugged is sponsored by FounderCatalyst – helping UK startups raise with legit legal docs, S/EIS support, and no £10K lawyer bill. 💥 Grab 5% off via the link in the article.

🏀 Pro athletes review tape. 🎭 Salespeople "just get better with experience." One works. The other is wishful thinking.

Nobody teaches sales managers how to give useful feedback. So they: Say “good job” after a chaotic call Or rewrite the rep’s email and call it “coaching” Or jump in mid-demo like a rogue jazz trumpeter Managing sales ≠ selling more. It’s teaching someone else to think commercially. -------------------------------------------------------------- Free Stuff ⬇️ 📊 See what’s working (and what’s not) in your sales team with a free review from Peer. 💼 Need guidance on your business strategy? Pick my brain for an hour – on the house. 🎙 Founders Unplugged – 20,000+ followers learning from top founders and investors. 👉Click "Get My Insights" on my profile to learn more.

🚀 Coming up on Founders Unplugged… 🚀 Some people talk about being serial entrepreneurs. Esteban Quintero has lived it. From selling ice creams in Colombia as a kid to scaling an electronics empire to millions in revenue, to launching global fintech and payment solutions, his journey is a masterclass in spotting opportunities, pivoting, and scaling internationally. In this episode, we dive into: 💡 How selling his old toys at 6 years old sparked his entrepreneurial mindset 📱 Scaling an 8-figure smartphone business before he was 25 🌎 The reality of building businesses across 49 countries 💰 His latest venture—a global payment solution for cashless societies Abroad Esteban doesn’t just build businesses—he reinvents markets. This one’s a must-listen for global founders. 🎙️ Episode drops tomorrow at 14:30 GMT across all platforms. Don't miss it! #foundersunplugged #podcast #entrepreneurship #fintech #startuplife

You need all three: 👉Without reps, the car doesn’t move. 👉Without a map, they go in circles. 👉Without a dashboard, you won’t know when to pull over. A sales engine isn’t one thing. It’s a system in motion. If you only optimise one piece, the others wear down faster.

Your pipeline isn’t dry. Your discovery is. Most reps don’t need more leads. They need better questions. If discovery is just a glorified intro call, your pipeline will always be full of fluff. Good discovery makes closing easier. Bad discovery makes closing impossible. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Free Stuff ⬇️ 📊 See what’s working (and what’s not) in your sales team with a free review from Peer. 💼 Need guidance on your business strategy? Pick my brain for an hour – on the house. 🎙 Founders Unplugged – Join the 20,000+ followers learning from top founders and investors. 👉Click "Get My Insights" on my profile to learn more.

Would you invest in a business that puts ping pong tables in empty buildings... ...and runs them with no staff? Sequoia Heritage did. Because behind the bat and ball is a vertical SaaS platform — replay tech, scoreboards, access control, ads, and the kind of network effects most startups dream of. Ben Borton’s story is one of the most unusual (and smartest) founder journeys I’ve had on the show. Part One drops this @ 14:30GMT. --- Free Stuff ⬇️ 📊 Get a free Sales Team Skills review from Peer. 💼 Pick my brain on GtM Strategy for an hour – on the house. 🎙 Watch/Listen to Founders Unplugged – Join the 20,000+ others! 👉Click "Get My Insights" on my profile to learn more.

Randomly pick 3 closed-won deals and 3 closed-lost deals from the last 90 days. For each, ask: 👉Was this the right kind of customer? 👉Did the rep follow your sales process? 👉Was there clear urgency in the buyer’s language? 👉Could the rep clearly explain why the deal closed or didn’t? If you don’t like the answers, it’s not a pipeline problem. It’s an engine problem.

You can’t delegate sales until you understand why people buy. I see it all the time: 🟡 Raise £1M 🟡 Panic-hire a Head of Sales 🟡 Blame them when nothing closes But if you don’t know what’s working in calls, no one else will either. Founder-led sales isn’t a phase. It’s R&D. ------------------------------------------ Want my full founder-led sales skills development framework? Pop me a DM.

Your ideas aren’t too early. Your market’s just too late. I’ve seen this mistake in every startup I’ve advised (including my own): Smart founders assume the market wants innovation. It doesn’t. The market wants comfort. It wants what it already understands. Your job isn’t just to be right. Your job is to bring the customer with you. 🧠 If they don’t “get it,” it’s not their fault. It’s your storytelling. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Free Stuff ⬇️ 📊 See what’s working (and what’s not) in your sales team with a free review from Peer. 💼 Need guidance on your business strategy? Pick my brain for an hour – on the house. 🎙 Founders Unplugged – Join the 20,000+ followers learning from top founders and investors. 👉Click "Get My Insights" on my profile to learn more.

One of the hardest truths in entrepreneurship: sometimes the best thing a founder can do for their company is step aside. In my latest conversation with Jordan Schlipf on Founders Unplugged, we tackled this often-avoided topic head-on. Jordan shared a fascinating framework of three founder archetypes when facing transition: 👉The Scalers - who evolve their skillset 👉The Graceful Exits - who recognise their limits and plan succession 👉The Forced Removals - those who get kicked out when they refuse to let go What Jordan said that struck me most: "One of the greatest achievements of being an entrepreneur is to build an organisation that outlives you." As I told him, I don't care if I'm the CEO of my company in 3, 4, or 8 years. What matters is that we solve the problem we set out to solve. Have you thought about your own founder journey and potential exit? I'd love to hear your perspectives. 📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢 Thank you Appunite for sponsoring this week's episode. The right dev partner can make or break your product. AppUnite embeds with your team to build apps that scale. Learn more 👉 https://bit.ly/3FCHQlm #FoundersUnplugged #StartupAdvice #Entrepreneurship #LeadershipTransition #FounderJourney

🚀 Coming up on Founders Unplugged… 🚀 Matt Copley has seen the evolution of automotive, media, and AI from the frontlines—starting in car sales, scaling digital media, and now building HRIZN, an AI-driven publishing platform for the industry. In this episode, we dive into: 🚗 The shift from traditional dealerships to AI-driven sales & marketing 💡 How automotive media & ad tech are colliding with AI innovation 🔥 Why founders need to stay lean and nimble before raising VC money ⚡ The real story behind launching a startup after years in corporate Matt's journey is packed with insights for founders, marketers, and anyone thinking about AI’s role in legacy industries. Don't miss this one! 🎙️ Episode drops tomorrow at 14:30 GMT across all platforms. Don't miss it! #foundersunplugged #podcast #automotive #adtech #startuplife #AI

Founders: If you’re not listening to sales calls, you’re not doing GtM. Call recordings are your goldmine. You’ll hear: 👉What’s confusing customers 👉What your reps wish they could say 👉What objections you’re not ready for 👉What moments actually land No survey beats a live reaction. 👉Click "Get My Insights" on my profile to get FREE STUFF and learn more.

Ben Borton left hedge funds to build autonomous ping pong clubs. Not because he had to. Because success stopped being enough. Now he’s behind PodPlay Technologies incredible growth; a SaaS platform powering 100+ self-serve clubs across the US. No staff. No friction. Just scoreboards, replays, and tech that makes people smile. “We wanted to increase the amount of fun in the world.” What I didn’t expect when we spoke was how deeply his story would resonate with me, not just as a founder, but as someone still figuring out what kind of company I really want to build. This conversation made me think differently about: 🧠 Reinvention (and the cost of staying comfortable) 📈 Content-led GTM at $1.5M ARR 🎮 Building virality into the product 🚫 Saying no (even when you need the deal) 🔁 Replay culture and real-world network effects ⚙️ MVPs that are ugly, scrappy, and perfect I unpacked all of it in this Founder Journal piece: 👇 Read it below 👇 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 🛠 Sponsored by FounderCatalyst – Raise S/EIS funding in the UK the smart way. ✅ Get 5% off by using the link in the episode description. #FoundersUnplugged #StartupLife #FounderStories #GoToMarket #Reinvention #SaaS #FutureOfWork #ProductInnovation #MeaningfulWork #BuildWithPurpose

Ben Borton went from ghostwriting hedge fund books… to building autonomous ping pong clubs. Yes, really. He spent 20 years in finance, managing quant funds, allocating capital, writing industry-defining books. But something was missing. “I loved solving the problems. But it was empty.” So he walked away. Now, he’s the co-founder of PodPlay Technologies, powering 100+ staffless venues across the US — from ping pong to pool to pickleball to… dog washes. The story isn’t just about reinvention. It’s about why mastery isn’t enough and how real founders choose meaning over momentum. 🎙 Part One now live: Founders Unplugged with Ben Borton 📖 I wrote about it too 👇👇👇👇👇 — 🛠 Sponsored by FounderCatalyst – Raise S/EIS funding in the UK the smart way. ✅ Get 5% off by using the link in the episode description. #FoundersUnplugged #StartupLife #FounderStories #GoToMarket #Reinvention #SaaS #FutureOfWork #ProductInnovation #MeaningfulWork #BuildWithPurpose

🚀 COMING UP ON Founders Unplugged… 🚀 What happens when a hedge fund researcher, a ghostwriter, and a startup operator walk into a podcast? You get Ben Borton—someone who's blended storytelling, sports, and startup scaling into one of the most fascinating SaaS journeys out there. In this episode, we dive into: 🔥 How PodPlay is turning sports venues into viral content machines 🎯 Why frictionless user experiences are the future of sports tech 🎥 The real reason their user-initiated replay system could change how we capture moments forever 💡 Ben’s journey from cultural criticism and finance to building a SaaS powering the pickleball boom 🎙️ Episode drops tomorrow at 14:30 GMT across all platforms. Stay tuned! If you're into product-led growth, vertical SaaS, or just love hearing how big ideas take shape, this one's for you. 🔥 📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢 Thank you FounderCatalyst for sponsoring this week's episode 🙏 Raising funds in the UK? Get 5% off their services by clicking this link: https://2ly.link/1zDIJ #foundersunplugged #podcast #sportsbusiness #startuplife #productstrategy